Fandom Tale of Two Survivors { The Last of Us 1x1 with icedthemoon }

[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan
Former Seraphite | 19 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Alex laughed as Nate clung to his arm, face against Alex's shoulder. "If my back hurt, I'd have mentioned it. I told you I wouldn't keep stuff like that from you." He said, before he watched Nate bound off, back towards camp then come back and grabbed their packs before heading towards camp again. With a small laugh, Alex followed him. He did actually go the right way to camp this time. Alex hadn't realized how much time they'd wasted, when he noticed the sun was low in the sky. He should get them dinner, he did not want to eat the beans if he didn't have too. Alex walked back to camp and looked at Nate. "Are you hungry?" He asked, a way to check if hunting was worth it or if beans would be enough should only one of them be hungry.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews
Former Firefly | 21 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Nate, toting both packs very slowly, attempted a shrug. It was like lifting weights in a not at all fun exorcise regime. “I am always hungry.” It was one of those things he just said without thinking. “Actually, I don’t know if that’s true.” It was a weird thing to say and maybe a weird thing to hear. Was he always hungry? Was this a revelation he literally just had? Was this something new? Was this something old? There were way too many variables in this new line of thought. He dropped the packs at the camp site where he plopped himself down, because his body was tired, though all that being crazy was a nice way to make his muscles move when they preciously did not want to.
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan
Former Seraphite | 19 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Alex frowned. "Well, I don't want to go hunt if its just me being hungry. I'll snack on beans so I don't waste a life and the meat" Alex said, leaning against a nearby tree and watching Nate. "And if I'm going hunting, I need to have enough light to make the shot." He added, crossing his arms over his chest. He kind of needed an answer because he refused to kill a deer that would feed two comfortably for just himself.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews
Former Firefly | 21 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Nate patted the ground beside him. “Wishy washy means beans. I know they aren’t super fun, but beans aren’t so bad.” He grabbed at his own pack to pull out the secured leftovers from earlier. “This way we’re being less wasteful. Or less greedy. Or simply not abandoning poor, innocent medics all alone when they don’t feel like being alone.” He shrugged as he reached in the pack and grabbed the two spoons. He held them both out so that Alex could choose.
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan
Former Seraphite | 19 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Alex shook his head and walked over, sitting beside Nate. "Fine.. I guess I can handle beans for dinner." He said with a smile. Alex grabbed a spoon and looked at Nate. "I hate when you're right" He let out a small huff though he still had the smile on his face. "I would never abandon my medic, not even for a hundred deer" He said with a cocky smirk and a wink.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews
Former Firefly | 21 | Current location ;; North Dakota

The wink caught him off guard, for reasons that he did not have the capacity to consider, and his breath left like it was fleeing it. A goofy little grin slid across his face, and Nate tried his hardest not to get distracted by how much he really liked when Alex was like this. Like what, he could not say, but this. This he liked. Nate raised his spoon in the air. “Toast with me? To light and life.”
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan
Former Seraphite | 19 | Current location ;; North Dakota

He smiled, raising his spoon in the air. "Why not. To light and life" He agreed. He was enjoying every moment they shared, it was amazing and beautiful. Alex leaned over and snagged a spoon of beans, eating it even if he preferred literally anything else. Food was food, and he had learned long ago to not waste any of it. That was why he was so hesitant to hunt again, he didn't want to waste the food. Beans can be stored and eaten several times, but deer had to be either eaten, preserved or kept chill. He didn't have a way to chill or preserve it so it was eat as much as you can and try not to waste any of it.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews
Former Firefly | 21 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Nate couldn’t help it. He giggled as Alex joined the toast, watched his companion’s smile for probably too long, and then also dug in to the scrumptious beans. Well, okay, scrumptious may not be the exact word that he was looking for, but hey, who was he to besmirch any food that was still edible? “I miss beans and rice. I know that rice is also pretty even keel, but when they were together, it just added a little something extra. Granted, I haven’t had a whole lotta rice. It was when we were traveling and made friends with these farmers. It was real fancy. And by that, I mean it wasn’t anything like the feasts I was telling you about, but it was still way nicer than the rationing that we have to do everywhere else.”
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan
Former Seraphite | 19 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Alex did have to agree. The only upside to Washington was how easily food could grow even in the wet climate. The fields usually produced good crops, and as long as you did your job, most of the time everyone had food. Hunting was still a major part, as it kept control on the prey animals that could destroy their crops. "I've had rice before, it grew well enough what with out wet Washington can be. Oh yeah, it rains way more often there then it does out here" Alex mentioned. Yeah, but it was better than snow in his mind. He'd experienced it once in his life when a freak storm from Canada blew down through and it was horrible trying to get everything free from the stuff.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews
Former Firefly | 21 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Nate sighed. “You mean I am going to all this trouble just to get soaked all the time? That seems like a terrible idea. Why am I doing this, again?” He shook his head, popping a spoonful of beans into his mouth. He did not love the rain. It made everything a million times heavier as well as slippery. Doing anything in the rain almost guaranteed patching up at least one person later that night. “Oh right, for the good of humanity and what not.” He held his spoon up to his head height. “But does that have to be in the rain? Sure, maybe that means you get good crops and therefore have more varied meals, which is great, and I am not saying anything negative about that. I am, however, wary of it. Whatever happened to nice, even weather?”
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan
Former Seraphite | 19 | Current location ;; North Dakota

He shrugged when he heard Nate ask about why he was doing it and how being soaked is terrible. "You get used it eventually. I mean, I didn't even know you could have dry sunny days that last forever until I came out this way." Alex said, taking another spoon of beans. "Yes, for the good of humanity you get soaked. Well certain crops do better in wet climates including corn." Oh Alex loved corn, it was his favorite crop and it grew so well.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews
Former Firefly | 21 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Nate paused there, staring at this other man incredulously. “Did you and your crazy weather have all the foods? Is that what I am learning right now? You had rice. You had corn. You had deer, obviously. What else did you have? Because I am intrigued and may consider being wet all the time if I can eat a variety and not just our very lovely canned beans.” For emphasis, he raised the can and showed it off.
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan
Former Seraphite | 19 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Alex looked over at Nate. "I wouldn't say we had all the foods. There were some that just didn't grow well. But we did have corn, rice, and wheat. Those three things then really made whatever. We could create bread, pastas and other stuff. We had deer and another other prey animals including livestock that provided us with meat. We even had horses" Alex did miss that part. He had one horse that he would use when they went out and he missed that little black mare a lot sometimes.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews
Former Firefly | 21 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Nate sank a little at the thought. His people may have sucked, but it sounded like a wonderful place. “You had bread? I want bread. I miss bread so much.” He let out a long sigh full of the longing of a lover. He gestured with his spoon, “When we find that peaceful place where we can have that fancy feast thing, we are going to have bread. Piles of it. Loaves. Beautiful breads of all shapes and colors.” He shook his head. “And also we will have horses.” His eyes went wide. “Not for eating, of course!”
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan
Former Seraphite | 19 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Alex thought that the worst part of leaving was not being able to see his family or friends again, but he found himself missing the availability of foods that they had too. He'd never had to ration meals like the way he does now. Sometimes going a couple of days without food just because there was no animals in sight nor towns for miles. "We did have bread, and I'd do anything to have bread again" Alex said, listening to Nate describe the peaceful place. "I would love to have horses too, and of course not for eating. We can use them to work the land" Alex said with a small laugh.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews
Former Firefly | 21 | Current location ;; North Dakota

“We should have a farm!” Nate said suddenly, sitting up with renewed energy. “With horses and cows and wheat and rice and corn and everything. We can grow all out own food and have all of our own working animals to help us so that we are all doing our part. And then and then and then we won’t have to travel around all the time, which would be great, because I know that my mama really love traveling and getting to see the whole world, but I am kind of over it, especially since, you know, I don’t have…” he let that sit a moment before continuing just as excitedly as before. “And we could have one of those big houses always by those big plots of land that has plenty of rooms so then we can have rooms to do whatever super important work we’re doing, and I could maybe even set up like a tiny hospital where it’s just me and not actually a whole hospital or even that’s where I could do the massages.” He pointed at Alex and raised his brows several times with a goofy grin as he called back on the earlier conversation. “I think it would be so great.” After a moment, the red flushed across his face with a force unlike any other. It spread to his neck and ears immediately as he realized what this just implied. “I-uh, um. I didn’t- Um.” He shoved a hand over his cheek which ran to his hair and sat at the back of his neck as he looked away. “I don’t mean we have to, um… share?”
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan
Former Seraphite | 19 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Alex had turned his full attention to Nate when he started talking. Hmm. That was great idea. A farm, peaceful life, their own food and livestock to keep them fed. A large house to share. Alex felt the smile widen on his face as he listened to Nate. "I think that's a wonderful idea. Besides, we're already sharing a sleeping bag, at least in a house we'll have space." Alex laughed. He didn't want that extra space. "And if I ever need a massage, I don't have to go too far for it" Alex added, watching the red flush across Nate's face. It sounded like a great life, and exactly what Alex wanted. Somewhere peaceful, quiet and with his new friend.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews
Former Firefly | 21 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Hello warring emotions and thoughts in his head. Nate was torn between what he felt that he should feel and say and what he wanted to say. He loved the idea of this shared farm where they lived out the rest of their lives doing whatever the hell it was that they wanted to do. But he also knew that this was day four of their companionship, and even for shared trauma, that seemed like a lot to assume of someone. Share a home with someone like that? Live there forever? Not just traveling with a companion to get to place. Not just promising to join a group with that person. This felt like a bigger commitment. A commitment Nate realized he kind of liked the idea of? And then there was Alex saying it was a great idea, and he loved it. Loved it like-

Like extra room. Of course. Yes. That just made sense. They were definitely close like old friends who had known each other their entire lives. Of course both of them would be happy to share one of those big homes. Only one of those rooms had to be taken as whatever Nate ended up doing with it.

“Sure, but your bedroom can’t be too far from mine,” Nate said like nothing troubled him at all. He was willing the red to disappear. Please just be a normal person, Nate. “If you’re too far, then I’ll get lonely. Who am I going to bother in the middle of the night if you’re like forever away? I would have to get up and walk like… a lot of steps probably.” His own logic was faltering and he sighed and laughed at it. This was what he got for letting his panic talk.
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan
Former Seraphite | 19 | Current location ;; North Dakota

He thought about what he'd just implied. Living together in the same house? That was more than just Alex bringing Nate to Washington. It was more than just a simple quest to keep him from getting lost. He didn't think about how big of an ask that might be, even with shared trauma. He shifted himself slightly, worried that he'd made assumptions and Nate really wouldn't want to share a big house with Alex. Even as friends.

"Sounds good to me. If I have a nightmare I don't want to travel too far to find you" Alex said with a laugh. Nate seemed okay with it as far as he could tell. "We can't have you walking more than a few steps to find me" He said with a little laugh. "That would just be unfair" Alex stated.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews
Former Firefly | 21 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Yes, nightmare! He should have used the nightmares to keep them closer together. Wait, what? Why would he- nope, stop. Nightmares. “Of course! I would hate to be too far from you. What if you can’t wake up? You need someone there to help you out. You better be loud enough for me to hear from another room though. We’ll have to have beds on the same wall so that I can hear you on the other side.” What exactly was he hearing? “Thrash a whole lot so that you bang on the wall and I can come save you.” If he joked maybe they could ignore the awkward part that was him.
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan
Former Seraphite | 19 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Alex nodded, it made complete sense to use his nightmare as an excuse to keep Nate around. Wait.. what? “Of course, I’ll make sure my beds against the wall and I’ll remember to hit the walls with my hands.” He laughed, going along with it.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews
Former Firefly | 21 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Nate, having given up eating, fell back so that he laid on the floor, raised both of his hands, one that still had the spoon, and mimed banging at something with his eyes closed. “This has to be you otherwise your own your own, man. I can’t help you unless you make it really obvious. Oh! Maybe you should also yell out something like, ‘I am having a nightmare! Come help!’ You know, so that it’s really obvious.” And also so that Nate could make sure that he could be there.
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan
Former Seraphite | 19 | Current location ;; North Dakota

Alex had been done eating already, not crazy hungry anyway, and looked at Nate. He laughed, shaking his head. “I’ll try to remember that when I’m stuck in the middle of the nightmare. To yell for you.” He said. “Maybe I’ll just make the room bigger and we can put both beds in it.” Alex didn’t think about what he said and when he did, he blushed himself.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews
Former Firefly | 21 | Current location ;; North Dakota

He stared at the tops of the trees, smiling without meaning to. “It would be easier if we just shared the same room,” he admitted, though as he imagined it, he did not see two beds in one large room like Alex suggested. Instead, he saw them both on the same bed. That wave of red that was already on his face stayed exactly where it was. No changes necessary if he was going to keep thinking things like that. They did already share a sleeping bag… but that was different, right? He shared a sleeping bag with people all the time. He shared with his mother plenty of times when he was younger and even when they were older, and it was cold. He shared with both Ben and Max, even though they did love to make it weird. He even shared a bed with people back when there were beds to share. So why was this any different?

Stop it, Nate. They weren’t even talking about sharing the same bed. They were talking about two different beds in the same, large room. Go back to that. Don’t get distracted. “That way you wouldn’t have to be so loud and forthcoming when trapped in the nightmare.”
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan
Former Seraphite | 19 | Current location ;; North Dakota

If Alex was being honest with himself, he didn’t want two beds in one room. He’d rather one large bed for both of them. They’d already shared a sleeping bag. Alex wasn’t a stranger to sharing beds, he used to share one with his sister when they had to. He’d even shared a bed when he was younger when he, Yara and Lev would have sleepovers.

“It would definitely be easier that way. I don’t think I could remember to be loud enough to wake you from another room.” Alex said with a small chuckle.​