“No,” Dom agreed for the tenth time that morning. He rolled his eyes, but Elijah didn’t see. They’d had the same conversation over and over, and frankly Dom was getting tired, but as there was literally nothing else to do but wait out the storm, he thought it best to continue speaking as if they hadn’t just said the same thing five seconds before.

“This island is very creepy,” Elijah continued, crossing his arms across his chest and shivering against the wind that had just picked up and was blowing water into their faces. Dom scooted over to Elijah and wrapped an arm around him, hoping their combined body heat would help.

Elijah sighed heavily and leaned his head on Dom’s shoulder, feeling the warmth emanating from Dom, and feeling a bit more at peace than five minutes ago. “I miss Charlie,” he said quietly, closing his eyes against the rain.

Dom frowned, watching the rain pelt down against the sea; he was sure, because of all that rain, that the ocean would flood. But that was close to impossible. “I know,” he told the ocean quietly, a hint of sadness in his voice. “I know.”

Elijah snuggled deeper against Dom’s wet shirt and sighed again, this time fondly; he was smiling a secret sort of smile. “There was this one time when I was in bed for like three days…and Charlie…” his voice broke, as he remembered Charlie; he briefly wished things had turned out differently, but then he pressed on. “…Charlie brought me chicken soup. He made it.” Elijah laughed quietly. “It was disgusting, and he knew it, but it was such a sweet gesture that I ate it anyway. Charlie said it probably made me sicker, but I didn’t care. It was just nice to have someone taking care of me, like back when I was eight and my mom made me grilled cheese with the crusts cut off.”

A slow smile spread itself across Dom’s lips, and he rested his chin atop Elijah’s head. “It sounds like Charlie was really…great.” He felt like an idiot for using such a weak word, but Elijah didn’t seem to think anything of it.

“He was.” Elijah shook his head and corrected himself angrily. “Is. He is great. And really funny.”

Dom grinned, laughing to himself. “I wouldn’t expect you’d fall head over heals in love with someone who bored you to tears.”

Elijah laughed as well, feeling tears prickling his eyelids as memories of his time with Charlie raced through his mind. He picked his head up slowly, his blue eyes shining as he looked seriously at his friend. “You really think I’m head over heals?”

“Lighe,” Dom said gently, a fond smile tugging at his lips. “Would you risk your life and go so out of your way, halfway across the bloody world, looking for someone you only had lukewarm feelings for?”

In spite of himself, Elijah felt a tear trickle down his cheek and he reached to wipe it away quickly; he smiled at Dom, a smile that said everything he couldn’t seem to find the words to say. To thank him for coming, to thank him for being his friend. To thank him for absolutely everything. “You’re right,” he said eventually, looking back out at the rain. “I just wish I could tell Charlie how I felt.”

“He knew how you felt,” Dom stated softly. “Anybody with eyes would know.”

Elijah chuckled and shook his head at Dom. “Shut up.”

Dom laughed. “Make me.”

“We’re apparently ten years old,” Elijah muttered sarcastically, resting his head against Dom’s shoulder once more.

“I wish I could have met him,” Dom said carefully, wanting to say it and yet wanting to make sure he didn’t upset Elijah further.

“You will,” Elijah replied more forcefully than he’d intended. His voice softened a bit before he continued, “You and Charlie will get along well, I think,” he said, considering their meeting in his head. “He really just wants someone to care about him, and to listen. He’s so underappreciated. I think we all feel that way sometimes.” Elijah picked his head up. “But for Charlie it was real.”

Dom nodded seriously. “You were all those things for him, Elijah. You appreciated him, and cared for him, and listened. I think you meant a lot to him.”

Elijah shrugged, but couldn’t help the grin from spreading wider. “I hope so,” he said more to himself, than to Dom.

“You were all he had, Lighe,” Dom stated evenly, making Elijah look back up at him. “You were everything to him.”

Elijah blinked a couple of times, trying hard to keep the tears at bay. “How do you know that?” He asked, his voice choked.

Dom looked back out at the rain, which was finally letting up. “I just do,” he said, shrugging and turning back to his friend. “I’m smart. I know these things.”

*

“I don’t know how the weather can be drenching rain one minute, and then the next you start melting,” Elijah complained as he and Dom trekked through the jungle sometime later that day. “Where the hell are we?”

Dom pushed aside a branch and waited until Elijah had passed him before allowing it to snap back into place. “I don’t know,” he said evenly, shifting the coconuts in his arms. “Somewhere tropical.”

Elijah turned back, an eyebrow cocked. “Did you hear that?” He asked, his voice a whisper; he stepped back to Dom, his eyes wild with fear.

“Hear what?” Dom grunted, attempting to get the coconuts in some sort of position where he could carry them without killing his back. For some reason, these coconuts seemed to be made of bricks or something.

Elijah put a finger to his lips and looked frantically around the jungle, searching for some kind of movement. “How far are we from the beach?” Elijah questioned, tipping his head to the side and peering through some nearby bushes.

“I don’t know,” Dom replied, bending slowly and gently dropping the coconuts to the ground; in case they were in some sort of danger, he wanted to be on his guard and that meant being able to use both hands. “We’ve been walking for hours, it seems.”

Elijah bent down beside him, his eyes wide. “I don’t think we’re alone.”

Dom blinked at him; he’d just heard a very strange sound. It sounded like the snapping of a twig somewhere near them. “I think we’d be safer on the beach,” he whispered, motioning frantically with his arms. He hoped he was pointing to where the beach was located. He and Elijah were both quite lucky that Dom had a good sense of direction.

Both Elijah and Dom were horror junkies. That is, they both enjoyed watching horror movies like there was no tomorrow. Elijah had seen The Shinning about fifty-six times, and Dom had seen Psycho more times than he could count. But it was something completely different to be involved with something so scary. Sitting at home on your couch was quite a different experience than hiding in the bushes from a murderous lunatic. Or perhaps it was merely a bird or something.

Then again, birds didn’t normally growl, did they?

Dom grabbed Elijah’s arm, his wiry fingers holding tight against Elijah’s pink skin; he leaned forward, his lips brushing against Elijah’s ear. “Don’t move,” he hissed, his eyes trained on the clearing in front of them, where the growls were coming from.

Elijah shivered involuntarily at the sudden hot breath on his neck. He turned his head extremely slowly, his blue eyes shrouded in darkness from the trees above them. Dom’s hand was still on Elijah’s arm, but Elijah found he didn’t mind at all. He stared at Dom for a few moments, his heartbeat racing. He’d never noticed the curve of Dom’s nose, or the tiny indent in his chin, or the fullness of his lips. Or the way that his eyes changed color depending on the surroundings. Weren’t they gray yesterday? They were most certainly hinted with blue now. “Dom,” Elijah whispered, licking his dry lips.

Slowly, Dom turned to Elijah, an eyebrow quirked in a silent question. Elijah leaned forward, his free hand snaking up and pressing against Dom’s cool cheek; Elijah didn’t bother registering the surprise in Dom’s eyes. He threw all caution to the wind and pressed his lips against Dom’s for a brief moment. He pulled away almost immediately, a question in his eyes.

Dom closed the distance between them, his lips parted just slightly as he urgently kissed Elijah for all he was worth. Their breathing became ragged, and Dom dropped Elijah’s arm only to wrap his limbs around Elijah’s slender form; Elijah scooted closer, deepening the kiss.

Neither noticed the sun going down and the sky darkening above the trees, nor did they notice the diminishing sounds of an animal wandering off in search of food, grunting as it went. They didn’t realize that they were no longer in danger, or that they were alone in the jungle on a deserted island.

Their only thoughts were of each other.