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Pete stretched out over the pile of burlap sacks he took from the supply room for this session. “How do I look, sweetie?”
“Oh, you look fantastic,” Lucius grinned wolfishly. He flipped his sketchbook open to a blank page and grabbed a new charcoal stick. “But, it’s been a while since I’ve done a proper study of the male form… think I might need to do one as a warmup.”
“Oh, uh, of course,” Pete flushed but quickly regained his composure. He started sliding his vest off of his shoulders. “Whatever the master needs.”
As he pulled his shirt over his head and threw it on the floor on top of his discarded vest, there was a knock at the door.
“I’m sure it’s nothing important,” Lucius said, “They can come back later. I put a sock on the door, and everyone knows what that means.”
“Yeah, I’m the one who taught you that trick, hombrecito ,” said the voice on the other side of the door. “Are you two actually naked or can I come in?”
“No, Jim, we still got our pants on, unfortunately,” Lucius sighed, “You can come in.”
Jim opened the door and stared at the two of them. Lucius stared back, hand poised over his sketchbook.
“Hey, Jim!” Pete waved at Jim.
“Hey,” Jim nodded at him curtly, before turning back to Lucius. “Remember when I asked you for that favor a week ago?”
“Yeah?” Lucius replied.
“Well, it’s time,” Jim said, “So, uh, get your stuff and let’s go.”
“Wait, right now, seriously? You didn’t tell me it had to be tonight,” Lucius huffed. He gestured at Pete. “I kinda have something else going on.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Jim rolled their eyes, “And I know, I should have warned you or something, but I didn’t know we’d be back so soon so… vamos, por favor.”
“So I’m just supposed to drop everything I’m doing because you can’t communicate plans?” Lucius crossed his arms.
By now, Pete had gotten up and walked over to Lucius. He placed an arm around his shoulder and kissed his temple. “Babe, it’s really okay. You go have fun with Jim, and when you get back, we can…”
Then he put a hand around Lucius’ ear and whispered something that made him blush furiously.
“Oh, uhhh, okay, yeah, yeah,” Lucius nodded vigorously before giving Jim a thumbs up. “Yeah, I’ll be ready in 5.”
“Okay, good, meet me at the dinghies,” Jim grunted. “Look, I don’t know what the fuck you just told him, but thanks, Pete.”
“No problem,” Pete beamed.
~~~
“Look, Jim, I hate to nitpick your grand plan here,” Lucius said as they stood outside the tavern. “Actually, that’s not true, I love to nitpick. But, anyway, my point is… I don’t think this is the right place.”
“And I think you need to stop being una matilda perra,” Jim spat.
“You know, it’s not fair when you insult me in Spanish,” Lucius pouted, “You know I don’t speak Spanish.”
“Eh, you only really need to know the swear words,” Jim shrugged before stepping inside. “You coming or what?”
Lucius hurried after them, before leaning down to whisper, “Didn’t she try to kill you the last time we were here?”
“The last time
we
were here, yeah. But the last time
I
was here we reached a mutual agreement,” Jim said harshly, “Besides, everyone has tried to kill us, it’s part of the job description.”
“Okay, yeah, fair point,” Lucius agreed.
“Jim, is that you?” Spanish Jackie called from across the tavern. “Hold on, Jackie’s coming over there.”
“Hey, yeah, it’s me,” Jim waved casually.
“What the hell are you doing back here?” Jackie hurried over and crushed Jim in a hug, pecking their cheek with a loud smack. Then she noticed Lucius standing behind them nervously and frowned. “Oh god, why did you bring Stede’s little cabin boy with you?”
“I’m almost the same age as you,” Lucius muttered.
“Don’t tell me you broke up with Olu,” Jackie pulled away from Jim to give them a severe look. “I swear to god, he was the best thing that ever happened to you and if you left his ass for-”
“Woah, woah, calm down, it’s nothing like that,” Jim assured her quickly. “Actually, I came here to make something for him, but I don’t have a creative bone in my body.”
“And he does?” Jackie looked over at Lucius.
“Yeah.”
“Huh, yeah, that makes sense,” Jackie nodded. “So, you two here for the pottery night?”
“Pottery night?” Lucius looked at Jim quizzically.
“I told you I wanted to make something for Olu’s birthday,” Jim said, “What did you think I meant?”
“I don’t know, Jim, because you never explain anything!” Lucius threw his hands in the air before setting them on his hips. “I get you’re like, the badass assassin with a mysterious persona, but I’m like, your closest friend.”
“Besides Oluwande,” Jackie chimed in.
“Yes, obviously besides Oluwande,” Lucius shot back.
“What is there to explain?” Jim asked casually, “It’s Olu’s birthday soon, I wanna get him something special, Stede says handmade gifts are a great way to make something special, Jackie hosts a pottery night every week-”
“Technically, my husband hosts it,” Jackie said.
“-and you’re great at art stuff, so I asked you to come along to help me,” Jim finished.
Lucius paused, taking in what they had said, and smiled. “I’m touched.”
“Yeah, well, don’t get used to it,” Jim bumped Lucius with their shoulder.
“But, that explanation just raises more questions.”
“How?”
“Since when does Spanish Jackie have a pottery night?”
“Since Jackie’s husbands cajoled her into expanding her business ventures,” Jackie sighed. “But honestly? You’re the first two sorry suckers to come for pottery night, so, congratulations, I guess.”
“Why did you think I’d be good at pottery?” Lucius asked.
“You’re good at art!” Jim patted his back.
“I’m good at sketching ,” Lucius retorted, “And creative writing, sort of. Those are very different from pottery.”
“How hard can it be?” Jim smiled and pushed him towards the back room, “Come on, I’ll buy you a drink.”
~~~
Three drinks deep and an hour later, Jim accepted that pottery was not Lucius’s strong suit.
“Damnit,” he muttered, before smashing his unfinished creation and throwing it back onto his pottery wheel.
“Aw, I thought that one was kind of nice,” Jim said playfully, “I’m sure Pete would have loved that little lumpy dog.”
“It was supposed to be a bear,” Lucius sighed before picking up his clay and starting again. “I need something with fewer legs.”
“You could try a snake?” Jim suggested.
Lucius glared at him, “That would just be a tube with a head. That’s basically giving up.”
“A snail?”
“Ew.”
“A bird?”
“Too complicated.”
“Uhhh…” Jim rubbed their chin with their thumb, smearing clay on their face. “Walrus?”
“Ew,” Lucius grimaced, “And also, tusks.”
“How about a seal, then?”
“Oh, actually, that might work,” Lucius stared at his clay and began to absently shape it. “They’re kinda lumpy, and they’ve only got three flippers.”
“I think they have four,” Jim said.
“They’ve only got the front ones and the back one,” Lucius said.
“I think the back one counts as two, tipo.”
“Whatever, I’m counting it as one,” Lucius shrugged. “How are your spoons?”
“I think they’re almost done in the oven,” Jim said.
“It’s called a kiln, the oven is for food,” Jackie swirled her glass of wine. “Do you want clay in your food?”
“I think that’s okay if you’ve been poisoned,” Jim said.
“That’s charcoal,” Lucius corrected without looking up from the clay seal taking shape in his muddy hands. “Roach had to feed some to Stede once when he was ‘accidentally’ poisoned.”
“Who tried to poison that dipshit?” Jackie asked.
“Izzy,” Lucius said at the same time Jim said, “Roach.”
Jackie snorted. “God, he is a mess.”
“You said it, hermana,” Jim chuckled.
“I think I’m finished,” Lucius held up his figurine for inspection. “Pretty okay for a guy with nine fingers, huh?”
“It’s great, Lucy,” Jackie smiles politely at the sad lump of clay that vaguely resembles a seal, or maybe a manatee.
“It’s Lucius.”
“Whatever, go give Lucius to my husband so he can fire it so you can leave,” Jackie shooed him off.
“Aw, you wanna get rid of us already?” Jim teased.
“Yes,” Jackie said flatly. “The bar is closed and Jackie would like to go to sleep.”
~~~
In the end, Lucius and Jim left the bar just before sunrise with their creations safely tucked into his satchel, leaning on each other and giggling over some joke only the very young or very inebriated could understand. They rowed back to the Revenge with no issue and crashed in Jim’s bed together, a tangle of limbs and slurred goodnights.
“Jim, you should quit the whole piracy thing and go into pottery,” Lucius said sincerely after he had draped himself over them. “You’re a natural.”
“You think so?” Jim asked, “But I like piracy, and I’d miss you and Pete and… and the rest of you!”
“You’d miss Oluwande the most,” Lucius nodded seriously.
“No, cus he’d come with me,” Jim said, “Do you think he’ll like what I made?”
“No,” Lucius grinned, “He’ll love it, cus his favorite person made it.”
“Aw, Luc,” Jim smiled and hugged him, only somewhat crushing his windpipe. “Fuck, I’m so drunk.”
“Me too,” Lucius agreed, patting Jim on the back after he could breathe again. “Let’s do this again, but with less alcohol.”
“ Sí, solo un poco de vino la próxima vez,” Jim agreed. “Buenas noches, hombrecito.”
“Nighty night, Jim,” Lucius sighed.