Chapter 5: The Airship Romance

New chapter here! Hope you enjoy! ^-^

Happy 4th of July!

"Wait Dylan!" I hear, and turn to see Alek running to catch up to me.

"Yes?" I reply.

"I can't find Volger anywhere, have you seen him?" Alek says breathlessly. I shrug.

"Not in a while...not ever sense he went in the direction of..." My eyes bug out and I go silent. Alek keeps looking at me.

"Of...?" I turn red.

"T-the Lady Boffin's quarters!" I blurt. Alek's eyebrows shoot up.

"...Oh," he says in a choked, quiet voice. "Sounds...erm..I see..." he mumbles. I roll my eyes.

"Didn't take your attic as long as I thought you daft prince." Alek frowns.

"What?" "I've noticed something. Ever since the day you failed to do the laundry and lost my barking TROUSERS-" Alek cringes.

"I'm really sorry about that Deryn," he says.

"-they have been meeting up a lot recently." I cross my arms over my chest and look down at him.

"Understand now?" I inquire. He nods and I look around the corridor to make sure that no other midshipmen are around.

"We should get a squick of time to sneak around and figure out this strange relationship between both your mentor, and my upper." Alek nods. "But where should we start?" I shrug.

"We should make sure that no one is in their cabins, and snoop." Alek shrugs.

"That, or we could just tell the Boffin we'd like to babysit Tazza and stay in her cabin the easy way," he says. I moan.

"Then she'll make us do it more often!" I complain. "I already have enough barking work to do without more clart added in!" Alek frowns.

"Well, let's go down and check on them now," he says. I nod.

"Alright, but we really should just ask them attic on if they're in a relationship," I announce. Alek fidgets.

"I'd...rather not," he says. "I just shudder while thinking of them together...is that bad?" I scoff.

"A prince? Asking me for advice?"

"Well, you are the one I'm in a relationship with," he replies. I refuse to allow my face to turn bloody scarlet, and smile.

"True," I say. Alek nods, and steps forward, leaning in to...

I flat out walk past him.

"Let's head to the cabins!" I say, pointing down the ratlines. I jump on one and slide down.

"DYLAN!" Alek yells after me.

…

I land on the window of the lady Boffin's room, and see that it is covered...by a tarp. I gulp, and then hear a screeching sound. Not from the room, but from above.

Alek forgot to tie himself in correctly.

Again.

I flatten myself to the window as he slides past and jerks on the safety hook. I look down.

"Nice," I smirk. Alek scowls, but doesn't say anything. I reach down and pry the window open with my gloved hands.

SLAM! The window opens, and I jump through.

"We know what you're up too!" I shout. "You might as well tell us that you-" I stare agape at the scene before me. Alek crashes into me and I groan.

"Worst landing ever," I grumble, and shove him off so I can stand. Alek registers what is before him and turns bright red.

"I know I'm eighteen and all now...," Alek says. "But I really wasn't expecting..."

Alek and I look on as Volger and the boffin have paper everywhere with big bold letters reading:

Please come to Dylan and Alek's wedding on the 14th of October. Cross dressing welcome.

Alek and I turn red.

"Did you really think we'd allow you to know what we were planning?" the boffin says, and fans herself. Volger finishes writing the same thing on another card.

"You can't just plan a wedding for a couple without consulting them!" Alek says, aghast. I'm still frozen in place, but manage to get my voice back.

"You're going to have us get married," I say. The two nod.

"And I'm still thought of as a boy."

They nod again.

"And then you added cross dressing so that I could look like a GIRL?!" They nod yet again. Alek puts a hand to his head.

"This is all so confusing...people are going to think I'm marrying a guy...when 'he' is a girl, and she is dressed as a boy who is dressing as a girl for a WEDDING WE DIDN'T PLAN!" The two nod happily.

"Precisely!"

I feel rage boil in my chest, and slam my hands on the desk in front of them.

"I WILL NOT WEAR A DRESS!" I scream, and run out of the cabin. The boffin fans herself.

"That went well..."

Lol. That's all! I know they're out of character, but I haven't written any of them in a while, and I haven't READ the trilogy in a while... Hope you enjoyed!

~Misty