To Be Honest (MxM) (18+)

Chapter 4: Pirates

CW: Minor Discussion of Homophobia + Attempted Murder; Death of a Rat

Chapter 4: Pirates

Pirates and horses seem to have similar levels of cleanliness. There's just stuff scattered everywhere below deck. Dirty clothes, ruined boots, random too-short pieces of rope and various equipment and I swear a dead rat.

I swallow heavily, eyeing the mop and bucket. "Yeah, this is the wrong place to start." I set those things aside, then look around. There's a large empty sack thrown in the corner, which I grab. "So much trash...I'm going to need more sacks." I sigh, then glance around.

Everyone else is above deck right now, I think. I had seen most of them stay up there after breakfast, except Aiden, but I couldn't even begin to guess at where his cabin is.

I take a deep breath then head up the stairs to join them, hoping to ask someone other than Simone if there are more sacks I can use. It's nothing against him, in particular, he's just...much more intimidating than everyone else, at least to me. Though, I've only really heard stories about him from the outside, from Lords and Ladies discussing how he'd robbed their carriages or attacked their guards. That's only one side of the story, and the side that paints him as ruthless and disturbed.

I haven't seen any ruthless behaviors from him, and he certainly had the chance to be ruthless. It wouldn't have been difficult to just fling me off the ship. I hesitate at the very top of the stairs and looks around to see who's around.

Ciden is the nearest to me, luckily, so I approach him carefully. "Hey."

"Hi. Do you um...have any more empty sacks like this one?" I hold up the one I have as an example. "I need to collect all the trash before I can do any other cleaning."

"We should have some. I recommend checking the galley. I'll walk with you!" Ciden ties off the rope he'd been working with and smiles at me as we walk. "Soooo...how'd you end up as a stableboy?"

"The church I was raised at had horses. I spent a lot of time around them as a kid, grew up and moved away...Lord Marano was seeking one, I took the job. Quite simple, really."

"How old were you when you began working for him?"

"I had only just turned 14."

"That's not 'grown up'." Ciden shoves open the kitchen door and holds it for me, scanning the room. "Ah, yeah. There's about four in here. Will that be enough?"

I step past him and collect the bags. They're varying sizes, the largest of which seems big enough for me to fit inside it. "I think so. Thank you."

"No problem." Ciden pauses, clearly in thought. "You didn't join us for lunch."

"Oh, yeah. I uh...wasn't particularly hungry. I kind of am now, though."

Ciden nods and unlatches a cabinet. "Have a roll. And we have some cheese, actually. Here." Ciden, with his hand, breaks off a small chunk of cheese to hand me with the roll. "Here," he repeats, seeing me hesitate.

"Uh...how clean are your hands?"

"Fairly clean."

I grimace, unable to hold it back. "I...I think I'll grab my own. You can have that one."

"You worked in a stable. Shouldn't you be used to stuff being a little dirty?"

"I lived in the stable as well, but I never ate in it. I went outside and ate there. Besides, I ate a lot of apples. The horses would have stolen them right from my hands. Especially Alias. He liked to mess with me all the time." It hurts, a bit, thinking about him. About all the horses. I miss them.