Cove shuddered under the water from the shower. It was nowhere near as warm as the bathing room back home in Rilantru. He scrubbed his entire body until it felt raw. The day had been horrific, the toilets were worse than Cove could ever have imagined. It looked like the ship had been turned upside down and shaken, so all the nasty contents were splattered everywhere. Including, much to Cove’s concern, on the ceilings.

He hated Drift more than he could possibly articulate. Sure, the other boy couldn’t have let him go overboard – then he would be responsible. But if Cove died of some kind of shit-borne sickness Drift would probably be forgiven and absolved of all blame. Cove hated Drift, he hated Fletch, he hated Captain Shin, he hated this ship and its collection of inexplicably clogged toilets.

“Try these on,”

Cove refused to admit he squealed and attempted to cover himself from Drift’s amused eyes. Cove angled himself away from view and glared nastily at Drift until the other boy finally sighed and went to pick up a towel from a nearby rack and chucked it at him.

“I’ll leave these here okay, just come out when you’re dressed,” Drift sounded tired as he closed the door behind him, leaving Cove alone with the sound of dripping water and twanging overhead metal pipes.

Cove towelled himself off thoroughly before checking out the clothes Drift had brought him. There was a long sleeved blue sweatshirt that Cove quickly pulled over his head, it came down to Cove’s upper thighs and smelled, Cove realised with a hot blush, just like Drift did – salt and wood polish.

Next, Cove attempted the black pants, pulling them up to his waist before groaning with the realisation that they were far too big and were never going to stay up without some sort of industrial strength belt.

“Why are you taking so long?” Drift asked loudly, striding back into the room and freezing as he noticed Cove stood wearing the sweater, his thighs and legs exposed and the hapless pants puddled around his ankles.

“Too big huh?” Drift rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Cove figured he must be imagining the slight flush on the other boy’s cheeks. He had just seen him in the shower after all, it’s not like this was any different.

“Not much gets past you huh?” Cove snapped, stepping out of the pants and throwing them at Drift. “I need some others.”

“I haven’t got anything else,” Drift shrugged, “you’ll have to stay like that for now and we’ll pick you up something in the next port. We’ll be there tomorrow morning.”

“I’m not walking through the ship like this!” Cove exclaimed in horror.

“Are you going to sleep in here then?” Drift asked, raising an eyebrow. “It’s pretty damp and cold.”

“I-“ Cove stammered. “You said –“

“Oh,” Drift raised his hand up to his mouth to try and unsuccessfully stifle a laugh. “Are you worried about the ‘horny old men’ I mentioned? Don’t worry your highness, I promise to protect you.”

“You’re an ass,” Cove hissed, walking forwards purposefully and pushing past Drift.

The walk back to the Salt Room was just every bit as uncomfortable as Cove feared it would be. He paused every time they had to go past an open bunkroom door before attempting to leap across the gap without being spotted. Every time however, a chorus of whoops and wolf whistles would follow after him.

Cove hunched his shoulders and tugged the sweater further down his legs. His feet were bare and cold against the floor and his heels were picking up an alarming number of splinters, causing him to hobble slightly.

“You know I could –“ Drift began from behind him.

“No,” Cove snapped, not even giving the other boy the chance to elaborate. Whatever Drift had been going to offer or suggest, Cove didn’t want it. He didn’t want anything from that asshole. The same asshole that kept laughing quietly every time the wolf whistles started up.

Cove barged into the Salt Room with a heavy feeling of relief.

“Welcome back lil’ shitter,” Fletch grinned a feral smile from his hammock.

“Screw you,” Cove bit out, blushing as the other two boys sat up as well and their eyes traced downwards to clock his attire.

“Did you make him walk back like that?” Robbo snorted, nodding at Drift who shrugged with an insufferable smirk as he walked over to his own hammock.

“Wait –“ Cove felt a bubble of anxiety in his throat. “Where can I sleep tonight?”

“Thought you wanted the floor?” Drift asked, his back to the other boy as he pulled off his shirt and boots before flopping into his hammock.

“You know full well I can’t sleep on the floor,” Cove snapped impatiently, “I rolled from wall to wall like a spinning top last night.”

“Guess you’ll have to share a hammock then,” Hanzo stated drily, leaning over to blow out the room’s single oil lamp and plunging them into darkness.

“Wait!” Cove cried out, blinking lamely and trying to make out where anything was. He didn’t understand why everyone else on this damn ship was so adept at seeing in the dark? Was it a sailor thing?

Cove stood in the middle of the room, shuffling forwards until his toes stubbed the wooden table. “Shit,” he cursed, bending down to nurse his foot and wondering if it was bleeding.

Cove screeched as strong arms suddenly enveloped him from above and swung him up into a princess carry. Cove blinked furiously and tried to push the other boy away. He couldn’t work out who it was or what they were doing. He could feel that they were crossing the room and moments later he was unceremoniously dumped in a scrawled heap in the swaying cocoon of a hammock.

“Keep to your side,” a voice, that Cove recognised with a sinking feeling was Drift’s, growled as the older boy climbed into the hammock along with him, causing it to sag and making Cove yelp and topple on top of Drift’s chest.

“It’s a fucking hammock,” Cove exclaimed, “it doesn’t have sides!”

“Shut up,” Drift muttered, an arm moving across Cove’s writhing form and effectively pinning him in place. “We’ve got an early start.”

“I hate you,” Cove mumbled, his face pressed up against Drift’s heated bare chest.

“Yeah, I know,” Drift replied softly before saying something else that Cove didn’t quite catch as he felt his eyelids grow heavy and his limbs fall into slumber.