Warnings: homophobia, violence, language, injury and blood, slight age difference, mentions of equality, human rights and racial issues, and also some sex :)

A/N: Huge thanks and a cargo hold full of cookies belongs to Olinka, who looks after me and my ramblings. Another shipping of cookies to Megan, for she inspired me and keeps me sane, and Holly, who lent her gift to create an art for my story.

Written for the kurtbastian bigbang 2012. I hope you'll enjoy the story, even though it will be posted in parts.

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Chapter 1

The backstreet outside was quiet as usual at this time in the morning, yet Sebastian darted two quick looks to both sides, as he walked out of the door. One could never be careful enough. The fog was lifting, letting through the first rays of weak light, but it still offered cover from prying eyes if anyone woke up early in the mostly sleeping San Francisco.

Sebastian watched over his shoulder as a ridiculously frilly nightgown vanished behind the closed door and wisps of fog. His hand no longer inched to his hat. He had abandoned even that ironic gesture long time ago.

He turned around to make his way to the harbor, only to stumble over someone. Sebastian cursed, grabbing their arm and steadying both of them. A few other insults were ready on the tip of his tongue when a beautiful face of a young man came into his view,and a pair ofpiercing eyes looked up at him wide in surprise. He suddenly didn't know what to say.

His mind was sopreoccupied with the sight that he didn't notice thewords being spoken until the stranger'sarm was wrenched from his grip,and the distance between them grew. Now that Sebastian could see the man properly, it was obvious that he was barely in his twenties.

"I'm sorry, sir," the young man probably repeated, his voice a bit higher.

Sebastian remembered where he was and rightenedhimself, taking a step back too. Quick glance around revealed that they were alone, but that didn't stop his anger at himself for acting so stupidly. It wouldn't do to let his desiresshow in a situation he couldn't control. Even if the stranger's body was to die for, he wasn't eager to take an unnecessary risk.

"I'm sorry," the young man apologized again, although it sounded more like a dismissal. He seemed rather irritated than sorry, as he bent down to gather his belongings, which were scattered on the ground.

Sebastian quickly assessed him and calmed down a bit. Judging bythe way the strangerwas dressed, hedidn't seem like one of the local boys who would eagerly spread the gossip. He was probably some outsider looking for an adventure in a big city. In any case, Sebastian concluded, the most he could have seen was that horrible lacy thing.

All the while,the young man was grumbling to himself. "Mr. Schuester's might... the largest... still I can't... damn fog..." Sebastian didn't catch a lot of it,but hehad to smile nonetheless, seeing the anger the young man was directing at his knapsack.

Finished, the young man got up and gave a start when he turned to Sebastian. The latterquickly schooled his face not to show his amusement.
"Look where you're going next time," he said gruffly, although he knew this was his fault too. To gain some control and impress the young man, he brushed off his jacket to draw attention to the quality material, which he was able to afford thanks tohis position as a captain.

There was a glint in the man's eyes,and he wasstraightening his back and pursinghis lips as though he wanted to argue,but after a moment he replied with a murmured 'yessir' and stepped out of the way.

Sebastian nodded and strode off to the main street. Turning the corner, he allowed himself to look back. To assess the potential danger, he told himself. From what he could tell,the young man wasn't interested in the house, for hewas still standing in the same spot, refastening his knapsack. Even huddled in the cold morning, his body was striking in its gentle beauty.

Sebastian rounded the corner, losing him from his sight, but not from his mind. Definitely not from his mind; he would make a good use of the image. The man's slender build was hiding the strength beneath, as proven by the biceps Sebastianhad grabbed. The captainindulged in thoughts about him while walking swiftly in the direction of the harbor where his ship was moored. It was a pity, he thought, that they had to sail off tomorrow. He wouldn't be opposed to a new conquest.

Although the morning was still cold, Sebastian decided to go over documents outside on the deck. Even the salty,rotten smell of the harbor was preferable to being cooped up in his cabin, when the weather remembered that it should be warm at the end of May. This way he could also keep an eye on the loading. The last of the provisions and cargo wasbeing loaded into the hold, and the men had been working hard since dawn to make everything ready, as the plan was to sail tomorrow.

To keep out of the way, he stayed at the helm and set the papers on the roof of the cabin, weighing them down against the light breeze. The lack of wind troubled him a bit. Between checking figures and going through the bills, Sebastian's eyes occasionally strayed across the roof toward the middle part of the deck and further to the bow. Everyone was busy,but he watched the crew for a moment because something seemed off. He hadn't paid much attention on his way in, only nodding to Wes, who oversaw the proceedings. Wes was a good mate and very capable of handling things on his own. Sebastian knew that he could rely on him. Hell, even Sebastian had to admit that Wes was more experienced,as he had been sailing much longer than Sebastian himself. Nevertheless, it couldn't hurt to check.

Sebastian was about to go to him when he was distracted by a familiar sight of tousled Blaine,his fine clothes wrinkled, striding down the pier.

"Too much sugar at dinner?" Sebastian called to Blaine's approaching form, capital S silently implied. "I don't remember giving you permission to sleep in."

"There's no such thing as too much sugar," Blaine returned with a grin. "Besides,I'm already working. Finally found a quality supply of lemons." He gestured to the shop boy pushing a cart behind him. At Sebastian's raised eyebrow, he added, "At a good price. As if you don't know me."

Blaine told the shop boy where to unload the crates, observing whether they weren't jostled too much and occasionally helping. "So," he addressed Sebastian, who had moved to the railing. "Which of the talented members of the chorus had the pleasure yesterday?"
"You might not be familiar with the concept,but a true gentleman doesn't reveal such details about ladies." Sebastian smirked, emphasizing the last word. "Though rest assured that they were all hitting the high notes."

The shop boy fumbled the last crate and started apologizing, his ears red. Blaine helped him with it, laughing at his embarrassment. It was probably his goal from the start because he knew the answer to his question,as there were no secrets on this subject between him and Sebastian.

Sebastian returned to the papers, sorting out the ones he would need. The conversationabout high voicesbrought back the image of that young man he had met in the morning, and he couldn't get the memory out of his head.

While his thoughts were veering into a more graphic territory, the shop boy must have left because he was nowhere in sight when Blaine cleared his throat to get Sebastian's attention. Blaine stepped closer to the edge of the pier, so he didn't have to speak so loud.

"And those who can't hit high notes?" he asked with a wink.
"I think I smell something burning," Sebastian gestured to a caboose, which occupied the small cabin at the foot of the fore-mast. "Shouldn't you attend to it? It might be your apron."
"Sure thing, oh mighty captain," Blaine grinned and walked away to get on board.
"You're asking for some flogging," Sebastian grumbled, annoyed that his little fantasy was interrupted, and turned to go searching for Wes.

As if reading his mind, Wes approached him at that moment, coming along the other side of the cabin, with an expression that didn't bode anything good.
"We've lost part of our crew," he said without preamble. "I've just got a word back."
"Shit. What happened?"
"The new ones sneaked out last night when Thad was on watch,and he went after them. They got into a nasty brawl."

Although Wes kept to the bare facts, the look he was giving Sebastian made clear what was on his mind. It was the same argument they had over and over again: Wes didn't agree with the amount of freedom the crew had while in port. In fact, he would probably lock them all down inside the ship ifgiven the chance. However, Sebastian had worked hard through the years to assemble his crew,and after all there were strict rules. As a result,every crew memberknew what to expect from each other and avoided major problems so far. The new ones were always a weak point, though.

"We've dealt with worse things," Sebastian said, making a mental note to have a word with Thad. "So we need to replace the two?"
"All three."

That was unfortunate because Thad was their carpenter. They really needed to sail off tomorrow, barring the wind would completely die down. And that was something Sebastian didn't want to consider. But as he had said, worse things had happened.
While he was thinking of the possibilities, a name popped up in his brain that he had heard this morning. Sebastian collected the documents from the roof and turned to Wes.
"I have to go into town anyway. Have someone run to Schuester and tell himthat I'll come by around noon to hire."

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A/N: Although it is set in a certain historical era, please, let's be vague. I did my research, a disgustingly lot of it, but I'm no historian or professional sailor. From what I've learned, I know it is all probably possible, though possibly not probable. But shhh :)

Also I'm not attempting to write contemporary dialogue because that would be a hell of a lot more research with no good results (I know, I ventured there too) and I don't want to end up with a bad aaargh-piratey speech :)