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13: The Captain and The Engineer: An Unexpected Discovery

Thankfully it was not a very long walk back to Vincent’s home from the tavern. However, Vincent was feeling sleepy and needed Aiden to lean on. Finally at the right address, Aiden shook Vincent’s shoulder gently. “Captain, give me your key.”
Vincent blinked slightly at him, registering what he was asking about for a long moment before reaching into his pocket for a ring of keys and held them out. “Its that one,” he said, gesturing towards the end with his finger. “Then that one is for the flat. Did- Didn’t I tell you I… was off duty?” he slurred. Aiden took the key from him and hoped it was the right one. Thankfully the key slid in and unlocked the door and replied with, “You might’ve….and wow that is a lot of stairs. Which floor do you live on?”
It was a struggle, but Aiden and Vincent made their way up the stairs. Naturally, the captain lived on the top floor. Getting Vincent to go up three flights of stairs was not an easy feat! By the time they made it to the second one, Aiden was very tempted to carry Vincent up there, himself!
At last they made it to the front of Vincent’s flat. As Aiden began to unlock the door, Vincent glanced up at Aiden a little seriously and told him, “I…I can get in myyyyyself, Aiden.” Aiden chuckled slightly and shook his head. “I want to make sure you get in safely.” Vincent huffed slightly as Aiden pushed the door open. “Come on, we’re almost there, alright?” he encouraged Vincent. Aiden gently pulled Vincent into the flat, then stepped in and closed the door behind him. It was very dark in here.
Aiden guided Vincent to sit down on a chair near the door, pressing his hands to his shoulders. “Stay here. Don’t move okay?” he told Vincent who stared up at his dark silhouette. “Okay.”
It didn’t take very long for Aiden to find a desk with a candle and lamp. He lit it and began to look around for the captain’s bedroom. He figured the least he could do was make sure the captain made it to bed comfortably right? While inspecting, he found this was a rather small flat. In the dark, he couldn’t see much of the details but it had small kitchen and bathroom spaces, living/tea room, and a bedroom. To be honest it kind of reminded him of the tiny living space aboard a ship. in the captain’s bedroom, Aiden found a gas lamp and turned it on, looking around the dimly lit room. As he glanced over the bed, he got this little imaginary image of Vincent laying there, gazing up at him with that little smirk and sea colored eye, reaching out…
Aiden rubbed his eyes and turned away from the bed with a touch of heat upon his cheeks. “Captain!” he called, walking back towards where he’d left Vincent only to discover the man leaned back and asleep in chair. Aiden sighed, folding his arms over his chest as he gazed at the man helplessly and smiled slightly. Poor Vincent.
Without thinking about it, Aiden moved forward leaned down, reaching out with two hands and cupping Vincent’s cheeks and saying softly, “Hey, you’re almost there. Come on.” Vincent opened his eyes and struggled to focus. His eyes finally focused on the slightly smiling Aiden. “There’s those dimples again,” he said quietly. He felt Aiden’s arm slide around his waist as he was guided to his feet. When he glanced back at Aiden, he could see that slight blush on his cheeks. It…was kind of cute.
Aiden guided Vincent towards the bedroom, but as Vincent saw where they were going, he whined, “Aiden, I’m not sleepy!” Aiden snorted and replied, “Yes, you are. Don’t lie.” Vincent huffed at Aiden then looked down at the floor as they made their way to his bedroom. At Vincent’s bed, Aiden gently forced Vincent to sit down on the edge of the bed. “I swear I’m not-aaaaah- sleepy,” Vincent reiterated with a yawn. “But you are,” Aiden said with a small chuckle, pushing him back on his shoulders. “But I don’t want to go to sleep,” Vincent slurred, reaching up to touch his arm and gazing at Aiden and said in a small voice, “If….if I do, then I’ll have to wake up. Do I have to?”
That statement hit Aiden hard and he felt a weight in his stomach as he gazed at the drunk man half laid out in bed. Aiden gave him a gentle smile and reached down to remove Vincent’s boots from his feet. He licked his lips and considered how sober Vincent looked for that one second. Once again, he could feel the weight of unknown pain coming from Vincent as if it were his own. He slid the other boot off and tucked them both aside by the bed before sitting down on the edge of the bed at Vincent’s hip. He couldn’t believe the night had taken such a turn.
Without any idea what came over him, he reached up and took Vincent’s hand from his shoulder, squeezing it gently. “Yes, but we’ll take it one day at a time, Vincent, okay?” We? Since when was there a ‘we?’ he wondered, mentally scolding himself. And why had he gone and said Vincent’s name?! Damn! However, thankfully, Vincent didn’t seem to care in his drunken state of being and gave another yawn and mumbled, “Okay.” He began to lay back, Aiden helping him angle back into the pillow and as he did, he was already asleep.
Aiden sighed then gave a small smile as he reached out and slid his hand gently along Vincent’s cheek, his fingers brushing the eyepatch. It was a little daunting. He’d never seen Vincent without it. However, he couldn’t let the man sleep with it on. He began to guide the eyepatch off his face. In the dim light, he could see a vertical scar, somewhat thin and dark pink running from under his right eyebrow down under his eye. Aiden stared for a second, then reached over to set the eyepatch aside on the nightstand beside the bed only to take notice of what was there which he hadn’t noticed until just now.
Sitting there atop of a doily in plain sight was a small frame. Inside the frame was a picture of a younger captain with shorter hair, no eye patch and looking so handsome and dashing. He was perhaps Aiden’s age. The captain he knew now had seemed to age despite being a fairly young man. However what really caught his attention was the younger woman seated in front of the photographed captain. She was young, pretty, and obviously well into her pregnancy.
Aiden set down the eyepatch and lifted the picture, gazing at it and a sadness filled him. Was this what weighed so heavily on the captain? Was this why he didn’t want to wake up? Was he married with children? Or maybe he used to be? Looking around, Aiden didn’t see much in the dark but it was clear this was not a home for a family nor did a family live here. He recalled the barman at the tavern mentioning Vincent didn’t forgive himself since…since something happened. He wasn’t sure what but something told him this woman had something to do with it. There was so much mystery and he didn’t know what to make of it. Still holding onto the frame, he glanced over to the sleeping face of the captain, his face handsome even in his sleep despite the scarring. “I’m so sorry,” he murmured, setting the picture down and sighing softly. Poor Vincent.

To read the rest of the story, here’s the album link:
www.flickr.com/photos/153660805@N05/albums/72157717075565127

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***Please note this is a BOY LOVE (BL/yaoi/gay) series. It is a slow burn and rated PG13!***
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Special thank you to Vin Raven-Mysterious for collaborating with me on this series and co-starring as The Captain! ALSO special thank you to him for creating the poses in this two-part shot.