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Seastars & Jackrabbits
It’s the chorus of whistling that has Kai smiling this morning, each step forward across a creaking, wooden deck far bouncier than the last. The crew of The Scorn , skin shimmering in the heat of the sun and eyes alight with the reflection of its rays, bob their heads his way, grins pulling at their sweat-soaked features. They stare at him as they go about their daily chores, hollering words of appreciation and catcalling to their heart’s content — a consistent routine that never ceases to make Kai chuckle in amusement. After all, they’re nothing if not devoted, if not consistent. They bark his way like unruly drunks and he smirks at them with all the confidence in the word, running a hand through his hair to further the theatrics, and they pump their fists in the air in sheer delight. They call out Jack’s name like a chant, rambunctious and unrestrained, slipping scandalous comments into their summons; a few mocking moans and groans of a fairly inappropriate nature can be heard amongst the crew as well, and Kai feels his cheeks color, though amusement pulls at his lips. The deep ache he feels in his chest today wanes for a moment upon such a sight, and the dark voice clawing at his thoughts eases a fraction.
Jack’s friends have always been on board with the concept of their relationship, but Kai thinks it’s primarily because they all agree Jack deserves good sex — which, of course, Kai also happens to agree with and is more than willing to provide, without hesitation. Naturally.
But while that much was clear, it was still another experience entirely to be on the receiving end of their toothy smiles and jovial nature whenever Kai came aboard in search of his pirate consort. On more than one occasion, they’d helped the pair sneak into the Captain’s Quarters while he was away, standing watch outside the door should he return unexpectedly. Their support was unwavering and unwarranted, and Kai couldn’t help but warm at the sight of them, at the sight of their bliss, of their joy upon his visits. Something feathery and light always blossomed in his chest, fluttered around his heart; a deep, guttural sensation of being wanted, of being appreciated, of not simply taking up space but adding to it instead. The grins that lined their features upon his arrivals always felt infinitely more welcoming than striding into Paradise itself; always met with the heavy, cold eyes of his older brother.
The sound of their hoots and hollers doubles in volume for a moment, and Kai lifts his eyes from their not-so-subtle ministrations only for them to land on a figure climbing down the flimsy ladder that leads up to the Crow’s Nest above. His lithe, sculpted form, tanned an intoxicating shade of bronze from the heat of the sun, takes each step at a time with practiced ease, muscles rippling beneath a loose beige shirt that’s torn and tattered at the shoulders. He’d be lying if he didn’t admit to primarily staring at the swell of his ass as his brown, leather pants tightened around it with each stretch of his physique; the sight alone makes his throat run dry and his tongue feel heavy in his mouth.
As though parting the sea of buccaneers, brooms and ropes and buckets in hand, Jack pushes past the scruffy pirates that surround him, cloaked in dirt and wet with the spray of the sea and the soapy water they’re cleaning with. His head lifts from the steps he takes as he navigates his way through, and his eyes quickly fixate on Kai; crystal clear blue, the color of shallow, hidden, ocean coves, of ethereal waters that Kai could spend his entire eternity hiding within. The dirty blonde shade of his hair loops neatly around his ears, pulled back into a loose and rather messy bun, and the beige shade of the shark tooth that pierces his ear is on full display. His shirt hangs so lightly that Kai can see the swell of his pectorals and the curved edges of his ribcage as his body flexes with each step towards him.
Kai’s lived a long time; he’s seen a lot of brutality, a lot of beauty, infinite amounts of discovery. But truly, nothing compares to the way the sun hits Jack just right, the way each strand of his hair looks as though it’s woven with the same magic as Kai’s gift, as though his eyes hold even deeper oceans within them than even Kai has explored.
“Your pretty, little damsel is here, Jack Rabbit,” one of the pirates coos, and Kai recognizes him; a dark-haired, bearded man the size of a bear that he often saw in Jack’s company, mingling while partaking in their duties alongside one another. He’s grinning from ear to ear, a gold tooth on full display, and eyes aglow with mischievous intent.
“Yeah, yeah. Shut it, Sullivan,” Jack caws back, a fond smile pulling at his lips, and all the while, his gaze remains glued to Kai’s stance aboard the deck, unmoving as he waits.
Kai has always felt that he must be a rather unnerving sight, when in his true form, eyes squid-like and pupils horizontal; he has always feared his unyielding stare would put most on edge. As he watches Jack approach now, the human illusion of magic cloaking his oddities, he finds that perhaps he now knows what the weight of all-seeing eyes truly feels like. Jack’s gaze is heavy-lidded and consuming; he looks at Kai as though he holds all the answers to the universe’s most pressing questions, as though the ocean itself was spun from the slender form of his long fingers, as though wherever he walks, he leaves an amalgamation of glorious, towering waves in his wake.
“Have enough fun for the lot of us, yeah?” Another voice calls out from the crowd, unidentified, and Jack simply shakes his head, amused but fixated on the shorter man before him.
He takes several final steps forward until he’s a mere few feet away from Kai, the floorboards creaking under his weight as he stops, an appreciative smile on his features. Kai doesn’t realize he’s holding his breath until Jack finally speaks.
“You do look pretty,” Jack says, voice low and rumbling, and just a fraction too quiet for the rest of the crew to overhear.
“And human,” Kai adds, mumbling the words, and there’s a slight downward pull to his features that he knows Jack spots with quick, knowing eyes. It’s not that he doesn’t love humans nor looking this way, but Jack has always been the one person that touches his true form like it’s a gift rather than a curse — he longs for that right now, but he has appearances to keep up when standing in front of the crew.
“A shame,” the pirate before him hums. He lifts a tanned, scarred and calloused hand up and forwards, until his lithe fingers move to tuck one of Kai’s black strands of hair behind his ear. The crew behind him whistles again, but Jack ignores it, moving instead to lean forward conspiratorially, smirking as he whispers, “I’m a big fan of the fins.”
The pirate then pulls back a fraction, allowing his hand to glide down Kai’s cheek and along his jaw for a moment as another far more obscene smile pulls across rugged features.
“The lack thereof won’t stop me from having fun with you, though,” Jack says, and the hungry look in his eye has Kai reeling for a moment; he feels as though his insides are built up of jellyfish, fluttering and flittering about between his ribs.
Solemn mood or not, Kai feels his wide-eyed stare morphing to something warm and genuine, a smile tugging at his lips and stretching across his pale complexion. Jack mirrors it, and they both ignore the obscene noises sounding out from behind him, the crew cawing like a collection of wild animals.
They merely remain lost within one another for a moment, something Kai is well aware they tend to do; he’s never been able to stare into the eyes of another without feeling the itch to shy away, to look elsewhere, to hide beneath the intensity of a gaze locked away in a moment. But with Jack, he could stare forever. There is no awkwardness that brims beneath the surface, no anxiety that yells at him to knock it off, no fear of rejection or disappointment clouding the eyes that stare back at him. Every time Jack looks at him it is as though he’s admiring art in a museum, as though he’s staring at the most ethereal of sunsets, of dusk approaching on the horizon, as though he’s admiring the decadence of the sea in one single glance. Kai feels like a worthy prize, like a lifeline; Jack makes him feel like he’s drowning, and yet, Kai doesn’t know how to drown.
“Shall we scope out the lower decks?” Jack says, interrupting their silent moment, their less than subtle gazing. His voice is louder now, loud enough for the crew to hear, but his eyes remain on Kai’s own. “I heard there’s some work that needs to be done down there.”
Sullivan, appearing from the crowd gathered behind him, plants a large, steadying hand atop Jack’s shoulder, so hard and solid that it steals the pirate’s breath for a moment. There’s laughter written across the large man’s expression and ease etched into the smirk stretching across his dirtied features.
“We’ll be sure to tell the Captain you’re doing your chores ever so diligently,” he says, hands squeezing a moment before they let Jack free with another motivational pat.
“I always knew you were a good man, Sully,” Jack affirms him, turning a fraction to glance at the man, before patting a hand atop his broad chest. Sullivan merely beams, wide and proud, before he gives Jack a solid shove that sends him far further into Kai’s space.
The Kraken merely smiles a shy smile as his hands lift to Jack’s pectorals, spreading softly against the warmth of them, sun-kissed and damp with sweat; he revels in the sensation, and that deep desire blossoms in his gut once more as he breathes the man in. He smells like sea salt and sweat, but there’s an undertone of something sweet and peppery, a note of rum that surely rests along his tongue.
Jack’s blue eyes flutter slightly at the feeling of Kai’s touch, something Kai steadily revels in for a moment, before he’s instantly reaching for Kai’s hand and giving it a solid tug in the direction of the lower deck’s doors.
He briefly hears Sullivan yelling at the rest of the crew to get back to work before he’s disappearing through the wooden entrance, pulled down the stairs that lead to the kitchen and around a swift corner. Jack holds tight to his wrist, striding forward with all the confidence in the world, a pep to his step that Kai recognizes as deep, desperate want, and rather dire need, and something exciting unfurls in the Kraken’s gut at the mere thought. He watches as Jack tries a few doors down the corridor of the lower deck, jiggling the handles and rolling his eyes when he finds them locked; he avoids the Captain’s Quarters and Kai takes note of it, leaning forwards toward the man and turning his voice down to a whisper.
“Let me guess,” Kai utters, “Captain is in?”
“Unfortunately,” Jack sighs, and Kai manages to catch a glimpse of his expression; it is turned down into a scowl, frustration clear in the downward curve of his brows. For as long as Kai has known the man, he’s always been aware of his frazzled nature. The smallest things can send Jack into a fit of self-blame and horrid doubt, and while he presents himself as truly confident and unaffected by the horrors of the world around him, the man is often eager to find ways to feel further guilt.
“Okay,” Kai says, softly, lifting his own hand to softly lie above Jack’s grip on his wrist, a thumb soothing over the skin there. Jack’s hold loosens, and he glances at the darker-haired boy, an apologetic smile on his features. “What’s one place the Captain wouldn’t check?”
Jack frowns a moment, thinking, his brow furrowed, before his features even out and a smirk replaces the look of concentration with something more conniving. Within an instant, Jack is pulling Kai along again, and Kai can’t help but chuckle lightly beneath his breath as the man bounds off with renewed determination. He leads him down the hall, past the Captain’s Quarter’s with quiet steps, and through another corridor that bears further stairs, these far more damp and dark. Kai takes them two at a time to catch up with Jack’s speed, before he rounds the corner below and steps into what is so clearly the ship’s gallows. Rows of small, barred walls, and wooden chambers line the space, minuscule prisons laid out for whatever fiends the pirates might come across in the voyages, or any insubordinate crew members they may need to lock away momentarily. The room is empty of any as of this moment, but it’s shadowed and eerie, the sound of water dripping and the boat’s rocking a subtle, lulling ambience.
Jack finally lets go of his wrist as he steps into the space, and the pirate is beaming, wide and clearly pleased with himself.
“The Captain hates it down here,” Jack states, stepping further into the space, small as it is, before turning around to face Kai.
“The brig, Jack?” Kai snorts, stepping forwards and glancing around a moment, wincing at the barnacles and rust lining the metal bars of the cells. “Really?” He places the small satchel he’d brought with him down in the corner, beside the stairwell.
“What?” Jack says, mock hurt on his expression as he begins to slowly approach Kai once more, arms outstretched. “It’s quiet, secluded, private.”
“Disgusting, creepy, not romantic whatsoever,” Kai fires back, eyeing the room and arching a brow at the pirate.
He doesn’t mean any of it; Jack could make anywhere and anything romantic.
Jack inches closer, only the slightest fraction away now, and his hands lift, rough and calloused once more, to land on Kai’s hips. With a solid yank, he’s pulling Kai against him and into his space, and Kai’s skin feels on fire beneath each of his fingers and where they caress the fabric of his beige poet blouse.
“I wasn’t aware it was romance you were after,” Jack hums, leaning forward as he says the words and letting his breath tickle Kai’s ear. His hands tighten their hold, and Kai revels in the sensation of Jack’s warmth pressed against his own, a heat rising steadily between them.
“What is it you think I’m after then?” Kai utters, a shake in his voice that wasn’t there before. He flounders for a moment at the feeling of Jack so close, his mind boggled with obscene images and thoughts, before he finally lifts his own hands and places them on Jack’s pectorals.
The pirate smiles softly to himself, letting his nose slide along the curve of Kai’s ear, before he pulls back a fraction, his face hovering just over Kai’s own features. Their breaths mingle, Kai’s own sweet like candy and fruit, and Jack’s a warm mix of smoky rum and tobacco. Kai revels in it, in being this close to someone, in being touched and held like an object of desire, when so little wanted to touch him at all.
“The same thing I’m after,” Jack says, and Kai feels the words on his lips and the heat that pools in his gut as Jack moves to quickly kiss and nip at his jaw.
“Is that all you’re after?” Kai hears himself breathlessly asking the question before he can truly catch up with his own mind, and he blanches, eyes darting up to Jack’s with a worried, fearful look as the pirate pulls back from his ministrations. He’s not sure why his mind insisted on asking such a thing; if all he was to Jack was a plaything, a romp in the sheets, he’d be more than content with it.
Jack’s expression has only softened, however, a pull to his brows that wasn’t there before, and a quirk to his smile that is much kinder, much less dripping in lust.
They stand in the middle of the brig, barred walls on either side of them, Jack’s hands holding the bony curve of Kai’s hips, whilst Kai’s own caress the low cut of Jack’s blouse, electric static rippling through his own being whenever his finger glides over flesh rather than fabric, red hot and sun-kissed.
“No,” Jack says, earnest and sincere. “No, it most certainly is not.”
Kai can only nod, swallowing thickly and pleading with his internal monologue to just believe the man and stop second-guessing. And clearly, it shows on his face, because in the next moment, Jack is lifting his hands from Kai’s hips to Kai’s face, and placing their roughness against soft, currently human, cheeks.
“Kai,” Jack says, heavy with so much feeling, that Kai is looking up with wide eyes. “I love you, remember?”
Kai’s heart stutters, vibrating within his chest and rattling his rib-cage, and he finds himself simply able to stare; Jack has said the words before, but every time they slip out they knock Kai into a state of panic and deep addiction. He wants to hear them everyday, but he’s so scared to hear them at all. Hearing them from anyone who’s not family, who’s not Arlow and Idona, is a surreal sensation already, but hearing them from Jack, every time, sends water drowning his lungs and stealing his breath.
“I know,” Kai nods, a little manically, before he smiles, and while it’s weary and a bit shaky, Jack accepts it nonetheless, beaming right back.
“And with that,” Jack says, shrugging a shoulder, his hands dipping back down to Kai’s hips, “please let me get on my knees for you, yeah?”
Kai nearly chokes on his tongue at the words, and finds that he can only nod, swallowing visibly as Jack smirks his way.
There’s a moment of pause as Jack studies his expression before the pirate is tugging on him, a gesture that pulls Kai with him, entranced as he stares into the blue of iridescent eyes. The blonde guides him further into the expanse of the brig, and the kraken finds himself listening to the echo of Jack’s boots shuffling against the deck and the creaking of wood as the boat rocks. There’s a dampness to the air, the warmth of the seaside present and the smell of sea salt prevalent, and while Kai knows this is a jail beneath a ship full of scavengers and angry men, he’s certain he could happily stay down here forever.
Jack leads him towards one of the cells, the barred door open and whinging a fraction on its hinges as the boat sways. The pirate steps inside, carefully tugging Kai inside with him, a warm, sun-kissed hand holding tight to his wrist. The kraken follows diligently, taking in the small, metal bench melded with the prison walls; there’s a layer of salt across it and a few barnacles latched to the alloy but none of that dissuades Jack from directing Kai towards it, nor Kai from sitting himself down atop it.
The pirate before him is still smirking, observing pleasantly as Kai adjusts, shifting and inhaling sharply, a nervous breath lingering in his lungs, in the fluttering of his gills.
“Just sit back,” Jack states, the smile both in his tone and spread across his handsome features; he slowly lowers, dropping down to his knees in front of Kai’s position on the bench, and planting both his hands on the bony shape of Kai’s knees. “Let me show you how absolutely besotted I am with you.”
There’s a knot the size of a big rock inside Kai’s throat, so paralyzing he doesn’t even nod this time, he simply stares at Jack with eager eyes and something desperate in the pull of his expression.
He needs this. Carnally, irrevocably . He’s in a dire state; he so badly wants to feel something else, something all-consuming, and anytime Jack touches him he loses himself to that sensation in a matter of moments.
The way the waves, the ocean’s embrace, the pull of the current drowns him in distraction, Jack’s touch swallows him whole; like the pull of a whirlpool, he allows himself to float, lifeless, into the never ending swell of blue that sits in the pirate’s gaze.
He wants to be so consumed right now that he’s coughing up water and blood after all is said and done. He thinks — no, he’s certain — it would be his greatest pleasure.
He feels his heart quicken in his chest as Jack’s grip tightens around his knees and pushes, spreading his legs just a fraction in his sitting position. He watches deft, calloused hands slide up, moving across his thighs, languid and sensual, until they’re converging on the button of his trousers; they flick it aside, opening and unzipping, and Kai is already hard from the mere sight of Jack on his knees in front of him.
Those same hands slip past the waistband of his pants, shifting until they find what they’re looking for, and Kai inhales sharply, his back arching a fraction as scarred, rough hands envelope the shape of his cock. Jack is so warm, his palm pressing against sensitive, swollen skin, and Kai can’t help but bite his lip around a whimper.
“Don’t be quiet, beastie.” Jack purrs, his fingers tightening around Kai’s length, and the kraken has to fight to keep his eyes from rolling back. “They won’t be able to hear you from down here. But I need to.”
Jack’s hand pumps, once then twice, and Kai moves his own hands to grip the edges of the bench, knuckles turning white and talons scratching against the metal.
The pirate scoots closer, still on his knees, until he’s sliding fully between Kai’s spread legs; his opposite hand dances upwards, sliding from the taut skin of his thighs to a bony hip and over, until it is climbing beneath the hem of Kai’s loose, beige, poet blouse.
Kai forces himself to breathe evenly, calming the frantic beating of his heart; it had been far too long since they were intimate, and the heat of Jack’s palm feels like a buffet after a month without food. And Kai is saying that as someone who isn’t naturally obligated to eat — at least, for an extended period of time.
Jack’s thumb lifts up and over the tip of his cock, pressing down until Kai feels like he’s going to combust; he lets out a drawn-out moan, his body arching and his head leaning until it’s against the brig wall.
“God,” Jack groans out, placing his head against Kai’s thigh and nuzzling at the fabric of his trousers; his breath is hot and damp and Kai squirms further. “You’re so fucking divine, you know that?”
The pirate hums to himself as he inches his face closer, peppering a few kisses along Kai’s inner thigh, and Kai desperately wishes there wasn’t a layer of clothing preventing him from feeling Jack’s lips against his skin, the burn of his stubble, the warmth of his sun-kissed complexion.
“Do you know how badly I want you in my mouth?” Jack’s words are filthy, but to Kai they sound like an ethereal melody. “I want to swallow you down, every inch of you; suck you dry until you’re so far spent you can hardly open your eyes.”
The kraken whines something desperate, something eager, and lifts his head a moment to look at the pirate at his feet. Kai’s heart jumps into his throat when he finds Jack meeting his gaze; the hunger that sits there, amidst baby blue, is so profoundly visceral, Kai isn’t sure he can keep himself from simply climaxing right here and now.
“What do you want, Kai?” Jack asks, the words curious but firm.
Kai recognizes it; it’s a question Jack has approached him with more frequently, a warm proposition he urges Kai to answer anytime they find themselves intimate. Kai knows Jack is a fan of his voice, a fan of his words, dirty or otherwise, but the kraken knows it goes deeper; this is about getting Kai to feel secure enough to know he can have whatever he wants from Jack, should he simply open his mouth and request it.
“You,” Kai says, hushed, “ everywhere .”
Jack beams, and while the answer isn’t specific, it seems to please him immensely; it’s progress in the pirate’s eyes, and that is always enough.
The human bends further forward, and the hand wrapped around Kai shifts, tugging until he feels the cool, damp air of the brig grace the hot skin of his cock. He watches eagerly, notes the fingers wrapped around himself with intrigue and ravenous desire; Jack’s hands are scarred by fishhook and simple cuts, an angelic display of character in the creases of his skin and the tanned hue of sunburned knuckles. Jack was a painted canvas, a masterpiece that one could stare at for centuries and still notice new details in, each and every one of those days.
Jack closes the space between his mouth and Kai’s exposed cock, leaning forwards until his lips are hovering over the tip, hot breath dancing over sensitive skin. Kai feels like he’s holding his breath, his bottom lip practically quivering at the sight alone; Jack is rugged and roughened by an arduous lifestyle, his stubble in need of a shave and his hair errantly done up in a messy bun. He is so fucking beautiful Kai wants to melt into a puddle at his feet.
“Can I put you in my mouth, sweetheart?” Jack purrs against his cock and Kai is nodding before he’s even aware of it, something pleading winding itself around each of his features.
“Good boy.” Jack’s words are soft and praising before he’s descending and pulling Kai into his mouth.
His cock touches that euphoric, wet, slick feeling, and his entire body shudders as Jack’s tongue laps around the tip of him. The pirate’s hand slips down, squeezing the base of him and Kai whimpers at the sensation, throwing his head back once more and ignoring the sting of the hard wall. Jack’s done this a consistent amount of times — once in the Captain’s quarters, a number of times in Kai’s cove, behind the town tavern, against a tree in the woods behind the beach — but it never grows old, it never loses an ounce of passion, a molecule of pleasure. It feels right, sensationally fated, and Jack encourages such a thought, consistently ensuring Kai that it is one of his favorite pastimes to exist on the face of the Earth.
As Kai looks down now, meeting that heavy, hungry, blue gaze once more, he can see that exact thought present across Jack’s expression; he’s sucking Kai’s cock with vigor, with enthusiasm, his lips wrapped around him, stretched so beautifully, and his tongue lapping circles to his own inner melody. He takes Kai in deeper, until he can feel the back of his throat, and swallows, and it sends the kraken moaning yet again, spine curving; one of his hands lifts from where it was gripping the bench and tucks itself into the messy waves of Jack’s hair. It is stiff with sea salt and Kai revels in the notion that it is so vividly Jack, tugging at the strands and whimpering when Jack groans around his dick.
The rumble in his throat can be felt in Kai’s core, running goosebumps over his body in an instant, and he arches again, delighting in the copious warm sensations washing over him. Jack’s opposite hand, not currently working at the base of Kai, slips under his blouse again, curling up over a toned but thin stomach. Calloused fingers brush up and over his pectorals until they land on one nipple, gliding themselves over the peak of it and causing Kai to buck his hips a fraction; rather than alarm Jack, it only spurs him further onward, and he sucks harder, moaning again around him. His hand then slips away, down to his ribcage and towards his gills, where his palm flattens against his slender side; the fingers return to their ministrations and Kai feels the tips of them slide just under their extended form, tucking themselves in the core of his added airway. Kai lets out a bliss-filled noise, his eyes fluttering shut a moment; he can feel Jack everywhere, smell him everywhere, breathe in every inch of sea salt and rum and sweat, taste him on the tip of his tongue like that of a fervent, passionate kiss. Scarred skin is meeting slick, scaled flesh, and Kai wants each finger to pierce the folds of his gills; he wants Jack to slip his way beneath so thoroughly he’s caressing his insides, his organs, his very core.
“I want you,” Kai begins, voice hoarse. He quickly licks his lips and swallows, rectifying his sentence. “I need you.” He drops his head from the wall to meet Jack’s gaze, breathing sharply once more when he sees the pirate’s eyes alert and mirth-filled as he laps at Kai’s cock.
“Need you inside me, Jay.” The kraken is desperate, and even as he bucks again into Jack’s mouth, he wants the cock straining in Jack’s own breeches to dig its way into him the same way his fingers are.
The hand on his gills presses harder and Kai shivers, whilst, simultaneously, Jack pulls off with an obscene pop and smirks, wide and toothy at Kai’s pliant being.
“I love when you say that,” the pirate growls and moves instantly. He removes his hands, and steps up and out of Kai’s spread legs, leaving Kai’s cock exposed and painfully aroused.
Once standing, he reaches to grab for the kraken’s wrists; Kai allows himself to be manhandled, naturally, and yanked to his feet. The moment he’s up in front of Jack, the pirate is on him, his lips mashing themselves against Kai’s own and his tongue instantly dipping between them; Kai matches his pace, groaning as Jack deepens the kiss, and he feels his legs wobble where he stands, the pleasure all-consuming.
Jack’s hands are back on his hips and he’s pushing, just gently, as their tongue dances and they pant hot breath into each other’s open mouths. Kai allows him to lead him away from the bench and a step or two over until he feels the barred, metal walls against his back, the gaps making for an uncomfortable rest point, but he hardly cares.
Jack moves with passion and hunger, practically fucking Kai’s mouth with his tongue as his hands lift to the hem of Kai’s poet blouse; he pulls his lips away just long enough to pull it up and over Kai’s head before he descends upon him again, just as ravaging as before. Next are Kai’s pants, but Jack doesn’t bother to pull them down all the way; instead, he merely gives them a sharp tug until they slip just past Kai’s ass, bunches around the middle of his thighs. The kraken should probably feel a little ridiculous, but he’s so fucking turned on that the only thing he can focus on right now is the tongue he’s sucking on between his lips.
Kai can taste the sips of rum Jack certainly stole this morning as well as the sea salt the air glosses his lips with; it is a heavenly flavored, and Kai wishes he could get lost in it, never to be found again. He can feel a dribble of spit on his chin from the ferocity of the kiss, leaking down to run along his jawline and it simply spurs him onward.
After a moment of tasting one another’s moans, Jack pulls away with a heavy breath, panting ever so slightly as he hovers near. His hands linger near Kai’s exposed cock, clearly eager to keep touching but determined to make the kraken’s dreams come true first. The pirate pulls away with a wince, groaning under his breath as he fights his hunger, before he gives Kai a heavy gaze, conveying his intentions through the warmth in his eyes.
“Turn around, my love,” Jack hums into Kai’s ear, and the kraken listens diligently, turning his back to the pirate and facing the prison bars. He hears Jack spring into action as he does, boots clicking in the empty, echoing space of the brig.
Kai observes the metal of the barred walls, smiling to himself; this truly had all the workings for a great moment of situational roleplay — the pirate captain, perhaps, and the prisoner — but he’s far too eager to slow Jack down with an acting role. Still though, he imagines a scenario whilst Jack steps away to grab for oil, a small bottle hiding in the pocket of the satchel bag Kai tugged along with him today.
He imagines Jack dressed to his full pirate potential, a Captain's hat adorned and an elegant vest, ornate coat, and embroidered breeches covering the nature of his toned figure. He imagines the man summoning the entirety of his authority, the entirety of his dominance; he imagines being taken as a captive, locked away in the brig under the deck, trapped behind bars and awaiting his fate. He imagines Jack, captain of the ship, leader of his own crew, descending the stairs, boots loud and intimidating; he imagines the man approaching the cage, taking in the sight of Kai, appreciating the view, the curves of his body. Maybe Jack would whisper vile things through the bars, maybe he’d unlock the door under only one circumstance — that Kai allow himself to be bent over the bench and fucked until the Captain’s had his fill — maybe he’d free Kai altogether and guide him to his quarters for a passionate tumble in his bed, and then keep him there, naked in his chambers, until the end of time. Kai fathoms every and any scenario and feels his cock harden at each one, all the while listening to Jack fiddle behind him; he hears the shifting of breeches, the top of a bottle being removed, the shuffling of boots, and the slick sound of oil against flesh.
His body jolts the moment Jack’s warm, calloused fingers are back on him, smooth and grease-soaked, and he exhales sharply as he feels them slide around the curve of his ass. They admire the taut flesh there for a moment, humming behind Kai in appreciation, and Kai preens at the praise, pushing back against the gentle petting. The response makes Jack chuckle under his breath, and the dark, cocky nature of it has Kai shivering.
Only moments later, he feels Jack’s finger slip inside him, pushing past his entrance and in, caressing the muscle there. Kai evens out his breathing, used to this part but still squirming under the ministrations; Jack coaxes him with warm words of encouragement, shushing his soft moans of discomfort and desperation with soft murmuring; “ I know, beastie ,” and, “ you’re doing so well ,” and, “ such pretty noises ,” and, “ that’s it, sweetheart, that’s it, ” slip from plush lips pressed to the nape of Kai’s neck, and the kraken is covered in goosebumps by the time Jack is hitting that sweet spot with three fingers and sending that white hot heat in his groin sky rocketing forward. He bucks, his body shifting against the bars, and Jack’s response is another light chuckle, his fingers slipping out from Kai.
“Not a single complaint while I prepped you,” Jack notices, a smile in his voice. “That’s certainly new.”
Kai lets out a breathless scoff, biting his lip hard at the sheer divine amount of arousal coursing through him right about now. “Hurry up , Jack .”
“And here I thought we were going to break a record,” the pirate hums, his tone warm.
Before Kai can complain yet again, he feels the tip of Jack’s cock, hot and thick and hard, pressing up between his cheeks; it feels euphoric, a sensation beyond words, and Kai presses himself back against the man, desperately eager to feel more.
“Your noises were as pretty as they always are though,” Jack purrs against his ear, and Kai bites the inside of his cheek.
Jack’s hand spreads him further until Kai finally, finally , feels the head of Jack’s dick slip inside him; the stretch is heavenly, a loud, frantic moan crawling out of Kai’s throat and filling the empty space around them. It burns, warm and cathartic, pain mixing pleasure in a way Kai will never be able to fathom, in a way that makes Kai feel like every ounce of suffering he’s ever endured has been worth it for moments like this, blissful life experiences like this that shift the entirety of his brain chemistry.
The first thrust has Kai seeing stars and he falls forward with the force of it, his hands grasping for the bars of the cell; Jack doesn’t waste any time easing him into it — something Kai adores about him — and the rhythm is set almost immediately. The pirate is bucking his hips at a wildly consistent, rapid pace, in and out of Kai with the divine, slickness of oil and the lightest sensation of friction.
The brig echoes their noises back to them; the slip and slide of flesh, the slap of bodies as Jack thrusts into him, the clinging of the bars Kai white-knuckle grips, and the shuddery whimpers that slip past Kai’s lips, a desperate whaling that oozes pleasure in every pitch.
“God, look at you.” Jack’s words are hot against his neck. The pirate’s hands shift forward with renewed purpose once more; one slips forward to Kai’s bare chest, sliding back into place along his gills and tickling the folded scales, while the other bends around to return to Kai’s cock, fingers slipping over the head and thumbing at the tip. Jack smears pre-cum and oil over his hot flesh, and Kai can hardly bear it, his eyes rolling back.
When he had said everywhere , Jack had very clearly decided to listen . He can feel him in the way he breathes, in the heat of his gut, inside the very depths of his core.
“So pliant, so desperate.” Jack’s voice is so heavily laced with lust and desire that Kai moans even louder. “The ocean is personified before me, powerful and untouchable and wild, and yet,” Jack grins and Kai can feel it against his shoulder, “I’m fucking him into the wall.”
Kai tightens his grip around the bars, like a prisoner longing for release, and cries out in pleasure as his body moves with the force of Jack’s thrusts.
“Soon,” Jack breathes, panting, pumping Kai’s cock in pace with his hips as he does, “I want to feel you everywhere again. In me, around me, choking me until I can barely breathe.”
Kai feels his body tremble; he knows what Jack’s referencing, what night he’s thinking about, and the idea that his mind would wander there makes him positively ravenous.
“Until I’m surrounded by nothing but you, in the slick of your scales and under the weight of your gaze.”
A stupid argument, a passionate apology, a thunderstorm and a damp night in the cove; the sound of the waves, aggressive and enraged as they lapped the shore, and Jack, sprawled out against Kai’s blankets, lost in bliss and surrounded by Kai in his entirety, surrounded by extra limbs, slick scales, and the stickiness of a hungry beast. He’d never thought the nature of the concept would arouse Jack, would make him fall harder, but the pirate had begged for it, had allowed Kai to fill every orifice he saw fit, and Kai had taken thorough advantage of the permission.
“I’m so in love with you, Kai,” Jack growls his devotion out, his hips quickening, his thrusts deepening.
“ Jack ,” Kai whines, holding onto the bars for dear life as Jack’s pace intensifies.
It’s all he can say back, it’s all he can muster, but it means the same thing, and Kai knows Jack recognizes as much in the way he breathes out the kraken’s name back.
“You feel so good,” Jack groans, and his cock plunges so deep within Kai he feels his heart enter his throat; cathartic bliss consumes the kraken, and he starts truly melting against the bars he holds tight to.
The rhythm of thrusts and pumps and bucking hips descends into a tirade of Jack’s possessive mumbling, mine mine mine, and Kai’s desperate whimpering, Jack please , until the brig is a cacophony of proprietorial claims, frantic begging, and the obscene slapping of flesh.
Jack cums with startling force, shooting his release inside of Kai; the sensation is euphoric, warming Kai like something divine. He feels claimed, owned, filled with Jack’s pleasure, his bliss, and the very thought, the very idea of that, alongside the all-consuming enormity of hedonistic sensations pushes Kai over the edge. He climaxes with vigor, his body bending against the barred walls; his thighs shake and his head lolls backwards as his release coats the metal in front of him and Jack’s scarred fingers.
The moment that follows entails, entirely, the catching of their breaths, Jack’s forehead against the top of Kai’s spine, and Kai’s forehead against the top of his hand, palm pressed into the bar, even still.
When the racing of his heart slows and his legs steady, for the most part, Jack slowly turns him in place, moving him until they’re face to face. Kai loses himself in pools of blue again, transcended by the warmth in such a cold-toned hue, and the brightness of Jack’s smile, something mischievous and proud in the pull of his features.
“Good?” Jack asks gently, titling his head a fraction.
Kai nods, breathless. He notes that Jack is shirtless, musculature on display in a way that shamefully re-excites Kai’s cock. Settle the fuck down .
Jack’s breeches are done up once more and he’s smiling at Kai with a smug look, his eyes sparkling with mirth at the sight of his clearly blissed-out state. Kai merely watches, entranced, as Jack goes about cleaning them up with his shirt, wiping down his hand — not without a taste first, which really has Kai blushing — and some of the oil off of Kai’s legs and body. The kraken merely lets him, a dazed gaze in place that Jack laughs at here and there, as he goes about his motions; he tucks Kai back into his trousers carefully, kissing his shoulders, jaw, cheeks, forehead, head as he does so.
After a moment, Jack moves to grab Kai's satchel, striding over to the prisoner’s cot and placing it down at the top of the bench where one might place a pillow. He then glances back at Kai, standing there thoroughly-fucked and obliviously shirtless. The pirate smiles at him, warm and gentle before he steps back over, reaching out to intertwine their fingers. Jack holds his hand tight, guiding him over to the metal cot once more, much slower this time and far less intense; instead of pushing Kai down, he sits first, dropping Kai’s hand in favor of lying down along the bench. He places his head atop the satchel and pats his chest before extending his arms, so very clearly urging Kai in for a cuddle; the kraken doesn’t even think about it and he’s climbing on top of the toned form of Jack’s torso instantaneously. Jack’s skin is tan and warm, dotted with freckles and the white ridges of scars, and Kai revels in the sensation of being so close to him.
“Your gills don’t vanish with your illusion thingy,” Jack says, simply.
“Yeah.” Kai snorts sleepily, amused by the word choice. “I guess because they’re pretty vital. I’d rather not go without them.”
“It was a nice surprise,” Jack says, smirking insatiably, “I like fingering you.”
“By the Gods ,” Kai says, lifting his head to look at the pirate beneath him, mouth agape but his cheeks pinkening. “You couldn’t have said that anymore crudely, huh?”
The pirate only beams at him, leaning forward to steal a kiss, and biting Kai’s bottom lip in the process, dragging it with him as he falls back; the kraken hums pleasantly as he follows and tries not to roll his eyes at the newfound heat that blooms in his groin — Jack truly is an aphrodisiac.
As they separate from their kiss, Kai lies his head back down. They lie in silence for a moment, swayed in their place by the rocking of the ship and the creaking of wood. Kai can hear the guttural thumping of the ocean beneath the boat, and he imagines the creatures that might be swimming below where they lay.
Kai hardly minds that they’re sprawled out atop a prisoner’s cot, the hard edge of the metal slab digging into his side; he’s far too busy relishing in the warmth of Jack’s torso, his head pressed to his heart and his mind idly counting the thrumming of his beating heart.
“You seem like you’re feeling the blues today,” Jack says. His voice is barely above a whisper but it still feels as though it echoes in the damp silence of the brig. The hustle and bustle from above them can be heard in a distant symphony of sound but Jack’s deep baritone is all Kai’s normally-finned ears hear.
“What’s new, beastie?”
Kai shuts his eyes. He should talk about things; it’s not like it gets any easier, though. And nothing ever changes; he’s tired of feeling like the moment he says things out loud, there’ll be some sort of shift in the universe and all will be happy and well. It isn’t like that, it’s never like that; telling Jack about it just furthers the danger of his false hope.
“Nothing,” Kai scoffs, “things are the same as they always are.”
“And that’s the problem, yeah?” Jack asks. His tone is warm and encouraging rather than pushy or overly curious, and Kai lets it wash over him like gentle rainfall or the spray of ocean waves.
“Yeah,” Kai nods, his head moving against Jack’s chest, black hair sprawled out along his pectorals.
“You know,” Jack breathes softly, his hand rubbing circles along the back of Kai’s bare shoulder, “I left home when I was fifteen.”
Kai turns in the man’s arms, repositioning to fold his arms over his torso and place his chin atop his overlapped hands; he frowns with the deep intent to listen to every next word out of Jack’s mouth.
“My father was a drunk and my mother ran off with some aristocrat worth a pretty penny.” Jack snorts and smiles a bitter smile. “The rich arse didn’t want kids so I wasn’t allowed to tag along which left me at home with dear, old dad and his rum collection.”
The pirate turns his head to meet Kai’s eyes, and his gaze is heavy, a look spilling out across tan features that oozes thoughts of memories he most certainly wishes he could forget. Kai knows the look well, and, so, the kraken shifts his thumb against Jack’s chest, stroking circles against firm pectorals.
“I didn’t run away because of him though, Kai. He wasn’t the reason,” Jack says, his features far more assured as he says the words. “I ran away because I craved loyalty, I craved devotion and family and something more to love than a shitty room above a bar and empty liquor bottles.”
Jack lifts his hand to place it atop Kai’s cheek, caressing the sharp edge of his cheekbone before allowing calloused and scarred fingers to slip back into his silky, black hair. He tugs at it gently, a movement that makes Kai’s otherwise somber expression twitch into a smile, before he lets it rest there, enjoying the comfort of the kraken’s layered locks.
“I stowed away on a ship that eventually found itself pillaged by pirates and when they found me, hiding behind a barrel of oranges in the ship’s kitchen,” Jack says the words with laughter in his throat, “instead of running me through with their swords, they let me follow them somewhere new.”
“They robbed that ship for all it was worth; took its spoils and stole its treasures. Ripped jewelry from the necks of dickheads who didn’t deserve it.” Jack’s gaze takes on a dreamy, distracted fog to it, and Kai can’t help but smile at his musing.
“But I was among all that treasure they stole. They carried me over onto their ship alongside chests of coin and barrels of rations and gunpowder,” Jack says the words in a breathy whisper.
“That first crew had viewed me as a rat, as a barnacle on the body of their prized vessel. But to those pirates?” Jack beams, shaking his head as he recounts the tale. “I was valuable. I was the pretty penny. And more than anything, I was worth keeping around.”
Kai lifts himself up and off of his hands to better stare the pirate down, taking in the glossy state of his eyes, the hue like the sky’s blue reflecting on the deep navy of the ocean.
“There is no price on your head for me,” Kai says the words quickly, rushed and heady, determined that Jack not continue his story without first knowing such a thing. “You’re more than any treasure could ever be worth. You’re my favorite shell washed up along the shore, my favorite cove to get lost in; an island shaped like everything I could ever need and I want to spend all my time there — every second of every day.” Kai’s gaze never leaves the pirate’s own. “You are the true definition of paradise and the only perfect example of such.”
“Well — aren’t you a sweetheart?” Jack snorts, using his hand locked in Kai’s hair to give it another tug; the notion helps soothe Kai’s desperately serious demeanor, but he glares back at the man beneath him regardless.
“I mean it,” Kai urges, his eyes pleading a fraction, and he watches as the pirate nods, his smile dropping to something softer, more gentle.
“I know you do.” Jack shifts, pushing himself upwards and Kai moves off of his torso to allow him the space to do so; the blonde sits upright, pivoting on the slab to lean back against the wall, before extending his arms for Kai to return to them. Kai moves instantly, simply hugging the man now rather than cuddling atop him; his arms wrap around his bare torso and he tucks his face within the divet of his pectorals, breathing in sunlight and sweat and the salt of the sea.
“All that to say, I found my family in a group of murderous pillagers with missing teeth and bad hygiene.” Jack’s voice rumbles against Kai’s cheek and he revels in the sensation of it.
“And I have mine in you,” Kai says, pulling his head back to meet Jack’s gaze again. “In you, Arlow, and Idona. Even Rain, when he’s not being socially inept.”
“And Morga? Nell, Hox?” Jack adds, giving Kai a curious look. The names sound strange to Kai’s ears as they slip from the pirate’s lips, but he shrugs it off.
“Them too,” Kai nods, “but it’s different. Familiar but not familial.”
He leans back even further, straddling Jack’s lap now, held safely in place by the man’s arms. “I don’t know, Jay. They love me, but it’s like it comes with a dress code, you know?” Jack’s hand rubs circles into his back, fingers dancing and leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. “A uniform. There’s a certain way to dress around them, and I don’t even know where to buy the clothes.”
“You deserve to dress however you want, beastie,” Jack utters, his other hand lifting to run his thumb down his Kai’s cheek, across the sharpness of his jaw and the soft, plush form of his bottom lip.
“I think I always have dressed however I want,” Kai sighs, leaning into the touch. “I don’t think I ever really had the option to dress differently. Even if I wanted to.”
Jack merely nods. “I like how you dress. In fact,” he says, beaming, “I love how you dress.”
Kai scoffs, shoving playfully at his shoulder.
“Though I do prefer you naked,” Jack adds, and he runs his hands down the sides of Kai’s bare ribcage once more, thumbing at his gills as he does.
Kai feels himself shiver, and further heat uncoils in his gut; he groans a bit, lifting his own hands to still Jack’s exploration. “You drive me crazy.”
Jack only smirks, sliding his hands back and away, until they’re cupping Kai’s face again. They remain there, caressing and stroking and lightly grazing the sensitive skin of his features, and Kai feels safe, thoroughly secure; there is no place he’d rather be than here, tucked in the palms of Jack’s hands.
“Isn’t that neat?” Jack muses aloud.
“Isn’t what neat?” Kai opens his eyes, having lost himself in the sensation of the moment, before he meets his gaze again; Jack’s own eyes are transfixed on Kai’s expression, raking over each and every detail of the kraken’s face as it rests there.
“I really can hold the entire world in my hands.” Jack says the words so simply, as though it is a mere observation, as though there is nothing profound about the sentence in any way at all.
But Kai — Kai is free-falling, soaring down, down, down, with no end in sight, with no certified landing spot, with no confirmed ground at all. He can feel his heart hammering against his chest, his gut upside down, and his eyes burning in their sockets. He stares at Jack, consumed by the sight of him, by the warm, honey blonde of his hair and the shallow waters of his irises. How dare he make Kai feel like this? How dare he be everything perfect in the world? How dare he make Kai feel as though there is no good world if there’s no Jack Kenway to exist in it?
Kai cannot lose him.
He melts forward, placing his forehead against Jack’s sternum, a selfish thought on the tip of his tongue that he wants to hold back but doesn’t have the energy to entrap.
“ Please don’t ever love anyone more than me.” Kai breathes the statement into his skin, wet hot tears brimming at the corners of his eyes; he squints them shut in desperation.
“That’s not possible, Squid,” Jack scoffs, a hand back in Kai’s hair, twisting the black strands between each digit in a way so very soothing, Kai can feel his heart calming where it bangs frantically against his ribcage.
The kraken can only nod at his words, keeping his face pressed against tanned, freckled skin, his own hands tucked around Jack’s toned torso, nails digging into the man’s lower back.
“My first love was the ocean, Kai,” Jack hums against the top of his head. “And as it turns out, that was you all along.”
The pirate turns, plummeting back down onto the metal cot and tugging the kraken along with him; Kai follows, his face still hidden in warm skin, and the tears free-flowing in a way he hadn’t expected he’d needed. Jack’s used to this, though, and Kai finds that the pirate is responsible for numerous different kinds of “ release ” whenever he’s around him. There’s something that shifts in his mindset when he’s with Jack, a vulnerability that loosens and exposes itself in a way that Kai isn’t entirely sure he fully trusts just yet. It’s something guttural, something uncontrollable. A sensation that pushes and pushes until Kai finds himself in tears, in a fit of rage, in a manic, panicked ramble. What he holds in around everyone else, finds its way to the surface with Jack Kenway, and the euphoria of such a feeling, the sheer catharsis, is a resounding notion that feels so profound Kai doesn’t know how to give it a name.
They lay like that for a while, simply listening to one another’s breathing, Kai attuned to the thumping of Jack’s heart once more, and the ambience of the ship that surrounds them.
When the silence is eventually broken, it is Jack that breaks it. Kai’s tears have dried and his cheeks feel stiff with dried salt, though he’s considerably used to such a feeling.
“You need to know, though, Kai.” He can feel how thickly Jack swallows. “We sail out in three days,” the pirate sighs, his hand combing through Kai’s black hair, idly twirling strands between his fingers. “But Sully is going to cover my end of ship work, so I’m all yours for every second of those three days.”
Kai nods against his chest. “And after that? How long until you’re back?”
Jack stills a moment, body tense. “Only a week or so.”
The kraken’s hold on the man’s torso tightens significantly and he buries his face in the space between his sun-kissed pectorals. “I hate when you leave.”
Jack kisses the top of Kai’s head, a solemn shift in his voice settling the air to something bittersweet. “And I hate leaving.”
A beat of silence passes and Kai spends it tracing shapes around Jack’s freckles, a game of connect the dots, his sharp nail tickling the skin. He can feel the heaviness of Jack’s every breath, the weight that sits in the air around them, but doesn’t know how to shift the intensity to something less. He should apologize really, bid Jack a heartfelt sorry for his whining, for his complaining; he knows the pirate laments the frequent travel of his crew, and it’s not like Kai can’t follow. But still — there’s something so unnerving about the separation, about the distance; Kai sits in wait, a constant paranoia that he’ll miss a tiny detail, that he’ll jinx Jack’s return, that the ocean will take his lover away and hide him somewhere foreboding and secret so that the Kraken forever searches for his long lost love. Kai imagines a world of hurt, a world of solemn solitude, where Jack isn’t there and it’s just him and the darkness of a missing soulmate; his heart left somewhere in the depths of the big blue, and his own body animated, a mere husk that functions and interacts and exists , but never feels again.
“I can practically see the worry dripping off of you, Kai.” Jack’s words break through his depressing reverie, and he flinches a fraction, shifting his head so his eyes meet Jack’s gaze.
Before the kraken can say anything in return, the pirate is running fingers through his hair again, nails scratching languorously against his scalp in a way that makes Kai shudder.
“Look,” Jack starts, a small smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. “I was thinking a lot recently.”
“That’s new,” Kai slurs through the trance Jack’s ministrations have him in, and smirks when the man tugs his hair a bit more roughly.
“ Behave ,” the pirate snorts, before shaking his head. “Seriously, though.” He shifts a bit, his caresses slowing to a pause, and Kai meets his eyes, reading the sincerity there; he rights himself and listens with rapt attention.
“I was just thinking that maybe,” Jack shrugs, glancing down and away for a moment. “Maybe, here soon, I can figure out a way to step aside from all this. The buccaneering and the looting and the pillaging.” The man chews on his bottom lip, and Kai’s not sure he’s ever seen him so outwardly nervous. “And maybe I can pack up shop and find some secluded cabin on the beach somewhere; somewhere a horse ride away from town and a short walk away from the ocean.”
Kai is staring at him, entirely entranced, and he’s sure his lips are parted, his jaw embarrassingly agape.
“And maybe, I don’t know, I could have my beloved over from time to time — or all the time — and we could fuck on every surface of the place to really make our house a home , you know?” Jack smirks, his shoulders still tense with a sweet anxiety but his finger slipping forward to tap beneath Kai’s chin.
“And maybe.” The pirate’s stiff position loosens, and his expression takes on a far away look. “Maybe I can find some semblance of peace in the simple . In the ease of the everyday.”
Kai can still only stare, eyes wide as he watches Jack speak; his lips move so melodically, the kraken cannot fathom the fact that he’s allowed to kiss such an ethereal being.
“I think I want that, Kai.” Jack sighs, closing his eyes a moment, and while Kai misses their blue shade immediately, he simply begins to appreciate the dark, full state of the man’s lashes for a time instead. “I love so much of this life and the people within it, but I think it has never fully been who I am, what I am.” His fingers shift in Kai’s hair idly once more. “I think I crave peace. I crave the idea of waking up every morning and not having to strap a sword to my belt. And I think you’ve shown me that.”
He turns to Kai, a warm smile on his lips before he gives him a small tug; the Kraken moves, shifting forward enough so he can hover just over Jack’s face, the two of them breathing in each other’s air.
“I want to just be .” Jack lets the words fall over Kai’s expression, a desperate want now clear in his voice as he speaks. “And I want you to be there with me. I want to wake up and you’re next to me, and the only thing I’m doing with my belt is taking it off.”
“You wouldn’t have one on if you were sleeping anyway,” Kai replies, and then feels his cheeks heat as he realizes his first words spoken are positively ridiculous in nature.
Jack only chuckles, a throaty laugh that Kai wishes he could rewind and repeat, over and over, to an unhealthy degree.
The kraken clears his throat quickly, however, and continues past his joke, refocusing on the weight of Jack’s words.
“I want that more than anything.” His voice is firm, unrelenting. “I want you more than anything, Jack.”
Kai leans in, placing his lips on the pirate’s own, warm and plush and sore from their earlier intimacies; he kisses him just because he can, and revels in the simplicity of that.
His mind offers him further panic as they embrace, however, and when he draws back he knows Jack places the deep furrow creasing his brow.
“But what about your crew? What about Sullivan? You just said they’re your family.” Kai asks, tone hesitant.
“They can come visit,” Jack scoffs lightly, the tilt of his head so unbothered Kai can only continue to frown. “Hell, maybe they’ll give up the life too. Who knows.”
“ Jack ,” Kai warns, features narrowing and his conflict prevalent.
“ Seastar ,” Jack warns back, and Kai finds his cheeks pinkening. “It is all pointless if you’re not there.” Jack moves both hands then, lifting them until they cup Kai’s cheeks, thumbs caressing the soft skin beneath his multi-hued eyes. “Everything lacks meaning when I’m away from you. There is no passion in anything I do when you are not near.”
Jack leans forward and presses his forehead against Kai’s own. “ Please . Please let me have this. Let me have you .” His words are whispered, desperate and layered; there is a desire and an anguish to them that Kai both loves and hates simultaneously. “If you deny me your presence, you deny me all purpose.”
“Okay.” Kai barely breathes.
“Okay.” Jack beams and pulls back a fraction, and there is a smugness to his expression that Kai knows means he’s deeply pleased with his victory, and Kai is happy to let him have the win. Just this once.
“While you’re gone, maybe I can look for a cabin,” Kai mutters, low and bashful, still uncertain but so very motivated by hope.
“There’s an idea,” Jack says, nodding. “And if you can’t find one, I’ll build us one. I’m sure Sully would help me.”
“You’d just make him do all the heavy lifting,” Kai jokes, grinning at the pirate beneath him.
“Yes, and?” Jack frowns, shrugging playfully.
It lures a chuckle out of Kai, the sound a rare delight from his lips, and he can’t help but preen as he watches Jack revel in it.
“There’s my Squid.” Warm, tanned hands glide over Kai’s cheekbones; a calloused thumb traces his bottom lip. “Someday soon, I’m going to make you laugh everyday. I want it to be on repeat for the rest of my life.”
Kai’s heart blooms, his chest oozing warmth, and he stares into blue pools of such fond, unwavering devotion that he feels his own eyes well with tears once more. For so long, there has been such a void, an empty chasm that had Kai seriously believing someone had taken a knife to his heart and hacked away a sizable hole, a divet that could never again be filled. But Jack sits here, staring at him like he’d conjured the very ocean he sails upon each and everyday, like he’d filled it bucket by bucket; Jack looks at him like he exists for more than a simple purpose, for more than an infinite means, than a lifetime of fulfilling everyone else’s needs but his own. Jack looks at him like he’s worth more than the ocean and all of its inhabitants combined.
Kai can hardly stand it, but he wants it more than anything he’s ever wanted in the world. The hole in his heart wasn’t that at all; it was merely a Jack-sized slot and the man was here now, and Kai could finally be his own broken version of something complete .
“Promise you’ll be laughing with me?” Kai whispers, and it's hushed and fractured alongside the creaking of wood and the whirring of the waves as they lap against the sides of the ship.
“I promise, Kai,” Jack says, resolute, and kisses him.
End.