World Tour

Maldives: jungle

¨Hold up!¨ Eddy called as he narrowly avoided tripping over a tree root. 
Brett turned around.
¨Getting slow in your old age there?¨
Eddy laughed. 
¨My legs are still a bit weak after the activities of just now¨, he admitted. 
Brett smiled and leant over to kiss him on the cheek. 
¨I can certainly feel the after effects as well¨, he whispered in his ear, waggling his eyebrows.
Eddy could feel his cheeks colouring at that comment and he shook his head. 
¨What did I ever do to deserve you, hey?¨ he smiled. 

They walked on, checking the map every now and then and looking carefully at the route markers. 
¨So, two days left huh?¨ Brett remarked after they had been walking for a while. ¨How are you feeling about going back?¨
Eddy thought for a moment. ¨To be honest, I'm trying not to think about it too much. But I guess we now have something to look forward to! You?¨
¨Same, I think¨, Brett said. ¨You'll have to promise we'll come back here.¨
Eddy smiled. ¨I promise.¨
Brett waggled his eyebrows again. ¨You know I'll keep you to it, hey?¨

Eddy was still grinning when they got to a crossroads. He looked for the coloured pole that would tell them which way to go, but he didn't see it. 
He looked at Brett, eyebrows raised. 
¨What the fuck? I don't see a pole?¨
Brett looked around, and then back at Eddy, his eyes wide. 
¨Shit!! We must have missed one?¨
¨Fuck! And we don't have that much time until dark, do we? Let's get back quickly then!¨
Brett just nodded, and quickly started walking back in the direction they'd come. 
Eddy followed him and it wasn't long until they broke out in a slow jog. 

They came to another crossroads, but once again there was no pole. 
¨What the actual fuck?¨ Eddy said again, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. 
¨Could we have missed two? How dense are we then?¨
¨I don't know...¨ Brett answered, and Eddy realised straight away he was panicking too. 
¨Maybe a pole got removed?¨
¨But then we would have gotten lost on the way there, no?¨ Eddy said, panic rising more. 

But one look at Brett made him calm down instantly, because he looked like he might cry any minute. Eddy knew that Brett was not a hero with insects or distant, deserted dark spots. 
Not that he himself was. But still, he had to be there for Brett. He'd have to be strong.
¨Okay.¨ he said, his voice strangely calm now. ¨Let's drink some water and regroup, okay?¨
Brett nodded, eyes wide. 
Eddy moved around to take the water out of Brett's backpack and then put his hand on his shoulder, extending the water bottle to him with his other hand
¨Hey. We will be okay, you hear?¨
Brett just nodded again. He opened the bottle and quickly took a swig, before passing it back to Eddy. 
¨I want to be out of here, Eddy¨, he whispered. ¨I want out! It's gonna get dark, there's all kinds of bugs and animals. We're almost out of water. I need out!¨
¨I'll get you out, don't worry.¨ Eddy said, soothing him with his tone. ¨I'll get you out.¨
Eddy put his arms around his love and stroked him softly. 
¨You good?¨ he said. ¨Come one, let's find our way, okay?¨
He started walking again on the path, Brett walking silently next to him. 
¨We'll find a pole¨, Eddy said to him, willing it to be true as he said it. 
They'd been walking for way too long. Their map was useless, because they didn't know which direction they were going anymore. Where was the next crossroads? What if there was no pole? All he could do was power forward and hope. 

Finally, mercifully, the next crossroads came up and Eddy scanned it quickly. 
The following second his breath hitched. 
There was a pole. 
¨Okay!¨ he said in that strange calm tone. ¨We've found it. Come on, we'll have to really move, we don't have much time.¨

They started running, and Eddy made very sure not to miss any more poles. 
Brett had still not spoken a word, but he was keeping up. Any tiredness had long since been forgotten and replaced with adrenaline. 
It started getting dusky then and Eddy felt the panic rising again. They were in the tropics: dusk was incredibly quick. It would be pitch black in a minute. 
He grabbed Brett's hand and ran faster, until suddenly he saw it. 
The road. 
They had made it. 

They burst out of the jungle and they both bent forward, their hands on their knees, trying to catch their breath. 
A giggle burst out of Eddy's lips, moments later turning in to full blown nervous laughter. 
¨Oh my God¨, he said. ¨I'm never going near a jungle again!¨
The sound seemed to snap Brett out of his silence and he turned to Eddy, eyes still wide, and leaned into his chest. Eddy put his arms around him. 

¨I was so scared¨, he breathed, clinging to Eddy like he was a life raft in an unmeasurable ocean.  
¨I know, but we're okay, my love¨ Eddy said soothingly. Now that they were safe he could feel the calm that had gotten over him in the jungle fading, and he was starting to shake a little bit. 
¨Come on¨, he said. ¨Let's get over to the bus stop while we can still see it, okay?¨

They saw the lights of the bus coming from the distance, and Eddy had never in his life been as relieved as he was when they stepped on it. 
He smiled at the driver, his ingrained politeness taking over, before leading Brett to a bench. 
He took the backpack off Brett's back and put it between his feet. 

Brett instantly buried his face in Eddy's chest again, breathing deeply. 
¨You okay now?¨ Eddy asked. 
Brett looked up. ¨Yeah. You?¨
¨Yeah.¨
They sat in silence, Eddy's shaking slowly fading, until they came to their resort.  
Eddy could barely get his legs to work anymore. He'd burned through all his adrenaline and he was so exhausted he felt dizzy. 
They hauled themselves off the bus and limped over to their little cabin, where they dropped on to their bed like stones. 

¨I am never ever moving again¨, Eddy said, with feeling. 
¨Yeah, me either¨, Brett replied, his head on Eddy's chest. ¨We're going to be very sore in the morning.¨
Eddy laughed softly. ¨I'm sore now!¨
¨We can sleep now. We're safe.¨ Brett said, snuggling into Eddy even more. 
He was silent for a while, before he said in a small voice:
¨Eddy?¨ 
¨Yeah?¨
¨Thank you. You really saved my arse today.¨
Eddy put his arm even firmer around him. 
¨You save mine every day.¨

A/N. Hi guys! Just wanted to leave a little note on this cool TSV day: 2 mill subs! Wasn't their announcement fab?
Anyway, thanks all for reading and commenting, I love hearing your thoughts.
Oh, and thanks to Xandra for the prompt for this chapter! If anyone has requests, feel free to drop them in the comments box, and I'll see what I can do!