Aqui! Aqui! #3
Between the weather, his pain and anxieties, Cornelius slept fitfully on and off throughout the night.
He couldn't even soothe himself by stone, as it had been lost to the river and he didn't have the heart to tell Watt or find a new one himself.
By the time the storm cleared off, he was exhausted.
He didn't want to get up, and wouldn't have it wasn't for Watt's insistence.
Watt offered to carry Cornelius to the river to wash and relieve himself like he'd done yesterday.
Unlike yesterday, the water was a raging beast. It had climbed the pebbled shoreline, and was not far off from their camp.
“I can piss on my own, thank you,” Cornelius said, pushing Watt's offered hand away. Watt gave him a look, and Cornelius scowled. “Been dealing with a bum leg for most of my life, I'll be fine.”
Watt rolled his eyes. And not in a subtle way, either. Cornelius opened his mouth, but Watt held up a finger. “Fine. But hold on one minute.”
Cornelius was too shocked to do anything else.
Watt usually did as Cornelius said, and his attitude was …
disconcerting. Cornelius leaned heavily on the tree Watt had built their shelter against, listening to his companion blunder through the jungle.
Everything still hurt, but being upright gave the mind a certain boost. Maggie's back arched as she stretched at Cornelius' side, tongue lolling as her jaw widened.
When Watt returned, her tail began to wag and she rubbed against his leg. Oh, to be as easily pleased as a dog.
Watt held a branch in his hands, about the same length as his cane but much wider around.
The bark had been freshly peeled, exposing the creamy green flesh beneath.
One end was narrower than the other, but substantial enough it wouldn't snap off.
Watt offered it to Cornelius and said, “It's not quite right, but it'll give you something to lean on.”
Cornelius swallowed, wrapping his fingers around the makeshift cane.
It was cool to the touch. For a moment they both held it, staring at the other.
Cornelius pulled hard, yanking Watt down to his level, then darted forward to lay a deep kiss on his lips.
Watt still wasn't close enough, so Cornelius bit Watt's bottom lip and pulled.
Watt made a noise in the pack of his throat, the echo of a whimper, and came willingly.
“Encontrei-os! Aqui! Aqui!”
Cornelius startled out of the kiss, flipping his grip on the cane in preparation to wield it like a bat.
Watt stepped in front of Cornelius, reaching for the gun tucked into his waistband.
Maggie barked twice, then took off for the shoreline at a dead run.
Cornelius squinted, trying to make sense of the distant pebbled shoreline, rushing water, trees, and a … a man?
“Is that …” Cornelius began, glancing at Watt for confirmation.
No longer reaching for his gun, Watt raised his hand high in the air and waved, his smile clear as day. “Ant?nio!”
Cornelius sagged with relief, lowering his cane into the mud so he could lean upon it. Tears immediately welled in his eyes, and he choked on a laugh when Maggie took off running to meet their new companion. “I can't believe it.”
Watt slung his arm around Cornelius, who slumped against his side. Watt kissed the top of his head and whispered, “We're going to be okay.”
It took Ant?nio no time at all to reach them, weaving through the washed up debris along the riverside with ease. Not only was his easy movement magical to Cornelius, so was his presence. Where the hell had he even come from?
When Maggie caught up to Ant?nio, he acknowledged her but didn't stop running.
He didn't really stop running when he caught up to them, either.
Watt held them steady when Ant?nio collided with them, throwing his arms around Cornelius and Watt.
He was hot and sweaty and real, and the familiarity of him had not only Cornelius choked up, but Watt too.
Maggie whined, pacing around the three in dizzying circles.
Ant?nio said, “I knew it. I knew it.” He lifted his head, looking to Watt first, then Cornelius. “You idiots.”
Cornelius laughed, shaking his head a little. “What're you doing here? How'd you find us?”
“We couldn't go back without knowing you were okay. After Severino found your belongings, we thought you had to be upstream.” Ant?nio patted Cornelius on the back, which jarred his injuries unpleasantly, but he didn't care. “This is northeast from camp, twenty miles now. I think.”
Cornelius exhaled as if gut punched, and Watt's fingers twitched against his skin. Twenty miles was nothing compared to how long they'd been traveling, searching, lost.
“Joaquim did not know this was here.” Ant?nio added, as if that would help anything.
He stepped back, keeping his friends within arm's reach.
His chest heaved, and he ran a hand through his hair.
It was a few inches longer than before, and damp with sweat.
He appraised them, an uncharacteristic nervousness to his features. “Are you alright?”
Cornelius nodded in a numb and automatic sort of way, but Watt said, “He's hurt, and in poor condition. But otherwise, yes.” He craned his head around Ant?nio, trying to get a look downstream. He glanced back at Ant?nio uncertainly. “What day is it?”
“October 3rd,” Ant?nio said. While this did not shock Cornelius as much as their limited distance had, it did seem to rattle Watt. He hadn't lost, or gained time rather, like Cornelius had during their separation.
Cornelius scowled, breaking out of his melancholic confusion in order to prevent Watt from falling into the same trap. “You're in poor condition too. I've never seen so many of your ribs before.” He eyed Ant?nio. “Wait, where did you find our equipment? We lost it in the swamp, not the river.”
“We found signs of a camp, and rags tied to trees. We followed to the river, and found—” Ant?nio held up a hand, while the other dug into the pocket of his trousers.
“No equipment, your broken cane, and these.” He withdrew his hand, unfurling his fingers to reveal Cornelius' glasses.
The left arm was bent and the right one was missing entirely, no doubt from where he'd cracked his head on that rock.
Miraculously both lens were intact, but fractured beyond use or repair.
Cornelius straightened, shifting his weight to his cane instead of his partner. With trembling fingers, he gingerly took the glasses from Ant?nio. He whispered, “Thank you, Ant?nio.” He met Ant?nio's eyes and gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you for coming for us.”
Ant?nio smiled. “Kago?ro. Yes?”
Watt rested a hand on Ant?nio's shoulder, and echoed Cornelius' sentiment. “Kago?ro.”
A man's shout rolled in from the distance, and they all turned to see Severino stumbling out of the treeline and onto the beach.
Joaquim was not far behind him, ready with a steadying hand.
Severino grasped it, and didn't let go when he regained his balance.
Upon seeing them, Severino began dragging Joaquim their way.
Ant?nio glanced at Watt and Cornelius, then said, “Stay here.” He dashed away, leaving them alone for quite possibly the last time for a long time.
Cornelius watched him run for a moment, then slowly turned his gaze on the area they'd been staying.
The waterfall, the pebbled beach, and the little niche of jungle they'd settled into.
“Cornelius?” Watt whispered, fingertips grazing his elbow.
“Yes?” Cornelius looked at his companion, his friend, the man who had saved his life time and time again. He knew what was coming, but let Watt speak his peace. There had been too many unsaid things between them, and this didn't need to be one of them. Not again.
“No matter what happens, we stay together, right?”
Cornelius slid his hand against Watt's, entangling their fingers.
Surely, he had to have lost his mind. To have this person making promises to him like this, to be rediscovered by friends that cared for them, and to have experienced such a beautiful and vibrant world.
Real or not, well deserved or not, Cornelius would enjoy it all.
“I'm yours as long as you'll have me, Watt Johnson. I just hope you know what you've signed up for.”
Watt smiled, and it was brighter than the Brazilian sun. “Careful, Mr. Sawyer. That almost sounded like a vow.”
“You did make me a promise, you know.” Cornelius teased, although his words did ring with decades old truth.
“Where would we go?” Watt revived the question he'd posed back when all this truly began, his thumb rubbing over the back of Cornelius' hand as if he were the man's own personal soothing stone.
Cornelius lifted his chin and Watt obliged his quiet request for a kiss, despite their incoming company.
It didn't matter, they all knew, and still cared for them.
Still deemed them worth saving. Watt's lips were soft and yielding beneath his own, which for a moment was all that mattered.
One day soon, he'd find all the other soft places of Watt, and reveal his own as well.
He withdrew enough to speak, and grinned against Watt's own blooming smile.
Cornelius whispered, “Where wouldn't we?”