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"Click." Darius smiles, taking a mental picture of Isla Nublar.
"Take one for me too." Says a voice from behind him.
He turns to Ben, watching him step to the boat's railing, ignoring the happy sparks from where their shoulders brush.
He has only just started to allow himself to examine why that happens when they touch, at first he'd assumed it was because he was happy Ben was back, and while that was true for a while, and renewed over the past couple days, it doesn't seem to go away even when he's sure Ben will be sticking around.
"I almost can't believe it's finally happening." Darius says, looking at the flapping Pteranadons for likely the last time in person.
"I know. Probably sounds crazy to say I'll miss it." Ben muses, also eyeing the flying reptiles.
"Most things you say sound crazy, but I think that one might be agreeable."
"What do I say that's so crazy?"
"Grubs taste good?" Darius replies skeptically.
"If you'd just give them a try-"
"Why would anyone give them a try?!"
"Anything can be food once." Ben says with a slight shrug.
"Only once because it could be poisonous?!"
"Aw, come on. Toro couldn't take me down, do you really think some puny bugs can?"
Darius breathes a laugh, saying "Let's hope not." as he nudges Ben with an elbow.
Ben nudges him back, a gentle play fight ensuing, so different to their actual fight a few days before.
Although, the conclusion to both fights are much the same, smiling and sending each other soft looks.
They watch the island get smaller and smaller, until it's barely more than a blip on the horizon.
Darius looks over to try and gauge if Ben seems to be regretting changing his mind and not staying, but he seems peaceful, only a small trace of sadness that Darius would guess comes from leaving Bumpy.
"She'll be ok, won't she?" Ben says quietly, confirming Darius' suspicions.
"Of course she will. She's got her herd to keep her company. Will... Will you be alright?" He hesitantly asks.
"I think so. I've got a herd for company too."
"We will stay in touch, right?"
"We'd better. I didn't decide to leave after all just to forget about everyone."
"Video chats every week?"
"Maybe daily. I'll call you if I ever get dino questions on my science homework."
"You sure you want to hear me ramble about the answer to a single question when it'd be easier to look it up?" Darius chuckles.
"Definitely. I'd much rather hear you talk about it than my teacher, who is practically a dinosaur himself."
"Maybe he knows more then, since he was there."
"Doubt it. Even if he did, he's not as nice to listen to." Ben says, looking away, back towards where Nublar has disappeared from.
"Careful, you'll get me started and you know I won't stop." Darius says, which might be a threat to some, but that sounds like Ben's idea of a nice way to spend the evening.
"Who says I'd stop you, Bud?" Ben didn't really mean to say the Bud thing again, but after tacking it on to his awkward confession, maybe he should use it more often so it didn't seem out of place?
Though it seems like Darius would only be able to associate it with the "I love you", judging by the way he looks to the side, tiny smile peeking out the way it did that night.
"I uh, never really gave a proper response to that, huh?"
"Well I guess we are quite a pair, so it was a response that sort of made sense." Ben tries to properly articulate hi s thoughts, but Darius' reply had made him question (in the brief time he'd been able to think about it without danger being too prominent) how he'd interpreted it.
Ben wasn't even too sure how he'd meant it, all he knew was that it hadn't felt the same as when he'd said it back to Sammy and the others as they'd floated away.
He's pulled out of that train of thought when Darius bashfully slips his hand into Ben's.
He looks down in surprise, then back up to his face, but Darius is looking away shyly.
"I love you too. Bud. I don't quite know just what that means yet, but it is true."
Ben smiles, squeezing their joined hands.
"Yeah. Same here."
They don't say anything else, just smiling gently and looking out at the water, not breaking the contact until time to go back to the others, keeping this little thing just between them for now.