Boyd handed Gyro his food first. The reason behind it being our baby boy felt extremely guilty that all the bees stung his Dr. Dad and made him cry like a baby. He was still crying, but his sobs were muffled because of how swollen he was. He didn't look like a complete oompa loompa since he wasn't allergic, he just looked like someone who skipped their daily gym workout and ate too many carbs in one sitting. Specifically Pop-Tarts.
He handed a large slab of wood over to Gyro, one he had found on the beach, and pointed to the food on it. "I managed to shoot a family of crabs with my laser eyes! So I gave you the largest!" He pointed to the red crab on the side of the plate. The crab looked really upset. Probably because it's last moments were watching it's family get shot by a robot. "And over here is the warmed up honey. Be careful so it doesn't spill. I didn't have enough time to carve a wooden bowl."
Boyd knew how to do that. It was in the Junior Woodchuck guidebook. Duh. Why wouldn't you need to know how to make eating utensils in the wild?
"And finally!" He held up a coconut that was sliced in half and handed it over. "I found some coconuts! Make sure you drink the water and then eat all the white stuff inside! You need as many calories as possible!" Boyd stepped back and smiled, waiting for Gyro to say something.
"Wow, thanks Boyd... I don't know what to say." There were sniffles between every word. Not because of Boyd's kind gesture, it was still because of the bee stings. "But, yeah, thank you sport."
"UMMMMMM EXCUSE ME?!" Mark crossed his arms. "I call him 'sport', not you!"
Everyone ignored Mark but that wasn't anything new.
"No problem, Dr. Dad! It was no big deal!" Boyd beamed before walking over to get the rest of the food. "And I got to give everyone a larger serving since Uncle Glomgold isn't here!"
Thank god. Maybe he finally would become one with the monkeys.
"Wait a second..." Gloria's eyes lit up. "Where is that little bitch?! Is he dead?!"
"I beat him up and then he ran into the jungle. He was yelling about finding a new family of monkeys or something of the sort." Ellie stated matter-of-factly, but she wasn't too pleased because she knew he would be back within the next few days at most. He just rolled that way.
"OH HELL YEAH! DUCK JESUS IS ON OUR SIDE!" Gloria made the sign of the cross and pointed to the air, as if she was thanking the actual Duck Jesus, before picking up her own crab and ripping it in half with her hands.
Good thing Gyro's crab was dead because he was the husband and Gloria had the wife crab. He would've just witnessed his wife being torn apart. Duck Jesus spared neither of them. Or the children. He was a ruthless God.
Gyro, on the other hand, understood what Ellie was trying to say without saying it. "...No. He's going to be back most likely."
"GOD! THAT'S WHAT I SAID EARLIER! STOP COPYING ME!" Mark pouted. He got his food last and some of the honey spilled on his Gucci pajamas so he was even more pissed than usual.
"Mark, why would I copy you?"
Now that offended Mark. "Ummmm because I'm awesome? Duh!"
After that there was thankfully a few minutes of silence, excluding Mark mumbling under his breath.
"Boyd?"
Boyd shot his head up. "Yes, dad?"
"Is there, like, any other options?" Mark scrunched up his face as he picked at the steamed crab. He also only liked eating food that had the color red on Tuesdays. And it was fucking Wednesday.
"Mark are you fucking serious?" Gloria soffed.
"It's just... I only eat crab about twice every few months and I really only eat it if my personal chefs cook it for me sooooooo..."
"Mark you're a fucking asshole, I swear-"
Boyd cut Gloria off. "Well... what do you want, dad?"
"What's today again?"
"Wednesday."
Mark nodded "And the time?"
Boyd checked his data. "8:22 pm."
He nodded again "Cool cool okay so could you please make me speculaas in abouuuttttttt 15 minutes? Oh, and make sure to add a lemon to the water as well! Kay thankssssssss!"
Ellie gave Mark a look. "Mark, our child cannot make shortcrust briskets on an island."
"Whaaaaat?! Why not!? It's not that hard to make! He just needs to go to a Whole Foods!"
Everyone just stared at him.
"...I can't go to a Whole Foods, dad. I don't have any money and there are no stores around... sorry. I don't mean to upset you."
"God." Gyro rolled his eyes. "Now you're making him upset, Mark. Eat the damn crab so your organs don't shut down. You were complaining about your ribs showing, weren't you? So eat."
Mark made a very long and dramatic groan before finally eating his crab. "Fine! But try to find a Whole Foods tomorrow if you can."
"You know what?" Gyro stood up and put down his empty weird wooden tray of food. "I'm finished so I'm just going to go for a walk so I don't have to be around you." He pointed a twig finger at Mark. "And maybe I'll find a Whole Foods somewhere on the beach for you along the way."
"Oh great! Be sure to find some freshly baked veggie dumplings and skim milk while you're gone."
"Oh, I'll keep an eye out." Gyro would've dumbed it down to Mark being delusional, but no. He was literally just that stupid because he didn't know how nature worked. "You want to take a walk with me, Gloria?"
Gloria got up too. "Sure!" It wasn't like she was enjoying hearing Mark talk about Whole Foods either.
After Gyro and Gloria walked off to probably go complain about Mark, Ellie turned to Boyd who was rubbing his eyes. She frowned. "Do you want to go to bed?"
He looked up at his mom "Yeah I'm pretty tired after finding everyone's food, but I was happy to do it of course!"
Ellie stood up from the sand and wiped her pajamas off before walking over to him. "That was very kind of you, Boyd. I would have helped if your Uncle had not knocked me out." She took his hand to set up a little bed for him, using Mark's cardigan she still had, by the fire. Not too far away from Mark and herself of course.
Glomgold was crazy, but she wouldn't put it past nature to have monkeys on this island. She wasn't going to let Glomgold and some monkeys take Boyd like some weird Tarzan thing. And that's the most mellow scenario.
Mark was still sitting with his wooden plate of food, playing with what was left of his crab while in deep thought. Now that his life wasn't in peril anymore he could think about other things. "Other things" like how Ellie was so quick to get into another relationship while he was doing everything in his power to get her back. It took him awhile but he started to realize how upset it made him that Ellie was dating someone else while he was spending every waking moment with M'ma to have him shape up and be a better boyfriend. They were so quick to make up that he never had a chance to really think or talk to Ellie about how those few days made him feel. He was just solely focused on getting Ellie back. He sighed and used a nearby stick to drag a line through the sand while he thought about everything. He had Ellie back so he was debating on whether or not he should even bother to talk to her about it. If it was better to not open up that wound again or not.
He looked over to her. She was watching Boyd shut down before kissing him goodnight and pulling Mark's old cardigan over him. When she got up to walk back over to him he suddenly began to feel very nervous. And it only got worse when she sat close beside him.
Mark glanced over at her and she wasn't looking back which was probably good. He didn't have time to be relieved for very long when she leaned over, laying her head on his shoulder. He tensed up immediately.
His thoughts about Ellie only raced faster. He felt like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place with not knowing what to say or do next. He awkwardly cleared his throat "Hey. Crazy day, huh? Ha ha..." Mark tried saying that as normal as possible but it backfired on him.
"Yes, I suppose it was. I am thankful I was shut down for most of it if I am being honest." She sighed. "But it is alright since we are together."
Ellie intertwined her hand with his.
Mark's hand flinched when Ellie held it. He was frozen for a few moments before gently pulling his hand away from her. Ashamed, Mark looked in the opposite direction from where Ellie was. "Y-yeah..."
That grabbed Ellie's attention. She flinched in return and lifted her head off his shoulder fairly quickly. Worried, she looked over at him. A really bad feeling started to overtake her. Hopefully she was overreacting. "Is something wrong?"
Mark sighed. He scratched the back of his head and turned his attention back in front of him, staring at the sand. There was a very long moment of silence before he finally replied. He was still on the fence as to whether or not he should even bring it up at all but he really didn't have a choice anymore. "Yeah, kinda... I dunno, Ellie, I'm still thinking about the whole Drew thing. I mean, I know we made up and everything so I really shouldn't be bothered by it anymore but... I just am." He paused again before continuing. "I guess my biggest concern is your one night stand that you had with him."
Ellie's fists clenched before she started kneading at the sand besider her, without looking at it. "Oh... I, um... I understand." The bad feeling she had grew worse. What if Mark was the one to leave her this time? And he had a really good reason too. She gulped before stuttering out "What do you... what do you want me to say? ... I really am sorry."
Mark didn't know how to answer that question so he just kept going with what else he wanted to say. "I spent day and night with M'ma, planning out how I could win you back. She was pretty mean and she was close to giving up on me several times but I kept pushing... and this was all happening when you were with someone else." He looked over at Ellie for a second before back at the sand . "I- god I know I'm supposed to be past all of this but it's eating me alive."
She didn't want to respond to that but she knew she had to. However, Mark wasn't making it easy on her. "No... you have every right to be upset." She paused for a second. It seemed to be she was in one of those situations where she had to keep talking without knowing where she was going with it. A situation she hadn't been in before. "I should not have done that, but I did. When I kicked you out, it was my first time I have ever been truly alone. I was not built to be alone. I was always either with you or Glomgold 24/7. That is not an excuse and I do not know why I did it but my only theory is I was so desperate for some sort of attention that when Drew showed up almost immediately, I was transfixed. He non-stop complimented me, we practically had everything in common, and he was great with Boyd. It was the perfect trap for someone who was as much of an emotional wreck as I was. And then I just... invited him into the suite. I barely remember anything but I do remember when I woke up I was so disturbed and uncomfortable. If I had the ability to throw up I would have. It all of a sudden dawned on me that I had no connection with him and I did not want to have one with him. He was not you and he would never be."
There was another short pause. "I dunno, Ellie... That really doesn't make me feel any better about the situation... I'm not mad at you or anything like that. And I know that it's not considered cheating, but wow, you and Drew really hit it off fast." Thinking about it again made Mark's stomach turn. "I'm just not sure on what to do or say next here. I'm really at a loss right now." Mark sighed again and rubbed his forehead.
"I was not expecting that to make you feel better... I simply gathered you had the right to know the rest of the story." Her hands that were kneading the sand froze. "Do you... do you not want to be with me anymore because... I understand if you do not."
Mark jumped at that last statement. He quickly looked over at Ellie. "What?! No, Ellie, of course I still want to be with you! It's just- this whole thing has been killing me is all."
"It makes sense. We only addressed it shortly." What Ellie was going to say next made her want to cry, but she held herself together. Her offer was going to be genuine and she was not going to guilt trip him out of it if that was what he wanted to do. "Being with Drew made me realize how much I did love you and how much I truly missed you. If you are unsure about me... I will allow you to be with an organic woman for a night... if that- if that is what you need to clear things up for yourself. Perhaps that is what you need to do to understand whether you really want to continue to be with me after what I did..."
Mark didn't answer to that for the longest time and it made Ellie grow more and more worried. Ellie watched him continue to stare down on the ground. She could see that he was deep in thought again. His eyes were darting left and right as if he was reading something. After what felt like a lifetime of Ellie staring at him and Mark not saying anything, he finally broke the silence. "Alright... it's getting late" He muttered before getting up from his seat. "Let's just worry about this later, okay? It's been a hella crazy day and I want more time to think about everything."
Ellie's metaphorical heart sunk. "...alright."
She wasn't going to be shutting down that night.
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Gyro stormed down the beach in pure anger and it was amusing the shit out of Gloria. She would never tell him this, but the angry "stomp" thing he had going on made him look like a clown. He matched his feet now.
At least the swelling on his face had gone down a bit.
"God! I cannot believe Mark!" Gyro spat. "He has the audacity to say that to Boyd AND continues to call him his son? He never tries to act like a father! If anything, Boyd is raising him!"
Gloria rolled her eyes "That guy is truly in a world of his own." She was still baffled by the Whole Foods comment. Like, she knew he was privileged but this was another level.
"And Boyd clearly is bothered by him but continues to call him dad out of some sort of pity! Ugh! It makes me want to pull my hair out!" Gyro was pulling at his hair so it wouldn't surprise Gloria if some did actually start to fall out. He finally took a deep breath and clenched his arms straight to the sides of his body. "Okay, okay. I need to calm down. That's what this walk is for."
Gloria laughed "Yeah, this won't be the last time he pisses everyone off so you might as well think about something else." Gloria picked up a cool looking stick and whacked it alongside trees as she was walking by them. "And because of that I think we may have to make these walks a daily thing."
"Trust me. I wouldn't mind that. I'm sure Boyd and Ellie would want to tag along at times too. Leave Mark in the dust for a bit." He laughed, hoping that would happen. Seeing Mark cry always made his day. "Anyway, this is a bit off topic but do you mind if I ask you something?" He smiled.
"Sure! what's up?" She accidentally wacked a tree with her stick too hard, causing it to break. She dropped what was left of her stick and looked up at Gyro waiting to see what he had to say.
"Well, not to make things awkward or anything, but how would you feel about getting married. Not now, I mean in a few years." Gyro clearly didn't feel awkward bringing it up because it said it very nonchalantly.
"... Married, huh?" Her tone was pretty neutral, making it hard for Gyro to tell how she felt about it. She looked straight ahead on the path they were walking on and subconsciously hugged herself.
Gyro did not pick up on her hesitation and her awkward demeanor. He was too busy kicking the sand with his clown feet. "I mean, yeah! Why not? We've been through a lot together."
"Well, yeah we have, but that doesn't mean that we have to get married..."
He looked over at her, confused. "...oh, uh, why not? What do you mean by that?"
"I mean we shouldn't get married just because we've been through prison or whatever. I mean, marriage is like permanent! Ya know?! Forever and forever till death do you part?! Damn..."
"...that's why I said it could be years in the future. You're right, I guess we do still need to get to know each other better." Gyro knew that wasn't what Gloria meant but he had no idea what else to say. His chest clenched up and he was getting really flustered, but not in a good way. Very much the opposite.
It was Gloria's turn to start yanking on her hair. "Yeah, I guess so." She muttered. She didn't want to hurt his feelings but she was in shock. "To be honest I've never thought about marriage, or getting married, or anything like that."
Gyro gulped and tried his best to keep his composure together. "Okay... I guess we don't have to. I just figured because we, um, were talking about possibly trying to have a- a kid again a few weeks back."
She nodded "That's very true... most people marry first before they start having kids, I guess." She went back to hugging herself.
He raised a brow before darting his eyes away from her and to look toward the ocean instead. "...is there something more you want to say?"
"All this talk about the future and years from now... I'm not even sure where I'll be in a few years because of how often I'm on the run. I'm always looking for a fresh start every now and then." What exactly Gloria was saying out loud totally slipped her mind. Her brain was going 80 an hour but she quickly realized what she said. "Shit- wait no that sounds bad. Nevermind."
Gyro's heart, that was racing, stopped in its tracks and made a pitfall. "You think you may leave Duckburg in a few years and just... leave everything behind? Why- why didn't you tell me this? I thought we spilled everything on the cruise."
Gloria nervously scratched her arm. "I always leave things behind, Gyro, you know that. But it wasn't like I was booking the next plane out of Duckburg or anything either. I'm just always on the move so I guess it's just inevitable? Shit, Gyro I don't know, I'm sorry." She was close to crying at this point. The last thing she wanted to do was break his heart.
Gyro stopped. "So... was this never real to you?" He gestured between the two of them, tearing up himself. "Was this just a temporary thing all along? Why would you trick me like that?!"
Gloria started to cry, wiping her tears away as fast as she could. "Wh- of course it's real and I'm not trying to trick you! I love you, Gyro, but this is just a very complicated situation that I just can't explain, okay?! It's nothing you have done, it's just who I am."
"You love me but you plan on leaving?" Gyro didn't bother to comfort her, he was too busy trying to stop himself from crying. "Is the reason you were afraid of having a child because you knew that if you did you would have to stay?!"
Gloria looked at him, shocked. She honestly didn't even know the answer to that, only making her cry harder.
"I feel so- so deceived." He covered his beak to stop a sob from coming out before he continued. "You're right. This is a complicated situation but you said what you needed to say." He looked back at her, eye to eye. "We should end things now because it's just going to end in the future anyway, right? I want to rip the band-aid off."
She continued to sob. "No- I don't want to break things off, that's the confusing part, I know! God- I am so sorry that I even said anything! But please... please don't do this. Not now." There was a lot more that Gloria felt like needed to be said but she couldn't make out the sentences properly. She looked down and shut her eyes tightly as if she was trying to block out what was happening.
"I don't want to break things off either Gloria... but I have to. For my sake." He softened his eyes before starting to walk again. He non-verbally communicated that he didn't want her to follow.
Gloria opened her eyes long enough to see that Gyro was leaving. She stayed put by sitting on the ground and wrapping her arms around her legs. It took her a while to finally have enough strength to get up again and start making her way back to the campsite.
Quick feet scuttled up behind her. "OI!"
A crying Glomgold tugged on Gloria's hand. He wasn't wearing her bra or Ellie underwear anymore. Just a tunic, Tarzan style.
He paused and blinked one eye at a time through tearful eyes. "WHY ARE YOOH CRYIN TOO? DID YOUR MONKEH FAMILY LEAVE YOOH LIKE HOW THEY LEFT MEH?!"
Gloria looked down at him and wiped her eyes. "Glomgold please... just leave me alone. Go bother someone else."
"Do yooh wanna walk back to the camp and cry together? ...also I need directions because I'm lost."
She sighed. "Fine whatever let's just leave." Gloria started walking in the direction back to the campground. She walked slowly, taking her time to get back.
"OI! CAN YOOH HURRY UP? I'M TIRED!"
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The sun was rising and everyone was back at camp. And everyone also slept far away from one another, except Ellie who was sitting next to Boyd, wide awake. She had managed to buff out her singed metal for the most part throughout the night.
Gloria couldn't sleep either but tried her best to pretend.
Neither of them noticed the footsteps approaching their campsite.
"HEY THERE! Ain't you the two gals who sold me Edible Goldfish? Well, gosh! Small world!"
Gloria bolted upward to look over at who was speaking, along with Ellie.
Boyd, Mark, and Gyro also woke up, ready to run.
"...Jimmy Buffett?!" Gloria hopped up and ran over to him. "What are you doing here?!"
He patted her shoulder and laughed. "This is Florida, why wouldn't I be here? I decided to leave the cruise early, missed my home."
"WE'RE IN FLORIDA AND NOT A STRANDED ISLAND!?" Mark jumped up before continuing. "SO THERE IS A WHOLE FOODS?!"
"A stranded island?" Jimmy waved his hand at him and laughed. "Where on earth did you get that idea?! Tampa is two miles that way!" He pointed from where he had come from. "I was just out on my morning walk! It helps me get inspiration for my new songs!"
"But- but my data said..." Boyd trailed off.
"OH! It's because I hacked into you and robo-babeh's system so you couldn't tell where we were. That way you couldn't leave meh! MUAHAHAHA!" Glomgold rubbed his hands together like a fly about to clean its eyeballs or something.
Ellie grasped at her chest. She felt like her privacy was invaded.
Gyro nearly shit himself. "YOU WHAT?!"
"I SAID-"
"NO! I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID! HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO DO THAT?! DID YOU KNOW WE WERE IN FLORIDA ALL ALONG?!"
Glomgold started picking his nose. "Yee. I went to McDonald's with meh old monkey family last night. AND THEN THEY TOOK MY CHICKY NUGGIES AND DITCHED MEH!" He teared up a bit thinking about it.
"...why is there a jungle and monkeys in Florida?" Ellie asked herself in a whisper. That question would never be answered.
Jimmy Buffett was having a laughing fit as everyone started screaming at Glomgold! "Man, you guys are a hoot! Hey, how about I buy you all breakfast at Margaritaville! You know, the restaurant based off of my hit song? There's one about 10 minutes from here!"
Before anyone could respond, Jimmy looked all of them up and down. "How about we go to the Margaritaville gift shop to get you all some new clothes as well."
Glomgold pumped his fists in the air. "HELL YEAH! LET'S GO JIMMY BASTARD!"
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