Thank you all for your reviews! This is really an amazing thing for me, having so many people like what I write! You have renewed my faith in my own writing skills. Thank you all! Cat has promised me "something special" If I make it to 100 reviews between Aff.n, ff.n, MLs, and e-mails! I have 90 so far *head spins a the every thought* THANK YOU ALL!!!!
Kuja's Moon: Thanks for the review! I hope you like this chapter, which certainly id Jack filled ^^
Kari: Thanks for the review, and the hug, lol. Keep reading and I promis you won't be disappointed by the 'romancin''
Krimzon: Thank you. I love thoughtful reviews, If you do draw Jack's sword, I would love it and I'm sure Cat would be willing to host it on her ^^ Thanks again and I hope you like this chapter!
Doompaw: Glad to be of help. I feel like I'm back at school some times with the amount of research I'm doing! Lol. I'm glad you like the story so far! Thanks for the review!
Kouryou Sanomi: You haven't missed anything "yummy" yet on aff.n, but I will definitely let you know when you will. Thanks! I have the betaed versions of my chapters up, but if you see any mistakes, please tell me so I can fix em! Thank you!!!
Amberdragon: Something bad should happen to the Commodore…maybe it will. *shrug* it all depends what the rabid plot bunnies and muses decide to do!
Tongari: Thanks for the second review, hehehe. I felt like such an idiot when you pointed out the title thing ^^;;; yes, I think must have been channeling my inner drunken Jack at that point, lol. Thanks for pointing that out.
Sera Lunma: hehe. I agree that the "mornin' luv" is very Spike as well as very Jack ^^ I think that any mistakes have been fixed by Mel, my beta, but if you see any errors, please tell me! Thank you!
RavensHaelo: I promise there will be slash! If I don't follow through I give you permission the tie me to the rack and torture me!
Jaded*Secrets: Hehe. Your review made me grin ^_^ I don't know if Jack ever takes his outfit off, but I think he will if Will has anything to do with it ^.~ hehe but we'll just have to wait and see!
Borris: Hehe, here's some more! Hope you like it!
Jane Fairfax: Thanks for the review! More Jack in this chapter!
QteCuttlfish: Sorry about the clif hanger! I know they're annoying, but they're so useful! ^.~ Yes, I'm an evil fanfic writer!
Sarafina: I'm glad you liked my fic! I hope it was worth the wait!
Title: A Change of Course 5/?
Author: ElizabethGreenleaf
Rating: R for now. The slashy NC-17ness is coming…erm…was that 'no pun intended'?…I'm not so sure…
Pairings: JS/WT, WT/ES (friendship, post-failed relationship)
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Summary: Post PotC, Jack/Will. Life for Will, and even Elizabeth will never be the same as for the first time they each take their lives into their own hands and Will comes to terms with who he is and who he loves.
Feedback: ::Holds up a sign that says "Feed the Starving Writer" and a big red arrow pointing to REVIEW:: R any feedback is greatly appreciated. I hope I have Jack IC, any suggestions welcome!
Archive: sure, just tell me where so I can come and visit! ff.n, aff.n, Savvy? (http://evolutionsx.net/savvy/), Debauchery (http://debauchery.deep-ice.com/), And Cat's stick-figure fan-comic will be posted on her site, http://home.graffiti.net/cocfansite/coc.htm There's a little paint picture of Stick figure Jack up there now ^^;;;
Genre: Drama/Romance/and a touch of Adventure
Disclaimer: Still not mine ::sigh::
Warnings: Spoilers, Lemony goodness, SLASH, if two pretty boys going at it in the bedroom isn't your cup o' tea, get out now me hearties, YE HAVE BEEN WARNED!! Oh, I should probably add an angst warning here too…
Author's notes: Thank you Cat for making me write this, oh, and of course, thank you for the challenge, which I'll mention in AN at the very end of the fic; after the last chapter that is ^^
AN2: I haven't had this betaed yet, so please bare with me. I'll post the betaed version ASAP.
"* *" - thoughts
Chapter 5: Of Conversation and Things Left Unsaid
Chapter 5: Of Conversation and Things Left Unsaid
Will longed to let the truth just spill from his lips. He wanted to tell Jack that not a day went by when he didn't think of him, and his eyes, and his hair, and his smile, and the sound of his voice, and, well, /i! About the good dreams, which had generally involved quite a bit of kissing, groping, and other such wonderful things that could be done with a naked Jack, be he sober or not. And Will wanted to tell him about the nightmares, and to promise Jack that he would always be there to save him, whether it was a rash and fool hearty statement or not. But most of all Will wanted to let the words of love flow from his lips. He wanted Jack to smile and laugh and then sweep him off his feet, kiss him thoroughly and deposit him back on the seedy bed. But Will did none of the things he wanted to, and instead, smiled at Jack as only a person in love can, and laughed.
"Now why on /i would I miss you?" Will teased. Jack raised an eyebrow, and with a mock look of shock and dismay, and with exaggerated slowness, took his arm off Will's shoulders and stepped away from the younger man, causing Will to again stumble, as Jack had been the one keeping him upright.
"You alright there, luv? You look as though you could use a bit o' rum to steady yerself." Jack flashed Will one of his trademark grins as he found perch, leaning his back against the nearest wall and crossing his arms loosely over his chest, occasionally using one arm to gesture while he spoke. Will felt as though an entire flock of butterflies had taken up residence in his stomach.
"How 'bout you an' I go down stairs an' I can tell you why you've missed me over a nice bottle of rum, savvy?" Jack's smile never faltered and Will could not help the faint blush that painted his cheeks.
"Aye, that sounds like a plan." Will smiled and Jack, swaggering all the way, led him out of his room and down the stairs to the common room where Will had listened to pirates talk the night before. Jack lead him to the back of the half-full room, right to the table where Will had sat the night before. Will froze. He could still hear the voice of the pirate ringing in his ears. *"'twer caught in dat storm de other day. Ain't been no word 'bout 'er since."* An involuntary shudder rippled down Will's back as the sight of a burnt and broken Jack Sparrow floated beneath him, dying, and there was nothing he could do about it.
"Lad?" Jack asked in a concerned voice when Will seemed to freeze in his tracks and his mind seemed far away. Will did not even hear Jack when he spoke. Jack looked carefully at Will, examining the pale features of the boy. *He's no boy, Jack,* Jack reminded himself. *He's a bloody pirate! And the son of a bloody good pirate too!* The look in Will's eyes read as muddy mixture of fear and pain. "Will?" Jack's voice lacked its usual carefree (or careless, some might say) intonation and Jack sounded quite sober and concerned. It took Jack grabbing Will's arm to shake him out of his unpleasant reverie.
"What? Sorry, Jack, my mind must have been elsewhere." Will smiled, laughing it off, though Jack noticed that the laughter never reached Will's eyes. Jack's usual half-drunken manner slipped back into place, though his dark eyes were keen and alert, and they were focused on Will.
"No problem mate. How bout that rum?" With a tilt of his head, a charming smile and a wink, Jack signaled the serving wench, who was being harassed a bit on the other side of the room, and she came to get their order.
Jack flirted and teased the woman, who could not have been more than a year or two older than Will himself, to the point where she blushed like a proper English lady, a fact which Will found rather entertaining.
A frown suddenly creased Will's brow. He did not look so much upset but more concentrating very hard on one thing in particular. Jack, noticing that his companion's attention no longer was on him opened his mouth to speak and was interrupted by the serving wench who deposited two pewter tankards of beer and a sealed bottle of rum on the table along with some sort of meat that Jack did not want to examine all that closely. Jack immediately lifted the tankard to his mouth and let the beer slide down his throat as if it were naught but water, which Will supposed it was to Jack.
"How did you find me?" Will asked suddenly, his eyes piercing into Jack's almost accusatorily. Jack took another swallow of beer before speaking.
"Oh, well, you know," he used his slightly grimy hands for emphasis when he spoke. "There really wasn't much to it, if you catch my meaning." Will obviously did not believe Jack's story, so the pirate tried a different approach: extreme nonchalance bordering on boredom. "You know a little bit of information here, a little bit there."
Will raised an eyebrow at Jack as he drank from his own tankard. "The truth, Jack." Will tried to sound stern, but a smile played at the corner of his mouth, which he tried to hide by taking another drink.
"Ran into a merchant ship today," Jack said almost brightly, and seemingly out of no where and for no reason in particular. Will let him continue, hoping that Jack was not just trying to change the subject.
"By 'ran into' you mean you attacked?" Will asked, surprising Jack with the lack of his old accusatory intonation in reference to pirating.
"Not exactly." Jack leaned in across the table towards Will, his voice becoming more animated (if possible) as he described the encounter. "You see, we were a bit surprised to see a nice merchant ship sailing from Tortuga, and we thoughts we might be having a bit o' friendly conversation with them."
Jack paused and looked to Will, who raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Jack shrugged and continued on. "We came upon them fast and they didn't have a chance. A slow little ship, older, and no cannons. Nothing really special about it, it just piqued my curiosity why a merchant ship would be sailing from Tortuga, seeing as it's a favorite past time round these parts to torture merchants. Must've been something pretty valuable for them to have come within ten leagues of here."
Will drank deeply from his tankard, trying to stop the combined nausea (for he had a feeling where this story was going) and the fluttering that seemed to only increase as Jack spoke, caressing Will's ears with their tones and forcing Will to concentrate hard to understand what Jack was even saying. "Interestin' name, that ship had. The iStubborn Donkey/i. Didn't put up much of a fight, after all, this is iThe Pearl/i we be talking about." Jack paused for a moment to gauge Will's reaction, which was masked by the tankard, whose contents Will seemed intent on consuming as quickly as possible, ant that alone was enough of a response for Jack to continue.
"Seems the crew had taken to calling her iThe Ass/i. Amusing name. Well, we searched the ship, port to stern, found little of value. A few bottles of wine, a few handfuls of silver -- nothing of any great value. At least till we searched the captain. Found somethin' interestin' there. Seems he had recently come into possession of a gold doubloon. Now this tale needed telling before I decided what to do with the ship. And quite the interestin' tale it was."
Will Turner was a lovely scarlet shade and he seemed to be able to look anywhere that wasn't at Jack Sparrow, which only made Jack grin. "He said he'd been docked in Port Royal three days back. Said there was quite a commotion in the streets. Somethin' about a duel between a tradesman, a blacksmith if I'm not mistaken, and a British Navy officer, a captain or commodore, someone of high rank. Seems the young tradesman won the duel, even with the officer fighting dirty. The merchant captain said the lad who won was a fair impressive sight with a sword in his hand. Fair impressive sight was the sword itself too. Made by an expert at his trade. Well, seems as though this same lad shows up and offers the captain of iThe Ass/i a gold, Spanish doubloon in exchange for passage to Tortuga. It seems the captain of iThe Ass/i was in some sort of trouble and was needing the money enough to take it. After all, only a fool would pass up an offer like that. When I asked what business the lad had in Tortuga, the captain said that the lad only said that he was 'lookin' for a pirate, a specific one.' Fancy that. Well, now, it didn't take ol' Jack here long to put two and two together."
Will was frozen to the spot. He wanted to both get up and run as fast as he could out of the dimly lit room and to stay right where he was and listen to Jack talk for the rest of his life. His hear pounded in his chest. He wanted to lean across the table and kiss Jack like a saucy and daring prostitute. He wanted to--
Will was distracted from his train of thought as Jack returned to talking, seemingly oblivious to Will's warring emotions. "I had to wonder just how many 'Will Turner's' there were in Port Royal. And just how many of them were blacksmiths. And how many of those were a fair hand with a sword. Or were likely to be using their skills in an impromptu duel with a commodore. And how many of them were acquaintances with pirates. It seemed that there could only be one, after all, just how many Will-Turner-expert-blacksmith-and-swordsmnn-who-is-disliked-by-a-commodore-and-is-friends-with-a-notorrius-pirate are there? So we took what was necessary, left the ship whole and the crew mostly unscathed (I was feeling generous today) and set sail for Tortuga. Looked for the most respectable place 'round here and then turned on the Jack Sparrow charm and flirted with the owner of this here establishment 'till I found what room you were staying in."
Will shook his head and for some reason he seemed to feel a pang of jealousy run through his heart. "You are something, Jack. You'll flirt with anything in a skirt to get what you want, won't you?" Jack took notice of Will's 'odd' behavior and catalogued it in his mind for future consideration.
"Nay, you misunderstood me, whelp! While most of what you said might be true, I assure you he wasn't wearing a skirt!" Jack smiled brilliantly and Will was entirely caught off guard. He blinked at Jack and opened and closed his mouth several times, unable to form coherent thoughts and doubting that his ears had heard correctly, while at the same time praying that they had. Jack chuckled and sat back in his seat, enjoying the expressions Will was making.
"See, I was telling you the truth." Jack looked at Will intently. Will could not help but meet Jack's intense gaze. "I'd never lie to you, Will; I may omit the truth from time-to-time, but an all out lie…" Jack let the sentence hang in the air. Will blushed and averted his eyes. He noticed that Jack absent-mindedly ran the tip of his finger lightly around the rim of his nearly empty tankard as the silence between the two grew larger and more poignant.
Suddenly, Jack licked his finger, downed the rest of his drink and picked up the still sealed bottle of rum and stood up, a handful of coins clattering to the table for payment. "How 'bout we find a better place to share this bottle of rum?" Jack had a mischievous glint in his eye. Will narrowed his eyes slightly. "It's too nice out for us to stay in here all night," Jack said by means of an explanation.
Will nodded and soon found himself following after Jack like a pet on a leash. Jack wound his way through the maze of streets, somehow parting the crowd as he went. It seemed to Will that Jack's charm went into over drive as constant murmurs of " 'Scuse me," and "Sorry 'bout that," were intermingled with smirks, half-smiles and winks. Will soon realized that they were making for the docks, and for iThe Black Pearl/i. Jack walked with confidence of a king, the swagger of the local drunk, and the charm of the greatest actors.
Jack beamed as they came upon iThe Pearl/i. Even without her sails out she was a frightening and magnificent ship. Legend said that the wood of the ship was stained with the blood of it's victims, though Will thought that to be highly unlikely as the sod was a blackish gray rather than the brown-red of old blood. Jack made his way up the gangplank and onto his ship, with a greeting to Duncan who was on watch. Will stopped and stared. It was as though a picture from one of his day-dreams had come to life. Jack stood proudly on the deck of his ship, one hand on his hip, the other holding a bottle of rum. Will felt heat rush through his body at the thought of where such dreams often ended up.
Jack turned to see Will staring up at him from the dock, looking at him and not seeing him at the same time. Jack was beginning to worry about the boy, his behavior that day was unusual to say the least, but it did give him a chance to watch the boy without being caught. He watched as Will's sensuous lips ghosted into a smile and his whole body seemed to relax. Jack could have spent the entire day watching Will, remembering every little detail of the brunet who was painted so beautifully in the summer sun.
Will shook himself out of his reverie and looked up to see Jack looking back at him, the oddest expression on his face. The expression was quickly replaced by a cat-got-the-cream grin as Jack called to him, "Are you comin' aboard or will I have to drink this all by me onesies?" Will smiled back at his friend and boarded the ship.
i*How can anyone i onto the ground so damned gracefully!?*/i Will wondered as Jack sat himself on the deck and leaned back against one of the masts.
Will watched as his friend broke the seal of wax round the bottle of rum and then took a long swig of it. Will watched as the lids of Jack's eyes slid shut to touch their kohl darkened mates. The muscles in Jack's throat contracted with each swallow and Will himself swallowed, though more from nervous anxiety than from anything else. Jack offered the bottle to him a moment later and Will took the proffered bottle. Leaning against the mast Jack was sitting at, Will too slid into a sitting position.
They passed the bottle of rum back and forth for a bit, neither saying anything, just enjoying each other's company and a bottle of good rum. The companionable silence was something Will treasured, loved, and longed for on lonely nights in the forge with only a donkey for company. He and Elizabeth were not unused to companionable silence, but it was a rare thing for them of late, seeing as it was improper for a lady to be alone with a man, particularly a man beneath her station. But companionable silence with Jack was another thing all together. You could almost hear the wheels in Jack's head turn as he sat there thinking about something or other, weather that something was which ship they would go after next or which verse of the song Elizabeth had taught him, it didn't matter. The silence was filled by friendship, an unusual one perhaps, but a friendship none the less.
And it was filled with other things. It was filled with Will's desire for Jack. There was only about a foot separating the two of them after all, and it would be so easy for Will to inch his way over until…
"So where has the lovely lady gone off to this time that you again need my help to rescue her?" Jack's tone was even, which might not have seemed unusual to the casual bystander, but Will knew it was a sign that Jack was annoyed.
"Elizabeth?" Will asked, trying to decide the best way to go about the conversation without saying too much.
"No, the other lass you were willing to risk your neck and turn pirate to save," Jack joked, but it seemed a tad bit forced. Will wished he could see Jack's face from where he sat, but he could not.
"I don't know where she is." Will answered truthfully. He took a deep breath and continued while he still had the courage to speak and before he thought too much about what he was saying. "Governor Swann died." The audible sound of Jack putting the bottle of rum down between them.
"If that's the case, shouldn't I be congratulatin' you? After all, when I left the two of you seemed rather cozy." This was not going at all how Will had intended. He stood up a bit to fast and lost his balance for a moment, catching the mast for support and closing his eyes.
"No. It's not like that." Will said, his eyes still closed.
"Is it not? Then tell me lad, what is it like?"
"We weren't meant to be together. We're not in love with each other. We never were." Will mentally crossed his fingers and hoped he was doing the right thing.
"Oh really? I seem to recall the two of you risking your lives to save each other's hides more than once. I'd call that love." Jack had stood up and was now facing Will.
"Yes, I love her. But I'm not in love with her." Will kept his eyes down.
"So you love the girl, but you're not iin love/i with the girl."
"Correct." Will chanced a look up and saw that Jack was looking rather thoughtful and stroking his braided beard.
"And she feels the same?"
"Yes. She turned me down when I asked her to marry me. After she found out her father died, I mean." Will hurriedly added though he wasn't sure why.
"Stop me when I get something wrong." Will nodded. "So you ask your orphaned friend to marry you to save her from marrying a complete stranger or worse yet, that horrible Commodore Norrington." Jack enhanced his speech with exaggerated words and exuberant hand gestures. "So she leaves Port Royal for… England, I'd assume, and before leaving she pissed off the good Commodore enough that he thought he would confront you about it. You win the fight and charter a merchant ship to Tortuga to find iThe Pearl/i and convince us to go after the girl." By this time Jack was counting off points on his fingers.
"Stop." Will said quietly, his voice oddly hoarse. "Your right on most accounts, but not on the last. Yes I asked her to marry me to save her from marrying Norrington, yes she left Port Royal to head eventually to England, and yes, you were right about the Commodore and me fighting. But I did not come here to ask you to help me find Elizabeth!" Will's temper was getting out of hand. Perhaps it was the rum, or maybe Will was just cracking under pressure, or maybe it was his defenses going up; after all, if no one got close he couldn't get hurt.
Will stepped away from Jack and made his way towards the gangplank. He couldn't think straight, and when he couldn't think he had a tendency to blurt things out and to say things that he would later regret.
"Will, come now! Don't get upset!" Jack's usual drawl was back, which seemed to do naught but add fuel to the fire.
"Forget it Jack," Will was quickly descending to the dock. "I shouldn't have come here."
Will quickly walked towards the ladder at the other end of the dock leading down to the beach.
A rather confused and perplexed Jack followed after the apparently very angry Will.
Will walked quickly, occasionally picking up a rock and throwing it hard into the water.
Jack kept up with Will, staying a dozen or so paces behind so as not to be hit by one of the rocks Will seemed so fond of throwing.
Finally Will stopped, his breathing was coming in shortened gasps. Jack caught up to Will and stood with his arm leaning against the nearest palm tree. "If you wanted me to go with you on a walk mate, all you had to do was ask." Jack sounded sincere despite the light tone. Will wanted to find another meaning in those words, a deeper value that meant that Jack truly had feelings for him, but Will couldn't let himself dream things like that.
"Go back, Jack." Will sounded almost defeated and that frightened Jack. Where was that fire in the face of adversity? Where was the firry young man who had put a pistol to his own head to save his friends?
"Sorry, whelp, I can't be doing that." Jack took a few steps towards Will.
"Jack, just leave me alone." Will's temper flared and his hand when to the hilt of the sword he wore at his waist.
"I can't do that, Will."
In an instant, Will had drawn the sword he carried and pointed it at Jack. "I said, Go. Back."
"And I said no." Jack ducked beneath Will's blade, rolled out of the way and drew his own sword as he righted himself.
The two circled each other, both weary to fight, their desire to not want to hurt each other warring with their drive to win.
A few timid, testing lunges and parries they began to fight in earnest, neither gaining the upper hand. Words were the key to Will's undoing and Jack used that fact as leverage. The right amount of pressure at the precise moment…
"Interesting sword you've got there." Those words were just enough to make Will falter momentarily; just enough for Jack to use his sword to catch Will's and disarm him.
The blade flew through the air and Jack caught it deftly in his left hand, pointing both at Will.
"I yield." Will said quietly. Jack returned his sword to its rightful position on his person and began to examine the sword Will had been carrying.
Will watched as Jack examined every inch of the sword. Will felt exposed having someone stair at something so personal to him. He felt as though Jack was looking into his very soul and his eyes were not even on him! Will blushed and suddenly seemed to find his shoes extraordinarily interesting.
Time ticked by slowly and still Jack examined the sword. Will looked up again. Jack's hands ran lithely across the blade, from the fuller and forte, across the middle ridge, past the terzo, along the foible and then his finger lightly grazed the point, testing it's sharpness, and smiling when he cut his finger on its exceptionally keen edge.
The way Jack handled the weapon, with such a gentle touch…Will would have given every doubloon in the Spanish Maine to have been that sword just then. To be caressed by Jack's tan, weathered, calloused hands…Will barley swallowed the moan that threatened to escape from his lips. As it was, he was quite glad for the long vest that covered past his hips and hid the slight bulge in the crotch of his breeches. Will flushed again.
"Your craftsmanship has improved immensely, Will. I have never seen such a well made sword forged in the New World. This piece could rival those made by even the masters in Toledo, Milan, and Solingen(1)." It was respect and perhaps a touch of awe that colored Jack's speech as he presented the sword back to Will hilt first. "This is a magnificent weapon, Will. It is obvious even to the common layman that this sword is…unique to you. Take care of her, she'll serve you well."
Will swallowed. He could feel himself walking on the edge of a knife, careful balancing what he said and did.
Will held up his hands in a gesture that obviously meant that he would not take the weapon back. "No she won't, Jack." Will took a deep breath and met Jack's confused gaze with his intense one. "She will serve /i well."
The look in Jack's eyes was one of surprise, elation, confusion, and denial. He shook his head. "I cannot take it, Will.' He tried to pass it to Will again, but Will would have none of it.
"But you must!" Will's fire and energy were fast returning. "I mean…It's yours, Jack." Jack opened his mouth to argue. "I made it for /i," Will paused, "it was part of the reason I came to find you."
Jack stared at Will and then back at the sword. His. /i sword. A sword that Will had made for him. His heart beat faster in his chest and he swallowed the lump in his throat. "I don't know what to say," Jack said honestly, eliciting a chuckle from Will, who was quite happy with himself for having succeeded in making Jack Sparrow speechless. "Thank you, Will." He met Will's eyes and was happy to see the content look on Will's face.
Jack grinned and tried a few practice lunges and cuts with his new sword. She fit perfectly into his hand. It was as though Will knew exactly what Jack sought for in a blade. Perfect weight, balance, length, and the design was just elegant and showy enough to make Jack happy.
As Jack pranced around with his new sword, thrusting, blocking, ducking and gutting at invisible foes, Will looked on. A sense of contentment and satisfaction filled him. He had mad Jack a good sword, a great sword that would serve him well. Will bit his lip. He wondered if Jack could feel the emotions Will put into every hammer of the steel. He wondered if the gift was enough; though enough for what, Will had yet to figure out.
Jack, grinning still, came up to Will and draped an arm across Will's shoulder. "How bout we head back to iThe Pearl/i and finish off that bottle of rum? Savvy?" Will turned his head and smiled.
"Sure."
Jack took his old sword out of its sheath and threw it to Will, who caught it deftly. "We can't go around depriving one of the best swordsmen this side of the Atlantic of a sword." He winked and sheathed his new sword where the old one once stayed, his hand ever caressing the hilt.
Will sheathed Jack's old sword and followed after the crazy pirate who was quietly singing the song Elizabeth had taught him.
The sun was beginning to set and Will stopped to look at it. After what seemed like years of sunsets spent waiting for Jack and iThe Black Pearl/i to return to Port Royal, Will was finally reunited with them both. His feelings for Jack had not changed since they were reunited, but Will would not do anything to jeopardize his friendship with the unusual pirate, even if that meant… "Nearly every day I watched for you, for iThe Pearl/i. Always hoping that I would see the ship that was like a nightmare herself, cutting a shadow into the setting sun." Will closed his eyes.
"You said that this sword was one of the reasons you came here. Why else?" Jack was suddenly very close. Will had not noticed that the pirate had turned around and walked back towards him.
He was less than an arm's length away. Will swallowed nervously and forced himself to keep eye contact with Jack. "I came back because I can't deny that I'm a pirate." Jack grinned at this. "And," Will took a deep breath, "I would rather die at your side than live the life of a Master Blacksmith." Will could not bring himself to say anymore, and feared that he had said too much as it was. Jack looked at Will with something akin to awe on his face.
Will stood there, his skin the color of cream in the light of the setting sun. Much of the hair that had been held back by its leather thong had come undone and what was too short to be tucked behind his ears fell gracefully into his face. Will's eyes burned with emotion as he spoke as if he weighed and measured each word before he said it. Will's eyes told of things unsaid: of fire and passion, of raw desire, of lust and perhaps even of love.
Jack closed the distance between them in one step. He searched Will's eyes for a moment before placing a finger beneath Will's chin and gently bringing his lips together with Will's.
Will's heart beat uncontrollably as Jack's chapped lips came in contact with his own. The gentle, innocent and chaste kiss sent a jolt of electricity through his body and Will found himself wrapping his arms around Jack and pulling them closer together. Will gasped at the feeling, for Jack's strong, muscled physique flush against his own. Jack took the opportunity to let his tongue gently and deftly delve into Will's mouth.
Will playfully darted his tongue into Jack's mouth and they battled for supremacy. Jack seemed intent on memorizing every inch of Will's mouth. Beneath the faint lingering taste of rum was Will's own unique flavor and Jack decided that rum tasted far better in Will's mouth than it did coming out of a bottle.
Will himself was in heaven. Jack kissed him in a way he'd never thought possible. They broke for air, panting. Already Will missed Jack's taste and the feel of his tongue in his mouth. He moaned softly and brought their lips together in a more intense and demanding kiss.
Jack pulled away, panting for breath. Will smiled. Jack's lips were bruised a darker red as Will imagined his still-tingling lips were. They were both smiling recklessly and Jack laughed quietly.
Jack leaned over and kissed Will's forehead and eyelids and nose before lightly kissing his mouth again. "We should head back while there's still light enough to see by." Jack said sensibly, though his body sincerely objected to anything that took it away from Will's welcoming body.
"Mmm," Will nodded in agreement and reluctantly stepped away from Jack.
They walked in almost perfect silence back to the ship, both afraid that if they started talking they would stop walking and start groping, and soon enough find themselves on their backs, lying in the sand.
Not soon enough they were on the dock walking towards iThe Black Pearl/i. Jack strode on ahead. He turned and offered Will a hand to help Will board, despite the fact that Will did not need any assistance. Will threw Jack a heated glance and Jack met it for a moment before breaking eye contact.
"Welcome aboard iThe Black Pearl/i." Jack grinned wickedly. Will grinned back.
"If I'm staying, I'm going to need my trunk." Will said practically, trying to keep thoughts about Jack's lips out of his mind.
"I'll send Kursar and Matelot for it." Jack said casually as he strode off in the direction of the two still mostly-sober crewmen, giving them orders and then returning to Will's side. "Satisfied?"
"Not yet." Will grinned.
"We're going to have to remedy that." Jack laughed as he led the way to his cabin.
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(1) The best swords came from Toledo, Spain, Milan, Italy, and Solingen, Germany according to the Dorling Kindersley "Eyewitness Books: PIRATE" by Richard Platt.
TBC…
AN: Does anyone else see a chibbi-Jack leading a chibbi-Will on a leash in the near future? I think Cat does, hehehe.
Kuja's Moon: Thanks for the review! I hope you like this chapter, which certainly id Jack filled ^^
Kari: Thanks for the review, and the hug, lol. Keep reading and I promis you won't be disappointed by the 'romancin''
Krimzon: Thank you. I love thoughtful reviews, If you do draw Jack's sword, I would love it and I'm sure Cat would be willing to host it on her ^^ Thanks again and I hope you like this chapter!
Doompaw: Glad to be of help. I feel like I'm back at school some times with the amount of research I'm doing! Lol. I'm glad you like the story so far! Thanks for the review!
Kouryou Sanomi: You haven't missed anything "yummy" yet on aff.n, but I will definitely let you know when you will. Thanks! I have the betaed versions of my chapters up, but if you see any mistakes, please tell me so I can fix em! Thank you!!!
Amberdragon: Something bad should happen to the Commodore…maybe it will. *shrug* it all depends what the rabid plot bunnies and muses decide to do!
Tongari: Thanks for the second review, hehehe. I felt like such an idiot when you pointed out the title thing ^^;;; yes, I think must have been channeling my inner drunken Jack at that point, lol. Thanks for pointing that out.
Sera Lunma: hehe. I agree that the "mornin' luv" is very Spike as well as very Jack ^^ I think that any mistakes have been fixed by Mel, my beta, but if you see any errors, please tell me! Thank you!
RavensHaelo: I promise there will be slash! If I don't follow through I give you permission the tie me to the rack and torture me!
Jaded*Secrets: Hehe. Your review made me grin ^_^ I don't know if Jack ever takes his outfit off, but I think he will if Will has anything to do with it ^.~ hehe but we'll just have to wait and see!
Borris: Hehe, here's some more! Hope you like it!
Jane Fairfax: Thanks for the review! More Jack in this chapter!
QteCuttlfish: Sorry about the clif hanger! I know they're annoying, but they're so useful! ^.~ Yes, I'm an evil fanfic writer!
Sarafina: I'm glad you liked my fic! I hope it was worth the wait!
Title: A Change of Course 5/?
Author: ElizabethGreenleaf
Rating: R for now. The slashy NC-17ness is coming…erm…was that 'no pun intended'?…I'm not so sure…
Pairings: JS/WT, WT/ES (friendship, post-failed relationship)
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Summary: Post PotC, Jack/Will. Life for Will, and even Elizabeth will never be the same as for the first time they each take their lives into their own hands and Will comes to terms with who he is and who he loves.
Feedback: ::Holds up a sign that says "Feed the Starving Writer" and a big red arrow pointing to REVIEW:: R any feedback is greatly appreciated. I hope I have Jack IC, any suggestions welcome!
Archive: sure, just tell me where so I can come and visit! ff.n, aff.n, Savvy? (http://evolutionsx.net/savvy/), Debauchery (http://debauchery.deep-ice.com/), And Cat's stick-figure fan-comic will be posted on her site, http://home.graffiti.net/cocfansite/coc.htm There's a little paint picture of Stick figure Jack up there now ^^;;;
Genre: Drama/Romance/and a touch of Adventure
Disclaimer: Still not mine ::sigh::
Warnings: Spoilers, Lemony goodness, SLASH, if two pretty boys going at it in the bedroom isn't your cup o' tea, get out now me hearties, YE HAVE BEEN WARNED!! Oh, I should probably add an angst warning here too…
Author's notes: Thank you Cat for making me write this, oh, and of course, thank you for the challenge, which I'll mention in AN at the very end of the fic; after the last chapter that is ^^
AN2: I haven't had this betaed yet, so please bare with me. I'll post the betaed version ASAP.
"* *" - thoughts
Chapter 5: Of Conversation and Things Left Unsaid
Chapter 5: Of Conversation and Things Left Unsaid
Will longed to let the truth just spill from his lips. He wanted to tell Jack that not a day went by when he didn't think of him, and his eyes, and his hair, and his smile, and the sound of his voice, and, well, /i! About the good dreams, which had generally involved quite a bit of kissing, groping, and other such wonderful things that could be done with a naked Jack, be he sober or not. And Will wanted to tell him about the nightmares, and to promise Jack that he would always be there to save him, whether it was a rash and fool hearty statement or not. But most of all Will wanted to let the words of love flow from his lips. He wanted Jack to smile and laugh and then sweep him off his feet, kiss him thoroughly and deposit him back on the seedy bed. But Will did none of the things he wanted to, and instead, smiled at Jack as only a person in love can, and laughed.
"Now why on /i would I miss you?" Will teased. Jack raised an eyebrow, and with a mock look of shock and dismay, and with exaggerated slowness, took his arm off Will's shoulders and stepped away from the younger man, causing Will to again stumble, as Jack had been the one keeping him upright.
"You alright there, luv? You look as though you could use a bit o' rum to steady yerself." Jack flashed Will one of his trademark grins as he found perch, leaning his back against the nearest wall and crossing his arms loosely over his chest, occasionally using one arm to gesture while he spoke. Will felt as though an entire flock of butterflies had taken up residence in his stomach.
"How 'bout you an' I go down stairs an' I can tell you why you've missed me over a nice bottle of rum, savvy?" Jack's smile never faltered and Will could not help the faint blush that painted his cheeks.
"Aye, that sounds like a plan." Will smiled and Jack, swaggering all the way, led him out of his room and down the stairs to the common room where Will had listened to pirates talk the night before. Jack lead him to the back of the half-full room, right to the table where Will had sat the night before. Will froze. He could still hear the voice of the pirate ringing in his ears. *"'twer caught in dat storm de other day. Ain't been no word 'bout 'er since."* An involuntary shudder rippled down Will's back as the sight of a burnt and broken Jack Sparrow floated beneath him, dying, and there was nothing he could do about it.
"Lad?" Jack asked in a concerned voice when Will seemed to freeze in his tracks and his mind seemed far away. Will did not even hear Jack when he spoke. Jack looked carefully at Will, examining the pale features of the boy. *He's no boy, Jack,* Jack reminded himself. *He's a bloody pirate! And the son of a bloody good pirate too!* The look in Will's eyes read as muddy mixture of fear and pain. "Will?" Jack's voice lacked its usual carefree (or careless, some might say) intonation and Jack sounded quite sober and concerned. It took Jack grabbing Will's arm to shake him out of his unpleasant reverie.
"What? Sorry, Jack, my mind must have been elsewhere." Will smiled, laughing it off, though Jack noticed that the laughter never reached Will's eyes. Jack's usual half-drunken manner slipped back into place, though his dark eyes were keen and alert, and they were focused on Will.
"No problem mate. How bout that rum?" With a tilt of his head, a charming smile and a wink, Jack signaled the serving wench, who was being harassed a bit on the other side of the room, and she came to get their order.
Jack flirted and teased the woman, who could not have been more than a year or two older than Will himself, to the point where she blushed like a proper English lady, a fact which Will found rather entertaining.
A frown suddenly creased Will's brow. He did not look so much upset but more concentrating very hard on one thing in particular. Jack, noticing that his companion's attention no longer was on him opened his mouth to speak and was interrupted by the serving wench who deposited two pewter tankards of beer and a sealed bottle of rum on the table along with some sort of meat that Jack did not want to examine all that closely. Jack immediately lifted the tankard to his mouth and let the beer slide down his throat as if it were naught but water, which Will supposed it was to Jack.
"How did you find me?" Will asked suddenly, his eyes piercing into Jack's almost accusatorily. Jack took another swallow of beer before speaking.
"Oh, well, you know," he used his slightly grimy hands for emphasis when he spoke. "There really wasn't much to it, if you catch my meaning." Will obviously did not believe Jack's story, so the pirate tried a different approach: extreme nonchalance bordering on boredom. "You know a little bit of information here, a little bit there."
Will raised an eyebrow at Jack as he drank from his own tankard. "The truth, Jack." Will tried to sound stern, but a smile played at the corner of his mouth, which he tried to hide by taking another drink.
"Ran into a merchant ship today," Jack said almost brightly, and seemingly out of no where and for no reason in particular. Will let him continue, hoping that Jack was not just trying to change the subject.
"By 'ran into' you mean you attacked?" Will asked, surprising Jack with the lack of his old accusatory intonation in reference to pirating.
"Not exactly." Jack leaned in across the table towards Will, his voice becoming more animated (if possible) as he described the encounter. "You see, we were a bit surprised to see a nice merchant ship sailing from Tortuga, and we thoughts we might be having a bit o' friendly conversation with them."
Jack paused and looked to Will, who raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Jack shrugged and continued on. "We came upon them fast and they didn't have a chance. A slow little ship, older, and no cannons. Nothing really special about it, it just piqued my curiosity why a merchant ship would be sailing from Tortuga, seeing as it's a favorite past time round these parts to torture merchants. Must've been something pretty valuable for them to have come within ten leagues of here."
Will drank deeply from his tankard, trying to stop the combined nausea (for he had a feeling where this story was going) and the fluttering that seemed to only increase as Jack spoke, caressing Will's ears with their tones and forcing Will to concentrate hard to understand what Jack was even saying. "Interestin' name, that ship had. The iStubborn Donkey/i. Didn't put up much of a fight, after all, this is iThe Pearl/i we be talking about." Jack paused for a moment to gauge Will's reaction, which was masked by the tankard, whose contents Will seemed intent on consuming as quickly as possible, ant that alone was enough of a response for Jack to continue.
"Seems the crew had taken to calling her iThe Ass/i. Amusing name. Well, we searched the ship, port to stern, found little of value. A few bottles of wine, a few handfuls of silver -- nothing of any great value. At least till we searched the captain. Found somethin' interestin' there. Seems he had recently come into possession of a gold doubloon. Now this tale needed telling before I decided what to do with the ship. And quite the interestin' tale it was."
Will Turner was a lovely scarlet shade and he seemed to be able to look anywhere that wasn't at Jack Sparrow, which only made Jack grin. "He said he'd been docked in Port Royal three days back. Said there was quite a commotion in the streets. Somethin' about a duel between a tradesman, a blacksmith if I'm not mistaken, and a British Navy officer, a captain or commodore, someone of high rank. Seems the young tradesman won the duel, even with the officer fighting dirty. The merchant captain said the lad who won was a fair impressive sight with a sword in his hand. Fair impressive sight was the sword itself too. Made by an expert at his trade. Well, seems as though this same lad shows up and offers the captain of iThe Ass/i a gold, Spanish doubloon in exchange for passage to Tortuga. It seems the captain of iThe Ass/i was in some sort of trouble and was needing the money enough to take it. After all, only a fool would pass up an offer like that. When I asked what business the lad had in Tortuga, the captain said that the lad only said that he was 'lookin' for a pirate, a specific one.' Fancy that. Well, now, it didn't take ol' Jack here long to put two and two together."
Will was frozen to the spot. He wanted to both get up and run as fast as he could out of the dimly lit room and to stay right where he was and listen to Jack talk for the rest of his life. His hear pounded in his chest. He wanted to lean across the table and kiss Jack like a saucy and daring prostitute. He wanted to--
Will was distracted from his train of thought as Jack returned to talking, seemingly oblivious to Will's warring emotions. "I had to wonder just how many 'Will Turner's' there were in Port Royal. And just how many of them were blacksmiths. And how many of those were a fair hand with a sword. Or were likely to be using their skills in an impromptu duel with a commodore. And how many of them were acquaintances with pirates. It seemed that there could only be one, after all, just how many Will-Turner-expert-blacksmith-and-swordsmnn-who-is-disliked-by-a-commodore-and-is-friends-with-a-notorrius-pirate are there? So we took what was necessary, left the ship whole and the crew mostly unscathed (I was feeling generous today) and set sail for Tortuga. Looked for the most respectable place 'round here and then turned on the Jack Sparrow charm and flirted with the owner of this here establishment 'till I found what room you were staying in."
Will shook his head and for some reason he seemed to feel a pang of jealousy run through his heart. "You are something, Jack. You'll flirt with anything in a skirt to get what you want, won't you?" Jack took notice of Will's 'odd' behavior and catalogued it in his mind for future consideration.
"Nay, you misunderstood me, whelp! While most of what you said might be true, I assure you he wasn't wearing a skirt!" Jack smiled brilliantly and Will was entirely caught off guard. He blinked at Jack and opened and closed his mouth several times, unable to form coherent thoughts and doubting that his ears had heard correctly, while at the same time praying that they had. Jack chuckled and sat back in his seat, enjoying the expressions Will was making.
"See, I was telling you the truth." Jack looked at Will intently. Will could not help but meet Jack's intense gaze. "I'd never lie to you, Will; I may omit the truth from time-to-time, but an all out lie…" Jack let the sentence hang in the air. Will blushed and averted his eyes. He noticed that Jack absent-mindedly ran the tip of his finger lightly around the rim of his nearly empty tankard as the silence between the two grew larger and more poignant.
Suddenly, Jack licked his finger, downed the rest of his drink and picked up the still sealed bottle of rum and stood up, a handful of coins clattering to the table for payment. "How 'bout we find a better place to share this bottle of rum?" Jack had a mischievous glint in his eye. Will narrowed his eyes slightly. "It's too nice out for us to stay in here all night," Jack said by means of an explanation.
Will nodded and soon found himself following after Jack like a pet on a leash. Jack wound his way through the maze of streets, somehow parting the crowd as he went. It seemed to Will that Jack's charm went into over drive as constant murmurs of " 'Scuse me," and "Sorry 'bout that," were intermingled with smirks, half-smiles and winks. Will soon realized that they were making for the docks, and for iThe Black Pearl/i. Jack walked with confidence of a king, the swagger of the local drunk, and the charm of the greatest actors.
Jack beamed as they came upon iThe Pearl/i. Even without her sails out she was a frightening and magnificent ship. Legend said that the wood of the ship was stained with the blood of it's victims, though Will thought that to be highly unlikely as the sod was a blackish gray rather than the brown-red of old blood. Jack made his way up the gangplank and onto his ship, with a greeting to Duncan who was on watch. Will stopped and stared. It was as though a picture from one of his day-dreams had come to life. Jack stood proudly on the deck of his ship, one hand on his hip, the other holding a bottle of rum. Will felt heat rush through his body at the thought of where such dreams often ended up.
Jack turned to see Will staring up at him from the dock, looking at him and not seeing him at the same time. Jack was beginning to worry about the boy, his behavior that day was unusual to say the least, but it did give him a chance to watch the boy without being caught. He watched as Will's sensuous lips ghosted into a smile and his whole body seemed to relax. Jack could have spent the entire day watching Will, remembering every little detail of the brunet who was painted so beautifully in the summer sun.
Will shook himself out of his reverie and looked up to see Jack looking back at him, the oddest expression on his face. The expression was quickly replaced by a cat-got-the-cream grin as Jack called to him, "Are you comin' aboard or will I have to drink this all by me onesies?" Will smiled back at his friend and boarded the ship.
i*How can anyone i onto the ground so damned gracefully!?*/i Will wondered as Jack sat himself on the deck and leaned back against one of the masts.
Will watched as his friend broke the seal of wax round the bottle of rum and then took a long swig of it. Will watched as the lids of Jack's eyes slid shut to touch their kohl darkened mates. The muscles in Jack's throat contracted with each swallow and Will himself swallowed, though more from nervous anxiety than from anything else. Jack offered the bottle to him a moment later and Will took the proffered bottle. Leaning against the mast Jack was sitting at, Will too slid into a sitting position.
They passed the bottle of rum back and forth for a bit, neither saying anything, just enjoying each other's company and a bottle of good rum. The companionable silence was something Will treasured, loved, and longed for on lonely nights in the forge with only a donkey for company. He and Elizabeth were not unused to companionable silence, but it was a rare thing for them of late, seeing as it was improper for a lady to be alone with a man, particularly a man beneath her station. But companionable silence with Jack was another thing all together. You could almost hear the wheels in Jack's head turn as he sat there thinking about something or other, weather that something was which ship they would go after next or which verse of the song Elizabeth had taught him, it didn't matter. The silence was filled by friendship, an unusual one perhaps, but a friendship none the less.
And it was filled with other things. It was filled with Will's desire for Jack. There was only about a foot separating the two of them after all, and it would be so easy for Will to inch his way over until…
"So where has the lovely lady gone off to this time that you again need my help to rescue her?" Jack's tone was even, which might not have seemed unusual to the casual bystander, but Will knew it was a sign that Jack was annoyed.
"Elizabeth?" Will asked, trying to decide the best way to go about the conversation without saying too much.
"No, the other lass you were willing to risk your neck and turn pirate to save," Jack joked, but it seemed a tad bit forced. Will wished he could see Jack's face from where he sat, but he could not.
"I don't know where she is." Will answered truthfully. He took a deep breath and continued while he still had the courage to speak and before he thought too much about what he was saying. "Governor Swann died." The audible sound of Jack putting the bottle of rum down between them.
"If that's the case, shouldn't I be congratulatin' you? After all, when I left the two of you seemed rather cozy." This was not going at all how Will had intended. He stood up a bit to fast and lost his balance for a moment, catching the mast for support and closing his eyes.
"No. It's not like that." Will said, his eyes still closed.
"Is it not? Then tell me lad, what is it like?"
"We weren't meant to be together. We're not in love with each other. We never were." Will mentally crossed his fingers and hoped he was doing the right thing.
"Oh really? I seem to recall the two of you risking your lives to save each other's hides more than once. I'd call that love." Jack had stood up and was now facing Will.
"Yes, I love her. But I'm not in love with her." Will kept his eyes down.
"So you love the girl, but you're not iin love/i with the girl."
"Correct." Will chanced a look up and saw that Jack was looking rather thoughtful and stroking his braided beard.
"And she feels the same?"
"Yes. She turned me down when I asked her to marry me. After she found out her father died, I mean." Will hurriedly added though he wasn't sure why.
"Stop me when I get something wrong." Will nodded. "So you ask your orphaned friend to marry you to save her from marrying a complete stranger or worse yet, that horrible Commodore Norrington." Jack enhanced his speech with exaggerated words and exuberant hand gestures. "So she leaves Port Royal for… England, I'd assume, and before leaving she pissed off the good Commodore enough that he thought he would confront you about it. You win the fight and charter a merchant ship to Tortuga to find iThe Pearl/i and convince us to go after the girl." By this time Jack was counting off points on his fingers.
"Stop." Will said quietly, his voice oddly hoarse. "Your right on most accounts, but not on the last. Yes I asked her to marry me to save her from marrying Norrington, yes she left Port Royal to head eventually to England, and yes, you were right about the Commodore and me fighting. But I did not come here to ask you to help me find Elizabeth!" Will's temper was getting out of hand. Perhaps it was the rum, or maybe Will was just cracking under pressure, or maybe it was his defenses going up; after all, if no one got close he couldn't get hurt.
Will stepped away from Jack and made his way towards the gangplank. He couldn't think straight, and when he couldn't think he had a tendency to blurt things out and to say things that he would later regret.
"Will, come now! Don't get upset!" Jack's usual drawl was back, which seemed to do naught but add fuel to the fire.
"Forget it Jack," Will was quickly descending to the dock. "I shouldn't have come here."
Will quickly walked towards the ladder at the other end of the dock leading down to the beach.
A rather confused and perplexed Jack followed after the apparently very angry Will.
Will walked quickly, occasionally picking up a rock and throwing it hard into the water.
Jack kept up with Will, staying a dozen or so paces behind so as not to be hit by one of the rocks Will seemed so fond of throwing.
Finally Will stopped, his breathing was coming in shortened gasps. Jack caught up to Will and stood with his arm leaning against the nearest palm tree. "If you wanted me to go with you on a walk mate, all you had to do was ask." Jack sounded sincere despite the light tone. Will wanted to find another meaning in those words, a deeper value that meant that Jack truly had feelings for him, but Will couldn't let himself dream things like that.
"Go back, Jack." Will sounded almost defeated and that frightened Jack. Where was that fire in the face of adversity? Where was the firry young man who had put a pistol to his own head to save his friends?
"Sorry, whelp, I can't be doing that." Jack took a few steps towards Will.
"Jack, just leave me alone." Will's temper flared and his hand when to the hilt of the sword he wore at his waist.
"I can't do that, Will."
In an instant, Will had drawn the sword he carried and pointed it at Jack. "I said, Go. Back."
"And I said no." Jack ducked beneath Will's blade, rolled out of the way and drew his own sword as he righted himself.
The two circled each other, both weary to fight, their desire to not want to hurt each other warring with their drive to win.
A few timid, testing lunges and parries they began to fight in earnest, neither gaining the upper hand. Words were the key to Will's undoing and Jack used that fact as leverage. The right amount of pressure at the precise moment…
"Interesting sword you've got there." Those words were just enough to make Will falter momentarily; just enough for Jack to use his sword to catch Will's and disarm him.
The blade flew through the air and Jack caught it deftly in his left hand, pointing both at Will.
"I yield." Will said quietly. Jack returned his sword to its rightful position on his person and began to examine the sword Will had been carrying.
Will watched as Jack examined every inch of the sword. Will felt exposed having someone stair at something so personal to him. He felt as though Jack was looking into his very soul and his eyes were not even on him! Will blushed and suddenly seemed to find his shoes extraordinarily interesting.
Time ticked by slowly and still Jack examined the sword. Will looked up again. Jack's hands ran lithely across the blade, from the fuller and forte, across the middle ridge, past the terzo, along the foible and then his finger lightly grazed the point, testing it's sharpness, and smiling when he cut his finger on its exceptionally keen edge.
The way Jack handled the weapon, with such a gentle touch…Will would have given every doubloon in the Spanish Maine to have been that sword just then. To be caressed by Jack's tan, weathered, calloused hands…Will barley swallowed the moan that threatened to escape from his lips. As it was, he was quite glad for the long vest that covered past his hips and hid the slight bulge in the crotch of his breeches. Will flushed again.
"Your craftsmanship has improved immensely, Will. I have never seen such a well made sword forged in the New World. This piece could rival those made by even the masters in Toledo, Milan, and Solingen(1)." It was respect and perhaps a touch of awe that colored Jack's speech as he presented the sword back to Will hilt first. "This is a magnificent weapon, Will. It is obvious even to the common layman that this sword is…unique to you. Take care of her, she'll serve you well."
Will swallowed. He could feel himself walking on the edge of a knife, careful balancing what he said and did.
Will held up his hands in a gesture that obviously meant that he would not take the weapon back. "No she won't, Jack." Will took a deep breath and met Jack's confused gaze with his intense one. "She will serve /i well."
The look in Jack's eyes was one of surprise, elation, confusion, and denial. He shook his head. "I cannot take it, Will.' He tried to pass it to Will again, but Will would have none of it.
"But you must!" Will's fire and energy were fast returning. "I mean…It's yours, Jack." Jack opened his mouth to argue. "I made it for /i," Will paused, "it was part of the reason I came to find you."
Jack stared at Will and then back at the sword. His. /i sword. A sword that Will had made for him. His heart beat faster in his chest and he swallowed the lump in his throat. "I don't know what to say," Jack said honestly, eliciting a chuckle from Will, who was quite happy with himself for having succeeded in making Jack Sparrow speechless. "Thank you, Will." He met Will's eyes and was happy to see the content look on Will's face.
Jack grinned and tried a few practice lunges and cuts with his new sword. She fit perfectly into his hand. It was as though Will knew exactly what Jack sought for in a blade. Perfect weight, balance, length, and the design was just elegant and showy enough to make Jack happy.
As Jack pranced around with his new sword, thrusting, blocking, ducking and gutting at invisible foes, Will looked on. A sense of contentment and satisfaction filled him. He had mad Jack a good sword, a great sword that would serve him well. Will bit his lip. He wondered if Jack could feel the emotions Will put into every hammer of the steel. He wondered if the gift was enough; though enough for what, Will had yet to figure out.
Jack, grinning still, came up to Will and draped an arm across Will's shoulder. "How bout we head back to iThe Pearl/i and finish off that bottle of rum? Savvy?" Will turned his head and smiled.
"Sure."
Jack took his old sword out of its sheath and threw it to Will, who caught it deftly. "We can't go around depriving one of the best swordsmen this side of the Atlantic of a sword." He winked and sheathed his new sword where the old one once stayed, his hand ever caressing the hilt.
Will sheathed Jack's old sword and followed after the crazy pirate who was quietly singing the song Elizabeth had taught him.
The sun was beginning to set and Will stopped to look at it. After what seemed like years of sunsets spent waiting for Jack and iThe Black Pearl/i to return to Port Royal, Will was finally reunited with them both. His feelings for Jack had not changed since they were reunited, but Will would not do anything to jeopardize his friendship with the unusual pirate, even if that meant… "Nearly every day I watched for you, for iThe Pearl/i. Always hoping that I would see the ship that was like a nightmare herself, cutting a shadow into the setting sun." Will closed his eyes.
"You said that this sword was one of the reasons you came here. Why else?" Jack was suddenly very close. Will had not noticed that the pirate had turned around and walked back towards him.
He was less than an arm's length away. Will swallowed nervously and forced himself to keep eye contact with Jack. "I came back because I can't deny that I'm a pirate." Jack grinned at this. "And," Will took a deep breath, "I would rather die at your side than live the life of a Master Blacksmith." Will could not bring himself to say anymore, and feared that he had said too much as it was. Jack looked at Will with something akin to awe on his face.
Will stood there, his skin the color of cream in the light of the setting sun. Much of the hair that had been held back by its leather thong had come undone and what was too short to be tucked behind his ears fell gracefully into his face. Will's eyes burned with emotion as he spoke as if he weighed and measured each word before he said it. Will's eyes told of things unsaid: of fire and passion, of raw desire, of lust and perhaps even of love.
Jack closed the distance between them in one step. He searched Will's eyes for a moment before placing a finger beneath Will's chin and gently bringing his lips together with Will's.
Will's heart beat uncontrollably as Jack's chapped lips came in contact with his own. The gentle, innocent and chaste kiss sent a jolt of electricity through his body and Will found himself wrapping his arms around Jack and pulling them closer together. Will gasped at the feeling, for Jack's strong, muscled physique flush against his own. Jack took the opportunity to let his tongue gently and deftly delve into Will's mouth.
Will playfully darted his tongue into Jack's mouth and they battled for supremacy. Jack seemed intent on memorizing every inch of Will's mouth. Beneath the faint lingering taste of rum was Will's own unique flavor and Jack decided that rum tasted far better in Will's mouth than it did coming out of a bottle.
Will himself was in heaven. Jack kissed him in a way he'd never thought possible. They broke for air, panting. Already Will missed Jack's taste and the feel of his tongue in his mouth. He moaned softly and brought their lips together in a more intense and demanding kiss.
Jack pulled away, panting for breath. Will smiled. Jack's lips were bruised a darker red as Will imagined his still-tingling lips were. They were both smiling recklessly and Jack laughed quietly.
Jack leaned over and kissed Will's forehead and eyelids and nose before lightly kissing his mouth again. "We should head back while there's still light enough to see by." Jack said sensibly, though his body sincerely objected to anything that took it away from Will's welcoming body.
"Mmm," Will nodded in agreement and reluctantly stepped away from Jack.
They walked in almost perfect silence back to the ship, both afraid that if they started talking they would stop walking and start groping, and soon enough find themselves on their backs, lying in the sand.
Not soon enough they were on the dock walking towards iThe Black Pearl/i. Jack strode on ahead. He turned and offered Will a hand to help Will board, despite the fact that Will did not need any assistance. Will threw Jack a heated glance and Jack met it for a moment before breaking eye contact.
"Welcome aboard iThe Black Pearl/i." Jack grinned wickedly. Will grinned back.
"If I'm staying, I'm going to need my trunk." Will said practically, trying to keep thoughts about Jack's lips out of his mind.
"I'll send Kursar and Matelot for it." Jack said casually as he strode off in the direction of the two still mostly-sober crewmen, giving them orders and then returning to Will's side. "Satisfied?"
"Not yet." Will grinned.
"We're going to have to remedy that." Jack laughed as he led the way to his cabin.
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(1) The best swords came from Toledo, Spain, Milan, Italy, and Solingen, Germany according to the Dorling Kindersley "Eyewitness Books: PIRATE" by Richard Platt.
TBC…
AN: Does anyone else see a chibbi-Jack leading a chibbi-Will on a leash in the near future? I think Cat does, hehehe.