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Language:
English
Series:
Part 1 of The Alone-iverse
Collections:
OFMD AUpril 2023 Prompt Fest!
Stats:
Published:
2023-04-10
Completed:
2024-04-09
Words:
32,712
Chapters:
15/15
Comments:
443
Kudos:
365
Bookmarks:
82
Hits:
5,316

'Til Now

Summary:

Edward Teach, the creator behind Blackbeard's Camping & Wilderness Skills & Fishing Techniques YouTube channel, joins the reality TV show Alone to get away from it all - including content creation itself, once he wins the half-million dollar prize.

Stede Bonnet isn't looking to win, but, post-divorce, he needs a hard reset and some new insight into who he might be. When he's accepted onto Alone, he figures a few weeks alone in the wilderness might jumpstart that insight.

Contestants on the show are scattered through the British Columbia wilderness, completely isolated from each other - unless fate has other plans.

An Alone-inspired AU for day 9 of OFMD AU-pril.

Notes:

My friends made me watch one (1) episode of this show and my shriveled, rotten brain immediately turned it into an OFMD AU.

In the actual reality tv show Alone, ten contestants are sent into the wilderness with a few basic supplies, including 10 items from a list of 40, with the goal of surviving as long as they can. Everyone has satellite radios they can use to "tap out" (end their competition) at any time. They're often quite close together as the crow flies, but separated by impassable waterways or mountains, so they don't encounter each other.

This fic takes liberties in terms of what constitutes "impassable" and also ignores the fact that I'm sure, for liability purposes, contestants are tracked via GPS at all times. Otherwise, I've tried to stay relatively true to the source material and to reality, although I am *not* a wilderness survival person. (I regularly take 30+ lb packs on single-night backpacking trips.)

Title from Heart's "Alone"

(See the end of the work for more notes and other works inspired by this one.)

Chapter 1: Day Thirty Two

Chapter Text

They’re sitting side-by-side on a log, shoulders bumping together, thighs pressed tight together. Stede lets out a shaky sigh, says in a small voice, “I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

The satellite radio is resting on Stede’s lap, and he brushes his hand over it, lets out an even-shakier laugh. “I can’t tell you how many times I nearly used this before I met you. I must have talked myself out of tapping out a thousand times.”

Ed laces his fingers through Stede’s and gives his hand a comforting squeeze. He can’t tell if Stede is really going to push the button and call for a pickup, but he knows exactly what he’s going to do if Stede does.