Work Text:
Addair chewed the food in his mouth.
Addair looked down as he swallowed, the canteen was full of chatter like normal, Addair didn't care, he was alone like always. He took another bite of his food, the longer he stared down, the more he thought. Only two more weeks. Two more weeks and then he's home for the funeral. Then what. Would he stay home? Would he go back? He hated it here, letters were always late, all he wanted to do was call his wife, tell his kids he'll be back soon, that it'll be all alright.
But all he could do was sit there and eat before his shift. He took another bite, and his plate was empty. He stood up and pushed his chair in, not bothering to put away his plate, Trots would do that later. He walked out of the canteen, squeezing his fingers into a fist as he made it to the lockers. He put in the code to the lock on his locker, opening it he grabbed his gloves, tools and hard hat with his name on it. He closed his locker and locked it before stepping out.
The air was cold against his face, he could hear seagulls above the oil rig, looking for any crumbs on the deck. The deck was being fixed by Banky, like always. Addair walked to the ladder, he climbed down, yawning as he walked to the stairs that lead to the deck where he worked. He walked down the stairs, still having a minute or so before his shift actually started. He walked to where he worked last. He lifted up a pipe from the middle of the deck, lifting it over to the rest of the pipes. They'd be getting a few more containers today to unpack and sort. Addair walked over to a closed container, opening it, it was full of drill parts and such.
Addair grabbed an extra drill part, putting it in its right spot. This was all his shift was gonna be, sorting different things, it wasn't too bad, he'd be sorting items, going through containers, checking items. Addair walked over to the container again, grabbing a pipe, going to put it in the pile of other pipes. Addair went back to the container to see what was inside, but he slipped, he groaned and got up, looking down, no blood. He was fine, he had his hard hat on.
Addair heard other crew members talk, joke and laugh. He looked over, seeing Sunil and Alex laugh about something. Everyone on the rig had their own group, Trots Gibbo and O'connor, Caz Brodie Raffs and Finlay, but he was sure they only included Raffs because he never left Brodie's side, there was also Bruce Dobbie and Douglas, Archie and Gregor, even Rennick, he wasn't exactly friends with anyone but he was friendly to Roper and Scooby. But who did Addair have? Nobody.
Addair knew it was his fault, he was rude, a drunk, and insulted everyone on the rig, but nobody had even bothered when he had gotten hired. Trots only spoke to him through notes, Trots didn't even want to be seen around Addair. He knew others spoke bad about him, calling him Rennick's 'rule following lapdog'. He knew people talked about his son, about the situation because someone had heard Addair talk to himself in his cabin.
It wasn't their place to speak about his son. It wasn-
'ADDAIR, STOP STANDIN' THERE AND WORK!'
Addair heard Rennick from the speakers, he looked up at Rennick's office and sighed. He went back to that container, picking out items one by one to sort them in their right spot. Addair zoned out as he continued his work, soon enough he had already taken out all the items from the container, now left with it being empty, and his shift soon being over anyways, he began to leave the deck, same way he went to the deck.
Addair walked up the stairs, it always felt more tiring walking up the stairs than walking down the stairs. Addair walked over to the ladder, climbing up. As he reached the upper deck, he looked over, Banky was still, messing with the stairs that he would of taken but for now, he needed to take a damn ladder than stairs. If Banky maybe hurried up more it'd be done but Addair ignored it, walking into the Beira, he walked over to his locker, putting in '4221' into his lock, unlocking it. Addair took off his hardhat, gloves and then put the tools away. He always hated that even as a deckhand, he needed tools for some odd reason.
Addair closed his locker, putting his lock back on and then he shuffled the numbers so nobody would be able to open his locker, then he walked into the halls of the rig. They were empty like ususal, everyone ended and started their shifts at different times. Sometimes he'd be able to get a glimps of Trots, even Gibbo or Roper at times but it wasn't typical. Addair left the halls as he entered the Canteen once more, the smell of food made his mouth water as he was one of the first to enter the canteen. He grabbed a plate of food and then sat at his usual spot. Nobody expect him sat there, it had always been his spot. He placed his plate down and cut into the fish on his plate, taking a giant bite of it then some of the beans on his plate.
Addair was quiet as he ate, he kept thinking about his son. What could of been? He could of been a doctor, or a coach on a football team, maybe even an actor. His son could of been so much, yet it had been ripped away from him so quickly. His son had just been out to buy candy and now, he'd never see his son again. What had his son done to deserve that, he had so much still left in life, and now, hes gone. Addair didnt want to think about it more but he couldn't. That was all he thought about. Addair stood up, food still left on his plate as he walked out of the canteen. He walked to his cabin, he opened the door before closing it.
Addair locked the door and sat down by his desk, looking down at the note on there, sent there by his daughter, he read it over and over again until his eyes felt heavy and he got up and went to his bed.
The next day Addair woke up, only 13 more days until hes allowed to go. Addair got up and rubbed his face, looking down on the floor before he walked out of his cabin, closing the door behind him. Addair walked to the canteen. He grabbed a plate of food and sat down at his typical spot, it was the same food as yesterday, beans, eggs and bacon. He didn't mind as he ate, he ate whatever MacNair served, he wasn't bothered about the food, food was food as he used to say to his kids. Addair wasn't paying attention until someone came up to his table. He looked up and saw Caz standing infront of him.
'Whut dae ye want, ye slimey bastard?'
'Calm down, Addair! Just watchin' ye eat alone, ah'm no' supprised that ye'r eating alone!'
'Shut ye'r gob, McLeary.'
Addair watched as Caz laughed and walked over to Raffs and Brodie, sitting down next to the two of them. He watched as they all turned to him then went back to talking. Addair ignored them as he ate, he stared down at his plate, 13 more days then he'd be home, one day at the time, then he'd finally be come with his kids. He sighed and finished eating, standing up he pushed his chair in before leaving the canteen like the day before. He walked through the hallway to his locker, unlocking the lock before he grabbed his hardhat, gloves and tools then he closed his locker, putting the lock on before shuffling the numbers. He walked out and looked over, Banky wasn't there fixing the floor for once. Addair walked to the ladder, climbing down before walking down the stairs to his station.
Addair looked around at what needed to be done, he needed to sort some items, lift a heavy pipe across the deck and a few other things. He began with sorting smaller items. He lifted them up from where they were on the ground before placing them where they had to be, nothing hard for now. Then he went to the pipe, he struggled picking it up before lifting it across the deck, placing it in its right spot for the drilling crew to use later on. He sighed as he walked to a container, thats what he typically did everyday, unload containers, sort different items for the drilling crew, and standing around. That was his everday as of now.
Addair stood by the container, opening it up before he picked up one of the many heavy items inside of it. He groaned as he began to carry it to its right spot until he heard that voice not far from him.
'Oi! Addair!'
Addair looked over and saw McLeary smiling at him.
'Ah heard why ye'r here, sumthing with ye'r wean, wasn't it?'
'Ye dinnae speak about my son.'
'Ahh! Cmon Addair, why no'? Cmonn, ah know ye'r a bastard but christ! Dinnae like small talk?'
Addair put down the item he had been carrying, staring at McLeary.
'Ah know whut ye meant when ye said that in that fuckin' tone!'
'Ah ain't that bad, Addair! Ye make me sound like ah'm jokin' about ye'r sons death!'
'Fuckin' SOUNDED LIKE IT!'
'CHRIST ADDAIR, YE'R DRAMATIC! YE KNOW, IF AH WAS YE'R WEAN, AH'D PROBABLY WANT TAE BE HIT BY A TRUCK TOO!'
Addair and Caz stared at each other for a hot moment before Addair took a step closer, then another, then another until he was infront of Caz.
'Whut did ye say.'
'Uh-uh.. Ah dinnae mean it like that, Addair..'
Caz tried giving Addair a smile but Addair punched him before Caz could say anything more. Caz fell back with a groan. Caz sat up and looked at Addair before Addair punched him again, Caz yelled as Addair grabbed him by his head, slamming him into the ground over and over again. Blood slowly begining to pool underneath Caz. Caz tried to fight back, unable to do much with how Addair had hold on him, his grip hard on Caz as he stood up, slamming Caz's head into one of the hard wooden pallets on the deck, slamming his eye into the corner of the pallet. Addair stared down at Caz and huffed as Caz tried to stand up, Caz wheezed as he looked at Addair. The two stared before Addair punched Caz once more, hitting him over and over as he got ontop of Caz. He could see blood begin to stain his gloves and Caz' face, blood pooling from Caz' eye and entire face. Addair didn't even give him anytime to recover, he just punched and punched.
Other crew members watched on, some yelling, some trying to break up the fight to no avail until Addair spotted Rennick out of the corner of his eye. Addair froze up and dropped Caz. He took a few steps towards Rennick, his hands still dripping blood.
As Rennick stormed over, some others ran over to help Caz as Rennick began to talk to Addair.
'Whut th' hell are ye fuckin' daeing?! Ah look away from ye for NO LESS THAN A MINUTE AND YE ATTACK CAZ?! WHUT ARE YE? AN ANIMAL?!'
'Rennick.. Ah.. Ah didn't mean tae? He started it!'
'AH DINNAE WANNA HEAR IT, ADDAIR! GO TAE YE'R DAMN CABIN!'
Addair wanted to cuss and swear but he didn't he just walked off to his cabin, what the hell was he thinking?! As he walked off, he could hear crew members talking behind him.
'Addair's a slimey bastard,, whut's his problem?
'Ah heard he's no' as much o' a badass he tries tae make himself seem,, ah heard he's just here cause of his wean's death.. He's not as tough as he makes himself look'
'Aye,, a fuckin' bastard though, why would he attack Caz like that?'
'Probably said sumthin he dinnae like, maybe told him that he was an English bastard!'
'Maybe? Could see that happenin'!'
'Christ, is Caz gonna be okay? He looks horrible though!'
Addair laid in his bed hours later, he could feel the blood staining his hands but there wasn't any blood. He remembered the look in Caz' eyes when the fight broke out, he felt so good in that moment but now? He felt horrible, not for Caz, but for himself. What was he going to do? What if he gets fired? Or Caz presses charges against him? What about his wife and children? Was he supposed to tell them, or was he supposed to keep it to himself? Maybe pretend it never happened and hope he doesn't get fired or get charges pressed against him.
Addair looked up at the bottom of the top bunk, his eyes were tired but he didn't want to sleep, he was still thinking. It wasn't exactly his fault, was it? Addair didn't feel like it was, he kept thinking back to the 'fight', did it really count? It was only him throwing punches. As he zoned out, there was a quiet knock on the door, he ignored it. Who ever it was could wait until the next day, it was late into the night anyways, people weren't really awake at this time, and if they were, they would be in their cabin. Whatever it was. It could wait.
Addair opened his eyes, not remembering when he fell asleep, Addair groaned as he woke up, stretching his arms as he got up from his bed. He was still in his uniform, he had forgotten to change out of it last night, as he went to put on his boots there was a knock on his cabin door. Addair walked over, expecting the worst there could be but as he opened it, there stood Trots, he looked worried as he stepped into Addair's cabin. Trots began to speak as Addair looked off to the side.
'Addair,, ah heard whut happened yesterday.. Did ye really just attack Caz from nowhere or? Ah only heard it from th' people who watched, no' from ye'
Addair stared at Trots and didn't say a word as he walked past him. Addair walked past the canteen and to his locker, unlocking it, he grabbed his hardhat, blood stained gloves and his tools. After that he locked it up, shuffling the numbers before leaving. Nobody was on Deck, it was still early morning.
12 more days until he could go home to his wife and kids. Twelve more days. He thought as he climbed down the ladder.