Cairo - Blog Posts
We don't want to die in the cold
I told you about our tent sinking on the last day of 2024 AD.
I told you that I was hosting a friend in his cramped tent.
I asked you for help as soon as possible to obtain a new tent, but unfortunately since then donations have been very, very weak.
Last night, I started feeling unbalanced, dizzy, feeling very cold, my heart was shaking, and my whole body was shaking. I asked, “I want a hospital,” and I felt at that moment, “I’m going to die from the cold.”
I understood how it is possible to stop the heart from getting cold, how we die cold, I kept telling them we were cold!
They took me to the doctor, he started doing tests, my temperature was high, I lost 9 kilos in less than a week, they asked me for new tests and I currently don’t know where I will get them done because there are no hospitals.
I have imbibed the pain of the cold, the trembling of my children's hearts, their cold has penetrated the depths of my heart, I am truly looking for warmth, my heart is freezing, I do not want to die of cold.
I repeat my appeal once again with an aching heart, asking you to help buy a tent.
Note:
comments: The campaign is documented by Nabulsi No. 219 in Hussein's document.
To donate via PayPal, contact me on this account. @siraj-s0
Welcome to Pt 2 of my Cairo x Al sick fic. I apologise in advance for any mistakes, it's still only freshers week and yet I've already managed to get freshers flu haha, but I still wanted to write a part two so here it is! @intransitpodcast
Cairo x Al sick fic pt 2: Uno Reverse
Cairo slumped over his console in the helm, struggling to keep himself awake despite being barely an hour into his shift. His head was about to fall down from its position resting on his hand, when the sound of the door to the helm opening behind him startled him awake, blinking his eyes repeatedly to try and make himself appear less groggy as he turned around in his chair.
“Oh hey Al,” he called out drowsily “What are you doing here? You know you’re not meant to be on the helm unless there’s a medical emergency,”
“You weren’t answering your comms, I was worried you’d managed to get yourself in trouble. Again,”
“Oh please, when do I ever get into trouble?”
Al gave him a look of disbelief in response, while Cairo sifted through a bag to his right, looking for his comms bracelet.
“Shit,” he muttered to himself before badly attempting to stifle a cough “I must’ve left it at my place when I left for work, sorry for dragging you out here for nothing Al” Cairo said tiredly, meaning for it to sound more upbeat than it did.
Al furrowed his brow slightly and pulled his lips tight, immediately catching on to how exhausted Cairo seemed.
“That’s not like you,” He commented, stepping closer to Cairo.
“What do you mean?” Cairo tried to joke “I’m always forgetting stuff,”
“Not stuff like this,” Al pointed out “I’ve never seen you without your comms bracelet on during the day, after everything you’ve been through not having a way to communicate an emergency would, to put it in your words ‘fucking suck’,”
“It’s no biggy,” Cairo responded, trying to brush it off, acting like the rising anxiety of realising he didn’t have the bracelet wasn’t contributing to his already stressed and weakened state. “I’ll just pick it up when I get back to my quarters” Cairo continued, before coughing harshly and doubling over in his chair, Al immediately coming up behind him and placing a hand onto Cairo’s back.
“Which is happening now,” Al told him firmly
“I can’t leave,” Cairo said tiredly, the fatigue evident in his voice “I’m working, I just need a glass of water.”
Cairo then stood up and went to walk towards the water cooler when a wave of dizziness hit him and he immediately grabbed onto Al’s shoulder.
“Cairo,” Al began softly, lowering him back into his chair slowly “you need to go to bed,” he pleaded
“I’m fine, I just need a second,”
“You’re not fine Cairo,”
“Al, seriously i’m-”
“No Cairo,” Al cut him off, his voice set and stern as if he was giving medical advice at work “I’m going to help you back to your quarters and then I’ll get you a drink,”
“Allllllll” Cairo whined, knowing it was futile to resist, but not wanting to feel helpless and weak
“Please Cairo,” Al pleaded, his tone becoming soft as he looked at Cairo with genuine concern “there are other navigators here running the ship, and you’re not going to be much use to them like his, so please let me take you to bed,”
“Oh?” Cairo said in a teasingly flirty tone “I thought you wanted me to get some rest Al,”
“I- Not like that!” Al exclaimed, blushing slightly “god, you can’t stop flirting even when you’re sick,”
“I’m not sick.”
“You are sick Cairo, now am I taking you back or not,”
Cairo let out a small sigh and held onto his chair to help him stand up
“Fine,” He began, giving in, “but you’re going to have to carry me,” he joked drowsily before Al lifted him up with ease and began walking down the corridor, carrying Cairo bridal style.
“I’m not complaining, but I was kidding you know,” Cairo said tiredly, looking up at Al from in his arms.
“I know,” Al began, turning a corner “but it’s probably quicker for me to carry you when you’re in this state.”
“You’re stronger than I thought” Cairo teased “I mean, I’m taller than you and you’re acting like carrying me is the easiest thing in the world,”
“Well you do need a lot of strength to be a doctor, especially a doctor who has to deal with you,” Al joked, causing Cairo to laugh weakly before sleepily responding “Damn you’re hot,” resting his head on Al’s chest and closing his eyes as they continued the journey back to his quarters in a comfortable silence.
Once they had reached Cairo’s room, Al carefully got out his own key for the room before opening the door and gently setting Cairo down on the bed. Cairo opened his eyes and immediately tried to sit up before Al put a hand onto his shoulder to stop him going any further.
“Lay down, I’ll get you some water,” Al said before Cairo moved to get up again.
“No it’s fine, I can do it myself, you should head back to work,” he said before immediately falling back onto the bed dizzily “I meant to do that,” he finished drowsily.
“Not in this state you can’t,” Al began, looking at Cairo gently, “I don’t have work today, besides, this is my fault,”
“You can’t seriously blame yourself for this Al,”
“You got sick from taking care of me Cairo,”
“Hey, that was my choice, I wanted to take care of you, don’t feel guilty just because I went and got sick.” Al looked at Cairo with a small smile and nodded
“Fine, but you have to rest while I get you some water, doctor’s orders,” Al told him.
“Ok fine, I’ll lay back down doc,” Cairo said teasingly, as he pulled the blanket over himself, slowly closing his eyes as he waited for Al to come back with the water.
“Sorry that took me so long, I was looking for a cup you wouldn’t break if you somehow knocked it over and-” Al began, before cutting himself off, realising Cairo had accidentally fallen asleep while he was gone.
Al let out a soft chuckle and placed the glass on his bedside table, smiling lovingly at Cairo as he gently lowered himself onto the bed, not wanting to wake him up. He delicately brushed a strand of Cairo’s hair out of his face and kissed his forehead gently, letting out a little sigh before lying down beside him and allowing Cairo to rest.
-
Hope you enjoyed that! I'm going to keep pretending this show hasn't ended and write whatever fanfic ideas I think of (and will happily take requests) so I hope you can enjoy my little own world of in transit content.
In this fic I totally ignore the ending of the show, everyone totally lived happily ever after and Cairo and Al get to be happy together totally @intransitpodcast
Cairo x Al sick fic (pt 1)
Cairo ran up to Al’s quarters and started banging on the door incessantly, not caring about the glares he was getting from those around him trying to go about their general business in the corridor.
“Who is it?” a hoarse voice croaked from inside, half knowing the answer.
“Cairo, can I come in?”
He sounded urgent and panicked, causing Al to force himself upright to answer the door, anxious to hear what Cairo was so up in arms about.
As the door whooshed open Cairo immediately enveloped Al in a quick hug, taking a deep breath before pulling away to look him over.
“You look like hell,” Cairo commented, scanning Al’s figure and noting that he was shaking.
“I feel it,” Al tried to joke, forcing a slight laugh which devolved quickly into a cough, Al having to place a weak hand on Cairo’s tall frame as an attempt to stop himself from doubling over.
Cairo frowned slightly and led Al to sit back down on the bed once he had finished coughing, reaching into his bag and pulling out a bottle of water,
“Here.” he said, passing the unopened bottle to Al
“What are you doing here, Cairo?” Al said, feebly trying to open the bottle before handing it to Cairo so he could open it.
“Your work phoned.” Cairo replied, handing a now opened bottle back to Al “something about their best doctor, who has never missed a shift before by the way, not showing up to work.”
Al sighed slightly in response.
“Why did they phone you?”
“Boyfriend remember,” Cairo teased “I’m your emergency contact. Better than your dad turning up and reprimanding you for ‘damaging the legacy’,” Cairo continued, mimicking Elio Vaughn’s voice like he was quoting him directly.
“I’m fine Cairo-”
“Really?”
Al hesitated slightly
“I’ll be fine,” he continued, not wanting to lie to Cairo
“No offence Al but you really need to learn how to accept help,”
“Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black,” Al joked, letting out a feeble laugh
“Look, I may not be a doctor, but I can take care of you when you’re sick Al,”
“I’m fine, it’s not even that ba-” Al began before disproving his point by coughing vigorously, holding tightly onto Cairo’s shoulder as his vision began to spin.
“I’m-i’m fine, besides I might make you sick too and that’s even worse,”
“Al,”
“And then you’ll have to miss work too, and I know you love it now that Alecto has made you a navigator,”
“Al,”
“And I’d hate to be the one to take you away from that especially by being needy and stupid and-”
Cairo cut Al off by kissing him softly, cupping his cheeks in his hand as he pressed his body against Al’s gently, holding him close, so carefully you’d think he was made of glass.
“I want to be here,” Cairo said pulling away, “I may not be very good at this stuff, but for once let me be the one to care for you rather than the other way round, besides,” Cairo began teasingly “it’s not just the fever that makes you hot as fuck,”
“I-Cairo! I- It’s not fair to make me flustered when I’m ill!”
“Oh so now you admit you’re ill.”
“No I- shut up!” Al said, pushing Cairo away gently “you shouldn’t kiss me when I’m like this, you’ll definitely get ill”
“Too right, your breath smells gross- Ow!” Cairo said, responding to being punched in the arm by Al “besides I never get ill,” Cairo continued confidently, laying down on the bed, patting the space next to him to try and coerce Al to lie with him.
“Ok fine,” Al gave in, slowly lowering himself from sitting to be laying next to Cairo, leaning into his chest and closing his eyes “but only because I’m tired and you’re comfortable, not because I’m sick or anything” Al said drowsily as Cairo wrapped an arm around him.
“Definitely not” Cairo teased, holding Al in his arms gently as they both drifted off to sleep.
Tempted to do a part 2 where Cairo gets sick because of this haha, what do you guys think?
@intransitpodcast
People wanted In Transit fanfiction...well this is what you get. I will apologise in advance if characterisation is a big off, I've got covid and wanted to write anyways haha. But if you guys want more of this kind of thing, I've got at least 2 more ideas for Cairo and Alnitak, and I'm willing to take requests!
Cairo knocked on the door rapidly with his prosthetic arm, carefully transferring his right arm to be balanced on the prosthetic as he winced at the burn on his hand, doing his best to ignore the pain, convincing himself that he’d had worse, his prosthetic proved that. Alnitak opened the door, using his free hand to brush his hair back as he did, his expression becoming more tense as he locked eyes with Cairo.
“Cairo, I’m working, you can’t just visit me out of nowhere when I'm on shift,” Al said hurriedly, stress visibly lacing his features.
“Not sure I’d call this out of nowhere Al,” he joked slightly, showing Alnitak his right hand with a slight grimace. Al looked at his hand and sighed softly
“Another locked door?” He asked, as Cairo shrugged in response, a small smile on his face “I suppose you’d better come in then.”
Cairo walked into the doctor’s office, a wave of relief washing over him knowing he could finally see Al, it may have been a little drastic, but Alnitak had been avoiding him all week, and he was running out of options that didn’t involve him landing himself in hospital.
“Sit down here and let me take a look at your hand” Al said, attempting to seem indifferent to the whole situation, with his less than confident tone of voice betraying him.
Cairo sat down on the bed and put out his hand for Al, who carefully took it and began examining the burn, a silence settling on the room as he did so.
“Al, can we talk?” Cairo began before Al turned away from him, walking across the room and grabbing bandages, gently wrapping Cairo’s hand as Cairo continued to gingerly hold his hand out.
“Al, can we-”
“What made you try a locked door again?” Alnitak asked hurriedly, cutting Cairo off from finishing his question.
“I dunno” Cairo started “You know me, I’m impulsive”
“Not without reason.” Alnitak shot back, “after everything that’s happened I couldn’t see you risking something so stupid, when that’s a surefire way to caught,” he continued “and you must’ve removed your prosthetic beforehand, otherwise you’d be in a lot worse shape than this. So you had time to think about what you were doing before it happened, and yet you still tried to open a door you have no access to. What’s Faraday doing now that’s so important you’d risk that again?”
“I wanted to see you,” Cairo suddenly said, as Alnitak finished bandaging his hand.
“What?”
“I wanted to see you,” he reiterated. “I haven’t seen you all week.”
“Why didn’t you just call me?”
“I did. Five times,” Cairo shot back
“Sorry,” Al began, looking down, “I’ve been busy with work.”
“Bullshit.”
“What?”
“That’s fucking bullshit Al,” Cairo continued “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“I’m not avoiding you, I’m literally at work now.”
“You’re not even supposed to be on shift today.” Al paused slightly in response, not knowing what to say.
“Cairo I-”
“Half an hour” he said, cutting him off, “give me half an hour, and I promise it’ll be worth it.”
Al looked at Cairo, and sighed, his gaze softening as he gave in, “Fine, half an hour, but no more.”
Cairo immediately perked up in response to this.
“Ok great! Follow me” Cairo said, shooting up from the bed and smiling at Al as he led him out the room, using his injured hand to drag Alnitak with him, ignoring the pain.
Before Al knew it, he and Cairo were getting off a train and he was being walked through the red, Cairo taking him through the crowded corridors like it was second nature.
"Cairo where are we going?" Al asked for what was at least the third time during the trip.
"Hang on, we're almost there," Cairo responded, turning a final corner and leading Al into the room he had been enraptured with on first sight.
The vines across the walls and dangling from the ceiling brushed next to their faces as Cairo led Al to the corner of the room, sitting them down in a patch clear of plant life so they could see the whole display. Al looked in wonder at the different flowers in the room, the white, pink, and purple hyacinths running around the edge of the room, as clusters of Orchids, yellow Freesia Double Soleil, and Bellflowers filled the rest of the space. Al ran his fingers gently through the fronds of the ferns behind him and let out a shaky breath, finally letting himself relax slightly.
“I remembered you liked this place,” Cairo said softly, smiling at Alnitak, glad to see him less stressed, even if just for a moment.
“Yeah,” Al responded simply, letting the room wash over him as he took in all the details of the plants, his eyes scanning over them quickly as a comfortable silence washed over the pair.
“Hey Al,” Cairo began, breaking the silence as Alnitak looked over at him “I’m really sorry for whatever I did when we went to the club,”
“You didn’t do anything.” Alnitak went to interject.
“But I did, and you might not want to say what it was, but,” Cairo paused slightly, debating his word choice, “you’ve been distant since then, and I do stupid things while I’m drunk, and I don’t remember much, but I do remember wanting you to have fun, and I know that I did something wrong, so don’t try to deny it Al.”
“It wasn’t what you did.” Al responded, his breathing shaky as he tried to keep his composure “It was the realisation as a result of what you did.”
Cairo looked at him softly, giving him a small, reassuring smile
“Do you wanna talk about it? “I’m all ears.” Cairo told him gently, “Well, a higher percentage of ears than most,” he tried to joke, lifting his prosthetic slightly.
“That’s the thing. I can’t” Al said, his voice wavering as tears began to fill his eyes “I can’t tell you because I can’t even admit it to myself, and I know you’d be fine with it, but if I say it then it’s real, and then I have to deal with it, and then other people have to deal with it, and I don’t think I’m ready for that.”
“Sounds like you’ve already admitted it to yourself but don’t want to accept it,” Cairo pointed out.
“Come on, it can’t be that bad,” he said as Alnitak looked away from him. “It can’t be as bad as burning your hand on a locked door as an excuse to see the guy that you li-”
“I’m gay Cairo,” Al interrupted, tears streaming down his face as he finally said the words that he’d been holding back from saying for so long.
Now it was real.
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that” Cairo responded softly, his tone more hushed as he began to brush the tears from Alnitak’s face “I’m gay too, and you’ve been fine with that,”
“But it’s fine when it’s you,” he cut in, attempting to stop the flow of tears he’d been holding back from so long. “My dad wants grandchildren, and I can’t give him that, can I?”
“Al” Cairo said gently before Alnitak continued.
“I used to think that I just didn’t like people, that I would just settle down with the first woman who decided they wanted me, have children, and live my life comfortably, even if I didn’t love them romantically, and I was fine with that.” He paused slightly, taking a shaky breath, “and then you came along. You, and your gang of friends suddenly needed a doctor, and it was fine at first. At first, all you needed was someone to take care of your friend and fix your hand, no emotional attachments. But they happened anyway, and we got closer, and I started to care about you in a way that was different. And at first, I thought that it was because I hadn’t had many friends before, that we were just closer than I had got to anyone before, until I realised it was more than that. I wanted to know everything about you, and I still do. I wanted to listen to you talk about the things you care about, even if I hated them. I told you I hated space, but when I realised how much you loved it I couldn’t help but ask more question just to see your dumb smile, as you got to talk about it. And then I realised that it was more than wanting to be close friends. I wanted to be with you all the time, and hold your hand, and do things I shouldn’t do, because that wouldn’t be right, and you wouldn’t like me back, so I tried to stop. But clearly that didn’t do anything, because I still have these stupid feelings for you and they won’t go away, I’m still broken.” He finished shakily.
“Who said I wouldn’t like you back?” Cairo asked, looking softly at Al, his eyebrows furrowed slightly.
“No one, but it’s obvious you wouldn’t be interested in me, so why would it matter.”
“Are you kidding?” Cairo said incredulously. “First off, you’re not broken Al, you’re one of the smartest and most amazing people I have ever met, and you’re not allowed to deny that.” Cairo continued, anticipating a rebuttal “whatever you’ve been told, and whoever told you that, they’re wrong. You need to do what you feel is right, not what some snobby rich arsehole tells you just because they think they’re entitled to your life. They’re not.” He told Al bluntly, leaving no room for disagreement. “And another thing, I’ve had Sawyer teasing me for weeks about liking you, he said something about fucking ‘heart eyes’ or something. I’ve been flirting with you for weeks now, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed?”
“You’re not like that with everyone?”
“Fuck no,” Cairo responded, laughing slightly “and I meant what I said before.”
“What thing that you said before?”
“About Alnitak being one of the hottest stars in the universe,” Cairo told him, a slight flirty tone lacing his voice as Alnitak gave a small smile, his face now fully devoid of tears.
“Yeah, I know, It’s about 29,000 Kelvin, I looked it up once I got off the train line.”
“No Al,” Cairo began, trying not to laugh at how dense Alnitak was being. “I meant that about you.”
“Oh” Alnitak responded quietly, his face burning bright red as he turned away, trying to hide his blush. “Well, um uh, um, you’re not bad yourself?” Alnitak responded, his voice cracking as he grew more flustered, unsure of what to say. Cairo slung an arm around his shoulder and laughed slightly.
“Not bad?” He questioned teasingly “I’ll have you know I am very attractive.” Cairo said, smirking.
“I’m not going to disagree with that” Al said, his voice still shaky from being flustered as he looked up at Cairo “So, what does this mean for um, us?” Alnitak continued, clearly not sure of where to go from there.
“Well you still haven’t said you like me” Cairo teased, making Al push him lightly in response.
“Of course I like you, you idiot” He responded quietly, looking down.
“Well then, we take thing as they come, and take things as slow as you need,” Cairo told Al reassuringly, “and if I ever doing anything too far, or act like a fucking idiot, you need to tell me yeah?”
“Ok,” Al agreed, letting out a sigh of relief.
“Sooooo,” Cairo started, “can I call you my boyfriend?”
“Yes, you can call me your boyfriend” Al responded with a small laugh, a wide smile across his features as he rested his head on Cairo’s shoulder, taking in the room around him, and for the first time in a long time, allowed himself to be comfortable and relaxed, feeling safe in Cairo’s embrace.
Bonus:
Alnitak: How exactly are we going to tell everyone
Cairo: Don’t worry about that, I’ve got it covered
*with people*
Cairo: Hey guys, we’ve got something to tell you
*Kisses Al*
Ziggy: Oh you’ve got to be fucking kiding me
Sawyer: (smugly) I told you! 50 credits please
Ziggy: Yeah yeah, transferring them now
Guess who has almost finished the initially planned in transit fanfiction...and maybe I had two more ideas along the way for others (one of which happens to be based on one of the two new episode titles)
Pyramides of Mykerinos and Chephren, Giza, EGY
Source: own photo, 1994
