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The first time you stepped on the sand of the island you felt the heat rising through your steel toed boots. The heat was absolutely blistering, you tugged at your vest.. suddenly feeling like it was closing around you, restricting your lungs as you dragged in hot air. The cool breeze from the water was your savior, rushing in to dip your chest in a perfect contrast of hot and cold.
The rest was kind of hazy, the only thing that comes to mind is you hastily rushing over to pick up Kelvin.. That’s right.. Kelvin, you didn’t know much about the man other than you two had both been put on this mission and after you were attacked, Kelvin was.. well. Your hands reached out to cradle the other's face in your hands, he felt.. smooth, aside from the spiky surface of his regrowing beard, he felt.. normal? He wasn’t completely lucky though, before you helped him up he was blocking his ears and now you knew why, he was deaf, the crash had deafened him. That was.. basically the only things wrong with him and maybe a little brain damage if… that matters in the long run, you’ve seen him work and he is still capable of basic tasks and that’s all you care about.
Or so you thought. You knew that many had been sent before you to find the missing billionaires, you thought it would be a quick one week mission or so.. even you knew that would be pushing it, but surely the missing soldiers would still be on the island, right? Right?
And so here you are, chopping down logs and building a makeshift hut because the tarp you found in an emergency kit was not big enough for both you and Kelvin and you wouldn’t want to leave him alone to deal with the sea breeze that was gradually crawling towards you both, nipping at your skin and sending cold chills through your body as the sun becomes less and less visible in the sky.
You finished up gathering the last of the logs for your wooden cabin, your whole body ached and screamed a silent protest as you marched through the dull pains, you didn’t know what horrors lived on the island.. what had wiped out the rest of your crewmates, tied to ropes and.. sticks driven through their skulls, it was the work of a human, that’s for sure.. or something.. humanoid? Maybe aliens really did exist but just on this specific island where a couple of billionaires just had to get lost on, whatever, you didn’t want to find out what things lived here, especially out in the open and when you’re sleeping.
You sighed as you finished driving the last logs into place, finally allowing your body the privilege of being allowed to rest. Stepping back, you admired your handiwork, eyes drifting over the mediocre woodwork of the house and finding themselves burning holes into Kelvin.
He was resting by the fire, as you told him to do. His head turned away, moving ever so slightly when he caught sight of a butterfly or something else.. beautiful.. You couldn’t see what he was looking at, but he was definitely looking at something, you didn’t doubt that, you’d read somewhere that deaf people's sight was supposed to be better since they could no longer hear, they no longer have any use for hearing since.. Well, they can no longer hear, so they make use of their other senses.
You stood there for what seemed like forever, watching the fire flicker and reflect off of Kelvin’s face and the way he would cuddle into himself whenever a particularly strong wind would blow over his form. Oh right, watching Kelvin shiver and get impossibly close to the fire reminded you that you yourself were freezing, your hands shook and your fingertips threatened to release the makeshift ax you gripped in your palm.
A mumbled jumbled mess of what your brain told you was words snapped you out of your thoughts, you whipped your head up towards the source of the noise and met eyes with Kelvin, fuck, your thoughts are really catching up to you today. He waved a hand at you and patted his hand on the seat next to him, you nodded, you had always been friendly towards Kelvin, but him reciprocating that and doing nice things for you? That. That was new. You gave Kelvin a small smile, making your way over to the cooling fire and taking a seat next to Kelvin, not too close, but close enough that you could feel the heat of his body pooling off of him like a broken heater. You rolled your shoulders, groaning as your joints crackled and popped due to the sudden movements, god it felt good to relax after a productive day, just sitting down next to the fire felt like a thin sheet of ice was slowly being removed from your tired body.
From the corner of your eye you noticed Kelvin staring at you, his eyes half lidded and tired, he had worked just as hard as you today, gathering fish and logs in preparation for the winter that you could already feel, you told him to get a lot done today because if it gets any worse than this and you know it will, you’ll at least have the supplies to stay cooped up inside for a couple of winter days. You turned your head slightly to face Kelvin, watching quietly as he lightly brushed over his clothed arms with his gloved hands and pushed them into his chest. He’s cold.
If you could soften your eyes anymore than you already had, you would, you smiled slightly as Kelvin began looking back and forth at the space between you two, you had an idea of what he wanted, your previously cold fingertips twitched on the wooden bench, edging towards the notepad you kept in one of your vest pockets but you couldn’t bring yourself to grab it, what if you were wrong? What if this wasn’t what he wanted?
Your eyes fell, refusing to look any further into Kelvin’s eyes, your face feels like it’s on fire as you slowly innnch towards Kelvin, the heat from your face has a domino effect on the rest of your body and you suddenly have no reason to seek warmth from your companion, but you feel obligated to, he needs the heat more than you anyway.
Both of your knees knock together so suddenly that the noise that came out of Kelvin’s throat sounded like one of shock, you expected him to run away, to push you away.. but.. he doesn’t, his shock doesn’t last long as it quickly dissolves into an emotion you’re all too familiar with.
Kelvin’s arms break free from his cold grasp and wrap themselves around you as if they have a mind of their own, he pushes himself into you harshly, squeezing his arms around you, while resting his head on one of your shoulders gently. Warm. So warm. So impossibly warm.
Your hands had automatically lifted themselves off of the smooth surface of the wooden bench and were currently hovering in the air above Kelvin’s body. You know you were the one who initiated this contact with your partner but after being the quickest and most intimate form of contact you’ve received in months.. you have no idea how to react, but you know that if hands could blush, yours would definitely be blushing. It's like your hands are their own people, crushing on the man who’s now huddled into your chest for heat and staring at the claws of your hands as if you’re some arcade machine, waiting to snatch Kelvin and never let him go.
Your eyes dart to the male laying on you as he lets out a soft sigh. Oh wow, your hands. Sparks lit the tiny hairs on your skin as your eyes focused on your hands. Both hands seated on Kelvin’s resting form, steadying him as his body slowly filled with sleep. You gulped, hands sweaty and unsure of where to go, every movement seeming too loud, not for yourself, but for Kelvin. The childish fear of him pulling away from you still lay dormant in your mind, what if you were messing something up? What if you were being too ‘loud’ for him? Were the organic vibrations of your body too loud for him?
Your hands became more comfortable as they ran over the length of Kelvin’s body. At first they felt unfamiliar, running over him in a similar motion to petting a cat but slowly becoming more comfortable, particularly in his hair. Twirling the no-longer shampoo and conditioned hair around one finger. Yes he was greasy, dirty and everything in between.. but you didn’t care, if it were anyone else you would have avoided them like the plague and put so much distance between the two of you that there would’ve been no way you could swap bacteria. Forest or not. You couldn’t figure out why Kelvin was.. different, or why you felt so connected with him even though you had basically only just met.
The fire began to dwindle and you could hear faint screaming just past your defensive walls. Cannibals. Even with your walls up you could still hear them, their hands gliding in the most ungraceful way you could imagine over your structure, their cries of frustration through the long nights, waking you from your sleep which had become lighter the longer you stayed on the island. Some nights you just sat awake, gun strong in your grip, afraid that they would somehow find a way to get in and break down your defenses while you were asleep.. they didn’t seem smart enough to do that yet, but you wouldn’t put it past them to find out how to climb over the spike tipped walls.
The large chills in the air caused Kelvin to wriggle around, he slipped slightly and your already hard grip on him hardened and you sighed knowing that you would have to carry him into your cabin.
The trek to the cabin was.. interesting. You held Kelvin in a piggyback motion, only the other way around, as if he was being held on by a baby carrier. Honestly, you did it because you thought it would be easier to carry him like this, you didn’t expect a playful resistance from him, him pulling your hair lightly every time you attempted to get him to lock his legs around you. When you finally dragged the two of you up the small steps, leading to the front door of the cabin, that’s where you had the most trouble. Dodging his attacks was one problem, but maneuvering the grown man around so you would be able to open the door was another problem.
But you got past it, because tricking Kelvin was pretty easy, making it seem like you’re struggling to open the door with one foot and coming in with the second one was a pretty genius idea and you could’ve ended this little game of his earlier if you thought of it earlier on.
As soon as you shut the door to the cabin you let Kelvin go - well dropped him, basically. You watched him, looking away every couple of seconds as you fiddled with your weapons bag, he laid sprawled out on the ground for a few moments, watching you from the corner of his eye before huffing when he realised you weren’t buying, you smiled as he dragged himself over to the bed with an exaggerated limp and dropped down on the edge of it, you were expecting it to break from that but surprisingly, it didn’t, even if the stick beds weren’t the most comfortable, at least now you know that they’ll last a little while. You snatched your gun from the bag and sat in the furthest corner in the room away from Kelvin.
The sea breeze of the island knocked against your makeshift home, breaking inside your windowless windows and wrapping you in a wet blanket. Damn this chair that was placed weirdly close to the open window. You cuddled into yourself, miming Kelvin’s actions from before and…. it actually kind of worked, your back shielding from the winds battering against your back, begging you to open your arms to them.
At this angle you couldn’t see if Kelvin had laid down or not, but you had an idea of what he was doing. The noises he was making were insistent and they came out as a twisted mess, you couldn’t make out what the words were but they sounded insistent. For a second you thought he had finally fallen asleep and the noises were just your experience of his active dreaming but you were sorely mistaken as a heat of pain bloomed on your head.
Your head shot towards Kelvin, so quick your world blurred and your eyes unfocused, words coming out of your mouth so fast you couldn’t even hear yourself say them.
As your eyes refocused on the figure in front of you, you noticed a shy grin plastered on Kelvin’s face in the dark of your cabin. You turned towards the ground, searching for what he decided was a good idea to throw at you… a rock, awesome. It wasn’t the worst thing that’s been thrown at you but the distant pains of a migraine taunted you. Kelvin has a good throw.
You looked back up at Kelvin, kind of tired of his antics for today but you didn’t blame him, what else were you supposed to do on a cannibal island other than bully your partner the entire time?
He made a gesture towards you, shaking his hands, but when he realised you didn't get it he waved his hands towards himself, urging you to come closer to him. On the only bed in the cabin. When you were supposed to be doing night watch.
You knew you shouldn’t have done it, but your legs moved faster than your brain did and before you knew it you were seated on the bed with Kelvin, pulling him down with you to pillow-level so you were eye-to-eye in bed. Everything was quiet for a moment making you anxious, even Kelvin had stopped all of his movements.. which was a good thing, the bed was so small that any movement you two made now would result in the world record for ‘Most Amount of Physical Touch in a Day.’ ….. ‘At This Island.’
Tonight you found yourself ignoring your mind, opting to make the first move and wrap one arm and prop one leg up on Kelvin, locking him against you. The same heat from before woke up from its short sleep and fluttered between the both of you. Warmth.. Yes, I’m doing this for warmth.
In the dark you could see Kelvin’s face twist slightly, but he made no other sounds or protests, aside from the shaky breaths being pulled from his mouth. You too found yourself making those same noises as he pushed his head into the crook of your neck.
His arms slowly found their way around you, one combed through your knotty hair and the other draped around your back, nails skating against your spine, making you hold the male even tighter against yourself.
Kelvin’s breathing slowed and steadied, you focused in on his breaths like it was your favourite song, the longer you listen to his breaths the more your breathing matches his.
And it’s the best you’ve breathed or even felt in a while, a small smile grows on your face as you wonder if Kelvin was one of those psychics in his past life.. or maybe he even worked in mental health, maybe he knew a lot about that kind of stuff.. you didn’t know, there was a lot you didn’t know about the man you were now entangled with, you most certainly didn’t know enough about him to be doing something so intimate with him now… but if he allowed it then you didn’t see why you shouldn’t.
You could feel your eyes growing heavy, struggling to stay awake as Kelvin’s steady breathing lulled you to sleep. You ran your hand through his tangled hair as a reminder.. or a memory of something, in reality you did it because you knew this was a one time thing, Kelvin wouldn’t be sleeping in your arms every night as your heart had hoped. You smiled as his body twitched slightly, pushing your head into his shoulder respectively and closing your eyes.
Maybe this wouldn’t be a one time thing.