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Chip sat on the edge of his bed, feet planted firmly on the ground as he stared at the sword in his lap, a delicate cloth sweeping across the black blade, curls of red and gold melded into the metal as he cleaned it. Three fingers pressed carefully to the flat part of the sword as he admired the incredible blade and the warmth that almost seemed to radiate from the surface of the metal.
If Chip were to press his fingers against the curls of red and orange on the black blade, he would feel the simmering of heat from just underneath, like the feel of his flame tattoos. Well, the heat never affected him, but that’s stuff that he heard from Jay and Gillion, who would spend nights curled up against him, snuggled into his chest because he was warm. (Chip didn’t know that he was so warm until they said something).
Right now, Chip could see the small tips of flames curling underneath the sleeve of his coat, the way that the flame tattoos seemed to move and flicker with his own thoughts and emotions. They moved leisurely at the moment, casually flicking back and forth like the gentle waves of the ocean below them.
Chip sighed happily and removed the cloth from the blade, lifting it in the air to examine the state and the shine of the metal against the lantern light in the room. A smile peeked out from his lips as he twisted the blade around to look at the other side, the black hilt clutched tightly in his hands.
As he moved his sword into the air, Chip’s attention was pulled to the sight of the door across the room creaking open, the movement immediately catching his eye. Chip dropped his sword to greet whoever had just stepped into the sleeping quarters, his expression shifting into something curious.
“Hey,” He said, a mop of red hair slipping through the crack in the door before allowing it to swing shut.
Jay easily shuffled into the room, her curls bouncing and her wings pulled tightly to her back, feathers puffed up as she moved to her cot. Her shoulders were hunched slightly, a tight grimace on her face as she pulled her hands behind her to untie the strings of her corset, fingers working delicately. She said nothing to Chip who she clearly had to notice was in the room.
“Jay~ what’re you doing?” Chip moved his swords to the side, kicking his feet back and forth as he stared at Jay while she took off some of the outside layers of her outfit like her corset and tool belt. She dropped the holster containing her gun onto the surface of her cot and shivered, wings shifting to wrap more around her shoulders while she continued to ignore Chip. A small tired chirp wormed its way out of her mouth.
Her breath fell from her lips in small, shallow pants and the way that she was currently standing seemed odd. She was a bit too hunched over, one hand trailing to the bedpost in order to steady herself, knee digging into the mattress as she slightly leaned forward. Her shoulders shifted to make herself seem smaller as she sighed, arms wrapping around her stomach.
Chip stood, putting his swords back where they belonged before crossing the room to where Jay was standing. She braced more of her weight against the bed, moving some of her stuff to the side so she had more room to lie down. She groaned, wings drooping, small primary feathers nearly touching the floor.
“You okay?” Chip asked, approaching her and putting a hand on her shoulder. Jay just groaned again and said nothing. She sucked in a sharp breath and laid face down on the bed, legs still hanging off the edge. Chip furrowed his eyebrows as he watched her try and adjust to probably find a more comfortable position.
“Jay, c’mon, gotta tell me what’s up so I can help,” Chip reached out to comb his fingers through her hair, gently pulling out the orange curls. He rubbed lightly at her scalp right behind her ears where small down-covered feathers ruffled up at the contact. She chirped and sighed, still sucking in shallow, barely audible breaths.
After a few seconds of just listening to her uneven breathing, Jay finally began to push herself back up into a sitting position. She frowned and wrapped her arms around her torso, fingers curling around the edges of her shirt as she pressed down on her stomach. She sat on the edge of the bed and stared up at Chip with an exhausted, miserable expression.
Now that he could actually see her face, Jay looked rough. She was slightly pale and her cheeks were lightly flushed, a frown tugging at the corners of her lips that mixed with a grimace of pain. Her wings drooped against the thin blankets and she sighed heavily.
Chip reached out to cup her face in his hands, Jay immediately leaned into the touch with a sigh that seemed much more relieved than before. Her eyes slipped shut for a second and she hummed, a satisfied chirp leaving her mouth.
“What’s wrong?” Chip asked again, trying to get something useful out of her so he could gauge the situation. There was clearly something wrong with Jay, and Chip wanted to try and fix it. But he had to know what was going on first before he could offer solutions.
Jay blinked her eyes back open and reached up to grab Chip’s wrist, her fingers were cold as they curled around the warmth of the fire tattoos that licked across his skin. She let out a small sigh and shook her head slowly, bangs falling in front of her eyes as she tried to shift once more, squirming a bit where she sat. She crossed her ankles and shifted so she was sitting more on the cushioned part of the mattress.
“I’ll be fine…” Jay said slowly, shaking her head slightly as she shifted her shoulders back, wrapping her wings around her shoulders. “Just cramps. I just need to lay down for a bit.”
Chip frowned slightly and pressed his lips together in a thin line. “Is there anything I can do to help?” He wanted to help. He wanted to be able to take care of Jay’s pain. Chip didn’t like seeing her in pain like this.
He hoped that there was something he could do to help.
Jay sighed and turned to the side, moving some of her stuff around so that it wasn’t as much in the way when she laid down on the bed, her head tucked into the pillow. She draped one of her wings over her shoulder and Chip moved her stuff off the bed so that he could sit down next to her. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and pulled her knees up to her chest.
“Something warm on my stomach usually helps but we don’t really have anything I can use for that,” Jay mumbled and gave Chip a halfhearted shrug, trying to press her face deeper into the pillow. She let out a tired, miserable chirp and shifted again when her current position became too uncomfortable.
Chip frowned and thought about that for a few seconds. They didn’t really have any way of easily getting something warm, at least not something that would retain heat for a while. Heating up some water probably wouldn’t work unless they had something to keep it contained (which they really didn’t). Maybe he could run her a bath. That might help, but it was also pretty hard to keep warm since the water cooled down pretty quickly.
They really didn’t have much that would stay warm, and Chip didn’t know what things might retain heat, or what would retain too much heat since there was also the risk of hurting Jay by making something too hot. Chip thought for a moment, scrunching up his face while Jay tossed and turned, her wings bumping into him when she moved.
Chip absently reached out to pet her feathers, mostly out of habit whenever she would remind him of her wings (whether unintentionally or intentionally). Her wings were soft and he liked casually preening her feathers whenever he got the opportunity to. It was something to do with his hands.
But when he did so, Chip saw the way that Jay shivered, a small chirp spilling from her lips as she pressed her wings further against his hands. A sigh spilled from her lips as she tried to get closer to the warmth of his palms.
And, oh, Chip suddenly had an idea.
He moved his hands from Jay’s wings and she blinked her eyes open at the loss of contact, staring up at Chip with a furrowed expression for a second before steeling herself.
“I can warm my hands,” Chip told her, reaching out carefully but hesitating before he could actually touch Jay, looking to gauge her reaction to the situation. It took Jay a few seconds to really process what he was talking about.
Her eyes widened slightly and she started to shake her head, “No, it’s okay, you don’t have to.”
“Would it help?” Chip asked softly, wanting to reach out to brush her hair out of her face. But he resisted the urge for the time being, simply staring at her face and awaiting her answer.
Jay frowned and looked away, “Maybe. But really, I’ll be fine. I just need a couple minutes.”
“If it’ll help you feel better, I want to help.”
Jay reached up to slide her fingers through her hair, pushing her bangs out of her face. She let out a small sigh and just groaned, seeming to heavily weigh her options before she actually made a decision about this situation.
“It might help…” Jay slid her tongue across her lips, “I don’t want to keep you if you’re busy though. There’s other things to be doing around the ship and we don’t need two captains hiding in the sleeping quarters.”
“Yeah our crew will be fine for a bit,” Chip eased himself down on the bed so that he was lying next to Jay with his head pressed against the pillow, “Anything that needs to be done can be done later. You sound like Gillion right now.”
Jay’s face flushed a bit darker shade of red and she looked away. Her breath caught in her throat and she stretched her legs out a bit more to give Chip room to settle next to her. She stretched out one of her wings to drape across both of them.
“Where does it hurt?” Chip asked, offering Jay his hands. She stared at him nervously for a second before taking his wrists gently and pulling them closer to her stomach. Chip used that opportunity to wrap one arm around her lower back and pull her close, the other planted firmly on her lower stomach near her hips. Jay pressed herself against Chip, burying her face into his shoulder.
His hands were warm already, but with a small burst of magic and the curling of flame tattoos around his wrist, he made them warmer, gently pressing his palms against the soft part of her belly. He did the same with his other hand which was pressed near her lower back, but Jay didn’t try and move that hand and instead snuggled closer with a small sigh.
Quiet chirps bubbled out of her lips as she nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck, her wings encircling the both of them while he rubbed her stomach, hoping to ease some of the pain. Jay wrapped her own arms around Chip’s shoulders so that they were lying together in a gentle hug.
A few times, Jay had to shift a little bit, settling more on top of Chip or squirming to find a more comfortable position if the pain seemed to shift. But for the most part, she seemed to settle comfortably against him with his hands warming the cramps in her stomach and back.
He wouldn’t ever really be able to understand what she was going through at the moment, not entirely at least. Jay rarely complained about getting cramps or any other symptoms, but when she did, that must have meant it was getting bad. Chip decided he would do his best to help the pain in whatever way he could. And if that meant laying with her and providing the warmth of his hands to ease the pain, then that just meant he got more time to cuddle with her. And who would Chip be to say no to free cuddles?
Jay’s breathing evened out a little bit, shallow pants expanding into deeper, slower breaths that brushed against the skin of his collar. She ruffled her wings and shifted again, pulling them back to stretch them, and then let her wings flop on top of Chip. Chip felt her feathers brushing against his skin, the feeling making him smile, Jay’s hair tickling her face.
“Feels better?” Chip asked softly, keeping his voice low so he didn’t startle Jay who he felt was mostly asleep at this point. Jay hummed something into Chip’s shoulder, her arms wrapped tightly around his torso and clinging closer.
“Mhm,” Jay mumbled, “Feels better.”
Chip smiled and pressed a soft kiss to the crown of her head, holding her close and continuing to rub her stomach. Every time his palms passed across the soft part of her belly near the top part of her hips, right where it was softest, Jay just let out another sigh and relaxed even further. He massaged her lower back with his other hand, tracing patterns and gentle presses absently.
Jay was chirping in his ear, the soft, bird-like noises bubbling up from the back of her throat and making Chip’s heart warmed at the sound, knowing all the different chirps and squeaks that Jay made and hearing the comfort in her tone. She nuzzled her face deeper into his shoulder and sighed, breath spilling from her lips with a deep, heavy sigh as if she had just deflated.
Chip was glad that at least for a moment, he could provide some relief to Jay’s pain, hoping that she would feel better soon. Chip sunk deeper into the mattress and pulled Jay on top of him more, allowing her to soak up as much of his warmth as she needed. Chip was just happy to spend the time getting to cuddle with Jay.
Jay’s chirping and chittering started to taper off into just a few idle squeaks here and there, her wings going limp over top of Chip. She sighed again and relaxed fully against Chip. Even if Chip was sure that Jay had fallen asleep at that point, he continued to rub her stomach and back, hoping to ease her pain with the warmth from his palms and the magic that coursed through his veins.
He was fine laying there while Jay slept, it wasn’t like Chip could move anyway. Jay was lying on top of him with her entire body and her wings, practically flattening him with a reassuring pressure. It felt nice, and the contact was more than welcome at any time of day, Chip would never say no to cuddles.
Chip reached up with one hand to comb his fingers through the feathers on Jay’s back, keeping his other hand on her stomach. He relaxed his shoulders and sighed, eyelids slipping shut as he basked in the comfort of the embrace. Jay chittered softly in her sleep, a few strangled chirps spilling from her lips. She sighed and hummed softly.
Since there was nothing else for Chip to do while he was lying with Jay, he just allowed his eyes to slip shut, deciding that if he fell asleep, he fell asleep. He might as well rest his eyes for a little bit, the warmth of his tattoos and the fire magic in his veins seeping into Jay and keeping her from shivering despite the fact that they were both lying on top of the blankets.
It was nice. Chip had to admit that the break from the rest of the day felt good, and he knew that Jay needed this. So while Jay slept, Chip just gently rubbed her stomach and absently combed his fingers through her wings. He listened to the sound of the waves pushing against the side of the Albatross, listening to the ocean around them and feeling their ship rock back and forth.
Chip didn’t sleep, but he merely closed his eyes and allowed himself to rest for a while. And if he also ended up falling asleep… Well, there was no one there to know except Jay who fell asleep first.