Camping Trip - Bathing Opposite Sex Cousins

[dunbarbarian]

From when I was 8 to the summer I turned 13 my Uncle John would take myself and my cousin Rebecca (his daughter) fishing up in Canada for a few days during our summer vacation. Rebecca and I always got along well. She was just a year younger than me and her parent's only child. I on the other hand was the youngest of 6 although my youngest older sibling was almost 9 years old when I was born so I was like an only child as well (pretty sure I was an accident, but I digress). My Uncle had these rituals, certain days we'd go to certain fishing spots, on certain days we'd eat specific meals we'd brought along with whatever fish we'd caught that day, and he'd keep track of our height by carving lines into a tree. He also would bathe us, on two occasions. Just our hair and upper body on the second day, but from head to toe on the fifth and final full day of the trip.

For the first wash, we were always required to be shirtless. For the second wash we had to be naked at least for a short period of time. Uncle John clearly saw this as a family bonding activity because he bathed us together, one right after the other. I would always go first, followed by Rebecca. In the case of the upper body wash he would order us to take off our shirt and sit us on his lap with a basin of water and a bar of soap on a table. It was extremely intimate, by design. It was a way he expressed that he loved us. Being a boy, being shirtless was no issue and I loved the feeling of his hands sliding across my bare skin. I hadn't been bathed by my mother or father since I was a very small boy and I was fond of this treatment. He took care when bathing us. He would take his time to caress us, kiss our forehead, look into our eyes, give us a tender hug to his own bare chest as he washed our backs... it might alarm people that he used his bare hands to do this but it was very loving and I truly cherished the way he would touch me. Skin to skin contact is good for babies but I'm convinced it's good for big kids too! It was like having a second dad rubbing feelings of love into my chest. We were perfectly capable of bathing ourselves from the first summer but this was something Uncle John insisted upon up until the summer Rebecca hit puberty.

This was all pretty inconsequential for Rebecca until she turned 10 and was visibly shy about me seeing her flat chest, although nothing was said on that occasion and it didn't take long for her to get comfortable. Then she turned 11 and it was different when it became time for her to take her shirt off. There was an awkward moment where she hesitated and looked directly at me but obeyed her father, blushing a bit over having to be bare chested, and I was surprised Uncle John was continuing this ritual at this point because however small they were you could see Rebecca had started growing breasts. Nevertheless, she took off her shirt and revealed her chest bumps to my curious eyes, just little cones at that point. I tried not to stare as I dried off, but I had to look as to my surprise Uncle John still used his right hand to rub soap on his daughter's breast buds, quickly but thoroughly. I noticed he called her "big girl" on this occasion, something I hadn't heard him call her before.

Rebecca had always been a bit hesitant about stripping naked in front of me for the full body wash in the lake, but she bravely bared her genitals to my eyes on each occasion including this one. We would all go down to the lake in our swim suits, Rebecca in just her bottoms until this summer she emerged from the tent wearing her bottoms but also a tight midriff swim top (that ironically showed off her buds) while I was wearing skimpy lycra shorts. Uncle John wore his swim trunks but never took them off. I asked about it one time when I was maybe 10 and he said it would be inappropriate for me to see his penis; those were actually his exact words, he was very open and direct about it. He could see us naked, Rebecca and I could see each other naked, Rebecca could see him naked at home, but I could not see him naked. I remembering what would be so bad about seeing my uncle's penis? It's not like I didn't also have one! But I didn't mind. I guess it just would have made him uncomfortable, which was ironic because Rebecca and I were both were pretty uncomfortable on this occasion, but we were both silently curious. I certainly was. Per usual I went first and stripped naked while Rebecca waited her turn, watching her father soap me down. Taking off my swimsuit was embarrassing in a way it hadn't been before that summer but I did my best to hide it. I was still prepubescent and hairless, but I was 12 and my 11 year old girl cousin was staring at my penis, and it was already awkward that she was just starting to hit puberty. Earlier that day I'd silently wondered if she would look any different between her legs, and I felt a funny feeling from knowing that I was going to find out for certain, so I didn't protest being bathed naked in front of her. I remember feeling a strange intensity on this occasion watching Uncle John take the bar of soap to lather up his hands before reaching for me.

He took his time lathering up my upper body. He was very fond of that part, always hugging me while doing my back. During this particular ritual, Uncle John would call me handsome, and that made me feel safe. Even that time after doing my upper half he washed both of my legs and then my bare bottom before hugging me from behind. He grabbed the soap lathered his hands up with soap again and once again hand washed my chest. After a gentle embrace, he prepared to wash my genitals. At this time Uncle John ordered Rebecca to take her top off, indicating it would soon be her turn, and she hesitated a moment but obeyed as her father used a soaped up wash cloth to carefully clean my growing penis. My Uncle only used a wash cloth when cleaning us between our legs. For the rest of our bodies he used his open hands. I remember being horrified that my penis started to harden, not from my uncle bathing me but from Rebecca taking off her top. I think Uncle John felt this because he told Rebecca to jump in the water to get her body wet while quickly submerging me as well to rinse me off. He quietly told me to put my swim shorts on, which I had always done after he was finished with me and was going to do anyway, but I did so very quickly this time although my penis did not grow into a full blown erection and soon softened. I sat back and for the last time watched my cousin, clad in just her swimsuit bottoms, get bathed by her father as I dried myself off. Normally he would have told her to take her bottoms off from the start, but he didn't this time, and I was worried I wasn't going to get to see between her legs like I originally thought and I suppose that would have been fair given the circumstances even though she'd seen all of me. She was much more vulnerable in this situation than I was and even then I would have not hesitated to admit that, and I'm confident the whole thing in general was much more embarrassing for her than me.

I hardly blinked as Uncle John used his hands to rub soap all over my cousin's half naked body. He was very fastidious about cleaning us but also made sure to provide physical affection in the process. She put up no resistance, turning when and how her father wanted her to, even lifting her arms up as he slid his bare hand around to her front and quickly but openly lathered her developing breasts. When he had covered almost all of her body in soap, the moment of truth arrived. I remember him saying "Alright, big girl, I need you to be brave and take those off." She nodded, trying to keep a stoic expression, and took her swim bottoms down and off... but involuntary reactions will reveal how a person is really feeling and Rebecca was blushing cherry red from her face down to her tween buds. While her young breasts had begun to grow, she had not yet sprouted any pubic hair so her genitals were fully and clearly visible. I had seen Rebecca's smooth, naked lips half before but the sight produced funny feelings inside me this time.

Uncle John soaped up the washcloth and Rebecca stood there in the water naked. I stared at her bald vulva and made the mistake of making eye contact with her. She didn't look mad, just keeping an eye on my eyes, but I wasn't ashamed of staring. I think any 12 year old boy would have and I know she took a long, unblinking look at my penis minutes before. What I was ashamed of then and even now was the feelings I was having at this sight of my cousin. I thankfully wasn't getting an erection, but I wasn't entirely flaccid either and the butterflies in my stomach were going absolutely crazy.

She was a beautiful girl. Very, very pretty. Was I allowed to think that about my cousin??

I tried to smile at her when we made eye contact and I got a little purse-lipped smile out of her. I saw Uncle John smirk in my direction before turning toward his daughter and thoroughly washing between Rebecca's legs with the soaped-up cloth. He then discarded the cloth, ran his hand over her bare bottom, and then had her crouch down as he one more time used his open hand to lather soap onto her face, her back, her shoulders, and her little breasts before having her jump in the water to rinse all the soap off. It was at this point, after being so wary of Rebecca blushing crimson, that Uncle John pointed out that I was blushing. I stammered, not knowing what to say before he tousled my hair and said he was only teasing me and told me not to feel bad. Rebecca emerged seconds later and quickly donned her swimsuit bottoms but remained topless on the way back up to the tent. All I could think about was, if Uncle John could see me blushing then Rebecca did too, and there was no doubt of the reason why!