#piratebabes

The fact that OFMD is out first to potentially out-gay the Loki Series is foremost in my mind.

H is for Handies, by Amuly. 20k words, NC-17, Pete/Lucius OFMD

At just before dusk was when the light was magical for sketching. Or, so said Lucius. Pete sat with his head against Lucius’ shoulder, watching the sun set over the ocean. He wasn’t sure what all this magic lighting was that Lucius was talking about, but it sure was pretty. Didn’t understand how all the colors translated to making good sketching subjects, especially when Lucius was sketching in black and white, but Lucius was the artist. Lucius’ shoulder moved beneath Pete’s head as he worked, sketching but also writing too. Labeling, looked like: sketching the dish Roach had made tonight, and writing stuff with lines pointing to various items on the page.

“Whatchya doing?” Pete asked. He was careful not to nudge Lucius, since he didn’t want to mess up his work.

Without interrupting the scratch scratch scratch of his quill, Lucius replied: “Writing down the meal Roach cooked for us tonight.”

“I could tell that,” Pete pointed out.

“It’s the recipe,” Lucius explained. He moved his shoulder gently under Pete’s cheek. “You liked it so much, I figure I’d try and remember it, for future reference.”

Pete thought about that for a second. It never occurred to him to write down things he needed to remember, mostly because he couldn’t read or write. He just repeated things in his head until he remembered them (or forgot them). Sometimes he came up with little rhymes or tricks to remember really important stuff. Like, Lucius’ birthday was December thirtieth, which Pete remembered because it was one day short of New Year’s Eve, because with Lucius you needed a whole extra day to celebrate. Or, red sky at night, sailor’s delight, red sky in morning, sailor take warning, which was about storms coming in from the east. Or, for the directions, North East South West, he remembered because it was Never Eat Sour Watermelon. Which was kind of funny because he kind of liked sour watermelon, but anyway, it helped him remember his directions.

But Lucius: Lucius could just write it all down. He didn’t have to keep it all in his head. Of course, he had to keep all those letters and words in his head, so he could read them, but apparently that was easier than keeping everything else in his head. Less stuff to remember, somehow?

“Pete?”

Pete blinked out of his reverie. Lucius hadn’t stopped scribbling, but his attention was split now. Pete shook his head.

“Thanks. That’s nice.”

“Something on your mind?”

“Just, writing.” When Lucius hummed but said nothing, Pete figured he was waiting for him to say more. So he tried to articulate himself better, like Lucius was always encouraging him to: “How handy it is. Like, for remembering stuff.”

“You thinking about learning?” Lucius said, real casual-like.

And Pete knew he was being casual because he didn’t want to hurt Pete’s feelings. Make Pete feel inadequate, or stupid, just because he couldn’t read. Most the guys on the ship couldn’t read—hell, Pete was pretty sure Blackbeard couldn’t read. Didn’t need to: too busy being a total badass.

But, maybe it’d be nice, sometime.

And it was something to do with Lucius. A project they could work on together.

“Maybe…” Pete drawled. He nudged his shoulder into Lucius’. “But only if I get to bang the teacher. I kinda got a crush on him.”

Lucius beamed, turning away from his scribbling at last.

“You really want to learn? Or is this just like a roleplaying thing; like, you wanna sneak off somewhere and I tell you what a naughty schoolboy you are, and punish you for your sloppy lettering?”

“Why’s my lettering going to be sloppy?!” Pete complained. “Maybe I’m your star student and you want to reward me properly.”

Lucius snorted. “Uhhhh sure, babe. You’re number one in the class. …out of one.”

“Anyway, maybe I really want to learn?” Pete scratched his eyebrow. “I mean, give it a try, at least. If it sucks I can just quit. I got you for reading anything I need, after all.”

Lucius still seemed skeptical, or maybe hesitant. Pete realized he might be asking for something Lucius didn’t want to do at all. Teaching Pete to read was probably going to be tortuous, after all: maybe Lucius would rather not.

“You don’t gotta!” Pete rushed on, once the thought occurred to him. “I mean, it might not be any fun for you. Teaching me letters and junk.”

“No, no! That’s not it at all. I just… it could be hard work. Do you know any letters?”

Pete shook his head. “I mean, I know how to make an ‘X’?”

Lucius sucked at his teeth. Pete winced.

“Hey, no, forget about it. It was a stupid idea, anyway. You’re the reader, I don’t gotta be one, too. That’s just redundant, after all. Inefficient.”

But Lucius smiled at him and leaned in to give him a sweet little peck on his cheek.

“Hush, you silly man. Of course I’ll teach you. If you really want to.”

Pete shrugged. “Hey, if I end up wanting to chuck inkwells at your head, we’ll just quit and fuck off somewhere to bone.”

“Sounds like a win-win.” Lucius tapped his wooden finger against his lips, legs crossed and kicking as he thought. “You know, that gives me an idea on how to make this fun.”

Pete wiggled a little in excitement. Well, that had to bode well for his reading lessons.