Up on the quarterdeck our gallant captain stands...

[simplestgift]

Who: seventeensir lists_to_port and a noprevaricating.
What: Just a little mischief.
When: June 24th, evening.
Where: House 36
Summary: Horatio is planning Very Brave Very Stupid Things.  So Archie is hiring Jack to make sure those Stupid Things don't happen.
Rating: It's friends kidnapping each other, so...nothing too serious.  PG-13 tops.

After his conversation with Jack, Archie had learned two things.

1. He was forbidden to lift anything for four more weeks, including protesting best friends.

2. He was given prescription narcotics for pain management.

The second made the first much easier to deal with. At the moment, he was innocently making coffee, having skimped on his pain meds today to have enough to use for this purpose. The new house was much, much roomier than the old flat had been, but there was an increased chance of Horatio meandering by the kitchen and seeing what he was doing. So he kept the saved pain medication innocently in one hand. The general shop had had a granite mortar and pestle for crushing herbs. When Horatio ducked out of the house on an errand, Archie quickly dropped the pills into the mortar and crushed them. The coffee was decaffeinated and stronger than he normally made it. This would do.

The trouble with not taking enough pain meds was obvious, but Kennedy had come up with tricks to take his mind off pain long ago. He hadn't wanted to go to Dr. Hepplewhite every time Simpson gave him cause, so he'd developed a way to shrink his consciousness.

"Through the forest have I gone.
But Athenian found I none,
On whose eyes I might approve
This flower's force in stirring love.
Night and silence. --Who is here?
Weeds of Athens he doth wear."

Horatio was back, and Kennedy was pouring the coffee, his voice the barest whisper.

"This is he, my master said."

The crushed pills went into one cup of coffee, and he stirred in time to the text he recited.

"Churl, upon thy eyes I throw
All the power this charm doth owe.
When thou wakest, let love forbid
Sleep his seat on thy eyelid:
So awake when I am gone;
For I must now to Oberon.

Horatio! I made coffee!"

Comments

[simplestgift]

Archie handed him the cup with the crushed pills. "Cheers."

This was completely wrong, but sometimes things like this had to be done for the sake of one's friends. Something told him Horatio would forgive him.

[captainhornblower]

"Cheers," Horatio replied, raising the cup with a chuckle before he took a drink.

He looked at the coffee when he tasted it. Strong. Nothing to complain about there, he decided, taking another long drink.

[simplestgift]

Archie sipped at his coffee, fairly sure the narcotics wouldn't knock the captain out, but would make him more manageable in a few minutes. Unless crushing the pills did something? He really wasn't sure, but wasn't about to ask McCoy and raise his suspicions.

"Any good?"

[captainhornblower]

"Very."

He took another drink and bowed his head briefly. The hand holding the side of the mug-- rather than its handle-- left it and braced against the kitchen counter slightly. The feeling mostly passed, but it was enough. Just a brief dizziness, he told himself. Unexplainable... but gone.

Surely gone.

[simplestgift]

If Hornblower looked, he might have seen guilt cross Kennedy's face. Very, very obvious guilt. Now, of all times, he started to realize how Horatio must have felt, knocking him over the head with that tiller so long ago. He really had had the easy end of it, hadn't he?

"You...you should sit down."

[captainhornblower]

"I'm fine, Archie. I'm--"

He went to take another drink of the coffee and almost dropped the cup. He managed to edge it onto the counter before he nodded.

"Bit of dizziness," he murmured, waving a hand, not wanting to worry his friend. "Nothing more serious. But perhaps..." A slight nod. "Yes. Perhaps I should sit." Or lie down, he considered. Sleep was sounding appealing.

...Which was what this was, he was sure. He was finally letting himself relax, and every bit of him, mental and physical, was throwing itself into the new task. Perhaps he hadn't been sleeping enough, as others had said.

[simplestgift]

All right, good. He seemed to be relaxing, not frightened or uncomfortable. Archie caught his elbow and led him gently to the couch. "Easy, now. You'll be all right."

[captainhornblower]

"Must be catching up with me," Horatio muttered, hand on Archie's shoulder to keep himself steady, though still mindful of not trying to put his weight on Archie.

His slightly foggy mind had not connected that the rest of his thought 'These last couple weeks...' had not been voiced.

[simplestgift]

Kennedy eased his friend onto the couch, the dull pain in his back and shoulder pressing against the edges of his mind. Deep breaths, and he started reciting in his mind, his lips moving as he did so.

Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye;
Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,
To take from thence all error with his might,
And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.
When they next wake, all this derision
Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision.

"Rest now. You deserve a little sleep."

[captainhornblower]

"You sound like William," Horatio said, voice already drowsy.

He was, however, submitting to what he assumed was his own exhaustion, resting against the back of the couch and tilting his head back. He flexed his hand slightly. There was an odd kind of weight to his body, a sensation he could not fix a cause for, but he also was not trying very hard to do so.

[simplestgift]

Kennedy sighed softly, reaching for his journal.

"Now, when thou wakest, with thine own fool's eyes peep."

[captainhornblower]

"Thought you'd like it." Being so close to the library, he means. He's heard the quote, connected with a play, and been amused in his dazed state.

Also, as he settled in and begins to nod off, he is half leaned back against the couch... half leaned on Archie. Hopefully his good shoulder. If not... Well. He won't put up a fuss at being nudged the other way.

[simplestgift]

It is his good shoulder. Kennedy hooks his arm around his friend. "I do, very much. Go to sleep."

[captainhornblower]

Horatio makes a quiet sound, either in agreement or argument with the suggestion. Whichever it was... hardly mattered, as his breathing quieted a bit a few moments later as he nodded off.