Nathan was strolling around by the lakeside in his briefs, holding a bundle of clothes in his hands, a worn out t-shirt, red shorts and a pair of sneakers with socks neatly stuffed inside. He was eyeing the shore for a perfect spot to settle down and have a dip in what seemed to him like glacial water. The lake was completely wild, with forest encroaching from all sides, but a small grassy patch appeared up ahead. Nathan stopped at the clearing, dug his toes into the ground and felt the grass caress his soles. He put his clothes down in a pile and stood there, with his hands on his waist. He admired the scenery for a moment, inhaling the fresh air deeply and puffing his chest forward. He enjoyed the solitude and the freedom of being nearly naked in this vast nature. Around people, he was shy about his body, since he was not as tall as the other boys and a bit of a late bloomer. His big blue eyes and dark, wavy hair made all the older crowd call him cute, although he wished to be muscular and tough looking instead. But here, he was king and he could pretend to be anything he wanted in his domain.
With that thought in mind, he walked a few steps towards the water. He dipped one foot in and shrieked from the coldness. Feeling brave, he took a quick look around, moving his head left and right and once he was sure that nobody was there, he pulled his briefs off and threw them behind him on his pile of clothes. He instinctively covered his groin with his hands and stood there for a moment before deciding to enter the water. One step at a time, the water reached up to his upper thighs, then he stopped for what felt like an eternity, unable to take the next step that would submerge his most intimate parts.
Finally finding the courage, he jumped right in and squealed as the shock of the cold water hit the rest of his body. He quickly stood back up on the lake floor, turned around and got out of the water, unable to last more than a minute in its coldness. Suddenly, he realized that his clothes were missing. He stood there dumfounded. He was in one of the most remote places he knew, no one lived in a 50 km radius and there were no hiking trails anywhere in the region. In the past two years that he's been coming to this area, he's never met a soul. Besides, this was his family's private land and none of them ever ventured here. He looked around nervously, now again covering his groin as he felt watched, when he heard some leaves ruffle nearby. The perpetrator was definitely close, but the ruffle started going deeper and deeper into the forest.
"Hey! Come back here!", he yelled out.
Not too sure about what else to do, he started cautiously following the sounds into the forest. He could not run or walk quickly since he was barefoot and his feet were agonizingly sensitive on the rough forest floor.
Being as shy as he was, he felt incredibly exposed in his nakedness, but the fear of being stranded there without any clothes kept pushing him forward. He walked like this for a few minutes that felt like hours. Suddenly, a voice was heard from above.
"Are you lost?", said the voice in a slow, relaxed tone.
Nathan looked up, he saw the figure of a young man perched on a tree branch above him with his bare feet almost completely black from dirt dangling over the ledge playfully. He was only dressed in what looked like an old rag wrapped around his waist, as if he grew up in the wild like Tarzan. He seemed to be almost as old as Nathan, but his muscles were definitely more toned. His dark piercing eyes were exuding confidence, staring intensely at the cold naked boy below him.
"Who are you? Did you take my clothes?", Nathan asked nervously.
"Maybe...", the stranger said with a big smile on his face.
"Well, give it back right now!".
No response. He just kept staring at him with that mocking smile, dangling his feet back and forth. Nathan started growing impatient.
"What are you waiting for? Give it back!".
After a pause, the boy replied from above.
"Ok, I propose a deal, I'll give you your clothes back one piece at a time for each day that you come here. "
"What? Are you mad? These are my clothes. ", said Nathan, shaking from cold and frustration, but the boy kept staring.
"I can't go home like this...", he added after a wave of hopelessness surged through his thoughts.
The boy pointed at a low tree branch to his right, where Nathan's red short were hanging.
"Oh well thanks a lot, that's so generous of you".
He started walking towards his shorts, trying to hide his buttocks with one hand and his groin with the other. He turned his back to the stranger, plucked his shorts from the tree branch and put them on as best he could while trying to cover himself at the same time. When he turned around, the boy was gone. Nathan whispered a little "hello", but nobody answered. He found the entire situation very strange, but most of all he wanted to be back home, where it's warm and safe. He made his way back out of the forest, and started his slow and painful walk home on the sharp ground.