"To protect them; we have to reserve them."
The blanket practically choked him.
Any other morning. Any other morning he would've stripped his bed-spread off about a minute before the alarm clock went off. Any other morning he would've bounced up on his heels, grabbing his shirt as he proceeded to dive into a quick shower. Any other morning; he would've been the one to wake up the kid in the next room.
But no. Here Rook was; pale, pallid...staring silently through a glaze of puffed-out, pink-over-green eyes into a striking set of sharp, alert, crimson ones.
He laid there, restrained within his blankets--letting out a strangled cough from the back of his throat as he attempted to sit up; only to heave back down heavilly onto his bunk.
Silence.
The red-head rolled over onto his left side, towards the wall. The heat was getting to him; be it the fever or the heat, he couldn't distinguish, either way it was bothering him; severely.
He could feel him there still, just...hovering...
Another cough adgitated his frame; sending him wheezing and gasping into his blankets before again slamming down onto the mattress with a disgruntled swallow; basically just generally coming apart at the seems.
Not a movement, not a sound...was he even blinking, the man wondered?
Reluctantly; he rolled over from his back to his right hand side--staring somberly into a set of stoically observant orbs.
"What's up kiddo?"
"How come you called in sick?"
There was nothing, Rook found, like the first groan of the morning to set you off for a fun filled day of "Can we go yet? Can we go yet?"
"Do I look like I'm in any position to teach you to ride a skimmer?" he lethargically spewled; breaking the eye contact with his brother in order to rest his heavy lids. His brow couldn't help but furrow, however, as Ace knelt down to lean his elbows against the side of his bed,
"I have to learn sometime you know," his head tilted against his forearm; jet black hair hanging in mid-point potential over his recently sparking eyes.
"And you will," a murmur as the weakened one stretched out slightly; hair and face smothered by the sinfully comforting confines of a simple pillow "When I'm not dying."
"You're not dying," A pale eye cracked open in half-hearted retalliaton; staring at the younger one in stale humour,
"And where've you just come from, the med bay?" Ace had to give a toothy smirk of superior demeanor as he briskly picked his head up and leaned back on his heels; he know towered slightly above his leader's eyeline in a simple state of pure and simple pride,
"You're not dying." His chest puffed out slightly from under his now crossed "Because I had that same cold a week ago; and I got on with it." he could've, probably would have if he hadn't have been interrupted, continued into a semi-euphoric rant of his past-endevours: how he tirelessly worked and trained despite exhaustion, and how he struggled to keep his burning eyes open past the blaze of the fever.
But no. Why spoil an effective point through needless babble?
"Yes, thankyou by the way for breathing that on me," a grunt of indignation was uttered from their captain "Just what I always wanted," he poised himself into an elegent position of sprawled, sloppy contentedness beneath this quilt "A co-pilot to poison me."
"Whiner," the boy shot bluntly; leaning up and reaching a hand over the leader in order to clamber clumsilly over him and to the other side of the bed,
"Like you can talk," Rook coughed out; wheezing further when he felt Ace's knee collide with the centre his stomach, "Says the child who fights with the specialist over cartoons."
The dark boy took little notice as he positioned himself in a hunched-in sitting position beside the leader; his feet pressing up tightly against his back. "You're a whiner, big brother," he smirked; Rook merely shrugged his way further into the bed; dislodging Ace's feet from his shoulder blade and sending them slinging over his arm. He wasn't going to be knocked out of his roost by some kid who's voice hadn't even finished breaking yet.
"I'm not the one bugging a sick person to be allowed outside to play on a skimmer." the younger one felt one of his eyebrows twitch and quirk slightly as his lips tentanitively pursed in thought. Rook had to relish in the moment of unspecified silence; giving a sigh as he felt himself falling further into the almost unrealistic abyss of physical satisfaction that only moment of such pure stillness could provide. He barely even noticed when his younger sibling leaned forwards on supple hips to paw gently at his shoulder,
"Can I?"
"What?" grunting; he was determined to keep his conciousness buried under a thin blanketed layer of warmth and obliviousness,
"Go out?"
Rook's eyes were immediately wrenched from heavy bliss to face the chill of the room's open air,
"On a skimmer?" He glanced back, voice taking a slow, careful tone. He had to swallow when he felt Ace stare down at his own hands for a brief millisecond of sustained silence,
"Yeah."
"Absoloutely not." Immediately; the deepest, most dissapproving frown was shot back--cannon-balling any of Ace's ambitions for the day right out of his psyche's waters.
"Aw C'mon!"
"No!" the captain barked out in a throaty cough; turning over and winding himself tighter within the blankets "Besides," he swallowed slightly with a residual sputter "You wouldn't get very far anyway; I haven't even shown you how to start the thing up."
"But I've seen you do it a million times," he snaked further forwards, almost to contortionist level--causing Rook to groan before shifting his shoulder back and up in order to gain leeway to clamp lightly down on one of his baby brother's ankles--enduring the scent of worn rubber for the sake of keeping his proverbial toes in line.
"Watching and doing are 2 different things Ace," he rolled over; giving an expression that could only be inspire by the run-down, weather-worn feeling that was currently cannabalising his own throat and chest--finding himself taking brief solice in circling his finger around Ace's shoe-laces "Besides, I wouldn't wanna see you spiralling down into the wastelands, now, would I?"
Bristling; Ace was about to bite back his retort when he suddenly found himself muted over the sudden high-pitched wailing that saw cause to invade the inner sanctom of the captain's room--bursting past the partially open door and bouncing off the Condor's hollow walls; sending one teenager wincing while the adult stared off distantly for ten seconds; trying to place his sense of awareness as to the cause of the noise.
"Oh no..." the elder one sat up almost instantly when he heard such a sound stagger over itself in, what sounded like, a fit of choked coughing "Not Aerrow too,"
"Why'd ya let a baby stay on board anyway?" Ace found himself unintentionally barking; earning himself a silent scolding as per a glance from the leader.
"Because he's like you; born on the day you came aboard." The elder man briefly chided--hoisting himself up and out of the protective hold of his bed and staggerring wearilly down the halls. Like an errattic moth to a burning flame; Ace found himself jumping up to follow his now shirtless leader down the rhythmically swaying corridors of their homely airship.
"So?"
"So," a hand swept Rook's prominent lock of hair out of his eyes as he curiously spied the sight of a squalling month-old baby "In that sense; he's precious to me." Simple as.
Crimson irises narrowed partially in their sockets; he felt his arms fold again; this time just under his chest, where his stomach was. As he observed, almost intensely the sight of his elder brother fussing, fawning and generally prioritising this tot...Something about his stomach just felt oddly chilled.
Large, tanned hands clasped the infant close to a shirtless chest--easing an open palm across the circular Storm Hawk's logo that was sewn straight into the back of the child's pyjamas "Easy, easy...I've got ya now," a croon right in his tiny ear to softly shift the little one into a gradual state of awareness. Coughing began to subside as the baby began to shift tiny, chubby limbs around the warm, fleshy texture of Rook's chest; a sniffle and murmur before his waterlogged eyes began to slowly slide open--taking in the familiar sight of his father cooing down to him.
The closeness...the ritualistic, almost natural bonding of the father with the mascot...It sickened Ace; rattled him down to the very core.
"There's my little Sky Knight, eh?" The leader had to turn his head sharply in order to avoid coughing all over his son, before shaking his head abruptly in order to resume what was left of a loving smile "Ah, brave boy,"
"Him?" the teenager snorted out "A Sky Knight? Don't make me laugh."
"Who's joking?" green eyes lidded over partially as Rook allowed his downy-haired newborn to rest his fevered forehead against his collar bone
"Sky Knights aren't supposed to be constantly fussing, whining and pawing over their daddies," the older boy drawled out as he skulked forwards--prodding the baby lightly in the ribs; ironically jostling a profound giggle from the tot,
"You know Ace; if I didn't know any better--I'd say you were jealous," and just like that; Ace pulled a face. It was an odd face, fitting his mood really--a confused tug downwards on one of his eyebrows alongside that of his jaw; it was at these moments Rook couldn't help but take note that this little brother's base jaw iconically overpassed that of his top one, just ever so slightly.
"Jealous? Of what?" a light shrug which jostled Aerrow slightly over Rook's shoulder as he began to pace the room; bouncing the infant ever so gently against himself
"Maybe just the fact that I got out of bed for Aerrow and not you?"
"Oh don't flatter yourself; you're nothing special, Rook." the red-eyed boy huffed; giving him a cautious side-glance, littering it with the beginnings of a narrowed glare "I'm just saying is all; I don't think Atmos'll ever be ready for a Sky-Knight who screams every time the skimmer spirals out of control." He found himself stalking, ironically quite elevatedly over to the door "Not like me,"
"Oh?" tilting his head in a partially grin of humour "Not like you eh?"
"Not like me," the boy sneered "If you ever start training me...that kid's gonna have some compettition,"
"Oohh, better start runnin' now then, eh Aerrow?" the man couldn't help but give a playful, babyish coo of a laugh to the infant, "'cos Uncle Ace is gonna gethca aint he?" that almost manic look of plastered amusement stretching itself across Rook's face; Aerrow may have been squealing in delight--but Ace found himself giving a muted groan of annoyance,
"Ha, Ha big brother," he winced as he heard the man give a deeper, more profound cough--again, struggling to keep it out of range of his son's face. Black hair was shaken slightly out of the way of his now quite relaxed eyes "You ok?"
"Agh, Ace do me a favour will ya?" Ace practically yelled out in sheer surprise as his nephew came into contact with his personal space "Be a sport, O' Sky Knight: Just watch Aerrow for a bit--goin' back to bed," Rook couldn't help but give a breathless sigh as he found himself practically dragging himself out of the room; it was practically a blind effort--feet staggering all over the place, and he had to watch so as to not send himself crashing into the walls.
Both baby and teenager gave each other an intense, silent stare...a contemplative silence.
"So..." Ace cleared his throat slightly; head tilting slightly as he watched the infant give a, well he supposed a cute, yawn and settle his chin atop his shoulder--still glancing up at his 'caring' Uncle "You...like your room?"
tbc.