Warm hoodies on cold nights (and all the stars in your eyes)

Chapter 3

"Technically you stopped," Wilbur points out, though now that he thinks about it, he's awfully hungry too, and his hunger bar is flashing in the corner of his control screen when he flicks it up.

"Yeah, yeah," Schlatt grumbles. "That's why I kept going. Cause you're an asshole. Build a goddamn platform, then."

"Sure," Wilbur replies, carefully placing blocks around them. The mountain they were on is completely submerged, has been for a good couple of hours now.
When there's a decent platform, they sit down opposite each other, and eat some of the leftover steak and fish.

"I reckon," Schlatt says slowly after a while, still chewing, "We start building sideways. Get to that tallest peak over there," he says, and points to a tall mountain in the distance.

"I don't think we have enough blocks."

"We can swim the rest of the way," Schlatt says, then slaps his knee. "Wilbur – Wilbur – oh my god, we're fucking idiots."

"Huh?"

"We should have made a cave!" he says eagerly, all the sunlight in the world gleaming from his smile. "Water goes straight through blocks we place but not natural ones, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Wilbur replied, realising. "That... That would have been pretty smart."

Schlatt laughs. "Hell yeah! Alright, let's go, let's do this thing!"

"Ayy," Wilbur cheers, laughing. "If we – shit, Schlatt, how fast is that water rising?"

Schlatt peers down. "...Shitty fast," he grumbles. "Speedbridge, Wilbur. Go."

And so he does, block after block, and he doesn't think he's ever been happier than when Schlatt is yelling gentle (or not-so-gentle) encouragement at him, as the water rises ("Holy fucking shit that was like a ten block rise, Wilbur, jesus christ, keep going, holy fuck,").

"Schlatt," Wilbur says after a while, when they're almost there, and sways as he stands up.

"Hey, hey," Schlatt says hurriedly, catching at his elbows. "You good?"

"Yeah, yeah," Wilbur says, brushing him off. "Just hungry again." Schlatt presses a steak into his hands before Wilbur even manages to open his inventory, and he sits down on the small, narrow platform and chews gratefully.

"What were you saying," Schlatt asks after Wilbur is wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

"Oh. Just running low on blocks."

"I have a solution," Schlatt grins, and Wilbur watches several more blocks pop into his inventory. "I took a couple from behind us."

"Good plan," Wilbur smiles at him, and carries on going.

The water is surging beneath them, so close he wouldn't even be hurt if he fell. It wouldn't hurt at all, he thinks.

"You good?" Schlatt is asking him, and Wilbur feels a grip on his arm.

"Fine," he says weakly, surprised at how faint his voice is.

"Look, it's an unstable server – and it's almost evening – sapping both our energies faster and you've done a ton of work," Schlatt is saying.

"Y... Yeah," Wilbur agrees, because it sounds about right. His head is spinning slightly. He sits down, and Schlatt crouches next to him, poking him.

"Wilbur, we need to get to the mountain," he says softly. "We have... Maybe half an hour before sundown, and the water's rising fast."

"Okay," Wilbur breaths, unable to move for a horrifying second before wobbling into action and standing.

"Just follow me," Schlatt says sternly. "Hold my wrist so you don't fall. I'll bridge. We're not far off now."