Summary: He was supposed to hear stories from distant shores. He was supposed to tie knots. He was supposed to eat oranges with him.
Or: Anthony encounters grief for the first time as a cabin boy.
Warnings: original/minor character death, grief
Read on: Ao3
Preview:
“The anchor’s on board and the cables are stored!”
He’s finally starting to get the lyrics. Between his trips to the kitchen and to the deck, the lyrics stick in his head, swirling around until they make sense. He gets to be on the deck more often lately–he’s almost an actual sailor–he needs to know the shanties shouted over rain or waves.
“To be rollickin’ randy, dandy, O!” Anthony joins in for the next line.
“Oh, it’s good to be seeing ya,” one of the sailors–Abe–exclaims as he spies Anthony. “I’m about to hunker over, I’m so starved!”
Anthony chuckles. “Well, if it’s food you want, I’m afraid I’ve got none of that.” He begins handing out cups to the others. “This is just rum here.”
Abe groans, but accepts the cup offered to him. Another sailor stands up to nudge him which nearly makes Abe spill his beverage. There’s a brief verbal threat before everyone around them is laughing. There’s no point in fighting aboard a ship.
“Lad, how tall are you?” the sailor who’d gotten into the fight with Abe asks. Anthony isn’t entirely certain what his name is, even after all this time they’ve been onboard together. It isn’t often that the man talks to him. At this point, Anthony is almost too embarrassed to ask for his name. He should have caught it earlier.
Anthony straightens his shoulders. “I’m told I’m rather tall.” Especially for his age. He knows he shouldn’t be prideful, but the fact he’s surpassed his older brother in height does spark something in him.
“Taller than most of us here, I’ll bet,” the man says. “What’s keeping you from starting a mutiny and claiming The Bountiful as your own?”
“If I never get promoted from cabin boy, maybe I will!”
That response gets loud laughter from all of the sailors and Anthony grins. It’s not everyday, he’s acknowledged like that. Everyone on the vessel is hardworking and chatty, there’s just not much reason to talk to the cabin boy. Anthony understands (though, he thinks that when he’s a sailor, he’ll make sure to talk to the cabin boy–whether that’s on The Bountiful or another ship).
He collects the cups and the men ready themselves to get back to work. He takes his time stacking them on the tray. It’s nice to be out in the sun, especially as they approach foggier waters. That’s what the captain said was coming up for them. It’s better than having to go back to the kitchen. Once he’s done washing these cups, he can go down to see Levi before they have to start preparing for supper.
“Soon we’ll be drivin’ her way up the hill…”
Anthony whistles along as he makes his way back to the kitchen, off-key and not at all matching with the call or response just out of pure joy.
The cook grunts as he enters. Anthony greets him brightly, although they’d just seen each other. He’s gotten used to the musty smell of the small room. He finds the cup he’d set aside earlier and begins to the cabin.
Only one sailor on board talked to him without any prompting. Everyone else had to get used to him a little. But Levi went up to the cabin boy and directed him to the right place and offered to sit next to him at supper. He told Anthony about his adventures in Spain and assured him that The Bountiful was sure to get to Portugal or Germany soon enough (they wouldn’t just be circling the United Kingdom forever). Anthony passes the empty hammock, approaching the coughing sailor.
Anthony waits for the attack to subside before offering the beverage. Levi takes it with gratitude.
“How are you feeling today?” Anthony asks.
Levi takes a sip, it takes a few seconds to swallow. “As ever, Tony, as ever.” He looks up at the boy. “How are you feeling today?”
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