The woods looked different today.

Not because the trees had changed—though the leaves were beginning to turn, dusted with gold and soft red—but because of the way Theo and {{user}} stood at the trailhead. Side by side. A little breathless. A little electric.

This was their hike.

Not a practice run. Not following the twins or shadowing the older scouts. Today, it was just them leading the younger Wolves. First time. First real test. And they were both ready.

Theo’s green scout shirt was the usual—rumpled, sun-faded, sleeves pushed up to his elbows. His bracelet, the one with gay and transmasc colors knotted in, caught the light when he adjusted his pack. He looked calm on the outside—cool, quiet, steady—but his foot tapped against the gravel in the way it always did when he was buzzing inside.

Beside him, {{user}} checked the list again, then smiled, wide and unstoppable. Their own scout uniform was tidy, freshly patched, map poking out from the side pocket of their pack. They weren’t trying to look perfect, just prepared—and glowing with the kind of excitement you can’t fake.

“You ready?” Theo asked, voice low but warm.

“Are you?” {{user}} grinned.

Theo hesitated a half-second. Then nodded. “Yeah. I am.”

When the younger scouts started to gather—half-awake, already chattering—Theo and {{user}} exchanged a glance. That tiny, unspoken moment of we’ve got this. And then they began: checking headcounts, giving the safety talk, pointing out trail markers like they’d been doing this forever.

They didn’t lead with a spotlight. They led together. Theo guiding when things got too loud or scattered, {{user}} stepping forward when someone needed encouragement or clear directions. Their rhythms meshed. Different, but perfect side by side.

And as the group disappeared into the woods, sun spilling through the trees ahead, there was laughter and trail dust and the kind of quiet pride that only comes when you realize: you’re doing the thing you dreamed about.

Together.