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For the first time in months, Oluwande wakes up with a smile on his face.
He rolls over, and is met face to face with Jim. They’re still asleep, Olu knows from their even breaths. He touches their forehead, still cool. He smiles, and pushes a strand of their hair off of Jim’s face.
God, he missed this. Is it possible to miss something that only happened once? If the thing in question is waking up in Jim’s arms, hearing the crew of misfits he’s come to know as family walking above him, and understanding completely that he’s safe in this place, it’s really easy to miss once it’s gone.
He never thought this would happen again. He was lucky enough it happened for the first time. That’s how he understands Jim. You’re lucky to be around them, you’re smart to keep them. He intends to keep Jim in his life as long as he can.
When Olu met Jim, they were a puzzle. Difficult to put together, the end result promising a breath-taking picture. They smiled, and Olu couldn’t have left if he tried.
Olu thought about that moment a lot, while they were away. Both times. He had to survive without them in his life twice. Now, looking into their closed, peaceful eyes, Olu can’t imagine letting them leave the room.
Jim’s eyes flutter open. They look confused for a moment, blinking repeatedly as if they can’t believe they’re in this position. When they’ve accepted that yes, in fact, Olu is real, they’re really waking up together on the revenge again, their lips curl up into a half-smile, like they know everything in the world. Sometimes Olu thinks they do.
“Hey.”
“Hi.”
They stare at each other for a moment, the simple intimacy that seemed so far away a week ago hanging in the air between them. Olu leans in, because he can. They make out lazily for a couple of minutes, or hours. Olu can’t tell, and doesn’t care to.
It’s peaceful, just the two of them. Until Lucius hesitantly steps through the door, his hand over his eyes.
“Please have clothes on, please have clothes on-”
“You can open your eyes,” Olu says as he ignores the very cute, very aggressive glare that Jim is giving over his shoulder. He turns around in bed to face Lucius, making sure he doesn’t knock Jim’s arm off of his waist in the action.
“Aw, I forgot Olu was the little spoon. That’s nice.”
“What do you need?” Jim grabs Olu’s hand under the covers. Nerd.
“Can one of you come up to deck with me, please?”
“Why?”
“Um, no reason. I’m just a little concerned that Ed may, well, try to kill me again.”
Jim snorts. Lucius looks scandalized, gasping.
“What the actual fuck, Jim? He tried to kill me once, is it SO absurd that I want to watch my back around him from now on?”
“No, no. I would be terrified if I were you,” it’s hard to believe Jim’s words when they’re wiping tears from their eyes as they speak.
“Okay, well. Good. Then accompany me to breakfast. Please.”
“He’s not that scary, you know. He’s like a cat that follows you around, meowing.”
“I have been bitten by several cats, so that actually sounds terrifying.”
Olu voices his opinion, much to Jim’s joy, and Lucius’s chagrin.
“Getting bitten by several cats makes it sound like you’re the problem.”
Olu feels Jim’s face press against his back, stifling laughter. Lucius looks at the happy couple with a poorly suppressed smile.
“When I get murdered, I’m not inviting you to the funeral.”
Jim’s voice is muffled against Oluwande’s skin, they get out an “Oh no! We really fucked up!” before they both dissolve into giggles, leaving Lucius to go up on deck by himself.
After they calm down, Jim speaks first.
“He’ll be fine. Ed would die before he tried to kill Lucius again.”
“You guys are really friends now? How did that happen?”
Olu turns around to face Jim. He presses a kiss to their forehead, rendering them unable to answer his question for a few seconds, blushing. Olu can’t wait to spend the rest of his life figuring out new ways to make Jim blush.
“Like I said earlier, he’s like a cat. He followed me around, meowing about how much he missed Stede. He actually wanted to be better, and for some reason, I was the top pick to help him. Eventually I opened up, and told him how much I missed, um. You know.”
“Jim. It’s very sweet that you missed me. I missed you too.”
“Shut up.”
“Nope. Never shutting up again. I don’t get to do this now,” He presses a kiss to every part of Jim’s face he can reach, “because I shut up. You have to hear how grateful I am forever, that I get to love you-”
Oh. Oh fuck. He meant to do this later. Olu feels Jim go stiff in his arms. Their voice breaks when they speak.
“You-you love me?”
Well. Oluwande’s never done anything else half-assed, and he certainly wasn’t hesitant in his falling for Jim. He’s given everything when it comes to them. He’s not stopping now.
“Yes. I love you. I thought the phrase ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ was a myth until I couldn’t see your smile every day. Especially the smile you do when you don’t want to be smiling, like when I’ve just made a god-awful pun that I don’t even think is funny, I just made it because I wanted you to smile. Because I love-”
Jim kisses him.
Looking back, if Olu were to rank every kiss he’s experienced, this would be number one, tied with every other kiss he's had with Jim.
Jim pulls back, and stares at Olu as if he knows everything in the world. Maybe he does, now.
“I love you too. Dork.”
They don’t leave their small cabin, their home that they’ve made together, until long after.
Later, they can exchange tear-filled reunions with everyone they know. Later, they can watch Lucius shriek everytime Ed puts a hand on his shoulder, and watch Lucius grow to trust Ed again. They can see Stede grow to trust, and love Ed again.
Right now, they only need each other.