Percy Takes a Cruise

Percy had been quite against the idea of going on a cruise at first.

"A cruise, Oliver? Those ships are horribly unsanitary, you know," he had said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "Besides, work is very busy right now, I can't just leave."

But Oliver had merely clapped him on the shoulder and laughed. "C'mon, Perce, it won't kill ya to take two weeks off."

Percy privately thought that it might, but he didn't tell his boyfriend that.

Somehow, though, his boss was okay with him sailing aboard a vessel of germs for two weeks. In fact, he seemed downright pleased at the thought of Percy taking time off.

And that was how Percy found himself on a cruise ship bound for Amsterdam with Oliver in tow.

Now, however, as he stood at the railing on the upper deck and enjoyed the cool breeze skimming his fiery hair, he was beginning to think that cruise ships might not be so terrible after all. Once his insides had gotten used to the rhythm of the sea, he had found that the food was decent, the weather was beautiful, and best of all, his boyfriend was shirtless more often than not.

Percy had seen Oliver's bare chest many times before, of course, but it looked even more magnificent tanned and topped with a bright orange lei. He had noticed several other people, mostly older women who seemed to be traveling alone, admiring it too. Oliver seemed unbothered by the attention, however. Percy often wondered if he even noticed it.

"Whatcha thinking about, Perce?" Oliver had snuck up on him without him even noticing.

"Nothing," he said quickly, taking a few deep breaths to calm his racing heart. He wasn't about to admit that he had been thinking about Oliver's shirtless torso. There was no need to feed his boyfriend's ego.

"Doesn't sound like it was nothing," Oliver said, wrapping an arm securely around Percy's waist. Percy blushed and adjusted Oliver's crooked lei to avoid having to make eye contact with him. He had never been as good a liar as his brothers.

"It was just some boring work stuff," he muttered. "I'm sure you wouldn't want to hear about it."

Oliver laughed. "You might be right about that. The whole point of a holiday is to not think about work, Perce!"

"You do realize that's pretty much impossible for me, right?" Percy asked. Oliver responded with another laugh, but the redhead was being perfectly serious. His brain never shut off when there was work to be done...and there was always work to be done, as far as he was concerned.

Percy reached into the pocket of his Bermuda shorts and pulled out his cellphone. "Still no signal," he muttered. He hoped that his boss wasn't having a breakdown without him there.

"Of course not. We're in the middle of the bloody ocean, as you well know," Oliver told him. "Now, put that away and come dance with me. There's this incredible musician—"

"Oh, you know that I don't like dancing, Oliver—"

"Percy," Oliver said firmly, "we are here to have fun, and if you don't put that bloody mobile away and come dance with me, I will send you pouty looks for the rest of the evening."

Percy slipped the cellphone back into his pocket and sighed. He was loathe to admit it, but his boyfriend had a point. They were there to have fun, even if his idea of "fun" was a bit different than Oliver's.

"Fine," he said, allowing Oliver to pull him away.

Maybe he could at least check his email later…

Word count: 604