Titanic Snz Fic That I Wrote
The Fandomverse Saga Snz Fics
Fic Title: Don’t Overexert Yourself
Fic Type: Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Angst/Whump.
World: James Cameron’s Titanic
Pairing: First Officer William Murdoch x Second Officer Charles Lightoller
Other Characters: Chief Officer Henry Wilde, Third Officer Herbert Pitman, Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall, Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, Sixth Officer James Moody, Seventh Officer Aether Apocalypse, Eighth Officer Lumine Apocalypse, Ninth Officer Dainsleif Ti Britannia, Tenth Officer Asmoday Kaslana, John ‘Jack’ Phillips, Harold Bride, Fredrick Barret, Fredrick Fleet, Reginald Lee, Quartermaster Robert Hichens, Wallace ‘Wally’ Hartley, Thomas Andrews, Margret ‘Molly’ Brown, Cora Cartmell, Trudy Bolt, Rose DeWitt Bukater, Jack Dawson, Caledon ‘Cal’ Hockley, Calliope ‘Callie’ Hockley, Alison ‘Ali’ Fernandez, Fabrizio De Rossi, Tommy Ryan, Helga Dahl, Doctor Julia Ogden, Constable George Crabtree, and Detective William Henry Murdoch
Synopsis: Lightoller comes down with what starts out as just a cold, but quickly escalates into a high fever after staying out and falling asleep on The Titanic’s bridge while on duty one cold winter’s night during a rainstorm, Murdoch starts worrying for his boyfriend’s health, telling him to take care of himself, but Lightoller refuses to listen to Murdoch’s pleas, which eventually results in him pushing his body past its limits.
A million stars reflected in the night sky. The R.M.S Titanic was cruising along the ocean on a cold December night, Second Officer Charles Lightoller was out on the bridge looking up at the beautiful stars when First Officer William Murdoch walked up behind him.
“Hey, what are you doing out here, Lights?” Murdoch asked as he clapped a hand across Lightoller’s back.
“Nothing really, just looking up at the stars.” Lightoller answered his boyfriend as his hypnotic blue eyes reflected the stars in the sky.
A cold air blew across the water, Lightoller shivered from the cold as he tightened his uniform coat across his body.
“Bugger Me, It’s really cold out here tonight.” Lightoller said.
“Aye, It really is.” Murdoch replied.
A few minutes passed and Murdoch turned to walk away.
“Well then, I’m off.” Murdoch said as he turned back to Lightoller. “Don’t stay out here too late, It looks like it might rain.”
“But there’s not a cloud in the sky.” Lightoller said, looking back at Murdoch.
“Don’t let the sky deceive you, the weather can be very unpredictable out here.” Murdoch said.
Murdoch then turned and went back inside, while Lightoller was still on the bridge, he turned back to look up at the stars in the night sky, a couple hours passed and he felt his eyelids getting heavy, as he drifted off to sleep on the railing.
Rain water could be heard against the window of Murdoch and Lightoller’s Quarters, pitter-patter, pitter-patter, the sound went, but that is not the sound that woke up Murdoch.
Murdoch woke up with a jolt when he heard the sound of yelling coming from outside their door, he turned to wake up Lightoller. but he was not there.
“Where the bloody hell is he at this hour?” Murdoch thought. Ah, who cares, I should really check out what is making that noise first.”
Murdoch got out of his bed, opened the door, and went into the hallway, he walked down the hallway until he came to the Marconi Room.
“Sigh, Of course it’s those three making that noise of a racket at this hour.” Murdoch said.
Murdoch opened the door to the Marconi Room, where he saw John ‘Jack’ Phillips and Harold Bride using one telegraph line and Eighth Officer Lumine Apocalypse, Lightoller’s Junior Officer In Training, using the telegraph line on the other end, they were playing hangman, Phillips and Bride were trying to guess what Lumine’s word was.
“I’M TELLING YOU JOHN, THE THIRD LETTER IS S!” Bride yelled.
“OH REALLY HAROLD, ARE YOU SURE IT’S NOT Z?!” Phillips yelled back at his boyfriend.
“3 MORE SECONDS TO GUESS.” Lumine yelled from the other side.
Murdoch walked over and lightly tapped Phillips on the shoulder, Phillips removed his headset and looked up at the Officer that had just walked into the room. “Hello Officer Murdoch, What can I do for you?” He asked.
“Hello there Phillips, I was just wondering if you three know where Officer Lightoller went.” Murdoch asked.
“Oh, I'm pretty sure he was out on the bridge the last time I checked.” Lumine said from the other end.
“That blundering idiot, he is going to catch his death of a cold because of this!” Murdoch thought.
Murdoch turned to open the door, but then turned back to the other three.
“Can you guys at least try and keep it down, at this rate, you guys are going to wake up the whole bloody ship with your yelling.” He said.
“Don’t worry Officer, we will try and keep it down, I’ll keep them in line.” Bride said with a proud look on his face.
“Thank You Bride.” Murdoch said as he closed the door behind him. He walked back down the hallway to his and Lightoller’s quarters and grabbed his umbrella. He then went out on deck in search of Lightoller. He found him on the bridge just like Lumine said. When he came up close to him, he noticed that he was fast asleep with his head resting on the rail.
“Oh Lights, you look like a cute little puppy when you are asleep like this.” Murdoch said.
He then picked up Lightoller into a bridal carry and brought him back to their quarter’s. He gently placed Lightoller in his bed and then went to settle back into his, not knowing what was going to happen the next day.
Sunlight shown through the windows of Murdoch and Lightoller’s quarters. Lightoller woke up, ready to start the day, then he noticed something was wrong with him. His body and throat ached like hell and his head felt like a thousand knives were being pounded into his skull. Then he felt it, a faint tickle dancing on the brim of his nose, it felt like a thousand termites had burrowed into his nose and were now scurrying around in it. The tickle was teasing and taunting him.
“Shit, not right now, I can’t wake Will!” Lightoller thought.
Lightoller desperately looked around the quarters for a solution, all the while the tickle in his nose was desperately waiting to be unleashed. He then saw a handkerchief sitting on his night stand. Lightoller desperately dove to grab the handkerchief, he grabbed it in time, but he was too late, he pinched the edge of his nose to try, albeit fail, to stifle the sneezes into the crook of his uniform arm.
“Heh!…heh!…Ht’kshht!” “Hnn’gtt!” “Nn’gshh!!” “In’gsh!!” “Ip’tschh!” “Heh!…heh!…Ht’ksshh!”
The sneezes racked his body, After six sneezes, Lightoller prayed that he was done being tormented, but no, the fierce tickle that was teetering on the edge of his nose was not done with him yet, he unleashed yet one more loud stifled sneeze into his arm
“Heh!…heh!…Hh’itscGNX!! *sniff*, ugh”
Murdoch awoke to the noise to see Lightoller vigorously rubbing his now rosy pink nose with his handkerchief.
“Lights, are you alright?” Murdoch asked, concerned for his boyfriend's wellbeing.
“I’m fine, you don’t have to w-worry about m-me.” Lightoller said as got up trying to steady himself on the edge of his bed from a wave of dizziness that he was currently feeling.
Just as he steady his balance, he walked to the door, only to be stopped by Murdoch.
“Are you sure you feel okay, cause I’m worried about you.” Murdoch said.
“Like I said, I’m fine, now please stop worrying about me.” Lightoller said.
Murdoch watched him go with a look of worry on his face “Oh Lights, What have you gotten yourself into.” He thought.
Lightoller then opened the door and walked down the hallway to begin his day. He was a Royal Guard of Britannia for god sake, He was not going to let one measly cold stop him from performing his duties to The Crown.
But as soon as he thought that, he stopped halfway through the hallway as he felt the inevitable urge to sneeze again.
“Heh!…heh!…Why n-now, not…Hi!…a-again.” Lightoller said, his breath starting to hitch and catching in his throat as he fought and staved off the urge to sneeze again in the middle of the enclosed tight hallway.
His hitching was starting to get more desperate, he tried to reach for his handkerchief in time, but he was too late, so he chose the next best thing.
“Heh!…heh!…heh!…HT’KSSHH!!” Lightoller sneezed a loud, wet, congested sounding sneeze into the collar of his Officer’s uniform.
Lightoller then looked at his collar in disbelief, which was now covered in wet, messy, snot.
“Ugh, This is going to be a long day,” Lightoller thought as he wiped and cleaned the snot off of his collar and trudged on through the hallway to his destination.
The Officer’s Mess Hall was the door at the end of the hallway that Lightoller was heading to, he opened the door and headed inside. This place was where the Officer’s could converse together for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and any other part of the day if they so wished too.
As he headed inside he noticed that Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, Sixth Officer James Moody A.K.A Dainsleif Ti Britannia: The Thirteenth Prince Of Britannia’s Bodyguard, Seventh Officer Aether Apocalypse, Lowe’s Junior Officer In Training and Ninth Officer Dainsleif Ti Britannia, Moody’s Junior Officer In Training A.K.A The Thirteenth Prince Of Britannia, were already at a table.
As Lightoller started to walk over to them, another dizzy spell overtook him, causing him to feel woozy and stumble over his feet, luckily, he was able to grab the nearest chair to steady himself on and dragged that chair over to the table where the others were sitting. The others were too caught up in their conversation, luckily, to not notice anything off about him.
“Good Morning, Charlie, How are you doing this fine morning.” Lowe asked as he noticed Lightoller sit down.
“What did I say about calling me Charlie.” Lightoller said, glaring daggers at Lowe, while Dainsleif stifled his laughter.
“I’m sorry, I won’t do it again,” Lowe said.
“Good!” Lightoller said. He sighed as he pinched his fingers between his eyes to try and quell the pounding headache that was starting to form again.
“Anyway, Back to the topic at hand, did anybody see the pretty stars last night? I'm pretty sure I saw some shooting stars myself.” Moody said.
“Stars? Yeah, I saw them last night too.” Lightoller said. He noticed that his throat was starting to feel more irritated now, but he chose to ignore it.
“Oh, you did, well, what did you think of them,” Aether asked.
“They were really pretty- cough, cough, cough, cough- too look at.” Lightoller said, before he reeled back into the crook of his arm into a wet, irritated, mucus filled coughing fit. He could now feel the mucus from his nose now dripping down into the back of his throat, which in turn, made his throat feel even more achy and irritated than it did before.
“Charles, Are you feeling alright?” Moody asked his fellow officer with a look of concern on his face.
But before Lightoller could answer Moody, He thought he felt a prickling, irritated tingle form in the bridge of his nose, but it vanished just as quickly as it came.
“I think I need some air.” Lightoller said, sniffling as he got up out of his chair and speed walked outside onto the deck, while the others watched him go, confused looks on their faces.
Lightoller was out walking on the Promenade Deck, hoping to get some much needed air after being inside the stuffy Officer’s Mess Hall. Sun rays were gleaming down onto the deck, making the polished wood glisten like diamonds. As Lightoller was walking around, Rose DeWitt Bukater came out from around a corner, spotted him, and approached him.
“Good Day, Officer Lightoller, I was just looking for you.” Rose said as she approached him.
“Why were you looking for me?” Lightoller asked.
“Oh, I was just hoping to give you this.” Rose said as she handed him an envelope. “It’s an invitation to our annual Christmas Party, everyone is invited, no matter their class or status. It's going to take place at The Grand Staircase at 9:30 P.M sharp.”
“Oh, Thank You, Rose, *sniff*” Lightoller said as he took the envelope from Rose, He noticed that his eyes were starting to water a bit and that his nose was starting to feel way more itchy than usual. He then noticed why, Rose was wearing a very strong smelling perfume and the envelope she just gave him smelled strongly of pine wood. He knew he had a sensitive nose, but he didn’t realize that this annoying cold of his would amplify his allergies. He then put his index finger under his nose and rubbed it to try and stop the itch that was building in his sinuses.
“Mr. Lightoller, are you quite alright, sir.” Rose asked as she saw that Lightoller’s features were starting to scrunch up.
“I-I’m…Heh!…f-fine, I-It’s…Hi!…Hi!…n-nothing.” Lightoller said as he tried to fight off the allergic reaction that was starting to congest his sinuses and nose.
“Okay, Well, If you say so, please do try and come to our Christmas Party tonight.” Rose said.
“I’ll b-be there.” Lightoller said, his voice quivering a bit.
“Well, goodbye, see you at the party.” Rose said as she walked away and turned around to wave goodbye.
“Bye.” Lightoller said as he waved goodbye to Rose.
He watched Rose disappear around the corner, then he had realized that he had made a mistake, he should never have taken his index finger out from under his nose because now he felt his allergies building up, desperately wanting to be relieved.
Quickly, he ran into a dark corner of the deck, away from people just as he released two allergic, itchy sounding sneezes into his collar.
“Hi!…hi!…Hitschew!” “Heh!…heh!…Huh-t’shiew!!”
Sniffling, he reached into his pocket for his handkerchief, and blew his nose loudly trying to decongest the rest of his sinuses.
After he was done, he came out around the corner and walked forward. He realized that he was starting to feel way more congested now, but he knew that he had to keep soldiering on.
Lightoller walked over to the bridge, he could see the long stretch of ocean in front of him, going on for miles and miles and miles on end. Lightoller shivered violently, he didn't know if he was cold from the wind or if it was the chills from his actual cold that was making him shiver. He felt just as cold as he did on that fateful night of April 14th, 1912, only much, much, worse, The difference was that he wasn’t in freezing Atlantic Ocean water hanging on to the overturned Collapsible B with Lumine, both of them clinging on to it for their life, and he now felt like shit and crap as a side effect of his terrible cold.
Murdoch came up behind him.
“Hey there Lights, Back here again are we?” Murdoch asked.
“Y-yeah, I g-guess.” Lightoller said as he felt his nose begin to twitch.
“Crap, not now, bad timing, I don’t want Will to be on to me.” Lightoller thought as he desperately tried to cover up his need to sneeze, but the problem was, the sneeze was stuck.
Murdoch knew something was wrong with Lightoller, he looked at him closely and noticed a couple things, the tips of Lightoller’s nose and ears and his cheeks had a rosy pinkish hue to them, his normally hypnotic blue eyes were watery and had a glassy reflection in them, like the reflection of glass floating in the water, his body was shivering and shaking violently like a leaf, his lips were quivering, as he could hear his breath hitch desperately up and down, his chest was rapidly expanding up and down, and his nose was twitching madly, as if something desperately wanted to be released from it, like a raging volcano waiting to erupt.
Realizing what he had to do, Murdoch reached into his coat pocket and took out a feather that he had found when doing his rounds around the deck the other day, he showed it to Lightoller.
“W-what are you…Heh!…doing?” Lightoller asked, his voice sounding hoarse and his body looking like it desperately wanted to relieve itself of the sneeze that was on the tip of his nose.
“Helping you, you obviously need help,” Murdoch said.
Without warning, Murdoch gently inserted the tip of the feather into Lightoller’s nostril, swirling it around a bit in a desperate attempt to help his boyfriend relieve his nose from the sneeze that was on the verge of coming out.
After swirling it around for a bit, without warning, Lightoller’s hypnotic teary blue eyes fluttered, his nose scrunched up, and his breath hitched. Putting his hand on the railing to steady himself, he buckled over and unleashed a flurry of loose, wet, messy sneezes into his arm. He thought it was just going to be one sneeze, but now he couldn't stop sneezing, which turned it into a full blown mess of a sneezing fit. The sneezes started out quiet, but got louder and more desperate sounding the longer the fit went on for.
“Hi!…hi!…Hitschew!” “huh-t'shiew!!” “Hih'tchuu!!” “Huh-tschoo!!” “Ah!…Ah!…Ah-kshoo!!” “Ehh-t'sheww!!” “Haa'ekkSHIEW!!” “Hehh-aATSCHIEW!!” “Ha!…ha!…HAK'TCHOO!!”
The force of the sneezes coming out of him were so powerful and forceful, that Murdoch had to grab the back of Lightoller’s coat to stop him from sneezing himself overboard to the deck below.
As Lightoller recovered and recoiled from his fit, Murdoch noticed another thing about him, the tips of his ears were now a bright red, along with his cheeks, making his face look a bit flushed, his nose was now a scarlet red color and looked extremely runny, from rubbing and blowing his nose with his handkerchief, his face looked paler than usual, along with having drops of feverish sweat drip down his face, his hair looked unkempt, tousled, and was a complete mess, while his Officer’s uniform looked wrinkled and messed up. He now looked far from the posh, smug, badass Second Officer Of The R.M.S Titanic that he usually was.
“Um, you got a little-.” Murdoch said, as he pointed to his nose as an indication to Lightoller that his nose was running with snot.
“Oh.” Lightoller said as he grabbed his handkerchief from his pocket, wiping the snot of his nose and blowing it loudly.
“Anyway, Bless You, That sounded painful to endure.” Murdoch said.
“T-Thadk You.” Lightoller said.
Murdoch realized that his boyfriend’s voice was starting to sound more hoarse and more congested, now he was really worried for him.
“HEY LIGHTY, YOU OKAY DOWN THERE.” Fleet yelled.
“YEAH, THAT DID NOT LOOK OR SOUND GOOD TO US FROM UP HERE.” Lee yelled.
Lightoller and Murdoch looked up and saw lookout’s Fredrick Fleet and Reginald Lee looking down at them from up in the crow’s nest.
“OI, YOU LITTLE BUGGERS, SHUT- cough, cough, cough, cough- UP!” Lightoller yelled up at them, coughing from yelling, making his voice more hoarse and strained from doing so.
Murdoch put a hand on Lightoller’s shoulder to steady him, he could feel Lightoller’s body shake from the force of the coughs.
“Lights, please, you're scaring me, you are going to hurt yourself if you keep putting stress on your body like this.” Murdoch said, trying to use his calm and collected personality to reason with Lightoller’s fiery and bold personality.
Lightoller looked up at his boyfriend, his body clearly shaken from the coughing fit that he just had, his voice sounded like it was out of breath.
“W-Will, I-I’b s-sorry, b-but I-I h-have t-to p-push t-through i-it, I-I a-ab d-dot g-goidg t-to s-stop p-perforbidg b-by d-duties t-to B-Britaddia j-just b-because o-of a-a l-little i-illdess.” Lightoller said.
“CHARLES HERBERT LIGHTOLLER, DO YOU EVEN HEAR YOURSELF, YOU ARE CLEARLY SICK!” Murdoch yelled at him, his Scottish brogue sounding more prominent in his voice now.
Lightoller looked at his boyfriend, clearly surprised that he was yelling and raising his voice at him.
There was a quietness in the air, other than Fleet and Lee watching the argument unfold from up in the crow’s nest, it was deathly quiet, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
Quartermaster Robert Hichens poked his head out of the wheelhouse to break the silence that had rested in the air.
“OFFICER LIGHTOLLER, YOU ARE NEEDED IN THE BOILER ROOM, SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH ONE OF THE BOILERS!” Hichens yelled, the silence finally being broken.
Lightoller looked at Murdoch, “Cad you go.” He asked, clearly knowing that he couldn’t even step foot in the boiler room because of his sensitive nose and allergies. On top of that, with the cold that he was currently dealing with, the smoke in the boiler room would only make his already sensitive nose and annoying allergies even more worse than they already were.
“I’m sorry, I can’t, I have to do my rounds soon.” Murdoch said.
“What about the others?” Lightoller asked, referring to Wilde, Pitman, Boxhall, Lowe, Moody, Aether, Lumine, Dainsleif, and Asmoday.
“The others have duties to attend to, I don’t know where they are right now, so I can’t ask them.” Murdoch said.
“Shit.” Lightoller thought, clearly knowing where this was going.
“Okay, so, you clearly have a decision to make, it’s either go into the boiler room and deal with your allergies, or you can go back to our quarter’s and get some much needed rest that I know your body badly needs.” Murdoch said.
Lightoller thought for a moment, he knew that his body needed rest, it was basically aching for it, but then again, he did not want to seem weak in front of the rest of the crew, so he made a decision.
“*Sigh*, Fide, I guess I’ll just go and check out the probleb id the boiler roob add deal with by allergies.” He said, his voice sounding congested.
Lightoller then turned and walked away, dreading the fact that he just knew he was going to have an allergy fit in the boiler room.
“WAIT LIGHTS, LIGHTS WAIT, THAT’S NOT THE DECISION THAT I HAD HOPED YOU WOULD COME TOO.” Murdoch yelled after him, trying to get his attention.
But Lightoller was already too far ahead to hear him, Murdoch stood there in silence.
“What’s his problem?” Hichens asked from inside the wheelhouse.
“He can clearly tell that he is sick, but he is just way too prideful to admit that he is.” Murdoch explained.
“*Sigh*, That little-, did you try talking and reasoning with him.” Hichens asked.
“I did, but he just wouldn’t listen to me.” Murdoch said.
“He is definitely going to collapse either now or later from exhaustion, overexertion, and pushing his clearly sick, aching body too far if he keeps this up.” Hichens said, now clearly worried for his fellow crewmate.
“I know, he just doesn’t seem to notice that I am clearly worried for him.” Murdoch said back.
Lightoller was walking down the corridor to the boiler room when he bumped straight into Lumine.
“Lights Hi, I was just looking for you, I was wondering if you wanted to prank anybody today.” Lumine asked.
Lightoller looked at Lumine, He was already too fatigued to pull off any pranks today.
“Lumi, *clears throat*, I’b sorry, but dot right dow, I have duties to attedd to id the boiler roob *clears throat again*,” Lightoller replied, desperately trying to clear up the irritation and mucus that was starting to settle in his throat.
Lumine looked at Lightoller, clearly noticing the congestion in his voice, but chose to ignore it,
“Okay then, If you don’t feel like pranking today, can I join you on your duties in the boiler room, I am your Junior Officer In Training after all.” Lumine said, a smile on her face.
Lightoller thought for a moment.
“Sure, you cad joid if you wadt.” Lightoller said, agreeing with Lumine.
Happy that Lightoller was agreeing to let her come along with him, Lumine smiled as she followed Lightoller as they walked side by side to the boiler room.
They walked further until they came to the boiler room hatch, Lightoller took the hatch off, set it to the side, and gestured to Lumine.
“You cad clibb dowd first *sniff*,” He said, his voice now sounding really congested. He could already smell the smoke coming out of the hatch, and it was already starting to irritate his sinuses, it wasn’t that bad yet, but he knew the worst was yet to come just around the corner.
“Why, Thank You, Lights.” Lumine said as Lightoller reached out his hand for her, she grabbed it politely, and was lowered down into the hatch and climbed down the ladder into the boiler room.
Lightoller then went down after her, dreading what he was about to do. After he climbed down the ladder and his feet touched the floor, his already clogged sinuses were greeted with a waft of smoke from all of the smoke coming from the boilers in the room. The smoke was doing nothing to help his now congested nose, Lightoller desperately itched his nose and sniffled hard. trying to hold back the itchy, irritated, allergic fit as long as possible that was inevitably just waiting to torment him, which was already starting to take root in his sinuses, his eyes were starting to fill with allergic, itchy, irritated tears, but luckily, Lumine didn’t seem to notice a thing.
Leading Stoker Fredrick Barret noticed that they had climbed down the ladder and approached them.
“Glad you're here, Lightoller, and I see that I brought Lumine with you too, this will be a great learning experience for her. Now, you two follow me and I will take you guys to the broken boiler that I want you guys to try and fix.” Barret said as he led Lightoller and Lumine further into the boiler room and to the broken, unlit boiler.
“What’s the problem?” Lumine asked, trying to ignore the desperate sniffling noises coming from Lightoller.
“As you guys can see, we can’t get the boiler to light, we have tried all the coal that we have, but nothing seems to work.” Barret explained.
Lumine looked around the room.
“What about that type of coal?” Lumine asked, pointing at a barrel of shiny looking coal at the far end of the room.
“Hm, that could probably work, that’s a new shipment of a new type of coal that we just got in today, we haven’t tried it yet.” Barret said.
“Well, I’ll go and get it.” Lumine said.
Lumine went to get the barrel and pushed it over to the unlit boiler, Barret then went to get his shovel.
Barret dipped the shovel in the barrel and shoveled the coal onto the shovel.
“Well, moment of truth.” Barret said.
Barret then shoveled the coal into the unlit, broken boiler. The boiler instantly roared to life, smoke coming out of it. But the problem was that Lightoller was standing right in the vicinity of where the smoke was coming out of, and felt the smoke get shoved in his face.
Lightoller’s chest started to expand rapidly, his clogged, blocked, sinuses started to burn intensely, His breath started to hitch as it got louder and louder. Lumine noticed the look of desperation on his face.
“Lights, are you alright?” Lumine asked.
“It’s nothi'gg, probably just m'by aah…aa-haa…all…allergiihh…!! Hah'tsHH!! Hahh…haaH'TSHH!! Hah'ktSHH! Allergies…ugh” Before he could finish his reply, Lightoller reeled over into a sneezing fit into his arm, groaning and sniffling after it was over.
Lumine and Barret looked at him. concerned, hoping that Lightoller’s fit was over. But they were wrong. All of a sudden, Lightoller’s features began to grimace as the intense burning feeling in his nose came back with a vengeance, this time being more itchy, irritated, ticklish, and intense than before, his muscles tightened and he made his body rigid in an effort to fight off the upcoming second fit that was raging on inside him, but it was to late, he had already lost the fight.
“Hit'choo!! Hih-tschh!! Hihh…hih-tschiew!!”
“Huh-tshh!! Huhh'tsch!! Huh-tchoo!!”
“Ehhh…hehh-k'tshIEW!! Hehh'kSHEW!! Hehh…hehh'kshHEWW!!”
“Ktt'schh!! Kihh'tschh!! K'hihtsHH!!”
Lightoller stumbled back from the force of the fit, propping his hand up on a nearby boiler to steady himself and to keep him from falling, while using his arm to block the spraying from the sneezes rapidly coming out of him.
Lumine and Barret looked at Lightoller, stunned to see that the usually cold, strict, stoic, and formal Second Officer Of The R.M.S Titanic lost control of his composure.
Lightoller looked up at them, his face flushed, whether it was from embarrassment or from his cold, they couldn’t tell.
“*sniff*, ugh, S-sorry about t-that.” Lightoller said, stumbling over his words a bit.
Lumine looked at Lightoller, clearly worried for him
“Um, I think I’m going to take Lightoller out of here.” she said
“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.” Barret agreed.
Lumine walked back to the ladder, up it, and back out the hatch, Lightoller followed her, but Barret stopped him.
“Um, Lightoller, I think you might be coming down with something more than a cold.” Barret said.
“W-what do you bead?” Lightoller asked.
“Trust me when I say this, but I've been a stoker for how long that I know how to differentiate heat from the boilers and the body. The body heat coming off of you clearly signals that your cold is spiking up into fever territory, you should really get that checked out.” Barret said.
“*clears throat* O-okay, fide,” Lightoller said.
And with that, Lightoller walked back to the ladder, climbed up it, and back out the hatch, putting the hatch back in its place when he got out. Lumine had already disappeared somewhere else. So he walked down the hallway, off to his next destination.
Lightoller was walking down the hallway when he felt a bout of feverish chills start to rack his body. He leaned himself against the wall to steady himself, the chills made him shiver violently, he felt like he was going to pass out. His breath started to feel ragged as feverish sweat drops fell down his face. His body ached and felt more painful than it did in the morning, he noticed.
“This is starting to get bad.” Lightoller thought.
All of a sudden, he heard a horn go off, signaling that it was lunch time in the Officer’s Mess Hall.
Using all of his strength, Lightoller moved his aching body against the wall, dragging his feet to The Officer’s Mess Hall.
The Officer’s Mess Hall was full of people, all of the Officer’s were there. Lightoller walked into the hall, walking perfectly fine, and sat himself down at a secluded table.
“Thank goodness the chills are gone now,” He thought.
He thought choosing a secluded table away from everybody was a good choice, well he was wrong, because all of a sudden Lumine walked into the hall and noticed him, she walked over to the table.
“Crap, I was hoping she wouldn’t notice me over here,” Lightoller thought.
Lumine came over to his table, and slammed her hand on the table.
“What the hell is wrong with you, you are my senior and you are supposed to set an example for me, do you know how worried me and Murdoch have been about you?” Lumine said. Her voice a hush whisper to avoid drawing any attention, if she wanted to catch anybody’s attention, it probably would have been Murdoch’s
“Welp. Sorry that I’b a disappointbent to you.” Lightoller drawled snarkily, even though his voice was oh so clearly still congested.
“What was that?” Lumine questioned.
“I said-.” Lightoller started.
“You know what, I’m not dealing with this, I’m just going to drill it into your thick prideful skull, your cold is clearly escalating into a fever and still you have the audacity to put your body through hell.” Lumine retorted.
“I’b sorry, but I have to, I’ve got duties to fulfill.” Lightoller said.
“You’re not listening to me, Who cares about your duties, can’t you just think for a second about the pain you are putting your body through.” Lumine said.
“I said that I was sorry.” Lightoller said.
What happened next nobody could have predicted.
“CHARLES HERBERT LIGHTOLLER, YOU LISTEN TO ME RIGHT NOW!” Lumine yelled.
All of a sudden, the hall went deathly quiet, you could hear a pin drop, everybody turned to look in the direction of Lightoller and Lumine, everybody in the hall knew that these two had a big brother little sister type of friendship, but this argument made it look like that they were bickering like an old married couple, Murdoch walked over to see what all of the commotion was.
“What’s going on?” Murdoch asked.
Lumine looked up, she looked like she was in tears.
Lightoller noticed and tried to defuse the situation.
“Lubi, I’b sorry I ab baking you and Will feel this way, but you guys have got to uderstadd-“ Lightoller started.
Murdoch had had enough of this, he slammed his hand on the table so forcefully that the water in the glasses shook.
“CHARLES HERBERT LIGHTOLLER, YOU ARE SECOND OFFICER AND I AM FIRST, WHICH MAKES ME YOUR SUPERIOR, NOW THIS IS ME AS YOUR SUPERIOR TELLING YOU TO GET SOME BLOODY REST!” Murdoch yelled.
There was stillness in the air, Hichens came into the hall to deliver a message.
“UM, SECOND OFFICER LIGHTOLLER, YOU ARE NEEDED IN THE MARCONI ROOM, ONE OF THE TELEGRAPH LINES ARE BROKEN.” Hichens yelled.
Lightoller got up out of his chair, stumbling as he went, Murdoch then reached out and grabbed his hand.
“Lights, please, at least try and get some rest, me and Lumine are worried about you,” Murdoch said. He had tears in his eyes.
Lightoller looked back at Murdoch.
“Okay, I’ll try.” Lightoller replied.
And with that, Lightoller slowly let go of his boyfriend’s hand and headed off to the Marconi Room. Lumine and Murdoch watched him go, while the rest of the hall looked stunned at the altercation that had just taken place.
Lightoller walked down the hallway and came to the door to the Marconi Room, he opened the door and went inside. When inside, he saw Phillips and Bride trying to fix one of the telegraph lines. Bride noticed him come in and went over to him.
“Oh, good, you got our message.” Bride said.
“Yeah, I did, what’s wrodg?” Lightoller asked, sniffling a bit from his rapidly escalating fever.
“One of the telegraph lines is broken.” Bride said, as he gestured to Phillips fiddling away with it.
“Cad’t you guys fix it od your owd, that’s what you did last tibe.” Lightoller said.
“Um, Yeah, Here’s the thing, we are missing some of the parts needed to fix it.” Phillips said, turning around in his chair.
“Cad’t you just call sobbody to ship the parts out here.” Lightoller asked.
Phillips and Bride looked at each other, stunned that they didn’t think of that.
“Oh my gosh, Thank You Officer Lightoller.” Bride said. Facepalming.
“You’re welcobe.” Lightoller.
Lightoller turned to walk towards the door, but then he felt an infuriating tickle enter his nose, he held his arm at the ready to cover his upcoming sneezing fit.
Bride noticed Lightoller’s expression.
“Officer Lightoller, Are you alright, sir?” Bride asked.
“Gahh…I think I’m gonna…g-gonna…sn-snee-heehh…! Sn-sneeze–!! Hih'TSSHHEW!! HITSCHIEW!! Hihh-hiHTSHHH!! H-hihh…Hehh-aATSCHIEW!! HAK'TCHOO!!” Lightoller almost stumbled back from the force of the fit, Phillips and Bride ran over to catch him so that he wouldn’t fall.
“If my calculations are correct sir, I do not think you are feeling alright.” Bride said as Lightoller got up out of his and Phillips grip to steady himself.
“You feel a bit warm sir, I highly suggest that you go lie down.” Phillips said, just as worried as Bride about Lightoller.
But before Lightoller could answer, they heard a bell go off.
“*Gasp*, You know what this means, John, It’s time for the annual Christmas Party.” Bride said, looking all giddy and jumping up and down excitedly.
“Yeah, Let’s go.” Phillips replied.
The both of them dashed out of the Marconi Room door while Lightoller stood their watching them go,
Lightoller thought for a moment, “Maybe a party is just what I need.” Lightoller thought as he followed Phillips and Bride out the door.
The Grand Staircase was all decked out for the annual Christmas Party. Strands of garland were hung from the rails while Christmas lights hung down from the ceiling, the chandelier glistened like snowflakes, In the middle was a giant Christmas tree with a glittering star on top.
As Lightoller walked down the stairs, he noticed a couple people that he recognized, Rose DeWitt Bukater and Jack Dawson were dancing together with Cora Cartmell, Caledon Hockley and Fabrizio De Rossi were playing darts together, while Calliope Hockley and Alison Fernandez watched from afar, Tommy Ryan and Helga Dahl were dancing together, Rose’s maid, Trudy Bolt, was manning the beverage station, Wilde, Pitman, and Boxhall were laughing and getting rip roaring drunk on alcohol, Lowe and Moody were playing a game of rock-paper-scissors, for what reason, Lightoller did not know, Lumine was talking with Aether, Dainsleif, and Asmoday, Phillips, Bride, Fleet, and Lee were having an arm wrestling contest, and Murdoch was conversing with Hichens and Barrett, all of this set the scene of a lively party as Wallace ‘Wally’ Hartley and his band played music.
Lightoller stepped off of the steps and into the shadows, to try and stop himself from getting seen by people, but it was too late, Lumine had already noticed him.
Lightoller froze as Lumine walked over to him, but the words that came out of her mouth were not what he expected.
“Look, I wanted to apologize for yelling at you and causing a scene at lunch today. I just was worried about you, I know that you should be in your bed resting, but, I’m glad you're here,” Lumine said.
“Be too.” Lightoller said as he ruffled the top of Lumine’s head.
There was an awkward silence in the air.
“So, what do you wadt to do?” Lightoller asked, unsure.
“I don’t know, what do you want to do?” Lumine asked.
Before either of them could answer, the room went quiet as Rose said, “Play it, Wally!” As Wally and his band started playing Kingdom Dance from Tangled. Rose, Jack, and Cora got on to the dance floor, urging everyone to get a partner.
“Mr. De Rossi, May I have the pleasure of having this dance with you?” Cal asked Fabrizio, as he held out his arm for him to grab.
“With pleasure, Mr. Hockley, As you wish, I’m all yours.” Fabrizio replied, taking his boyfriend by the arm and leading him to the dance floor as Cal motioned back to his sister Callie and his childhood friend Ali to join them, which they did.
Tommy and Helga were already out on the dance floor, dancing like they were at an Irish jig.
Lowe and Moody stopped their game of rock-paper-scissors, as Lowe dragged Moody out onto the dance floor, much to Moody’s protest, but Lowe knew that deep down, Moody didn’t really mind sharing a dance with him.
“My lady?” Dainsleif said, holding his hand out for Asmoday.
“Go get 'em, Asmoday!” Murdoch cheered from behind her.
Asmoday gave Dainsleif a coy look. “Oh, It would be a pleasure to share a dance with The Thirteenth Prince Of Britannia.” Asmoday said, as she took Dainsleif’s hand and he led her out onto the dance floor.
Bride grabbed Phillips, while Fleet grabbed Lee, as both of them dragged their significant other onto the dance floor. Hichens did the same with Barret, leaving Murdoch alone.
Seeing that Murdoch was all alone with nobody to dance with, Lumine took this as an opportunity to nudge Lightoller closer to him, as she then went to grab Aether to spend some quality time with her brother.
“I’m glad you're here.” Murdoch said as he kissed Lightoller on his cheek, causing Lightoller to blush madly.
“B-be too.” Lightoller said as he wrapped his hand around Murdoch’s waist and the two of them began to dance to the music.
The dance went smoothly, after the dance, the party was still in full swing, Lightoller decided to take this opportunity to get some alcohol. As he walked over to the beverage stand, he noticed that Lumine had the same idea as him.
“You too, huh.” Lightoller asked her as Trudy handed him an alcoholic beverage.
“Yeah, I just wanted to give Aether and Murdoch some time to converse together,” Lumine said as she looked over to where Aether and Murdoch were talking.
“Yeah, that seebed like a good idea.” Lightoller agreed.
Lightoller and Lumine got ready to clink their plastic cups together, “Here’s lookidg at you, kid.” Lightoller said, quoting Casablanca as they clinked their glasses together, which made Lumine laugh, as he ruffled the top of her head, he then took a sip of his alcohol.
Turns out mixing alcohol with his now shitty, crappy, completely wrecked immune system was a very bad idea, because all of a sudden, Lightoller started to feel lightheaded as he felt a pounding headache start to form as his ears started to ring, he began to feel dizzy, but this dizzy spell felt way worse than the one’s he had experienced prior to this, he felt like his whole world was going to collapse around him, the room began to spin and swirl around him.
Lumine looked over at Lightoller and noticed that he didn’t look well.
“LIGHTS, LIGHTS, ARE YOU OKAY, WHAT’S WRONG, ANSWER ME!” Lumine yelled.
Lightoller noticed that Lumine’s voice was starting to sound more muffled, his legs began to feel like jelly as he gave in to the pleas of his aching body and his whole world turned to darkness as his knees buckled and he collapsed onto the ground, although it was not the ground, it was a lap, Murdoch’s lap to be exact, It felt comforting to him.
Murdoch had noticed from where he was standing with Aether that Lightoller’s body was about to collapse onto the ground, as he rushed over with Aether in tow as he caught Lightoller in his arms and settled him in his lap.
Murdoch began to feel around Lightoller’s collapsed body for signs of symptoms, and he noticed that his worst thought had come true, Lightoller’s skin felt clammy, and his face felt feverish, sweaty, and warm, although it was not the usual type of warm, he felt like he was on fire. Worrying, Murdoch pushed Lightoller’s hair out of the way to feel his forehead, his forehead felt like it was burning up. He could feel Lightoller breathing harder than usual in his lap as he could feel Lightoller’s body shiver and shake from the chills that were currently tournamenting his body.
“TRUDY, GO GET DOCTOR OGDEN.” Murdoch yelled up at Trudy, his eyes filled with worry.
“Yes, sir.” Trudy said as she ran off to find Doctor Julia Ogden.
“What's wrong with him?!” Lumine asked as she knelt down next to Murdoch.
“He’s running a high fever way past the normal body temperature, I think he might have over exerted himself too much.” Murdoch replied.
“Crap, I thought this would happen.” Lumine said, with a look of worry on her face.
They didn’t have much time to converse more though, as Trudy had already come with Doctor Julia Ogden, who in turn put Lightoller’s collapsed body into a stretcher to take to the doctor’s office.
Lumine went off to the side to talk to Aether, while Murdoch watched Lightoller get carried off, planning to visit him in his room later.
Lightoller opened his eyes, he noticed that a light was above him, he squinted to shield his eyes from the blinding light, he felt a cool cloth on his forehead, he then sat up and looked around, he found out that he was in The R.M.S Titanic’s doctor’s office. The door was open, Murdoch came and knocked on the door frame to get his attention.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” He asked, walking over to him.
“Absolutely terrible, add icky as well, I feel like i’b goidg to die.” Lightoller said, sniffling a bit.
“Oh, you're not going to die, stop complaining.” Murdoch said as he sat down in the chair next to Lightoller’s bed and lightly caressed Lightoller’s hair.
Lightoller’s face was flushed with fever and his body was shivering more violently than before, Murdoch hated to see his boyfriend in this state, He did not want to see his boyfriend have to carry this burden of his, he knew he had to do something to ease the aches and pains that Lightoller was currently feeling that was putting his body out of commission. That was when Murdoch came up with an idea.
“Hey, how would you like some of Moody’s special herbal tea remedy to ease that irritated throat of yours?” Murdoch asked.
Lightoller sniffled and nodded in reply, too exhausted, tired, and out of it to say anything.
Murdoch rubbed Lightoller’s chest, then got up out of the chair.
“Okay, sit tight and stay in bed, me and Moody will be back in a second.” Murdoch said.
Murdoch then turned and walked out the door, going to the kitchen.
Lightoller watched Murdoch go, disappearing around the corner of the door, and then quietly got out of his bed taking the cool cloth off of his forehead, this was his chance, he was not going to sit around in bed all day when he had tasks that he needed to do, he opened the window and quietly climbed out of it, fumbling and stumbling a bit as he climbed down, and got down to the deck below, and started making a run for it.
Murdoch and Moody came back into Lightoller’s room with a piping hot cup of Moody’s special herbal tea remedy, which was made of garlic, onion, thyme, sage, cayenne powder, peppermint, chamomile, lemon, nettle leaf, elderberry, yarrow, and pine forests.
Moody set the tea down on Lightoller’s bed side, when Murdoch was the first to notice that Lightoller was not in his bed.
“Bollocks! Where is he?” Murdoch thought.
Moody then noticed that the window was open and pointed it out to Murdoch. Murdoch then went over to the window and noticed Lightoller making a run for it on the deck below.
“UM, I THINK THAT WE ARE GOING TO NEED DETECTIVE MURDOCH AND CONSTABLE CRABTREE’S HELP, BECAUSE WE’VE GOT A RUNNER!” Murdoch said as he turned to Moody.
Murdoch and Moody then took off running out the door, found Detective Murdoch and Constable Crabtree, the four of them then went out into the deck, planning to catch up with Lightoller.
Everybody in The Grand Staircase thought that it was quite a sight to see. Titanic’s Shipbuilder Thomas Andrews laughed at the sight, while Margret ‘Molly’ Brown tried hard to contain her laughter,
Everybody watched as they saw Second Officer Of The R.M.S Titanic Charles Herbert Lightoller, being dragged back to his room, kicking and screaming, by First Officer Of The R.M.S Titanic William McMaster Murdoch and Sixth Officer Of The R.M.S Titanic James Paul Moody. Detective William Henry Murdoch and Constable George Crabtree of The Toronto, Canada Constabulary Police Station No. 4 walked behind to make sure that Lightoller would not try and make a run for it again.
“DO, DO, I DOD’T WADT TO GO BACK TO BY ROOB, I AB DOT SICK, I AB PERFECTLY FIDE, SEE!” Lightoller yelled, his voice hoarse and strained from congestion as he struggled to yell and get his words out.
“OH SHUT UP, STOP COMPLAINING AND WHINING LIKE A BABY, WE ARE TAKING YOU BACK TO YOUR ROOM WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!” Moody, or rather Marcus yelled, as he turned to face Lightoller when Moody’s brown eyes turned to a heterochromic color of red/ruby and yellow/gold.
They were now out of sight of the party, so Officer Murdoch turned to Marcus.
“Marcus, not now, please.” Officer Murdoch said.
Marcus’s heterochromia red/ruby and yellow/gold eyes faded and turned back to brown, which meant that Moody was back.
“S-sorry, Don’t know what came over me there.” Moody said.
Officer Murdoch and Officer Moody kept dragging Lightoller back to his room, while Detective Murdoch and Constable Crabtree walked behind, the both of them stunned and surprised that the usually sweet, shy, innocent little bean, cinnamon roll, trans/transgender and bi/bigender James Paul Moody could have such a dark, scary personality of a persona hiding in him.
Officer Murdoch and Officer Moody dragged Lightoller back to his room and placed him on the bed, putting the cool cloth back on Lightoller’s forehead and also putting a blanket around his body, Officer Murdoch motioned to Detective Murdoch, Constable Crabtree and Officer Moody that their assistance was not needed anymore, so the three of them walked out the door.
After the three of them left, Murdoch sat down in the chair next to Lightoller’s bed and put Lightoller’s head in his hands, lightly caressing his hair and trying to calm him down.
“Shh, Shhh, It’s okay, I’m here, you have to get some rest please, I’m worried about you.” Murdoch said.
“B-but, I dod’t wadt to, Iv’e got duties, tasks, add respodsibilites to fulfill.” Lightoller said, Murdoch could now notice that Lightoller sounded like he was on the verge of tears.
“Tell me, why are you so hung up on fulfilling these important things?” Murdoch asked, curious.
Lightoller took a deep sniffly, shuddering breath in, he knew that he had to come clean to his boyfriend.
“W-well, t-the t-thidg i-is t-that I-I d-did d-dot w-wadt t-to s-seeb l-like a-a d-disappointbedt t-to D-Daidsleif.” Lightoller said, as tears were starting to flow down his face and his breath shuddered with every word he said.
Murdoch looked at his boyfriend, holding his arms open to him, Lightoller took this as a chance to rest his head on Murdoch’s chest, as Murdoch wrapped his arms around him in a soothing and comforting bear hug. His heart ached for him, Lightoller was usually the type of person that kept his emotions close to his chest and heart with walls put up around them, and he rarely ever asked anybody for help when he needed it, so seeing him in such a vulnerable and fragile state like this made Murdoch want to take his burden away from him in any possible way that he could to make him feel better.
“Now tell me, who told you that you were a disappointment.” Murdoch asked.
“D-Daidsleif’s…hic…F-father.” Lightoller, now hiccuping a bit from his tears as he tucked the blanket around him tighter.
The answer left Murdoch stunned, which only made him want to hold Lightoller even tighter, he knew that Dainsleif’s father was a cruel king, he knew that him and the other Officer’s have suffered because of him, Lowe had blocked it out of his memory completely, trying to combat the dark times in his life by replacing his old short tempered personality with his now happy-go-lucky, but still hot tempered personality, he was the reason that Marcus had surfaced from inside Moody to protect him from being hurt, harmed, or threatened, Pitman and Boxhall had gone completely silent because of him, out of fear of saying the wrong thing least they would have received a beating and a whipping, they had only just started recovering from the trauma with their voices finally coming back to them, Wilde had spent many a night in the Britannia bar drinking alcohol as a way to combat the trauma that he had to endure, mostly coming back drunk because of it, even Murdoch himself had suffered to, getting blamed and gaslighted many a time over losing track of Dainsleif when he was younger and being threatened to have the noose hung around his neck because of it, He should have kept a closer eye on Lightoller, he should have been there for him in his darkest moments, he know deeply regretted not doing so.
He now only just realized why Lightoller was the type of person to put walls up around his heart and chest, and rarely ever showed his emotions or asked for help, leaving him cold, strict, stoic, a rule follower, control freak, and standoffish to people who did not know him well.
The trauma that they had to endure was nothing compared to the P.T.S.D all of them had from that fateful night of April 14th, 1912, but still. Dainsleif’s father was the reason they had taken control of the Britannian vessel The R.M.S Titanic to see it’s maiden voyage through to the end, They wanted to prove to the king of Britannia that they were not just pigs to be slaughtered, but their mission had failed, when news had reached Britannia that The R.M.S Titanic had struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean, The king had shown no sympathy for the remaining officer’s plight.
One good thing came out of that tragedy though, their prince had come back to them, When Moody noticed that Dainsleif had boarded with Jack Dawson, Fabrizio Del Rossi, Aether Apocalypse, Lumine Apocalypse, Asmoday Kaslana, Rick O’Connell, Evelyn ‘Evy’ O’Connell, Alex O’Connell, Lin, Jonathan Carahan, Ardeth Bay, Imhotep, Anak-Su-Namun, Jin The Dragon Emperor, Ganyu, Indiana ‘Indy’ Jones, Marion Jones, Mutt Jones, Willie Scott, Short Round, Dr. Elsa Schneider, Brock Lovett, and Lizzy Calvert. Moody was flabbergasted to find out that their Prince was alive, all of the Officer’s had thought that their Prince had died in the war against Britannia when the castle was set on fire, but it turns out that young Dainsleif was rescued from the fire by The Khaenri’ah Royal Guard and raised under the title The Twilight Sword for most of his life.
The fire had caused him to have amnesia though, so he did not remember his life before Khaenri’ah, It was not until the funnel fell on top of him while trying to save Fabrizio from death that caused him to remember, Asmoday had pushed the funnel off the both of them and turned the then werewolf Dainsleif into a werewolf vampire hybrid, while Aether brought Fabrizio back from the dead by turning him into a vampire as well, Fabrizio had come back to life right away, but Dainsleif had still remained unconscious, it was not until after the sinking and when they were safely out of danger on The Carpathia that Dainsleif had regained consciousness and his memories had come back to him, the remaining officers were happy that their Prince was back, so after Aether and the gang had saved The R.M.S Titanic and the rest of it’s crew that had died during the sinking from Davy Jones Locker, The Officer’s had made the decision to serve Britannia under Dainsleif’s command and to man The R.M.S Titanic under Aether.
Murdoch had thought that all of them had broken free from the tight shackles that The King Of Britannia had held around them, He thought that Lightoller was over it by using his pranks to make him feel happy and to have a reason to live to combat his trauma, but he was wrong, a dark cloud still hung over Lightoller because of how the king treated him and the burden that Murdoch did not know that his boyfriend had to bear all this time.
“That bloody dead bastard.” Murdoch thought, angry at the information that had just come to light.
Murdoch then heard a knock on the door frame, he turned to see Dainsleif standing in the doorway, he had been standing there for a while listening to Murdoch and Lightoller’s convo. Murdoch mouthed and motioned for him to come in, He then went over to Lightoller’s bedside, knelt down, and took Lightoller’s hand in his to reassure him.
“Lights, hey, hey, It’s okay, shh, shh, It’s okay, my father can’t hurt you anymore, he’s dead now, you are not a disappointment to me, you don’t have to bear this burden alone, let me, Murdoch, and everyone else on the crew bear it with you, you will not be alone in bearing it then, does that make you feel better knowing that fact?” Dainsleif said in a soft, quiet, soothing voice.
Lightoller sat up, pushing himself off of Murdoch’s chest, sniffling and rubbing the tears out his eyes, he did not notice how much he had been crying. Murdoch and Dainsleif watched him, waiting for his answer.
Lightoller took in a deep, shuddering breath as he answered, “Y-yeah, but please dod’t tell adyode else about this.” Lightoller replied as he blushed like a tsundere, but despite that. he looked relieved that he had finally been able to take off a big weight that had been resting on his shoulders all this time.
“Don’t worry, we won’t.” Murdoch replied.
“Yeah, your secret is safe with us.” Dainsleif said.
Murdoch mouthed and motioned to Dainsleif that he was free to go now, Dainsleif then let go of Lightoller’s hand, got up, and walked out the door.
Murdoch then turned to Lightoller, “Hey, feel better now?” He asked his boyfriend.
“Y-yeah, I really do, Id fact, I feel really relieved kdow that I got that off by chest, It feels like a huge weight has left by shoulders.” Lightoller replied.
“That’s good I’m glad, now, what do you say to me trying to help cure that nasty fever of yours?” Murdoch asked.
“S-sure.” Lightoller replied.
Murdoch grabbed the piping hot cup of Moody’s herbal tea remedy, which had been sitting on Lightoller’s bedside table, and handed it to Lightoller, Lightoller sniffed it a bit, letting the hot steam coming out of the cup enter his nostrils, his clogged, blocked, stuffy sinuses were aroused with pleasure as the steam helped them become unblocked, but then there was a problem, the steam had set off his allergies, Murdoch watched as his boyfriend’s nostrils flared and cried out in agony as his body snapped over into his arm in agony as he covered up an itchy, allergic, sneezing fit.
“Hh'itschGNX!!” “Haa'ekkSHIEW!!” “Hehh-aATSCHIEW!!” “HAK'TCHOO!!” “Ehhh…hehh-k'tshIEW!! Hehh'kSHEW!! Hehh…hehh'kshHEWW!!” K'hihtsHH!!” Hih'TSSHHEW!! HITSCHIEW!! Hihh-hiHTSHHH!! H-hihh…Hah'tsHH!! Hahh…haaH'TSHH!! Hah'ktSHH!”
Murdoch rubbed his hand on Lightoller's back to try and soothe his aching body, he could tell his boyfriend’s body was crying out in agony, hoping and praying that the agonizing fit would stop.
Murdoch watched, relieved when Lightoller’s sneezing fit finally came to an end. Lightoller sniffled and groaned a bit as he rubbed his nose, which was now congested again.
“You okay there?” Murdoch asked as he looked at his boyfriend’s now feverishly flushed face.
“What? Do you thidk I look okay?, No.” Lightoller replied, his voice sounding nasally as he blew his nose with his handkerchief.
Lightoller then took a sip of Moody’s herbal tea remedy, a warmth filled his body, it felt soothing on his irritated throat.
Murdoch thought for a moment, then an idea came to him, he went over to the cabinet and took out some cough syrup, which he then poured into a cup which he gave to Lightoller.
“Here, drink some of this, it should help soothe the irritation in your throat, and don’t say no or complain, It’s good for you.” Murdoch said.
Lightoller reluctantly took the cup from Murdoch and chugged the cough syrup down his throat, he made a grimacing face after he was done.
“It tastes disgustidg.” Lightoller complained.
“Sorry, but that’s all they have.” Murdoch replied, shrugging his shoulders.
“*Sigh*, Fide.” Lightoller said, groaning a bit.
What seemed like an hour passed, Lightoller was cuddling with Murdoch, He was starting to get sleepy, which Murdoch noticed.
“Aw, Is somebody getting sleepy? Boop.” Murdoch asked as he nuzzled and booped Lightoller's nose.
Lightoller pulled back as he wiggled his nose a bit, but he didn’t have enough time to react as he covered up what Murdoch thought sounded like cute kitten sneezes into the collar of his Officer’s uniform.
“Ht'kshht!” “Hnn'gtt!!” “Nn'gshh!!” “In'gsh!! “Ip'tschh!” “Ht'ksshh!!” “Huh-tschoo!!” “Aah-tschieww!!” “Hih'tchuu!!” “Ehh-t'sheww!!”“Ah-kshoo!!” “Hitschew!” “huh-t'shiew!!” “Hit'choo!! Hih-tschh!! Hihh…hih-tschiew!!”
“Huh-tshh!! Huhh'tsch!! Huh-tchoo!!” “Ktt'schh!! Kihh'tschh!! H-hihh…”
Murdoch quickly put his index finger under Lightoller's scarlet red now madly twitching nose to stop him from sneezing even more. Lightoller sniffled a thanks in reply.
“T-thadks.” Lightoller replied, sniffling.
“No problem.” Murdoch replied as he moved his fingers through Lightoller’s hair. Lightoller liked the feeling of it.
After cuddling more for a while, Murdoch got up out of the chair and turned to walk away, but Lightoller grabbed his arm to stop him.
‘D-do, d-dod’t g-go, p-please s-stay w-with b-be f-for t-the d-dight.” Lightoller said, his body now shivering.
Murdoch thought for a moment, he then came to his decision.
“Okay, fine, who am I to deny a request from my boyfriend.” Murdoch said.
He then sat down in the chair again,
P-put y-your a-arb a-aroubd b-be, W-Will.” Lightoller said.
Murdoch did just that as he put one arm around Lightoller’s shaking body, while he held Lightoller’s hand.
“Don’t you worry, I’ll stay with you as long as you wish.” Murdoch said as he leaned down and kissed the top of Lightoller’s forehead. Lightoller smiled in response.
Murdoch then leaned back in the chair, and looked at Lightoller as he drifted off to sleep, he thought that he looked like a sick little puppy, as he then drifted off into a deep sleep himself.
Lightoller could feel the sun’s rays beam down on him from outside the window, he got up, yawning and rubbed his eyes a bit, he noticed that his throat felt better already, he then took the cool cloth off of his forehead and felt his forehead, it didn't feel warm anymore, but he put the thermometer in his mouth just in case, after the thermometer beeped, he took it out and checked it, he was relieved to notice that the number on the thermometer was back down to the normal body temperature, which made him happy.
Lightoller then looked over at Murdoch, who was sound asleep in his chair, Lightoller nudged his shoulder a bit to wake him up.
“*Psst* Will.” Lightoller whispered.
Murdoch then woke up with a snort.
“*Snort* What time is it?” Murdoch asked.
“Forget about what time it is, look at this!” Lightoller said as he showed Murdoch the thermometer.
Murdoch looked at the thermometer intensely, his eyes then widened when he realized what he was looking at.”
“*Gasp* You're cured!” Murdoch said happily.
Lightoller then got out of bed as he grabbed Murdoch into a fierce hug, kissing him all over. After he was done, he looked at Murdoch intensely.
“Thank you for staying with me last night.” Lightoller said.
“Um, Yeah, No-.” Murdoch began to reply.
But before Murdoch could finish his sentence, Lightoller leaned in and kissed Murdoch on the lips. Murdoch was taken aback by this gesture from his boyfriend, but then he stopped caring as both of them gave in and embraced each other while kissing.
After the kiss that they shared, they both pulled away when Lightoller noticed that it was Murdoch’s turn to be blushing madly.
“Hey, what’s that look for?” Lightoller asked playfully.
Murdoch got up out of his chair. ‘Um, nothing,” Murdoch said.
“Aw, come on, you know you like me.” Lightoller said, playful teasing his boyfriend.
“Oh, stop it,” Murdoch said back.
The two of them then stood there in awkward silence, both of them not knowing what to say to each other.
“Um, what do you say we take a trip down to The Grand Staircase?” Murdoch asked.
“Why would we do that? Lightoller asked, curious.
“You’ll see.” Murdoch said as he took his boyfriend by the hand and led him out the door to The Grand Staircase.
The Grand Staircase was pitch black, all of the lights were off, Murdoch guided a blind folded Lightoller through the dark when they stopped at the top of the main stairs.
“Why are we here, and why am I blindfolded?” Lightoller asked.
“Shhh, You’ll see.” Murdoch said,
All of the lights then came on as Lightoller heard the sound of “SURPRISE, WELCOME BACK SECOND OFFICER LIGHTOLLER!” ring through the room.
Murdoch then took the blindfold off, Lightoller then opened his eyes to see why they were there in the first place. He could see a banner that said “Welcome Back Lights!” on it with everybody else standing underneath it. Everybody was there, he could see Chief Officer Henry Wilde, Third Officer Herbert Pitman, Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall, Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, Sixth Officer James Moody, Seventh Officer Aether Apocalypse, Eighth Officer Lumine Apocalypse, Ninth Officer Dainsleif Ti Britannia, Tenth Officer Asmoday Kaslana, John ‘Jack’ Phillips, Harold Bride, Fredrick Barret, Fredrick Fleet, Reginald Lee, Quartermaster Robert Hichens, Wallace ‘Wally’ Hartley and his band, Thomas Andrews, Margret ‘Molly’ Brown, Cora Cartmell, Trudy Bolt, Rose DeWitt Bukater, Jack Dawson, Caledon ‘Cal’ Hockley, Calliope ‘Callie’ Hockley, Alison ‘Ali’ Fernandez, Fabrizio De Rossi, Tommy Ryan, Helga Dahl, Doctor Julia Ogden, Constable George Crabtree, and Detective William Henry Murdoch.
Officer Murdoch then took his boyfriend by the hand and led him down the stairs. Lightoller started to tear up as they got closer.
“Wait, you're not still sick are you!” Crabtree asked.
“George, let the man talk.” Detective Murdoch said.
“Just to be clear, you’re not right?” Julia asked.
“N-no I’m not, I’m just so happy that you guys did all of this for me, these are happy tears, tears of sheer joy and happiness.” Lightoller clarified as he cleared the tears from his eyes.
“Well then, now that everybody’s here, what does everybody say to finally getting Lightoller’s Welcome Back Party started?” Rose asked the crowd.
“OH WAY, OH WAY, HEY.” The crowd cheered.
The party then went into full swing as Wally and his band played tunes like Kingdom Dance from Tangled, Set It Off from Descendants, September from Night At The Museum, Let’s Go (Feat. Icona Pop) from Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb, All Stars from Glitter Force and many other tracks by BLUSH, and many, many, more tunes.
The room then went quiet as Wally and his band played the opening notes of My Heart Will Go On from Titanic.
“*Gasp* Jack, This is our song!” Rose said with excitement as she led Jack on to the dance floor, everybody then went and got their respective partners on the dance floor, Rose, Jack, and Cora, Cal and Fabrizio, Callie and Ali, Tommy and Helga, Lowe and Moody, Phillips and Bride, Fleet and Lee, Hichens and Barrett, Dainsleif and Asmoday, Pitman and Boxhall, Wilde and Trudy, Mr. Andrews and Molly, Siblings Aether and Lumine, and Detective Murdoch, Constable Crabtree, and Doctor Ogden,
Lumine watched Officer Murdoch and Lightoller from where she was intensively.
“Go get em, tiger, *Whistle*”! Lumine said, whistling.
Lightoller blushed with embarrassment.
“Whelp, you heard Lumi, What do you say?” He asked Murdoch as he held his hand out to him.
“It would be my pleasure, Lights, *Wink*.” Murdoch replied with a wink, taking Lightoller’s hand as Lightoller led him out onto the dance floor.
A couple hours later, the party had winded down, Lightoller was now out on the bridge,
“Hey, Lights, what did we learn from this incident?” Murdoch asked as he came over and slammed his hand on the rail.
“Never fall asleep on the bridge on a cold night when it is raining out, I know.” Lightoller replied, an annoyance in his voice.
“Hey, I was only teasing you!” Murdoch said as he pinched Lightoller’s cheek.
“Hey, stop that.” Lightoller said playfully.
Murdoch then got an idea.
“TICKLE FIGHT!” Murdoch said as he began ticking Lightoller’s body.
“H-hey, Ha, Stop that!” Lightoller replied through a fit of laughs as he tickled Murdoch back.
All of a sudden, both of them fell down, Lightoller on the bottom and Murdoch on top, both of them froze, stared at each other for a bit not knowing what to do and feeling very awkward, both madly blushing with embarrassment.
Their moment was interrupted by the quiet chanting of “KISS, KISS, KISS, MURDOCH AND LIGHTOLLER SITTING IN A TREE, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”
Murdoch got up quickly as he then helped Lightoller to his feet, both of them staring in the direction of the bridge door that led inside to The Grand Staircase, where both of them saw Chief Officer Henry Wilde, Third Officer Herbert Pitman, Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall, Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, Sixth Officer James Moody, Seventh Officer Aether Apocalypse, Eighth Officer Lumine Apocalypse, Ninth Officer Dainsleif Ti Britannia, Tenth Officer Asmoday Kaslana, John ‘Jack’ Phillips, Harold Bride, Fredrick Fleet, Reginald Lee, Cora Cartmell, Rose DeWitt Bukater, Jack Dawson, Caledon ‘Cal’ Hockley, Calliope ‘Callie’ Hockley, Alison ‘Ali’ Fernandez, Fabrizio De Rossi, Tommy Ryan, Helga Dahl, Doctor Julia Ogden, Constable George Crabtree, and Detective William Henry Murdoch watching intensively. They could hear Lowe, Moody, Aether, Lumine, Dainsleif, Asmoday, Phillips, Bride, Fleet, Lee, Cora, Rose, Jack, Cal, Fabrizio, Tommy, Helga, and Crabtree chanting “K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” under their breath.
Murdoch and Lightoller stared at the crowd for a second, Lightoller then looked at Murdoch, a mischievous twinkle glittering in his eyes.
“Well, Will, what do you say we give the people what they want.” Lightoller asked.
“What do you-“ Murdoch began.
“Shh.” Lightoller said as he put a finger to Murdoch’s lips.
“What- *Mmph*” Murdoch began, but then he felt the forceful, arousing, feeling of Lightoller’s lips on his, a huge cheer erupted from the crowd watching from the door!
“¡VIVA LA VIDA BRITANNIA !” Dainsleif yelled as he threw his officer’s hat into the air.
“LONG LIVE LIGHTDOCH!” Lumine yelled.
“Um, wouldn’t it be Murdtoller?” Asmoday said, clearly questioning her best friend’s ship name for the two.
“No, Lightdoch.” Lumine said, firmly putting her foot on the ground.
“MURDTOLLER!” Asmoday yelled.
“LIGHTDOCH!” Lumine yelled back
“MURDTOLLER!” Asmoday yelled back.
“LIGHTDOCH!” Lumine yelled back.
“MURDTOLLER!” Asmoday yelled back.
“LIGHTDOCH!” Lumine yelled back.
“Girls, Please, Just Stop, Okay, It can be either of them, besides look!” Aether said, getting both of the girls attention, and then pointing.
Everybody watching them from the door looked up to see Murdoch and Lightoller kissing passionately, The sun setting behind them, the afterglow from the sun making the sky and water a beautiful orange color, all of this set a romantic scene as everybody watched in awe as Pitman and Boxhall set off heart shaped fireworks into the sunlit, sunset sky.
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