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“I don’t know how you do it, girl.”
Uma squints and gives Evie a confused look to mean ‘What are you talking about?’
The two girls are leaning on the wall, near the bridge, resting from all the dancing and jumping as they watch the rest of their friends who are still partying.
Evie points with her head at Harry, who is dancing with Audrey.
“You know what I mean” she says. “How the heck do you manage to stand him flirting with everyone?”
The sea witch shrugs. “He does that. He loves seeing the effect he has on people. It’s nothing serious, he’s just having fun” she explains. “And, by the way, I don’t have to ‘stand’ anything. It’s not like I’m dating him or something.”
Evie rolls her eyes. “Please. Like I don’t know that the only reason that you didn’t let him kiss you is that you hate PDA.”
“I don’t hate PDA. And I didn’t let him kiss me because I wanted to give him a hard time” Uma clarifies. “Alright, he likes flirting and everything but he can’t forget who comes first like he did earlier.”
The other girl chuckles. “So, you do admit that you like him?”
Uma smirks. “When have I denied it?”
“You never told it either” Evie replies, shrugging.
“You never asked.”
Evie rolls her eyes again. “Stop playing games and go get him, already!”
Uma nods with her hand, to dismiss her friend, and smiles. “I don’t need to go get him.”
Harry has made a kind bow to Audrey to finish their dance and the blonde is now off to celebrate with some other Auradon girl who Uma can’t recognize. Her first mate is standing in the middle of the crowd, looking around for someone. When he sees her, he smiles and starts walking towards her.
Evie has seen the whole scene too, because now she’s chuckling.
“The two of you are unbelievable” she laughs, the she says goodbye to her teal-haired friend and takes off.
Uma takes a few steps forward, meeting Harry in the middle, but before they can say anything her attention is captured by the delightful sight of Celia having fun with her cousins and some Auradon kids their age, just a couple of feet behind Harry’s back. The pirate turns around to check what’s catching Uma’s eyes and smiles when he sees it. He takes a step back and pulls Uma closer, putting an arm around her shoulders.
“Our dream came true. Who would have thought it?” she says, sliding an arm around his waist and resting her head on his chest.
“Me” he says, tightening his grip. “I always knew you’d make it.”
She smiles. “As much as I’d like to take all the credit for it, I have to say that it was a team effort” she jokes.
They stay like this for a few minutes, just watching the people they grew up with being finally free and happy. Then Uma pulls away from his embrace and races to where the rest of the people are dancing. Harry gives her a confused gaze.
“Are you coming here to celebrate or are you just gonna stand right there looking like an idiot?” she teases, raising her voice so that he can hear her over the singing and chatting all around them. She smirks and makes a beckoning sign with her finger to invite him to join her.
Now he’s smiling too and he rushes to follow her. She throws herself to hug him and he takes her into his arms, raising her from the ground as he trots in the middle of the crowd. She has never felt freer and happier in her entire life. They keep holding on to each other – he holds her waist and she holds to his neck – even when Harry puts her back down and they start dancing together.
“Can you believe that we can go anywhere we want?” he asks with and excited look on his face.
She smiles, lightly running her fingers through the hair at the base of his head. “I know, right?” she exclaims. “I want to take you to all the wonderful places I’ve seen while I’ve been away.”
“I’d love to see them” he replies. “And I want to finally see Neverland and go to the lagoon to meet the mermaids.”
Uma laughs. “You’re a pirate and the son of Captain Hook, I don’t think the mermaids are going to like you” she points out. “Besides, their singing is hypnotic and dangerous. You’d end up in fish bait and not even realize it.”
He pinches her waist. “Stop being such a buzzkill! I’ll put earplugs on like that Ulysses guy” he says.
The girl bursts out laughing and tightens her grip around his neck, pulling him even closer as they swing their hips at the same time, following the beats that come out of the speakers nearby.
“I also want to eat that coconut thing you talked about, the one the looks like a furry rock” Harry adds. “Even though I’m skeptical about the fur”
Uma laughs again. “You don’t eat the fur! You crack them and eat the inside” she explains.
She understands what he’s talking about. She has to admit that the first time she ate a coconut she had his same reaction and she almost chipped a tooth because she tried to crack the shell by biting it.
He buries his face in her hair. “I guess I really am kind of an idiot” he says in her ear with a very low voice, and a shiver runs up Uma's back.
She slides her hand up through his hair, filling her nostrils with his familiar scent. “Yes, you are” she agrees. Then she pulls away a little, letting her hand slip from his hair to his neck, the thumb lightly stroking his jawline. “Hey, do you want to get out of here?”
“Somewhere with less crowd where we can talk without having to scream into each other’s ear? Yes, please” he accepts.
They pull away and, instead of taking his hand, she catches his hook with her pinky finger and pulls him behind her as she starts walking.
“I know just the place” she says.
“I bet it’s the Bucket” he guesses.
She makes a grimace. She thought it wasn’t that obvious that she wanted to go there, but clearly either she is too predicable or he knows her too well.
She dissimulates. “Mmh, no it’s not” she lies, but from the look on Harry’s face she knows that, of course, he doesn’t buy it.
The Bucket is actually a small, natural pool not too far away from the Chip Shoppe. Uma and Harry found it when they were twelve and the sea witch was trying to ditch her shift at the shop but didn’t want to go too far away, in case her mother got too angry. Weirdly enough, basically nobody – apart from Gil a few other members of the crew – knew that place existed. The story of the name actually kind of sucks: the first times they went there they couldn’t remember exactly when they had to leave the actual road and go down between the sparse bushes near the cliffs. So, they used something to mark the road, and the first thing that Uma took for that purpose coming out of the Shoppe was a wooden bucket. And that’s the lame story of the Bucket. And then, you know, a natural pool is kind of like a giant bucket, so it made sense to twelve-year-old Uma and Harry to go with that name.
“So, Royal Administrator of the Isle of the Lost” Harry says, distracting Uma from her reminiscing. “That’s big, huh?”
She smiles. “Yes, it is. I’m going to be crazy busy, but I’ve always dreamt of working for our people and to make home a better place” she answers.
“I hope you don’t forget about us” he comments.
She pulls on his hook, calling for his attention. “Don’t say that! You know I could never forget about you guys!” she exclaims. “And besides, if you think you’re getting off with just handling the ship, keep dreaming. You’re helping me with this, Harry Barry” she adds.
He laughs and raises his left arms, making Uma do a little spin as she’s still holding onto his hook.
“Of course I will, love” he replies and places his arm and her shoulder, pulling her close as they keep walking. They’ve almost crossed the bridge, the colorful walls of the buildings of the Isle right in front of them. “But I still want to explore the whole bloody world. We could take weekend trips every week!” he suggests.
“Yes!” Uma agrees, raising her voice in excitement. “Oh my God, I can’t wait to show you everything! We could go to my mom’s lair and play with all her potions and stuff, and then there’s this island called Motunui where people are awful happy all the time and, oh! We can go to Scotland! And you can finally find other people that talk in that weird accent of yours!”
He tightens his grip around her and uses his other hand to mess up her hair a little.
“Hey, little witch, don’t talk trash of my accent, my accent is amazing” he jokes.
They both laugh and after a few more minutes of walking they arrive to the downhill path that was once marked by the bucket stolen from Ursula’s shop. When they finally reach the end of the path and the trees open up to reveal the pool, they’re almost blinded by the reflection of the sun shining on the water.
They smile. Now that the constant clouds that have always kept the Isle in the shade are gone, everything has a new, more beautiful aspect under the sun. They have never seen the Bucket in the sunlight. They don’t need to say it, but it’s even more perfect now.
“I love dressing like a stylish pirate but, God, I can’t stand being this tight for so long!” Harry exclaims, pulling away from Uma a bit and taking off his leather sleeveless jacket and unbuttoning the first three buttons of his white shirt.
“Tell me about it” Uma replies, as she undoes the laces of her corset and takes it off, letting her teal dress flow.
When she looks up, she finds him staring at her. She frowns.
“What?” she asks.
He smirks. “Nothing. You’re just very beautiful” he answers. Then, “Wanna go for a swim?” he suggests, like he hasn’t just complimented her in the most natural way and with heart eyes.
Uma squints and tilts her head. “No, not really” she answers. Then she lowers to the ground and starts undoing the laces of her boots. “But I would gladly take these off and put my feet in the water.”
He nods and kick his boots off. “As my cap’n wishes” he says, then he sits on the edge of the pool and dips his feet in the water. Uma joins him as soon as she frees herself from her knee-high boots.
“I’ve really missed this place” she whispers, leaning on his shoulder.
He wraps an arm around her waist and leaves a kiss on her head. “I’ve really missed you” he says.
She raises a hand to give him a caress on the cheek, without moving from her comfortable position or pulling away. “I’ve missed you, too” she replies. “I’m so happy to be back.”
“This place might have lost a little bit of its magic during your absence, though” Harry says.
Uma almost jumps up and give him a perplex look. The Bucket has always been their place, shared with very few, trusted people. So, she wonders how it could have lost its magic during the months she has been away. She’s sure even the other members of the crew know how much the Bucket means to Harry and Uma and they would never ruin it for them. And, she states as she looks around, the place looks exactly the same as always – minus, of course, the amazing glimmering on the surface.
But then she notices it. It looks like a poor attempt at a fort built out of branches and wooden boards. She didn’t see it at first, because it’s pretty distant from where she and Harry are sitting, near the point where the sparse grass turns into rocks and the pool meets the open sea.
“What the hell is that?” she asks.
“Exactly” Harry replies immediately. “So, basically one day I thought I was here alone but the Smee twins had actually followed me. So, they know about the Bucket too and I bought their silence by letting them build a fort.”
Uma bursts out laughing. The Uma from a year ago would be totally pissed, would kick the two children out of her sacred place and wouldn’t have the need to buying their silence, because she would have terrorized them so badly that they wouldn’t dare talk to anyone. But now she just laughs. She’s too happy and can’t even imagine being upset about such a stupid and cute thing. And, besides that, now she and Harry have the whole world to go to and find a new, secret place.
She stands up and goes to check out the Smee Palace – that’s how Harry said the twins named it – and she verifies that it is, in fact, just an attempt to building an actual fort and she makes a note to herself to give Squeaky and Squirmy some advice on how to make their Palace look better and, most importantly, make it steadier.
Then she comes back to sit near Harry. He leans towards her a little, just to tease her and get her attention, and the pulls back.
“What were you talking about earlier with Evie?” he asks, out of the blue.
Uma chuckles. She knew he was going to ask her about that, she knew It from the look he had on his face while he was coming to her.
“Nothing” she replies. “Girls stuff.”
He flicks his finger on her shoulder. “Come on.”
She flicks back. “You already know it.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Yes, I do, but I want you to tell me.”
She laughs and shakes her head. “You really are an idiot” she says, “She was asking me how do I stand you flirting with everybody. And I told her that you don’t really mean it with everybody, you just like to see people’s reaction to… this” she explains, waving her hand in front of him as she says the last word, to point at his face and body.
He takes one of her fingers in his hand and shakes it a little bit, chuckling.
“What does this mean? You’re saying that I’m hot?”
Uma rolls her eyes. “I told you at least a million times that I find you attractive, big deal. And from what I see, the rest of the world also thinks the same thing.”
She expects him to tease her about her comment, maybe ask her if she got jealous that he danced with Audrey or angry because he tried to kiss her, but instead he just stays silent for a few seconds.
“I don’t have an effect on you anymore” he then says.
Uma hears a note of disappointment in his voice, maybe even a little bit of sadness. She stretches her arm to reach for his hand and loops her pinky on his hook
“You don’t need to” she answers. “I’m already yours.”
He looks at her and smiles. ‘Go on’, he’s telling her with the eyes, because he knows that it’s time that they finally open up about what they feel.
“It’s what I was trying to get Evie to understand. I don’t get too jealous when you flirt around because I know that it’s… you know, different. With other people you have to get close, say things, give smiles, and you used to do it with me, too. But with me you don’t need all of that anymore. You look at me and I just know. You touch my shoulder and I just feel it. It’s gonna sound so cheesy, but I think we’re…” She makes a pause because she’s not sure she has the guts to say it. But then she does. “We’re meant to be together.”
A crooked smile appears on his face. “You do?”
She smiles too and nods. “You want to know when I understood it?”
He raises his hook and flicks a chunk of hair out of her face, then lightly caresses her cheek with the metal tip. She shivers, mesmerized by the softness with which he uses his lethal weapon to cuddle her.
“Yes, please.”
“It was when we were fighting with Mal and her friends on the Lost Revenge. I was running to get her and then I heard your voice calling my name and I didn’t even think twice to stop and help you get out of the water” she explains. “I wouldn’t have done that with anybody else.”
He tilts his head and smiles, lacing his fingers through hers.
“You want to know when I understood it?” he asks. She nods. “It was when we won the Lost Revenge and you threw yourself in my arms for the first time. It felt so good that I didn’t want it to ever end.”
She tightens her grip on his hand. “You’ve known for so long?” she asks, stunned.
Now that she actually thinks of it, it wasn’t that long ago, just a few years. But they’ve changed so much since that day that it feels to her like a lifetime ago.
“Why haven’t you said something before?” Uma asks.
He lets go of his hook, leaving it by his side so he can cup her face and look right into her eyes.
“Because you weren’t ready yet. And neither was I, actually. The kids of the Isle were just too angry to face this” he says, grabbing her hand. “But look at us now. We just saved the world and set our people free. And now we’re hanging out in our favorite place talking about feelings.”
Uma smiles. “I know” she agrees. “I’m really starting to think that this might be the best day of my life.”
“Wanna make it even better?” he asks.
Then he doesn’t even wait for her answers – he knows it’s a yes – and pulls her in, placing his lips on her for a long, soft kiss.
When they pull apart, Uma has a mischievous grin on her face. Harry should know what it means. She makes that smile only when she’s about to pull a prank on someone. But her guess is that he’s so overwhelmed by that amazing kiss that he’s not paying enough attention to her expression.
“You said you wanted to go for a swim?” she says.
She makes it just in time to see the switch in Harry’s expression as he realizes what his captain is about to do, then she pushes him into the water and dives in herself.
She swims underwater to the center of the pool, where the water is higher and she can’t reach the bottom with her feet. Harry emerges a seconds after her.
“You little witch!” he exclaims, then he pushes her underwater as a revenge.
Too bad that that was exactly what Uma thought he would do and she grabs his leg and pulls him under with her. The bubbles coming out of his mouth partially cover his laughing face. He grabs her by the wrist and pulls her in a tight embrace, as she reaches up to kiss him.
They emerge still intertwined to each other, lips still locked and hands going all over the other. Uma is crossing her legs around Harry’s waist when she hears someone else’s voice.
“And this is our fort! It’s called the Smee Pal- EW!”
The voice belongs to Squirmy Smee. Uma blinks once or twice to get the water off of her eyelashes and sees the Smee twins guiding a small group of Auradon kids their age to what seems to be a tour of the Smee Palace.
“Hey, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, what did I tell you about coming here?” Harry shouts, as he notices the intruders too.
“We were just showing our fort to our new friends!” Squirmy whines.
The children from Auradon quickly leave, probably intimidated by Harry’s tone.
“We surely didn’t know you’d be here… smooching!” Squeaky says, with a disgusted look on his face. “Ew. We’re leaving.”
And without even saying goodbye or looking back, the twins follow their new Auradon friends and leave.
“Soon you’re gonna like smooching, Smee!” Harry exclaims, teasing the children, as Uma bursts out laughing.
They lock eyes and the amused grin on his face softens into a loving smile. She pulls him even closer, wrapping her arms around his neck, and she leans in to place a light kiss on the tip of his nose.
“So, tentacles, huh? How does that work?” Harry asks. “I mean, it could be interesting…”
“How many other times today do I have to tell you that you’re an idiot?”