My Darling Lies Over the Ocean (YouTubers AU)

15. Hold on to the love, not the loss.

Ethan shuffles a little closer to Tyler, trying to get as far away from the shouting as possible. He winces at Cry doing his best to calm everyone down, but the other men's voices are so much louder that there is no way that the smaller man can be heard.

He turns back to his unconscious patient, almost envying his slumber as he begins to focus on changing his head bandage, the sounds of the quarreling fading a bit as he does. It is only when the old dressing has been taken off that Ethan notices Tyler's dark blue eyes begin to open, and realizes that he is finally waking up.

Tyler blinks slowly, the bright sun and dizziness from his head makes it hard to see pretty much anything. He has no idea where he is, and the blinding light and headache isn't helping him at all with his bearings. Ethan's small frame and face float hazily into his vision, and he blinks again.

"Evan," he croaks, his throat incredibly dry, "What happened? Where are we?"

Ethan jumps slightly at the name. Evan? Does Tyler think that he's Evan?

Tyler tries to sit up, but between the head pain and the weakness in his limbs he can't do it.

"Where are we?" he repeats, his eyes looking at Ethan more clearly now. "Wait..." Tyler blinks again, able to squint to block out the angry sun. "You... aren't Evan. Where's Evan?"

Ethan's heart is pounding in his chest.

"Evan isn't here..." Ethan says softly, not knowing how to tell Tyler that Evan has drowned. "He's gone."

Tyler's is completely confused by this information, his last memories are full of missing gaps. He looks from the small man in front of him to the other men slightly further away. They seem really upset but maybe they can tell him where Evan is. The redhead is clearly not on the boat as far as Tyler can tell.

"Tyler," Ethan says gently, "I... need to finish cleaning your head wound. You're still bleeding from last night."

It is only then that Tyler reaches up his hand to touch his forehead, a small amount of blood collecting on his fingertips. He looks at his reddened hand and then back to Ethan.

"How did I hurt myself?" he asks. "Is anyone else hurt?"

"No... just you. It happened when you were fighting with my husband Mark," Ethan says, his face feeling hot again. "He knocked you out and you hit your head."

Tyler looks confused again, but Ethan is relieved that Evan isn't coming up in the conversation now. Tyler is quiet as he allows Ethan to finish cleaning his wound and placing a clean bandage on his head. Ethan watches the taller man's face as he is working, and it is clear that Tyler is trying to fit the pieces in his head as to what has happened.

"The ship... it sank, didn't it?" Tyler asks, his blue eyes looking as if trying to remember the words to a song. "We got in... the boat. Wait..."

Ethan felt his heart racing again. He glances over his shoulder at the others. Why won't anyone help him?

"I got in the boat. Evan was... still on the ship." Tyler finishes, his eyes suddenly looking at Ethan in alarm. "Where's Evan?"

Ethan glances over quickly to the others again, hoping that they have finally started to calm down.

"Please, there is no need to fight over food," Cry says as calmly as he can. "There is plenty of rations here for days, but we still need to assume that we may be a few days from rescue, so we take just what we need and nothing else."

"He's right," Ken agrees, his pants finally on properly as he walks over to stand next to Cry. "All of us need to work together if we plan on making it through all of this."