Chapter Text
The gull flies away towards the lighthouse and Mario follows it with his eyes until he hears the voices again.
“How long?”
“Two hours.”
“Nah, he won’t last until we are out of the bay. A florin on that.”
“You’re on.”
Oh no, it starts again. The deck is getting askew, the masts are playing a funny dance with each other and the smell of fish and salt fills Mario’s lungs. He tastes acid in his mouth and reaches just in time for the railing to hunch over it. But of course the helmsman has to steer right as Mario feels the contents of his stomach flooding backwards and he falls onto the shipboard, spilling nasty liquid all around himself.
The mariners look at him with clear disgust and he is embarrassed beyond belief, especially when the blond-haired reluctantly drops a coin into the other’s hand.
“That’s your turn, Woody.” The smug winner says and leaves his fellow to clean the mess Mario made.
The sailor comes closer to poor, miserable Mario and pulls him to his feet with a growl. He starts mopping the decks with a dirty sponge and Mario just stands there, clueless and idle, watching the man who made his heart jump the very first time they met.
He was there already when Mario spotted the gorgeous Carrack. The chilly dawn painted the sky rosy-pink and the sea was calm, washing the barks’ endless forest with steady waves. Mario glanced up at their ship and saw a sailor sitting at the base of the bowsprit, looking at the horizon. His face was full of resolve and desire and at that moment Mario almost forgave Gideon Foster, his uncle, who insisted on Mario’s presence during his next merchant mission.
“Reus, down here, now!” Mario’s uncle shouted and Mario watched as the sailor flinched before hurrying towards them.
As soon as he was in reaching distance, Foster raised a hand to give him a hard slap on his nape.
“I don’t pay you for staring at the fish, the luggage is there, you rascal. Hurry up!” He spat and Mario noticed the way Reus’ muscles clenched around his jaw.
For a moment he thought the sailor would pull the long knife out of his belt and slaughter his uncle right there, but he just nodded instead and walked away in the direction of the baggage.
“Marco Reus, the cur son of Lucifer himself.” Foster muttered and Mario glanced after the mariner.
He was laughing with another worker with thick, curly locks and Mario couldn’t tear his eyes away. The rising sun gave his hair a golden glimmer and his shirt was loose around his neck, the pale plains of his chest and the edge of a tattoo was visible under the fabric. When Reus shifted his gaze at him, Mario blushed and turned back to his uncle, but his mind stayed occupied with crooked smiles and little dimples for the rest of the day.
And here he is after four days, again, embarrassing himself and gaping like a fish out of water. After that first morning, Mario got up every single day at dawn and his uncle told him what a girl he was, being so infatuated with some otherworldly poetic beauty that’s created only for women to have something to cry about. Mario didn’t tell him that he wasn’t interested in sunshine. In fact, he only got up to see Marco watching the dawn. Mario still hasn’t exchanged a word with him and he doesn’t even know how to call him, but he tries to gain the courage at daybreaks when they spend a few minutes together.
A sudden splotching sound drags him out of his thoughts and he looks at Marco, who has just dropped the cloth from his hands with a huff.
“Damnit Sunny, you’re too delicate for a ship.” He mutters and Mario’s heart skips a beat.
“What did you just say?”
Marco glances up with wide eyes and ears turned red. They stare into each other’s eyes, both frightened and unsure of what to do, until Foster’s ugly voice cuts through the air.
“Reus, we have rats to kill, move your lazy ass!”
Mario follows Marco’s thin figure with his gaze as he runs away and flashes a smile when Marco turns and glances back at him for a moment. As the wind catches into the sails and carries them far from the islands, Mario wonders whether he would ever get to see what’s behind the careless jokes and inviolable self-esteem.