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When the Huang family ship, the Jewel of Britain, docked on the shore of a small merchant town, Sky was ecstatic. When Jin Huang, the captain, said he needed a couple young deckhands to help out on the ship, Sky was there in an instant, kissing his mom and dad goodbye and running to the ship with what little he owned.
Jin grabbed his shoulder and stopped him before he went onboard. “You have a family here, you have a life,” he said. “You won’t see them for months on end, and encountering pirates is always a big risk, are you sure you want to do this?” He looked Sky in the eye and squeezed his shoulder.
The wind blew through Sky’s shoulder length hair. He gripped his amulet and took a deep breath. “I never belonged here, Captain. It’s too quiet, every time a ship leaves I imagine myself onboard, smelling the sea air. I think I could use some adventure,” he said, his golden eyes bright. “And as for my family? I’ve never felt all that connected to them.”
Jin let go, and Sky saluted, before he jogged onto the ship, towards the other deckhands. When the Jewel of Britain sailed away, Sky didn’t look back, not once. Jin looked back for him, watching the town disappear, swallowed by the fog on the horizon.
----
“So? What do we think of the Captain?” Sky asked over dinner about a week into their voyage, not liking the awkward silence at his table. He’d always hated silence.
“He’s kinder than his father,” an older deckhand said, coughing into his fist. The others around him laughed, dismissing his claim. Sky frowned and patted the old man on the back.
“Captain Jin Huang, kind? That man is stoic as all hell. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile! And he has a lot of things to be happy about, that’s for certain,” one kid said, chugging his water down in one go.
“If you ask me, our captain’s got a big ol’ stick right up his ass. The guy needs to loosen up a bit,” another added, his feet up on the table. The old man just chuckled at them.
“I worked as a deckhand on this ship when Jin was a child. Trust me when I say that we wouldn’t be allowed to speak during meals back then, under Jin’s father’s reign.” He took a sip of his drink and sighed. “Poor kid,” he mumbled, so faint that only Sky heard it.
Sky was quiet himself for the rest of the night, and he stayed up late thinking.
----
“YO-HO YO-HO A PIRATE’S LIFE FOR MEEE!”
Barney cackled as he stumbled across the sand, arms linked with Sky. Sky laughed too, his head feeling fuzzy as he twirled around with Barney until he was dizzy and fell down, his face pulsing with heat.
They’d taken a night’s rest on a deserted island to cool off after the whole Eye of Claritas thing. Barney dug some alcohol out of storage and suggested the crew celebrate, and Sky couldn’t resist. Ross said he wanted to walk around sober, feel the sand between his toes, and Jin started to walk with him, but after a couple minutes Sky saw him jogging back. He said nothing as he flicked the cap off a bottle of wine and chugged. Barney and Sky and the rest of them cheered, and he laughed along with them. It was still so odd for Sky to see Jin smiling.
Sky got himself back to his feet, looking around. “Where’d- where’s Jin?” he asked, and Barney shrugged. “I’m gonna find him.” Sky dragged his feet through the sand, and a little ways away from the drunk group of pirates, he found Jin, laying in the sand and looking up at the stars, his bottle of wine still tight in his hand. Sky snorted and collapsed next to Jin. “What’re you looking at?” he asked, and Jin looked over at him.
“Oh, just the sky. I’m only thinking. About all this pirate shit.” Jin took another sip, the smelly liquid sloshing inside the bottle. “About how I failed my family.”
Sky frowned. “Why did you fail your family,” he said, not phrasing it quite like a question. Jin let out a loud, sudden laugh.
“I’m a fucking pirate. I guess. And my dad hates pirates. A pirate killed my mom when I was younger, and he was never the same after that, y’know.” Sky was shocked, even in his intoxicated state. Jin had never said anything about that before.
“Oh shit! Oh shit. I’m sorry Jin. That’s really no good, man, but we’re good! We do good things, we’re good people, and all that.” Sky stretched his arm out to his side and patted Jin’s chest with the back of his hand. “We’re gonna have a lot of fun, no dads to tell us what to do.”
Jin shook his head, ignoring the sand creeping into his hair that would take forever to get all the way out later. “My father will always find a way to tell me what to do. I bet he’d be mad I crashed his boat, I’ll never hear the end of it,” he said, and he giggled a little. “I crashed the family boat. I crashed…” He groaned and covered his red face with his hands, as if just realizing it after all this time.
“Actually, I think I crashed your family boat,” Sky corrected. He nodded his head, sure of this fact. “So just tell your dad that. Then you’re in the clear.”
“When I get back to Britain with my riches, what happens then? What happens then. My father would never let me run a ship again, that’s for sure. And… he’d hate me. Not that he doesn’t already,” Jin spat. Sky put his hands on his stomach and stayed silent. “Nothing was ever good enough for him. I was one of the most successful captains below him, and he never had any praise to spare for his only son.”
“Sounds like he doesn’t deserve you,” Sky mumbled, and Jin froze. “My mom always said, if you don’t have anything nice to say you shouldn’t say anything at all. So maybe you should tell your father to shut the fuck up!” Sky grinned and pushed Jin’s shoulder. “Jin?”
Jin was suddenly pale. “Don’t talk that way,” he said, sounding sober. Sky shot him a worried look, and his eyes softened. “Sorry. I know you’re just trying to help me feel better.” Jin took a handful of sand and watched it drain through his fingers. “You seem like you had a nice family, before. They kissed you goodbye, they cried. They might never see you again, why would you leave them?”
Sky sighed. “Like I said that day. I didn’t fit. My mom isn’t like, my real mom. My real parents left me on a doorstep, apparently. I lived in an orphanage until I was twelve. All they left me was this amulet. Nothing really- nothing really felt right about the family that took me in. I wasn’t like them, they wanted to stay and I wanted to go. I love them, I really do, but…”
The last of the sand fell from Jin’s hand. “I didn’t know you were adopted.”
“I don’t really talk about where I came from, huh. Then again, I don’t really know where I came from.” Sky blinked a couple times and scoffed. “God damn. This is fucking derpr- deper- depressing.”
“To parents!” Jin raised his bottle. Sky reached up and touched the bottle as well. “Y’know what, Sky?”
“What, Jin!”
“Fuck my dad!” Sky clapped his hands and cheered as Jin slowly got up. “I’m so sick of his shit! The reason I became a sailor was so I could get away from him!” He pulled Sky up too. “He’s impossible to please, he’s void of emotion, he never said he loved me, so FUCK! MY! DAD!”
“FUCK YOUR DAD!” Sky gave Jin a high five. “Not like, fuck your dad, but FUCK your dad.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” Jin said, shooting Sky a droopy finger gun. He put his hand on his head. “God, I don’t wanna go home. It’s not my home, actually. I don’t wanna go back. I don’t wanna go back.” He dropped his bottle and fell into Sky’s arms. “I found a new home and a new family and now I don’t wanna leave it.”
Sky rubbed Jin’s back, confused and disoriented, but sure that his captain, his friend, needed comfort. “We all love you, Jin. We all love you, and you’ll always have a place here. I think you need to go to sleep.”
“Yeah I- I think I better…” Jin’s head tilted back, and Sky caught him. “Sleep! Oh shit.” The two laughed and dragged each other back to the camp.
----
The next morning, Sky was itching the back of his scalp, trying to shake the sand out. His head was pounding and the bright sun hurt his eyes. The rocky waters made his stomach lurch, so he’d secured a position on the edge of the ship, ready to lean over and vomit if he had to.
He glanced up and saw Jin marching towards him, coat flapping behind him in the wind. Sky smiled weakly at him. “Hey, man-”
Jin grabbed Sky by the collar of his shirt and pushed him against the railing. “Don’t you dare tell anyone what I said last night. It’s coming back and I don’t like it. I was too drunk, I knew I shouldn’t have-” He grunted and let go. “Britain is my home, and I intend to return.”
Sky nodded slowly, his heart sinking. “If that’s really the case, then…” He shrugged. “What about us being your family?”
Jin scoffed.
“You left yours, didn’t you?”
Sky was silent as Jin walked away, pulling his hat down and stuffing his hands in his coat pockets. “Sorry I’m not good enough, for you,” Sky suddenly said, not really realizing he said it. Jin stopped walking.
“I-” He turned around. “I didn’t mean that.”
“I know,” Sky said, smiling. “But I’m pretty sure you did mean the things you said last night. Whether you agree with me or not.”
Jin looked out to sea, his eyes distant. “I’ll figure it out,” he mumbled, unsure.
“I’ll figure it out.”