Moonshine made me blind to this pyramid scheme (BL)

It was all because they lacked experience. Sure, their genes were modified and their bodies enhanced with optimised metabolism. They were trained since birth to be best of the best. And still, all it accomplished was to make them cocky.

They were lucky, and their travel went smooth, enforcing their self-esteem. Made them think that using a river as a pathway will be as easy as that. Smooth sailing. Right.

Yet, right now, Yax felt anything but arrogance. His whole body hurt, bumping and scraping over rocks as the water rolled him downstream. His lungs were burning for air, but he felt water on his face and knew he should not breathe. He also felt Mani, still firmly held in his embrace.

His back slammed another rock and then he felt something hard under his foot, so with hope, he pushed himself to direction that should be up. And then he felt air hit his face. They were out!

He still held Mani when he managed to stumble out of the water and onto sunlit stones. Dry. Safe. He sat down as his legs could not hold him up any more, cradled Mani and tried to see if he is all right. He felt faint breath and pressed fingers to his neck. Skin was cold, but heartbeat was there, clear and strong.

Yax pressed his whole face into the crook of Mani's neck. Shock hit him, and shivers ran through his aching body. They were fine. They are going to be all right. He took a deep breath and scent of skin different from his own made him calm down. They are all right for now.

His eyes narrowed as he glanced upstream at the rapids that almost got them killed. He could still hear the roar of water falling down from that waterfall that separated them from the rest of the team. It was fine now. He knew in which direction river pulled others. They can find them. But first things first.

**

When Mani woke up, he found himself sunbathing naked on a pebbled beach. Looking at his body, he saw sparkling gems on top of his chest, but his clothes were gone. He tried to sit up, but barely managed to raise his shoulders, there were no wounds, but he was covered in red bruises all over. Leaning on his elbows, he looked around.

His clothes was spread on nearby rocks, drying. His backpack was also there, turned inside out, with all his supplies spread to dry as well. He heard splashing, and turned his head to the sound. His eyes widened as he spotted Yak, also naked, crouching by water edge. On his back, Mani saw huge red contusion, covering whole left side. Compared to that, his own bruises were nothing.

Then Yak stood up, those wide muscular back now got a nice round buttocks on top of nice muscular thighs to go with them. They really went all out building these soldiers. Mani thought and smacked his lips, sound surprising not only himself, but Yak as well.

"Good, you woke up." Yak said as he turned around, holding some fishes stringed on a thin willow branch. Mani did not pay attention to fish though, silently appreciating perfect proportions of limbs and torso in front of him. No matter how much he exercised, his body never filled up like that, his own limbs always looking scrawny.

Being scrutinized openly like that made Yax unsure if he should feel shy, or start strutting. He threw fish aside, and bashfully flexed his muscles as he picked up his clothes that was dry by now. When he cast a covert side glance at Mani, he saw him grabbing for his own clothes with a suspiciously dark face. Feeling his lips twitching to a smile, Yax just confirmed to himself that Mani is the cutest of them all.

"What happened?" He heard Mani ask "Where are we now?"

As they were both clothed again, Yax took cleaned fish to a spot in a shade and waved Mani to join him as he answered "We are not far from that waterfall we fell from, more than 500 meters but not much." He placed fishes on a leaf spread over stone and started to slice them into thin strips.

"But waterfall is quite tall, and terrain next to it is not really suitable for climbing up." He went to check it out while Mani was sleeping "We were lucky that there was a lake under it, but current was still too strong and pulled us in rapids." If they just fell into lake, it would not cause much damage, but tumbling down rapids made sure to get them hurt.

"Here, eat this." Yax offered the leaf with raw fish strips to Mani and started to cut one for himself. "What did Echo called it, sushi? We need to gather energy and rest for a bit, then move south following that ridge we fell off and climb back to the river where others are."

He did not mention it, but Yax was sure he sprained his left foot when it hit river bottom, and one of his ribs was broken as well. All flesh wounds so not important, they will heal up.

Mani reluctantly stared at fish strips, but he knew that they had no way to make fire and his backpack had no food in it. Just coffee and holy beads and rattles. He even couldn't make himself a pot of coffee without fire. Grabbing the raw strip, he stuffed it into his mouth and started chewing. Faster they find the others, faster he will get to drink his coffee.

He chewed and swallowed and then started to talk to distract himself from slimy meaty feeling on his tongue.

"Right, how did we get separated?" He frowned at his lack of memory "I know we were following the river, you were at the front pushing the raft with that oar thing. Then we got into some current. What then?"

"That current pulled us to a place that looked like a hole in a river bank. Main flow went to east, while there was a smaller branch off going south." For a river to fork like that, he thought at first there was probably a mudslide during last rain, but... "We tried to push back into the main flow, but then Blaze said there is a big fish behind us that also got pulled."

"I think I remember that" Mani frowned "It hit us, right?"

"Yes," Yax confirmed "Blaze pushed it off, and first hit was not bad. But second dislodged that plank you were sitting on." He remembered horror he felt while watching Mani tumble into water. Then next moment he was in water as well, trying to catch him.

"I caught you, but then we both went down the waterfall, and after that, those rapids up there." This branch of the river was not wide, but it was steep and fast. "We should eat and rest a bit, then start moving." He had his knife, left the laser in his bag again though. Mani had his electroshocker and also a knife in his bag. Should be enough.

Mani nodded while chewing. He noticed Yak favouring one leg while walking, and that contusion as well. The possibility of injury was there, but as he chose to stay silent about it, Mani did not mention it as well. There was really nothing that they could do about it right now anyway.

They finished eating, packed up, and carefully left their temporary camp. First they moved upstream, to the lake. Looking at waterfall, Mani realised why Yax said that climbing up would be hard. It was a steep wall of stone, covered in moss and algae. Slippery, with nothing to hold onto. And no protrusions which would kill them when falling down. Lucky in a way.

They started walking east, keeping their eyes busy by searching a good spot to go back up where main river flow was. Terrain did gradually change but it was still too steep to go up. They kept going and after a while Yax heard Mani's voice.

"Thank you for jumping after me, Yak." Mani was not sure if he would survive if he was the one hitting the rocks with his back. He figured Yak protect him using that body of his, and even got hurt while doing that. But he would likely do the same for all of them.

That startled Yax, so he looked back at Mani "No need for thanks!" It was his reflexes that made him move, at the time he did not even realise what's happening with them. Thanking him now, made him feel rather awkward.

"Well, if Ivory fell, you would also jump to help him, right?" Mani asked next, and Yax thought a bit. He would not feel as panicked probably, but.. "Yes, of course I would." He frowned and stopped so suddenly that Mani almost bumped into his back.

"I would jump to help anyone on our team." Yax turned to say "Except Cid and Blaze, I would not jump to help them."

Mani got confused "Why?" He thought they all got along well.

Because you also gave them cute nicknames. Of course he could not say that, so Yax mumbled "Cid used to be Xul's guardian, he would roll eyes at me. And Blaze would take a dip, catch that fish while at it, and then push the raft to safety. He is that type of a guy."