Dead Maiden's Rose [boyXboy]

Chapter IV

Chapter IV

Morgan

Red is in a foul temper, has been all afternoon, and when I go to bed, discovering he has abandoned his hammock for a night in the crow's nest, I start to think I know what is upsetting him. I refuse to let the discovery affect my own mood, though, helping the new boy tie a hammock alongside my own. Because everyone knows full well that if I let him sleep in Red's, there'd be trouble.

Sometimes I think it's just me, that Red's anger only ever upsets me, but I'm always quite relieved to discover that this isn't true. He has a hold over the crew that is truly astounding. In conversation, most men find it damned near impossible to find something nice to say about Red, but in reality, he is as integral to the Dead Maiden's Rose as the Captain. When Red smiles, this ship dances through the water. But when he frowns, then the entire crew drags its heels. That's just the effect he has.

I fold my hands behind my head and stare at the ceiling. Can't sleep when Red's here, can't sleep when he's not.

Stealing a glance to the boy asleep at my side, I cannot help but wonder where he comes from. Friends with the Captain? Now that's a mystery indeed. Pirates feed off their friendships sure enough, if they were truly close, why were they even apart? The kid should by a Mate by now, second or first, doesn't matter, but if he's so pally with Kelley as to get personal treatment, he shouldn't be scrubbing decks.

And the way he speaks, and the way he acts... I look at the kid again, eyes fluttering in his sleep.

He's one of us, there's no doubt about it. Right from when he'd first presented himself to the crew, I'd known. No man looks over a group of men so... hopefully.

And Red already hates him for it, the little rat. I like the kid; not like that - not how I like Red - but he doesn't deserve what that horrible little attention-seeker is going to give him as soon as he finishes with his strop and clambers back down the mast.

I sigh, wondering if the Captain knows, visualising the hundred different ways this kid could ruin everything. If he upsets Red, he could destroy the entire ship dynamic, and if Kelley ever finds out that his oldest pal doesn't share his biggest interest, women, then all kinds of hell could break loose.

It's not my responsibility. I just want to lie back, allow the skim of the Rose across the waves to set my bed to rocking, and forget about it.

Sleep would be quite nice too.

But my torturous mind takes that moment to remind me that I never get what I want. I can feel him, stewing away up there. And I know I'll never sleep like this. We are as far away from each other as can possibly be but it still grates on me. Red would never pay the same courtesy to my upset, but I simply cannot leave him unhappy.

With a sigh, I tip myself from my bed and find myself tiptoeing out onto deck in the middle of the night once again, and all for the sake of Red.

The mast looms out of the darkness, sails flapping absently in these friendly trade winds. As I crane my head back, I try and spy him, but with no light bar the gentle starlight and the silver moon, the crow's nest is lost to me.

It doesn't matter though, I know he's up there; stewing.

 I actually hesitate a little before I decide to struggle up the climb. This is Red's domain solely, and whilst I can run the entire length of this ship in about forty seconds flat, and with an entire coil of weighted rope on my shoulder to boot, I struggle with the kind of agility required to scramble through the rigging.