I've Got A Sinking Feeling // Brian x John - Complete

Chapter Three

13th April 1912

When Brian awoke, John was staring at him from above. A big grin plastered on his face. "You're up!" he exclaimed.
Brian yawned and smiled. John jumped off the bed and ran into the next room. Brian sat up and looked at the small clock on the wall. It was almost noon. He didn't realize that he had slept in. He stretched and got out of bed. He went into the lounge to see John sitting on the couch, waiting for him.
"I'm going to bathe. When I finish, I want you to bathe too. I will get your clothes washed while you do so, alright?"
John nodded.
Brian made his way to the bathroom and undressed. He started up the bath and stepped in. Quickly, he cleaned himself and dried off. He wrapped the towel around his waist and stepped out of the bathroom. John had fallen back asleep on the couch. Brian chuckled and went to get on new clothes for the day. He put on a white dress shirt with a black vest. Along with black pants and shoes. He dried and fixed up his hair and headed out with the dirty clothes. He took the elevator down to the bottom floor and checked around until he found some ladies working in a cleaning room. They showed him where he could take the dirty clothing to get them cleaned.
He walked into the room. An old woman greeted him and he explained that he wanted the clothes to be washed. She told him it would take around an hour and a half. He nodded and began to leave.
"Wait, sir!"
He turned back around. "Yes?"
"You left these in the pockets, that would have been a great loss!" She handed him a few necklaces and some other jewelry.
He looked at them in confusion. "Where did you find these?" he asked. She held up the trouser pants that John had been wearing. Brian nodded and quickly walked out of the room. He shoved the jewelry in his pocket and made his way back to his cabin. He felt sick. "What was John doing with these?" he thought.
When he got back to his room, he decided not to wake John up until later. He would ask him about it after he bathed. John would surely see them missing once he dressed himself.
Brian paced back and forth, he needed some fresh air. He left the room, hoping John wouldn't notice his absence. He made way for the top deck. He felt like he was going to suffocate. Reaching the deck felt like a huge weight was lifted from him. Brian walked over to the edge and gripped onto the railing. He took a deep breath and exhaled. He stood there for a moment, trying to keep himself composed. He walked over to a bench, sat down, and leaned back.
What was he going to do? He knew John was probably a very troubled young man. Quite childish at times too. But, he never thought he would steal something! Then Brian paused. He had come to a realization. "John must be the illegal passenger they were talking about..." he thought,"He doesn't seem to have a room to stay in, and if you had snuck on, thats exactly what would happen."
He groaned. He couldn't believe this was happening. Could things get any worse?
He spent an hour or so sitting on that bench. He decided he couldn't sit there all day and went to check on the laundry.
They had been cleaned and he thanked her for her work. He gave her one of the necklaces that John had stolen. She was overwhelmed.
He left and eventually entered his own room.
John sat in the middle of the floor. His eyes quickly came onto Brian. "Where were you?" he asked, "I was worried!"
Brian wondered if he truly had been. "I was getting the clothes washed. I wanted to get it clean before you bathed..." he said.
John nodded and stood up. He giggled and ran to the bathroom, "I'm gonna get clean! So, don' you come on in or anythin'!"
"He really is child-like..." Brian thought, and then he went white. "W-Wait...John, how old are you?"
John peeked out from around the bathroom door, "Hnm?"
"How old are you?" Brian asked again.
"'M twenty-two...why?" John asked.
"Just...just wondering..." Brian said, faking a smile.
John laughed and closed the door. Brian could hear the water running and then a splash. He had hoped John didn't jump into the tub.
He somehow couldn't believe that he was that old. No one at twenty-two would act that way. It was completely insane. Brian wondered if maybe, physically John was twenty-two, but mentally something else. He didn't believe John was in any way handicapped. But there was something odd about him. Maybe it was just a facade, maybe he tricked multiple people into thinking he's innocent. Maybe, thats how he gets away with his crimes.
Brian shook his head, "No, thats completely stupid..." he thought.
He went to his room and put away the clean clothes. He grabbed his ticket from the first day and put it in his pocket. He then folded John's clothes up and sat them down outside the bathroom. He took the jewelry out of his pocket and set it on the bedside table. Taking them from John seemed like the only plan for now. He couldn't return them, for he didn't know where John got them.
Walking out into the lounge, he sat down on the couch. Putting his head in his hands, he grumbled. "How am I supposed to bring this up?"
Brian decided he would just wait for John to finish bathing and then immediately ask him.
...
John opened the door, he had a towel draped on his head. He looked like a wet puppy. Brian was upset that he was still madly in love with him. John was looking over at Brian, whom was still sitting on the couch.
"Where are my clothes?" he asked.
"They're right below you, John..." Brian pointed out.
"Oh" John giggled.
Brian waited for John to finish dressing and walked over to the bathroom door. It was relatively silent. Soon, John opened the door and stopped upon seeing Brian standing in front of him. He tilted his head to the side, "Wha'?"
"Look, I need to talk to you about something..." Brian said, holding out his hand for John to take. John happily took it and followed Brian to the couch.
They sat down and Brian decided it was go time.
"John, I need you to show me something, can you do that for me?"
John nodded.
Brian swallowed, "See this?" he showed John his ticket. "Can you show me yours?"
John was silent, he shook his head.
"Why not?" Brian asked.
"Lost it," John said.
Brian nodded but he couldn't seem to knock the feeling that John could be lying. "Alright, then. Can you explain to me what these are, then?"
He took John's hand and brought him into the bedroom. He showed him the jewels on the bedside table.
John shrugged, "Never seen 'em in my life!"
"John, they were in your pant pocket..." Brian explained.
John shook his head and repeated, "Never seen 'em in my life!"
Brian sighed. He was never going to get the truth out of him was he? He turned to John. "John? How did you afford a ticket for the Titanic if you are poor?" he asked blatantly.
John looked at him. He shook his head. He just kept shaking his head.
Brian became fed up, "Alright, John, tell me the truth now!"
John jumped at his voice. His hands were trembling. "John, answer me." Brian demanded.
John started to cry, "I'm sorry..."
Brian was taken aback by his actions, appalled to see him crying. A mix of emotions flooded into his mind.
John dropped to his knees, "I'm sorry!" he sobbed.
Brian looked down at him, he crouched down and held him. "Oh, come on now, John. Don't cry..."
John wouldn't calm down. He continued to cry, "I din' mean to! They was so pretty! I wanted 'em!"
Brian nodded. He stood up and helped John stand. Brian took him into the lounge and sat him back down on the couch. John sniffed.
Brian used his sleeve to dry the tears on his cheeks.
"John, you know you can't steal things, right?"
"I know, I know...I won't do it again!" he promised. Brian smiled.
He was glad John told him the truth. But if John really was the unknown passenger, how did he sneak onto the Titanic? He wasn't sure if he could continue to keep questioning him. So, he decided it was best to leave him alone.
"Lets go get lunch, how about it?" Brian asked.
John nodded and hugged him. "Let's see if you can fit into any of my suits..." Brian brought John back into the bedroom.
None of the suits were a correct fit on John and Brian was disappointed. He would have to bring the food back again like last time. He didn't want that. He wanted to be a able to apologize to John for being so harsh.
He wondered if there was a way he could buy him a suit. There ought to be a tailor somewhere on this ship.
He brought John along as he searched for a tailor. He asked around to see if anyone knew. Luckily they did have one, located on the bottom floor around where the cleaners had been. They made their way to the bottom floor and met with the tailor. He took John's measurements and they would have a suit for him in an hour. They decided to wait outside the door.
To Brian's surprise, John seemed to have no hard feelings. He was hanging around him and talking as if the fight had never happened.
"We're gonna miss lunch!" he laughed.
Brian smiled. "Guess we'll just snack until dinner, huh?"
John continued to laugh.
Brian felt overly awkward in the whole situation. John was such a strange person. He changed his attitude so quickly. He could go from mature to child in just seconds. He just didn't understand it.
After waiting, the tailor gave them the suit and they headed back to the room.
In a hour or so, supper would be served. Brian decided to just let John do his thing, and went to relax on his bed.
He had gotten plenty of sleep from over sleeping but he felt exhausted. The events of before had worn him out and he decided a small nap wouldn't hurt.
...
He was awoken by John shaking him awake. "It's time for supper, right?"
Brian rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock, it was a couple minutes after the time they should've headed out.
They quickly got to the dining room and were seated. John seemed thrilled to be sitting in such a room. When the food came around, he was beyond happy. Brian laughed at his reactions but was always reminded of what he did. He wasn't sure why, but it kept bothering him. John had promised he wouldn't do it again, so Brian trusted him. He kept telling himself that he didn't care how John managed to sneak onto the ship. But, the thought kept arising every now and then.
"I need to use the bathroom," John later whispered to Brian. They were in the middle of the main course and he had been drinking and eating a lot, so Brian thought it only seemed natural.
He motioned where the bathrooms were located and John quickly departed.
A few minutes later, and the main course was over. They were bringing out desert samples. However, John was still missing. Brian assumed he would have been back by now, he was beginning to feel nervous.
A few more minutes later and John returned back to the table.
"John, where have you been?" Brian whispered.
"The bathroom," he said.
"For that long?" Brian asked.
John didn't answer, he instead turned his attention to the cake slice sitting in front if him.
Brian rolled his eyes, he couldn't handle John's stubbornness. After desert they headed back to the room.
He watched as John rushed off to the bedroom and shut the door behind him. Brian was curious and followed behind. He opened the door slowly and peeked into the room.
He felt his heart break when he saw John hide away more stolen jewelry.
"Dammit, John!" he shouted as he slammed the door open.
John jumped and stumbled to the floor. He looked up in horror.
Brian stood in front of John. Towering over him.
"Wh-wait! It's not what you think!" John started.
"No, It isn't is it? Here I thought you were some sweet boy whom I could trust, but now I know you're nothing but a lying, thieving, basket case! And to think I believed I loved you!" Brian stormed out of the room and into the hall.
John got up and rushed after him, "Wait, please don't say that!"
Brian ignored him. He couldn't believe he did it again. He couldn't believe he lied again. It was the last straw. He couldn't take this anymore.
Brian walked back into his room. John tried to follow, but was only pushed away.
"Please!" He whined.
Brian turned to him, "You are really lucky that I'm not turning you in! You know that?"
"No, please, I'm sorry, please, don't you love me?"
Brian paused and scoffed "Listen to me, right now, I don't ever want to see your third class ass up here again. Do you hear me? I'm sick and tired of your games. And get this through your small crippled brain, I don't love you." and with that he slammed the door in his face. Leaving a broken John all alone.

Brian didn't hear anything from behind his door that night. He laid in bed and just stared at the ceiling, hoping to forget about that boy.
He had wished it didn't turn out this way. But now, he was just hoping to get off this ship and arrive in New York. He wasn't sure if he could survive the two days left on this ship.