SONG ;;
Love Like Woe by The Ready Set
PAIRING ;;
Ralph x Simon
UNIVERSE ;;
Book
"Ready for a break?"
Simon glanced up, caught Ralph's eye, and nodded. The two had been working on the shelters since early morning – only stopping for a quick piece of fruit every so often – and, at the moment, they were the only ones doing so.
Ralph led the way, not to the bathing pool as Simon would have expected, but deep into thwantee trees. Still, Simon followed, just wanting to be with Ralph. He liked Ralph. Was that so wrong?
(actually it was, if you listened to the bible and the priests and everybody)
It was rather hot out that day. Ralph, who for some reason still wore his shirt almost all of the time, took it off, looked at it, and dropped it. Simon briefly wondered why he hadn't taken it off while they had been working, but then was distracted by Ralph's smooth physique. He dropped his gaze and blushed.
Ralph, oblivious as ever, didn't notice. He sat down, leaning against a large tree. Simon, after a moment's hesitation, sat beside him. Their shoulders brushed, and he couldn't help but blush again. This time Ralph noticed.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Simon nodded; perhaps a bit too quickly, and cursed himself as he blushed yet again. Seriously, nothing had even happened that time!
Ralph, who by now looked more than a little disturbed, scooted a few inches away from him. Simon bit his lip and stared at his lap. It was awkwardly silent, but Simon would rather be here with Ralph than all alone. There were a few more moments of silence, and then Ralph spoke.
"I don't understand him."
Simon jumped, and then glanced at Ralph. He looked thoughtful, and was looking out into nothing. "Who?" Simon asked.
"Jack." Simon could barely hold back a sigh of disappointment – it was always about Jack, wasn't it? "He's… why can't he just… all he does is hunt. Hunt with Roger, who I'm pretty sure is insane, Robert, who is too weak to do anything of worth, Maurice, who doesn't seem to be able to be serious, some guy named Bill… and here I am, stuck making sure the littleuns don't kill each other too much, building shelters, and he's out there having fun."
"Jack's…" Simon said, thinking about the Jack that he'd gone to school with. Ralph, obviously eager to hear a bit of backstory, looked at him at last. "He's always been obsessive. Back at school, all he cared about was choir, well, and grades so he could stay in choir. And now… well, it's not very helpful to have a choir on a deserted island, so he found something else to do."
"At least if he was more focused on choir here maybe he'd sing to us while we built shelters," Ralph muttered. Simon burst out laughing, and Ralph looked at him. "What?"
"I'm sorry," Simon said, biting his lip. "It's just… funny."
Ralph looked at him for a long while. "Yeah. Funny."
Aaaaaaaaaaand it's short.