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ayma-nidiot · 3 years

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“Don’t Speak Their Names” - Shrimpshipping fic Chapter 9

This chapter on AO3 can be found here.

Chapter 9 - Ginger Tea

~29 May~

“This is it, the last day of the finals… And it’s math.” Rex woke up with a groggy head. He had spent most of yesterday studying, and almost instantly regretted it as he walked to the kitchen. “Nothing a little coffee couldn’t solve.”

Ptera cooked breakfast in the kitchen while she listened to her son talk. “Hey, you’re not in college yet. Don’t have more than one cup, young man.”

“Yes, Mom…” Rex thought that his headache would abate with a little caffeine; on the contrary, he felt significantly worse, even before he began to drink it. “Ugh…”

Ptera immediately stopped what she was doing when she noticed Rex turn slightly pale, and placed a cool wet towel on his forehead. “Rex! What’s wrong?”

“I feel like I’m going to throw up…” Rex spoke with his head on the table.

“Then you need to stay home! It’s not going to do you any good if you throw up in the middle of your test!”

“But Mom, I’ve worked too hard to stay home! Just give me some of that ginger tea of yours and some aceta…”

“‘Acetaminophen?’” Ptera spoke as she began brewing her signature tea.

“Yeah, that’s it! I’ll be fine if I have those things.” Rex started chugging the tea and immediately felt better.

“If you insist… But as soon as you start feeling sick, let your teacher know, okay?” Ptera gave Rex his handbag and a quick kiss on his cheek. “Good luck! Knock ‘em dead!”

“I… think that that the test is going to knock me dead.” Though Rex’s nausea was now gone, he still felt incredibly nervous about how he’d do. He was hoping to find some solace in his boyfriend, but he didn’t see Weevil until after they both arrived at their classroom. “Oh! Hey, Weeves! Where the hell were you all this time?”

“...” Weevil knew he had hurt his boyfriend, and felt ashamed of it.

“It’s your dad, isn’t it?” Rex asked as the both of them took adjacent seats, and waited for their classmates to finish coming in the room. He wasn’t surprised to see Amber sitting at the front of the room, chatting it up with the boys. “I bet his homophobic ass wouldn’t even let you out of the house, let alone to see me.”

“Never mind him. ” The teacher had just arrived, so Weevil knew he had little time left to talk to Rex. “What about you? Do you think you’ll do well?”

“I felt like utter crap this morning, but I think all that studying will pay off.”

“What did you just say?” Weevil grimaced when he heard the first part of that sentence.

“All right, class, the test will begin! Take out only a pencil, a graphing calculator, and a water bottle if you brought one.”

“Oh, um… Hey, the teacher’s coming!” Rex was thankful of this teacher’s presence for once; he wasn’t prepared to explain to Weevil how he nearly tossed his cookies that morning. What he wasn’t thankful for was the fact he left his bottle of ginger tea at home. Oh, shit… I’m really going to regret it…

And regret it he did; about halfway into the test, Rex felt a new wave of nausea hit him. Amber and Weevil already handed in their completed tests and left the room for a break. Smartasses… But I’m… gonna… make it…

Even the classmates who would normally tease Rex noticed how sick he looked; one told the teacher when he went to hand in his test. By this point, almost everyone had handed in their tests; only about five, including Rex, remained. “Mr. Raptor, are you feeling okay? Do you need to go to the nurse?” the teacher whispered.

Rex responded with a much louder voice, “No, it’s okay, Teach! I’ve only got five more questions!”

As the teacher walked away with a concerned look, Rex noticed that, indeed he had five questions… five very long questions. He could already feel his stomach roiling and knew he had to finish fast. Thank the gods that I looked at this exact same question with Mokuba yesterday! Rex thought as he finished showing his work, in barely legible writing.

“All right, you have two minutes left-”

No sooner had the teacher said this when Rex dashed for the teacher’s desk, slammed his test papers on it, and ran for the loo without taking his stuff.

“Oh!” Weevil looked from the book he was reading with Amber just outside the classroom. “Rex! How did it-”

Rex had barely made it to the loo nearby, and Amber dropped the book when she heard Rex blowing chunks all the way from where she stood. “Ooh… That doesn’t sound good. Weevil, I take it you have Rex’s home phone number?”

“Of course I do. His mom is going to be really mad, though… In the meantime, can you go tell the nurse and tell him to come here?” After Weevil let Ptera know what was going on, he entered the loo and knocked on the door of the stall Rex was in. “Hun, are you okay?”

“Does it look like I’m okay, bug boy?” Rex only got those words in before he threw up again.

“Maybe you should have taken the tea with you.”

Finally, Rex felt the nausea ease up, but still had a headache. “I was going to, but I forgot.”

“Sigh… Of course you did.”

The incoming nurse took the conversation out of their hands. “Mr. Raptor, what happened?”

“I… uh… started getting really sick as soon as I finished my math final, about five minutes ago.” Rex hated so many people worrying about him; he already got plenty of that at home.

“Do you think you’ll be able to walk to my office and rest while you wait for your parents to get here?”

“Yeah…” Rex let Weevil and Amber help him to the nurse’s office. “Though, I’m not ready for the lecture I’m gonna get from Mom and Mama.”

Unfortunately, that lecture Rex received from his parents was the least of his worries. He found his bouts of nausea rapidly getting worse over the coming days, unless he drank copious amounts of the ginger tea. At least I don’t have to worry about finals anymore… Though I’m not looking forward to the college entrance exams.

Rex made sure to have plenty of ginger tea - and rest - before the ceremony a week later. He thanked himself for it when he woke up the morning of graduation, and managed to endure the walk there without throwing up. Domino High School was the kind of school where all students had to attend the graduation ceremony, and wouldn’t find out if they’ve graduated until the day of. Rex wasn’t too confident on how he did during the math test, and feared he could be retained just because of that class alone.

“To think… that I might fail because of integrals…” he mused as he spoke to Ptera over the phone. “I don’t want to stay behind while Weevil gets to go to college!”

“Sweetheart, you’ll be fine! And I thought you worked too hard to stay home?”

“Okay, okay… I’m already late. Love you, Mom.” Indeed, the ceremony had already

started; Rex hung up his phone and took his spot in the back of the auditorium.

The principal stood at the podium, with the top 1% of the student body behind him. “And now, a word from our salutatorian, Weevil Underwood.”

Oh, man, his dad’s really going to let him have it.

So Rex said. But despite knowing what his father would do for not fulfilling his wishes, and despite the glares he received from the many students who didn’t like him, Weevil looked very composed. “I am humbled to be this graduating class’ salutatorian, and will be sure to represent Domino High School proudly out in the real world.”

“‘Underwood�� and ‘humbled’ don’t usually go together,” a boy from a different class whispered to his buddy.

“Nor do ‘Underwood’ and ‘proud.’”

Yeah, but he’s going to have the last laugh when he’s your boss, and you’re the ones who have to get him coffee. Rex made a face at the boys before turning his attention back to his boyfriend, listening intently to his speech, even though he didn’t understand half of it.

Now it’s my turn, Amber thought as the principal allowed her to begin her valedictorian speech.

“Whoaaaah! So the man-eater is our valedictorian?” a boy exclaimed. Because Amber

had so many male fans in the senior class, it took a while for them to quiet down. Not even a loud “silence!” from the principal could quell them.

“Boys, boys…” When Amber began to speak, there was finally silence in the auditorium. “You don’t want to be here all night… Or do you? ”

“Ahem.” The principal implied that Amber had gone too far.

“Right, right…”

Say, her manner of speech sounds different today… Rex understood even less of Amber’s speech than he did Weevil’s. But he noticed that she pronounced a few words in an accent he never heard before, and used terms he had never heard, like “loo” and “go out on holiday.” He surmised she was of foreign descent. She’s probably studied abroad, too… Then she’s also super rich.

“And now, the minute you’ve all been waiting for!” The principal sounded cheerful this time. “The distribution of the diplomas!”

Some students who knew for sure that they wouldn’t graduate kicked back and watched the remainder of the ceremony with little interest. Others began praying to whatever gods they believed in, hoping that they would barely squeak by.

Rex was definitely in the latter group. “Come on… I didn’t study so hard this past month just to be held back like a loser!”

Noticing Rex’s distress from how far away he was, Weevil winked at his boyfriend. Don’t worry, hun, he thought as he saw the name on the diploma the principal now held in his hand.

“Rex Raptor!” the principal called.

“Whoa! Raptor actually managed to graduate?” whispered a girl nearby.

“I guess pigs really can fly. Haha!” replied her friend.

The person in question, however, just stood there in awe - that was until the principal called again, “Is there a Rex Raptor present?”

“Y-Yes, this is he!” Rex spoke while nearly stumbling out his chair. He ignored the giggling (mainly from the girls) and looked instead to his diploma - and his boyfriend not standing far from it. I… I can’t believe it… I thought this day would never come! I’m… gonna… huh?

Rex felt nothing but pure elation at his achievement, until nausea struck him so hard that he passed out right on the graduation stage.

#yugioh #ygo #shrimpshipping #ryuhaga #mpreg

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