BOAT BOYS

“What side are you even talking about?!”

The other, the only other being with human speech who resembled a human, Joel, looked back a him in offense, like he committed the biggest crime by simply questioning his stupidity. He glared at him, prompting him to jerk upright toward his boat, hands on the ledge and leaning forward, and how he wished Joel would tip over. He needed something to laugh about, or he’d go insane, very likely. 

“You are on my side! We agreed on this! You stay on your side, I stay on mine!”

Joel’s voice was also… not bad, but he wanted to be mad at him to feel something, anything, so he made the executive decision to suddenly dislike his voice. Loud like seagulls’ screeches with the lung capacity of whales. It was jarring, but Joel liked to talk, spewing nonsense and stupidity, but it kept them sane, somehow. Etho hated that it made him guilty for disliking it, even if for made up reasons. 

“We are stranded in the ocean! Does it look like I have any control of where my boat goes?!” 

“Swim away then!”

Another thing, too, their current predicament. Last he remembered, he’d woken up in a small boat, a raft, almost at the same time as his current companion. And their boats had been tied together, not with rope or chains, but by some force of nature that kept them drifting together. Magic was palpable all over their situation, going off by their lack of hunger and thirst and need to relieve themselves. Simply sat on their respective boats, at the mercy of the waves on the wind, and, well, absolutely everything but themselves. 

They should’ve tried to swim, probably. They never tried, so they had no idea if what would even work. Even then, if they jumped out and swam in any given direction, there was no real way of knowing if they’d find land or another ship or anything. For all they knew, the whole world sunk and they were the only surviving people because of some magic boats. 

Yeah, that was dumb. 

Joel was dumber, however, throwing his leg overboard into his boat. Joel was climbing into his boat. Hey, wait!

“What are you doing?!” He shook himself, raised his voice which startled him, but kept moving. He stayed in place, unsure if Joel was dangerous or stupid or desperate, if he kept his cool, he would be able to push him overboard and keep himself safe. So he stayed put, not because he was also curious to see what would happen, or because he kinda wanted this to happen. No, it was precaution and preparation, nothing more. He didn’t miss the touch of someone else, obviously not. 

“Shut up,” Joel hissed as he put both feet down, knees bent and arms outstretched for balance, seemingly waiting to see what would happen. Nothing did, and he looked stupid, and Etho snorted. Joel’s glare snapped to him, “I am going to strangle you and throw your body overboard.” 

And Joel tried, of course he tried. 

Etho caught one of his wrists, their respective free hands grabbing fistfuls of shirt. Etho pushed him away, Joel tried to put pressure. It was the dumbest fight ever, barely moving an inch in any direction, all too aware that sudden movements would tip the boat. They weren’t going to risk it. Regardless of their personal feelings. 

“I’m going to kill you,” Joel said through gritted teeth, his fist sliding alongside the bone of his collarbone. That hurt, a little, and the pressure almost eased a little after Etho made a face. Ah, right, they couldn’t really hurt each other. Another funny little aspect of their hopeless situation. They felt the other’s pain and feelings, which was wonderful, really. 

They had their pathetic fight for a couple minutes after, then Joel simply collapsed into his chest, Etho wrapping his arms around him. Because it was Joel who wanted the contact. There was the whistle of a steamboat, but they didn’t bother investigating as they felt a sudden wave of exhaustion crashing on them. They’d deal with everything else later, not that they’d be going to part ways any time soon. 

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