Chapter 12

Between the two of them

The engine of the fast attack boat let out a soft purr when Jim unlocked the control panel and pressed the start button, checking the fuel and gravity levels before pulling the steering lever up. As the boat detached from the ship and started floating in the air, Jim piloted it to go down through the hole at the bottom of the ship while Kale kept holding the two balancing levers steady in the front of the boat just like Jim had instructed. After they had managed to get the boat outside of the ship, Kale let go of the levers and walked to the back where Jim was staring at the control panel with a slight frown.

"Everything under control?" Kale asked, glancing at the panel over Jim's shoulder. There were just way too many buttons and symbols for his liking.

"Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out why the turbine light is flickering yellow," Jim said absent-mindedly without taking his eyes off the control panel and pressed some green buttons at the top. "Nothing to worry about. Can you take the sails in? It's the lever on your left. The one with the rusty handle."

"Isn't anything done manually here?" Kale let out a small chuckle but pulled the lever anyway, making ropes pull the orange canvas up. He sat next to Jim, rubbing the back of his neck in silence. "Thanks for asking me to come here with you."

Jim's hand stopped over the panel and he sent a surprised glance at Kale, but then a smirk stretched across his face and he nodded. "Sure thing. You're one of the few pirates I actually trust. Even though you tried to, you know, kill me when we first met. And kind of kidnapped me with the rest of the crew. But that's okay, things like that happen."

Kale laughed, crossing his arms. "Hey, I thought we were already past that. Besides, you haven't been our prisoner for a long time now and you could've just left when we arrived to Greece."

"I… suppose so." There was an unasked question somewhere in Kale's words, but Jim decided to ignore it. After all, what could he say? That his thirst for adventures had awakened? Or that he had stayed because… "How's the crew?" He turned back to fiddle with the control panel, because the yellow light was still on. "I haven't had time to catch up with you yet."

The pirate raised his eyebrow, sensing that there was something Jim didn't want to tell him. As much as his curiosity nagged at him to be straightforward and ask about it, he didn't want things to become awkward this time since the topic was clearly uncomfortable for Jim. "The same as usual. Jed gambled back his money after losing everything to you, and Spike's been missing you like crazy. He even tried to come to sleep in my hammock once, which he never does. Things also got pretty hectic at the harbor when the military ships came, I tell you. We almost left without Sinbad since we thought he was with you."

Jim's stomach dropped at the mention of Sinbad and his lips tightened into a thin line as the image of Sinbad's soft lips flashed in his mind. Getting over him didn't happen as fast as he had hoped. "I see. Glad to hear things are okay." His grim mood faded, however, when the yellow light stopped flickering, meaning that he could finally start the turbine properly. "Alright, I suggest you hold onto something. These things go pretty fast."

He wasn't kidding. When Jim pushed the steering lever down, the boat sprang forward like a space rocket, making Kale let out a surprised shriek as he almost flew off the bench he was sitting on. Jim was grinning like mad as the speed swept his short hair back from his face, and the excitement spread through every little cell he had while he made little zigzags and aimless turns with the boat. The mast bent slightly from the resistance and made creaking noises, but he wasn't too worried since it had been made to withstand high-speed attacks, so he slowed down only then when his wrist started cramping from holding the steering lever in the same position.

"That was fun," he beamed, putting the autopilot on from the control panel.

"I don't think I've ever felt this sick in my life," Kale said with a groan and leaned forward to rest his head on his hands. "Waves I can handle, but this space stuff is a completely different thing."

"Come on, that wasn't too bad," Jim smiled and patted him on the back but retreated his hand quickly when he noticed Kale tensing under his touch. He cleared his throat, not sure why he was feeling so awkward all of a sudden like he shouldn't have touched Kale, as he continued: "Okay, I might have overdone it a little. I just wanted to see what these boats are capable of. We can go back now."

Kale nodded slowly, standing up to go hold the balancing levers but sitting back down when the other man told him he only needed those during take-offs. He watched as Jim put the autopilot off and started steering them back towards Silver's ship, which was a few kilometers away, and he couldn't help but sigh. "Are you going to stay with John Silver from now on?"

"Do you miss me already?" Jim asked, making Kale huff out a laugh. "To be honest, I haven't decided yet. Do you have an extra hammock for me?"

"You don't want to sleep in Sinbad's cabin anymore?"

Kale didn't sound surprised at all, and Jim wondered if Sinbad had told him something. But then again, if Sinbad wanted to forget the whole thing, he wouldn't go around telling others about it. Jim swallowed hard, cursing himself for failing again to shut Sinbad out of his mind. "Uh… Not really. I'm not that close with him anyway." He hoped that Kale didn't notice the hint of sadness in his voice.

"You're welcome to stay with us then," Kale said with a smile.

The boat glided steadily inside the ship and the hole closed up after them. They shut off the engine, and Kale jumped off first, offering then his hand for Jim to help him climb down. Jim raised his eyebrows as if to say 'really?', but he accepted the hand nonetheless, reminding himself that Sinbad would have never been as sweet as Kale. And that he should really stop comparing everyone and everything to Sinbad.

They walked to the ladder through a row of fast attack boats that were parked almost right next to each other, climbing up back to the deck. The first thing they saw was Sinbad staring at them with a slight frown, arms crossed across his chest.

"What took you two so long?" the bearded man asked. His voice was neutral, but it still caused a small irritation rise in Jim's chest. Who did the pirate think he was? First trying to brush everything off by playing friendly, and now demanding to know his whereabouts?

"I didn't know that I had a curfew," Jim said along with a roll of his eyes and walked past Sinbad, bumping into him with his shoulder.

"Silver was looking for you," Sinbad stated. "Said we're going to have to stop at planet 458 to restock our supplies and he wanted to talk about it to you."

"Why would we stop at planet 458? That's… Actually, never mind. Kale, thanks for helping me out," Jim sent Kale a smile before making his way towards Silver's cabin. He wanted to find out why Silver wanted to stop there, and why now. There were other, safer planets just a couple light years away, and they should make sure to keep their distance from the military.

He stomped into the cabin and slammed the door behind him, startling Silver who was taking a nap on his chair and whose hat fell off on the floor by the sudden movement. "Blimey, Jimbo! Be a little quieter next time, eh?"

"Do you really think it's a good idea to stop at 458? After all that happened there…"

"I see that Sinbad fella already told ya about it. But don't ya worry, I actually have a plan." Silver leaned forward to pick up his hat and put it back on his head.

"The planet is under military's surveillance! There's no way your plan is going to be good if it involves going there," Jim said, walking in circles. "Do you want us to get caught? The last captain who didn't listen to my advice got the whole crew in danger. And because of the universal laws your crew is the one who'd suffer the most since you've committed piracy in space."

The old pirate let out a deep sigh like he knew Jim was right but he didn't have a choice. "Don't I know that, Jim, don't I know. But we have actually a better chance to go unnoticed on planet 458 than on other planets. 'Tis highly likely that the military isn't expecting us to go to a planet that's already under surveillance, so they won't notice that we're there. And if they do…" His mechanical eye flashed. "We just havta spread a false rumor of our ships' course. The pirates there love to gossip."

"Wait- there are pirates on 458?"

"I suppose you wouldn't know since you've heard about the planet only from the military. Aye, there's even a city for pirates, but yer people have chosen to ignore it to keep the people from riotin' again. The last time they did they caused a bloody mess."

"I can't believe I've missed the information about that," Jim groaned. At this rate his hair was going to turn gray before he turned twenty-five. "If everything you say is true… I guess your plan might work. Alright, let's do it. I'm going to buy parts to build a solar surfer while we're at it."

"That's the Jim I like!" Silver stood to pat Jim's back.

After their discussion Jim decided to stick around for a while and just have a chat with Silver. Silver asked him about his years in the Interstellar Academy, and with a small grin on his face Jim told him about that one time when he had been caught kissing the vice admiral's son in an empty classroom when they had thought no one was around, and how he had sneaked out of the dorms to fly his solar surfer so many times that he couldn't even remember the count, and there was also this time when he had accidentally set the fire alarm off with his friends and the whole academy had been soaking wet after that (and they had never even found the culprits).

"I thought ya toned down the rebelliousness after gettin' into the academy," Silver guffawed in the middle of his story.

"I did," Jim said with a shrug, trying to look innocent. "I'd have more stories to tell you if I hadn't."

Jim hadn't realized how much he had actually missed talking about stupid stuff with Silver and hearing his vibrant laugh that had annoyed him in the past but reminded him of good times now, and he wondered whether Silver had missed him too, never managing to gather the courage to ask. Watching Silver's back as he rummaged through one of the drawers, trying to find the newspaper where he had seen Jim, reminded him so much of his mother that he had to quickly rub the sadness away from his eyes before the old pirate could see it.

Eventually Jim got hungry, and with a wave of goodbye he left the cabin to find something to eat. He didn't really know anyone else in Silver's crew – and didn't want to get to know them either – so he made his way to the galley on Sinbad's ship where he could have at least some company to eat his dinner with.

Kale and Luca were chilling in the galley as Jim walked in, but they didn't have time to say anything when Spike, who had been eating leftovers on the floor, made a huge jump towards him, knocking him over.

"I missed you too, buddy," Jim laughed and tried to push the slobbering dog off him before he was completely covered in drool.

"Take a seat, take a seat!" Luca offered a free stool for him after Spike had calmed down, and Jim gladly accepted it.

"What's on the menu today?" Jim asked.

"Let me see…" Kale started. "The dish of the day is pickled eggs with dried beans and cheese. The chef also recommends to pair ale with it. Would you care to try it?"

"It would be my pleasure, sir," Jim nodded, and they both grinned.

The eggs tasted disgusting, and so did the rest of the food, but anyone who spent most of their time sailing got used to bad food pretty quickly. Sometimes the food was nice – like Silver's cookings – but most of the time it was barely edible. Jim didn't mind it that much, though – it felt actually quite nostalgic.

"We heard from Cap'n that ya got hurt while y'all were in the land of the dead. Ya alright now?" Luca asked as he wiped away the beans that had fallen on his white beard while eating.

"No need to worry," Jim assured, feeling slightly embarrassed that everyone was still worried about him. He wasn't weak; he could handle himself just fine.

"Good, good. Well, I'll leave ya two to it then. Gotta go finish the card game with Jed," stated Luca. "He's gonna lose again, ha. C'mon, Spike, let's go."

Jim wished him good luck, turning towards Kale and was surprised to find him staring right at him. He couldn't read the expression on his face, and as soon as his eyes met with his, Kale turned his gaze away. Jim wasn't sure how he felt about it, so he decided it was wise to leave too.

"I have to tell you something." Kale said before Jim could go, standing up.

"Uh, sure. What's up?" Jim asked.

"I…" Kale took a deep breath. His face was unusually serious, and there was a hint of vulnerability hidden somewhere under it. He licked his lips before starting to speak again. "This may be too sudden, and I understand if you need time to think it through, but I've been meaning to say it to you for a while now."

Jim's heartbeat quickened as he realized what Kale was about to say, a part of him flattered but the other part shocked. Was he really going to say it?

"Okay, I… I like you," Kale said, letting out a forced laugh. "I know it must be quite a surprise."

Jim just stood there, frozen in place, until he became aware of Kale still waiting for his response. He had no idea what to reply to him. "Yeah, I'm… That was… A little bit unexpected." He blinked a couple times, trying to form a complete sentence in his head. What the hell was going on? He had had no idea that Kale had actually liked him. Sure, they had gotten along well and he had enjoyed his time with Kale, not to mention the fact that he did find Kale attractive, but all this time…

"Sorry, I must have made you uncomfortable," Kale sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and not meeting Jim's eyes. He took one step towards the stairs leading to the deck, but then Jim touched his hand.

"Wait," he said. "I was just surprised, that's all. Let me try something."

And with those words Jim put his hand on the taller man's neck and stretched up on his toes to place his lips on Kale's, closing his eyes and kissing him softly. Kale was the first one to pull away, and he stared at Jim with wide eyes.

"That was odd but… I liked it," Kale breathed.

Jim smiled at him, slightly sad. He hadn't felt anything. Nothing at all. It had been just like kissing his brother or a friend, even though he had wanted it to be something more. It hadn't been like with… like with Sinbad.

Someone at the doorway cleared his throat, making Jim jump out of his skin and take three steps backwards so that his head collided hard with a barrel, and he let out a painful yelp. Of course the person standing there had to be Sinbad.

"Oh, please continue, don't let me disturb your love-making," Sinbad chirped, but his face was taut with anger, which he tried to hide but failed miserably. He marched to the shelves, grabbed some beans and salted meat onto his plate, and marched out, not giving Jim or Kale time to explain themselves.

"Shit," Jim cursed. Sinbad always had the worst timing.

"At least he won't bother you anymore," Kale said.

"Yeah…" Jim should have felt relieved now that he had made it clear to Sinbad that he was – or at least was going to get – over him, but instead there was a gnawing feeling in his gut after seeing Sinbad reacting like that. And he was also getting pissed off – it wasn't Sinbad's problem who he kissed or didn't kiss! Did he always have to ruin everything?

"Jim?"

He snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Kale, whose face was scrunched up with worry. Jim hadn't even realized that his own expression had turned into an angry scowl too, so he quickly grinned and nodded. "Sorry. I just, er, need time to think about all this. I'll see you later."

"I understand."

Kale's gentle, understanding smile made Jim feel even worse, guilt burning inside his chest. He didn't want to hurt Kale's feelings, but it wasn't right to lead him on either. Should he just try to make himself like him more than just a friend? Everything had become so complicated.

Jim didn't see Sinbad anywhere on the deck, so he guessed he had locked himself inside his cabin. He knew they were both being childish about this, but Sinbad had started it, and Jim wasn't going to be the one to fix it. It wouldn't even matter anymore after the journey was over; they would both go back to their normal lives – maybe richer than before – and forget about each other soon. Jim would graduate and never go back to Earth anymore and Sinbad… Well, Sinbad would probably find someone who was not Jim and continue on being a pirate. And maybe that was for the best.

Jim climbed up to the empty crow's nest on Silver's ship and stayed there until he could see the planet 458, glowing big and dark in the distance with a few blue dots on its surface. Three moons orbited it, one of them being occupied by the universal military to keep an eye on the planet, and Jim hoped they would blend in with the other ships that were departing and landing on the planet. He was excited to see what 458 looked like, though, because the military had never assigned him to go there and most likely would never do that in the future either unless other riots broke out.

"Jimbo! Don't just sit there on yer bum; come down and help!" Silver yelled, standing at the bottom of the mast with hands on his hips and a wrinkled smirk on his face just like the old times.

"Yeah, yeah," Jim huffed, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Every ship started hurriedly prepare for the landing, and the decks were quickly filled with a bunch of men running around and yelling either commands or 'aye, aye's. Silver had told Jim to go to the ship's engine room to make sure nothing was overheating, and it had taken him some time to actually find the damn room. He had had to go there through a hatch in the crew's sleeping quarters and slide down the ladder through a narrow passage, which had almost been enough to make him feel claustrophobic.

The engine room was burning hot and steamy. Jim tried really hard to push away the unpleasant memories of the room in the Underworld where he had been trapped, but it still made him feel nauseous and his mouth go dry. This time the heat wasn't like a damp, stuffy sauna; it felt like the flames of Hell.

"Just do what you're told, Hawkins," Jim muttered to calm himself down, checking quickly every pressure gauge as he walked around the room in red lighting. Nothing seemed out of order, so he sighed in relief and started climbing back up.

The ships had already crossed the stratosphere and were sailing fast towards the land as Jim got back on the deck, happy to be breathing fresh air. Everywhere he looked at was black sand and simple houses made out of dark brick. Even the harbor they were sailing towards had no water, and all of the ships were floating above the ground. When they were close enough and Silver ordered to turn off the oxygen pumps, Jim could smell a faint scent of sulfur in the air, making him gag a little.

"Aight, lads! We'll be stayin' only a couple hours, so don't ye dare wander off too far! Ye know the rules: no fun times with ladies or gents, no unnecessary fights, and the ones who're not here in time will be left behind! Everyone know their job? Good, let's get goin' then!" Silver shouted, standing on a barrel so everyone could hear and see him.

Jim was about to follow the rest of the crew, but then he felt Silver's big hand on his shoulder and he turned around. "What now? You're not going to tell me that I can't go, are you?"

"This is the pirate city. 'Tis not safe for you to go alone, boy," Silver said, voice filled with concern.

"I'll be fine on my own. I've been so long with pirates that I'm almost a pirate myself," Jim answered and moved Silver's hand away, giving him a reassuring smile. "I need some time alone."

The old pirate sighed, ruffling Jim's hair then. "Well, I can't stop a man doin' what he wants, but at least take my pistol."

"Thanks," Jim said as he held the pistol in his hand, examining it for a second before tucking it inside his pants' waistband and covering it with his shirt. He jumped on the railing and got ready to climb down the rope ladder, and then he seemed to remember something. "By the way, I borrowed a few coins from your pocket!"

"You little –!" Silver rushed towards the railing, but Jim had already disappeared down the ladder with a smug grin. "That boy…" the pirate huffed, and he couldn't help but smile.

A/N: I'm finally here with a new chapter, but boy, it took me some time. I've finally figured out what to do with the rest of the story, and I hope you'll like the ending! And if you don't, well… be gentle with me, okay? I wanted this chapter to go deeper into the relationship between Jim and Silver, and to show you Jim struggling between Kale and Sinbad. The kiss is going to cause some trouble in the next chapter, so you should look forward to it! (Yes, before you ask: I love drama.)

It would be so cool if you gave me some feedback on this story, but just being there and supporting me quietly is also okay. :D I'm super happy to see that there are so many people reading this, and I hope you know that I'm forever grateful to all of you. It's been almost a year since I started writing this fic, and I can't believe that it'll end soon (but don't worry, there'll still be at least four or five chapters more). Anyway, thank you guys so much.