Adventures of the Naed Fisherman

Gus finally had his fly rod set up the way he wanted and made is his way down to the stream. Aaron had continued fishing upstream and was now out of Gus' view, obstructed by the dense forest the stream cut through. It took Gus a few tries before he placed one of his new flies exactly where he wanted it, this was the first time this year he'd rigged up his fly rod, and he was out of practice. His topwater mayfly perched above an eddy behind a rock about 20 feet downstream, and Gus knew he was finally in business. Just as that thought crossed his mind, a decent size brown trout broke the surface and grabbed his fly. Gus pulled in his slack and delicately set the hook, turning then to his reel to bring the brown to shore. "Brown trout are beautiful fish, just like their cousins," Gus thought, as he carefully removed the fly's barbless hook from the trout's mouth. The hundreds of spots that covered the fishes back looked like frog eggs draped around it, and its golden brown belly shimmered in the morning sunlight. Gus, let out a "There we go!" as he released the fish back into the creek.

"Hey, that's my line," Aaron yelled from upstream, "and you don't say it when you release the fish, it's for when you set the hook, Gus."

Aaron emerged into the stream from the trees about 20 yards west of him. Gus was pleased that he'd embraced naked fishing so effortlessly, and was even more pleased that he'd have the pleasure of seeing Aaron naked, all weekend long.

"How many so far?" Aaron asked.

"First one of the day for me."

"Well you're behind, Gus Wolfe, I'm already up to five."

"Oh, we're in a competition, huh, Aaron Green?"

"You bet your furry ass we are," Aaron smiled.

"So what do I get when I come from behind and out fish you today, then?"

"Well, what do you want, Gus? You could say my ass, but it's already yours for the taking, I think we proved that just a couple hours ago, " Aaron smirked as he came within a couple feet of Gus.

"Hmmmm," Gus wondered allowed, "I'll have to think about it, what do you want if you out fish me?"

Aaron's smile hit both of his ears it was so wide, "Not that I've been thinking about it, but, I'd like to start by taking you over to the tailgate of my truck, and bending you over so I can have easy access for the exploration of your fine furry rump. Then, I'd like to have you get up in my truck bed and sit with your back toward me and your ass hanging over the edge of the tailgate, letting me hold your weight against my chest my arms under your armpits. Next, I'd like to stick my meat..."

"Yeah, you haven't given it any thought have you Aaron?" Gus giggled. Aaron grinned, and leaned in to grab a kiss.

"How bout this," Gus said, speaking into Aaron's beard inches from his mouth, "the man who catches the most fish, gets to watch the other make him dinner tonight, and is entitled to a full body massage, along with whatever else he sees fit to claim as his victory prize."

"Deal," Aaron responded and stuck his tongue into Gus' mouth. "Since I'm already four ahead, I'll go make us some lunch and let you play catch-up for a few minutes without any competition."

Aaron headed back to the cabin and Gus resumed fishing.

Gus waded across the stream to fish from the other bank so he could watch Aaron from afar while he fished. This man had him captivated. He was glad he took the chance on the invite yesterday, not to say he still didn't have a lot of questions, and he knew Aaron probably had a lot as well. First and foremost on his mind was the gold band around the Marine's left ring finger, he needed more details about that situation for sure. Aaron didn't strike him as a straight man just out for some passion and desire in the woods. His curiosity also had him wondering about the marks on Aarons sexy torso, and his missing pinky toe. "Take it as it comes, Gus," he muttered to himself, lofting his fly downstream.

"There we go!" Gus yelled and Aaron looked over and smiled, "three more and we're back to even."

The men sat side by side on the front porch, their legs, hanging off the edge, and had a nice lunch consisting of pasta salad with tomatoes, cucumbers and feta, and turkey sandwiches. Gus thanked Aaron for bringing the food and got a full mouthed nod back from the Marine as a "you're welcome."

"So, Aaron," Gus started, his tone less playful than any of their prior conversations, "Who's the lucky woman, that has claimed you as her own?" Gus said, tapping the band on Aaron's left hand.

Aaron finished chewing, took a sip of water, and sighed, "I knew you'd ask me at some point or another." He fidgeted with the wedding band and pulled it off, and proceeded to roll it between his finger and thumb, "One ring to rule them all," Aaron said in his best British accent and chuckled.

Gus grinned but the look he wore told Aaron he was waiting for a real answer.

"You said your other half was visiting family, tell me about her," Gus followed.

"Okay, Gus, here's the deal," Aaron began.

"My other half isn't a wife, it's a husband, I'm gay, and I'm married to great man who I met and served two tours with."

Gus mouth gaped open in shock as Aaron continued.

"And I do feel a tremendous amount of guilt being out here when I talk about him. His name is Mark. He's a patriot, and was one hell of a warrior. And I'll love him till the day I die, but, you see, Mark isn't the same man I met and fell in love with, and it's no fault of his own. He was seriously wounded during our last tour. We were on a routine patrol, and two car bombs exploded, one on each side of the street across from one another, at the same time gunfire rained down on us from the rooftops above, we'd been set-up by the locals, and three of our brothers lost their lives, and Mark nearly lost his. There are some days I think it would have been better if he would have. Less pain."

Aaron pointed to the scars on the left side of his torso, "I was one of the lucky ones, a couple pieces of shrapnel, one bullet in the side, and a large piece of concrete on my little toe," Aaron held up his left foot, wiggling his four remaining toes.

"Mark is still here, but he's not still here, if you know what I mean. The attack left him within inches of his life, and he's undergone countless surgeries, but he still has no recollection of who he is, who I am, or what we were before the attack. He lost both of his legs, his right arm, can't communicate, and can't look after himself."

Gus' gaping mouth gaped even wider. He was sorry he'd asked, and he could tell the pain it caused Aaron to even talk about it. "I...I'm...I, Aaron I...don't even know what to say," Gus finally stuttered.

"No one does," Aaron continued, putting his arm around the hairy fisherman's shoulder "how could you, it's horrible and tragic."

"I'm his primary caretaker, but his family, who is wonderful, also lifts a lot of the load. This weekend, they came and picked him up to take him out to the family farm. He seems to be at peace when he's there sitting on the wrap around porch looking over the corn fields."

Gus could tell the guilt Aaron was feeling for being here, given all the circumstances, and reached over and hugged him tightly. "Thank you for sharing that with me Aaron, I could never imagine being in your shoes."

"His family even encouraged me to carry on, start dating, get back out there, but until I saw you, just a couple days ago, I hand't even thought about it. I'd spend my downtime throwing lines, fishing, and trying to find peace. I know it's strange, but I'm really glad that we bumped into each other, Gus."

"I am too, Aaron."

The two men sat in silence for what seemed like hours, their arms around one another not saying a word.

"You're still down three, furry fisherman, you better get to it," Aaron said, and kissed Gus' beard before standing up to stoke the campfire.

Gus made is way back to the stream, still in shock from Aaron's revelation and started throwing flies. Before long Aaron joined him a bit upstream, and the two men's competition got back underway.