Chapter Text
“One! Two! Three!” Ben chanted over and over in his head, like a desperate mantra on repeat.
“Come on, Darius!” His voice wavered. “You can’t leave me like this!” His pleas came between the urgent, rhythmic chest compressions.
With a deep breath, Ben tilted Darius's head back and sealed his lips over his, delivering a steady, life-saving breath. He fought to keep his focus, willing the air into Darius's lungs and hoping for a sign of life.
The two gays lay paralyzed, unsure of how to help. Their exhaustion from the swim left them barely able to move towards the desperate boys.
Yet, driven by sheer determination, Yaz and Sammy pushed through their fatigue. Sammy had to steady Yaz several times as they crawled toward Ben, their movements slow and agonizing. But they pressed on, clinging to the hope that they could still make a difference.
“H-how can we help?” Sammy gasped, her voice strained and faltering.
“Check his pulse,” Ben instructed urgently, not even glancing at them. Every second mattered, and he couldn’t afford to lose focus.
Sammy’s heart nearly stopped. she couldn’t feel anything...he was so cold. Yet she jerked her hand back from Darius's neck as though it had burned her, her face paled and eyes wide with disbelief.
“Ben… B-Ben, I don’t feel a pulse,” Sammy said, panic evident in her voice.
“No, no, no!” Ben’s movements grew frantic, his attempts to revive Darius becoming erratic. His chest compressions were uneven, and his breaths came in rushed, chaotic bursts.
“Ben! Ben, stop!” Yaz cried, wrapping her arms around him to halt his relentless efforts. “You’re going to break his ribs…” she swallowed Hard her voice breaking with grief.
“No!” Ben sobbed, his voice choked with desperation. “I can’t go through this again.” Despite Yaz’s pleas and embrace, he continued his frantic efforts, unwilling to give up on his friend...his best friend (second to bumpy ofc)
Sammy wrapped her arms around Ben and Yaz, her body trembling as she joined them in their grief. They clung to each other, mourning their loss even before it was fully confirmed. Despite their efforts to hold him back, Ben continued his desperate attempts to save Darius, driven by a relentless hope that refused to fade.
Ben maintained the same rhythm, the same movement, driven by the urgency of unspoken words and unresolved emotions. He couldn’t let Darius go, not when so many things were left unsaid.
How did he let this happen, Why didint he hang on to Darius a littel longer why didint he-
Suddenly, Darius seemed to be coughing something up in his mouth before vomiting a quarter of a gallon of burning seawater. Ben swiftly rolled him onto his side, thumping his back with the steady pressure of a drumbeat, working to expel the water as quickly as possible.
“Darius!” Ben cried, pulling him into a tight bear hug, holding him close until he was sure all the water had been thrown up. Ben had shouted Darius's name at least a hundred times that day, and he would have shouted it a hundred times more if it meant reassuring himself that his friend was still there, still alive, and still with him.⠀⠀⠀
𓆈𓆌𓆈𓆌𓆈𓆌𓆈𓆌𓆈𓆌𓆈𓆌𓆈𓆌𓆈𓆌𓆈𓆌⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“…Ben,” Darius’s voice came out weak and small, a sound Darius hated on himself. He hated feeling so helpless, so fragile, exhausted and drained. Ben’s comforting embrace only made him feel even smaller, but at this moment, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
"Ben, I think I'm going to be okay... you can let go of me now."
"Never. Never again," Ben said through gritted teeth, his grip tightening as Darius winced slightly.
Ben’s voice sounded as fragile as shattered glass, threatening to break with any misstep—almost more so than Darius’s.
“Okay, Ben, move aside so I can hug Darius too,” Sammy said firmly, using her motherly tone (reserved for only her siblings or the boys when they're doing something bad). She gently nudged the former island boy aside and wrapped her arms around her little brother, her relief and joy overflowing as she held him close.
Sammy might have felt guilty for pushing Ben aside if he hadn’t already been holding Darius for five minutes. What had started as a hug had slowly turned into Ben simply holding D?
“Don’t ever do that again,” she whispered in Darius’s ear, her voice trembling on the edge of breaking.
Yaz joined the two, wrapping her arms around them both adding her warmth to the moment.
𓆈𓆌𓆈𓆌𓆈𓆌𓆈𓆌𓆈𓆌𓆈𓆌𓆈𓆌𓆈𓆌𓆈𓆌
“Do you want another blanket?”
“No, thanks.”
“Would you like me to stoke the fire more?”
“No, Ben, I’m good.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“...I’m still achy and tired, and my lungs/chest still burn/hurt (no thanks to Ben), but I think some rest will-"
"No!... I mean Yaz and Sammy aren't back with food yet. Could you wait a little longer?"
Ben noticed Darius's skepticism and quickly tried to hide his worry with a calm expression to avoid upsetting him.
"okay, sure"
Ben and Darius sat between the sand and the thick, dried forest, huddled around a decent fire. Darius, against his will, was tightly wrapped in a blanket they had found in an abandoned decaying house.
Ben didn't want to appear strange or intrusive, but he couldn't help it. He kept stealing glances at Darius from the corner of his eye.
"Are you staring at me? Ben what's going on."
Ben finally looked at Darius face forward.
"Nothing..."
Darius's made his Benjiman Pincus if you don’t tell me what’s going on-. Face
"Okay, okay," Ben said, raising his hands in a playful surrender.
His small smile quickly faded. "I'm just worried about you. What if you get sick or dry-drown? There's no civilization or hospital nearby."
"Ben-"
"Don't 'Ben' me! You didn’t see how terrified I was. I could have lost you—I felt like my whole world was falling apart and there was nothing I could do! L-like—" Ben struggled to find the words.
"Like it would be all your fault, and you’d carry that pain and guilt with you forever... as if the voices in your head would never stop accusing you, saying you should have done better." Darius finished Ben’s sentence, his voice growing quieter as he spoke.
Ben scrunched his eyebrows together, a pained expression on his face.
“…all I’m saying is I know how you feel.” Even though Ben’s pain was significant, Darius’s pain seemed a bit heavier. “I’m sorry I put you through that.” Darius averted his gaze from Ben and began drawing something in the sand.
Ben opened his mouth to respond but was quickly cut off. “I know it’s not my fault,” Darius said, anticipating what Ben would say.
Darius slumped his shoulders, trying to avoid Ben’s easily predictable shoulder touch
It was something they had done almost since the beginning of time—a seamless rhythm and dance, fitting together like puzzle pieces.
But this time, one half of the puzzle piece was chipped, and Ben wasn’t sure if he could put it back together. Even if he could, he wasn’t certain it would ever fit the same way again.
(Ima go jump in the mosasaurs pool now ;)