It was evening on one of the following days after Jacob and Edward had seen the whales and the Jackdaw II was like a small light in the endless darkness of an Ocean. Not to say that the Jackdaw II herself was on fire, but the two men had retreated to the inside of the ship to have dinner.
Well, first make dinner.
"I can do that. You have been cooking the whole time after all and now also on the helm. I'll be making fried rice.", Jacob said and started to cut up some vegetables.
"Huh? If you say so...I still have to get used to you being able to see again and ... you're much more active like that.", Edward said. For a moment, their hands touched and Ed pulled away, being slightly flustered.
Jacob was just as flustered when they had touched hands. Such a simple touch, yet so meaningful. Jacob started to realise what he thought about Edward. But it was difficult to deal with such feelings. What was he going to do about it?
He cleared his throat. "Uhum, well, Evie was right. You were my guardian angel. Somehow I always need someone watching over me. I'll always get into trouble."
Jacob set up some rice.
Edward had buried his feelings for Jacob long ago, but he just couldn't stop caring about the other man. He watched him taking care of their dinner.
"I hope it's not too critical. Right now you seem to be doing just fine. And then you were the one saving the ship in the last storm. That's something, isn't it?"
"I liked doing that. And it would have sucked if our ship had sunken. And I will take care of you any time. I owe you that.", Jacob kept on cutting the vegetables until they were small enough to his liking.
"You owe me nothing, Jacob. We're friends. And since you got the Hook now ...friends forever.", Edward smiled softly. "It's the Hook that binds you to me. Maybe I'm like a fish."
"Maybe. And .. if it was so?", Jacob smiled.
Edward had to think for a moment. Then he laughed and got up to get out the cutlery and plates. "Well, maybe you let me off that hook and slap me into the pan."
"But I don't want to eat you. Or else I would have to steer the ship alone, that would be quite lonesome. And I would never make it to America."
"Aw, shucks. That's not working out, is it?", Edward looked through the cupboards and took out some glasses. Then he found a bottle of good old Scottish Whisky. "How about we have some Whisky to drink with that? I think we can risk it."
"Sure, why not? After all we've been through...", their journey had not always been that smooth.
Dinner was ready and Edward poured them the Whisky. It was not an especially fancy drink but something other than ale, beer or rum.
"Cheers.", Edward raised his glass.
"Cheers.", Jacob didn't find that drink too bad. But his fried rice could have used a bit more spicing. "It really is a neat thing to sail through the world like that. You're so free and every day you experience something new."
"Mmh... It's not bad. At least we got to know the pacific ocean now. It's real big.", Edward tried the rice. "Hey, it doesn't taste half bad. You could cook more often.
"Heh, thanks.", the whisky made Jacob a bit tipsy and his cheeks flushed pink. "Maybe we can also discover other places after this one. The sea. The land."
"All the places? Oh, I must show you some places on the Caribbean. The places I've been. Nassau, Great Inagua, Kingston...", Edward got dreamy eyes when saying those names. It reminded him of the time he had raided among those places during the golden age of piracy. There were some bad things that had happened there, but it still evoked a feeling of nostalgia in him. Had many things changed during his absence?
Jacobs eyes sparkled. "Yes! Walking your steps from the time you were a Pirate. Let's do that. And we swim in the sea. You do fancy stuff with your Trident and me with my hook. It's going to be awesome."
"Aye, but first we'll catch up with the others at their place in America. ...They just told they have a small farm there with some other Assassins. You could pick up some animals there. You could turn into a horse and I could ride you ...wait, that sounds wrong.", Edward frowned and blushed slightly. "Maybe I have been without a partner for too long."
"Who knows, maybe I like that.", Jacob leaned back a bit and looked at Edward. "It's got to be hard, all those years without another person by your side like that. I would freak out. I think... at some point you might want to have something more than just your hand."
Edward frowned at Jacob. What was he trying to say? "Well, now since you've chosen to be immortal it can very well happen you face the same fate. You can get yourselves some whores, but , and I admit, I should have said so earlier. ...you won't bring any women onto my ship. My ship, my rules.", he gave Jacob a stern look.
"Whores? No thanks, I'd rather not get sick, you know. Also, there's no real passion to it. No love.", Jacob replied coolly.
"Good to know you see it that way. But you're right, you might need...a woman that stays. Going to be difficult, being immortal and stuff.", Edward poured himself some more Whisky. The bottle was emptying too fast to his liking but he had some more stored somewhere else.
"If I learnt one thing as a captain, than that you have to keep the spirits of your crew up. Or else there'll be mutiny and I never had that on my ship. So I'd rather even use my own hand to make my chief mate happy.", Edward huffed. "Not that I ever treated any of my crew members back then in that way. But we're only two lonely men on this ship now. And I've known you for a while."
Edward didn't think that Jacob had many people to tell that to either.
Jacob gave him a blank stare. Really now? He took another sip from the Whisky and cleared his throat. "May-maybe your chief mate would call upon that from time to time.", he said, not quite sure himself if that was a joke or not. "You're a good captain."
"And you're a good chief mate. You even been when you were blind.", both men were quite tipsy now but still, Edward moved up to get that second bottle.
"Edward? Have I ever told you that you hair looks real nice? ...Especially when you wear them in a bun.", Jacob said.
"Think so? I only do that because of pra.. practical reasons.", Edward felt with his hand if that knot was sitting right still. Yes, it somehow did. "Say, how much can you drink?"
"A lot. I'm pretty good at this. But you can probably take more than me.", Jacob grinned as his glass filled once again. "One time I went through London fully drunk and ...I don't know why but I was half naked. And then I had a shooting contest. It was quite something else trying to hit the targets. But I still wonder what I did to loose my shirt."
Edward was pretty sure it depended on what kind of alcohol you had. And then some got drunk more easily than others. "Maybe it was warm? But I really missed out then, you look good."
"Oh, charmed... I can only give that one back.", Jacob took a good look at Edward. The idea of lying with him seemed less absurd now. "What would you think... would you consider starting something with a guy? I-in theory, you know?"
Edward hiccuped and looked at Jacob. "No, why would I be doing that? I don't care if it's a guy .. or a girl. It's about the person, isn't it? But why should I be doing that? I got you, don't I?"
"But.. I am a guy, am I not?", Jacob was confused about Edwards answer.
"Yes, but I don't care, I still ... I love you.", there, it was out. Edward felt his face burning. And he didn't know if he should regret having said that. The alcohol had loosened his tongue quite a bit.
"And ... what if I thought the same of you?", Jacob felt a bit stressed out and was just as flustered.
Edward looked up from his glass. "Are you for real?"
Jacob took a deep breath and nodded. "I love you too, Edward."