Disclaimer: not mine, don't sue

Dedication: Maia for always being there.

Jack was a kisser, Will realized.

A very demonstrative, expressive captain, he was inclined to smack kisses against his crewmembers' squirming faces, ruffle their hair affectionately or sling a lazy arm over their shoulders.

The first time Jack laid a wet, startling kiss against his wind-ruffled hair, Will nearly suffered a heart attack.

Jumping three feet up in the air, he hastily, disgustedly wiped off the drool on his cheeks, glaring at his captain fiercely.

"Don't do that!" Will glowered, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

Smirking at his flustered first mate, Jack leaned in to pinch Will's cheeks.

"You're pretty when you're angry," he whispered, licking his lips suggestively at Will before turning away gracefully, taking care to wiggle his delectable bottom deliberately as he walked away.

Swallowing heavily, Will had to lean against the railings of the ship for support, feeling more than a little weak in the knees.

*******

He grew used to Jack's touchy-feely, effusive gestures, silently accepting the tender fingers that caressed his disheveled hair, the chapped lips that brushed his flushed face.

But Will always had to stifle the words that threatened to spill out of him every time he felt his captain leaning close to him, to consciously stop himself from recoiling against Jack's intrusive touch.

You shouldn't," Will whispered, his eyes following Jack's usual staggering progress.

Shouldn't look at me like that, smile at me like that, touch me like that, kiss me like that.

Turning back quizzically, cocking his head jauntily at Will, Jack asked with a comical leer, "Did you say something, love?"

Biting his lips, Will shook his head mutely.

******

Will didn't think he was very obvious, he had prided himself on the fact that he wasn't the type that wore his heart on his sleeve.

He had no earthly inkling how Anamaria discovered his secret, his fear.

All he knew was that one day, she had simply looked at him and her eyes narrowed.

Almost immediately, her eyes widened again in comprehension, compassion and she had held out her arms to him.

"Oh, Will."

Her voice was heartbreaking, filled with such intense pity that Will had nearly crumpled into a puddle of tears.

Not trusting himself to speak, not daring to look at Anamaria's knowing eyes, he bit his lips painfully, savagely, feeling the familiar, comforting taste of the tangy, bitter blood.

"Come here," Anamaria urged him softly, gently drawing the broken, trembling boy into her arms.

Collapsing into her arms, Will had clung to Anamaria desperately, as if she was the only thing keeping him adrift, alive.

"I can't breathe," he sobbed, his breath hitching in his throat as Anamaria stroked comforting circles on his back.

******

Will laid silently on the cold, hard bunk, pretending to be asleep, pretending he couldn't hear the raised voices out on the deck.

"You bastard! How could you do that to him?"

He could hear a thunderous slap and could almost taste the bitter sting of the blood in his mouth.

He could hear the indignant howl of the victim and the petulant stamping of feet and he nearly laughed.

But he couldn't.

If love was supposed to tear into your heart, stab into your mind and made you feel like you were going to die, every single minute of the day, then he would willingly forgo this.

Forgo this torture in exchange for the sweet, fumbling fondness he and Elizabeth had for each other.

*******

The clamor had died down but Will was still wide-awake.

He hadn't moved a single muscle though, he was just lying there motionless, pretending he was as lifeless as he looked.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," a choked voice suddenly breathed against his cool cheeks, heating up his steadfastly closed eyes.

He could feel butterfly wings flutter against his eyelashes, delicate kisses removing the diamonds from his cheeks.

Will blinked, his eyes wide and anguished as tears burned in his eyes, searing a fiery pain inside his heart.

"You shouldn't," He said clearly, lucidly, through the spinning haze that was clouding his vision.

Staring deep into Will's shimmering, desperate eyes, Jack asked softly, "Why not?"

"Because you don't mean it," Will replied faintly, his words barely rising above the hitched, irregular breathing of the both of them

"I do mean it." Jack said urgently, his hand nervously, shakily caressing Will's face.

"Oh." Will uttered, the disbelief in his eyes tempered with optimism, a quiet hope blossoming inside him, the petals curling out tentatively.

"Savvy?" Jack asked achingly tenderly, a renewed, irrepressible glow lighting up his eyes.

"Savvy." Will whispered into the blissful darkness, the smile curving up his lips meeting Jack's waiting lips.

Author's note: *sniffles* My first Will/ Jack fic was originally something completely different but I like this one way better. ^_^