Work Text
1993 summer vacation
Another summer, another cruise this time for four days. The people are starting to board now, it’s the same old kind of people. There’s the kid who pulls their Mothers up the ramp, eager to get on board their first ship. Their father is far behind them struggling to pull the unreasonable amount of luggage that his wife mostly likely “would die without”. He’s fed up with her but wouldn’t divorce her because he’s too much of a pushover.
There’s the Uni kid who has ran away from his family for the summer and has decided that all his mates, with the same intentions as him, should come with him. He’s just turned the legal age for Americans to drink so he has bottles and bottles stashed away in his bag.
There’s the usual family reunion, the couple that’s strictly here to gamble for four day straight, and the family of four where the mom and dad are workaholics and the two teen kids who can’t stand each other. But there’s one kid that is interesting to me-“Sherlock! get down there and check if everyone is ready on deck 6! Those Americans are going to want to get pissheaded as soon as they get on.”“Yes mum I’m on it!” Sherlock shut his journal and sighed, “Another summer, another cruise.”
~
“Hello! and welcome! to the Dame of the seas!” The intercom boomed as Sherlock ran down the stairs to the 6th floor his bare feet slapped the hard carpet as he tried to beat the hundreds of restless guests.
Sherlock ran onto the big deck, climbed the stairs to the main balcon right under the megatron, grabbed the microphone and yelled, “THE AMERICANS ARE COMING!” Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at him in annoyance then continued what they were doing.
Sherlock put the microphone back and looked out over the empty deck.
He always loved the sight of it, completely and utterly empty. The whole 6th floor was divided into 5 different sections, the main deck was second to the front, it was the first deck you would walk onto as you reach the 6th floor doors. The main pool was right in the middle of the deck it was overlooked by the megatron. The pool was lined with chairs and had pubs on two sides of it. Sherlock is very keen on the design of the main seating area which was on the other side of the pool from the megatron, it was set up to look like terrace farming, each “terrace” had two small swimming pools on both ends with beach chairs pushed up against the back walls, there were about 5 “terraces”. The end of the seating area led up to the first division of the deck (the one right before the front of the boat) it was on the 8th floor. On one side it was the adult area, the adult area for sensible adults that aren’t always drunk, and the other side was a sitting area with ping pong and a big chess board, they were divided by the doors to get inside and to the stairs. The 3rd section from the front was the two floor diner. After you pass the diner you get to the 4th division of the deck which is Sherlock’s least favorite part of the deck it’s basically were all the druk adults go, the adults that should be closed off from everyone, it’s a big swimming pool surrounded by pubs. Then there’s the back of the boat which is on the 7th floor deck, the 7th floor deck stretches around 3 sections of the 6th floor deck it starts under the megatron, where Sherlock is sitting, and goes around the diner, over looks the drunk adult section and leads straight to the back of the boat, which looks like the front of the boat but because you can’t get to the front of the boat people always take pictures there acting as if It’s the front. The boat has two extra decks that are above the megatron one of them, which is the 8th floor, has two basketball courts with a volleyball court right next to it that only took up half the deck because the other half of the deck was the top floor, the 9th floor, which was where mini golf was.
Sherlock’s view was disturbed when he noticed one of the staff members, Anderson, staring daggers at him.
“I can see you Anderson.” Sherlock said without even looking at the man.
“Get down from there and help. Stop trying to plain on distorting everyone’s lives, your only here for four days so try not to cause any trouble.”
Sherlock’s eyelids dropped halfway over his eyes then he yelled, “What did you say Anderson?! was it something about an affair with Sally?! Or is that wrong?!” Sherlock smiled, he could practically feel the boat shake a little as Anderson’s heart hit the deck.
Anderson's eyes bulged as he frantically looked around to see who heard what Sherlock had said, everyone was staring at Anderson, silently shunning him with their eyes. Anderson swallowed and quickly disappeared under the balcony that Sherlock was standing on. Sherlock and Anderson both gained pleasure from antagonizing each other, more so Sherlock because no matter what he always gets the last laugh.
Sherlock’s triumphant smile dropped at the sight of passengers flooding through the double doors that lead from the inside of the boat to the deck. Sherlock couldn’t stand people in general, but people on vacation, he loathes them most of all. He believes that when people go on vacation they flip a switch in their mind that makes them believe that the basics of human expectation doesn’t apply to them.
Sherlock left his spot on the 7th floor deck as fast as possible trying his hardest to avoid any American that walked his way. He ran to the kitchen and weaved his way through the panicked kitchen staff. He made his way the the head sheff, Greg, the only person that Sherlock remotely liked. He jumped up onto the counter where Greg had his spices and vegetables layed out one his cutting board. Sherlock grabbed an apple out of a bowl that zoomed past him with a frantic staff member attached to it he hadn’t noticed the theft, but Greg had.
“No No No! Sherlock how many times have I told?”
“Told me what?” Sherlock replayed Slyly
as he bit into the apple.
Greg’s face dropped in annoyance. “No shorts in the kitchen!”
Sherlock looked down at the bright blue swimsuit that hugged his thighs. “What too colorful?” Sherlock teased as he shifted his legs on the table, leaning from one hip and then to the other. “Does it not go with the white shirt?”
“Don’t make me chop you up Holmes.” Greg mused as he raised his knife.
Sherlock hopped off the table, leaving the apple, and trotted out of the kitchen. “Bye Greg!”
“Put some bloody shoes on you asseoir!”
~
Sherlock returned to his small cabin and settled on the balcony to read his book. The cabin was incredibly small for Sherlock’s standards, it’s small for anyone’s standards. The room was a sort of pledge to the world of minimalist. When you walk in the lavatory is to your right, includes a loo a sink and a shower, the wardrobe is to your left. The cabin opens up about two feet into the… everything room. There’s a small table with a couch on the right, a sort of makeup place to your left with a mirror, the bed is right next to the couch and the balcony is one step away form the bed. Sherlock despises the smallness of the room but his mom says that it’s meant to be cosy and homely, whatever it was Sherlock thought it was appalling.
Sherlock was completely consumed in his book, reading about a wide open terrain imagining that he was there instead of on a boat. He was too lost in his book to hear the three knocks on the cabin door.
“Sherlock.” A voice came for the other side of the door snapping him out of his fantasy.
“Hum.. ya Hello!” Sherlock stuttered as he got up and made his way to the door.
“Hello mummy.” Sherlock said as he opened the door.
“Are you going to lock yourself in here the whole time?” Sherlock’s mum asked as she pushed her way into the room.
“That’s the plain.” Sherlock remarked, he shut the door and went to the balcony to retrieve his book.
“You’ve got a nice couch. We haven’t got a couch just two chairs.” Sherlock’s mum said sitting herself on the on the couch.
“Stop that.” Sherlock demand as he sat on his bed with his book.
“Stop what?”
“Thinking. Seeing you grasping at conversation topics is almost as annoying as you verbalizing it.”
Sherlock’s mums face dropped into embarrassment, she stood up straightened out her khaki shorts and headed for the door. “Your going to be a waiter tonight at the deck social don’t be late.” And with that she left Sherlock alone.