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The ship was quiet, the only noise being the soft hums of pipes and machinery.
If it wasn't for his hangover, maybe the humming would've been nice to listen to. Now, it only made his headache thrum in irritation. The stiff couch didn't make it any better, either.
"Swansea!"
Ah, for that headache to turn into a migraine. Did Jimmy really have to show himself now?
Swansea could hear his footsteps angrily clanking up the stairs. That "captain" was lucky his tolerance was so high or he would've killed 'im for being so loud while he had a headache.
Can't take any painkillers from medical! He said, They're for Curly! He said. Annoying, honestly.
Jimmy walked into the room, and if hadn't just screamed Swansea's name a second ago, he would've looked calm.
"Swansea," He said, gritting his teeth. "Since Daisuke is your intern, I think you should be the one to speak with him."
Ah great...just what he needed. Daisuke to mess up again. "What did he do this time?"
The man just rolled his eyes in response. "I think you should go and see for yourself." He scoffed, before walking away to medical.
Jeez, what was so bad that Jimmy wanted him to see for himself? Did he mess with some wires? break a pipe? Get stuck in some crate? Oh god if he got stuck in more emergency foam, he'd kill 'im on the spot.
Except, that isn't what Swansea found. And he didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.
Daisuke was sprawled out on the floor, hand wrapped tightly around some mouthwash right next to his mouth like he was too tired to drink it. Speaking of mouthwash, it was less than half full now, with some of it even drooling out of Daisuke's mouth. If he hadn't heard the boy hiccuping, Swansea would've thought he died.
The man stepped in front of the kid, which barely got a reaction out of him. He tried a simple "Kid, hey, get up." which only got him a groan and a head turn. So, instead, he pulled him up by the armpits and sat him against the wall. "Alright kid, I'm not in the mood for this shit. How much mouthwash did you drink?"
Now he was actually able to take a look at Daisuke. His eyes were half-lidded, and tears were running down his face. His nose and cheeks were red from crying.
"Hmm...'m s-orryy...." He slurred, looking down into his lap. Swansea sighed, "I ain't askin' for an apology, I'm askin' how much mouthwash you decided to shove down your goblet."
Daisuke shook his head and scrunched his nose in confusion. "I 'unno..? Mmmm, three...?" He said, and made sure to put three fingers up to add extra emphasis. "Theee..." Well he'll admit that the kid has a higher tolerance than previously assumed—he believed the boy wouldn't last one drink. "Well, I thi—"
"Swa'sea..? Will you be mmad at...me?"
That made him cock his eyebrow. "Mad at you? For what?"
He curled up into himself, and his eyes filled up with even more tears. "I dun' wan' y...ou..to be mad att me..."
Swansea sat down next to the kid, who tensed up at the sudden closeness. "Listen, I know I fuss at ya a lot, but I doubt anything you say will genuinely make me angry." Being so open wasn't really his thing, but he hoped it made the kid a little less uncomfortable.
He stared at Daisuke for what felt like hours until he finally took a breath. "I didn'...wann' this internship....'m really so-rryy..."
Something in Swansea's heart broke at the meek way he said it.
The first time when he met the kid, he snuck up behind the old man and nearly gave him a heart attack. He sounded so excited to be there, with a big smile on his face that glowed brighter than the sun, even after the crash. And now he's sitting there sobbing, talking about how he never even wanted to be there.
"My mama really...really wan'ed me to do somethin' with my life. Thoughtt this would help me...didn' wan' me to be a...slacker or s'mthinn..."
He started to chug the rest of the mouthwash before Swansea yanked it out of his hand, but immediately regretted it when Daisuke started sobbing even louder. "I'm such a screw up, aren't I?" He cried. "M-Mama thinks it, Jimmy thinks it, you think it!"
"Kid—"
"I'm a failure! Sh–She—Mama...spent so much money on th-this internship just for me to screw it up l-like I always do!!" His sob's echoed throughout the empty hall.
Swansea continued to listen to the boy ramble until he could barely hold his head up and congestion forced him to breathe through his mouth. The kid really didn't know how to keep his life story to himself when drunk.
He learned about Daisuke's first video game he ever beat, to the first time he went to a party and hated it almost immediately. Got to hear about how his parents were too busy to focus on him because of work, and how he almost burnt the kitchen down trying to make food by himself. All the times he had to put on a brave face for his parents even if he didn't want to do something, or was forced to play some "stupid sport."
Soon, he felt the kid slowly slumped against him, and listened to his drunken rant dissipate. Swansea could feel Daisuke's drool seeping into his shirt...eh...it was already filthy anyway. At least the kid got to get that out of his system.
The man carefully lifted Daisuke into his arms, took him into the lounge where they all agreed to put their new sleeping quarters, and laid him onto the cushion in the corner. Now he looked less like a corpse, and like he was actually asleep.
He went to stand up when he felt something grab onto his leg. The kid was clinging onto it like a monkey. "MmmMmm...don' go..pleea...se...."
There was a small silence between them until Swansea finally said, "You want me to…stay?"
Daisuke nodded.
He forced himself not to let out a heavy sigh, and instead used that energy to sit down next to the boy.
"Thank you…Papa..mmm love yyou…”
It took a second to fully process what he heard. He was about to correct the kid, but he looked down and saw the content smile on his face. He was drunk, obviously his thoughts were all over the place, but Swansea still couldn't tell what he meant at that moment.
So instead of thinking about it, he just combed through the boy’s hair. "Love ya too, kid.”