Work Text:
I Know A Few Things (But I Still Got A Lot To Learn)
He had been awake for about ten minutes now. The human beside him, luckily for him, was as clueless as ever to that fact.
Like this, Mashka had a reason to stay this close.
They had fallen asleep on the beach, again. The sun was rising as they rested after the battle, the sand warm and soft under his body. Palm trees and light forest stretched to the side of the beach; behind him, he knew he would see a village beside the mountain, a little too far from them. In front of them, their ship - Taylor’s Vengeance - floated peacefully with the calm seas.
Despite what people often said about him, Mashka was good . Well, as good as one could be whilst being a pirate. The assumptions made about him, though, were not based on his current occupation, but rather on his race, something he had no choice over whatsoever, which was unfair, to say the least. Yes, he stole some rich people’s money to live, but it’s not like much else had been offered to him anyways.
So, yes, Mashka considered himself good. Which was why it was a little bit conflicting to lie, even by omission, to a dear friend of his.
The thing was, he and Marcus… they were friends. The best of friends, even. They shared meals together, they hung out and played songs and talked about a bunch of stuff. It was all very nice and cool.
And then… then came Alita . The girl who had entered the crew and assumed that he and Marcus were a thing , claiming that she would be on their side of people decided to be against two men getting together. And, like. He gently corrected her that no, there was nothing between them, they were just good friends and she had nothing to worry about.
From then on, well, she moved on with her thoughts and assumptions, making a few more mistakes here and there, but ultimately presenting some entertainment to a routine that got, if he was to say, a little boring. And that was it.
Except, it was not.
Because he could not get those thoughts out of his head now.
Now he was noticing things he never noticed before.
Like how it was nice , like, stomach fluttering and heart racing nice, to be this close to Marcus.
And it had been an accident, honestly. They sat side by side around the fire, talking, and Mashka didn’t remember much but he assumed he must have fallen asleep and his head probably fell on Marcus’ shoulder and he was too much of a friendly nice guy to take it out, so. They slept like that.
And, well, if during the night, as the fire died down, they sought for more warmth on each other’s embrace -- it was just nature , right?
But the other stuff… the other stuff happening to him did not seem like only nature .
Like, he started noticing that when he looked at Marcus, everything seemed a little… brighter . And when the dude smiled, his own heart kinda did a backflip inside his ribcage. And, hm, like, when they touched , it was like the warmth spread from him from the point of contact in waves, making him all gooey and soft and hot .
And it wasn’t like he didn’t feel those things before, he noticed - he felt them for a while. He just did not notice until Alita brought the dating thing up.
Damn Alita .
She was there, of course, apparently training with Samash, which was somewhat terrifying. But it wasn’t like Mashka could give a single damn about it, because Marcus was still holding him, despite them both being awake, because he didn’t know that Mashka was awake, and that.
Was a little bit like he imagined that heaven would feel like.
Seagulls cawed distantly over them and the gentle breeze blew away some of the everlasting uncomfortable heat of the island. Mashka had his ear over Marcus’ chest, feeling his heartbeat - ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum - a steady, calm sound in which Mashka could rely to pace his own quickening breath, relaxing his body into a blissful state of half-awareness once again, where his whole world could twirl around whatever he could feel from the body glued to his side, the arm that most likely was numb underneath his head, but still providing a pillow for him to lay on comfortably.
There was no treasure to run for, nobody to save. There was no conspiracy to unveil, no immediate danger or threat.
There was just that: his head on his best friend’s chest and all of those feelings swirling inside of him, making him wish that this moment could last forever.
“Oh… oh, hey, bro!” Marcus’ voice pulled him from his wanderings.
Mashka looked up, mirroring the warm, welcoming smile that Marcus held on his face. “Hey.”
“You hungry? I brought some fruit.” He said, reaching out for his bag and bringing up two bananas and a tangerine from god knows where, offering them to Mashka, who tried not to read too much into the fact that he did it all without moving the arm underneath Mashka, avoiding jostling him at all. Like he wanted this, too.
“Nice. bring it on.” Mashka reached for a banana and started peeling it. He stopped once he noticed his friend’s gaze upon him, letting out a nervous chuckle. “What?”
“You look good.” Marcus said, clearly not understanding just how it made his heart kickstart into a race that would give him a heart attack, someday.
“Ahm… thanks?”
Marcus chuckled. “No, seriously. You look good. Like… well-rested. Like, all those bad vibes gone from you.” He said, tangerine breath hitting Mashka’s lips. “Whatever got you like this, bro, you should do it more.”
Oh, the irony.
Mashka smiled, avoiding Marcus’ eyes. “Yeah.” He agreed. “Yeah. Maybe I should.”
The morning settled, bright and warm around them. Marcus did not move, so neither did Mashka.
On one side, the waves sang the kindest lullaby, wave after wave hitting the shore.
On another, ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum.
He was pretty sure that what he was feeling was what people called peace .