These Paper Pages

home is wherever i'm with you

note: no shipping, only found family. hi, i've been dead for months but i came back with a long ass oneshot. completely self-indulgent.

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“Do you trust me?” Isen offers his hand to him with a small, hopeful upward tilt of his lips as he meets his gaze. His hand hovers over Isen's, fear, apprehension, and anxious energy bundling itself in a tight coil in his stomach as he stares at the hand offered to him to the rising waters sloshing against what used to be a sizeable mountain before the night of floods drowned the bottom half of it. If he goes, there's no telling if they'll survive, but if he stays here he's also as good as dead. The waters are still rising; steadily, slowly, little by little for the past few months. After a moment of deliberation, he takes Isen's hand and climbs into the boat.

“If we die, I'm blaming this all on you." Blyke grouches, Isen laughs.

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It's been two days since they took to the water, the mountain that they resided on was now nothing more than a vague shape in the horizon. The sun is relentless out on sea and with nothing but a few scrap of clothing to cover them, his skin tingled with the sting of sunburn. He hopes they could find land soon, they could stay there and resupply, not to mention they could sleep on a proper bed. He didn't mind the cuddling, Blyke welcomes it, it made him feel safe and tethered, what he does not appreciate, however, is the crick in his neck when he finds himself sleeping rather awkwardly.

One thing Blyke does like about being on the boat and out on the open sea is the view of the night sky. He used to live in a city with tall buildings, blinding city lights, and smoke spilling from the chimneys of factories; it was difficult to see the beauty of the skies peppered with thousands and thousands of stars. While he wouldn't trade this unparalleled view for anything, he misses the city. He misses the security and safety net it provided. He misses his family.

"Blyke?" Isen embraces him and drags him out of his reveries. The boy smiles sadly at him, they're both tired and beaten and exhausted. Hope runs thin as gossamer thread as they drift out on sea, praying tomorrow will bring about a better day.

It doesn't.

Two weeks passed and still no land in sight. Blyke presses himself against Isen, burying his face in the crook of his neck for comfort. Their supplies are running low and the days at sea, constantly adrift with nothing but water and more water in sight, is slowly and steadily driving him mad.

"I fucking hate this." Blyke murmurs as he loosely wraps his arms around Isen's torso. The other boy nods and  leans in, huddling closer to Blyke for warmth as the cool ocean breeze rocks them gently along. There's a brief pause between them before Isen speaks.

"Our supplies won't last one more week," A tired sigh escapes his lips, "We need to find land soon." They lull back into contemplative silence as they watch the stars above them, half-heartedly tracing the shapes they can identify. Blyke tangles his hand with Isen’s squeezing firmly.

“At least we’ll die together,” He softly murmurs, “I would haunt your ass if I died first.”

“I’ll probably think I’m insane and just roll with it, better than having nothing.” Isen fires back, a soft yawn escaping his lips.

“That’s…that’s kinda tragic, and a little bit depressing to be honest.”

“It’s hard being optimistic considering we’re somewhere in the middle of nowhere and all this blue is driving me nuts.” Isen deadpans, peeking at Blyke through half-lidded eyes. Blyke snorts and elbows him just hard enough for the boy to squeak and give him a slap on the shoulder. They allow themselves this small mercy, a little thread of hope to cling on to before tomorrow comes and delivers them nothing but disappointments and frustration.