Dragon Knights Fan Fiction / Dragon Knight (adult) Fan Fiction ❯ The Impression That I Get ❯ Cabin Fever ( Chapter 4 )

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Chapter Four: Cabin Fever

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Alfeegi eyed the port dubiously. “Which one is ours?”

 

Ruwalk examined the paper the captain they'd met at the inn gave them, and then pointed. “That one.”

 

Alfeegi did a double take. “That one?!”

 

“Yup, that one,” he replied, entirely too cheerful.

 

Alfeegi sighed, eyeing the miraculously-still-floating pile of junk with an increasing sense of foreboding. He had known there was going to be water involved in this trip; he'd been trying not to think about it. But now that the moment had arrived, he found it hadn't helped much in the end. He'd never been on a ship before, after all. It wasn't as if he had any concrete reason to believe he would be sea-sick, except that with his luck, he didn't need one...

 

When he got on, though, he found it actually wasn't so bad after all. It took him a few minutes to get his balance, but by the time they had seen their bags to their tiny room he could already walk okay as long as he had something to hang on to, just in case. Standing on the deck now, he even found the rocking motion sort of soothing. For a moment he imagined the ship was a living thing, straining against the anchor, ready to get under way-

 

A noise distracted him. He looked over his shoulder, and twitched. “Ruwalk, are you okay?!”

 

The other officer looked like he was going to reply, but then he hurriedly put his head over the side again. After a moment there was a low, miserable moan. Several of the other passengers on deck backed away. Alfeegi sighed; so much for soothing...

 

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Alfeegi fed Ruwalk his lunch, some black-brown gruel skeptically called 'soup', with great concern. “Do you think you'll be able to keep it down?”

 

“Not in the best of times,” Ruwalk said cheerfully. “Hey, I'm kidding, sheesh... Though you have to admit, I mean, look at the stuff... Seriously, I'm feeling a lot better. I don't think you have to spoon feed me...” Then they crested a particularly large swell and started on the downward slope, and Ruwalk went a bit pale.

 

Alfeegi rolled his eyes, and calmly retrieved the spoon from under the bed. “Yes, actually, I think I do. Especially since it seems to be getting a bit worse. Maybe we ran into a little weather, or currents or something...” He looked critically at the utensil he'd been about to dip in the gruel. “Um, do you want any more of this? I'd have to get another spoon; I think we have rats...”

 

Ruwalk grimaced. “No thanks. I think the soup might have been made of rats to begin with.”

 

Alfeegi nodded, setting the food aside. Then he frowned, grabbing onto the edge of the stool just to stay on as they crested another big wave. And jumped, as various small items fell off the shelf for the umpteenth time that hour (the sailors were smart; everything that had been there when they came was nailed down). And sweatdropped, as Ruwalk gave a small, miserable moan.

 

"You jinxed us," he commented, trying for a feeble smile. For some odd reason it looked more like a grimace. Alfeegi returned it, trying to look a bit more comforting.

 

"Hey, how would you like to go up on deck for a while?" he said, mock-cheerfully. "I'm sure a little fresh air would make you feel better."

 

Ruwalk rolled his eyes. "You would..." At Alfeegi's hurt look, he chuckled. "Not that I don't agree; it's just that that's just the sort of thing you'd say. You're such a mother hen."

 

Alfeegi still looked affronted. "Is it so wrong for me to care about you?" he said, rather like someone running off a cliff because they didn't realize quite soon enough that it was there. Then he hurriedly helped Ruwalk up, to cover his blush.

 

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He was right though, Ruwalk had to admit, after Alfeegi had brought him up on deck and had been persuaded, with much effort, to go away so that one of them might have a little fun. He really was feeling a lot better. (Now, at least; the first few minutes had been spent in a kind of quiet horror, being slowly hypnotized into oblivion by the sight of the waves). He had learned not to look so closely at them, however, and sky was blue and the sun was warm and he was so comfortable just lying here that he could almost forget that he was not-so-slowly going up and down, side to side, over and over and over... He grimaced. Almost was the operative word there, of course.

 

Presently there were boots. These boot contained feet which, when Ruwalk looked up, appeared to be connected to a beaming young human. "Hello there! How are you?"

 

Ruwalk took a moment to contemplate this. Obviously the boy was simple if he couldn't tell just from looking at him, not to mention entirely too cheerful for his current cheerfulness capacity. Nevertheless, Ruwalk had never been known to be cruel to children. "I'm feeling rather ill, actually."

 

The child continued to smile. "That's a shame! Where are you going?"

 

"Er... A wedding."

 

"You mean you're getting married?"

 

He flushed. "No!"

 

The boy seemed to consider this deeply for a moment. Then he said, very solemnly, "Would you like to see my pet rat?"

 

Ruwalk blanched. "Er, that's okay, really..."

 

"But he's quite tame. Here, see?"

 

This was going to be a very long afternoon...

 

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After dinner that night, Ruwalk fell almost instantly into a fitful sleep, punctured by nonsensical mutterings involving a rat called Biter. Alfeegi stayed up for hours longer, just watching... until, a few hours before dawn, he too gave into exhaustion.

 

When he woke up, the sun was shining through the curtains of the small round window onto his closed eyes. Ngg. Also, he noticed that he felt strangely warm, and the bed was... was... He opened his eyes.

 

He was lying on the floor; he must have fallen out of bed overnight. He didn't find this particularly interesting, however. He was far more interested in the other person who'd fallen out of bed...

 

Ruwalk lay half on top of him, hugging him to his bare chest. This was understandably far more fascinating than any nocturnal journeys he may have made. For the moment, he had forgotten how to breathe. Sleeping in the sunlight Ruwalk looked simply perfect, despite the fact that his hair was all frazzled and a thick clump of it was hanging right across the middle of his face. Speaking of his face, it was awfully close to his own... Alfeegi blushed. No, uh-uh, bad. His job was to suffer quietly for all of eternity, remember? Ug, this was so cheesy... He squirmed a little, trying to get up.

 

"Is it so wrong for me to care about you?" Well, yeah, but...

 

At which point Ruwalk made an adorable little noise, and pulled him closer. Gulp. Inches, now. Just a couple inches. Just a couple seconds... Alfeegi bent closer, not entirely sure, or wanting to be sure, of what he was doing until it was too late, until his lips brushed over Ruwalk's, and after a moment, pressed more firmly...

 

There was a banging on the door, and Alfeegi nearly jumped out of his skin. It was a rude, matter-of-fact, and most importantly loud banging that was obviously competing for the position of Most Annoyingly Timed Banging of all Time. It probably had a good chance of winning, too. "The ship will be coming into port in one hour!" the knocker announced, and without waiting for a response, moved on to the next door.

 

Ruwalk opened his eyes, and looked around blearily. Then he smiled. "Oh, good morning Alfee -" And he blanched. "I-I-I..." He scrambled backwards, hands clapped firmly over his mouth.

 

Alfeegi felt his blush coming back full force, but was too mortified to care. This was it, he was doomed. Well, he still had one hour left in which to jump overboard. "W-what?"

 

Ruwalk shuddered. "Alfeegi, I... I'm sorry, but, oh, my stomach..."

 

Alfeegi stared for a moment. Then he sighed, for more reasons than he could count (though relief and weariness were vying for first place). Gods, was he ever going to be glad to get off this boat. Maybe things would be calmer once they were on land again...