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Black Pete climbed out of the dinghy and held out his arm for Lucius to use as leverage. Once he had hauled him up, he kissed his cheek. “You’re getting better at that, you didn’t even stumble that time.”
“Thanks,” Lucius smiled. After dating the man for almost a year now, he had grown familiar with his style of blunt, but genuine, compliments. He nudged him with his shoulder. “It helps that I have such a handsome, strong pirate to show me the ropes.”
“Aw, sweetie,” Pete flushed, then reached up to pull him close for a proper kiss.
“For fuck’s sake, could you at least wait until the rest of us are gone?” Frenchie groaned as he walked past them on the dock, playfully smacking Pete on the back.
“Yeah, it’s bad enough we have to watch you two on the ship,” Wee John bumped Lucius’ hip and laughed.
“Alright everyone, no need to fight,” Stede clucked after Edward helped him out of the boat. “Remember, this is supposed to be a relaxing day where you’re free to do what you want.”
John looked at Stede, “What if I want to tease ‘em, though?”
“They are being extra gross,” Frenchie added.
“It’s our anniversary,” Pete explained.
“-almost our anniversary,” Lucius corrected.
“-almost our anniversary, and it’s not like we’ve had the easiest year together,” Pete said.
Stede frowned. “Because of the whole-”
“Yeah because of the whole ‘Thing,’” Pete cut him off, “So if I wanna kiss my boyfriend, I will.”
“You tell ‘em, babe,” Lucius grinned and kissed the top of his head.
“Anyway,” Stede continued. “I want you all to go have some fun on the boardwalk, and then we’ll all meet back on the beach at 7 o’clock for supper, okay?”
There was a general murmur of agreement from the crew. Lucius smirked and raised his hand.
”Yes, Lucius, I meant ‘go try to have some fun,’” Stede sighed, before gesturing with his hands. “No, off you get.”
When the Revenge had pulled into the small port town, their initial goal was to restock their supplies and leave without much fanfare. It would be quick and efficient, much to the pleasure of a certain first mate. However, when Edward came back with the supplies he, Roach, and Izzy had been sent out to get, he told Stede about the temporary market that had been set up along the docks.
“They had all sorts of stuff, mate,” Edward told them during their nightly chat with the crew. “People were selling stuff, and there was lots of food, and games too.”
“Well that sounds delightful,” Stede had said, “Why don’t we all go check out this boardwalk tomorrow? I’ll even give you all a little allowance in case you see something you want to buy.”
The crew had many questions about their outing, like who would stay to man the boat, what did allowance mean, and why Stede was so insistent on doing whatever inane thing popped into his head at any given moment. However, Stede calmly answered all their questions, and the crew went to bed with an eager energy that kept them up chatting later than usual.
When they arrived that morning and dispersed into the crowd, it was just as boisterous as Edward had described. Colorful tents lined the docks selling all sorts of gadgets, trinkets, and junk. The smell of baked goods and fried food wafted heavily in the air. Lucius stuck close to Pete’s side as the man lead him (dragged him) further into the crowd.
“Oh, wow, this place is really hopping,” Pete said, just loud enough for Lucius to hear over the noise of vendors and customers. “What’d you wanna look at first?”
“Uhm,” Lucius swallowed, trying to take in everything he was seeing, hearing, smelling, and tasting. “Maybe we should just walk around for a bit first? See if there’s anything worth our attention.”
“Yeah, of course, babe,” Pete nodded. He took Lucius’ hand in his and squeezed it. “Let’s take our time, we’ve basically got all day.”
They weaved their way through the crowd, scanning the various tents for something interesting to do or to buy. Many of the stalls were vendors haggling with customers over fresh fruit, fabrics, weaponry, or their hodgepodge of obviously stolen goods. Lucius stopped at one tent to look at possibly buying a new sketchbook with his allowance, but decided carrying it around the rest of the day would be impractical. He should have brought a bag with him. Pete stopped at one stall and bought a new whittling knife that he stuffed in his pocket.
"Oh, what's that over there?" Lucius asked, pointing at a plain beige tent towards the end of the docks. They watched as a man tossed horseshoes at a stake in the ground at the end of a long dirt patch trailing behind the tent. Clearly, the man was losing whatever this game was, because the man sitting behind the table smoking a cigar just laughed at him.
"Looks like horseshoes," Pete said.
"Yeah, I can see that, but what's that guy throwing them for?" Lucius asked.
"No, the game is called horseshoes," Pete explained. "You know, like that saying? 'Almost doesn't count except in horseshoes and cannon fire'?"
"I've never heard anyone say that before," Lucius raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well, they do," Pete said, "Anyway, you throw the horseshoe at the little stick, and if you get close you win a point. But if you get it on the stick you win more points."
"Well, that sounds easy enough," Lucius smiled. "I want to try."
Pete stopped and looked at him skeptically. "Uh, are you sure?"
"Yes I'm sure," Lucius rolled his eyes, “Otherwise I wouldn’t have said I wanted to?”
"Well, it's just that, you know," Pete looked at Lucius’ left hand pointedly, "… you never had the best hand-eye coordination, even before-"
“Oh my god, seriously? That’s why you gave me the wooden finger, babe,” Lucius jabbed him in the chest for emphasis, “I think you’re just scared I’ll be amazing at it on my first try and you’ll be embarrassed.”
“Right,” Pete said slowly. He took Lucius’ hand and moved it away from his chest and patted it. “Look, if you really wanna give it a shot, I can’t stop you. It’s just harder than it looks.”
Lucius huffed and walked up to the table as the previous player was stomping away. “Hello, I’d like to have a go, please.”
Pete watched as the man with the cigar handed Lucius three horseshoes and told him where to stand. Lucius got into position, wiggling his hips as he corrected his stance, which made his ass shake enticingly. Lucius lined up his arm with the stake in the ground while sticking out his tongue. Then, with a little grunt, he tossed the horseshoe.
It landed about six feet away from the dirt path, nowhere near the stake.
“It’s okay, that one was just practice,” Lucius called to Pete over his shoulder. He replanted his feet, wriggling again, and tossed the next horseshoe. This one at least landed in the dirt but was still a good yard or two short of the stake.
By now, Pete had walked over to see this boat wreck unfold up close. Lucius had a determined glint in his eyes, which made the other take a cautious step back. With a guttural yell, Lucius tossed the final horseshoe, stumbled from the leftover momentum and bowled over Pete when he fell.
The horseshoe landed with a distant splash.
“That was an impressive throw, sweetie,” Pete said.
“Oh, don’t patronize me,” Lucius sat up and rolled off the other man, brushing dirt out of his hair.
“No, really, you’ve got a good throwing arm!” Pete insisted.
“Whatever,” Lucius said, decidedly not pouting, “Doesn’t matter ‘cause I can’t aim for shit.”
“Well, y’know, everyone has their talents,” Pete shrugged.
“Hey, asshats,” the man with the cigar yelled at them, “If you don’t get me my fucking horseshoe I’m charging you for that shit!”
As Pete took off his shoes to go wade in the ocean, Lucius looked over the various trinkets the man had laid out as ‘prizes.’ Most of them were obviously junk, like all the sea shells. There were some interesting things as well, though; a set of patterned handkerchiefs, a carved wooden spoon, and a simple hand mirror were the ‘big ticket’ prizes according to the game operator. However, what finally caught Lucius’ eye was an orange silk hat with delicate flowering vines embroidered on it.
“I would let you try again, kid, but it looks like your little buddy just fished my horseshoe out of the sea, so it doesn’t seem fair to make him do that again,” Cigar-guy said.
“Okay, first of all, we’re both adults,” Lucius began, “Second, I’m pretty sure you two are the same age? And third of all-”
“Hey babe, this guy giving you trouble?” Pete panted as he ran over to the table and set the horseshoe down. “Oh, or are you chewing him out? I just wanna know if I should be offering moral or physical support.”
“It’s fine, babe, I have this under control,” Lucius said sweetly, “Thank you for getting that horseshoe outta the water.”
“Yeah, no problem, it’s hot as balls out anyway,” Pete said with a wave of his hand.
Before Lucius could berate the game operator further, Frenchie yelled at them from further up the road. “Hey, we’ve been looking all over for you two! You wanna come get food with us?”
“Ya, they’ve got this really good looking thing with potatoes!” John added.
“Oh, I am a bit peckish,” Lucius turned to Pete. “You wanna go with them?”
“Uh, you know, I actually had a big breakfast,” Pete said, rubbing the back of his head. “You go on without me.”
“Big breakfast? You ate the same thing as the rest of us,” Lucius frowned.
“Uh… Roach gave me seconds?” Pete explained, “Cus I helped him with something?”
“That bastard,” Lucius said. “Well, since the rest of us aren’t all chummy with the cook, guess I’ll just go with them. Maybe I’ll even save you some.”
“Yeah, just have fun!” Pete called after him, before turning quickly to the man with the cigar and loudly whispering, “What was he looking at?”
“What?” the man blinked. “I dunno.”
“Look, man, I’m gonna level with you,” Pete began, “Believe it or not, that other guy is… well, let’s just say he’s pretty special, and I-”
“He’s your lover.” Mr. Cigar-man said flatly. “It is very obvious from the way you call each other ‘babe’ and ‘sweetie.’”
Pete flushed. “Yeah, well, our anniversary is coming up, and let’s just say he hasn’t had the best year ever. So I wanna get him something that says, ‘Hey, you survived!’ you know?”
“I see,” the man rubs his chin thoughtfully. “You know, before you came back, the last thing he was looking at was that hat. He seemed to really like it.”
“Wait, seriously?” Pete stared at the hat, then turned back to the man, “But that would clash so badly with what he usually wears.”
“The red jacket?” The man asked.
“And the shirt, yeah.”
“Perhaps he is unable to tell the colors apart?” Cigar man said, “I had a cousin like that.”
“God, that would explain a lot,” Pete shook his head, “You really think he’ll like that hat?”
“I dunno, he is not my lover,” the man shrugged.
Pete stared at the hat, trying to picture Lucius wearing it. It scared him how easy it was to imagine Lucius on the deck preening over the hat, telling everyone that Pete had won it for him with a dopey little smile.
He really wanted to see that dopey little smile. He wanted to kiss that grin right off his stupid perfect face. He wanted to make Lucius make those little noises that went straight to his-
“Okay, what’d I have to do to win it?”
~~~
Pete didn’t like to brag about it, because even he knew it was silly to brag about, but he was pretty good at horseshoes. Once he had figured out which throwing style he liked best, it was just a matter of lining up each throw. He didn’t play very often anymore, but it was a good way to blow off steam on shore leave.
The first three throws were easy. He hardly waited for one horseshoe to wrap around the stake before letting the next one fly. He took a bit more time with the fourth; he didn’t wanna get cocky and mess this up. If he was playing for fun, it wouldn’t matter, but this was for Lucius. His boyfriend may not have had an athletic bone in his body, but he was so much stronger than anyone gave him credit for. He needed to get something that his lover could look at and remember he wouldn’t be alone. So, even if was one of the ugliest things he had ever seen, if it made Lucius happy, he was going to get it for him.
One thing Pete hadn’t accounted for when agreeing to land five horseshoes perfectly was how bulky they were. Now, with four horseshoes stacked haphazardly on top of each other, only the top of the stake was visible. His final horseshoe could easily ricochet off the others and miss, but he wouldn’t let that happen. He took a steadying breath, then another, and just as he was exhaling, he let the fifth horseshoe-
“Black Pete!” Stede called out cheerily.
Pete startled violently, letting go of the horseshoe sooner than he intended. It careened through the air and landed in the dirt inches away from the stake, sending up a small cloud of dust.
“God fucking shit- fucking damn it!” Pete cursed.
“Well, hello to you too,” Stede said with a grimace.
Pete bit the inside of his cheek hard to keep himself from clobbering him. “What. The hell. Do you want?”
“I just came to remind you that we’re all meeting back at the beach in an hour for supper before we go back to the ship,” Stede said, “Now, I know it can be hard to transition from one activity to another, but there’s no need to be so upset over it.”
“That’s not why- okay, sure, fine,” Pete sighed, “Sorry. I’ll be back at the beach in an hour.”
“Excellent, that’s what I like to hear,” Stede patted him on the shoulder. “Oh, and, you wouldn’t happen to know where Lucius ran off to, would you? Last I remember you two were exploring the boardwalk together.”
“He went to go get food with Frenchie and John,” Pete gestured vaguely in the direction they had gone.
“Oh, a lovers’ spat,” Stede nodded.
“What? No-”
“It’ll be okay, I’m sure he’ll have forgotten about it by bedtime tonight,” Stede offered, before turning to go round up the rest of the crew, “Best of luck to you, man!”
Pete watched him go before carefully picking up the horseshoes to give back to the game operator, who had finished his cigar and was watching him intently. “Look, I don’t have a lot of money left over, but I wanna try again.”
“Nah, don’t bother with it,” The man waved him off before taking the hat off the shelf and handing it to him. “You know what they say, almost only counts in horseshoes and cannon fire.”