Fan Fiction: To weather a storm
hiya, i'm new here, but i thought i'd drop a little drabble-y thing here for ya'll to enjoy. it set during ToJ - on the sea :)
FANDOM: Temeraire
Rating: pg
charcters: Will Laurence & John Granby
Warnings: none
pairings: just friendship
Laurence’s hands were red raw from pulling at the ropes, securing the chains, intended to keep Temeraire in place while the ship was violently thrown about the sea like a paper boat floated down a rapid stream. His arm bruised and sore where he’d been hit by Feng Li’s blow had caught him. His wrist was badly swollen but Laurence was quite sure that no bones were broken and that, at least, was something. His Breath was laboured, his tired lungs none to happy about a few inches of salty sea water lining them and he coughed and spluttered a few times, kneeling on the deck, undignified, in the process.
After three days on deck with precious little sleep, Granby finally led his Captain down below to his room. Temeraire was happily soaring over the ship, glad to be free of the chains so Laurence felt a little easier leaving to replenish his reserves. The two men practically fell into Will’s room, as Laurence was barely able to stand alone and John was carrying almost all of his weight. Carefully Granby led Will towards the bed and slowly helped the older man out of his sodden clothes. At once Laurence began to shiver brutally, his arms hugging his chest in a vain attempt to keep some body heat.
“Laurence, you should have said you were this ill before!” Granby exclaimed, quickly covering Will’s upper body with a blanket.
The shivering continued and his Captain responded through rattling teeth, “I did not realise.”
John led Laurence over to the bed and helped lower him down, when it became apparent that Will was not going to move his legs on to the bed, Granby rolled his eyes in fondness, a small smile upon his lips and lifted Will up and on to the bed. Immediately he saw Will’s eyes close and his breath evened out in sleep. Shaking his head in amusement, Granby proceeded to place another blanket over Will and took his boots off. He found some clean dry socks in Laurence’s sea chest and put them on the man. Locating a small towel his vigilantly dried Will’s unkempt hair and lit a small fire in the grate. John then produced some salve from his pocket and rubbed it as carefully as he could into Laurence’s various cuts and especially on the bruised arm. He took a white bandage out and wrapped the limb to be certain it was secure before standing back to take a look at his handiwork.
His Captain was out cold on his side, covered in blankets, dry and safe but still he shivered beneath the covers. Debating for a moment over what course of action to take next Granby decided that perhaps some extra body heat may warm his friend. He took off his wet jacket and laid himself down next to Will; ever so cautiously he wrapped an arm over Laurence and snuggled in tight behind him. It took almost a turn of the bell but eventually Will relaxed, his muscles loosened and the tension and shivers left his body. John stayed with him most of the night keeping him warm and safe. At first light Granby crept from the room, unwilling to cause a problem for Laurence and went back up to the dragondeck to help. He was glad to have helped. His respect and friendship for Will Laurence had never been stronger than it was then and although he knew that Will had no idea what he had done, John was pleased that he had.
Fin.
any advice etc would be more than welcome :)