My Darling Lies Over the Ocean (YouTubers AU)

26. Falling in love is easy. Staying in love requires work.

The sun seems to not care at all that the seven men have been on the island for now seven long and weary days. The rays beat down on each of them, almost angry at their desire to keep pushing along, despite the painful heat and long bouts of sunburn. The only one who is able to stay in any sort of good spirits is Jack, but just barely. His blue eyes focusing on keeping enough food in their bellies to stop any major arguments from starting from starvation alone. At the exact opposite of the mood is Felix. His body has never been used to this level of roughing it in any sense of the word. His limbs are under silent protest from the amount of work that he's putting in absolutely every day, and the way that his husband seems to always thrive under this type of stress isn't helping him feel any better. Perhaps it's because of the Irishman's career as a chef that allows him to be able to with deal with the constant changes, or the boundless energy that the blonde both adores and irritates him so much. Regardless though, any attempts that the two have had to try to get along better after their late night romp might as well been centuries before now.

Cry is still trying to hold onto his composure as best that he can, but even Ken sees that the edges of the soft tone and smooth deep voice is beginning to show the slightest of sharper cuts. The meal bars, even though were not loved by anyone in the group, were pretty much gone. This made the need for fresh fish and berries even more necessary. Since Ken is the only one in the group that had even a fraction of knowing what he was doing was constantly tasked with the job of making sure to get enough fish to at least keep them generally fed for at least two solid meals. Though everyone volunteered to help him as best they could, including Felix, the only one who was anywhere near decent was Mark, and he still could only catch at most two or three fish to Ken's triple that amount.

Meals are the only time that everyone could seem to be able to deal with each other now. Between the heat, the constant closeness and the incredible feeling of quiet desperation hangs over all of them. Ethan seems torn and at times clings to Mark like a slender koala bear, and other times wanders over to Tyler of Cry to chat whenever they are awake. It's in the morning time on day number eight that Ken decides that it would be a good idea to start exploring other parts of the island.

"We can't keep going to the same areas of the water," he explains to the look of concern in his husband's blue eyes. "Fish aren't scholars, but they will start to understand that a lot of other fish are disappearing in specific spots, and will start to travel to different spots."

Cry sighs as he agrees, and they tell the others during breakfast that that both he and Ken will be heading up towards some of the hillier areas of the island. The small man has hope that maybe a couple of them will raise their hands to join them in the long walk, in case that do find additional food. It's always nice to have another set of arms to carry anything that they find.

Ken's dark eyebrows shoot up in shock at the other person who says that they would like to come along. Felix scrambles off of the ground and moves quickly over to the other two, his eyes looking exhausted but a small look of determination on his face. Jack actually is close to admiring the blonde for his willingness to help, even though it may be fleeting. Cry smiles, patting Felix on the back, and the three men head off towards the darker thicket of trees. The raven takes the lead with his husband and Felix a few feet behind, and talking about some of the flowers they see along the way.

It's during these quieter times that Cry can fully see why Felix and Jack got together. When in a tight group of people Felix can be brash, and sometimes inching his way to complete rudeness. However he has a kinder and sweeter side that seems to fit Jack's personality more. You just have to be willing to get past the grumpiness to see who he really is inside. Even Ken notices it, looking back at how Felix is able to pull a loud laugh out of Cry. It warms his heart to hear his husband laugh again. The days in the little raft and now on the island seem to be taking his lover's happiness away each day that they are still trapped.

After a small amount of exploring Felix comes across a few berry bushes that look different than the ones closer to the beach where they are staying. Cry plucks off a few of the bright red berries and pockets them to let Jack take a look at. Luckily the path they took isn't very hard to get back to, and if the Irishman gives them the okay that the berries are harmless, they can travel back to retrieve a larger amount. Within the next hour they are heading around much larger cliffs towards a spot that Ken thinks are a huge collection of fish, at least from where a stream seems to be directing the flow of cool fresh water.

"It's good that Jack isn't with us," Felix remarks as the three men start to weave around slender bits of small pathways as they climb. "He's terrified of heights."

The dark eyes of Ken linger on Cry's knitted brow as he tries to not look down as they continue to hike up. He knows that Cry too shares that fear, though usually a lot better at hiding it. The larger man reaches behind him and feels the small hand wrap around his fingers tightly, and he can almost feel the quickened pulse.

"It's all right, Cece," he whispers so only Cry can here. "I'll make sure that we all get out of here alive. Just keep a hold of my hand when you need it. We'll be back at the campground really soon."