#kipos

A low rumbling chuckle shook the entwined pair.

“Captainy things?” Tikos’ voice was still heavy with sleep as he teased the gardener currently wrapped up in his arms.

Kipling blushed and buried her face in his chest further. It seemed like an important worry up until the words were out of her mouth. Suddenly the past five minutes she’d fretted over it seemed silly.

In the Captain’s cabin of the Charybdis’ Decent, the sun was just starting to filter through the intricate stained glass window at the back of the room. It was just enough light to throw weak colorful rays onto the pair in bed. Tikos stretched out leisurely with Kipling cuddled on his right side using his shoulder for a pillow. He’d managed to kick the blankets off himself during the night and seemed to have never made it back into any clothes. With her leg thrown over his own, Kip was fully aware and avoiding thinking about it too much.

It wasn’t close to the first time they’d been together but somehow it always felt so intense that it may well be.

“Don’t worry so much, Bee. I did the best Captainy thing I could,” he assured her. “I hired people who can run a ship without needing me constantly.”

Her face only felt hotter and he pulled her into a hug on top of him.

“I’m just...”

“We can turn around if you’re too nervous?” His tone was light but she knew he was being serious. If at any point she changed her mind they’d be right back to Vesuvia. But she wouldn’t, she was determined.

“No!... well, I am nervous but I still want to go.”

“You jus’ let me know. They can... be a lot to handle.”

Staying on course, the Charybdis’ Decent continued to draw closer to Nevivon. Where Kipling would be introduced to Tikos’ parents for the first time. Which was enough to be worried about already but adding on the inherit nerves with sailing for so long.

“Hey.”

Kipling looked to meet Tikos’ eye, he hadn’t put his patch back on either. He trusted her.

“Come here,” he purred and crooked a finger at her.

Kip leaned down closer on Tikos’ chest and he gently caught her lips with his own. It was a slow, soft, and sleepy kiss with no sense of urgency or motive. He took his time exploiting every trick he knew she liked before pulling away to lean his forehead against hers.

“They’re going to love you. Know how I know?”

She had an idea but stayed silent.

“Because I love you.”

Her cheeks flamed with a blush but she couldn’t keep the happy smile off her face at those words. They enjoyed a moment of just being overjoyed. Then he ran a hand up her bare thigh that currently straddled him and Kip opened her eyes to his usual cheeky grin.

“Besides, I know the best stress relief, aye?”

“... aye.”

Only a few hours later, Nevivon was in full view sparkling in the sunlight.

“LAND! NEVIVON IN SIGHT!”

The shout from a crew member drew a smile from Tikos. It’d been some time since he’d been to visit. It seemed like whenever he had a free moment he was likely to be found in Vesuvia. Not that the crew teased him incessantly about it but, well, what else is family for?

“Ah! Smell that beautiful sea air!” Tikos took in a deep breath aboard the deck as he manned the wheel. Kipling rolled her eyes at him playfully. She sat nearby working on finishing up the bracelets she was making for his parents. They were beautiful and full of seashells the pair had collected on adventures.

“I have been since we set sail.”

He grinned at his companion.

“Aye but it’s so much better when land is in sight. Makes me never want to leave.”

“As much as I love looking at the ocean and your ship, I would really like to see a plant again soon.”

“Of course you do, Honeybee. And so you shall.”

They enjoyed the short back-and-forth as the ship came into dock.

Finally, it was time to disembark. Surprisingly to Tikos, they managed to get their feet on the dock before two loud commanding voices rang out.

“Zori!!”

“Tizos!!”

Tikos held Kipling’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

“μητέρα! татко!”* He called out.

A thin woman with long black curls streaked with grey pushed her way past the crew and spotted them.

“το μωρό μου!”*

Behind her came a large man with short white hair and kind brown eyes.

“Γεια σου!”*

The woman rushed towards them and pulled Tikos down for a hug while rapidly firing off in their native language. Then her eyes gravitated towards Kipling and her smile grew even bigger as she pulled her in for a hug as well.

“Ey, μητέρα, in Vesuvian please.” Tikos said to his Mother as she tried to speak to Kip.

“Oh yes! Vesuvian! My darling girl, welcome, welcome! We are so happy to meet you! And to see our boy! Oh Tizos! It’s been so long! Everyone is wanting to see you and your beautiful woman! Yes! We made a big feast!”

“Ayy, ay, љубов моја*. Let her breathe! Come now, she’s not going to disappear.”

Tikos cut in as his Mother shot his Father a cross look. He could sense the argument and decided to spare Kipling for now. The two of them could argue for days some times.

“Let me introduce you. μητέρα, татко, this is Kipling Bronne.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you!” Kip spoke up, quietly thankful that Tikos gave her an opening. In only a minute she understood where he got his love of talking.

“Aye, όμορφο κορίτσι*, we’re looking forward to getting to know you. I’m Thalia and this is my husband Adrijan but you may just call us Lia and Adri.”

Finally releasing Kipling, Lia turned her attention back to Tikos and launched into her usual barrage of questions. Why are you so skinny, why have you been away so long, who’s cutting your hair, etc. Adri took the opportunity to shake Kipling’s hand and place a kiss on her cheek in greeting.

“Don’t mind Lia, she’s very excitable.”

Kip smiled back at him and nodded.

“I think I know someone like that as well,” she said and glanced over at Tikos who had dissolved into his native tongue and was speaking just as fast as Lia back and forth. Adri laughed and gestured up the dock for them.

Kip and Adri chatted as they led the small group back up into Nevivon to their small house. Lia and Tikos seemed to never even break in their bickering for air.

The day was just as much a whirlwind as the beginning and Kipling found herself completely immersed in the Katsaros-Yakinthos family. ‘Relatives’ of all kinds popped in throughout the day to see them and bring gifts while Lia and Adri were eager to hear all about Kip and her life. The gardener worried about seeming boring next to all the excitement but the two hung on her every word with fascination and smiles. Especially when Kip told them she was a gardener as they admitted they couldn’t keep a plant alive no matter how hard they tried. Kip offered to give them some advice but soon she had a whole crowd of lifelong seafarers stopping to listen as they passed by.

In no time at all to her, Kipling found herself out of breath sitting by a bonfire on a beach while Tikos continued dancing with a myriad of people to lively music. She watched him as he moved so easily with a genuine smile that seemed so natural on his face. While he’d offered to sit with her she’d waved him off, it was much better to admire him from her vantage point. It was as if the years just melted off of him and he looked his age for once. For all his laid back attitude and easy smiles she realized he was still carrying so many scars inside and out. While she sat she pulled the bracelets back out to continue on them. They weren’t quite finished yet and she hadn’t really had a moment to focus on them.

“Do you mind?”

A voice broke her out of her thoughts and Kip looked up to see Lia gesturing to the seat next to her.

“No! Not at all.”

“Wonderful,” Lia smiled and sat down with a content sigh. “Ah what a day it has been!”

Kip nodded in agreement, keeping her hands moving but glancing up occasionally.

“It warms this Mother’s heart to see her only child so happy,” she spoke slowly for once and with great purpose.

“If... if you don’t mind me asking, why didn’t you have any more? I was surprised when Tikos told me he was an only child.”

“No child, ask me whatever you wish. It is a simple answer. Adri and I were great enemies for many years. Too proud to give up our feud over the sea. When we finally realized our love we thought it was too late for any children at all. Zotikos was a gift. From the sky, the sea, whoever. A most wonderful gift.”

Lia looked over and smiled with Kip.

“He is very taken with you.”

That brought the heat rushing back up to Kip’s cheeks and she shyly looked back at her hands.

“I am happy. I feared he would be too stubborn like Adri and I,” she laughed. “He’s never brought someone home so we know you are special.”

“Never?” Somehow the knowledge that she was the only person he’d brought home to meet his parents made everything seem so much more... intimate.

“No. He has never even mentioned another before. Now you might say he could just keep things from his old Mother but no, he would tell me if he met someone.”

Kip looked back at her pirate dancing without a care in the world. She wondered if he’d been lonely all this time. Then she turned back to Lia and held out the completed bracelets for her and Adri.

“For you both, I wanted to give them to you earlier but… you know…,” she gestured broadly while trying to find the right words.

Lia laughed and nodded, not needing anymore explanation. She held a wrist out so Kipling could put the bracelet on her.

“I love it, όμορφο κορίτσι.” Lia assured her and gave her a fond kiss on the cheek.

Despite the nerves, the long voyage, and the overwhelming day Kipling realized that she’d grown to understand her lover much deeper. Maybe that made it all worth it. She liked to think it did.

Sitting there by the fire while surrounded by joy and laughter. Opening up new sides of one Zotikos Orion Katsaros-Yakinthos, mystery pirate who had always seemed so carefree. A warmth started to spread in her heart that blossomed when a single brown eye found hers.

—-

Combination of Greek and Macedonian words

μητέρα - Mother

татко - Father

το μωρό μου - My baby

Γεια σου - A welcome

љубов моја - My love

Tikos wandered along slowly with her, gently tugging at her skirt as he dragged his gaze up and down her form. “I wish…”

He didn’t speak again until Kip’s back was pressed to the rock. The pirate ducked his head and stole a heated kiss.

“I wish that you might indulge me in a fantasy of mine. One involving me taking you against one of these boulders. Please?”

Kip blushed and nodded as she helped him gather her skirt up close to her navel. Soon Tikos’ sea-weathered fingers were warming up her core. Meanwhile Kip fought back eager whines as she unfastened the buckles to his trousers.

When his pants were loose enough, Tikos lifted Kip and anchored her against the rock with a soft grunt. Then they were both gasping and flexing against the rough limestone. Kip wrapped her arms snug around the pirate’s neck, entangling her fingers in his sun-bleached curls. She kissed him through each wave of pleasure, nipping weakly at his lower lip as the pressure of his final thrusts sent her mind in a tailspin.

Afterwards, they made their way back to the lagoon, but not without finding more ways to take advantage of Kip’s walking spell. In fact, her legs had gone so boneless from effort, Tikos had to carry Kip back to their original spot.