Forgetful.

A little bit of trouble with that too. His eyebrow raised. “Are you saying you are going to forget who I am tomorrow and we’re going to keep reliving that American movie. Fifty First Dates?” So Mateo enjoyed a bad rom-com. He wasn’t ashamed. His eyebrow raised when the other questioned why it mattered. “Well I was going to try to be…courteous. That’s the right word. And not be hanging out around here half naked when you bring someone back, wouldn’t want to ruin your game or something. But if you don’t care about that then fine, I guess it doesn’t matter.” Mateo replied, shrugging his shoulders casually before raising his eyebrow. “I had a maid back home. Well a whole staff of people actually so don’t expect any cleaning from me so I guess we’ll be relying on whatever friends you have.” The Argentine laughed at the next question. “Funny. No, I do not cook. I have attempted a few times and it turned out edible but I am certainly no cook. Like I said, we had a staff of people, including cooks, back home so that is not a skilled I deemed necessary to learn.”

“What? No... no, no, not that bad...” it took Ryder a minute to remember the movie, he’d made himself watch it a few months back as a sort of ‘count-your-blessings’ thing, “I’m just forgetful if I don’t write things down....” he was actually surprised that Mateo had even thought about being courteous and he wondered if he had jumped the gun with his condemnation of the man as a shallow dick, “How about.... if it’s important and I know in advance, I’ll just let you know. Good?” He nodded, not surprised that Mateo didn’t cook or clean, “That’s fine, just.... maybe we should both try to not leave messes around in the, uh, shared areas. Already feel guilty when they clean up for me so.. yeah...” He took another swig of his beer as he looked over Mateo, the guy was handsome, like every other prince he’d seen, but there was something else that he couldn’t put his finger on. He knew Aiden had said not to sleep with his royal but Aiden had a princess and things were just different when it was two guys, maybe... maybe.. either way, Ryder didn’t want to fully close that door between them, as selfish and shallow as it was. 

                     ❛ Of course, I can, it’s my right to hide my middle name. ❜ Except, when you are royal blood it’s easy to find on internet things about your family. He got a point on there. She kept looking at the sky, humming thoughtfully at his question. ❛ Well. That depends. It depends on if you going to mock at my face. ❜ Nikki squinting a bit her eyes due to the lightness of the sunlight, not that it was hit straight to her eyes. But some kind of lighting or colors, hurt her eyes. She’s colorblind, it’s not a fact that everyone knows about it, besides her own family and her doctors.

                    She had to close her eyes momentarily, only listening to nature has the power of calming her down. The waves, the birds… But snow is something that used to be her big passion. Not everybody sees the beauty in the cold, but her.

Such a beautiful sound from Finn that made Ryder’s heart leap in excitement. When the smaller man blurted out a genuine compliment, he couldn’t help but be  chuffed, “Oh yeah?” he chuckled as Finn pulled him in for another kiss, forcing him to plant his hand on the cushion so he wouldn’t topple over onto him. Why had he waited so long to say what he wanted? It seemed silly now, seeing how eager Finn was for him but he recognized that circumstanced had dictated he go slower with Finn. He didn’t blame himself too badly and brought himself back into the moment in time for Finn’s lopsided grin. 

Finn: Maybe you should use more emojis. ;)

Finn: You can be rugged and tough and still do shit that's cute, Ry. That's like, a known fact.

Finn: Hmmmm. Nope. Not taking back the cute thing. You gotta make me if you want that to happen, bruv.

Finn: Bothering me? You couldn't bother me if you TRIED. "Bother me" as much as you'd like, yeah? I love it when we're talking.

Ryder: Bah, emojis, I always forget about them

Ryder: I don't believe you and I think ima make you take it back next I see you. It's a promise.

Sitting on that dock with Ryder reminded him of before. The pair of them on this very spot and gabbing away like a couple of giddy schoolgirls. Okay, that was more Matt than Ry but it still served good times back up in the ol’ memory bank. “Suppose there is some of that home feel to this place for me, too. Been here just as long as I was in Alabama and Colombia.” He’d been so used to bouncing around, even with the time spent on the ships but he knew this one better than Isle D'Alessio.

“Ah. Royal pain, eh?” he said, giving Ry a playful poke from his elbow, grinning. “I’ve had a couple. The one before Ilia wasn’t too bad. We got along okay and she kept the villa clean. She made comments and junk but we were two peas in a pod.” He missed her but what can you do? “Ilia and I have promise to be besties in no time. She might not be aware of it but it’ll happen. Sure will.” At least he didn’t have to worry about her slitting his throat in the middle of the night. “You don’t want to be my fairy godmother? I think I have a dress that might fit you in my costume box.”

Ryder hummed quietly, not really in the mood to reminisce about things like ‘home’. They were here and it was what it was, nothing more nothing less. He chuckled at Matty’s assessment of the royal and he nodded, “Yeah, he’s something like that... he seems pretty... I don’t even know.. entitled? I’m about 99.99999% sure he would refuse to clean if I asked him to but, I mean, I don’t really care about that. I just don’t want him touching my stuff... Not sure we’ll ever be, uh, ‘besties, but hopefully he won’t be so.. confusing for much longer...” It was a lot to ask but who knew, things changed so frequently, making bold, all or nothing statements would be like counting his proverbial chickens before they’re hatched. 

He laughed at Matthew’s offer to get him a dress to be his fairy godmother and he shook his head, “No... no, no.. no dresses but....” he looked at the other pirate sidelong with a grin, “If you ask nice, I might grant you a wish or two...” 

The lady was so close to the family, that she sat at the table sometimes to have dinner with them. Sometimes, because there were times that she declined the offer, but his parents made sure that she knew that she could sit with them whenever she would like, “She taught me everything I know in the kitchen, I know how to cook because of her,” his mom didn’t have the time to teach him anything that she knew, and she also didn’t know as much as Val did, “She was very caring, always willing to listen and to help whenever she could.”

Tossing the peel into the trash as he listened, a little smile pulled at Ryder’s lips. The lady sounded nice, who didn’t appreciate someone who was caring, helpful, and a good listener? He wondered vaguely if he’d ever had anyone like that in his life before his accident but the thought was fleeting, barely registering with him. His crew-mates were his family now and they had each other’s back and it was more than he could ask for. “Huh...” he said popping a piece of orange into his mouth and chewing as he contemplated the answer given to him, “Yeah, she sounds pretty... cool. You think I could have one or three of those?” he asked with a nod towards the stack of pancakes paired with a little grin.

For a moment or two, Morgan actually thought she might have crossed the line. While she took pride in her ability to read people, her experiences with the opposite sex were fairly limited.Her ex had been her first and after the dissolution of their relationship, she’d only been with a handful of people. How much could one flirt when living under a microscope? However, she couldn’t help, but relax a little when he finally did respond. For it meant he hadn’t been completely turned off by her clearly unsuccessful attempt at being a siren. As she continued to listen, her gaze instinctively kept flickering between his lips and eyes as he spoke.  He had such a lovely mouth. Fucking hell. Could she have been more obvious?  Once she realized she’d been blatantly leering (and admittedly fantasizing), Morgan forced herself to temporarily look away in a desperate attempt to not only avert her eyes, but to hide the obvious blush tinging her cheeks. When the thoughts didn’t fade, the Princess blew out a breath and returned her full attention to Finn. “I’m sorry. That was incredibly rude,” she advised and cleared her throat. She truly was horrendous at this type of interaction. “I just -  I find you incredibly attractive and normally that wouldn’t be an issue except, well - our situation isn’t exactly normal now, is it?” 

She drew her bottom lip between her teeth, a nervous habit she’d been unable to break (even with her mother’s incessant nagging about it being poor form). My friend and I - another royal - just had this very conversation. Not the one we’re having, but one regarding trying to enjoy our time here. Which, is absolutely insane, right? I’m a prisoner here; except it doesn’t truly feel that way. Yes, I have a watcher and very little say in important matters, but in an odd sort of way, not having such responsibilities is freeing. So, I suppose what I’m trying to say is - if you’d like - I’d very much like to get to know you better. Perhaps we could do one of your aforementioned favorite activities? I am quite an avid swimmer. I walk around on a regular basis and wouldn’t mind being one of the people you hangout with.” She licked the lip she’d been semi-chewing on, “I also eat, which I’m sure you do as well. Maybe we could continue our chat over dinner at your villa? I’m not the best cook, but I’ve been known to make an edible meal now then.”

Ryder had never had a woman be so forward with him before. At least, not that he remembered anyway... yet here was this gorgeous woman who actually decided to stop and talk to him after his admittedly dumb question to her all but officially asking him on a date. A date date. Or was he misreading things? She certainly couldn’t take her eyes off his lips which was frustratingly cute and she kept saying he was attractive so it would be rude to think she was lying, right? 

“I, uh....” he didn’t know what to say after she mentioned he was attractive and that their situation wasn’t normal and he almost started to panic again but she saved him by telling him about the conversation she’d had with one of the other royals about enjoying themselves on the island. It made his heart a little lighter to know that she wasn’t terrified (especially of him), he knew that they had kidnapped the royals for a damn good reason but he didn’t necessarily want anyone to suffer needlessly because of it. He suddenly realized he hadn’t been paying attention to what she was saying after going down his little rabbit hole for a bit too long and he brought his attention back when she mentioned food and he chuckled quietly with a nod.

“That.. actually sounds nice.” he said with a confused but greatly amused expression on his face, “I’m a horrible cook, I just.. eat at the canteen or wherever but I’m not picky... did you mean tonight?” He realized he was being far too quiet about everything, not really holding up his end of the conversation but, honestly, could anyone blame him with those beautiful eyes looking at him so intently? 

“You’re missing out. Tequila is the quickest way to get everyone naked.” He hummed, clinking his glass against the man’s before taking a long sip. His eyebrows furrowed as he listened to the other explain his predicament and he couldn’t deny curiosity. “You don’t remember most of your life?” He questioned before taking another sip and then shrugging his shoulders. “Guess that doesn’t really effect who you are asa person. Hell there are lots of times in my life I’d love to forget but let’s see. What do I want to know? First, how frequently are you going to be bringing people back and are you a neat freak or a messy type of guy. Argentina. I’m from Argentina. It’s beautiful, I would recommend a trip if you get the chance in your life.” 

Ryder bit his tongue, not asking why he’d want to get everyone naked when it was clear that Mateo thought it was a good idea.... like silk pajamas. He decided he needed to choose his battles carefully and ‘getting everyone naked’ didn’t make the cut. “Nope,” he confirmed, “Just the last couple years but I’ve got a bit of trouble with that too, though not so bad...” Another ‘bite-your-tongue’ moment when Mateo was so flippant about forgetting some parts of his life, he wanted to tell him not to say such things, that he wouldn’t say that if it were to actually happen but, no, tonight was not for philosophizing and making an enemy of the guy going to be sharing his villa for the foreseeable future, “Uhm, I don’t know.... I actually don’t bring people back very often, I usually go to theirs but maybe... once or twice a week maybe? Why, though? Does it matter?” It was a bit of a strange question but maybe he had misunderstood somehow. He looked around the villa which was actually relatively clean for once and chuckled, “I’m definitely not a neat freak, the place ends up looking like a train wreck before I notice it or someone else notices it and takes pity on me, heh...” he shook his head a little, still a bit confounded by that but he didn’t really mind the help his friends gave him keeping the place tidy. He hadn’t been there long enough to make a visible dent yet which would likely change soon, “Do you cook or anything?”

Matt: compared to how phones are now they were! Bigger than flip phones though but smaller than Zack Morris' brick phone!

Matt: I'm near the docks!

Ryder: k, isk who that is but ok

Ryder: idk i men

Ryder: mean fuxk

Matt: GET A BIGGER PHONE!

Matt: Imagine typing something on one of those Nokia ones. You probably wouldn't get anything out with that but a bunch of random numbers and letters hahaha

Matt: And I'm hiding. Got to come and find me!

Ryder: ya maybe

Ryder: Nokia ones? Theuwre supper small i giuess?

Morgan blinked her blue eyes before breaking out into an embarrassingly uncontrollable fit of giggles. The Princess wasn’t laughing at him. No, she thought he was the perfect combination of adorable, sexy and awkward. “I’m sorry,” she stated once she’d composed herself (partially anyway), “I’m not laughing at you. It’s, well - “ she paused, her gaze flickering between their still joined hands and his face, “ - we both seem to be having a bit of trouble letting go and - I apologize if my comments made you uncomfortable. As I said, I’m not used to having such freedom when it comes to conversations. I also didn’t mean to infer you were a stalker. I suppose that was my way of being flirtatious; something I clearly don’t have much practice with. At least not with random men I find equally attractive.” She let out a soft chuckle as she slowly released his hand until it fell away completely. Was it weird she felt as though she’d just lost something? Clearly she must have been touch starved. With a small sigh, Morgan tugged at her ponytail and smiled, “So, what do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?”

If Ryder had been smitten by Morgan’s smile, it was nothing to hearing her giggling. It made him chuckle a little more as he watched her try to collect herself - still holding her hand - and some of his nerves dissipated. It took him a moment to clue in when she looked down at their hands and he glanced down before it fully clicked for him. He missed half of what she had said but reluctantly let his hand drop back to his side when she pulled her hand away, a pink tinge colouring his cheeks slightly as he looked down. This was crazy, not only was she drop-dead gorgeous - he was pretty sure he could get lost for hours in her eyes - but she was a princess. A royal. They had kidnapped her but he couldn’t help himself. Could he? He remembered Aiden’s warning about not sleeping with the royal he was watching but he couldn’t remember if that had been royals in general or not. It made sense not to but could he help being attracted to an attractive woman? Wasn’t that just.... natural? He realized after a moment of getting lost in his thoughts that she had actually called him attractive and admitted trying to flirt with him and had asked him a question, “Uhm...” why was he so tongue tied? He let out another little laugh and shook his head, trying to get some composure back himself after such a monumental fuck up, “Yeah, I just... I....” why couldn’t he think of anything? Was he so boring?? “I do lots of stuff? Swimming, walking around, hanging out with... people.... you?” It was difficult trying to have a normal conversation when the situation-at-large was so abnormal. 

Text: Mattyu! Where teh fuck r u

Text: My phine is too smal fr my hands

Mwah: Three people I’d like to kiss.

“Only three? Well, I mean Finn, always.... that one princess is pretty beautiful, Mary? I think her name’s Mary... and don’t tell him because his ego’s pretty inflated as it is but Mateo.” @finnpryce @morganblackwood @mateodelafuente

Want: Three things I would do to you if we were alone. @mateodelafuente

“Jeez, I don’t know.... actually, I do know: first, I’d wanna see if you could walk the talk, if all these rumours that are floating around are true with you and, uh, your... you know what I mean.... second, I’d... this is stupid, I know, but if I could, I get some sort of truth serum or something and try and figure you out because you don’t make sense to me... at all. Third, I don’t know, force you to wear burlap? Haa... joking, that would be horrible... third... toss you in the pool.. and then join you.”

Ryder hesitated, realizing that he had made an assumption, “I know you know things... it’s a habit, sorry...” he quickly put his phone away, the text to Finn asking him what the name of the actor from the movie was that they had watched recently unfinished and unsent, “I just.. can’t remember his name, brown hair, maybe it was blond... blue eyes, I think? There’s one of the princes on the island that sorta looks like him?” 

Text: I can’t stop thinking about your eyes 

Text: Or your hands

@aidenflint

Edited to add: