Chapter Text
“Twice.”
It was a small spoken confession, something that caught Montgommery as it slipped from his mind unexpectedly. Van had expected Monty to say once, of course she would. Nearly all of the original Sky Riders had fallen for Daisuke at least once. It was a charm he carried with him.
It wasn't as if Daisuke particularly tried to get the attentions of the people around him, but if they happened to slip and fall for him, no reason he wouldn't catch them before they hit the floor. Problem was he only had one set of hands.
Montgomery watched as Captain Dawderdale went to go run a bath, clearly flustered by their affections being acknowledged. Something in his chest felt, what, jealousy? No, no. That couldn't be right. He’d given up, hadn’t he?
But then why had he said twice?
***
It was a drunken night under the stars. An ink stained page sat in front of Monty, as he absentmindedly doodled vague imaginations of Zood, creatures and environments he could study and understand. Nature was simpler than people. He knew why animals acted the way they did, the systems they contributed to, how everything was meant to be. People were complicated.
People expected, wanted. They had motivations, deeper levels of self that Monty couldn't quite reach. If he could, it would be so simple for him to just stay on the ground and stay within his small pockets of paradise, nature for him to comprehend and understand.
Something always pulled him back to the Zephyr. Was he as sky-eyed as the rest of the crew? Monty wouldn’t say so. He was nowhere near the energy Marya brought to the ship. Her impulsive attitude and enthusiasm she brought to everything, it was infectious. Comfrey and Van seemed to have a deeper love for the skies than anyone ever could. It was always the journey, not the destination. If they could, Monty assumed they'd marry the sky if they could. (Course, they nearly had, but that was an adventure to recount another time. Pilby ‘68 was a wild one.)
Then, there was Daisuke. Monty wasn't quite sure what kept him on the Zephyr at first, but then, he saw it.
A small glint in his eyes as he tipped up his cowboy hat to look at Comfrey.
Oh.
Something in Monty, something he hadn't realized existed, became apparent. This strange emptiness that refused to leave him. Taking a sip out of a near empty flask of rum, he stared up at the constellations, searching for something he didn't quite know how to find. The clink of a pen dropping on the page, and a look downwards made Monty realize he had accidentally fumbled his pen and caused ink to leak on one of his drawings.
A sigh escaped Monty as he scribbled out a failed doodle in his notebook. He had collected drawings of many things over the years, fantastic and real. He found himself flipping back through the pages, until a page caught his eye.
Montgomery wasn't new to drawing the crew, he’d often take quick sketches or ask them to pose while he quickly sketched them down. There were many pages of all sorts of people he’d met and spent time with aboard the Zephyr. In each and every drawing, there was a piece of wonder and excitement.
But there was something else here. Monty ran his fingers over the dried ink drawings of Daisuke. Something about the way Daisuke gazed back through the pages, the way he appeared to be smirking back across his shoulder.
“Whatcha looking at, Monty?”
The sudden warm hand on his shoulder, the familiar southern accent, the smell of rough leather and gunpowder, it all nearly made Monty choke on his drink.
He coughed roughly, feeling the rum come back to burn his throat as if it were laughing at him. He went to grab a flask of water but realized he hadn't filled it up since he last finished it.
A flask bumped into his shoulder, and Monty looked up to see Daisuke offering his own drink.
“Take some, I’ve got enough to share.”
Monty took the flask from Daisuke with a grateful nod, and started chugging water. He’d already seen his vision begin to swim, and the feeling of his stomach twisting in knots only solidified his inkling that he was drunk.
Nothing else was causing the sudden rush in heartbeat, or the way his hands started clamming up and shaking.
“Th-Thank you, Daisuke. Must have gotten myself lost in thought again. I, uh, appreciate it.”
Daisuke took it upon himself to settle down next to Monty, putting a hand close enough to him to the point where Monty could feel his face getting warm the longer he stared at the distance.
“Something on your mind? Looks like you got a dilemma.”
Montgomery glanced at Daisuke, unable to really stare into his eyes. Those brown eyes, so dark and intense. But kind. They were kind and inviting, appreciative, loving, even.
Daisuke watched Monty struggle with words he couldn't quite work off his tongue, and walked over to the barrel of rum with a glass of his own.
“I’m gonna grab us another round, if you'd like?”
Monty watched as Daisuke walked off, carrying himself so easily, a confidence Monty couldn't quite share yet.
“Yes, that'd be wonderful.”