Work Text:
Pirates' Paradise
by Pirate Turner, with inspiration from his beloved Pirate Sparrow
Will looked around him at the stoic faces of the others gathered at the dining table, images of all the places he'd rather be flitting through his mind. Snatches of a bright, gold-toothed smile; waves blowing his dark hair back from his face; a reassuring hand clasping his shoulder in a gesture far more gentle than any one would expect of the hand's owner; the sweet, heavy smell of rum; and a warm body pressing close to his as they watched the sun sink beyond the turn of the ocean ran through his mind, begging him to turn away from this spot of duty in his life and return to the home he'd never known he had before his latest, and sadly, only adventure. Every part of Will's heart and soul screamed at him to get up from this table, run away, and not stop running until he'd found the darkest ship on the seven seas and her Captain, who was also his Captain, but yet the blacksmith knew his place. He knew this was, in truth, his only choice.
He could leave, he knew. Most of the people gathered here would applaud him for making such a decision, though it would break his oldest friend's heart. Elizabeth had stood by his side when no one else had cared for him. She had done her best to lift him up when every one around them had viewed him as barely being worthy of serving as a spitting pot. She had saved his life, and he owed her for that more than, at one time, he'd ever thought he could pay. Somewhere along the way, however, she had fallen in love with him, and now Will knew and understood his duty. He would give her his life, and though it would keep him chained in misery for the rest of his days, it would pay his debt to her and make, and keep, her happy.
She reached across the table, clasped his hand with a delicate, feminine touch at which he tried not to shudder, and gave him a gentle squeeze. He knew she thought he was nervous about facing her father and the other persons of high society today, the day before their wedding, but in truth, she knew nothing. She could not imagine how touching her soft, feather-like skin had grown to be so repulsive to him. She could not possibly think that he dreamed of another, of a gallant yet dangerous and perhaps -- no, definitely, Will amended his thought, his lips twisting into a wry grin -- crazy man with kohl-rimmed eyes, a beard and mustache as thick and dark as the ink of night, the most beguiling grin Will had ever seen that promised him things that could never be his, and the most sensual body of warm flesh and hot muscle he had ever encountered.
No, his fiance could not possibly know that his heart belonged to another man, Will thought, his fingers entwining with hers, and he would make certain that she never knew that his heart did not belong to her. After all she had given him and done for him over their lifetime, it was the only way he had of paying her back and of properly thanking her. It didn't matter that paying his debt would keep his dreams from ever standing a chance of becoming reality for they could not have become a reality any way. Jack did not love, care, or want him as Will did him for if he had, he would have returned to him by now.
Will shivered inside as he remembered their times together, from their first carefully danced fight in the stables where his beloved Jack had first hinted at his interest in him when he'd asked him if he was a eunuch throughout their many, and yet never enough, stolen moments aboard the Pearl to the last glimpse he'd had of the Captain of his heart as he'd sailed away never to be seen by Will again. Will's head tucked slightly into his high collar, and he ignored Elizabeth's look, lost again in his own thoughts and memories. He had tasted the wondrous, salty, and sweet treasure of Jack's mouth. He had felt his arms around him and still ached with a burning unlike anything he'd ever known before to feel those muscular arms wrap around him again and hold him close once more.
Jack had even taken him to his bed and promised Will eternal paradise, and yet still he had left him. He had left him, and he had not looked back. Or, at least, if he had, Will certainly had not seen the Pirate gazing after him as he'd held Elizabeth in his arms. He had not seen the dark waters churning in Jack's chocolate eyes, and he had not known of the turmoil that had wrapped his heart with a more fierce and savage tightness than even the Krakken's slimy arms. He had not known his beloved Jack had looked back, and he did not know, to this very moment, that Jack regretted turning away from him that fateful day as much as Will secretly hated himself for letting him go.
He did not know, and so he stayed, as though chained, in his seat beside his fiance, her hand wrapped with his, facing a future of which whether or not it was any better than death, or perhaps even worse, he constantly warred with himself over. He sat where a lifetime of duty had placed him, and he dreamed of things, and of a sexy, miraculous man who could never be his. In that moment of time, Will wanted to be any one else or anywhere else than he was, but yet, in just a moment's time, all that would change. The blacksmith had been beaten down his entire life, and he did not dare to believe that the dreams he longed for could ever truly be his. Yet fate and Love had other plans in mind.
Elizabeth quietly cleared her throat. "Father . . . " she began to speak, and the table turned to look at her and the boy who was unworthy, in their eyes, to claim her hand. They looked down their noses at him, and although Elizabeth narrowed her eyes in response, Will did not notice. He was lost to the images in his mind, memories of better times and of the only person in all the world whom he could ever love.
All heads, including Will's, snapped up, however, when a guitar suddenly strummed. The strummings became louder and more vibrant, and then their mouths dropped open and eyes flew wide as the Pirate whose name most of them only dared to whisper jumped onto the table. Captain Jack Sparrow walked down the long tabletop, swaggering his hips and stepping carefully around the many plates and bowls, his eyes intent only upon the treasure for which he had come.
"Do not frown, me love, and do not bow to the chains o' duty these wretched people have placed ye under. Do not waste yer life here in this Gods-forsaken port of morality. Do not turn yer back to what we've shared, to the treasure we've found together. It's truly th' greatest treasure, me love, an' I know ye know that!"
Jack's fingers were magic upon the guitar. Will had never seen any minstrel play so hard or so fast, and he stared at him in shock. The guards were charging; the Governor and Norrington bellowing; and women screaming. Yet he and Elizabeth sat quietly in shock.
Elizabeth, as had oft been the case in their time together, was the first to speak. "Jack," she said at last, jumping to her feet, "this -- this is a surprise!"
He did not pause in his playing, but he did in his singing. He looked at her, and his gold tooth winked. "'Course it is, bit," he spoke huskily. Then he looked back at Will, and everything else melted away. He winked at him as he suggested, his accent the thickest Will had ever heard it with his emotions. "'Twas a surprise t' us, too, wan't it, Will?" Will's and Elizabeth's mouths both dropped open as Jack blew his man a kiss. He leapt and danced over the swords that thrust at him, refusing to acknowledge any of those who attempted to keep him away from the keeper of his heart, as he resumed his song.
"We found th' greatest o' treasures together, me luv! I'd searched all me life fer gold an' everlastin' life, ne'er dreamin' that I'd find th' gloriest o' treasures in another's arms 'til I found ye! I was lost wit' but one look th' day we met, but I daren't let ye see th' toll ye took on me. Then when yer flesh touched mine, I was ignited in fire, an' when we made luv an' ye whispered to me that ye never wanted it to end, I realized I was the richest Pirate in th' world not because o' any booty but yer own an' our love!" He winked again at his joke, and Will blushed a deep, crimson red.
"I -- I -- I -- I -- Will, say something!" Elizabeth finally snapped, her face flushing. "What kind of insanity is this?! Somebody, arrest that Pirate!"
"Believe me, Miss Swann," Norrington answered, springing forward yet again, "we're trying!" Jack jumped over the sweeping blade of Norrington's sword and tapped the table, leaping up again and kicking him in the face with such force that the Admiral was sent spiraling backward. Still his eyes did not sway from the face of his love.
"Did ye mean what ye said on me ship, luv? Did ye truly mean that ye never wanted our time tagether to stop? I was a fool when I left ye, lad, but if'n ye'll take me hand now, we can still have ferever! I know ye want me, Will, as I want ye! Only together have we ever been whole! We found what we lookin' fer together on the high seas, an' we can find it together again! All ye have to do is take my hand!"
His guitar was strapped over his shoulder, and Jack continued to play it loudly and proudly as he reached down for Will's hand. "Take me hand, me luv, an' let's show th' world th' treasure we've found! Nothing else can compare," he continued to sing, "to the way ye make me feel or th' golden luv we've found together! Nothing else can come close, and it can all be ours again! Just take me hand, Will, an' we'll be tagether ferever!"
For the first time since he'd arrived, Jack hesitated, his hand reaching for his beloved Will's. His broad, bright smile wavered ever so slightly, and Will witnessed the fear in his eyes. He'd come all this way for him! He'd revealed to his enemies a side that he'd never wanted them to see, and he'd done it all for him! He loved him -- really, truly loved him --, and he was offering him a paradise of being together forever and celebrating their glorious love for all eternity and beyond if he only took his hand!
But if he took his hand, he could never go back. His duty to Elizabeth would never be fulfilled, but then he didn't love her. He had never loved her, not really, as anything more than a sister, though it had taken falling in real love with his beloved Captain Jack to prove that to him. She deserved some one who loved her for herself, and he and Jack deserved to be happy. Elizabeth screamed as Will took Jack's hand.
The Pirates smiled the brightest, biggest smiles that had ever graced their faces. "I love ye," Jack sang, as he pulled Will to him, "an' now nothing will e'er get in the way o' our love again! We'll show th' world th' greatest, most glorious treasure there be -- that o' th' luv we found together!"
He pulled Will close to him and wrapped his arms around him, ceasing to play his guitar for the first time since he'd arrived. His heated lips pressed against his, and both men instantly melted into one another as they kissed each other with all the passion and love they'd been keeping locked away for one another. Their hands roamed each other's bodies, quickly and desperately trying to make up for the time apart, and then Norrington's yell splintered their moment. Jack threw a rope and swung with his beloved Will out of the window, lifting them off of the table just as Norrington drove forward what would have been a killing blow for them both.
They landed on the Pirate ship awaiting them outside, and as Jack's crew lit up with a chorus of celebratory yells, Jack grinned, his gold tooth shining in the noon sun, and barked the order to pull away. The Pearl immediately began slipping away from the dock, her cannons firing with joyful enthusiasm at the guards chasing behind them. Jack pulled Will closer into his arms, sliding his guitar around to his back, and gazed into his eyes. "Now where were we?" he whispered, his heated breath delightfully tickling his love's upturned mouth.
Their eyes sparkled as they looked at each other with all the undying love they'd always feel for one another alone. "I believe," Will whispered in response, caressing his beloved's tanned cheek and running a thumb across his silken mustache, "we were right here, where we belong, with me in your arms and us loving each other forever! I love you, Jack! I always have, and I can't wait to spend an eternity loving you!" He kissed him then, pledging his eternal love to him alone once, forever, always, and infinitely beyond.
Cannons exploded. Screams, both of joy and anguish, split the air. A woman who had once been Will's best friend cried. And yet, for the two Pirates, nothing else in all the world existed but each other. They let the passion of the greatest treasure they would ever know sweep over them and explode throughout every fiber of their beings as they continued showing each other just how much they truly had missed and would love each other forever.
Will stirred, his cheek running against Jack's bare, muscular shoulder. His brown eyes flittered open, and he gazed at his love's handsome, sleeping face. He had just had a beautiful dream. Maybe things hadn't happened quite like the way he had dreamed, but their reunion had been wonderful and their future together was the brightest star they'd ever known. They would be with one another and love each other forever, and with his beloved Jack, every one of the dreams Will had once not even dared to dream were coming true.
From just beyond their bed, Will spotted Jack's guitar, and he smiled as he remembered all the times his sweetheart had played it for him. It was definitely a Pirate's life for them, and he had never been happier or his world more glorious. He leaned down and awoke his beloved soul mate with a sweet, passionate kiss, his tongue diving home into his mouth. As Jack's eyes opened and he gazed up at him, his arms going instinctively around him, Will smiled down at him. "I just woke you to tell you I love you," he said, and Jack's smile broadened, stealing away Will's breath, causing his heartbeat to quicken, and sparkling with the purest gold Will had ever seen.
"I love ye, too!" Jack exclaimed, and again and again, they proved their everlasting love to each other in their wondrous, loving Pirate's paradise!
The End