Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sid had been sober for six months. Diego had forced him to go into rehab after they returned the baby. Rehab had lasted a torturous 30 days, but Diego visited everyday, and even Manny came to visit half the time. He couldn’t have made it without their help. Although, some days Sid wished he had just a little something to get through the day.

Today was one of those days. He had started a new job yesterday at the newly opened water park ‘Ice Age Splash Mountain’. And while he had gone into it with the positive attitude of being a lifeguard and saving lives, he found himself as a glorified babysitter for the children’s section.

Nevertheless, Sid had a duty to these kids. He needed to protect them from drowning and getting hurt. He knew how important this job was and how the kids must have looked up to him as the adult in charge. So he did it with pride. Only, it wasn’t easy.

“No running, James! Pool rules!” Sid yelled at one child.

“Make me! Sloth!” James yelled, running off to the other side of the pool.

“Make me! ‘Sir’!” Sid yelled back, correcting the child. He then turned to another child getting into the pool. “Jared! Wait an hour! You just ate!” He twisted around to see more trouble. “Hector! No no no, you can’t pee pee there! Ashley stop picking-”

“Hey! Mr. Sloth!” a small boy yelled, waving his arms around.

“What can I do for you?” Sid asked, looking around to see chaos all around him. The kid ran toward him, while another got on her hands and knees behind him. Sid paused waiting for the kid running at him to stop, only for said kid to shove him. Sid tripped over the girl behind him and fell onto his back painfully.

“Drown him!” One kid yelled. Many others cheered and grabbed at him, trying to drag him to the pool.

“Hey! Who said you can torture the lifeguard?” Manny yelled, interfering before something bad could happen.

“Manny, we shouldn’t squash their creativity,” Diego laughed, but reached down to help Sid up, despite the amusement of watching him struggle against children.

“You guys came!” Sid yelled excitedly, pulling Diego into a hug. He was hoping they would come to see him at his new job. After all, it was probably his first honest one. In the past, he helped his family make money through cons.

Sid pulled away from his hug with Diego to get a look at his expression. He wanted his boyfriend’s and best friend’s opinion on his new job. He looked between them excitedly. “They put me in charge of this part of the water park! What do ya think?

“I think you’re not qualified to watch over so many small children,” Manny said honestly, watching kids in the pool getting a little too aggressive in their play.

“Oh, since when do qualifications have anything to do with child-care?” Sid dismissed. “Besides, these kids look up to me.” Manny and Diego eyed one child as she tied Sid’s shoe laces together. “I’m a role model to them!” Sid said, taking a step forward and tripping, eliciting laughs behind him.

“I can see that,” Diego said sarcastically.

Sid frowned at this. He hated what little faith both Manny and Diego had in him. Manny didn’t trust him to do any of the chores in their shared apartment, and even Diego preferred to do errands without letting Sid get involved. They would say it was because they wanted him to focus more on recovery, but it was becoming clear that they didn’t think he was capable of doing anything. They certainly didn’t think he was capable of doing this job.

“You guys never think I can do anything,” Sid said, sitting up from where he fell. His cheek hurt from hitting the ground and he’d have bruises on his knees, but he felt that was the least of his worries.

“I’m an equal member of this gang,” Sid went on, fumbling to untie his shoes while giving them a stern talking too. “I made this gang!” He spat, standing up once he was free of his laces. “So you need to start treating me with respect.” He glared between Manny and Diego, his eyes lingering longer on his boyfriend before finally stomping off.

“Come on, Sid,” Manny called out..

“Sid! We were just kidding!” Diego tried. Sid ignored them and walked further away. “Shit, I should go talk to him,” Diego said, running off after him.

Diego struggled with Sid sometimes when he got upset. He didn’t handle emotions well. In his old gang, they didn’t get personal. It was more about making money and having fun. In some ways Diego missed that old life. But his currently more domestic life wasn’t so bad either. He just wished he knew how to handle Sid in these moments.

“Sid! Wait!” Diego said, grabbing his wrist. Sid stopped, but refused to turn around. “We were only kidding.”

Sid huffed and turned around. “I just wish you would take me a little more seriously.”

“How can I?” Diego chuckled. “When you’re looking so handsome?” Sid blushed at this and looked away. Diego smirked, this was his go to. When he didn’t know how to solve a problem with Sid, a compliment was a good temporary fix. He just wondered how long before it stopped working.

“Your uniform really shows off your body,” Diego went on, pulling Sid against him and running his hands down to grope his ass. Sid let out a surprised squeak and hid his face in Diego's neck.

“It’s just shorts and a t-shirt,” Sid said modestly.

“You better hope I don’t stain those shorts,” Diego said, reaching a hand between them and cupping Sid through his shorts.

“Ah, Diego,” Sid breathed out, face going red and heart racing. “Not here, someone might see.”

“Who cares?” Diego whispered, letting hot breath cascade over Sid’s ear making him shiver. Sid quivered with anticipation, but then he saw people walk past and tried to pull away. This sobered him up from Diego’s advances. He was at work.

“Diego, stop,” he insisted, only for Diego’s grip to tighten on his ass, pulling him impossibly closer.

“Why?” Diego purred, licking a long line from Sid’s collarbone to his jaw. Sid leaned into him, resting his head against his boyfriend’s shoulder. Resisting Diego was like resisting drugs, Sid wasn’t so sure he was able to do it. But such distractions kept him away from what was important. And what was important right now, was his job.

“I’m at work,” Sid said, tone more clipped and serious. “Let go.” He pushed at Diego’s chest, unsuccessfully, as he had less than half the strength of him. “Diego!” he yelled. He was finally released, when Diego realized he wouldn’t be able to keep Sid distracted from being upset. “I deserve respect, Diego!” Sid yelled, turning and walking off.

Diego sighed in frustration, but did not follow. If seduction wasn’t going to work, he hoped a little time apart would. He turned around and headed back to Manny, deciding they would leave and pick Sid up after work later.

When he reached Manny, he found the large man telling a group of now calm children a story. “So in the end, the little burro reached his mommy. And they lived happily ever after,” Manny finished when Diego stood off next to him.

“Yay!” The kids all cheered.

“Good job,” Diego said, impressed at how good Manny was with children.

“Question,” a little boy said, raising his hand. “Why does the burro go home? Why doesn't he stay with the rabbits?”

“Because…” Manny paused, thinking. “Because he wanted to be with his family.”

“I think he should go with the girl burro. That's a better love story,” a little girl said.

“Okay. Well, when you tell your burro story, that's what he'll do,” Manny responded, getting annoyed as more children began to question his story. They started to become rowdy, making suggestions for a better story and changing the things he had said.

Finally Manny had enough and raised his voice. “They lived happily ever after. You can't get more satisfying than that. One big happy family. That's the way it's supposed to be!”

“Then where's your big happy family?” the little girl asked. Manny paused at this, the question had been unexpected. Manny wasn’t often reminded of his family, but when he was it hit hard. Diego could see Manny looking upset and cut in.

“Then an angry adult came and killed all the pesky kids,” Diego barked, charging at them. The kids screamed at the sudden threat and ran in all directions away from them. “You okay, buddy?” he asked, checking on Manny.

“Sure, why not,” Manny shrugged, trying to shake it off.

“I just thought you-” Diego began, only to be interrupted.

“Story times over. The end,” Manny snapped, before noticing a large group gathering. Wanting to move past the thoughts of his family, he walked toward the group. When he got close he could hear the static of a radio then an announcer's voice.

“Breaking news. Due to the changing climate, Ice Age City’s reservoir has been slowly flooding from melting ice. Because of the city’s lack of basic infrastructure and maintenance, the authorities have determined that the reservoir will break in three days. Citizens are urged to evacuate and flee the city through the west border, or risk drowning. Anyone left behind may not receive rescue for days after the break. This broadcast will be repeated throughout the day.”

“Is that real?” Diego asked, watching people either leaving in a panic or talking amongst themselves.

“I don’t know, but we should get home and look into it further,” Manny said. “Where’s Sid? If this is serious, we need to leave the city as soon as we can.”

Suddenly, someone was screaming. “Look! Some idiot’s going down the Eviscerator!” they shouted.

“Oh, please tell me that’s not our idiot,” Manny grumbled. They looked up, and on the largest water slide in the park, Sid stood at the top.

The Eviscerator was known to not only be the scariest of the water slides, but the most dangerous. As it had claimed the lives of a handful of people. If not for Ice Age City’s lack of enforcing laws, it would have been banned from use. But even though it was still active, most people had the smarts to not use it.

“Okay! I’m gonna jump on the count of three!” Sid called out from the top.

“Sid! Don’t move a muscle, we’re coming up!” Manny yelled, only for the people around him to start chanting for him to jump.

“We need to get him now,” Diego growled, running toward the slide’s stairway.

Luckily for them, Sid was terrified and counted as slowly as he possibly could to delay the inevitable. Diego could hear him counting, splitting the numbers into fractions. He began to doubt Sid would jump, which was a great relief. But Manny was still worried.

“Sid! What are you doing?!” Manny yelled. “Get down from there!”

“No way!” Sid yelled. “I’m going to jump off the Eviscerator, and then you guys are going to have to start showing me some respect.”

“If you jump off this, the only respect you’re gonna get is respect for the dead,” Manny growled angrily.

“Come on Manny, he’s not that stupid,” Diego suggested, seeing Sid shaking. Sid glared at him then moved to jump, encouraged by their doubts. “But I’ve been wrong before,” Diego said worriedly, breaking into a run at the same time Manny did.

Sid jumped, only for Manny to grab him by his shirt to stop him. Then Diego ran into him, causing them all to slide forward and down the Eviscerator. The three of them shrieked as they slid down faster and faster, at one point lifting from the slide entirely to just fall.

Luckily, Manny was heavy, and fell back onto the slide. He held Sid against his chest, while Diego clung to his back. Without Manny’s weight, Sid and Diego would be falling through the air, unlikely to survive. When they reached the end, they crashed into the water painfully.

Little did Sid or Manny know that Diego had a serious case of hydrophobia. Luckily, they didn’t notice, as Manny grabbed both Diego and Sid and lifted them out of the water and toward the edge of the pool.

Diego tried to stay calm as he pulled himself out of the pool, huffing out breaths of panic that he could have drowned. But he did his best to push past it and hide his fear in exchange for focusing on Sid. He helped pull Sid out of the pool and laid him down on the ground.

Sid was conscious but a little dazed. He turned over and coughed up some water. Diego patted his back to help him release as much as possible. When Sid sat up and seemed to be okay, Diego became angry.

“Do that again, and I swear I’ll break you fucking legs,” Diego snapped. “Then how are you gonna get into danger?!”

Sid looked at him with wide eyes, but then smiled. “That might be one of the sweetest things you’ve ever said to me,” he said. Diego rolled his eyes, but help Sid stand.

“Sidney Sloth!” Someone shouted. Sid froze at the sound of his boss’s voice, and turned to face him. “You’re fired!”

“But!” Sid began, only for the man to walk away angrily. He slumped at this, his first honest job gone within two days. He was beginning to feel like maybe he couldn’t do anything right, Maybe he didn’t deserve respect after all.

“It’s okay, Sid,” Diego said, rubbing his back. “This will all be under water in a few days anyway.”

“What do you mean?” Sid asked curiously.

“I’ll tell you on the way home,” Diego said, wrapping an arm around him and leading him to the exit.

Chapter Text

Sid flopped onto the sofa and sighed. Not only had he lost his first job, but he was losing his first permanent home too. He rolled onto his side and watched Manny and Diego rushing around packing their bags. He wondered where they would go from here. A spike of anxiety struck his chest then.

The last time he had to travel to a new home, he was with his family, then they had abandoned him. He didn’t think Manny and Diego would do that to him, but he couldn’t help but wonder if it was still a possibility. After all, he knew he got on Manny’s nerves. And Diego had a habit of distancing himself when Sid got emotional. So, it wasn’t so unreasonable to use this chance as a way to get away from him.

Diego ran into one of the rooms to pack clothes, while Manny packed food in the kitchen. Sid got up from the sofa, and shuffled into the kitchen worriedly.

“Manny?” Sid called, standing by the fridge, while Manny riffled though it.

“What?” Manny grumbled, in his usual grumpy tone. Sid was used to this, but his insecurities made it hard to handle at the moment. He took in a breath and tried to appeal to a side of his friend that might understand being alone.

“Do you ever feel like this is it for you?” Sid asked.

“What are you talking about?” Manny said, shutting the fridge and looking down at Sid.

“I just mean, you know, you used to have a family and now you don’t,” Sid pointed out, thinking about how the same could be said for himself. “Do you ever feel like you might find someone to be with forever? Or are you doomed to be alone?”

The angry look on Manny’s face made Sid more nervous, so he continued on. “I just mean, you’re the only one in your only family unit, unless you count me and Diego, but I wondered if you’ve considered a girlfriend or something. Not that you need one! It’s just your alone, but-”

“Shut up, Sid,” Manny growled. His family was a hard subject to talk about. Their murders had been something he could never quite move on from. He had thought about dating, but could never bring himself to do it. So, yeah, he figured he would be alone. Deep down, it made him miserable. But that was not something he wanted to talk about. Especially not with Sid.

“Talk about my family one more time and I will crush you,” Manny spat, pushing his shoulder harshly in passing while leaving the room. Being much weaker and smaller, Sid stumbled and fell to the floor.

Diego kept out of Manny’s way, letting him move to another part of their apartment before he entered the kitchen. “Try working on your sensitivity,” Diego said, grabbing the bags Manny had left.

“I just thought he might understand,” Sid shrugged.

“Understand what?” Diego asked curiously.

Sid sighed, he didn’t really want to tell Diego. His boyfriend often got a far away look when he tried to confide in him. But Sid’s mouth was faster than his thoughts and he spoke his truth. “I’m just worried you guys are going to leave me like my family did. I thought since Manny lost his family, he’d understand.”

Diego blinked for a moment, then looked off at the far wall. It hurt that Sid went to Manny instead of him to talk about this. But at the same time, Manny was better with words. He likely would have been able to reassure Sid, had Sid not been so direct and insensitive.

Either way, Sid should know he wasn’t going to leave him. He would just have to be more mindful and affectionate with Sid moving forward so that he wouldn’t feel so unwanted, Diego decided.

Sid sighed, seeing that far off look. He knew what would come next; a subject change. “Get packing, we need to get out of here,” Diego finally said, moving out of the kitchen. “And change your clothes, the weather is unpredictable,” he called.

Sid stood up, feeling slightly frustrated. He went back to the sofa, and flopped into it face first. He didn’t want to leave, this was home. And nothing was going to take this away from him. Diego watched him do it, full of his own frustration now. He hated how stubborn Sid could be at times.

Diego decided to take things into his own hands. He went into the bedroom they shared and began packing Sid’s things. Luckily, he didn’t have much so it all fit into a backpack. He then took out a shirt, pants, and Sid’s coat. Going to the sofa, he threw them on top of his boyfriend.

“Put those on,” Diego demanded.

“No,” Sid refused.

“I don’t have time for games right now,” Diego snapped. “Put them on.”

Sid sat up and glared up at him. “I’m not leaving! I’m staying right here!” Diego let out and aggravated growl, before suddenly going for Sid’s shorts. Sid let out a surprised yelp as they were unceremoniously yanked off.

Diego then went for his shirt next, jerking it up and over his head. Sid let out an indignant squeak of offense, before Diego shoved a clean shirt down over him. Sid struggled for a moment, but managed to slip his arms through the holes.

He glared at Diego when he held the pants ready. “I can do it,” Sid said, reaching for them, only for them to be pulled away.

“I don’t think you can you petulant child!” Diego yelled.

“I can too!” Sid yelled angrily grabbing them, and turning it into a game of tug-of-war.

“Enough!” Manny boomed, getting irritated. He pushed Diego out of the way, then grabbed Sid and threw him over his shoulder. “Diego, grab the bags and meet us out in the car,” Manny ordered, before marching toward the front door.

“Manny!” Sid yelled, kicking his legs and flailing his arms. “Pants!”

“You should of thought of that before being a pain in the ass!” Manny shouted, leaving the apartment with him. Diego huffed out a breath of annoyance and grabbed up the remaining bags, then followed.

Sid covered his eyes, filled with embarrassment over only being in a shirt and his boxers. He refused to look at anyone who might see him. It wasn’t a far walk to the car though, and he was quickly shoved into the back seat. Diego was just behind and threw his pants and coat onto his lap, before shutting the door.

Manny got into the drivers seat with Diego in the passenger’s side. “Ready? Great!” Manny shouted, mocking excitement and slamming his hands on the steering wheel. He started the car and pulled out onto the street.

Sid pouted in the back seat for a moment, slipping his remaining clothes on as he did. The silence was heaven to Manny’s ears. But such things never lasted.

Sid didn’t like to be angry or upset for long. And he figured Manny cared enough about him to make sure he went with them, so he must have gotten through to him in the kitchen.

“Look, I’m just saying if being lonely is bad, then we can just keep sticking together,” Sid said, leaning forward between the seats. “And if you do find a girlfriend, the more the merrier!”

“I will kill you,” Manny gritted out. “I will actually kill you.”

“Hey! Let’s listen to some music!” Sid suggested wanting to lighten the mood. He reached out and turned on the radio, flipping though several stations until he landed on something upbeat. When he leaned back, Manny breathed a sigh of relief. If the music would make Sid quiet, he wouldn’t complain.

Only, Sid liked to sing. “Shut up, Sid!” Manny yelled, making him quiet for about half a song before her started up again. They hadn’t even traveled far on the street, traffic was slowly piling up and Manny feared they would be driving all day.

Sid continued his musical number before Manny yelled again. “Stop singing, Sid!” This silenced him for a little longer, and Manny could only hope it was for good. Traffic ahead was suddenly at a stand still, as more cars began to travel down the road. Hours passed and they only managed to travel a few blocks.

Diego eyed Manny for a moment, noting how down he was looking. Then Sid began singing again, and Manny’s face morphed into anger. Before anymore trouble could happen, Diego quickly shut off the radio.

“Hey,” Sid complained, only to receive a silencing glare from Diego. Sid huffed, but didn’t argue, deciding to cross his arms and pout some more.

More time passed, as cars outside honked at each other and they made little progress. Sid made use of his time by playing with his phone, while Diego continued glancing from his own phone toward Manny, who stared ahead at nothing in particular. Eventually, Manny spoke. “Maybe I’m meant to be alone,” he sighed.

“But you have us!” Sid reassured, leaning between the seats.

“Not your most persuasive argument,” Diego said, looking out the window. “What’s causing all this traffic?”

“Everyone is leaving at once,” Manny responded. “It’ll clear up.” For now, the car was at a dead standstill, with no one moving forward. Diego, Sid, and Manny stayed in the car waiting for hours, as nothing happened. At some point, they all fell asleep with a lack of anything better to do.

Manny woke hours later to the sound of honkong and angry yelling. Looking around, it was dark out. The cars around them were still at a standstill and people were beginning to get out and walk, causing others to yell at them angrily for blocking the road.

“We’re going to have to walk,” Diego said, looking around as well.

“We’ll wait till morning,” Manny decided, seeing groups of people walking by. “It’s getting crowded out there and I don’t want to run into trouble.” Diego hummed in agreement, closing his eyes to rest. Manny did the same, leaning back in his seat and slowly falling back to sleep.

=.=

Sid was the first to wake up the next day. Laying along the back seat, he looked up to see the bright morning sky. His eyes shifted to Diego, who was slowly beginning to wake up too. “Morning,” he smiled, when he opened his eyes. Diego smiled back then turned to the window, needing to get out of the car to stretch.

“Shit!” Diego shouted abruptly, causing Manny to startle awake.

“What? What is it?” Manny asked, looking back and forth for danger.

Sid sat up to have a look himself, only to see the car submerged in water up to just below the windows.

“We need get going,” Diego said, rolling down the window. He pulled himself out through it and climbed to the roof of the car, careful not to get to close to the water. He trembled a little, fearful of falling in.

Manny didn’t notice Diego’s fear and got to work grabbing the bags and shoving them to the roof. Diego tried to stay calm as he slung one of the backpacks onto his back and held two others. Manny then fit tightly through the window and climb up on the roof next to him taking a bag.

Sid yawned and stretched, then without a thought, tried to open the car door to get out. “Oh, no wonder you guys went though the windows,” he concluded, when the door would not budge. He then climbed through the window and on top of the car. Manny passed him a bag before taking a look around.

“There’s enough cars close together that we can walk along them for as far as they go,” Manny decided, stepping onto the hood of the car, then jumping to the next car.

Diego’s heart skipped a beat, worried he wasn’t going to make it from car to car. But the alternative was letting the water get higher and eventually drowning. So he swallowed dryly and slowly made his way from car to car.

Sid watched suspiciously, as he noticed the slight tremors in Diego’s hands, and how cautious he was being. He was so cautious, that Manny was getting several cars ahead of them. Sid was ready to say something, when suddenly something pelted him in the face. He wiped at it to find a wet sticky spit ball globed in his hand.

“Ew,” Sid yelped flinging it away.

“Wow! These work great!” a young boy’s voice called from a nearby building. On the second floor were two teen boys with spiky brown hair and matching stripped t-shirts. They held straws in their hands and spit more balls in Diego’s and Sid’s directions.

In his state of fear and stress, Diego immediately became enraged, as several balls of spit pelted his face and clothes. He ran head on toward the teens, Diego jumped from one car to another at lightning speed. Stepping on to a street cart, he managed to grabbed onto the building and begin climbing up.

Sid did his best to follow, feeling extremely impressed by how well Diego could climb from sheer rage in spite of his fears. He watched Diego climb to the window of the second story, before he was able to grab one boy by the shirt and jerked him down into the water.

The other yelped and jumped in after the first. Both were dunked into the water before popping back up and laughing. “Miss me! Miss me! Now you gotta kiss me!” One shouted.

“I’ll get them!” Sid shouted, dropping his bag and jumping into the water after them, and having little success. The teens quickly climbed on to the cars and began shooting them with spit balls. Diego clung to the building angrily, while Sid started to wade through the water toward them.

“Surrender?!” One teen asked.

“Never!” Sid growled, while Diego began to make his way back down carefully to get back to the cars.

“Cool,” the teens said excitedly, before pelting them with more spit balls. Eventually Diego began to make his way across a few cars, while Sid began climbing up one. The teens took it as their sign to run, laughing hysterically as they did so.

=.=

Manny didn’t notice that he had gone far ahead of Diego and Sid. His mind was on other things. Mostly, his loneliness. Ice Age City was all he knew, and the familiarity of it always kept him grounded. It was where he had met his wife and where they tried to raise their child before the worst had happened. With the city slowly going under water, so were was familiarity and the memories of his family.

With the dreaded thought of feeling like he was losing his family all over again, Manny stopped going from car to car, unable to keep going. Everything was changing and we was losing all he had built in life, not that it truly mattered anymore, he had nothing.

He looked into the water at his reflection, he supposed he was at least still alive. “I guess it’s just you and me now,” he muttered miserably. Suddenly his reflection dispersed as someone blasted right out of the water, splashing him as they did so.

“AHH!” Manny yelped, stumbling back, only to be met with a beautiful voluptuous soaking wet woman, who screamed back at him. The screaming didn’t last, as soon as they stopped, Manny clutched as his chest, heart beating from both surprise and attraction. “What are you doing in the water?”

“Oh,” the woman responded. “I was just looking for my brothers. They’re always getting in to trouble.”

“I don’t think their going to be under water,” Manny pointed out.

“Where else would they be? On those contraptions?” she asked with some disgust.

“You mean cars?” Manny asked.

“Help!” screamed the two teen boys being chased by Diego and Sid as they ran along the cars. As soon as they saw the woman they jumped into the water and hid behind her.

“Well shave me down and call me a mole rat!” Sid shouted. “Another person, and she’s a lady.” he wiggled his eye brows in Manny’s direction.

“Oh, I’m not just any person,” the woman said. “I’m the chosen one meant to save the city!”

“You mean the city that’s going under water because of failing infrastructure?” Many asked in confusion.

“No,” she corrected. “The city is flooding to wash away technology and the sinners that made it. Only with my sacrifice will you all be saved.”

It was the most ridiculous thing Manny had ever heard. “Right,” he responded, then went on sarcastically “I’m the king of England. And these are my friends the Duke and the Jester.” He pointed at Sid last.

“Hey! Why do I have to be the Jester?” he complained.

“Is this guy giving you trouble, sis?” one of the teens asked, feeling defensive against Manny’s comments.

“Sis?” Manny questions, seeing almost no family resemblance.

“They’re my brothers in the ‘The Following of the Epic Endings’,” she explained. “We grew up together with the intent that they would ensure I would serve my duties as the chosen one.”

“I don’t think her tree goes all the way to the top branch,” Manny said lowly for only Diego and Sid to hear.

“Well, that’s no reason to dismiss them,” Sid decided, then stepped up to them. “Manny wants me to ask you if you’d like to escape the flood with us.”

“What?” Manny huffed out in confusion.

“I’d rather be road kill!” One teen said.

“That can be arranged!” Diego growled angrily.

“Hah! Funny,” The woman said nervously. “Let me just have a little word with my brothers.” She grabbed them each by the arm and jerked them away to huddle and talk.

“Ellie! Are you crazy!” one shouted, “We’re not going with them!”

“Look,” Ellie responded. “We’ll never make it without them. It’s only a matter of time before Creed and Mel find us, and these guys might just be able to protect us. What do you say?”

On the other side of things, Manny was fuming. His hand immediately smacking Sid in the back of the head. “OW!” he yelped.

“Why did you invite them?” Manny growled.

“Because, they’re obviously out of their minds and she’s really pretty. Don’t you think? Maybe surviving together will give you a chance to get to know her,” Sid suggested.

“He has a point,” Diego said, thinking about it. “This is the first woman I have ever seen you talk to. It could at least give you a chance to get to know someone of the opposite sex.”

“I’m sorry, when did I join this dating service?” Manny questioned angrily.

“My brothers and I would be delighted to come with you,” Ellis announced, as they waded back to them through the water.

“If you treat us nicely!” One teen said.

“What? You don’t want to sacrifice your sister first to stop the flood?” Diego asked with a smirk.

“See that! That’s the total opposite of nice!” the boy went on.

“I can’t guarantee your safety from drowning along the way,” Diego snapped.

“You want a piece of us?!” the other teen spat. “Let’s go!”

They reached out, grabbing Diego’s legs to drag him into the water. Sid quick quickly jumped, landing his body over Diego to keep him from falling in, then reached for the hands dragging him, trying to pry them off, only to be bitten by the snapping jaws of the teens.

They all paused their antics the moment the ground rumbled and the water began to rise. Manny took the opportunity to take charge.

“Okay,” Manny began in a father-like tone. “Thanks to Sid, we’re now traveling together. And like it or not we’re gonna be one big happy family. I’ll be the daddy. Ellie will be the mommy. And Diego will be the uncle who kills the kids when they get on my nerves. Now let’s move it before the ground falls out from under our feet!”

“I thought fat guys were supposed to be jolly?” Ellie whispered to her brothers.

“I’m not fat,” Manny defended, walking away. “It’s this coat. It makes me look big. It’s poofy.”

“Oh, okay,” she agreed loudly, then whispered, “He’s fat.”

Chapter Text

Manny, Diego, and Sid continued to travel along the tops of cars, while Ellie refused to climb atop them stating they were wretched sinful contraptions made by man. Her brothers agreed, although they had already been on the cars.

“The water’s rising,” Manny warned. “Just get up here.”

“No,” Ellie said stubbornly, the water going up to her neck as she tried to travel through it. Her brothers could no longer reach the bottom and began to swim.

“It’s not like you're using the cars,” Manny reasoned.

“It’s the principle of the matter,” Ellie stated. Although the real reason for it was something she didn’t want to disclose to them yet. The cult sent their best two men after her and she couldn’t risk being out in the open and seen.

“The water is getting higher,” Diego said worriedly, "We should find another way.”

“Let me just pull a boat out of my ass,” Manny growled.

“Or we can travel by rooftop,” Diego snapped back.

“Maybe they’ll go for that,” Sid suggested.

“Well, we’ll never get there at this pace,” Manny grumbled. He then turned to Eliie as she struggled in the water. “We’re going to move to the buildings,” he told her. “Move toward that one.” He pointed to the closest one to her. She didn’t argue and went to it, both her and her brothers were tired from swimming.

Diego, Manny, and Sid managed to climb cars and up a pole to make it on to the second floor. There, Manny reached out and helped Ellie out of the water, while Diego and Sid helped her brothers. They found themselves in an open floor plan of cubicles and desks.

“Crash, Eddie,” Ellie quickly ordered the moment they were on solid ground. “Go scope it out.”

Crash and Eddie peaked out the windows and looked around outside, then ran around the room, poking in and out of cubicles. “What you got?” Crash asked.

“Perimeter looks to be all clear, captain!” Eddie responded.

“Roger that, four-niner, over!” Crash went on pretending to speak over a radio.

“Hmm Roger that- OW!” Eddie complained when Crash threw a stapler at his head, causing an immediate fight between them. They began scratching and pulling at each other's hair and clothes while rolling on the floor.

“Guys!” Ellie shouted.

“All clear!” Eddie assured. Eliie smiled and made her way further into the room.

“Why don’t we do that?” Sid asked, feeling as though the others were a lot more cautious of danger than he and his friends.

“Because we’re not paranoid weirdos,” Manny grumbled.

As the group made their way through the building, they began looking for the stairs to get to the roof. Crash and Eddie zoomed around like a couple of energetic maniacs. Diego and Sid lingered back, so that Diego could pull him close and whisper naughting things to Sid to make him blush. Which left Manny with Ellie.

“So, what’s your story?” she asked curiously, as she squeezed water from her thick hair.

“What do you mean?” Manny questioned back.

“I mean, if we’re going to be traveling together I might as well know who I’m traveling with,” Ellie reasoned, then pointed behind them. “I have those two pegged as passionate lovers. That sort of person I can trust. But what about you?”

“Me? What about you?” Manny countered. “You think you’re some chosen one meant to stop the flood and you think technology is a sin.”

“Does that make me untrustworthy?” Ellie asked.

“No,” Manny admitted. “Just a little unhinged.”

“So, give me something to trust. Tell me about yourself,” Ellie urged.

“I used to be a cop,” Manny sighed. “But with the way this city runs, it was impossible to stay in that career. Trustworthy enough?”

“I suppose,” Ellie decided. “What made you quit?”

Manny wouldn’t normally answer this. But despite Ellies oddities, she seemed kind. She took interest in others and had yet to actually say anything terrible. Manny could admit that she was a decent sort of person. “My family was murdered,” he eventually said after a long moment.

“Oh,” Ellie said, having not expected this response. “I’m so sorry.” She suddenly felt bad for him, while before she was wary. She could see how sad he looked and how much it hurt to say what he did, so she didn’t pry.

“Yeah, well, now I’m alone,” Manny said, pushing past his hurt feelings.

“At least you have your friends,” she pointed out. Manny looked behind them to find Diego pushing Sid up against a wall, while attacking his neck with his tongue. He wrinkled his nose in disgust and turned away.

“They have each other more than anything,” Manny huffed.

“Hey, I really feel for you,” Ellie said sympathetically. “I do. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be the last one in your family. I can’t imagine losing my brothers. But you shouldn’t give up hope. Maybe there’s someone out there for you. Maybe you can still have a family.”

Manny let out a sigh, he didn’t believe that to be true. But Ellie emoted an energetic positivity that he couldn’t bring himself to break. “Maybe,” he said in response. She smiled, and he found himself smiling back.

They moved forward from there in a comfortable silence as they walked down the hall, when they finally made it to the stairs. Down below was a flood of water slowly rising. “We’ll get to the roof and find a way across to the next building,” Manny explained to Ellie. She nodded in agreement and took to the stairs, with her brothers following.

“Diego! Sid! There are whole continents moving faster than you two. Let’s go!” Manny ordered, before beginning his way up the stairs.

Diego had an arm wrapped around Sid’s waist as they walked together toward the stairs. That’s when Diego saw the rising water. He dropped his arm from Sid and grabbed onto the stair’s railing fearfully.

“I hope these buildings hold,” Diego said to himself, worried that somehow the water would wear down the city's buildings and force them into the water.

“Oh come on, Diego,” Sid laughed. “It would take a tsunami to do that. These buildings are going to slowly sink like everything else.” Somehow, this did not make Diego feel any better.

The group traveled up the stairs quickly, knowing that time was slowly running out for them. The city was flooding faster than anticipated and if they didn’t hurry it could mean the end for all of them.

When they made it to the roof, Manny began looking around for a way to get to the next building. Diego joined, while Sid hovered by to help. Ellie would have helped, only she had never been so high up before.

Being in a cult against technology meant living in small cabins in the suburbs of the city. She had never gotten the chance to be on a building so tall. And the view was amazing. She felt as though she could see everything. “Wow,” she breathed out. “It’s beautiful.”

“I think I can see home from here!” Crash shouted into the wind.

“Where?!” Eddie asked, looking around.

“There,” a deep familiar voice responded, causing the siblings to turn around.

“It’s Creed!” Eddie screamed.

“And Mel!” Crash cried.

Two large muscular men stood before them, each holding a large knife in hand. “Time to go home,” Mel said. “You have a duty to perform.”

“You’re not sacrificing our sister!” Crash yelled, shakily getting in front of Ellie. Eddie joined nervously.

“Back off!” Eddie squeaked out.

“You two have lost your way,” Creed growled. “You’ll die for this.”

Suddenly Creed was tackled by Manny, while Diego ran in and punched Mel. Sid quickly urged Ellie, Crash, and Eddie to run. “Manny found a way across!” Sid informed, pointing to a wooden plank they had managed to set between the buildings. The siblings ran for it.

Mel let out a roar of anger, when he saw them getting away. He managed to knee Diego in the ribs and sent him to the ground, then marched toward the escaping siblings. Sid hurriedly got in the way, only to be easily shoved over the side of the building.

“Man overboard!” Sid cried out, as he latched onto the edge and clung on to it for dear life. It was a 10 story drop, although it could be considered 8 with the rising water. Mel stepped up to him, readying to crush Sid’s fingers to make him fall. “Diego!” Sid yelled.

Diego charged at his enemy, tackling him to the ground. They fought and rolled around trying to gain the upper hand, but they were evenly matched. Without much control over the situation, they accidently rolled too close to the edge. Diego and Mel fell, with Diego reaching out and grabbing the edge of the window on the floor below Sid. Mell fell further, landing in the water below.

Sid looked down to see Diego frozen in fear. His eyes were wide and his knuckles whitened from the pressure he placed against the window’s edge. “Diego!” Sid called, trying to get his attention, but he didn’t respond.

Worried about Diego, Sid slowly began to climb down toward him. It was dangerous, and the wind blew against his small frame every step of the way. Sid nearly lost his grip a few times, but he had to get Diego to move before he lost his grip and fell.

He eventually made it next to Diego, as he sat along the edge of the window. “Diego!” he yelled, but received no response. It scared him to see Diego looking so still and frightened. Sid pulled at the window, trying to open it, but he wasn’t strong enough to get it. So he moved his attention to his boyfriend.

“Diego! Come on! Can you hear me?!” Sid tried, still nothing. “This may sting a little,” Sid warned, pulling a pen from his pocket. He reached down and jammed it into Diego’s ribs causing him to yell in pain.

“Sid!” Diego complained angrily, finally back to his senses.

“Now's not the time to argue!” Sid warned. Diego looked down and then immediately panicked at the water below. He scrambled up onto the window’s edge, then with all his strength, slammed his elbow into the window and cracked it. A few more hits, and the window shattered allowing them to escape inside.

On the roof of the building, Manny took a few good hits in the face and stomach from Creed. But Manny was stronger and faster and hit back harder. Creed wiped blood from his nose, as he faced Manny. He then picked up his knife that had fallen to the ground after he had been tackled.

“Give up,” Creed said. “She was meant to be sacrificed.” Manny looked across toward the other building where Ellie, Crash, and Eddie had managed to get to safety. They could only watch in horror as Manny fought for them.

“What is wrong with you people?” Manny complained, looking back at him, only for the man to charge. Manny leveraged his momentum and twisted out of the way, then shoved against him, causing him to fall over the edge of the building.

Manny glared as he watched Creed fall into the water. He hoped it would either kill him or at least scare him off from coming back.

“What in the animal kingdom was that?” Sid asked as he and Diego made it back onto the roof.

“Seems like Ellie’s cult is after her,” Diego replied. “From now on, we need to watch our backs.”

The three picked up their discarded backpacks and pulled them on, then made their way over the wooden plank Manny had set up. When they were safely across, Ellie approached.

“That was the bravest thing I have ever seen,” she said.

“It was nothing really,” Manny replied, flattered by her words.

“Oh, it’s not a compliment,” she explained. “Bravery is dumb.”

“Yeah,” Crash agreed. “You should be more spineless.”

“Lillylivered,” Eddie added.

“Maybe you should run away more often,” Ellie suggested. “It’s a lot safer and will keep you alive longer, like us.” The three walked away, finding Manny’s actions to be incredibly dangerous and practically deranged. “I’m just saying, running across the plank was enough to keep us all safe, there was no point in all that danger.”

Manny stood, dumbfounded as Ellie and her brothers made their way across the roof to the other side. “Do you believe her?!” he finally shouted, when they were far off to not hear. “She’s the reason we got in this mess! She’s infuriating, stubborn, and narrow minded!!”

“Oh, you like her,” Sid chuckled, poking Manny’s arm.

“I do not,” Manny countered, walking away angrily. “Don’t worry! You’re secret's safe with me!” Sid yelled after him. “Oh,” he continued looking at Diego. “And so is yours.”

“What secret?” Diego questioned defensively.

“You know, the one where you can’t swim,” Sid pointed out.

“That’s ridiculous,” Diego huffed.

“Fine, but we’re living in a drowning world, buddy,” Sid reminded him. “You’re gonna have to face your fear sooner or later.”

Chapter Text

The group spent most of the day carefully making their way across the buildings. The majority of the buildings could be crossed using the plank Manny carried from the first one. But some, they could easily jump across to. Ellie, Crash, and Eddie made it into a game of who could jump the farthest.

“So you think she’s the girl for me?” Manny asked, as the siblings laughed and joked, while shoving each other around into deciding who would jump first.

“Oh yeah, she’s tons of fun and you’re no fun at all,” Sid said smugly. “She completes you.”

“Hey! Manny!” Crash yelled, running up to him. In the distance Ellie jumped to the next building and Eddie cheered. “Can you use the plank to fling me to the next building?”

“No,” Manny said immediately, not in the mood for childish games.

“Oh, come on,” Crash whined disappointedly.

“How do you expect to impress Ellie with that attitude?” Sid asked.

“I don’t want to impress her,” Manny shot back.

“Then why do you keep staring at her?” Sid accused.

“She’s just in my line of sight!” Manny excused.

“He’s never going to let up on you,” Diego chipped in. “It’ll be easier if you just go with it.” Secretly, Diego was on Sid’s side. Manny was an angry grump, but in Ellie’s presence he seemed to lighten up and smile a little.

Manny let out a frustrated grumble, then turned to Crash, who was joined by Eddie. “What do you want me to do?” he asked.

“Okay!” Crash began. He grabbed a barrel he had found and pushed it onto its side. “Put the plank over the barrel. Then I’ll stand on one end, and you jump onto the other, flinging me to the other building!”

“I don’t know,” Manny said skeptically. It didn’t sound like it was safe, if it even worked.

“Well, if you’re too lame to do it, we can get Ellie,” Crash mused.

“No, no, I can do it,” Manny assured, setting the heavy plank of wood down on the barrel. He positioned one end on the ground and the other up, ready to be pushed down.

“Yeah!” Crash and Eddie cheered. Crash then stood on the plank and braced himself. Manny was even more sure now that this wasn’t going to work at all. But since it wouldn’t, what damage could be done? It would be fine.

Manny got on the plank on Crash’s side then jumped, landing on the other end of the plank causing Crash’s feet to fly off of it while he half flew and half fell backward on his head against the ground, knocking him unconscious.

“Ah! Crash!” Eddie cried, getting on his knees and wrapping his brother in his arms.

“What happened?” Ellie asked, running to them after hearing the commotion.

“Manny tried to catapult him across to the next building!” Eddie explained.

“He said he could do it,” Manny tried.

“And you listened to him,” Ellie huffed, getting down on her knees next to Eddie. She cradled his head into her lap, petting his hair worriedly. Eddie gripped Crash’s hand, clinging to his brother as if this may be the last they would ever be together.

“Don’t leave me,” Eddie cried, voice shaking. “Who’s gonna watch my back? Who’s gonna be my wingman of mayhem? Who’s gonna be my look out when I steal cookies?!”

“Cookies?” Crash questioned, sitting up and looking around fully alert.

“Crash!” You’re okay!” Eddie shouted happily, hugging his brother tightly. Ellie joined in, hugging them as if they had just avoided a tragedy.

“Oh Crash,” Ellie said. “Don’t you ever do that again!”

Sid watched the display with tearful happiness. To see a family bond and be together was something sweet he could cherish. But for Manny it annoyed him, feeling as though Ellie and boys were being overly dramatic. Manny grumbled under his breath and walked off grumpily.

Diego wanted to laugh at the whole situation; it was ridiculous, yet Ellie’s and Eddie’s concern for their reckless brother was endearing. He watched Manny walk off and followed, hoping to lift his friend’s spirits. Sid followed after, wanting to give the family some privacy.

Many grabbed up the large plank and carried it toward the next building. Diego spoke up when they were far from Ellie. “You know, she’s not half bad,” Diego chuckled. “Crazy and confused… but sweet.”

“So?” Manny asked, trying to keep his mind on the task at hand, although he knew what Diego was getting at.

Ellie was sweet and kind. She cared a lot for her brothers, which was something Manny could no longer relate to, but he wanted to. He wanted a family and he wanted to be there for the people he cared about. And Ellie was exactly the kind of person that could lead him to that. Because she cared as much as he wanted to.

“So, what’s holding you back?” Diego asked.

“My family,” Manny sighed.

“You could have it again, you know,” Sid suggested.

“No, Sid, I can’t,” Manny huffed in frustration.

“But think about it!” Sid exclaimed. “If you let this chance go! You might regret it!”

“Just think about it,” Diego offered. Manny sighed and looked back to see Ellie, Crash, and Eddie catching up with them. He put the plank down in case anyone wanted to walk across rather than jump.

Diego and Sid made their way across, with Crash and Eddie following after. When Ellie came near, Manny rubbed the back of his neck nervously and spoke. “I’m sorry about hurting Crash,” he apologized.

“Oh, it’s okay,” Ellie assured. “Harmless mistake. Just don’t do Crash or Eddie anymore favors. They have no sense of safety for themselves.”

“Deal,” Manny agreed, making them both let out a small laugh. They walked together then, as the others walked ahead.

“You know, Crash and Eddie were never allowed to act out or have fun,” Ellie said, confiding in Manny. She found him to be a pretty grumpy and serious man. But at the same time, he was a good listener and had a vulnerability about him that she couldn’t help but admire.

She continued on, “When they were born, they’re mother convinced our leader to assign them to be my protectors to make sure I was always kept under watch. But they are so young, they could never do a good job. And I was so lonely before them, that I couldn’t help but adopt their fun loving attitudes.”

“They may not be my real brothers,” she admitted. “But we grew together like siblings. And I would do anything to protect them. Especially from Creed and Mel.”

Manny nodded in understanding. “I can tell they want to protect you just as much.” She smiled at him then, feeling he truly understood where she came from. And maybe eventually he would understand who she was.

Sid looked behind to see Ellie and Manny lingering back and talking. “Well, would you look at that,” he said joyfully. “Manny sure is taking a big leep with Ellie.”

Diego looked too, seeing them smile at each other. “He sure is,” he agreed. Manny and Ellie were finally getting along. She may just cure Manny’s grumpy demeanor.

“Seems he stood on the shore of uncertainty and dove right in, splash” Sid went on. “Kind of brave, huh? The way he faced his… fear.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Diego responded, letting his arm drop from its position around Sid. He knew his boyfriend was going somewhere with this.

“Ah, come on,” Sid laughed, turning to face him, making him pause in his tracks. “Everyone feels fear. It’s what separates up from rocks. Rocks have no fear, and they sink.”

“What’re you getting at, Sid?” Diego sighed.

“It may surprise you to know that I, too, have experienced fear,” Sid confessed.

“No, you?” Diego asked sarcastically, however it went over Sid’s head.

“Oh, yes,” Sid responded. “As impossible as it seems. Someone of my stature is a target for crime, or just the occasional bullying.” Diego didn’t like the sound of that. He was beginning to wonder how much trouble Sid had gotten into in the past.

“The point is!” Sid went on. “Is that fear is natural.”

Diego got in Sid’s space, lifting one hand and grabbing his face; digging his thumb and fingers into Sid’s cheeks. “Fear is for the weak,” he said, then let go and lightly tapped the side of his face before pulling away and walking off.

“Well then you are letting the water make you weak,” Sid said, before he could get away. Diego turned back to face him and glared. “Just trust your instincts!” Sid assured, waltzing up to Diego and taking his hands. “Did you know human babies naturally hold their breath and rise to the top of the water so that they can breathe?”

“It’s like you when you fight. But faster,” Sid compared, changing his stance and making odd movements. “Punch, kick, punch, kick,” he chanted, throwing his fists and kicking his legs into the air, like he was trying to swim. It wasn’t the perfect analogy, but Sid hoped this would be a good swimming lesson for Diego.

“Sid, shut up,” Diego growled in annoyance, before grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him into a kiss. He found that kissing and groping Sid was the only way to get him to stop his nonsense. Sid didn’t resist at all, he preferred this to any other kind of activity and pushed further against Diego to get more of him.

In the distance Manny and Ellie were still talking, only it was taking a turn for the worst. “Ellie, I’m just saying that your beliefs are the beliefs of a psychotic cult trying to kill you. Technology isn’t sinful, it’s helpful and improves things.”

“Cars prevent social gatherings! Phones keep you from seeing your friends face to face! Radios are a way to fill peoples heads with false information!” Ellie yelled angrily. “You can’t tell me technology isn’t evil! It tears people apart!

“What? Cars are a faster way to travel, phones keep people connected, and radios mostly play music,” Manny reasoned. “Your head is filled with nonsense.”

“You’re full of nonsense,” Ellie spat. “Just because you believe something different doesn’t mean I’m wrong.” She stormed off then, passing by Sid and Diego and heading for her brothers, who were waiting to cross to the next building.

“Ellie, it’s getting dark,” Manny tried. “We should stop for the night.”

“Oh, so now my belief that we should keep going is wrong?!” She argued. “Put the plank down, we need to keep going.” Manny huffed, but listened, setting it down so they could cross. He didn’t want to argue further with her, and decided it was best just to let it go.

They all crossed to the next building, not realizing how unstable it was. It was getting too dark to see that the roof was thin and the building was crumbling. As part of the city’s failing infrastructure, some buildings had been condemned long before the flood.

Walking ahead of everyone, Crash and Eddie were the first to deal with the consequences of traveling at night in the most detrimental city they could be in. The roof fell to pieces under their feet causing them to scream as they fell. Ellie’s eyes widened in surprise, but she didn’t have time to react as the roof shook under her feet.

Manny quickly got to Ellie, before the rest of the building began to collapse. The roof fell all around them, parts being held up only by strong load bearing walls and pillars. Manny and Ellie stood under a pillar, holding their part of the roof as the rest fell around them.

Diego quickly grabbed Sid's hand and ran toward Manny and Ellie as the roof began to crumble under their feet. He made it just in time to grab on to the edge, causing Sid and himself to dangle in the air. Manny and Ellie were panicked, standing closer to each other as the small platform they were on crumbled smaller.

Below, the building was balancing on pillars and beams and what was left of some of the floors of the building. Crash and Eddie were two floors down, running around trying to avoid falling further. Diego observed that as everyone moved, things only seemed to get worse.

“Stop moving!” He shouted at them. Everyone quickly did so, causing the building to pause in falling apart. With no one moving, everything became quiet and still. “Thank you,” Diego sighed in relief. But it didn’t last.

Something broke below Ellie and Manny, causing the platform they stood on to fall a few inches. Diego lost his grip on Sid, who fell but managed to land on what remained of the floor below them. Manny grabbed onto Ellie’s arm when he noticed the platform beginning to split in half. “Hold on to me!” he yelled. She did so, reluctantly.

Diego looked around desperately for a way to escape the building, then he saw who was closest to the next building over. “Crash! Eddie!” He shouted. “There’s an open window. Try to reach it!” It was at least three feet away.

The teens looked between the window and the disaster below that could kill them should they fall. “Funny,” Eddie chuckled sarcastically. “Now what’s your real plan.”

“Just do it!” Diego shouted angrily.

Crash hugged Eddie fearfully. “Bye Eddie.”

“Bye Crash,” Eddie responded, hugging back.

“Bye Ellie!” Crash shouted sadly.

“Go now!” Diego shouted in frustration. The teens did so. Crash grabbed the back of Eddie’s shirt, then Eddie reached out and grabbed the edge of the window.

At that moment, Manny couldn’t help but speak to Ellie, feeling bad about their argument. If they were to die, he did not want that to be the last thing that happened between them. “I’m sorry,” He said, catching her off guard, then added. “-if what I said offended you.”

“What do you mean “IF” it offended me?!” Ellie growled angrily, pulling back from him and causing the pieces of the building to move. Eddie lost his grip on the window, and Crash pulled him back to safety.

“That it offended her!” Eddie shouted, correcting Manny’s bad choice of words.

“I mean THAT it offended you!” Manny shouted. Ellie allowed Manny to grab onto her again, pulling her closer to the center to keep the building balanced. “You just overreacted, that’s all,” Manny said, trying to soften the argument.

“What?!” Ellie shouted, pulling back again and causing the building to become unstable.

“Take it back!” Crash shouted.

“There are other lives at stake here!” Eddie said shakily.

“Wait a minute! He’s got a point!” Sid stupidly cut in, to make things worse.

“He’s got nothing!” Crash argued, defending his sister.

“It was a misunderstanding!” Sid shouted back, wanting to give Manny the benefit of the doubt. Manny wasn’t trying to tell Ellie she was wrong, he was just trying to get her to understand another point of view.

“It was insensitive!” Eddie shouted, believing that Manny was very terrible with words.

“Apologize!” Diego yelled at Manny, wanting this whole thing to end.

“Why me?! Manny complained. “She overreacted!

“Just apologize!” Diego shouted.

“No!” Manny refused.

“Do it!” Diego yelled. He had enough of this. Their lives weren’t worth a stupid argument.

“Okay!” Ellie finally relented. “I’m sorry!” She grabbed onto Manny and held still so that the building would balance, and stop rumbling under their feet and pause in its breakage.

“What?!” Everyone shouted.

“He’s right,” Ellie admitted. “I overreacted.” In some ways she didn’t, her beliefs were hers and they weren’t hurting anyone. But she also felt that maybe Manny was right, technology wasn’t bad, but even more so, the cult was horrible. Her beliefs came from a place that raised her to die, and she didn’t want to hold on to anything they had taught her.

Manny didn’t argue, he felt like he had probably done enough himself. It wasn’t right to push her so much. She just escaped a cult that was still trying to kill her. He had been insensitive and he hated to make things any worse than he already had.

Below, the floor Sid was on turned him close enough to the window for him to grab. Only when he reached and grabbed it, he fell forward and into the window, falling off the floor he was on and causing the entire balance of the building to become unstable.

Luckily, the entire building fell toward the building they needed to reach. “Run!” Diego shouted, causing Manny to grab onto Ellie and pull her to run to the next building as the platform they were on crashed into it. Crash and Eddie did the same, managing to slip through another window.

Diego was the last to get there and fell short. As the building fell into the depths of the water below, Diego fell too. Manny and Ellie reached out for him, each managing to grab an arm.

“I guess we finally did something right together,” Ellie laughed in relief. Manny smiled in response, before pulling Diego up.

“You’re okay!” Sid shouted, quickly running to Diego and hugging him.

“Nothing like almost dying to light a fire,” Diego chuckled, holding Sid close. In truth, he had been scared. Fearful he might have actually died and never see Sid again. Only, he didn’t know how to express that, except for maybe a little one on one time tonight. He honestly just wanted to be with Sid tonight, because tomorrow could be their last.

Chapter Text

Diego held Sid’s hand as he pulled him along, down the stairs to the floor of the building below the roof. Manny, Ellie, Crash, and Eddie remained on the roof to sleep under the stars. Diego didn’t bother to come up with an elaborate excuse and just told Manny that he and Sid needed time alone. It was obvious what that meant. Manny allowed them to separate from the group, but told them to stay close and easy to find.

The building they were in appeared to be an apartment building. Diego broke into the nearest apartment, kicking the door down easily. It was arousing for Sid to see his boyfriend use such brute strength. But he wasn’t quite ready to dismiss almost dying in exchange for acting on his sexual impulses.

Diego was ready, as he pushed Sid against the nearest wall and began kissing and sucking on his neck. It was desperate and needy in the face of the danger they were all in; being in a crumbling flooding city. Diego wasn’t ready to go without one more night with Sid. Just one more, to treasure, should they truly not make it. Which he was beginning to worry might be a reality, not that he would confess this to Sid.

Sid was warm and pliant under Diego’s touch. He breathed heavily as his upper arms were gripped by strong hands, and a muscular body pressed against his soft one. It was almost hard to focus on his emotions, when he so badly wanted this.

“Shouldn’t we talk about what just happened?” Sid asked, in one breath, before he lost his nerve and caved into Diego’s sex appeal. He needed to know Diego was okay. If there was anything he could do to help his boyfriend deal with their near death experience, he was glad to do it.

“Shut up,” Diego growled, capturing Sid’s lips. He slid his tongue into Sid’s mouth, tasting everything he could. Sid moaned at the wet warmth of it, and decided they could talk later.

Not bothering to look for a bedroom within the apartment they broke into, Diego dragged Sid to the sofa and pushed him down. Sid lay there, cheeks flushed red and body achingly hot. Diego admired how sweet he looked, eyes half lidded and chest heaving for air. He did not stay away from him long, only enough to quickly pull his jacket and shirt off. Sid swiftly followed his lead, and began stripping as well.

Diego didn’t give Sid time to get his own pants off. He reached for Sid and manhandled him out of the rest of his clothes. Sid yelped when his underwear was jerked down and off of him. “Easy tiger,” he laughed, only to get a mouthful of Diego’s tongue. Diego kissed him while climbing onto the sofa, pushing Sid’s legs apart to lay against his hips as he got in between.

Sid moaned, placing his hands on strong arms and smoothing down toward Diego’s pants. It wasn’t fair that Sid was the only one fully naked. But when he reached for the zipper to take them off, Diego growled and grabbed his wrists, pulling them above his head and rutting his clothed cock against Sid’s bare ass.

Sid’s cock grew harder as Diego rutted against him, the rough cloth of his jeans rubbing against his skin, filling him with anticipation. Diego kissed him a little more, before pulling away and looking down at him. Sid’s eyes were full of want. And his pale skin was going a little red from the heat between them. Diego admired his sweet face for a moment and let out a sigh.

“I almost lost you,” Diego let out sadly. Sid’s expression changed immediately to worry, his boyfriend hardly ever said sentimental things like that. What had happened seriously affected him. While Sid appreciated that Diego cared that deeply about him, he worried Diego wasn’t talking enough about what happened.

“Diego, I can help you,” Sid tried, he just wanted to be there for him. He wanted them to be there for eachother, like a couple, like a family. Sid craved closeness, not just this physical relationship they had, but an emotional one. Diego was always just out of reach emotionally.

“There’s nothing to help,” Diego said sternly. He held Sid’s wrists above his head with one hand, then reached for his cock with the other.

“Wait,” Sid tried, flinching at the touch, but when fingers wrapped around him he couldn’t help but moan and buck into it. “Diego,” he breathed out lustfully. Sid hated himself for how much he loved being touched like this. He wished he was stronger so that he could force his boyfriend to talk.

Diego stroked his cock slowly, eliciting whimpers and moans from Sid. With every slow stroke, from base to tip, Sid squirmed and pulled at the grip on his wrists. Diego smirked and leaned down, capturing a puckered nipple into his mouth. Sid gasped as Diego sucked on it.

“Diego, please,” Sid begged. “I’m gonna cum.” His legs tightened around Diego’s hips at the feeling of a wet tongue lapping at his nipple, along with the increased speed of the stroking of his cock. “Stop, I want us to cum together,” Sid whined.

Diego ignored him and increased the speed of his hand, stroking Sid fast and firmly to help him reach his end. “Diego!” Sid groaned, jerking at the hold in his wrists and squirming under the hard body against him. Sid tried to hold back, tears pricking his eyes in desperation, but he could feel the build up coming fast, and he soon let out a loud cry as he came, spurting cum onto his belly.

Sid went limp, chest heaving for air. He needed rest after that orgasm. But Diego wasn’t done with him. He unbuttoned his own pants and pulled out his hard and heavy cock. Sid paid little attention to it, until he felt fingers probing at his opening. He groaned in exhaustion, but didn’t refuse.

Diego did this all the time, making him cum multiple times in one session. Sid would be lying if he said he didn’t like it. He loved it. But he often felt a little guilty that Diego would only cum once, but make him cum at least three times. He’d talk to Diego about why he does this, if only he could get the man to actually talk back to him.

Sid’s soft and sensitive cock twitched when a finger pushed into his opening. It was slick and went in easily. Sid hadn’t even noticed that Diego had added lube. He wondered if he just carried that sort of thing around in his pocket. It didn’t matter, soon thoughts escaped him as another finger was added, sliding in and out of him, stretching him.

Diego took his time, making sure that Sid was ready for his thick cock. He didn’t want to hurt him, although Sid seemed to like that sometimes. This time, he wanted it to be as pleasurable as possible. He pressed into Sid and curled his fingers a little, finding Sid’s prostate easily. Sid gasped and squirmed at the touch. Diego pulled his fingers out then, and pressed his cock to Sid’s opening.

Diego pushed in slowly. Sid arched his back off the sofa and moaned at being filled. The light of the moon through the window illuminated Sid’s pale skin at that moment, and Diego appreciated the sight immensely. He eventually bottomed out, pressed all the way in. He then pulled out a little and pushed back in, pumping his cock slowly into Sid.

Reaching a hand for Sid’s half hard cock, Diego smirked the moment he wrapped his hand around it. Sid let out a high pitched whine; still too sensitive from cumming the first time. “Diego, i-it’s too much,” he whimpered, pulling at Diego’s grip on him again. Diego stroked him hard and fast. “Ah!” Sid cried. “FUCK!”

Matching his strokes, he thrust into Sid faster. The sound of Diego pounding into him was almost as loud as Sid’s yelps and cries. Sid jerked at his trapped wrists, and his legs pushed against Diego’s hips tightly. He then screamed and trembled as he spurted into Diego’s hand.

Diego released his cock and wrists then, gripping Sid’s hips tightly as he thrust deeper into him. His hard sharp thrusts striking Sid’s prostate every single time. Sid flailed for a moment before finally gripping Diego’s hands, which were occupied with digging into his skin. Sid closed his eyes as sparks flashed in his line of sight and electricity filled every part of his body. It was too much and yet just right.

“Harder!” Sid shouted. Diego did so, thrusting in harder and faster. Slamming into Sid like it was the last time they’d ever do this. Diego could feel the build up of his own orgasm, and continued to thrust until he finally came hard inside of Sid. He let out a grunt as he came, not willing to make much more noise than that.

Diego then pulled out and fell to the side, lying between the sofa’s back and Sid. It was a tight fit, but he held Sid close so that they could lay together. They breathed heavily together for a moment, before Diego spoke.

“I only counted two,” he said, reaching his hand around to grasp Sid’s cock.

“Wait,” Sid said, grabbing his hand before he could. “Can’t we talk?”

“About what?” Diego asked.

“Why do you always make me cum three times? Or maybe we could talk about our near death experience?” Sid wasn’t very tactful. He tended to get straight to the point, which didn’t help or encourage Diego to talk about what he wanted.

“Three times makes you too tired to talk after sex,” Diego admitted.

“What’s wrong with talking?” Sid asked, offended at the idea that their sex life revolved around shutting him up.

Diego sighed, “There’s nothing wrong with talking if what you say is important. You talk just to talk.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sid asked, getting angry. “You’re saying I don’t talk about anything important?”

“I just mean, you always want to talk about how I’m feeling,” Diego explained. “I just want to relax and you make it about your insecurities.”

“My insecurities?” Sid responded in confusion.

“You act like I don’t enjoy being with you,” Diego replied. “Isn’t the fact that I am with you enough for you to know that I want to be?”

Sid pulled away and got off the sofa. He quickly reached for his clothes and pulled his pants on before glaring at Diego. “It’s not insecure to exchange caring words,” Sid said angrily. He tried to pull his shirt on, but in going too fast it got tangled around his head. Diego got up then and helped him fix it.

Once Sid was free, he pushed Diego, however being much smaller and weaker he only managed to stumble back while Diego stood in the same place. This only made him more frustrated. “Why can’t you just tell me how you feel about me?” Sid questioned.

“Why is us being together not enough for you?” Diego countered.

“I just need to know how long it will last!” Sid yelled. “I just need to know how long before you and Manny abandon me like my family did! Why is it so hard for you to just tell me? Why can’t you just be honest?” Diego paused, at a loss for words.

“I know I annoy you both,” Sid confessed. “I know one day it’ll be too much. One day you’ll get sick of me. I can already tell Manny wants to be rid of me.” Sid huffed out a laugh, “He did from the start. And you, you already use sex to keep me quiet. Am I really that bad?”

Tears slipped down Sid’s face. “I care about the people around me. I care about Manny and I care about you. Diego, I-,” Sid swallowed, trying to keep his voice even. “I love you. And I just need to know if you could ever love me too? But I can’t even tell if you like me, or if you enjoy spending time with me. You won’t tell me.”

“Sid, I-” Diego paused again. He felt backed into a corner. He wasn’t one for sharing his emotions. He liked his relationship with Sid. And he cared deeply for him. He liked when Sid talked too much, he merely wanted to keep him quiet after sex so that they could slowly fall asleep together.

He wanted to be with Sid, maybe forever. Because he couldn’t imagine life without him. And since he almost died, he realized there was no life without Sid. Sid was funny, sweet, caring, and beautiful. Sid tried so hard at any task he was given to the point it annoyed everyone, but Diego wasn’t annoyed, he was endeared.

He loved Sid, but it scared him. He couldn’t bring himself to say it. He dedicated himself to the Sabertooth gang, and they had screwed him over. Committing to a group or even a person was risky. And Diego was afraid to admit he was dedicated to Sid.

The silence between them spread for too long. Sid couldn’t stand it. He wiped his tears with his shirt and huffed. He poured his heart out for nothing. “I’m going to sleep somewhere else,” he decided.

“Okay,” Diego responded, hurting Sid just a little more. His boyfriend could speak, he just wouldn’t. Sid walked away, going down the hall and trying a few doors before he found an open apartment.

The moment he entered the empty apartment, he slid to the floor and broke down into tears. Surely this would be the end of their relationship. It was only a matter of time before Diego broke up with him, or simply abandoned him without a word.

“Why are you crying?” a deep voice asked. Sid sucked in a breath of surprise and focused through his tears to see a tall figure standing over him. It was dark and he had not noticed there was someone in the room.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude,” Sid apologized.

“You’re not intruding,” the man said, squatting down to Sid’s level. “Come with me, I want to show you something.”

Chapter Text

Sid thought he might be being kidnapped. The man was insistent that he come with him, and he gripped Sid’s upper arm quite firmly. “My friends are going to wonder where I am,” Sid tried, only to be pulled along faster, as if those friends might come for him. It seemed certain now, he was being kidnapped.

Heart racing, Sid turned his head to look behind him down the dark hallway. Diego was in the apartment at the other end. “Uh, Diego,” Sid called loudly. It wasn’t loud enough, so he tried to yell, “Di-” A hand clamped over his mouth.

Panicked, Sid grabbed the man’s arm trying to pull his hand away. The man’s other arm wrapped around his middle and lifted him off the ground. Sid’s eyes widened and he tried to scream and kick free, but the man was much larger and taller and easily overpowered him. Sid was carried away.

=.=

Manny made his bed as comfortable as possible, it seemed Ellie was on stand by and there was nonverbal agreement that they were going to sleep together. Not sex. Not when she just tucked Crash and Eddie into their sleeping bags only a few steps away. Manny could wait for something like that. He was just happy to be with her.

It was a strange feeling to just want to be around someone. Diego and Sid were fine to be around. But Ellie; Manny found it comforting and exciting to be around her. He hadn’t felt this way about anyone in so long. He missed it.

Once the bed was made up, Ellie helped herself to it and laid down. Manny hesitated nervously for a moment, second guessing if he should lay down with her. But she calmed his nerves when she patted the spot next to her. He smiled and laid down. It was awkward for a second as they lay together, but Ellie spoke to try to fix that.

“Sid and Diego are probably having a good time right now,” she laughed.

Manny chuckled at this. “They do that, a lot.”

“What about you?” she asked curiously.

“Me?” Manny asked in surprise. “No, never.”

“Never?” Ellie asked, curiously.

“I just haven’t found the right person,” Manny explained.

“Neither have I,” Ellie sighed. “Because of my status back home, no boys ever showed any interest.”

“That’s too bad,” Manny replied. “Because.. Well, you’re.. you know.”

“What?” Eliie asked.

Manny hesitated, but pushed past his awkwardness and quickly said, “Attractive.”

“Really?” Ellie asked happily.

“Sure!” Manny confirmed.

“What about me is attractive?” Ellie questioned.

Manny began to sweat, it was a hard question to answer. The wrong choice of words could mean life or death. “Huh? Uh, Well, I don’t know, uh…” Manny tried to think fast. He had to say something or he’d come off as a liar. “Well, there’s your… butt?”

“What about it?” Ellie asked, turning over to face him.

“It’s… big?” Manny replied, wanting to melt into the floor with embarrassment. He found a lot about her attractive, and he picked the most offending feature.

Ellie stared at him for a moment in thought, then replied, “Oh! You’re just saying that!” she smiled happily. Manny internally sighed with relief.

“No, it’s huge! Biggest darn but I’ve ever seen!” he encouraged.

“Aw, that is really sweet,” she laughed. She knew it was an odd compliment, but she could tell how hard Manny was trying. He truly was sweet. She leaned in then, and kissed him. Manny paused in surprise, but didn’t pull away. Eventually he kissed back.

When they parted, they smiled at each other. “Good night,” Ellie said.

“Good night,” Manny replied. It was the start of something wonderful.

=.=

Sid was forced through a window, and across a plank leading to the next building. He was beginning to think the worst. Was this man going to kill him? Would he ever see his friends again? Was his argument with Diego that last memory they’d have together? It filled Sid with horror and sadness.

The man pulled Sid through the window of the building. Inside was the sound of loud music playing, and a large group of ravers dancing with glow sticks. It was hot in the room and the energy was high. The people hardly noticed the man or Sid, as if strangers just came and went so easily.

The man dragged Sid to the front of the room, where there was a DJ’s set up for music, which was being powered by a car battery. He leaned down and spoked into the DJ’s ear. She smiled at what he had to say and quickly shut off the music, causing people to complain.

“I have great news everyone!” the woman said. “The chosen one has arrived!” Sid flinched in surprise as everyone began to cheer. The man pushed him to stand next to the woman, then stepped down and joined the crowd.

Sid moved to walk away, only for the woman to take his hand and lift it, causing more cheering. Sid looked around at the crowd to see everyone so excited to see him. It was odd and surreal, but at the same time welcomed. No one had ever been as happy to see him as these people, and he liked it a lot.

“Now this is what I call love and respect,” he said to himself.

The woman then turned to him to speak, as the crowd of ravers quieted. “Samuel said he found you lost and crying. But here you stand with a smile on your face only moments later. You’re exactly the kind of person we need.”

“You need me?” Sid asked.

“Who else but a person who can see light in darkness,” the woman replied, then she turned to the crowd and called out. “I present to you the fire king!”

Instead of cheering, the crowd began to chant and hoot in an upbeat tune Sid had never heard. It was sung in high and low voices and came together beautifully as the crowd sang. There was clapping to add to the beat and there was the beating of drums.

Sid was in awe, and then became delighted when they placed a flower crown on top of his head. He was then led to sit on a chair which two strong men lifted into the air, raising Sid over everyone as they chanted, sang, and walked through the halls of the building. Their way was lit with glow sticks and flashlights.

They entered another room where a large wooden platform with all sorts of bits of broken wooden pieces were placed all over it, like the start of a bonfire. Sid didn’t think anything of it while the chair he was in was placed in the middle of it. He merely enjoyed the celebration of him.

“If only the guys could see me now!” Sid said excitedly. Then suddenly, the men grabbed his arms and began trying him down to the armrests of the chair. His smile faltered as he tried to jerk his arms free. “This is either really good or really bad,” he said, as the men backed away and the crowd gathered from a distance to view him.

Sid watched the woman, who had named him fire king, lift a flaming torch and place it on the wood pile he was on. “No no no no!” Sid exclaimed. “I’m the fire king! Why kill the fire king?! A thousand years bad juju for killing fire king!” he threatened.

“The city is flooding,” the woman said.

“Which is why we need to take this time to leave together!” Sid urged.

“We have a better solution,” the woman said. “Sacrifice our king to appease the flood into sparing our lives.”

“I just got here! I’m not really your king!” Sid reasoned.

“You are the light in our darkness,” she explained. “A gift given to us when we thought we were doomed.”

“I just ran into that guy!” Sid complained.

“A happy accident,” the woman smiled, stepping back as the flames began to grow and burn closer to Sid. The room began to fill with smoke and Sid began to cough. He struggled in the chair, rocking it back and forth until he fell over, knocking into a log that rolled off the platform, through the fire, and toward the crowd.

People began to cough and run, realizing they had made a mistake in starting a fire inside a building. Lucky for Sid, he wasn’t tied very well and with a few more jerking movements he was free. He stood up to see people fleeing and trampling each other, there was no way out in that direction.

Sid ran for the window and opened it. Looking down, it was a far drop, but anything was better than burning to death. He climbed out the window and tried to climb along the building to safety. But he was up high and it was windy. Sid lost his grip and balance and fell.

He screamed in terror before slamming into an air conditioner and tumbling through the window with it. Sid landed on the floor with the air conditioner and groaned in pain. He could hear people shouting above, along with the loud thumping of their feet as they ran. He sighed, despite the attempted murder, they seemed like a fun group he could get along with.

=.=

The sun was shining brightly through the window, waking Diego up from his deep sleep. He stretched and yawned, before opening his eyes to see that it was morning. He sat up and stepped onto the floor, only to be met with a few inches of water covering it. Diego quickly jerked his feet out of it. “Shit!” he exclaimed.

With serious effort, Diego took a deep breath and stepped back onto the watery floor and ran for the hallway and stairs. He ran up the stairs quickly and burst through the door, waking everyone on the roof up.

“We overslept!” she shouted. “Time to go!”

Manny startled awake. “What?” he asked tiredly. Ellie, Crash, and Eddie slowly woke as well.

“The water is up to the top floors!” Diego growled. “We need to go now!” Manny looked out at the city and saw it was mostly water now, with only the tallest buildings still sticking out. They were running out of time.

“Crash, I told you not to drink before bed,” Eddie joked, seeing all the water.

“I didn’t do this,” Crash complained.

“What happened?” Ellie questioned, the flood had gotten way out of hand. The water had risen faster than she could have imagined.

“What if we’re the last people left alive?” Crash asked. “We’ll have to re-populate the city!”

“How?” Eddie asked. “Everyone is either a dude or our sister.”

Sid came in through the roof’s door just then. “Hey guys,” he said, relieved to see they had not left him behind. “You’ll never guess what happened to me last night.”

“I’m gonna go out on a limb and say you spent the night pouting and got lost,” Diego said harshly. He hadn’t meant to, he was just feeling a little frustrated from their argument. He didn’t know how to fix things between him and Sid; and this defaulted into taking it out on Sid.

“No,” Sid responded, although he could see why his boyfriend would think that. “I was kidnapped by a group of doomsday partiers.”

“That was going to be my second guess,” Diego said sarcastically.

Sid ignored that. “They worshiped me!” he went on excitedly. “I mean, they only did it so that they could sacrifice me, but they really seemed to like me a lot!”

“Sid, you were dreaming,” Manny said, brushing it off. “Now come on. The water is rising faster than we’re moving.”

“But! I’m telling you! I was kidnapped!” Sid tried, only for everyone to ignore him and move on. Seeing that no one believed him, he soon gave up and just followed them.

Chapter Text

Ellie held her brothers’ hands to urge them to walk fast. The water was rising and it was only a matter of time before they were submerged. Diego walked ahead with determination to deal with any obstacles in their way, while Manny walked behind Ellie to make sure everyone was staying together.

Sid on the other hand was far behind them. “Hey, wait up!” he called to them, tired from traveling so fast and far. He needed a break. Although it was not only due to traveling. Sid didn’t have much motivation or energy to spare.

He had nearly been killed last night and no one believed him. It showed just how much trust and care they had for him. None. So maybe Sid was feeling a little down about it and lacked much motivation to keep up with his so-called friends. Perhaps he had been kidding himself. Perhaps there were no relationships here and he was just tagging along to the unwillingness of everyone else.

It made Sid walk just a little slower. He was awfully tired anyway, and it’s not like anyone cared. He didn’t get any sleep last night from trying to find his way back to the gang anyway, so some rest was needed. Sid slumped as he walked, and slowed even more as the rest of the gang walked much further ahead. He knew they probably wouldn’t even notice he was gone. Diego would move on quickly, he was sure of it.

Ellie noticed Diego walking ahead and didn’t mention the tension between him and Sid. She didn’t want to pry into their relationship. And while the biggest concern was survival, she felt a little sad to see two love birds suddenly shy away from each other. Speaking of which, she looked back, to see Sid slump down and sit on the ground.

“Manny,” she alerted, nodding to him. Manny looked back and glared in frustration. Sid never made anything easy.

“Damn it, we don’t have time for this,” he growled. He urged Ellie to keep walking with her brothers and to follow Diego.

Manny marched up to Sid, who didn’t even bother to look up at him and just sat there uselessly. “Sid, get your ass in gear!” Manny boomed. Sid flinched at the sudden loudness of it, but did not get up.

“Just leave me here,” Sid whined.

“You’ll die, you idiot,” Manny snapped in irritation.

“Who cares?” Sid responded sadly, and he meant it. Who did care? Not Diego. Certainly not Manny.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on between you and Diego, but we don’t have time for it right now,” Manny said. “We are hours from drowning, Get up!”

“Leave me to drown,” Sid said, laying down on the ground. “It’s not like anyone will miss me when I’m gone.”

“As much as I’d like to agree with you, that is unfortunately not reality,” Manny retorted, reaching down and grabbing Sid’s arm.

“Let go!” Sid yelled, trying to jerk away, only for Manny to lift him to his feet and begin forcing him to walk. Sid dug his heels in, but was easily pulled along no matter how stubborn he tried to be. Soon, he was left with just going limp, which didn’t affect Manny’s ability to drag him, although it did hurt Sid’s arm and shoulder.

“I said let go!” Sid complained biting into Manny’s hand. Manny yelped and let go of him, causing him to fall to the ground. Sid groaned in pain, his bruises from last night stung.

“Alright!” Manny shouted. “You want to act like a child, I’ll treat you like one!” Sid glared at him, but then shrieked when Manny grabbed his arm again and this time slammed his other hand against his ass, spanking him twice harshly, while Sid yelped and tried to pull away.

Manny then lifted Sid up, slinging him over his shoulder and began walking to catch up with the others. Sid curled his fingers and toes from the pain in his bottom, and the pain in his side that bumped against Manny’s shoulder. His side was badly bruised from hitting the air conditioner last night. The emotional turmoil and physical pain all became too much, and Sid finally began to cry quietly to himself.

Manny felt Sid shaking a little against him and could hear sniffling. But now was not the time to address it, they were low on time. So he walked faster and caught up with Ellie. They didn’t walk long before she noticed Sid’s quiet sobbing. She elbowed Manny in the arm to get his attention and nodded her head to Sid. Manny only shrugged, making her angry.

“Do something or I will,” Ellie gritted out. Manny’s eyes widened, and he took this as a threat, so he complied.

“You guys go on, we’ll catch up,” he said. Ellie smiled at this and then continued to lead her brothers forward. She was pleased that Manny was so accommodating and felt hopeful that Sid would be okay. Diego looked back to see Manny setting Sid down and hoped maybe a talk between them would settle things. He just wanted things to go back to normal, before Sid had gotten so upset with him.

Once back on his feet, Sid touched his tender side and flinched. It hurt more now, than it did when it happened. Manny noticed, and sighed. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Sid pouted.

“You’re hurt,” Manny pointed out. “Let me see.”

It was Sid’s turn to sigh. He huffed out a breath and lifted his shirt to show a large dark bruise covering his ribs. Seeing it made Manny angry, but this time not at Sid. He was angry at himself for being so careless. Sid was a lot of things; attention seeker, annoying, and way too talkative. But he wasn’t a liar.

“They did this to you?” He asked. “These ‘doomsday partiers’?”

“No,” Sid answered. “They just tried to burn me alive. I fell on something, that’s all.” He shrugged, not going into detail. It’s not like anyone would care anyway.

“M’sorry,” Manny said reluctantly, looking away for a moment, hating the word. He wasn’t much for apologizing, but he felt like he really did wrong by Sid here. Sid looked up at him in surprise, but then looked away to wipe away more tears.

“It’s fine,” he eventually responded.

“Okay,” Manny said, feeling like things must be better now. “Can we go?”

“You guys can go on without me,” Sid replied, sitting down on the ground to wallow in his depression.

“Now what?” Manny asked desperately. “I believe you about last night, what’s wrong now? Is this about you and Diego?” Sid held his breath at the sound of his boyfriend’s name and put his face in his hands to sob. “Whatever is going on between you two is not worth dying over. Break-up with him for all I care, just do it when we’re not about to die!”

Sid sat there and sobbed harder. He had never cried so much in his life. He was used to people being rude to him, ignoring him, and leaving him. But Diego and Manny. They were the first people to show that they even cared just a little bit. But Sid was beginning to feel that was wishful thinking, and it hit him hard.

Manny knelt down and grabbed his wrists, pulling his hands from his face. “I get that you don’t want to be alone, Sid,” he stated. It was obvious from the way Sid always talked, but Manny never cared to indulge in his pity parties. Sid only cried more at this, feeling exposed, even if he had made his feelings obvious.

“Stop crying,” Manny demanded, only making his friend cry harder. “Dammit,” he said to himself, then tried with Sid again. “Alright! You were right!” Manny yelled, making Sid pause and look at him through tears.

“I thought I was going to be alone forever!” Manny yelled at him. “I thought once I lost my family that I was doomed to be alone. I wanted to meet someone and start new, but I felt guilty,” he admitted. “Sid, losing the ones you love is hard. I would know.”

“When we first met, I was about to kill myself,” Manny admitted. Sid sucked in a breath of surprise. “But then I saved you, and suddenly I wasn’t alone. Suddenly I had an obligation to you and the baby. My point is, losing people is hard, and being alone is hard, but it doesn’t last forever.”

“So if you and Diego break-up, so be it. But you will not be alone,” Manny assured. “I’m going to be there for you. Okay? I’m going to be there, no matter how much you piss me off. Because you saved my life that day, and I owe you everything from that moment on. And I care about you, you fucking idiot.”

“You do?” Sid asked.

“Don’t make me repeat myself,” Manny growled. “Now get up and let's get moving!”

“I can’t,” Sid replied. “I just- Diego- I-” Sid was at a loss for words.

“What?” Manny demanded. “What is so bad? What did he do?”

“He told me he uses sex to get me to shut up,” Sid confessed. “What if Diego doesn’t like me anymore? What if sex is all we have left?”

“Diego is using you for sex?” Manny asked, jumping to the worst possible conclusion.

“I don’t know,” Sid admitted. Manny was fuming at this. A look of rage crossed his face and he stood still for a moment.

“Manny?” Sid questioned, only to watch him suddenly walk away, heading toward Diego. “Manny! Wait!” He shouted, but it was too late.

“Diego!” Manny shouted, getting everyone’s attention. Diego stopped and turned to see his friend charging at him and looking quite angry, with Sid worriedly following after.

“Oh shit,” Diego muttered, backing away as Manny got into his space and grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t pummel you,” Manny growled in his face.

“I don’t even know what this is about!” Diego responded in confusion.

“Then you’re dumber than I thought,” Manny spat. “Break-up with him or work it out. I don’t care which, but you need to stop leading him on if you don’t want him.”

“Manny, I swear I care about him,” Diego tried. “I just haven’t been the best at telling him that.”

“Figure it out,” Manny responded, shoving him backward before letting go. He turned to Sid then, “It’ll be okay,” he said. Sid nodded anxiously, eyes still red from crying. Manny then returned to Ellie who was dying to know what the hell had just happened.

“Spill the beans big man,” Eddie said. “What happened?”

“It’s just a misunderstanding,” Manny decided. “They’ll work it out.” At least he hoped. Diego was also his friend and he’d hate to lose that friendship. Diego was a decent person and Manny actually enjoyed his company. But if he was treating Sid badly, Manny couldn’t let any of this continue.

Chapter Text

Diego had been so caught up in his thoughts of his relationship with Sid and how to fix it; that he neglected actually fixing it. But with the looming threat of Manny kicking his ass, Diego was obligated to finally do something. So as the group walked ahead leaving him and Sid to walk a little further back to talk, Diego was searching for the right words to say.

He didn’t want to make another mistake like he did last night, upsetting Sid to the point that he ran off. This time he would get it right. But as he tried to think of what to say, the silence grew between them, making Sid feel more and more insecure. Sid was hunched over and walked slowly as he hugged his arms around himself sadly.

When Diego still refused to talk, Sid decided he should say something. “Do you still like me?” he asked worriedly.

“Of course I do,” Diego responded, as if it was obvious. “I wouldn’t spend so much time with you if I didn’t.”

“But you want me to not talk,” Sid tried to confirm. Diego sighed.

“Just after sex,” he admitted. “We should relax after and just be together. There’s no need to talk.”

“Well, I like talking,” Sid said defensively. “I can tell you how I’m feeling, then you can tell me how your feeling, then we can talk about what we’ll to later, then-”

“Sid!” Diego barked to get him to stop. “This is what I’m talking about. We don’t need a detailed conversation about everything.”

“Then how am I supposed to know how you're feeling, what you're thinking, or what you want?” Sid asked. “How will you know those things about me?”

“It’ll come naturally,” Diego shrugged. “I don’t see the point in going on about it all the time. Our feelings will make themselves known when needed.”

“That’s not good enough,” Sid insisted. “I need to know how you feel all the time, and you don’t exactly wear your emotions on your sleeve.”

“Why?” Diego complained. “Let my actions speak for me.”

“I can’t,” Sid replied.

“Why not?” Diego said angrily. “What’s so important about my words that my actions aren’t good enough for you?”

“I just need reassurance,” Sid explained. “I need to know that you want me around. I need to know I’m not annoying you. I need to know what you're feeling, what you’re planning, and how our relationship is going to go.”

“Let it take its own direction,” Diego argued. “Things aren’t set in stone.”

“I need them to be, at least a few days in advance,” Sid pleaded. “Please Diego, I just need you to tell me this is going to last.”

“It’ll last as long as it lasts,” Diego snapped in annoyance. “Why are you being so insecure about this? Why is it so important for our relationship to have some sort of organized structure? Why can’t you just let us be happy with how things are? Why do you need to know everything all the time?!”

Diego was frustrated and angry at this point. “I love you. I care about you. Everything is fine between us, but you’re making it out to be like something terrible is around every corner. You’re paranoid and it’s getting ridiculous!”

“I can’t help it!” Sid defended.

“Why not?! Diego shouted.

“Because you might leave me!” Sid yelled. “And I just want to see it coming when it happens.” His bottom lip trembled a little, and his eyes glistened with tears. “I never saw any of it coming before. Every time my family abandoned me, there was never a hint of their plan to leave. I would just wake up and they’d be gone.”

“I’m not gonna leave you,” Diego assured, speaking more softly now. Finally understanding. He felt like an idiot for not listening. For as much as Sid talked, it seemed Diego was missing everything being said. “Sid, I-I’m sorry.”

“Can you just tell me it’s going to be okay. Just tell me you’re not sick of me and we have just a little longer,” Sid asked, tears falling down his face. “I’m scared that it’ll end soon. That with this fight and you wanting me to be quiet, and getting annoyed with me. I feel like the end is coming.”

“Oh Sid,” Diego breathed. “I don’t see an end in sight.” He opened his arms then, and let Sid curl into him. He wrapped him tight in an embrace, not intending to let go anytime soon.

Rubbing Sid’s back, Diego took a deep breath and did his best to talk. He wasn’t one for words most of the time. But he would make the effort, because that was obviously what Sid needed all along, and he was too stubborn to see that.

“You don’t annoy me,” Diego said. “I like when you talk too much. I enjoy listening to the sound of your voice and how passionate you get. The only reason I try to tire you out during sex is to shut you up so that I can enjoy-” he sighed, because it was hard to admit.

“I enjoy cuddling you until you fall asleep. I like holding you and falling asleep to the sound of your breathing. I-” he huffed out another breath. “I think it’s cute… the way you… sound when you sleep. And your face looks so soft and innocent… is that… good enough?”

Sid hid a smile into Diego’s chest as they hugged. It was perhaps the sweetest thing Diego had ever said to him. It helped. It helped a lot. Diego cared about him and loved him more than he knew. And it made Sid feel like there really was no end in sight. That for now, things would be okay.

“Thank you,” Sid said, muffled by Diego’s jacket, as he pressed his face in.

“Just- uh- when you need reassurance, tell me and I’ll say something nice, I guess,” Diego mumbled. Sid pulled back and smiled.

“Okay, but now we have to work on your gift giving,” he teased. Diego glared at him.

“Nice try,” he grumbled, pulling away and walking to catched up with the group. Sid followed after.

“Oh, come one Diego! Nothing says ‘I love you’ better than gifts!” Sid informed happily.

When Diego and Sid caught up to the group, Manny was pleased to see a smile on Sid’s face and an annoyed look on Diego’s. It must have gone well, and he was grateful for it. Trouble between them meant he’d be stuck in the middle, and he didn’t care to be in that drama.

Ellie peaked behind them to see Diego begrudgingly holding the hand of a very talkative Sid. She couldn’t help but feel hopeful and excited to see them back to being together again. She hated to see a couple in distress. She looked over at Manny then, and wondered what kind of distress they would get into. She blushed then, and looked away.

“I can’t tell if we’re getting close,” Manny said worriedly, as they moved on to another building. Everything was so covered in water, besides the tops of the buildings, that he didn’t recognize anything.

“All we can do is just keep going,” Ellie said, trying to sound reassuring. “We’ll make it.” She squeezed her brothers’ hands worriedly. She couldn’t imagine what she would do if they didn’t make it. “It’ll be okay.”

Manny nodded to reassure her, “It will be.”

But as they stepped to the next building, they found themselves surrounded. Sitting and standing around this roof top was a sparse group of the city’s homeless. And more and more of them began to appear from behind various places.

Ellie pushed her brothers to walk between her and Manny, while Diego and Sid got closer to the group. They walked through the slowly increasing crowd, trying to ignore the people, but it was hard to. “They’re watching us,” Manny whispered.

“I wish I knew what they were thinking,” Sid wondered.

And as if his wonderment was enlightened, a man dressed in rags, who wore shoes with holes in them showing his toes, stepped up in front of them. “Do you have any food?” He asked, looking desperate and hungry.

“No,” Manny lied, knowing they had a backpack with some remains of food supplies. They would need it if this journey took another day.

The man eyed them suspiciously, but Manny was not interested nor intimidated. He walked past the man, with Ellie, her brothers, Diego, and Sid following closely.

“Food, glorious food,” The man rasped out, singing, as he turned to watch them walk away. “We’re anxious to try it.” It was true, this group of homeless had not eaten since the flood overtook the city. They had no means to be prepared for it, and suffered the consequences of having no supplies.

“THREE! Banquets a day!” a crazed woman with a bag on her head shouted, getting into Ellie’s face. Manny quickly forced himself between them and made her back away. But she continued, “Our favorite diet!”

“Just picture a beefy steak!” A dirty child sang happily. “Fried! Roasted! Or Stewed!”

“Oh food! Wonderful food!” Suddenly the entire crowd sang in an insane, yet synchronized manner. “Marvelous food! Glorious food!”

Seeing the crowd inch closer, their intent clear in their faces, Manny shouted, “RUN!”

A man reached out and grabbed Crash’s wrist, pulling him harshly. Eddie grabbed his other arm and tried to pull back. Ellie quickly shoved at the man, forcing him to stumble back, then grabbed her brothers by their arms and ran.

Sid managed to trip on his laces and fell to the ground. Diego wasted no time in quickly grabbing his arm and getting him back to his feet. They followed behind Ellie and her brothers, who were led by Manny. The large group of homeless got bolder, as they followed and tried to grab at them.

The gang did their best to dodge and avoid the grabbing hands as they ran. Manny slammed down a plank to get them across to the next building. He made sure everyone got across before crossing himself. But when he tried to take the plank, the homeless group were already trying to cross it, and he could do nothing but turn and run.

Not knowing how to cross to the next building, Ellie felt trapped and worried for her family. However Manny came with determination. He grabbed up Eddie, one hand on his upper arm and the other on his leg, as he lifted him up and spun around. Using the momentum of spinning mixed with his strength, Manny flung Eddie across to the next building.

Eddie screamed in terror, as his siblings watched in fear. He fell onto the roof of the next building, letting out a loud yelp of pain when he landed and tumbled. “I’m okay!” Eddie said, feeling a little dizzy.

Manny watched to make sure he sat up and seemed alright before grabbing Crash next. “Wait! Wait!” Crash shouted, only to be thrown in the exact manner. Crash screamed through the air before landing on top of his brother.

“Ouch,” Eddie breathed out, laying on the ground in a pile of aches and bruises.

“Thanks bro!” Crash said grateful for a soft landing.

“I’d be angry if you hadn't just saved them from a bunch of crazy people,” Ellie snapped, glaring at Manny. There was no time to dwell, as Manny turned to Sid.

“Time to go!” He said, grabbing Sid next.

“Can’t we talk about this!” Sid yelped as Manny grabbed him. Manny spun around a few times with Sid, as he was slightly taller and heavier than the teens. He flung him as hard as he could. Sid shrieked and landed in the water, just short of the building.

“Manny!” Diego roared angrily. Luckily Crash and Eddie were there to help. They reached out for Sid and pulled him up and out of the water, to Diego’s relief.

“You can’t throw the rest of us,” Ellie reasoned. “Now what? We swim?”

“It’s too deep and the current is unpredictable,” Manny explained, looking around. By now the homeless had caught up to them. Manny managed to punch one of them in the face, knocking him to the ground in agony. It kept the others at bay; making them pause and stumble back not wanting the same treatment.

“Look! A cable!” Diego shouted, seeing a thick wire running from building to building. They would need a ladder to get to it. Luckily they had Manny.

Manny, Diego, and Ellie ran for the cable. Manny pulled off his belt and handed it to Ellie, then immediately lifted her by the hips to reach the cable. She slung the belt over the cable, then yelled, “Ready!” He let go, allowing her to slide down the cable to the next building.

“Your turn,” Manny said.

“Don’t tell anyone I let you pick me up,” Diego commented.

“Noted,” Manny replied, wrapping his arms around Diego and lifting him up. Diego used his belt to wrap it over the wire, then was let go. He couldn’t help but scream as he slid across to the other building, the water under him making him extremely nervous.

Manny was last, and the homeless were desperate. Manny was forced to hit and kick a few of them away, before using his jacket to slide to the other building. When he got to the other side, he could see them trying to reach the cable, while others tried to find other ways across.

“We need to hurry,” Manny said, wanting to put distance between them. “Let’s go.”

“I should be angry,” Ellie said, looking at the other building and then back at Manny. “But you saved my brothers, again.” Manny didn’t get the chance to respond, as she pressed a kiss to his lips.

“Ew!” The twins spat at the same time, turning away. Ellie smiled into the kiss wanting to laugh. Manny wrapped his arms around her, deepening it, but stayed chaste so as not to scare her. She appreciated it, this was her first kiss.

Chapter Text

Ice Age City was surrounded by a very strong thick wall. And when the reservoir broke, it allowed that wall to act like the sides of a bowl, slowly filling the city. There were tunnels leading out of the city, allowing some water to pour out, but those were soon blocked to keep the flood from spreading to nearby towns. Now the whole city was flooded to nearly the top of the wall, just meters from spilling over.

Everyone who was able to escape their homes and make it to the west border of the city, were stuck on the building closest to the wall, which was too far out of reach. But, by working together, the people were able to build a large floating raft out of furniture and trash floating in the water, thanks to the city’s litter problem.

In the distance, Manny was able to catch a glimpse of it, relief filling his chest. The others caught sight of it too, they were only three rooftops away. “We made it,” Diego uttered, comforted to know this nightmare was almost over. Ellie cheered and hugged Manny in excitement, while the twins high-fived. They were going to be safe.

“Let’s go!” Ellie encouraged, moving forward. Only, the buildings were slowly deteriorating from the flood, and weren’t as sturdy as they had been mere hours before. The roof broke beneath her feet and she only had enough time to look at Manny in horror before she fell through.

Manny and the others ran to the hole she fell through, to find that she had fallen through two floors. Down below Ellie was unconscious, and the water was starting to flood in. If they didn’t do something quick, she would drown.

“Manny!” Eddie yelled. “Do something!”

“Please!” Crash pleaded. Only for the building to start breaking apart even more.

A crack formed, splitting and separating Diego and Sid from the others. Crash and Eddie lost their balance and tumbled to the side of the building, falling off the edge and into the water. They were able to grab onto a nearby wire running between buildings, but the rush of water was strong and they could only hold on for dear life.

The building rumbled, and broke further, causing pieces of the building to fall and land around Ellie. She woke in time and rolled to the right to avoid being hit, but was soon surrounded by debris, trapping her on all sides and above.

“Ellie!” Manny screamed, thinking the worst as she seemed to be buried.

“Manny!” Ellie yelled back, letting him know she was still alive. Despite the deadly danger she was in, she was more worried for her brothers, who were being pulled harshly by a current created from the building's slow collapse.

“Help!” Eddie shouted.

“I’ll save you!” Sid exclaimed, jumping from the building before Diego could stop him. Unfortunately, Sid did not pay attention to his surroundings and fell head first onto a hard piece of debris, knocking him unconscious.

“Great!” Crash said sarcastically, “Who’s gonna save him?” Sid floated in the water toward them, allowing them to grab on to him before he could float away and possibly drown.

Diego moved to jump in to save Sid, but suddenly, fear filled every part of him. He stopped and paused, unable to force himself to get into the water. It would surely mean death to jump in. He couldn’t swim. It was deep, dark, and horrifying. A thing of nightmares. Who knows what was lurking under the waves. But Sid, the love of his life, was facing it right now.

“Jump in right now,” Diego told himself, yet he still couldn’t go. “You can do this, you can do this, you can do this!” He had to, he needed to. “Trust your instincts, attack the water, I am not your prey!” Hyped up on his own words, and trying not to think about what he was doing, he jumped.

Landing deep in the water, Diego kicked and punched like Sid had told him to. And he found himself swimming, barely keeping above water for a moment. But he soon got the hang of it, running on adrenaline and the thought that if he didn’t do this he would die. He then began making his way over to Sid, Crash, and Eddie.

It was nearly too late. In trying to hold on to Sid, Crash lost his grip on him. The water was rising and it was too heavy against them. “Eddie!” Crash cried, as his brother and Sid fell beneath the water. Diego came just in time to grab Crash, before he too was swept away.

“Hold on to me,” Diego yelled, allowing Crash to cling to his back. With all his strength, Diego plunged into the water and scooped up Sid, who Eddie was weakly trying to get above water. Diego brought them all to the surface.

Holding on to Sid, while the twins clung to his back, Diego floated them with the current until he could reach a building. Where they were all able to climb on safely. At that moment, Sid began to regain consciousness.

“You did it,” Sid said weakly. “You kicked water’s butt.”

“Nothing to it,” Diego assured. “Babies can do it.”

“Technically they only float,” Sid laughed, worrying Diego a little that maybe he could have drowned.

Back inside the building, Manny had managed to make it down to the level Ellie was on. Using the leg of a table, Manny shoved an end in between the concrete pieces holding Ellie prisoner. He tried to push in order to pull the pieces apart.

“Hurry, Manny!” Ellie cried out, as water began to fill up to her neck. Manny tried, but was suddenly tackled from behind by Creed. He and Mel had survived their last encounter and finally caught up to them.

Splashing around in the water, Creed had the upper hand and tried to hold Manny underwater to drown him. Manny kicked him hard in the stomach, making the man topple over, so that he could swim up and breathe.

By now, there was no choice but to swim, as the water had risen too much, and Ellie was in more danger than ever. Beneath the debris, she was slowly losing oxygen. Manny made it to the surface, and heard Sid yell in the distance, “Behind you!”

Manny looked, to see Mel swimming to him with a knife between his teeth. Manny glared and dunked back under water. He then quickly grabbed Mel by the feet and dragged him underneath. Creed came up behind him, only for Manny to grab the knife and jam it into his stomach. Blood tainted the water around them once he pulled the knife out.

Mel tried to fight Manny for the knife, but was easily overpowered. Manny managed to punch him several times in the face, his strength powerful even under water, knocking him unconscious and leaving him to drown. With little time left, Manny swam back to the concrete pieces holding Ellie.

Using the knife, he slid it in between two pieces of concrete and was able to part it enough to get his hand in and pull it off the pile. It was dark inside, with no movement. But Manny was determined and reached in to find Ellie. She was barely hanging on.

Wrapping an arm around her waist, Manny pulled her up and to the surface. Manny took all her weight, as she was not moving, and swam to the small section of building left; that the others stood on. Diego and Sid helped pull Manny and Ellie out of the water.

“Ellie!” Crash sobbed, seeing his sister unconscious.

“Is she okay?” Eddie asked worriedly.

Manny ignored them, and focused on Ellie. He positioned her on her back and tilted her head up. Covering her mouth with his own, he blew air into her, filling her lungs. He then lifted off, and began performing compressions on her chest.

Everyone stood by worriedly, as Manny worked to fill her lungs with his breath again, then began thumping his hands down against her chest. Crash and Eddie clung to each other, tears in their eyes, worried they would never get to speak to their sister again.

But by some miracle, Ellie gasped, taking in air. Manny quickly pushed her to lay on her side, allowing her to cough up water. After a few moments, she was able to sit up. Only for Crash and Eddie to push her back down with hugs. She laughed, as they squeezed her tightly.

Everyone was ready to rejoice that they were finally safe. Sid cheered. “We’re gonna live!” But the water began to rise and cover their feet, and there was nowhere else to go. “We’re gonna die!” he cried, turning to hug Diego. They all crowded together as the water kept getting higher and higher. In the distance, the people that managed to make it to the raft were all settled on it and floating.

Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling and cracking sound. The wall was beginning to lose strength and was breaking. Ellie, Manny, and the others watched as the wall began to crash down into pieces and the water spilled out into the surrounding areas. The water around them slowly lowered, allowing them to finally feel safe.

It took hours for the city to fully drain. But as slowly as the water cleared, the gang was able to climb down from the building they were on. Once on the ground, they walked to the broken wall, wanting to get away from the buildings that were no longer safe for use. It would only be a matter of time before many of the buildings rotted and collapsed.

They managed to catch up to other survivors rather quickly. The crowd slowly dispersing to look for other towns and cities to go to for food and shelter. Sid stayed close to Diego, happy they would live after all, until he caught sight of a few familiar faces. “Ahh!” he shrieked, hiding behind Diego.

“Fire king!” the woman from before shouted, as her loyal followers stood by. They all quickly bowed upon seeing Sid.

“Not them again” Sid whined, confusing Diego.

“Fire king, you averted the flood,” the woman said. “Join us, oh great and noble light. Lead us!”

Sid liked the sound of that, only he was a little apprehensive after the attempted murder. He didn’t get much time to think it over however, Diego stepped in. “Not so fast there!” he shouted. He couldn’t lose Sid to a group that claimed to want him. Diego wanted him, he needed him.

“You make a quality offer, but Fire King-” Diego began, feeling silly to call Sid such a title. “He has a prior commitment. His gang needs him. He’s what holds us all together. He brought us together, and… well… we’d be nothing without him.”

Tears of happiness pricked Sid’s eyes and he tried to wipe them away before flinging himself at Diego and hugging him as hard as he could. Diego smiled to himself and hugged back. Happy to have Sid’s warm frame against him. “I’ll never let you go,” he promised, making Sid hug tighter.

Ellie watched them and leaned into Manny. It was a sweet sight to see. However, their journey wasn’t quite over until they found a place to stay. “What do we do now?” She asked.

“I don’t know,” Manny admitted. “But if you’re okay with it. We can stick together. I-I mean unless you had someone else, or somewhere else to go…”

“I don’t,” she assured, smiling at his effort to not assume anything.

“Well, uh, if you're interested, maybe we-” he was cut off by her lips against his. She kissed deeply this time, licking his lips to encourage him to kiss her more. Manny did so, tenderly, slipping his tongue into her mouth to finally taste her. It was more than he could take as things began to get a little hot and heavy between them.

“Ew!” Crash spat.

“Please stop!” Eddie whined.

They pulled apart, huffing out needy breaths Ellie didn’t want to stop. She had never felt so close to someone before. But for the sake of her sensitive brothers she had to. Manny smirked at her then, and she knew then that they could continue later. But first, they needed a place to stay.

Chapter Text

“I don’t see why Ellie couldn’t share a room with us,” Eddie pouted, laying in bed. The gang had managed to get plenty of rooms between them. Crash and Eddie were in one. Manny and Ellie were in the room next to them. And the next room was for Diego and Sid.

“Maybe the hotel has a two person per room policy,” Crash suggested, laying next to him. “Or maybe since Manny’s alone, Ellie felt bad and decided to share a room with him. Could be anything.”

“No, I think it’s more than that,” Eddie replied. “I think they might be together.”

“Together?” Crash questioned.

“As in, boyfriend and girlfriend,” Eddie explained.

“How can you tell?” Crash asked.

“Mostly the kissing,” Eddie sighed unhappily. “You know what this means right?”

“No,” Crash said cluelessly.

“It means she’s going to spend less time with us! And more time with him!” Eddie shouted, sitting up and hitting his brother with a pillow in frustration.

“Hey!” Crash shouted, lifting his pillow and slapping it against Eddie’s head, making him topple over. It started a pillow fight between them, making Eddie immediately forget his worries.

In the next room, Ellie and Manny sat next to each other. Their hands laying on the bed between them, fingers entwined. It was quiet between them for a long moment before both finally decided to speak at the same time.

“Sorry,” they both said.

“You go ahead,” Ellie urged.

“I-I just wanted you to know that we don’t have to do anything,” Manny assured, putting his hands up to show he wouldn’t touch her. “We can just talk, or sleep.”

Ellie laughed, “I know.”

“Good, good,” Manny said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. He hadn’t been in a relationship in so long, he didn’t know how to handle this situation. He didn’t even mean to get stuck in a room with Ellie. She just took charge and went into the room he intended to use.

“Are you okay with something happening between us?” Ellie asked, leaning toward him. Manny leaned back and blushed.

“Yeah, of course,” he responded nervously, yet felt eager. Ellie smiled, then leaned in further and kissed him. Manny hesitantly put his hands on her upper arms and pulled her closer. He felt her hand press against his chest, not to push him away, just to feel him. Until she pushed a little more to get him to lean back.

They kissed a little longer, until both of them began to feel warm and the kissing began to get more needy and sloppy. Ellie sat up and pulled her shirt off. Following her lead, Manny did the same. They both stood quickly to strip.

Manny was the first to get done, and before Ellie could get her panties or bra off, a naked Manny pulled her against his chest and bent down to catch her lips. More bold now in the heat of the moment, Manny pushed Ellie down onto the bed.

“Hold on,” Ellie breathed, trying to reach to get her bra off. Manny took charge and reached his hand under her and unclasped it in one swift movement. He helped her out of it quickly and flung it across the room.

He then pressed a hand over one of her breasts, massaging his fingers into it. It was an odd feeling to be touched. Ellie had never been this exposed and open with someone before. But she didn’t hate it so far.

Manny continued to kiss her, slipping his tongue into her mouth. Ellie enjoyed this greatly and used her tongue to dance with his. She was feeling hot now, with Manny’s body hovering over hers, yet pressed with just enough pressure against her to make her want more.

Then Manny made a move, one hand feeling all over her body, smoothing over her skin, while the other reached into her panties. Ellie gasped in surprise and flinched at the sudden touch of his fingers to her clit. She had never felt anything like it.

She opened her legs more, as Manny pressed two fingers against the nub, pressing and moving in a swirling pattern. Ellie moaned into Manny’s lips, her nipples puckering with pleasure. Manny moved down and took one into his mouth, flicking his tongue against it before sucking.

Ellie found herself sensitive to every sensation and touch from Manny. She never realized how good it could feel to be touched. But she needed more. “Manny,” she breathed, wanting to tell him, but unable to find the words.

Manny knew and he would do anything for her. Removing his hands from her, he sat up and backed up for a moment to slip off her panties. Ellie reached for him to come back as soon as they were off.

Manny got in between her legs and leaned down again to kiss her, hands smoothing along her sides, while she grabbed his hair. He pulled their lips apart for a moment to ask, “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she moaned.

“Can I fuck you?” he asked, not knowing how to put it more lightly when most of his brain cells were losing blood to his lower region.

“Fuck, yes,” Ellie groaned, wanting him to do it already.

They began kissing again, while Manny lined himself up with her wet and ready opening. His cock was heavy and quite large, and he worried he might hurt her. So he slid in slowly. Ellie gasped and stilled, feeling him slowly slip into her. It was strange, but as he placed a thumb against her clit to ease the process, it became more pleasurable.

Slowly, Manny began to move his hips, pumping into Ellie gently. She moaned and wrapped her legs around him. “Faster,” she groaned.

“Are you sure?” he asked worriedly.

“Faster,” she gritted out, giving him a look of annoyance. She knew what she wanted and was not in the mood to be questioned right now. Manny obeyed and began to pump faster. “More, more!” Ellie ordered, grabbing the blanket under her to hold on as Manny began to thrust harder, deeper, and faster.

Soon, the bed was creaking and moving with their movements, as Manny fucked hard into Ellie, while still stimulating her clit. Ellie was high on pleasure, as she gasped and moaned with every sensation.

Ellie was tight and warm, and Manny was losing himself in it. He did his best to hold back from cumming, but it was difficult not to. Ellie was so beautiful with her hair splayed out against the bed and her small sounds of pleasure. He could tell she was trying to be quiet so that her brothers would not hear through the wall.

“Manny-” Ellie gasped. “I’m- FUCK-” her legs tightend around him and her body spasmed as Ellie came hard. Manny worked her through it, his thumb rubbing fast against her clit as he continued his thrusting rhythm into her.

Ellie went limp, but tensed a second later as Manny continued to stimulate her. “H-hold on,” she tried but came once more as he rubbed her. “Oh my god,” she gasped, the look she gave him was a mix of surprise and bliss, causing Manny to cum right there. He moaned in pleasure as he spilled into her.

Pulling out his sensitive cock, he fell down next to her and breathed heavily, feeling a bit tired, before a thought suddenly struck him. It had been so long since he had sex, he didn’t even think of it. A condom! “Uh, are you on birth control?” he asked worriedly.

“No,” Ellie answered. “The cult didn’t believe in modern medicine. Why?”

“Oh, well, it’ll probably be fine,” Manny answered. “I mean, what are the odds of getting pregnant?” He chuckled nervously.

“Yeah,” Ellie answered, laughing with an equal amount of nervousness.

Suddenly, they could hear loud thumping and Sid’s muffled voice from the wall. “Harder! Harder!” Sid screamed. Manny groaned in annoyance, while Ellie began to laugh.