"Sorry about the mess..." Nate said to Alex as the two settled into getting their own dinner ready.
The sun had gone down, and the two of them had actually hoped to have their dinner a bit earlier, but Nate had a slight bought of "daydreaming" as he thought over all the things that had happened to his family. They had all come as normal human beings thinking that Moon Lake was just another small town that happened to have a small local college. His parents had come with a heavily strained, if still loving marriage, while his mother had been repressing that she was bisexual. His younger brother, Eric, was borderline anti-social thanks to some bullying incidents back when they had been in Minnesota and really didn't socialize with anyone other than family on a person to person basis. Nate, himself, while he knew and accepted that he was gay, had been hiding it for fear of his parent's reaction.
All of that had been changed by Moon Lake. The whole family were now weres, his father a werefox, his mother a werecat, his younger brother a weremerman, and himself a werewolf, just as he'd always fantasized of being. The strain in his parent's marriage seemed long gone, given how much William and Martha's room smelled of sex to Nate's lupine senses, and the fact that in becoming a werecat, his mom had realized, accepted, and in the end embraced her sexuality. In becoming a weremer, Eric had also moved beyond the issues that had troubled him in Minnesota, and Nate had found his fears of his parents' reaction to his own sexuality unfounded. And at the same time, both he and Eric had found love, which pleased Nate and lead to his wistful thinking.
Unfortunately, that thinking had effectively delayed their dinner. They had planned just to have some hot dogs that were to be boiled in a pan above their campfire when Nate began thinking over all the past events that his family had gone through and that distracted him into essentially following Alex's instructions backwards and forcing them to essentially start over. It was that that got Nate to apologize again.
"Hey, it's no big deal," Alex said to him as he came from the car with a pair of paper plates, two full sized bags of Lays chips, and two cans of soda in his hands, "If things were reversed and I was a Normal moving to Moon Lake and having so much happen and you were the native born were that chose me as your mate... I'm sure I'd probably make the same mistake while marveling and enjoying at how much things changed for me."
"Yeah... but it was the first cooking lesson you were giving me... beyond microwaving stuff with pre-set instructions," Nate commented, "and I fudged it."
"Hey, everyone makes mistakes from time to time," Alex gave a playful smile, "and it isn't as though the mistake you made was super critical. I mean... you could have dropped the dogs into the fire, and that would have been tragic."
Alex sat down on the bench near the fire, and Nate could hear him opening the plastic bag that held the hot dog buns. Nate, meanwhile, kept his own eyes focused on the hot dogs that he was cooking. He wasn't going to let the water boil over, and in its own way, he could even smell the hot dogs cooking. A part of him wondered why Alex wasn't going to just grill the hot dogs, but Nate had had hot dogs cooked this way before, and both methods worked well. As things completed, he pulled the pan out from over the fire and set it on the ground between himself and Alex.
"I'd never let anything like that happen," Nate answered as he accepted the paper plate from Alex, who had a bun waiting on it and a healthy serving of potato chips as well, "not with America's favorite food."
"America's favorite food?" Alex chuckled.
"Doesn't everyone love hot dogs?" Nate answered as he watched Alex lower a set of tongs to pick out a hot dog.
"Everyone but vegetarians," Alex chuckled.
The two of them enjoyed their dinner and enjoyed their time together. Nate enjoyed listening to the crackling of the fire and the scent of the pine and spruce trees in the immediate area. It made for good relaxation and the two of them then enjoyed sharing good thoughts on issues that related their meal. Nate felt particularly pleased to hear that despite his mistake with the boiling of the water, that the hot dogs were not under or overcooked.
"I mean it," Alex managed, his cheeks full with food, "you did quite well. May make a chef out of you yet."
Nate chuckled at the end of that, as that was more of a joke than anything else, "More than likely I'd just be following your instructions. Not much more than that."
Alex shrugged and the two of them ate more. As they finished, the two of them stretched out for a moment and gave a short grunt.
"So, what would you like to do now?" Alex asked with a mischievous smile, "got any more ghost stories?"
"Nah," Nate answered with a smile. He then let the rising tent in his pants do the talking for him.
Alex continued to smile as he caught the scent of Nate's arousal. That gave him a good idea on what his beau wanted, and given his own were libido and the fact that it was nighttime now, Alex wasn't about to say no.
"So," Alex smiled, "shall we do it here... or transform and go do it from the viewing platform like you wanted earlier?"
Nate leaned over and kissed Alex while still holding a smile, "Maybe both."