I feel like I need to highlight the fact that I know nothing about boats.  I’ve never been on a ship or any sort of a big boat =( The only thing I’ve been on is a small fishing boat :///  so I don’t know where a engine is or where the anchor is or their layouts etc. I’ve done some research and I hope it'll be enough. But if you find any wrong information or if you’re confused please tell me =)

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His eyes cracked open as the first rays of sunlight pierced through his closed eyelids. He was a light sleeper, always had been. And going to sleep with a troubled mind didn’t help matters either. It usually meant he’d get little to zero sleep and countless hours of nonstop twisting and turning under the covers.

Last night had been just that.

Despite leaving Minwoo sulking on the sofa claiming to ‘turn in’, he hadn’t managed to get a wink of sleep. He had acted like that in front of the other man in order to escape the endless questioning. And  it was mostly just for the show.

In the early hours of dawn, after hours of twisting and turning he had managed to doze off, but even that was restless and uncomfortable and when morning came he was still swimming between the dream world and reality. When he opened his eyes it felt as if he’d fallen asleep only minutes ago. He felt so tired.

And the way he had fallen asleep was not helping either.

He was sleeping face down on his bunk, an arm and a leg hanging over the edges of the berth as it was too small to contain his long limbs. He had wondered for a moment if those beds were custom made to fit Minwoo. His face was half squashed into the pillow, his neck turned to the side to escape the stifling odour of synthetic cotton. His neck hurt from the way it was turned and so did his shoulders.

To say he was uncomfortable was a major understatement.

If it was any other day he would’ve just rolled over to a more comfortable position and gone right back to sleep. But today he had a big problem on his hands; figuring out what the hell was wrong with the boat.

It had stopped abruptly and Eric had no idea what the problem was. But he needed to find out the problem, fix it and get the damn thing moving again.

So grunting and groaning he rolled out of bed, and groaned a bit more as more and more sore spots made themselves known as he stretched out his body to work out the kinks.

His body was so not cut for all these adrenaline rushes.

He paused for a moment before entering the lounge.

The previous night he’d left a very annoyed looking Minwoo sulking on the sofa. At the time having the last say had felt like having one up on the man. He had annoyed Eric with countless questions and he had been exhausted. But now, after all the excitement had died down and he was somewhat rested and his mind a bit more clear, it felt like a really stupid thing to do. Angering and fighting with the only companion he was stuck with for god-knows-how-long, was not a smart move. He didn’t want to break the little friendship thing they had going on between them. He did not want Minwoo revert back into that person who flew at him with the intention of choking him at any and every given opportunity.

So he was a bit cautious as he stepped into the lounge.

But Minwoo was not on the sofa.

Eric edged towards the cabin the other man occupied and slowly cracked the door open, making just enough space for him to peek inside.

Minwoo was asleep on the berth, sprawled out like some giant cat with his arms and legs askew. There was a large wet spot on the pillow where his head lay.

Probably drool.

Eric snorted.

Closing the door as quietly as possible he set on his way to fix the boat alone.

                              ~~~~~~

“Have you figured out what’s wrong with it yet?”

Minwoo’s voice came from overhead and Eric looked up, shielding his eyes from the sunlight with grease covered hands. Minwoo’s torso was visible as the man hovered above the small engine room. Eric could only see his silhouette, the blazing sun obscuring almost all of his features.

It was already mid-morning and the sun was high up in the sky, pouring down on a very exhausted Eric with little sympathy. He’d tried closing the door to block out the sun but that also meant him being suffocated and slowly boiled alive in a very hot room. After a while when it got too hard to bear, he reopened the door. The sunrays started their immediate assault but with it came the gentle sea breeze. So it was somewhat bearable.

Eric had spent a good part of the morning walking around the boat trying to locate the engine. Having no idea about boats or their layouts he didn’t have even a distinctive idea of where to start looking. After walking around for hours like a fool he finally decided to get the much needed back up.

Minwoo, being the owner of the boat, probably knew where things were better than him.

Eric tried to rouse him up; only to give up after countless attempts and an almost punch to the face for disturbing his sleep.

So he had to return to the search alone, grumbling and cursing the stupid boat and its equally stupid owner.

While walking around the deck for the umpteenth time he had somehow, by chance, noticed a small latch on the deck. He pulled it up, and for his absolute relief and dismay-  relief because he finally found what he was looking for and dismay because he’d walked over that same spot more than a hundred times during that day- he finally found the engine room.

It was a small room, barely able to fit three people. He found a tool kit alongside the engine. Without further delay he started to tinker around with the engine trying to fix it; or at least trying to figure out the problem. It was not like he knew what he was doing or what he was searching for. He didn’t really have to bother himself with those sorts of things when he was living with his parents. Apart from changing a tire once in a blue moon, he never engaged himself with fixing ‘mechanical things’.

He was sweating and panting in the smoldering hot room by the time Minwoo decided to wake up. All through Eric’s hard endeavor the little er had slept on oh so soundly despite the way he acted all nervous and scared and clearly in ‘turmoil’.

Spending the morning in relative silence amidst the gentle shush of the ocean waves had managed to calm the irritation he felt towards the other man. But now when Minwoo appeared in front of him, looking well rested and energized, everything  he was not feeling, his previous frustrations started to bubble up.

And it only intensified when Minwoo decided to join him in the engine room.

“What are you doing?” Eric asked when he saw Minwoo coming down the stairs; barely managing to get words through his tightly clenched teeth.

“Joining you… duh…”

“But there’s not enough room for both of us”

“What are you talking about??? I’m small. I can fit.”

Minwoo was already down before Eric could protest more, brushing past the taller man to wonder further into the room.

Ohh… how nice of you to join me.

“So did you sleep well?”  Eric hoped the sarcasm in his voice was evident.

“Can’t complain”

Sarcasm was so totally wasted on this man.

Eric could do nothing but sneer at Minwoo’s turned back.

His eyes followed the other's short form as Minwoo traipsed around the room, as his fingers ran gently over the lines of the engine and as his hands fumbled with the tools.

“So?” Minwoo’s expectant eyes landed on his face.

“So what?” he quirked his eyebrows in response.

The small man let out a loud sigh.

“Did. You. Figure. Out. What’s. Wrong. With. It. Yet???” he slowly spelt out the words as if talking to a toddler.

Eric narrowed his eyes.

How dare he talk to him like that?

But instead of losing his temper he shook his head.

“What the hell does that mean?”

He paused to think before replying. There was no easy way to say it. And saying it out loud was kind of scary, especially when he knew how Minwoo would react upon hearing such news. But he had to tell him.

So bracing himself Eric blurted out the answer, cringing as the words left his mouth.

“ummmm… I think we’re stuck here for good???”