Chapter Text
"Stop it, stop it!" Coby stared around him in dismay. He was on the beach, all too familiar, and soaked. Panic flared. His lungs burned, his body ached. "Drake?"
"I’m here. Glad to see you’re okay."
"Okay is a stretch."
"Alive, then."
"Drake, where…?"
"We have to be careful. We have no idea where the pirates wound up. They could be anywhere."
Coby stared at him in horror. "Are we back on the island?"
"Back?"
Coby sat bolt upright. "No, nope! This isn’t real! This can’t be happening. What did I do wrong, universe? What did I do to deserve this?"
"Coby, you’re delirious, and we don’t have medical supplies. You’ll overexert yourself at this rate. Breathe, okay? Just breathe."
Coby shook his head. He’d worked so hard to get off this island not too long ago, his arms still burned from the effort of lifting logs. He had been traumatized, undergone therapy and medical care, argued with his best friend, and all for what? For nothing? Was that some dream of being back home, even if the situation wasn’t perfect? Was that just a wish, in a half dead mental state after his near-death experience? Coby put his head in his hands and sobbed softly, shoulders hunched and tense.
"Drake, don’t bother saving me this time. I can’t do it."
"I’m not letting you die."
"Please. In desperate situations, usually there’s a way out, even if that way is death. Don’t rob me of that option. Don’t force me to keep doing this."
"Let’s just have some dinner, get some water into your system-"
"I have more than enough water!"
"Get some rest and talk in the morning, okay?"
"No, let me go. You don’t…don't need me, I’m a burden on you, and it’s killing me. I can die a slow, gradual death, wasting away, or I can end it in one go. Don’t stop me."
"Coby, I’m not going to let you get hurt."
"I’m not asking to get hurt. I’m asking to die. I promise I’ll make it so quick it’ll be painless, so you won’t have to see me in any pain at all."
"Coby."
"It’ll be fine! Make a knife and a quick slit across the throat, or I can find a way to snap my neck, or-"
"Coby."
"Please, Drake. I love you, but I can’t do it."
"Coby!"
Coby gasped, his eyes flying wide open and his breath coming short. He was in his room, wrapped in white sheets and thick blankets, curled up in a tight ball against Drake's chest, the bed bending under their shared weight. Drake's arms were around him, they were in clean, not torn clothes, their wounds all gone, only scars remaining after five months back on the mainland.
"Nightmares?" Drake guessed. "Again?"
Coby nodded. "I hate it. Almost every night, Drake. It’s been five months. I’ve talked to my therapist. I’m medicated, but it’s like it does nothing at all. This is the third medication I’ve tried!" He hugged his shoulders. "It’s never going to go away, is it?"
"Don’t say that." Drake rubbed Coby's back and mouthed his neck. "Come here."
Coby giggled at the feel of needy lips lightly brushing his skin. "Looking for permission for a kiss? Permission granted."
Drake attacked the soft skin with kisses. "Does it help you feel better?"
"Oh god…"
"Oh god good, or oh god bad?"
"Good, definitely good…"
Across the room, Helmeppo snorted back a laugh. "If you two are gonna end up going at it like rabbits, can it wait five minutes while I change and get out of the way?"
"We are not!" Coby snapped.
"Come on, just fuck already. You moan at every neck or chest kiss, or when he touches your leg. The sexual tension's thick, and you guys have been dating for what, four months now? Five? It’s about time you guys thought about sex."
"Every couple is different!"
"You guys spent almost a year on that island day in, day out. I’m surprised you haven’t already fucked." Helmeppo brushed tangles out of his hair and reached for his shirt, giving Coby time to admire the finely-toned abs. Helmeppo caught him via the mirror too. "Oh come on. You know I can see you drooling over my abs, right? And we're not even dating. Just fuck already, you’re horny."
"Yeah, I’m horny! That’s normal."
Helmeppo tugged his layers on and waved it off. "Whatever, I’ll make something up for you. Have fun." He walked out.
Coby blushed, cuddling into Drake's chest. "We're not having sex. Not yet."
Drake nodded. "I figured as much."
"Drake? What do you want from this relationship?" Coby asked.
"What?"
"You’re…well. I tried not to acknowledge it, but you’re not a kid like me."
"You're right. I'm looking at something long-term. Coby…I'm hoping that one day— not yet, but one day— you’ll be the person I can settle down and share my life with." Drake hesitated. "What about you? Is this just your fling for the year, or-"
"No. That’s why I asked. I'm young, but I want something serious. I’m a Marine, Drake. I never know what’s going to happen to me. I could die on any assignment at any given moment, and I don’t want to waste time on flings or hookups. I want to find someone who loves me for me. Someone who will love me even if some accident leaves me disabled or out of commission. Someone who will love me no matter what."
"Let me be that person for you."
"Answer me an odd question."
"Anything."
"If I was in some traumatic accident, and wound up in a coma, would you be by my side, talking to me, holding my hand, trying to wake me up?"
"Every day, until either you woke up or passed away."
"What if I got a horrible concussion and it changed me? Altered my personality, or made it difficult so I would have to relearn speech and basic tasks like walking on my own? Would you be patient and love then too?"
"I’d study language with you, and help you practice at your level, and I’d be your arm to hold as you learn to steady yourself again. I would keep track of your calendar for you, and help keep track of important information and medications so you didn’t have to burden your troubled mind with it."
"What if I never recovered fully?"
"Then I’d stay with you and adapt to the way you need to live, to the kind of help you need. So you're never alone and I could stay by your side, forever."
Coby closed his eyes, smiling softly and cuddling into Drake's strong shoulder. He could feel the sincerity. "Yeah…I may be young, but I know, you’re The One."
_________
"You’re not leaving again." Coby pouted, putting his hands on his hips. He knew Drake had to, it was in the job description, but it was always hard.
"It’s the last time," Drake admitted.
Coby frowned. "What?"
"Coby, after this assignment…I’m coming back to the Marines. I’ve already done the paperwork and cleared it. I’ll be coming back to study, make some reports, and do some intel work here. One day, I’ll return to the front as an officer."
"You surrendered the rank of Rear-Admiral though. Where will you start from?"
"They won’t strip me of my rank when I was always a part of the Marines, even when I was working undercover, and even if they do, it’ll take no time at all to climb the ladder." Drake shrugged. "I don’t care though. I’m not like you. I don’t want to become Admiral and change the world and all. I just want to do what I feel is right, and avoid being like my father."
"Understandably," Coby agreed, though it was beyond him how someone could not be interested in climbing the ladder.
"I’ll leave climbing the ranks to you. Two years from not even a Marine to Captain…I’d say you’re pretty good at it."
Coby smiled from the corner of his lip. "Be safe out there and come back to me, okay?"
He fixed Drake with a long, longing stare, only to look away quickly when he was caught, a blush forming on his face, although well past the point of denying feelings. Drake loved that adoring stare, so filled with hope and awe. Even now, six months into an established romantic relationship, Coby was still in awe of him, and it felt great. He couldn’t say it wasn’t returned. Coby was every bit as amazing. Maybe even more.
"I’ll always come back to you. I love you, Pink."
"Dumbass. I love you too. Now get down here and kiss me."
____________
"Hey, what's wrong?" Helmeppo set a hand on Coby's shoulder.
"What makes you think something's wrong?"
"You’ve been kinda…downcast all day."
"I’m fine, I’m fine." Coby waved it off.
"Don’t tell me this is about missing your boyfriend."
"C'mon, you’d miss me if I went away for this long!"
"Yeah, but that’s because I’ve been with you from day one!"
"Yeah, I know." Coby raised an eyebrow. "And 'cause you like me."
Helmeppo hugged him. "Because I’m scared to lose you again."
"You’ll never lose me." Coby returned the hug, tight, wrapped in warmth. "I promise you."
"Don’t make a promise you can’t keep."
"What?"
Helmeppo shook his head. "Every day since you and Drake got together…you drift just a little further away."
___________
Coby did his best to remedy that, talking more with his friend, just like they used to, and yet, internally blaming Helmeppo. After all, had it not been Helmeppo who had pushed him away first, even when he had done everything he could to fix things between them? They were healing now though, and it was much to the dismay of them both when they realized Coby's instinct upon Drake's return would be to rush to him, if his promise to meet him at the harbour on the den-den mushi was anything to go by.
"You keep promising to be here, then changing your mind."
"I’m sorry, Meppo-"
"I don’t want your goddamn apology, Coby. If you’re sorry, then fix it instead of talking! Do us both a favour and stop being a liar. Stop making promises you don’t intend to keep."
"I do intend to keep it!" Coby snapped. Then the snail went off.
Helmeppo raised his eyebrow, a challenge. Coby hated this. If he answered, he was a hypocrite. If he didn’t, he could miss something important. Helmeppo would understand though, right? Coby was a Captain. He had important work to do, calls to take, information to gather. So Coby tightly pursed his lips, but he couldn’t ignore it, so picked up. Without waiting for him to speak, an officer on the other end addressed him.
"Captain Coby, unfortunate news came in this morning. They said you were someone to inform. X Drake was taken down this morning."
Coby's eyes widened. "Taken down as in…k-killed?"
"We don’t know. He was taken by the enemy after a thorough defeat. It’s unlikely they would’ve left someone of such a threat level alive for long. I’m sorry."
"No…No no no! He's Drake…he won’t die," Coby whimpered. "He promised he would always come back to me!"
"I’m sorry, sir." The officer hung up.
Coby set the receiver aside and put his head in his hands, shoulders shaking. "No…No, it’s impossible!" He sobbed. "I can’t get to him in time, and what could I do against someone who was able to take down an allosaurus?"
"Coby…"
"He’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead!"
Helmeppo set a hand on Coby's shoulder. "Coby, I’m so, so sorry. Here I am, giving you a hard time, but…" he couldn’t stand the look on Coby's face. "You loved him so much…"
Coby buried his face against Helmeppo's shoulder, clutching his arm, sobbing. "Helmeppo…Help me."
"Tell me how."