Down the Hatch
Drink up me hearties, yo-ho.
Disclaimer: All characters in this fanfiction are 18 years of age or older.
I do not condone underage drinking. Thank you.
Death and bloodshed had taken the day, as did salt and gunpowder. Somehow, the future was just as clear as the sky, which glittered with the lights of a million worlds. Drinks and merriment rocked the legendary Black Pearl, a revived Captain Jack Sparrow standing at the wheel. His drunken, smug face was turned happily toward the eternally unreachable horizon as the ship bustled with joy. Will was gone, sworn to eternity by the Flying Dutchman as the reaper of souls lost at sea. Elizabeth had already gone to spend one last day on land with him, leaving her pirate companions behind for love.
"'Ere, boy," Barbossa squaked at Sora, double fisting two dusty bottles. "What'd be yer fancy? Per'aps some wine. May'aps some rum, for a true-blooded pirate?" He took a long pull off one of the mouths, then cackled in glee. "Blast it all, take both. Drink up!" He shoved the bottles into the young man's grasp, then sauntered off into the crowd.
There was no way he could finish both of these on his own, but Sora knew exactly who could help him. He slipped between the folds of dancing pirates, and over to where Roxas was standing. The blond was draped in bluish-black Singaporean robes that did well to clutch his body in all the right places. He was leaning against a mast, watching the chaos around him in quiet wonder when Sora popped up to hand him a bottle.
"What's this?" Roxas asked, examining the dark mystery fluid inside the amber glass.
"Might be wine, might be rum, I don't know yet. Let's find out."
Roxas turned a dubious eye to him, "I've never had alcohol."
Sora shrugged, "Me either. What's your point?"
"Why the temptation?"
Laughing, Sora swung his arms out in a grand gesture to the scene around them. "Look around! The crew, the sky, the sea—free booze! We've seen so much death and rebirth and life… and we could die at any second. I could lose you in the blink of an eye." He saw Roxas' expression of shock and realized what he'd said. Blushing, he did his best to backpedal, "I just… Barbossa gave these to me, alright? And I figure, why not. Let's live a little."
"Are you sure? It seems a little reckless. Crazy even." A mischievous look graced Roxas' face, and it gripped Sora's heart in tenderest of ways. "Who knows what could happen?"
He bowed, channeling his inner Captain Jack Sparrow, "Welcome to the Caribbean, love."
Rolling his eyes, the blond replied, "Okay. We are official pirates after all." He was about to bring the bottle to his lips when Sora stopped him.
"I want to try something," He locked their arms. "There. Wedding style. Ready?" Roxas gave him a curt nod, and in tandem they go to take a swig from their respective bottles; Sora muttering "Down the hatch."
Roxas got the wine. Sora got the rum.
They both choked on the bitter burn, coughing between laughs. Then, working carefully, they forced themselves to down as much of the acrid liquid as possible.
The night was a blur. They snuck more drink passed Mr. Gibbs, and shared bottles with one another, wishing it wasn't secondhand lip-contact. They played games, and gossiped, and laughed, and cried with the crew. When they became separated for a time, Sora lost his coat and hat in strip Fanorona, and was in the midst of unbuttoning his blouse when Riku yanked him away for his own good.
Then, Sora heard the shanty. It was beautiful like a siren's song, and he couldn't help but follow the refrain like a fish on a hook. He trailed it through the air, pushing through the drunken crowd to find the source.
It was Roxas, his voice clear as a bell amongst the gargling masses of drunken sailors. Roxas danced and sang, easily catching onto the melody of whatever song burbled in the air. No amount of rum and wine could stifle it's perfection. Sora was a ship ready to crash headfirst into the rocks. And so he did.
He zeroed in on his target, and kissed the other man so fiercely that Roxas dropped the bottle he was holding in surprise. The resulting crack of glass hitting deck made no difference to the raucous cadence of the sailors as they crowed away at their pirate song. Soras lips were rough and chapped from the ocean air, yet wet from the drinks and now also from Roxas' own alcohol-drenched lips. Sora led him away to a little shaded portion of the ship beneath a set of stairs by the captains quarters, and kissed Roxas some more.
Stripping himself away from the brunet's lips, Roxas leaned in close, lips hot and suddenly flush against Sora's ear "I want you."
Sora whispered back, "Down. Below the deck."
In their state of intoxication, they found no need for formality.
Sora led him down, down the steep stairs that should have killed them upon their clumsy descent. Down into the dark, empty recesses of the ship he only knew glimpses of.
They went forth until they found a door with a broken padlock, perfect for hidden escapades. The storage room's floor was swollen with moisture, and a variety of mismatched crates draped with taught tarps glowed ghostly in the moon's illumination. Sora found a lantern and it's light gave the dank surroundings a unique coziness.
Sora's shirt was red like the wine they guzzled, yet stained redder still from the day's bloodshed. Their skin smelled like sea salt, blood, gunpowder, and want. Despite all the drink, they were thirstier than ever before. Sora practically ripped away the delicate silken clasps holding Roxas' robe together, and Roxas dazedly struggled with the Keybearer's "godforsaken belt", as he'd labeled it. Amidst kisses, they were barely able to properly undress. Their alcoholic breath hung in the heavy air, bearing into their senses.
Roxas' skin was even milkier
in the moonlight.
Sora's skin was even more tan
in the lamp light.
They were like two glowing deities
adrift at sea,
clinging to one another
like the day reaches for
the night.
The way darkness yearns for
the light.
They inhaled cold damp air and exhaled pleasure.
Roxas was granted plenty of warmth from the lamp glow and the gift of Sora's touch.
Sora left traces of lust between teeth and skin, left trails of love from lips to veins.
They were just at the peak of the high, still so far from going down down down.
The vertigo was setting in, but it wasn't the sickening kind of spin that brings a drunk man to his knees...
No, it was the kind of spin that made one aware of gravity, of the world tilting on its axis as it barrels through the dark of space. The kind that reminds one of their small connectedness to the universe as a whole.
Nails sinking into flesh, fingers tousling hair.
Eyes that were like his but different,
The same way the sea and sky reflect light.
Perhaps a thousand beautiful things left their mouths, but it all turned to mist in the groggy air.
If they'd been listening, they could have heard the shanty drifting down from the deck above...
"Down the hatch,
We'll light the match
And set the seas ablaze…
We'll drink till morn,
And never scorn,
The things we've done these days…
So bottoms up,
We'll fill 'er up,
The songs we always play…
Sunset to rise,
The tides are high,
So down the hatch, today…"
Exeunt.
A/N: The shanty "Down the Hatch" is an original song written by me.
I don't know why, I laid awake one night thinking about Down the Hatch Classique (can be read in the next chapter) and couldn't stop imagining ways to rewrite it. I kept writing down little bits and pieces of it on paper at school, or in my phone at work and before bed. Then, the news suddenly broke at E3 that PotC was coming back for KHIII! If you've been keeping up with my social media, you'll know that I had a massive freak-out. What a beautiful and amazing coincidence this is! I decided I'd dive right back in and finish this redux project of mine.
I kept going back and forth between making it a long-form poem and a short story, until I finally settled on a little of both. The first section could still use a little work, but I really love where it is now and I wanted to share it.
I hope you enjoy the new version of one of my favorite pieces of writing from long ago!
Please please PLEASE favorite, follow, review, send kudos, add bookmarks… anything! Im still happily taking positive constructive criticism, too! I am always looking to improve my writing.