Gabe got hurt, and turned on his back too, his voice clipped. “It’s not like I was offering.”
“What?” Laughing in disbelief, or so it seemed. “Of course you weren’t!”
“You turned away.”
“I turned on my back. My ribs hurt.”
“Sure.”
Damian turned back, sighing. “Gabe… Gabe, look at me.” Waiting until those hazel eyes went to him. “I am not trying to shut you out, ok?”
“It looked like it. Anyway, even if I wanted to… or we… you can’t get it up, so end of discussion.”
“Touché…” He leant back, bitter.
“Jesus, that was a low blow. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. I should have kept my mouth shut. Pretend I’m a fuck machine.”
“You tried without meds?”
“Christ! I… I can’t. Because once you start, you are not sure anymore… and you don’t want to risk it. So, no, not in the past few years…”
“It might work.”
Damian pursed his lips. “It might, but I won’t make that discovery here.”
“It might be a long wait… years? Without jerking off, or…”
Damian sat up. “Are you done? I don’t need to jerk off. But if you do, be my guest. Just make sure I’m nowhere near… it would be awkward.”
“I actually already did it…” Blushing a bit. “During my lone walks.”
“Superb. Thanks for the info.”
“There’s no shame in it.”
Damian just exhaled, hard, trying to tame those bubbles bursting in his chest. “Sure… whatever…”
Gabe grinned. “Just my luck. Stuck on a deserted island with a straight guy.”
Damian almost answered, almost, but swallowed his words, that insane moment of spilling everything out to this kind young man gone, drenched in his fear. “Yeah… real shit…”
He got up and crawled inside their shelter. Gabe watched him leave, his chest tight. This was going to be an even bigger nightmare, with that warmth bathing his chest each time he looked at Damian.Fuck. Trying to conjure that asshole he hated, but it fleeted away in his mind, replaced by that brooding man who had opened up to him, showing something he could not see there before. That warm embrace haunting his skin and flesh in that cold night.
Next morning, they worked a bit on the big hut, then went to the beach to scrape gather some coconuts and limpets. Exhausted, they sat in the shades later, sipping the water out of the nuts, watching the sea.
“We need to fish…”
Damian shot him a look. “Yeah… do you know how?”
Gabe shook his head. “No… I never fished before. My dad was not into hobbies.”
“Same here. I mean, we went golfing, and on safaris, but that’s about it.”
“I won’t even comment on safaris…”
Damian laughed. “Fair enough. I don’t expect an eco-warrior like you to understand.”
