Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

For as long as Chip could remember he had always had the worst soulmate echos of anyone he knew. He was bruised, cut and sore constantly.

When he was young, living on the streets he of course didn’t know why this was happening. It was just another curse from the gods, kicking the pathetic runt while he was down. Then he met Arlin, who explained that no, the gods weren’t punishing him, rather it was a sign that somewhere out there someone existed who would understand his pain, and in turn he would understand theirs.

Chip spent a month after that moving ever so carefully as not to get any bruises or scrapes. He didn’t want to add to his soulmates' pain, because it was already so much. There were days where the pain was nearly unbearable. His skin would be littered with cuts and bruises and his muscles would ache though he did nothing. He would spend days in his bunk, crying, begging for the pain to stop, for the world to stop hurting his soulmate.

It didn’t.

Everyone on the ship would give him long sad looks on these days. But he couldn’t figure out why. It wasn’t his pain, they all knew that.

At the time he had figured it was because even though it wasn’t his pain he was still in pain, but he knows now it goes a little deeper than that.

He hadn’t known what Arlin and Drey had meant when discussing ‘when to tell him’. They debated it for days leading up to the hole in the sea. Chip was going to ask after the Captains retirement party.

He never got the chance.

It didn’t matter in the end. Working with Ruben, living on the streets, those years where he couldn’t figure out where his own pain ended and his soulmates started, opened his eyes to the cruelty of the world.

The revelation came to him around 14 years old. Being on land taught him a lot of things. He didn't live a normal life but he could witness those who did, kids who roamed the streets with only minor bruises and scrapes. Most kids didn’t get inch deep cuts frequently. His soulmate did, because his soulmate, wherever they were, was abused.

The revelation startled him. But there was nothing he could do. And over time it became more of a comfort, outwardly he wouldn’t dare buy into soulmates, but in the privacy of his own mind, it was nice to know that his soulmate was probably as fucked up as he was.

Now at 19 years old, Captain of the Big Chipper, sailing towards an island called Zero. He doesn’t think about his soulmate much anymore. The odds of meeting him were slim, and the odds of them actually liking Chip if they did meet were slimmer.

The idea of soulmates only popped back into his head after a brief conversation with Jay about them where Chip noticed he hadn’t felt any echoes from his soulmate in a few days, which was odd, yet somehow comforting.

He took another bite from his apple, ignoring Jay's protests that he was going to eat all their supplies before they made landfall, in favor of feeding the empty pit that his stomach had been recently.

“Chip?”

“Yeah Jay?”

“Come look at this,” she called.

Moving over to where she was perched at the front of the ship Chip scanned out into the open ocean, looking for whatever it was that Jay was so worried about, when he saw him.

Floating in the water, basking in the sun, was a triton. He maneuvered the boat over toward him, watching as the tritons features pinched as the boat cast as shadow onto him, and Chip reached out a hand.

Gillion didn’t have a soulmate. As the chosen one Lunadeyis knew better than to give him a potential distraction.

He hadn’t even learned what a soulmate was until he was around 10, when his sister talked about them with longing in her voice. Edyn described how there was someone out there to understand her, truly and deeply.

Apparently his parents were soulmates. It was news to him, Gillion didn’t see his parents often enough to know things like that about them. But it was a nice thought that he at least came from a place of love, even if he was being prepared for war.

He mentioned soulmates to the Elders after Eden had talked about them.

He quickly learned a lot of things from that very short conversation, first he was never to bring up soulmates again. Second, he was to avoid thinking about them as much as possible, because fantasies such as soulmates were an unnecessary distraction. And third, there was no one out there for him. He was the chosen hero, he was to protect everyone of the undersea and that didn’t involve attachments to one person above all others. That would be selfish.

Gillion Tidestrider Champion of the Undersea Hero of the Deep, would never be understood. Which was fine. He heard about what happens if you have a soulmate, he didn’t need anymore cuts and bruises to deal with, he already couldn’t keep track of his own. Besides that he was happy to not be inflicting his pain on to someone else, no one else needed to live the life he was subjected to.

As he grew older, and visits from Eden grew less frequent, he thought about soulmates less.

It wasn’t until he was floating on the surface of the ocean, banished from his home, getting the first taste of the suns embrace that he wondered if he did have a soulmate, could they feel his hunger?

A shadow crossing his face cast that thought away as a brown eyed human leaned over the side of a boat and extended a hand.

A hand that Gillion took.

Chapter Text

Chip was fairly certain that Gillion was his soulmate. Which was a touch complicated because Gillion claimed to not have a soulmate, but Chip was almost certain of it, and he had been since they first met. 

Gillion banged his knee pretty hard on the side of the boat when they pulled him up, Gillion hadn’t reacted but at the same time Chip got an echo right on his knee that hurt badly enough for him to curse out loud. 

Which of course meant Jay knew. That night while Gillion slept she bombarded him with questions, he answered all of them honestly. He didn’t know.

But when he thought about it, Gillion being his soulmate made sense, Gil charged headfirst into all of his battles and took hit after hit like it was nothing. Their time on Zero had almost confirmed it to him. Until their conversation on the Big Chipper that night. 

It took Chip a while to work up the courage to even talk to Gil about soulmates, he didn’t know what undersea customs were in the topic and in the few days he’d known Gillion he learned just how much he cared about his culture. 

So he took a subtle approach. 

“Hey Gil,” he paused just long enough to let Gillion look up at him from where he’d been gazing at the water, “whatdoyouthinkaboutsoulmates?”

Gillion tilted his head, “I’m sorry Chip, what did you say? If that is a common word I’m afraid I don’t know it.”

Chip took a deep breath, glancing back at Jay for support and being unsurprised when she quickly made a point to look busy and not like she was listening in. “What.. you know, what does the undersea think about soulmates, just asking for Jay. She was curious but too scared to ask.” 

“Oh! Well there is no need to fear Jay! I am more than happy to speak about anything undersea related!” Gillion smiled over at Jay, who gave Chip an unimpressed look.

“The undersea and the oversea have the same.. er general thoughts about soulmates I believe, that somewhere out there is a person who will understand your pain and you in a way no one else will yes?”

Chip nodded. 

“In the undersea if you were to find your soulmate there are many rituals one would go through to be bound to that person for the rest of their lives. Like marriage for romantic partners, but because they are soulmates, it is more.”

Chip was ready to leave it at that, if Gillion wasn’t going to volunteer personal information Chip wasn’t going to ask. Jay on the other hand apparently had no such qualms.

“So.. Gillion, do you have a soulmate?” Jay's voice feigned innocence but the look she gave Chip was sinister.

Gillion frowned, only for a moment before he donned a more implacable look, “No, as Champion of the Undersea my duty is to all, so I do not have any soulmate to speak of.”

Jay quirked an eyebrow and shot a confused look at Chip, “really? No soul pains, nothing?”

“None at all,” he confirmed.

Jay let out a sigh and muttered ‘lucky’ under her breath, Chip was inclined to agree. 

“What about you, Jay, Chip, do you two have soulmates? What is the pain like?” 

“Yeah I’ve got a soulmate, I actually have already met mine,” Jay said pausing for a moment to take a glance out to quickly setting sun, “… We took different paths. But- as per the pain, she doesn’t get hurt too much but when she does I guess it just reminds me that she’s out there. Kinda sucked for a while we both got beat up a bit there for a while and double the pain wasn’t fun.”

Chip let out a hum of acknowledgment to Jay, hoping she would talk longer to save him from having to speak. 

But Chip hardly ever gets what he wants so after a couple moments of Jay and Gillion looking at him expectantly he sighed and spoke.

“My uh- my soulmate he- or they get hurt a lot, it kinda sucks not really being able to do anything. But they’ve been getting hurt a lot less recently so, that’s good I guess.”

“And you know your soulmate Chip?” Gillion asked tilting his head. 

Chip shrugged feigning nonchalance, “thought I might. But I can’t be sure. Doesn’t really matter anyway.”

“Of course it matters, Chip! Your soulmate is the one who will understand your pain, help you shoulder your burdens, to meet them is a life changing event,” Gillion looked up at him, eyes full of wonder, “how could that be unimportant?” 

Chip was getting rapidly more uncomfortable with this conversation, that was too uncomfortable to begin with, so he deflected.

“Yeah, I guess it’s nice,” Chip agreed so the subject would drop, “Anyway I took the first watch last night so Gil, Jay, duke it out for who gets what, and wake me up for last watch.”

And Chip crawled to the other side of this too small boat and laid down in the designated ‘sleep area’, not thinking about soulmates. 

In the early hours of the morning Jay woke him up, kicking him in the side with the toe of her boot. 

“What the fuck Jay!” He yelped looking up at her with bleary eyes. 

She had an odd look on her face, not looking at him but rather at the other side of the boat. 

“So he’s …not? Your soulmate?” Jay asked eyes still fixed over to where Chip now saw that Gillion was curled up asleep. 

Chip would rather drown at sea than have this conversation but he answered anyway, “I guess not. You heard him. He doesn’t have one.”

“But you thought he was?” 

Chip sighed, “I dunno man, I guess?”

Jay looked over at him for the first time in the conversation, squinting as she searched for something in his face, it was a little intimidating until slowly she broke out into a grin, “you like him?” 

Chip felt his face heat up a little, “I haven’t known him that long.”

“You gotta admit he’s handsome.”

“I don’t look at men that way.”

Jay laughed so hard she doubled over, stuffing a fist in her mouth to muffle the sound, she took a moment to compose herself, “And my hairs not red.”

“I’m being serious here!”

“Listen Chip I am too!” she paused stretching out an yawning, “It’s your watch Imma sleep, you should talk to him in the morning.”

He didn’t talk to Gillion in the morning, instead their boat blew up and they found themselves on a remarkably creepy island. 

Loffinlot didn’t do much to dissuade Chip's initial thought that Gillion was his soulmate. 

It was just too many coincidences, when he jumped through the window Chip got a few scrapes, then again with the bald men and the bugs in the forest. It wasn’t those things that confirmed it for him though, what did it, was when Gillion went alone into that hut in the woods. 

It wasn’t the jolt of excruciating pain that did it either, the confirmation came minutes later, when just for a second, Chip saw a flash of what looked like a crescent moon on his wrist. Then it vanished just as soon as it was there. 

He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. Jay hadn’t seen anything and her eyes were practically magical. In those dreadful minutes spent waiting to see if Gillion would return, Chip found 1000 ways to rationalize what he saw. 

All rationale was thrown out the window when Gillion appeared, donning a crescent moon on his wrist, with the initials N K inside. Gillion had formed a contract for the lives of the people, sacrificing his future autonomy. But the thing Chip was focused on at the moment was the fact that he was Gillions soulmate. And for some reason, Gillion claimed he didn’t have one. 

Chapter Text

Tonight was a night to remember. 

Admittedly every night on the surface thus far had been a night to remember for Gillion, but tonight especially. 

Gillion had been to parties before, but they were stuffy and uncomfortable and usually a celebration with quiet music and long speeches. Everything was so much more on the surface. 

People were shouting and singing and laughing, bright genuine laughs. The music was almost jarring for him. Underwater they were more limited, they had string instruments and percussion, but someone here was playing what Chip called a ‘trumpet’. Apparently it used the vibrations of air to produce sound. The technicalities didn’t really matter to Gillion though, he was just enraptured by the noise. 

The sights were fantastic too. The people of Loffinlot strung up lanterns that cast all sorts of warm red orange and yellow lights over the streets. He was still getting used to vibrant reds and oranges. As far deep undersea as he was from, it was hard to convey those colors with the light that they had, some more shallow water cities had warm colors on display but it wasn’t nearly as common as simple blues or something shiny when you wanted to be fancy. The only warm colors that could be picked up where Gillion was from were bioluminescent and that wasn’t comparable to the colors that the overseas people were flaunting. 

Gillion watched as games were played and people danced, free from their curse. He felt a sense of pride well in himself, it felt good to do good. 

He sighed contentedly as he grabbed his drink, another thing he wasn’t used to, alcohol. Or drinks at all for that matter, but alcohol specifically. 

In the undersea there were ways of achieving the ‘drunk’ feeling. None that Gillion had ever tried but he knew they existed. 

Drunkenness was a funny feeling, it was almost like he was back undersea with how he felt almost like he was floating and he felt more relaxed than he had in years. It was great. 

And Chip was walking towards him so it was even better. 

Gillion had decided early on in his relationship with Chip and Jay that they were exceptions to what the elders had said about humans. The more humans he met the more exceptions he found. 

But Chip might be his favorite exception. He was certainly nuanced, he blew up a Navy Base and Liberated Zero and though he was slower to help Loffinlot he did in the end. Chip was a good person, he helped Gillion learn about oversea culture, he gave him food and a place to stay no matter what. 

And being around Chip just felt so good.

Which is probably why when Gillion saw him approaching he put the drink down and met Chip, who was noticeably ‘wasted’ (as he heard Jay say once). 

“Gill! Buddy! You enjoying this?” Chip asked gesturing wildly around before focusing in on Gillion and poking him in the chest, “it’s for you.”

Gillion smiled bashfully, “Chip, it’s a celebration of freedom! There is nothing here that should be to do with any one person.”

Chip frowned, and grabbed Gillions wrist, covering up the crescent moon, “it’s for you.” There was a seriousness to his voice that was almost startling to Gillion

 But he didn’t have time to process it before Chip was once again chipper, a crooked smile on his face and a gleam in his eye, “dance with me.”

And like that Gillion was being pulled along by Chip into the streets. 

Gillion was not a very good dancer. Chip might’ve been if he wasn’t so drunk, Gillion couldn’t tell. All he knew was that he was surrounded by dazzling lights, cheerful music and being twisted and twirled around by Chip in a haze of delight. 

It was wonderful 

Gillion’s head was pounding and his chest felt heavy for some reason. 

He craned his neck up to get a look at his surroundings, he was in the middle of the street, which was the least of his concerns because as he moved whatever, or whoever was on his chest groaned, 

Looking down he saw a tuft of familiar brown hair. No face could be seen as it was currently being pressed into Gillions chest, which for some reason hurt his head worse. 

Gillion stayed very still, feeling slightly awkward about the whole situation. Chip moved again and Gillion felt a sharp jolt of pain shoot through his head. 

Gillion supposed this was the ‘hangover’ Jay had warned him about, he took a few deep breaths to try and relieve the pain, it didn’t. 

Truthfully he didn’t think he’d get a hangover at all, he had only had a few drinks none of them particularly strong but he supposed that he wasn’t used to drinking. 

As he continued to lay there very still, for lack of knowing how to proceed when actively using him as a pillow he tried to recall the events of the night. 

Fondly he recalled dancing with Chip, enjoying the music, and listening to stories from the townsfolk. More fondly he recalled laying down on the street next to Chip as through slurred speech he described the constellations in the sky. 

They fell asleep that way. 

Now here he was, trying not to move or to startle him. It didn’t seem to matter much though, because since Gillion had woken up it seemed that Chip had been shifting and grumbling quite a bit. 

It took about ten minutes before Chip fully opened his eyes and looked at Gillion. 

“Oh shit-“ Chip cursed and sat up pushing his hands to his head in pain as he did, Gillion could sympathize, as moved and spoke he felt a sharp pain shoot through his skull. 

“Good morning Chip.” Gillion spoke quietly trying not to disturb his headache, or the one Chip seemingly had either. 

Chip was still holding his head in his hands, and he sucked in a sharp breath of air before letting out a quiet ‘morning’.

Gill continued to sit quietly, waiting for a cue on what to do from Chip. Watching a Chip looked around, likely coming to the same conclusions as Gillion did only minutes ago. 

Absently Gillion rubbed his temples trying to ease the ache. 

“Headache?” Chip asked, voice now losing some of its grogginess.

Gillion hummed in agreement.

“Yeah same, let's go get some water.”

As they stood Gillion felt a wave of nausea, Chip didn’t look much better. 

The water wasn’t helping Gillion much, nor did the touch of healing magic he did on himself. 

But slowly the pain eased up by the time Jay found them Chip and Gill were both mostly rid of their headaches. 

“Chip, Gill,” Jay was pinching the bridge of her nose, “Do either of you remember what happened last night?”

“Gill does.” Chip supplied, Gillion nodded in agreement.

“Who the fuck is Amanda and why is she saying she’s my wife?”

Chip burst out laughing, choking a little on the water he had just taken a sip of. 

“Because she is Jay! You two wished to be married last night so I married you, I’m not sure how undersea customs translate to the oversea but it is binding in my eyes and so I don’t see why it can’t be in you and hers. Congratulations!” 

Jay's jaw dropped. “I need to write a letter, I’ll be down in a bit.” 

Chapter Text

To say Chip had a guilty conscience would be an understatement. He was a bad person. Objectively. He had done horrible things to tons of people and got away with it. The only burden he bears is the guilt of knowing.

It wasn’t long after he met Gil that the jokes started. He knew they were mean. Chip wasn’t stupid. But mean was funny when you weren’t on the receiving end and Gillion wasn’t aware he was the punch line of his jokes so no harm done.

Except to Chip’s conscience. Guilt had been weighing since at least the ‘slapping bald heads is respectful’ bit, and the guilt only grew with the confirmation that they were soulmates.

Chip really wasn’t going to tell him, was he? Not until the day he died, is the decision he came up with on their first night on the Albatross.

The day he died may be sooner than he had initially anticipated. Of course, Chip always knew he’d die young, but 19 years old in a giant roulette wheel? Well, none of that was what Chip had in mind for his death.

Getting to Gillion was hard. The centripetal force pushed against Chip’s every move, keeping him pressed up against the wall of the roulette wheel. When he finally reached Gillion in number 34 he was immediately helped into the pocket with him. Distantly, or maybe extremely closely it was hard to tell, Chip could hear the gigantic ball bounce, shaking the wheel as it did.

“Gill I think we’re gonna die.” He tried not to portray the fear he felt in his voice, he couldn’t tell if he was successful.

“Only if we are really really really unlucky!” Gillion replied, ever the optimist.

The ball crashed down on the wheel again, and it was getting closer, Chip was certain of it. He didn’t register as he grabbed Gillion, who somehow seemed rather unfazed by possibly looking his death in the face, and stared up, awaiting the 2-ton roulette ball that surely meant his death.

“Gillion, if we die I just want you to know- there were no demons in the forest I just wanted to see you stab bugs,” The wheel shook again as the ball struck down.

“What what? Chip - What about the bald people? Chip?”

“It’s not a sign of respect I just thought it was funny- And-” Chip sucked in a breath, “We’re soulmates-”

The ball struck the board it was close enough that Chip would have fallen down had he not been holding onto Gillion, he closed his eyes and buried his head into Gill’s shoulder as the sky above them went dark.

Then the board shook again. But he wasn’t crushed. He wasn’t dead. He looked up and saw a small pole made of thick glass slide back into the wheel.

He was alive and had just confessed all of that.

Gillion made no further comments, just climbed out of the pocket and told Jay what Chip was sure she already knew, the game was rigged.

He could handle being ignored. There were clearly far more important things going on anyway, they could have a civil conversation about the lying and the soulmates after all of this and they both will have processed things by then. Or he’d die like he predicted and then no conversation was needed at all. Win-win.

Of course, that is not at all what happened, because mere seconds later Jay was a ferret, round three was starting and Gillion was no longer ignoring Chip.

“Chip, you’ve besmirched my honor. I will never be the same. Why would you lie to me about that?” There was a genuine pain in Gillion's voice that hurt Chip to hear.
“Gill- buddy listen.” Chip put his hands on Gillion's shoulders, “Sometimes people do things… because it’s funny. And that’s why I did that.”

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about Chip. I don’t have a soulmate. The fact that you would lie to me at all is deplorable but about something so… Personal. Chip. You are a bastard,” Gillion ripped himself out of Chip's hold, “Spin the wheel!” He shouted over the whipping win and hollering crowd.

Chip would process that later. Probably not actually, but Clortan had an idea that wasn’t bad except for the 2 ton roulette ball.

“I’ll stop the ball.” Gillion resolutely offered.

He would fucking die, and Chip was not going to have that if he could avoid it.

“Are you sure you should do that? That thing is massive,” Chip pointed out.

“If Chip says I cannot do it that means I can.”

“That is not how this works.”

It didn’t matter, his mind was made up. And when Gillion's mind was made up he turned Navy soldiers into pirates, jumped through windows, and saved islands. That didn’t mean Chip wasn’t still scared for his life.

The battle replayed over and over in Chip's mind. The key moments. The pain from the impact of the roulette ball when it stuck Gillion. Staring in awe as divine power coursed through Gillion so he could throw Mr.Daice onto the wheel. Then worst of all the bone-shattering pain from the impact that took Gillion out.

Soul pains don’t deal actual damage, you get the bruises or cuts, and blood flows but it takes none of your vitality. The pain however is very real.

It was a miracle that Chip stayed up at all though it much less lasted long enough to get another hit in.

It didn’t matter now. The pain had subsided into a mere extreme amount as opposed to the hellish-send-you-to-your-death that it was earlier.

He didn’t really listen as Clortan finished up his speech and before he knew it he was watching helplessly as Gillion gave out exorbitant amounts of gold, only to turn to him after it all and simply say “mm triangle.”

So everything was fine. Gillion clearly didn’t take anything he said to heart, was likely ignoring the soulmate ordeal entirely and he still didn’t know how an MLM worked.

Once they were finally home safe on the albatross Chip flopped into his hammock and got some much-needed rest.

Chapter Text

Rage simmers. 

Heating up as patience wears thin. Spreading through one’s veins until all that they are is anger and all that they need is an outlet. 

Gillion knows rage. Righteous fury was something that was given to him from the gods. When he finds a problem in the world he seeks and destroys as he was trained to do. Right now, that’s Chip. He was the lies and deceit of all humans Gillion was heaven sent to destroy. 

He looked around at the arena he created. Satisfied it would hold and waited. Standing back straight in attention, glaring at the door he knew Chip would emerge from.

It took hours but Chip woke up, then exited. And Gillion remembered what the Elders had said of humans. Because here was Chip, expressing his greed, fully willing to jump ship when he thought something had gone awry. And here was Chip patronizing his intelligence. Gillion hoped for a civil conversation to lead into their righteous duel, but instead after Gillion expressed his wish to confide in him Chip said in a tone Gillion was coming to learn to be patronizing:

“Alright Gill, so when a little guppy gets a little 

older-“ 

Gillion couldn’t stand to listen to it any longer, “when I was a little guppy they told me humans were greedy, self indulgent, destructive creatures. Who live their lives recklessly at the expense of others.”

“Yeah-“  Gillion cut him off. The lack of shame Chip possessed, only fueling his ire.

“But when I came here, Chip. I chose not to listen. When I boarded your vessel- when I was invited upon it by you and Jay, you took me aboard and I felt as if I could trust you. I felt as though I knew I could trust you. But sometimes one must admit their hubris.” 

Gillion paused to take in Chip, he felt a small sense of contentment with the guilty look on his face. He gathered his thoughts and continued. 

“When you told me in that moment, when a steel ball could have ended both of our lives, what you had done, at first I did not understand. Then when you blatantly lied to me again after your first admittance, all I felt was anger.”

“Wait wait- what did I say?” Chip interrupted. 

Of course, Gillion thought, these lies which had shaken Gillion's world. Crumbled his newfound trust and friendship, would be mere afterthought to a liar. Gillion refreshed him anyway. 

“You Chip, told me the truth. For once. And then followed that candor immediately with more lies.”

“Gill- look I’m sorry about the jokes but they were just that. Jokes. I know they were mean but-“ 

“Chip you should know as well as I that those jokes are not the focal point of my anger. But I suppose we can speak on them for a moment. What is funny about sending Julian first into the void?”

“I- I did that to protect you.”

Gillion cocked his head to the side. “Protect me? If you want to protect me why would you lie to me when I rely on you for knowledge of a world I know nothing of.”

Chip opened his mouth to speak but Gillion didn’t stop.

“You have proven the Elders correct about humans you are self-serving to the core. So be it. But Chip you know what really irks me? After confessing your lies you say you are my soulmate. You attempt to absolve yourself of your sins only when you believe you are about to die. Then you follow it up with a boldface lie. In doing this you deny me my role as the Chosen of the Undersea. You damage my honor Chip. That is what hurts the most.”

Chip was standing slightly slack jawed. “Gill- I am your soulmate.”

“Lies!” Gillion shouted, “You do not back down on your disrespect. I do not have a soulmate. Your insistence of these lies even now that I have confronted you only solidifies my decision more.” 

Gillion paused, giving Chip a split second to speak. He didn’t use it. 

“Chip. I Gillion Tidestrider Champion of the Deep challenge you to ritual combat in defense of my honor.”

There was a pause. Only for a moment as Chip seemed to process the words. Then all at once Chip burst out laughing, doubling over. It was a sight that in nearly any other context Gillion would’ve , had, enjoyed. Yet now it only served to fuel the flames of his rage, staking the coals so they burned brighter and with a vengeance.

After a while Chip spoke, mirth in his voice, “Gil- c’mon what do you mean? You wanna fight in…” Chips smile spread, ignoring the gravity of Gillions words entirely, “ritual combat?”

“I have no further words to explain this to you Chip.” Gillion was stone faced.

Chip seemed to finally be picking up on the intensity of Gillion's challenge. 

“Gillion- you’re not serious.”

Gillion gestured to the arena around them. 

Gillion watched Chip look around, finally fully taking in his situation, “you’re serious. Gill, I’m not gonna fight you.” There was a sense of finality to his words. Gillion resented that.

“Unlike you Chip, I have laid my intentions bare.”

“No- I’m not going-“

“And if you want to prove to me that you are not a selfish creature, if not for you then for me.” 

That seemed to strike a chord. 

“Gillion I’m not going to hurt you because you tell me to! You’re my friend you’re part of my crew- and you call me honorless?”

Gillion drew his sword, squaring his shoulder and widening his stance, “prove me wrong.”

“Put down the sword Gil.”

“I won’t. Do me this favor Chip.”

Chip sighed, “no.”

“Then you are exactly what they said you were.”

Chips eye twitched, Gillion felt a small smirk appear on his face, he was getting somewhere.

“What am I supposed to kill you?” Chip was surprisingly quiet, getting more resigned as the conversation went on, “I’m not going to kill you.” 

“You don’t have to. But I need to kill the evil you have let sprout from the lies you have fed me. You would do this for me if you were truly my friend.”

With that Gillion saw Chip snap. 

“You really want to fight me? After everything we’ve been through? You really want to stand here, and act like you’re so much better than me? After you destroy my ship and rope me into a bunch of shit I didn’t want to be a part of?” He took a step towards Gillion, “and just because I made a couple of jokes- and told you the fucking truth- we are soulmates! You want to fight me! You want to kill me Gill.”

Gillion tried to interject. To defend himself.

“No no no!” Chip poked a finger into his chest, “Gillion Tidestrider is done talking! It’s Chip's turn. I walked through those woods for you! I wouldn’t have done it for anybody else! Now you want to fight me? You create this stupid arena to fight me? I had your back. Always. Because you’re my soulmate and I give a shit about you! But even if you weren’t. You my friend.” Chip huffed out a breath. 

“You wanna fight Gill?” In one motion he pulled out his swords, “Let’s go.”

“Thank you.” 

And Gillion jumped into battle, swinging down at Chip. Wedging his sword into the deck below them as Chip jumped out of the way. 

Chip moved deftly, utilizing underhanded technique to dodge attacks and take quick jabs. He played defensive, not overly concerned about actually hitting his target.

It was a fittingly dishonorable way to duel. 

The more strikes Chip missed the angier Gillion got. “Do not dare, go easy on me.” Gillion said through gritted teeth, finally managing to make contact, just barely slashing Chip enough to draw blood. 

Distantly he felt the sting of a cut, Chip got a hit then. 

“You see that Gill?” Chip shouted at him, Gillion ignored him. 

He took a step forward sweeping his sword out in a wide arch cutting a clean line across Chip's abdomen. 

He felt another sting. 

As the fight continued so did this pattern, for every contact Gillion made with Chip, so did Chip make with Gillion. 

Gillion swiped at Chip's feet, blocking his blade at the expense of one of his own, now stuck in the ground. 

Chip blocked Gillions next attack as well, pushing his hand against the flat of his blade to keep Gillion from cleaving into his shoulder. 

Chips hands were shaking. He was growing tired. Gillion would soon win this.

“I haven’t-“ Chip's voice was strained with effort, “hit you once Gill.” 

Twisting his blade, Gillion knocked Chips' remaining sword from his hands. 

“And yet I bleed.” 

Gillion stepped into Chips space, knocking him backwards to the ground, as he raised his sword above his head, ready for his final strike. 

He took Chip in. He was a mess. His clothes were more torn than usual, a mixture of blood and sweat made his normally baggy shirt stick to his torso in strange ways and rivulets of blood cascaded down his face. 

Distantly he heard Jay shout something.

Gillion let gravity do most of the work, letting his sword fall straight down. The final end to the fight. 

But Chip was not downed. He was staring at Gillion, holding the sharp edge of the blade in his bleeding hand. 

Blood trickled down the hilt of Gillions sword. His hands stung with newly opened wounds.

“The bloods mine Gill.

Gillion grit his teeth. “It is not.” And with those final words he channeled as much divine energy as he could through his sword and into Chip. 

It was as though pure energy was tearing him apart. He didn’t drop his sword as he staggered back, pain coursing through his veins. When he finally looked up, Chip didn’t look much better. 

But slowly Chip moved up to his knees. 

“I can’t do that again Gill,” blood trickled from Chips forehead into his unblinking eye as he spoke, “so what now, are you gonna kill me?”

Gillion paused. Taking in the past few seconds. Chip was… 

“GO AHEAD!” Chips sudden outburst pulled Gillion from his thoughts, “kill me. But I hear the pain of living without your soulmate is like no other.”

Chip was his soulmate.

But Gillion was still a man of pride, “are you forfeiting, Chip?”

“Sure.” Chip shook his head, wincing as he did, “I don’t care. I’m not doing this anymore.”

“I cannot accept  a forfeit, only a win or loss as is tradition.” 

“You know what Gill? Fuck your traditions!” Chip shouted, coughing some from the exertion, before grabbing Gillions hand, blood mixing together as he pulled Chips sword arm forward, pressing the blade to his neck, “go ahead.”

“You know this is not a victory for me. You are cheating me. Pick your swords up and fight me for real this time.”

Chip glared up at him. Not breaking eye contact as he shakily tried to get off the ground. 

To no avail. 

It didn’t matter anyway. As Jay slide down the icy slope knocking Gillions sword from his hand in an easy movement.

“What is this accomplishing? Stop killing each other!”

“Nothing will die today Jay, but if something is to live it must be my honor.”

“Your honor?” Chip asked incredulous, “I told you the truth and you literally fought me over it. How is fighting your friend, your soulmate honor?”

“You can still call me a friend if you get up and finish-“ 

“No! I don’t want to call you a friend! I do-“ 

“Oh my god Chip shut the fuck up!” Jay shouted, “you are such a fucking bastard you know that? And Gill! You’re talking about your traditions how far has that gotten you, huh? Why are you up here?”

Gillion clamped his mouth shut.

“You’re both fucking stupid! You’re accomplishing nothing!” Jay pinched the bridge of her nose, “there’s a giant fucking arena on our ship! That somehow I’ll end up cleaning! What are we accomplishing? We’ve known each other for a month and y’all are already trying to kill each other! You’re soulmates. Get over it.”

“No fuck this.” Chip said “this isn’t a fucking crew. I never should have pulled you from the ocean Gillion.” 

“And I never should have taken your hand.”

Gillion watched as Chip mustered all of his strength, pushing himself up off the floor, and walked back toward their shared room.

“Do you accept defeat?” Gillion called.

“Sure.”

Chapter Text

The coin was cool on his skin as he pulled it from his pocket. The familiar weight did not bring the same comfort it usually did as he ran circles over the tails side with his thumb, coating the coin in blood as he did. 

Which meant Gillion was still bleeding too. Apparently Chip just couldn’t help but to make Gillion's life harder. 

Only Chip would have a soulmate who’s life was made worse by his mere existence. 

It wasn’t his fault that Gillion was his soulmate, any more than it was Gillions. Yet somehow with Chips cosmically bad luck he ended up with a soulmate who’s initial reaction to finding out they were soulmates would be to think he’s lying and attempt to fight him for destroying his honor. 

He squeezed the coin in his hand, feeling a small shock of pain as it pressed against the still opened wounds, drawing tears to his eyes. 

He had done so much for Gillion. Saved him, tried to protect him, taught him and guided him. There were times of course where he misled him. Gillion became the punchline to some jokes, but they were just jokes. 

He couldn’t have known they would hurt him. 

If only he could say that were true. He knew Gillion didn’t understand, from the beginning he knew these jokes weren’t made for the person they were about. 

He knew the soulmate thing would hurt too. 

From the first conversation they had about soulmates he knew that if Gillion found out he had one it wouldn’t matter how great Chip was it would be wrong. Not because Chip wasn’t good enough, which he wasn’t, but by virtue of his existence. Gillions life hinged on being The Chosen One, soulmates, Chip got in the way of that. 

And then he told Gillion he regretted pulling him out of the sea. That was a lie too. The biggest lie by far. Every moment he’s had since Gill joined the crew has been just that much better. 

For a long time Chip didn’t believe that soulmates could be as good as the stories said but Gillion made him think it was possible. 

Then he went and fucked everything up, just like-

The door began to creak open and Chip brushed the tears off his face, smearing more blood in the process. 

He didn't have to hear the footsteps to know it was Gillion coming into the room, but the slight rustle of armor confirmed it. 

He didn’t turn to look at him as he entered. His emotions too jumbled up to face the person who he simultaneously wanted to be near the most and least at that very moment. 

“I healed myself which should have stopped some of your bleeding but…” Gillion trailed off before stepping closer to him.

It took everything in Chip not to recoil as Gillion laid a firm, still bleeding hand on his shoulder. It took a little more than everything to not sigh in relief as the healing spell closed his wounds, feeling like a cool breeze on a warm night. 

There was nothing Chip could do to stop the tears when Gillion said, “thank you Chip, for doing that for me.” So instead Chip turned his head away and nodded. Waiting for Gillion to leave before he fully broke down. 

But he didn’t leave, he took a few steps, sure. But Chip heard clearly as he turned around. 

“Please do not.. lie, or keep things from me again.”

Chip took a deep breath, and steadied his voice, “alright Gil.”

Then finally, Gillion left the room. 

Of course there wouldn’t be peace for him as Jay entered not seconds later. 

“I’m not in the mood right now Jay.” He didn’t bother trying to conceal the tears in his voice, there wasn’t a way he could. 

Jay sighed, “I’ll leave but just know, I don’t think you’re a bad person Chip.”

“Thanks.”

And he was alone. Finally, blissfully, alone. 

It took hours for Chip to get out of bed. Those hours were spent crying, feeling sorry for himself, trying to figure out what he could possibly say to Gillion, feeling more sorry for himself and generally turning the days events over and over trying to figure out how he could have done better.

He came up with no answers. On any fronts. He didn’t know what he could have done and he didn’t know what he would say, so when he finally left he did the few things that had been ingrained within him since childhood.

He adjusted the sails, swabbed the deck, checked and double checked that everything meant to be tied down was. Productivity was the safest way to ignore his problems.

Admittedly it was hard to ignore his problems when Jay and Gillion were constantly talking to each other right in front of him but he would be fine. 

He was fine. 

Really. 

Fine.

He was absolutely not fine, and he was pretty sure Jay at the very least noticed. But she didn’t say anything. Not until the sun was setting and he had almost finished his mopping the entire deck for the third time anyway. 

Then she came over, orange juice in hand and Gillion behind her. 

“Hey Chip…” she seemed nervous, her smile was off, “we brought you some orange juice!” 

Chip looked at the drink then back at her, “thanks… but I’m really not thirsty right now.” He was absolutely parched in his methodical cleaning of the Albo- the Millennium Chipper he hadn’t really taken care of himself. But this was incredibly suspicious.

Then Earl was shouting across the deck, and Gillion was “formally challenging him” to drink it. Words that rang a touch too close to home at the moment, but his words that he was ‘busy’ were patently false and utterly ignored.

He looked at Jay, seemingly the mastermind behind this very strange bit. 

“Do we really have to do this right now?” 

“Yeah man- jus-“

“Jay said it was good for you and you’d like it.” Gillion interrupted.

“Because you know all about that right, Gill?” Not for the first time today Chip regretted the words as they left his mouth. 

“Listen Chip,” Jay breezed past his rude comment, “we are a crew, we need to get over this. I can't deal with things being the way they’ve been.” 

“Jay, it's only been like 6 hours.”

“Yeah-“ she stopped seemingly taking in that fact for the first time, “well on the sea that seems way longer cause there is nothing to do.”

“Also,” Gillion chimed in, “on the sea it is very easy to become parched.”

Chip stared at both of them for a moment. Utterly dumbfounded by the crew he chose. 

“Okay,” he started slowly, as though he was explaining math to a toddler, “if I drink this will you two leave me alone?” 

“Yeah-“ Jay said with the least conviction Chip had ever heard in his life, in the same instant as Gillion said;

“Well-“

It looked like this wasn’t something that would soon be dropped.

“If you drink this, everything will be fixed!” Gillion said with such enthusiasm that Chip almost missed him say “..is what I’ve been told.” In a very small voice.

Whatever was happening wasn’t Gillions idea then. Which meant it was Jays. Which meant there were about an infinite amount of things that could be happening. 

He took the glass from Jay. Staring at her. She was holding in laughter. Gillion looked terrifyingly serious.

He was about fifty percent sure this drink was poisoned. The only thing inspiring any amount of confidence was Gillion. But even then it wasn’t much. 

Slowly, timidly, he lifted the glass to his lips. Watching out of the corner of his eye as Gillion takes a sip of an identical drink.

His body reacted before his mind did. The drink had hot sauce in it. A strangely common prank amongst the black rose pirates, one he was well accustomed to handling. He easily faked the sip he took. Putting the glass down in time to watch Gillion finish his cup in earnest. 

Which of course meant him not drinking the juice meant nothing. 

It didn’t take more than a second for the pain to hit. Making his eyes so watery he almost couldn’t make out the fact that Gillion was going through the exact same thing. 

Fruitlessly Chip fanned his tongue, trying to find some relief.

Gillion doubled over, as he let out something between a groan and a shout before declaring, “you’ve been pranked! Now everything is fine!” 

And despite the immense pain, Chip found himself beginning to smile. 

Desperately Chip tried to wipe away the tears that were flowing down his face, glaring most at Jay. While Gillion took quick but ineffective breaths in and out managing to say, “I still-“ he paused sucking in as much air as possible “-I still don’t know what a prank is but Chip you’ve been had!”

As though to emphasize his point Gillion fell to the ground. 

Chip laughed at the sheer stupidity of it all, this was his soulmate. He could get used to that. 

He hadn’t even noticed that Jay had left, returning with bread and a cup of milk for Gillion. 

“Here just- swish that around in your mouth and spit it out.” Jay handed the cup to Gillion who did so but not without question. 

“What is this?” 

The pain began to ease.

“It’s milk.”

“Where does it come from?”

The burn was almost bearable. 

“…A cow.”

Gillion seemed rather baffled by that. 

“…where on the cow?” Gillion asked suspiciously.

The pain was gone, his lips were still slightly numb but it wasn’t like fire anymore. 

Chip looked at Jay, “The udders,” Jay supplied. 

“Has she pranked me Chip?”

Chip laughed, “what? No! It was to help you! Give him the bread Jay!” 

She did. 

“What part of the cow does this come from?”

“It-“ Chip laughed as Jay sighed, “it doesn't, it's just bread.”

“Gil, you’ve had bread before.” Jay said with a smile still on her face, despite her slight exasperation. 

The deck was filled with laughter. Gillion was literally on the floor. Chip was about to help him up when a bright blue light caught his eye. 

Not as much as the way it made Gil look like an angel, haloed in the light. Chip brushed that off as quickly as it came up, choosing instead to go stand by Jay. 

“Hey Jay.”

She hummed, staring down at the sea below, which was alight with bioluminescent jellyfish. He vaguely recalled a story about them from when he was young, but he didn’t care to really think about it. He had more important topics on his mind. 

“I don’t think I’m a very good captain.”

That got her attention. 

“Why?”

“Most good Captains crews don’t attempt to kill them.”

“Nah that happens all the time-“

“Sure but there’s three of us. And it’s been a month.”

“Four plus Earl.” 

Chip rolled his eyes and Jay sighed. 

“Listen you don’t need to live up to anything ‘cus I know that’s what you’re thinking. It’s only been a month, frankly I’m surprised we aren’t dead. Just be you. That’s why I joined the crew. And it’s all we really need.” Having said her piece Jay patted his arm and turned back to the sea. 

“When did you get so nice?” Chip asked elbowing her a little. 

From the floor Gillion spoke up “she’s just a great person!” 

Chip smiled, something fond that he kept to himself. 

“You still hurting bud?” He asked as he turned to face Gillion, still flat on the ground. 

“You’re not?”

Chip shrugged, he could feel a slight residual burn, but there was no way that was keeping Gillion down, or at least he didn’t think so.

“I need the sea, Chip.”

Chip barely had time to open his mouth before Gillion leapt into the ocean, sending the jellyfish spinning out and away from him. Gillion let out a sigh of relief as he was submerged. He looked at peace, his eyes closed, with arms spread out wide and his hair splayed out around his head like an extra layer to his coral crown. Combined with the soft blue glow from every angle he looked truly heavenly. Chip felt the last of the burn leave his mouth as he gawked at Gillion.

Chip felt a jab at his side, and managed to see in real time when Gillion felt it too, abruptly sinking out of his vision. 

Turning to the source he found Jay, sly grin on her face, “you’re staring.”

Then, with those only slightly devastating words she walked to the other side of the ship. Right as Gillion climbed back on board a bit away. Perched on the railing and began to draw.

Maybe they could actually talk and things wouldn’t be awful and- 

Chip began to walk before he could spiral, sliding up next to Gillion who gave a “what’s up,” without looking up from his drawing. 

Good. If no eye contact was made this would be easier. 

“Gillion, look I’m so- I am sssalright… I am less than happy-“ This not any easier “-I am. I am sorry.”

Gillions head shot up.

“Look with the pranks I- I just really didn’t think about how it would effect you, and with the soulmate thing… well that was entirely selfish. Which is like- the opposite of what that whole situation should be.” Chip took a deep breath, “so I guess what I’m saying is, I’m sorry. And I won’t lie to you anymore.”

Gillion smiled, “yes less lies should prevent more duels.”

“Gillion I-“ Chip huffed out a sigh, “I was going to say that if you duel me again I’d kill you, but I probably couldn’t- cause what the fuck was that lighting shit that hurt.”

“Yes I hope you do better next time.” 

“Next time give a guy some heads up and maybe I will be better.”

“You nicked me a little as well!”

“I promise you I did not.”

Gillion raised an eyebrow. Chip did not back down. 

“Fight back next time.” Gillion said after a moment. 

“Let’s just hope there’s not a next time.”

Gillion shrugged, mischief in his eyes. A sight that simultaneously drew Chip in and scared the shit out of him. 

They sat there in silence for a moment before Gillion broke it. 

“Chip do you think we should… actually talk about the soulmate thing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well I was under the impression that it is generally a romantic thing-“

And Gillion doesn’t want romance. 

“It doesn’t have to be romantic Gil,” Chip interrupted, “platonic soulmates are a thing.” 

“Platonic?” Gillion said the word like it was foreign to him. It probably was. 

“Like- just friends.” 

Gillion nodded, “is this what you want?” He asked seemingly nervous. 

“I want whatever makes you the most comfortable, ok Gill?” 

Gillion took a moment to consider that, “can things… stay the same?” Every word was spoken like it depended on Chip's approval. 

“Of course bud, you know why?”

“Why?”

“Cus you and I- we’re like fish and chip.”

Gillion grinned, and Chip felt himself falling for that contagious smile as well. 

“Who’s who?”

Chapter Text

Having a soulmate, Gillion decided, was strange. 

There were many reasons. The highest on his list was that he wasn’t supposed to have one at all. Though, he supposed with the irrefutable evidence he had received there really wasn’t much to do besides call it his destiny, which it was, and move on. (And ignore the nagging feeling that somehow, somewhere he had messed up.) 

The second highest on his list was Chip himself. He liked Chip a lot. The person who he was now faced with was still Chip but… different? He couldn't tell if it was a result of their duel or the fact that they were soulmates but Chip seemed more cautious around him, like he was made of glass. It was strange.  

The third highest were the sensations. In the past, Gillion had been told that the unexplained pain he was feeling was likely growing pains or small challenges from Lunadeyis. He accepted this. And when it came to open cuts or bruises well, he was covered in them constantly, and keeping track of his injuries wasn’t an efficient use of his time when he could simply bandage all of them without scrutiny and heal until he ran out of energy. But new he knew. Those small, or large pains were not god, or growing pains, or something he simply failed to notice. They were someone he cared for deeply. They were Chip. 

Not long after their conflicts had been resolved and they went their separate ways, with Chip preparing to take first watch that night Gillion felt a sudden sharp pain on his toe, accompanied with a muffled curse from above deck. 

Chip must have stubbed his toe. It was strange that things like that were simply for Gillion to know as well. 

Four days later he still wasn’t used to it. They gained an entirely new member of the ship, young Oliver, who Chip has taken to like as a mentor (a fact that warmed Gillion's heart as much as it scared him.) And yet, it was the newness of having a soulmate that was the strangest to Gillion. Every small bump was now knowledge that Chip was in pain. And admittedly, it wasn’t much pain. But he couldn’t help but to feel slight worry every time. He didn’t want Chip to be in any pain ever. But he knew that investigating every bump Chip had would be more annoying than useful. So he didn’t. Sometimes he’d shout a ‘are you alright?’ but only if Chip said something out loud. Nothing had to change. That’s what he told Chip. Things should stay the same.

Then he felt something sharp jab into his side and immediately worried that somehow, Chip had been stabbed. Looking down at his own side, there was no blood and the pain was subsiding quickly. No one had been stabbed yet here he was frightened. 

Something needed to change.   

He found Chip below the deck. Carrying a bundle of… Gillion wasn’t sure. It seemed like it might be all of Chip's belongings. It didn’t really matter. What did was that Chip clearly couldn’t see over the things in his arms. And had bumped into the table on the far side of the room. 

“Gill, is that you?” Chip asked from where he was now putting the pile of things in a disorganized heap on the floor, back to him. 

That was another thing. They could tell when the other approached. It was strange, Gillion had fair success differentiating Jay and Earl's footsteps, but he was never wrong when it was Chip approached. 

“It is me, Chip. Are you quite alright in here?”

“Oh- is this about the bump?” Chip looked at him sheepishly, “Sorry about that, I ran into the table while moving things around. Didn’t mean to hurt you bud. But I’m all done now, so you shouldn’t have to worry anymore about that.” 

Gillion nodded. Now standing slightly awkwardly. Having more to say but not knowing how to say it. 

Chip seemed to sense it too, sitting on the edge of Jay's cot patting the space beside him. “What’s on your mind man?”

Gillion sighed as he sat down. Chip’s question was rather loaded. 

“I suppose you are?” Gillion looked up at Chip who was flushed red. Gillion couldn’t fathom why, but it wasn’t a bad look for him. 

“Wanna clarify?” Chip prompted.

“It’s just that, now I know you are my soulmate I cannot stop myself from worrying over you. I don’t expect you to understand, but every small bump frightens me a little. I care more about you than I realized.” 

Chip smiled at that, “I get it. Back before I had told you and I was just running off of suspicions, every crazy thing you’d do, every window you’d leap from terrified me. Wanna know how I got over it?”

Gillion nodded. He would. 

Chip shrugged, “I didn’t really.” Gillion deflated a little, Chip patted his shoulder, and instantly Gillion felt a little better, (another strange soulmate sensation, the smallest touch was like pure comfort pumped straight into his veins.) “But what I did was accept it. Like- are you going to stop impulsively jumping into danger to protect others?”

“Well, I might… tone it down for your sake?”

“That means the world, I want you to know that.” Chip said with sincerity, “Anyway, I accept that you’re not going to stop plunging into danger and that I’m probably going to get a lot of stabbing-related soul pains from you. I’m glad I’ll be able to know when you’re in danger, so I can get there and help. And the little bumps,” Chip bumped his shoulder against Gillions to emphasize his point, “Just serve to remind me that you’re at least for the moment, doing safe things.” 

“That…” Gillion said slowly, “Is a very good way to look at it.” 

“Can I ask you a question Gil?” 

“Of course.”

“How- never mind.” Chip looked away from him, wringing his hands together nervously. 

Gillion furrowed his eyebrows, “Are you sure? I am happy to answer any question.”

“It’s just- I think I might already know the answer, and if I do I don't want to bring this up.” 

“Over the past few days, Jay has been singing the praises of effective communication. You can ask the question and if it is too uncomfortable I will simply decline you an answer.” 

Chip sighed, “Alright, but you really don’t have to answer. I guess just, how did you not know you had a soulmate?”

Ah. A question on his background. Gillion understood his apprehension now. 

“I simply rationalized the pain in other ways and was never very good about keeping tack of my own injuries. By the time the soul pains were getting worse-” Which after looking back, at around eleven or twelve the pain did get worse- “I was already so used to my explanations that I figured this was merely a continuation of them.”

Chip's eyebrows knitted together in confusion, which in his defense, Gillion had answered rather vaguely on purpose. 

Instead of asking further questions though Chip simply in a quiet voice, asked, “...am I alright? As your soulmate? I know you thought that having one took away your honor-”

“You need not say more Chip. You are more than alright. My only regret is that us being bound together might hurt you.” There was a pang of anxiety in Gillion's stomach, that said something to the effect of ‘is that really your only regret?’ he ignored it.

Chip pursed his lips for a moment, looking at Gillion as though he was searching for a sign of a lie before seemingly becoming content.

“Alright.” He said finally, flopping backward onto Jay’s cot, Gillion followed after him, lying shoulder to shoulder, saying nothing, simply enjoying his presence, until eventually, Jay came downstairs, shouting at them to “Get a room”, and “gross not on my bed guys!” 

Chip once more flushed red, and Gillion admired the look again as they moved from Jay’s cot and got ready for bed. Chip getting into his hammock and Gillion into his barrel. Settling in for what was hopefully to be a peaceful night. 

Chapter Text

When Chip's body was overtaken by stone his last thought before everything went black was.

‘I hope this doesn’t affect Gillion too.’

It was like he blinked and he was back. Gillion hadn’t been affected. The relief that flooded through him was unlike anything he had ever felt before. 

He was forced to hobble around on ice crutches and they had to go find some artifact for the lady that tried to kill them but he didn’t care. 

If somehow he was the direct reason Gillion was a statue forever, when he should be out saving people and showing the world the amazing person he was, Chip wouldn’t have done anything because he was a statue but his soul would know and it would ache for eternity. 

Maybe he was being dramatic but staring at his reflection was really starting to bum him out. 

He was gorgeous, sure. But his looks couldn’t make up for how bad of a person he was. 

His sharp jawline wouldn’t keep the ones he loved from abandoning him.

His long lashes weren’t the secret to allowing himself to let down the front he had so carefully crafted to keep the real, vulnerable him hidden. 

Tears began to pool in the corners of his eyes, he had just enough time to notice how the light reflecting off the tears brought a nice shimmer to his eyes before Jay fell in and caused the pool to ripple. 

Which was just what he needed for reality to plummet in on him. 

He let out a sob as the wall around his deepest emotions crumbled brought to light by this stupid reflective surface. 

He heard Gillion say something as he pulled Chip up and away from the pool but he didn’t process the words. He just wailed. Tossing his arms around Gillion and begging to be held. Silently he cursed how pathetic he was. 

He should be able to manage his emotions without having to sob into his best friend's arms. 

But Gillion held him. Seemingly unfazed by the cries only now quieting down. 

Instead, Chip noticed as his rationale was coming back to him, Gillion was glancing around the room nervously. As though something should have been happening. 

Nothing out of the ordinary was happening though. Jay was drowning. But that was unfortunately standard. 

Gillion was panicking. Which was definitely not standard. 

But he didn’t have time to figure out what that meant because suddenly Gillion moved. The arms around Chip's shoulders were moved to his waist as Gillion dipped Chip like the final move of a dramatic dance. 

It was so sudden it should have scared him, but Gillion would never drop him. And the look on Gillions eyes, like Chip was everything, the stars, the moon and the sun wrapped into one, was so… 

Captivating? 

Comforting?

Whatever it was, it was incredible. 

Then ever so gently Gillion placed a hand on his face, brushing off a leftover tear. 

Then he leaned in. 

In the millisecond before their lips met Chip had ten thousand questions. Most of them circled back to ‘why?’ 

Because Gillion wanted to stay platonic, Gillion didn’t love him that way, Gillion had a lot of cultural ideas behind what romance was and should be so why-

Then they were kissing. 

And it was perfect. 

It was the sun after rain, a cool breeze on a hot day, a potion of healing after a hard won battle. 

Chips hands found Gillions waist, moving on their own accord, pulling himself closer, seeking out that sensation that he couldn’t quite place, on every part of his body. 

He had never really had one. Not one that stayed anyway. But he didn’t need to have had one to know, kissing Gillion was like coming home. 

It was over too soon. 

Something in the room had changed. He didn’t care what. He stood, dumbstruck and dazed in the center of the room. Fingertips just barely grazing his lips. 

Gillion was smiling at him, freshly soaked from having pulled Jay out of the water. His lips were moving but Chip wasn’t hearing anything he was saying- 

He shook himself out of his shock.

“Huh?”

“An act of soulmates love Chip! It was an act of love to open the door!”

Oh. 

It was strictly professional then. That made a lot more sense. 

“Chip are you-“

Quickly Chip fixed his face, putting on an easy grin and waving Gillion off. Patting his shoulder and selfishly relishing in the wave of comfort it gave him. 

“I’m alright Gill, don’t worry about it.”

Gillion frowned, and Chip had the startling realization that he might do anything to never be the cause of Gillion frowning again. 

“If you say so Chip. You were talking a lot when you were looking at yourself-“ 

“Bud, I-“ he was going to say ‘I promise you, I’m perfectly fine.’ But that would be a lie. And he promised Gillion he wouldn’t lie anymore. So instead he settled on “-Let’s talk about it later, alright? We still have a lot of work to do here. Oh- and Gill? Good work solving the puzzle,” hoping to everything, that Gillion forgot to bring it up later.

Gillion beamed at him before handing Chip his crutches and turning away, and Chip realized two more incredibly startling things.

One: now that Chip had kissed Gillion and he knew what that was like he didn’t know how he could live without it. 

And two: Chip would do anything to see that smile every day. 

Chapter Text

Something was wrong with Chip. Gillion could tell. There was a subtle disquiet in every moment they had alone together. A tension there hadn’t been before. A tension always snapped by Chip finding an excuse to do something else. 

He wasn’t quite sure what, but something happened on Desire Island. Something that he didn’t know how to fix. 

A small traitorous part of his brain screamed that maybe whatever was wrong had been happening for months, and Gillion had no chance of figuring it out. Gillion squashed that. It had to be Desire Island. Everything had been so good up until that point. 

Like he did with many things he didn’t understand, his first instinct was to ask Chip. But he couldn’t ask Chip because what if that made it worse? 

No, instead he would follow his second instinct. Asking Jay.

He found her in the captain’s quarters, doodling on maps (charting a course is what she would call it but Gillion had a hunch that wasn’t the case). She looked up the second he walked in. Seeming only slightly startled before looking right back down at what she was doing and addressing him without fully engaging.

Oddly Gillion found it comforting.

“Sup Gill, need something?”

“Yes.” 

He paused awkwardly, not quite sure how to phrase this. Jay didn’t look up, only muttered ‘not a mind reader bud,’ under her breath. 

“I think I have upset Chip in some way.”

Jays head shot up, “you guys aren’t gonna like- fight again right?”

Gillion shook his head solemnly, “I wish it was that simple. No- I believe something conspired on Desire Island, but I’m unsure what. I was wondering if you noticed anything that I may have done to upset him?”

Jay stared into space for a moment, seeming to be thinking back, “uh… no nothing I can think of. Maybe he’s just shaken from being stone recently?”

“I don’t think it’s that,” Gillion sighed, “he was fine up until…” the kiss.

Chip was fine up until the kiss. 

“I have figured it out, thank you for your assistance Jay!”

Gillion would be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about the kiss at all. It was, in his opinion, very pleasant. It made him feel as though he was floating through the waters, careless and safe. It felt like home. That was very likely a side effect of the soulmate thing. He often felt at home near Chip even in dire circumstances, it was only amplified when they touched. 

A kiss though, that was intimate. He hadn’t realized quite the significance until after reading his grandfather's book. Still it never managed to occur to him that maybe, he had crossed a line. 

The kiss needed to be done, they were soulmates and they were friends. It should have been simple. At least it was in his head. He wouldn’t fault it for not being so for Chip. 

He found Chip in the crows nest, sulking. 

This wasn’t a great start but at the very least it’d be difficult for Chip to sidestep this conversation.

“Chip!”

Chip jolted up from where he had been staring out to sea, looking back at Gillion as though he had appeared out of nowhere and didn’t live on the ship with him. 

“Hey bud,” Chip sounded tired. That was another concerning thing about post-Desire Island Chip. Whatever Gillion had done, kissing him apparently, had been keeping him up at night. 

“Chip, I must apologize. I hadn’t meant to make you uncomfortable on Desire Island.”

Chip cocked his head to the side, seemingly confused about what Gillion was talking about. 

“The kiss.”

Chips eyes widened.

“Gil- the kiss. That- that wasn’t- that isn’t the problem.”

It was Gillions turn to be confused. 

“The problem,” Chip huffed, “I really don’t want to do this right now. It’s a problem I’ll get over. Can we just drop this?”

He asked it like a question. He would continue if Gillion wanted. 

But he seemed upset. Gillion wouldn’t pry. If Chip didn’t want to talk at that very moment they didn’t have to.

A week later Chip was still avoiding him. Gillion couldn’t take it. He missed his co-Captain, his best friend, his soulmate. He had never expected to have one but he did now. And as much as he knew he shouldn’t be, he was attached. 

Whatever Chips problem was, they needed to solve it together. Because Gillion couldn’t go another day watching Chip bite back words. (And he missed him) 

He found Chip this time in the Galley, making a sandwich. 

“Chip.”

“Sup Gil- I can’t talk long but whatcha need?”

There were a thousand things Gillion could say but what he landed on was; “you.”

The knife Chip was spreading his jelly with nearly clattered the the counter, but he played it off, snatching it before it fully fell and finishing his sandwich. 

“What ah, what do you mean by that bud?”

“I need to talk to you.” Gillion amended.

“Well like I said I don’t have much-“

“It’s very important.”

“…ok?” 

Chip was putting on an act. Not a malicious one as far as Gillion could tell, more so one of self preservation. Didn’t he know that there was no need for that with him?

“Chip did I make you upset when I kissed you?”

“No.” Chip answered shockingly quickly, “is that all I really gotta-“

“Then what about me has been bothering you?” It was a question, but when he said it it sounded more like a statement. 

Chip sighed, “Gil can we just- talk-“

“You haven’t been sleeping and you have been avoiding me. Please tell me what’s wrong so I can help you.”

Chip stared at him silently for a while. Seemingly weighing the pros and cons of something all while studying Gillions face, eventually he spoke again, “look bud I don’t want to make you uncomfortable-“

“Chip,” Gillion put his hands on the kitchen counter, their fingers brushing, “I would take a moment of discomfort to help you any day. I would take one thousand moments of discomfort to help you.”

Chip sucked in a deep breath, and yeah, maybe Gillion was coming on a bit strong. 

“Ok,” Chip puffed out the air he had built up in his lungs, “look. I’ll tell you what’s up but if this upsets you even a tiny bit you have to promise me we’ll drop it and it never has to come up again ok?”

“I cannot promise that, my word is my bond and I refuse-“

“Alright alright. Whatever. Then just- be cool. Ok?”

“I am naturally-“

“When you… kissed me,” Chip started dragging this sentence out like it physically hurt him, “I… liked it. Like- a lot. And I can’t stop thinking about how- gods this sucks -I really want to do that… again.”

Gillion frowned, “that’s all?”

Chip let out a shocked laugh, “that’s all?”

“We can kiss again if you’d like Chip.”

“Gillion that’s like-“

“Soulmate stuff?”

“-couple stuff.”

“Is that a problem?”

“For you! Yes! You said you wanted to stay platonic!”

“Is kissing not-?”

“No!” Chip paused thinking for a moment “well… yeah no!”

“Hm. Is that a rule we have to follow? I quite liked our kiss.”

“Generally speaking, yes kissing being romantic is a rule that people follow.”

Gillion hummed and stared deep in thought at the counter, long enough that Chip ate half of his peanut butter and jelly waiting for Gillion to say something. 

When it hit him it was the most genius thing he had ever thought of. 

“Chip we are pirates!”

“No shit-“

“We can simply break the rules!” 

Chip looked at him like he was insane. And for just a moment Gillion thought he was going to be turned down summarily, but then ever so slowly he could see the idea settle into Chip. 

“Fuck it yeah.” Chip declared, walking from around the counter and pulling Gillion in for a second, still amazing. Kiss. 

Chapter Text

Dear Kira, 

Upon opening this letter you have five minutes to read it before it combusts, can’t be leaving a paper trail I’m sure you understand. 

Anyway, you’ll be happy to know things are running smoothly. My official report will say ‘successful infiltration’ or something pretentious like that but if I’m being honest these guys are not the brightest. They are endlessly entertaining though. Almost regrettable that they’ll both have to be arrested. 

Now for the slightly less good news. I got married. We liberated an island (strange for pirates I know, again I’d like to reiterate these two are not the brightest) got super wasted, I blacked out and I woke up married. Technically, it is only by undersea customs. But I felt really bad because I know we aren’t anything official but I just thought you should know.

I miss you. A bunch. Thanks for not getting stabbed again. Sorry that I blew up a couple days ago. That was an accident. 

Don’t worry about me I’ve got everything under control.

Love

-Jay

Things were not under control. 

Gillion had blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth, Chip, naturally, wasn’t doing much better. 

And Jay stood, face hot, tears threatening to fall and bow trembling in her hands as she aimed it at Gillion. 

“If you want me to let you go Jay you’re going to have to do it.”

She released the arrow.

It struck true in the center of his chest. Gillion made no noise as he collapsed but Chip let out a ragged gasp as he dropped to his knees to grab his soulmate. 

Jay could see blood spreading out onto Chip's white shirt.

All three of them are crying, for such different reasons.

She didn't think it could get any worse but then Gillion spoke, “your choice is your own Jay, and sincerely. I hope it was worth it.” Then his head lulled to the side. 

Chip let out another pained gasp, searching frantically on Gillion for a pulse that truthfully Jay didn’t know whether or not it would be present.

When he finally found it Jay could tell immediately based on how minutely he relaxed. Jay felt herself relax a little too. But then he looked up at her there was nothing but disgust and ill contained fury on his face. 

She had come so far. This couldn’t stop her. 

With all the willpower she had left she addressed Chip.

“You want to know my secret so bad Chip?” Her voice quivered, “I was using you. From the beginning.” 

Watching the despair grow in Chips eyes was unbearable.

“Wh-what do you mean? Using me?”

“I-I just wanted to get closer. To whoever killed my sister. I did whatever I could. I convinced the Navy to let me go undercover. You- you just happened to be there,” she sniffled, wiping desperately at the tears on her cheeks, “I was just using you.”

“So all this,” Chip wasn’t looking at her anymore instead he was fiddling with the ring that Gillion gave him, “everything- it’s just-“ he looked up at her, there was something in his eyes. A spark she didn’t like.

“It meant nothing to me.” She sounded pathetic when she said it, opting to turn so she didn't have to look at him he couldn’t see her.

“I don’t believe that.” He said his voice so smug it almost made her laugh. 

What did was her uncle, shooting her father with a bright flash of magical energy. Though that was more out of shock than anything.

Her father was blasted backwards. Temporarily he wasn’t an issue. 

“I don’t care what you were before this,” Chip declared, renewed vigor in his voice, “you’re a Ripitde Pirate now. Gotta act like it.”

That was- no. He couldn’t have just said that.

“You don’t mean that,” she turned around slowly.

Chip laughed. “Of course I do.”

“You- you don’t deserve to deal with-“

“I knew it was a risk the second you joined up.”

“I don’t want you guys to die,” she couldn’t seriously be considering what she thought she might be considering. 

“Then don’t let us.”

Fuck it. 

She kneeled in front of Chip. Not missing the way he ever so slightly cradled Gil closer to his chest. But he did nothing to stop her as she uncorked a health potion and poured it into his mouth, removing the arrow so as not to heal it into him.

Gil blinked his eyes open, and in a croaky voice said “hey, co-captains.”

Weakly Jay slammed her fist into Gil’s chest, above them Chip winced a little, “you idiot.”

“Why are you still here?” Gillion asked. 

“I- I might not be for long. If he comes back I can’t let you guys-“ she watched as Gillion and Chip shared a look. Their bouts of nonverbal communication happening in front of her was usually infuriating but now it was achingly familiar, “I can’t let you guys get hurt for me.”

“What do you-“ Gill coughed, still weak, “what do you really want. And just say it so I can fight for it.”

One thousand thoughts ran through her head. Her fathers ire, her mothers safety. Seeing Kira again. God she missed her soulmate. But she couldn’t keep pretending she was alright going along with whatever the Navy said. And she couldn’t hurt Chip and Gil anymore. They were idiots but they were her idiots. 

“I wanna keep adventuring with you guys Gil. That’s all I want right now.”

“That’s what I was really hoping to hear. Now can we get the fuck out of here?”

And then ran. Guns blazing and swords swinging back to the ship. And they didn’t stop.

Not even when from the Navy galleon Jay felt a pull. So strong it was like her soul was trying to wrench itself from her chest. 

Not even when she heard a voice so nostalgic it felt like home. 

Home could wait. There were adventures to be had.

Chapter Text

“So then Jay shot Gil-“

“And she’s still your co-Captain?” 

“Yes Lizzie I lead with that,” Chip sighed, pretending to be exasperated. 

Lizzie hummed, voice slightly distorted over the callnch, thought it was clear she was still listening to Chip’s story.

“She shot Gil and gods that hurt like a motherfucker. I thought he was a goner for a bit there,” Chip said with a forced joking tone.

Lizzie said nothing but Chip felt as though he could hear her judgement through the call.

“But then Jay betrayed her dad, healed Gil and helped us escape. Just like I thought she would, so it’s chill.”

“Right. I’m glad Jay didn’t kill you and your… soulmate Chip, I have no doubt she could if she wanted to.”

Chip chuckled, unable to disagree, and also slightly confused by the tone of voice Lizzie was taking on. 

“Chip, have you and Gillion not yet figured out how to…” she trailed off thinking of phrasing, “help each other yet?” 

“Took us a bit but I think we make a pretty good team,” Chip joked, having absolutely no clue what Lizzie was talking about and trying hard not to seem dumb. 

“I don’t just mean teamwork dumbass. I mean like- like healing each other. Knowing when the other is in danger. Giving each other strength. Stuff like that.”

“What?”

“It’s a pretty common soulmate thing. If they are hurt and you are there your touch and concentrated thoughts is usually enough to- well not heal, but make some of their injury yours.”

“That sounds like shit.”

“Losing your soulmate is worse.” 

Chip shuddered at the thought. When Gillion was- down. Chip felt the beginnings of crushing anguish weighing down on him. It was all he could do to fight it off. He couldn’t imagine living with that, at full force, every day.

“Anyway- it’s a little different for everyone so I can’t help you. But you and Gillion should try and figure that out. It could save you one day. I gotta go. Talk to you later.”

And with that the line went dead and Chip was left with his thoughts again.

He didn’t broach the topic with Gillion till later in the day. They were the last two on deck and Chip had first watch. Gillion, like he did many nights, was staying up with him just for a bit.

They sat against the back wall of the ship, shoulders brushing, sending waves of comfort from the contact. 

“Are you alright Chip?” Gillion asked out of nowhere, breaking the silence between them.

Chip thought about it. A lot has gone sideways since Desire Island. Ollie had magically become an adult, they lost Marshal John… then everything that happened in the BLOCK still weighed on him. 

“I’ve been worse,” was the answer he settled on. Holding true to his promise not to lie to Gillion anymore. 

“I- Chip this is a touch hard to describe but I feel anxiety or apprehension- but it doesn’t feel like my own.”

Chip turned to face Gillion, “do you think it’s mine?” He asked incredulous.

“Well I was talking to Jay, and she said that as a soulmate's bond grows so too does the soulmate's ability to… I think she used the term ‘sense disturbances’?”

Chip deflated a little bit, that did make sense, and he trusted Jay on all things soulmates. But he didn’t want to hurl his emotions over to Gillion. That wasn’t fair to him. 

“I- I’m sorry dude I don’t want to like- burden you with this.”

“There is no burden that I wouldn’t help you carry,” Gill said resolutely before continuing on, “is there anything I can do to help lighten the load though? Would you like to talk about what is bothering you?”

Chip sighed, “I… I dunno man. It’s just been though recently- I mean with Ollie- and Marshal John going missing. A lotta stress. Plus- I- I just keep thinking about the BLOCK. I,” Chip let out a huff of air, willing himself not to get teary eyed over memories, “I almost lost you man. I could feel you slipping away from me. It was terrifying. I’m not going to lie it keeps me up at night.”

Gillion muttered something under his breath about feeling extra tired before putting his arm around Chip and pulling him so his head rested on his chest. 

This had been happening a lot too ever since they made the realization that pirates could break the rules of what relationship was. Gillion was a very tactile person when you let him be. Chip liked it. It felt safe. 

“We got Marshal John back. We will figure out how to fix Ollie. And I am right here, you haven’t lost me.”

Chip couldn’t keep the tears at bay any longer, he twisted his body so he could tuck his face into Gillions shoulder and let out silent tears.

“If you ever fear you can simply come over to my barrel, wake me or don’t but you can see I am alive and well.”

Chip nodded, not moving his head from where it was pressed into Gillion’s shoulder. 

“You still seem distressed.”

Chip shrugged. 

He felt Gillion move slightly above him, placing his lips gently into the crown of Chip's head, “I wish there was something I could do to help more.”

And those were the magic words. 

Chip felt a wave of peace settle over him, it was almost startling if it wasn’t the most relaxing feeling he’d ever had. Logically he still knew he had reason to be anxious, but the feeling was just… gone.

He felt Gillion stiffen underneath him. 

Chip picked his head up and looked at Gil, who seemed bordering on distressed, though he didn’t manage to fully look at him before Gillion grabbed him and pulled him fully into his lap, wrapping his arms around him in a way that would be comforting if he could breathe. 

Chip tapped Gil’s shoulder with his free hand, “Gil- bud I can’t really breathe here-“

Instantly Gillion gripped loosened, enough that Chip could breathe but not leave, “Chip, I must protect you with my life.”

“…okay?”

“I’m glad you understand, that will make this easier-“

“For the record, I do not understand.”

“I must keep you safe, the easiest way to do that would be if you stay within my sight at all times.”

“I- what?” Under normal circumstances Chip would be freaking out with how out of character Gillion was acting, but at this point he really wasn’t worried at all- well he was worried- very worried. But all his fears were strangely muted.

“And also I need you to love me the way I love you and-“

“Ok we don’t have to go there-“ Chip cut Gillion off some of the logical fear returning to him.

“Chip I don’t- are these your feelings?”

“Yeah, I think they are. Are they fading? I feel them coming back to me,” Chip said, suddenly becoming very aware that he was curled onto Gillion’s lap. 

“Yes… I do think they are fading-“ Gillion paused thinking, “those did not feel like soul pains- or even like the muted feelings I get from you sometimes.”

“You get feelings from me?”

“You do not from me?”

That sat in silence for a moment before Chip chose to slide off Gillion’s lap back to the ground next to him. He only kind of regretted it. 

“Well- Gil- I was talking to Lizzie earlier and she did mention something like this… like being able to take on actual wounds from each other to help out in a pinch. Maybe what you did was like that?”

Gillion hummed. 

“Chip are you always scared like that?”

Chip stared at him hoping to the gods that he wasn’t thinking to hard about whatever fear of rejection he felt when he accidentally slurped up all of Chip’s anxiety.

“Uh- not always. Today’s been… rough.”

“Come with me.”

Gillion stood walking to the captains quarters, surpassingly moving to Chips hammock, moving pillows and blankets around.

“What are you doing bud?”

Gillion stopped, “ah, yes I should explain myself. Do you get the same amount of comfort from physical contact with me as I do from you?”

“How much do you get?”

“Usually a lot.”

“Yeah I’d say a lot sounds accurate.”

Gillion nodded satisfied, “alright I think we should sleep together.”

Chip blanched, “what?!”

Gillion tilted his head, seeming confused, “is that- not correct? Was my conjugation wrong-“

“No- it’s ah- there is a slang term you wouldn’t understand. It doesn’t matter-“ Chip stammered out, “but I still have to finish my watch then you have your-“

“Will you two shut up?” Jay grunted from the other side of the room- funny Chip hadn’t heard her stop snoring.

“Jay good you’re awake! Will you cover my watch? It’s about to start!”

“Fuckn why?”

“Chip hasn’t been sleeping well I figured as his soulmate I could-“

“Alllllrrrrriiiiight, Jay pulled herself out of bed, “I don’t want to hear any of that, you kids have fun, be safe,” she shot a pointed look at Chip who was seriously considering throwing himself into the ocean at this point, “I won’t be back till morning. Please don’t be naked when I come back.”

“Why would we-“ Gil started right as Jay slammed the door behind her, Gillion look bewildered for a little bit after her before shrugging it off and turning to Chip, “alright! We can rest now. I will get in the hammock and you can position yourself around me as you wish!”

And he did, Gillion crawled into Chips hammock like he owned it, laying on his back arms spread as an open invite for Chip to follow. 

And the days worth of exhaustion must have been catching up to him because Chip climbed in after Gillion with only one or two thoughts of seconding guessing himself.

Once he was settled, his head on Gillion’s chest listening to his still beating heart, Gillion wrapped his arms around his back, tracing shapes onto Chips spine. This must have been the missing piece because Chip was out like a light. 

Chapter Text

There was a disturbance in the night. 

Gillion had been just about to fall asleep after having stayed up late training when he was pulled to alertness, or anxiousness.

It was Chip. 

Quietly so as not to disturb Jay, Gillion got out of his barrel and made his way to Chips hammock, inspecting him where he slept.

He saw no injuries, nor did it seem that Chip was having a nightmare or terror. 

And yet, he could feel Chip's anxiety. 

Gillion reached out to wake Chip, pausing when he felt a very slight soul pain on his lower back, not even a second later Chip’s eyes snapped open. Gillion didn’t have to do anything. 

Chip yelped, not expecting Gillion to be there. But he recovered and moved on quickly. Simply getting out of bed, grabbing Gillions wrist and dragging him to the crew's quarters.

“Chip wh-“ Chip pushed the door open, going over to Oliver’s bunk and pulling the sheets back, effectively stopping Gillions thought process. 

Ollie was 12 again.

“Wha-“ Ollie looked up bleary eyed at both of them. 

In a quick movement Gillion grabbed Ollie, picking him up and taking him outside to see his reflection in the still water.

On the way he thought to question Chip. But he had no words for it. 

The common ‘how’ did not seem baffled enough for his tastes.

Ollie was somewhere between overjoyed and absolutely distraught. A mix of emotions that Gillion could not fathom walking someone through experiencing. But he watched as Chip did. 

Chip held Ollie, reassuring him of his usefulness, while emphasizing his value as more than someone who can help on adventures. Some of his words seemed placating but even Gillion could excuse white lies to comfort a crying child. 

What he was taught was the strategic advantages from a child not crying. But watching Chip and Ollie, his heart his soul, weeped at the softness of telling a child everything will be alright. 

Gillion had always appreciated how well Chip took to caring for Ollie. It instantly endeared him. 

Kindness to strangers on land showed Gillion that selflessness was not a solely undersea concept. Chip to Ollie was a prime example of that. 

So Gillion watched, not willing to interrupt as Chip helped Ollie, but also not willing to leave Chip. He needed to know how Chip did this. If it- 

“H-how did you do this?” Ollie asked voice raw from crying. 

Chip let out a huff almost like a laugh, “you don’t need to worry about that.”

Chip wouldn’t tell Ollie. That wasn’t a good sign. 

He needed to be sure Chip didn’t do something reckless to achieve this. Gillion was growing more and more accustomed to a light anxiety when it came to thoughts of Chip's well-being. Chip's disposition towards unpredictability didn’t help.

After a while Chip put Ollie back to bed, coming back and posting next to Gillion on the railing. Unbothered by the light rain Gillion was enjoying. 

“How did you do it Chip?”

Chips eyes widened minutely. Gillion was almost certain Chip had to be expecting this question, so why he was still startled was beyond him. 

Gil heard Chip mutter under his breath a silent mantra of ‘not going to lie- not going to lie- not-‘ before looking up and meeting Gillions eyes. 

“I uh. I was having a nightmare- I was drowning.” 

Gillion frowned, “you will never drown with me around.”

Chip chuckled, “I know… but uh- yeah so anyway. I was drowning and he was there.”

No. Gods please no.

“Ollie?”

Chip sighed. 

Please this cannot be where he thinks this is going. 

“Gillion,” Chip grabbed Gillions hand, gently turning it so his palm faced the sky. His NK tattoo on full display, “you know who I’m talking about.”

He desperately didn’t want to. 

He stared for a moment, trying to piece together the words to make a good sentence. 

“Oh Chip… what did you do?” was all he could muster.

“It- Gil it’s not as bad as it sounds.”

Gillion ignored that, “What did you give?” he was getting more and more worried about his friend.

Chip glanced around, looking for an out, when one never came he huffed, getting defensive, “You’re making it sound like I sold my soul-” Gillion stood a little straighter, ready to track down Niklaus then and there, “-which I didn’t.” Gillion relaxed.

“You are avoiding the topic,” Gillion tried to be gentle, he knew Chip had trouble with candor and that he was working on it, Gillion didn’t want to undo any of that progress by being pushy but he needed to know. 

“I was getting there,” Chip replied tersely, “I just told him that I wouldn’t interfere with your favor.”

Gillion frowned, that seemed too simple. There were far too few stakes in that. 

“I don’t trust it either bud, plus it means whatever the favor is, I’d want to interfere with.” 

But Chip would be out of the way. 

Gillion sighed, “I only wish you would have spoken to me about this.”

Chip scoffed, hoisting Gillion’s wrist which he was still holding into his eyeline, “I wish you could have spoken to me about this. But you were alone. You made that decision for the people of Loffinlot. I made this-” he tightened his grip on Gillions wrist, “For Ollie. We- I messed up. Letting him stay on this ship. Not turing around immediately- whatever. I had to do this.”

“You are the opposite of what the elders said you’d be,” Gillion said, surging forward, and wrapping Chip in a hug.

Chip stood stiff as a board for a moment, before laughing and wrapping his arms around Gillion, “Is that a compliment?”

“Very much so.”

Chip sighed, burying his face in Gillion's shoulder “we gotta tell Jay.”

“In the morning.”

“She’s gonna be upset.”

“Not forever.”

“I’m… I'm scared, Gil.”

“I know. I think I am too, but we will overcome whatever is put in our way,” Gillion said resolutely. 

“I-I just-“ Chips voice wavered, Gillion hated to see him like this, “I don’t know what that guys gonna make you do. All I know is I’ll want to interfere. I don’t want to leave you high and dry-“

“I know Chip. I know. But you did the right thing. I’ll be ok. Jays got me.”

“She better.” Chip paused, “Gil- will you uh- Nevermind.”

Gillion frowned, “what?”

“Nah it’s nothing big, no need to worry about it. I think imma get some shut eye. We’re reaching Allport in the morning.”

Gillion worried about Chip a lot. But he hasn’t worried about him lying in a long time, “are you sure?”

“I wouldn’t lie to you bud.”

Gillion nodded, “I think I will stay up a bit longer, goodnight Chip.”

“Night Gil.”

Gillion watched as Chip went back inside. One thousand thoughts plagued his mind but almost none of them were coherent.

At the front of his mind was plain and simple: fear. 

Chapter Text

Jay is told about the deal the next morning and there is only a little bit of yelling. But the process of docking in Allport quickly takes away from that issue.

Everyone goes their separate ways once there.

Caspian takes Gil away to have some ‘bro’ time and Chip doesn’t like it.

He tries not to let the jealousy show. But all the time Gillion spends calling him, all the little undersea inside jokes. He doesn’t like it.

It’s petty and small and Chip knows it. But part of him wants to be the center of all of Gillions attention and his go to for all his problems. That part of him is hard to shut up when he hears Gillion on the callnch with Caspian, or speaking in primordial with Jay. 

It’s hard to imagine that there is something they could give him that Chip just couldn’t. 

He worries that love might be one of those things. 

Platonic soulmates are fairly common. What if that is what he and Gillion were?

Gods he hoped not. He’d been waiting on Gillion to make the first move of… he doesn’t even know. 

They do everything romantic partners would. Kiss, hug, hold hands. But it’s… tense. At least in his mind. Chip wouldn’t be scared of rejection asking his boyfriend to hold him after making a terrible deal with a horribly sketchy man. 

But Gillion? 

His platonic best friend?

Gillion has other people in his life. Maybe he wants to be in an actual relationship with one of them. 

Maybe he’d get sidelined while he chased after Caspian and then Chip would-

“Chip? Did you hear what I said?”

Chip looked down at Ollie who he’d been walking around All Port with after having left Rufus’s shop. 

Ollie was staring up at him squinting, “you didn’t,” Ollie said more to himself than to Chip, “you were thinking about Gillion.”

“What? No-“ Chip started.

“Oh don’t start that sh- … stuff, you get a look. Miss Jay pointed it out and now it’s impossible not to see.”

“One Jay should watch herself, she’s no better. Two. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Ollie huffed, “well it’s the same look in your eyes every time. But this time you were pouty. So I think you either did something to upset him and you feel guilty. Or you’re being dumb.”

Why was this kid so insightful?

“Why are you so insightful?”

“I sit and watch every day. I can read Gillions mind by now. Anyway. You’re trying to distract me. Which is it. You mess up or are you stupid?”

Chip sighed, “you don’t need to know this kid.”

“I resent you calling me that. Now spill, because you weren’t listening when I was talking about that ice cream shop so now we are doing this.”

“Do you think Gillion likes Caspian more than me?”

Ollie stared at him for a second. Pausing his walking entirely. Before doubling over laughing. 

“You are dumb wow. Miss Jay was right.”

“She usually is,” Chip muttered under his breath.

Coming down from his laughter Ollie finally answered, “no. You just don’t know anything about the undersea.”

“Well- yeah duh! But I’m his soulmate!”

“And?” Ollie asked, so much sass laced into his voice that he could give Jay a run for her money.

“And- well-” Chip didn’t know what to say.

“Oh!” Ollie slammed his fist into his palm like he just had a revelation, “you’re in love with Gillion and you’re jealous.” He only said the jealous part like it was shocking. 

“I’m not-“ Chip tried to defend himself but was cut off.

“You are though!”

“Nuh uh!”

“Yuh huh!” Ollie shouted back at him playfully, “Chip if you could see how Gillion looks at you. He’s got a goofier face than you when he’s thinking soulmate stuff.”

“I cannot wait till you find your soulmate and I can make fun of you for this.”

“Good luck with that,” Ollie said, suddenly sounding bitter. 

“What?” Chip asked with a slight chuckle in his voice, trying to keep things lighthearted. Though it seemed he’d stumbled into a sore subject. 

Ollie shrugged before walking off to plop down on a bench nearby, “I prolly don’t have one is all. I got over it when I was a kid though.”

“Ollie you are a kid.”

“Littler kid.”

Chip put a hand on Ollie’s shoulder trying to be comforting, “what makes you think you don’t have a soulmate?”

“No pains.”

“There’s a lot of explanations for that-“

“-I’ve heard them all,”

“They might not be born, they might be very careful, they might be royalty!”

Ollie looked up at him at that last one, “what?”

“They could be living it up untouchable in a castle.”

“Or they don’t exist and never will,” Ollie slouched down as he said this, kicking a rock out into the street. 

“That’s alright too. Less pain for you, less complications-“

“You don’t get it! You have a soulmate- no one will ever understand me!” 

“Ollie you don’t need a soulmate to be understood-“

“Sure I don’t. But I’ve heard stories. Gillion got an anxiety disorder he knows you so well!”

“I- I don’t think that’s entirely my fault-“ he can’t, the guilt would destroy him. 

“Yeah it’s not. Some part of him lets it happen. Because he wants to know you! That’s what the stories say. Gillion will know you better than you know yourself. That’s not fair. I’ll never have that.”

“Ollie there’s no saying you won’t!”

“Did you have soul pains at my age?”

They were so bad Arlin took him to see a cleric once, they were near constant. 

“Yeah.”

“Yeah. Most of the world has their soul pains by the time they are my age.”

“You’re also a half-elf Ollie, you’re gonna live a lot longer than most humans-“

“I want someone now!” Ollie whined.

“I didn’t find my soulmate until this year. Maybe you’ll find yours in a month or two.”

“Or never ‘cause they aren’t a person who will very exist.”

“You aren’t giving me much to work with in terms of comforting you here Ollie.”

Ollie looked at him, glimmer in his eye, “you could get me ice cream from that place I pointed out when you weren’t listening to me. If you really wanted to make me feel better that is.”

And wow. 

What a manipulative twelve year old. From the look in his eye he knew what he was doing too. Part of Chip was proud, an equal part was terrified.

So they got ice cream, met up with Jay, who was wasted, and Ollie hopped back on how Chip was jealous of his soulmates friends, this time with Jay there to make fun of him too. 

“Ollie I am not jealous-“

“Yuh huh! You are!” Ollie shouted back, “you want Gillion allllll to yourself and-“ what was that glint in Ollie’s eyes- Chip turned around and saw Gillion and Caspian approaching, quickly he slapped a hand over Ollie’s mouth. 

Jay of course found this hilarious.

Thankfully neither Gillion nor Caspian seemed to hear that. The stranger they were walking with though, quirked their head like they might have heard something. 

Actually they quirked their head in a way that was very familiar-

Then she took off her hood. 

It was Edyn. Horrible news if his soulmates sisters first impression of him was hearing Ollie call him jealous on the street. Which would be made worse by the fact that she was gorgeous. 

Admittedly, she looked like a female version of Gillion. 

Gillion was also gorgeous though so it made sense that it translated. 

However, and this almost never happened with Gillion, he felt his face heat up and he knew whatever sentence he tried to say would be nonsense. 

Thankfully Jay got the worst impressions of out the way first, hugging Edyn, calling her cute, booping her on the nose and asking Gillion why he never told them about his sister, to which he replied:

“Because I didn’t know if I would ever see her again,” in a voice so serious Chip almost had to laugh.

Then, as older siblings are wont to do, Lizzie showed up and ruined everything. 

So Chip was being dragged to the Port Hole to fight for his honor, everyone else in tow and all he could think about was not embarrassing himself in front of- Gillion? Or… Edyn. Maybe both? 

He made a show of his win. Changing into Lizzie during the fight. Talking a lot of smack. 

Who he was showing off for? Edyn or Gillion, he didn’t know.

So he flounced and he flirted, maybe a little more in front of Edyn than Gillion, he wasn’t really paying attention. No one else was either. 

When things got tense, Gillion started talking about his past, Chip let Edyn take charge. She was his sister right? And again, it wasn’t like people were paying attention to what was happening, Jay and Lizzie were wasted and Ollie was coloring, which about covers the people who might’ve noticed. 

At least, he thought no one else was, but there he was sitting on the tattoo table getting the same waves that Arlin had (with Gillion permission because this would look quite silly on him while it was healing on Chip.) when Lizzie approached him. Still pretty fucking wasted.

“What’re you doing Chip?”

“Getting a tattoo?” He answered, baffled. 

Lizzie frowned, “nah why’re you flirtn’ with your soulmates sister?”

This was not the conversation he hoped to be having when both his soulmate and his soulmates sister where in the other room.

“It was nothing.” Was what he went with as an answer.

“Nah. None of that bullshit. You and your soulmate can deal with your relationship how you want, but I’m always gonna try and make sure you aren’t doing dumb shit,” she was sounding surprisingly sober, “I don’t know why you went head over heels for Edyn. Maybe it’s cus she looks like Gil and you find it easier to flirt with women. I don’t care. I promise you Gillion did not like that. Probably for a lot of reasons. So ruminate with that while you get your ink. Then go have a conversation with your soulmate. You need to.”

And Lizzie walked away. 

Chip had no chance to say anything. She just dropped that monologue at him then left. And the whole time the tattoo artist was nodding along sagely like she was right. 

Was she? 

In his entire life Chip had only found two men attractive, Gillion and some guy he saw on a really old wanted poster. 

He hadn’t considered that he might like guys until he met Gillion. He hadn’t taken the thought seriously until he kissed him. 

That said, he flirted with tons of women. From aged fifteen onwards he would let any pretty girl he saw know she was beautiful. He laid it on thick in a way that most people didn’t want to reciprocate, but still-

Was he flirting with Edyn because it was the easier, closest option to flirting with Gillion? 

Or was it because some small petty part of him wanted to make Gillion feel jealous too. 

God he was a mess. 

Chapter Text

Bed Bolts and Beyond was an interesting store.

Made significantly less interesting because of the incessant feeling that Chip was in danger. 

Gillion's skin felt like it was crawling; he needed out. He needed to find his soulmate. Check every inch of his body for injury. He kept checking over himself, trying to catalog injuries. There was nothing new. Just the tattoos that would overlap his own markings until he healed. 

Chip was fine. 

So why did he feel like this? 

“Gill?” Jay put a hand on his shoulder, he jolted away from her, instincts going haywire. 

“Ah! Jay, yes, is something the matter?” Gill asked, trying desperately to appear normal. 

Jay looked him up and down like he was insane, “That’s a good question, Gill… is something wrong? You’re acting like someone is going to pop out from behind a corner and stab you,” her voice was gentle like she was worried he might spook and run off. 

“Well, someone might come out from a corner! It is very reasonable to think that,” he defended.

“No… no it’s not.”

Suddenly it dawned on Gillion, “It’s Chip. These are his feelings,” he grabbed Jay’s shoulders, “Something is happening, he said he was staying on the ship right?” 

Gillion didn’t wait for an answer; he just took off out of the store, towards their ship. 

Halfway there, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head, and the anxiety was gone.

Chip was unconscious. 

He ran even faster, arriving at the ship he scoured every inch of it. Eventually Jay and Ollie caught, up.

“He isn’t feeling anything. Jay, I must look for him.”

“Gillion, Chip’s a big boy, he’ll be fine,” Jay didn’t seem convinced of what she was saying, “But to put you at ease, I will go look for him. Okay? You and Ollie stay here in case he comes back.”

And with no room for argument, she took off into the air, leaving Gillion with his thoughts. And Oliver.

They sat in silence for a while, Gillon standing almost at attention, before Ollie eventually spoke up.

“Do you think he will be alright?”

Gillion thought about it, all the fear he was feeling that wasn’t his own, the slow creep of anxiety he was feeling again, though nowhere near as bad as it was before. Would Chip be okay? Of course, he would. He had come this far. There was still so much for them to do. Chip had told him he wanted to have a conversation when they were both back on the ship; he wouldn’t leave that loose thread undone. He would return.

“It is his destiny.”

Gillion stood there until Jay returned, empty-handed, but optimistic.

“Well, I did a sweep of pretty much the entire city, and-”

“No Chip.”

“No Chip. But, also no heinous crime scenes. He’s probably just getting into bar fights or something. He should be back by tomorrow. You should get some sleep,” she put a hand on his shoulder, attempting to guide himt o their quarters.

He did not move. “I will greet him when he returns.”

She gave him an incredulous look, “It could be a while, Gil-”

“I will wait.”

She sighed, muttering something under her breath, and turned away, “Don’t be too loud when you come in for the night, then, okay?”

“I will move silently.”

She grimaced, not believing that even a little. 

Gillion waited for hours, hoping to feel anything, emotions, pain, something to inform him of the well-being of his soulmate. It took a while, but he got something, a few cuts, and… punches?

This was more than a bar fight, but he would do Chip no good running and trying to find him when he could instead wait here to heal him the second he got back. 

It was well past midnight when Chip returned. Gillion didn’t have to see him to know he was trying to sneak onto the ship. The fact that he didn’t see him was how he knew. 

Gillion felt Chips' presence approaching, and he heard the most minuscule creak of the deck of the ship.

“Chip.”

The silence was resounding, but after a moment of scanning, he saw Chip, standing frozen in place, hoping his stillness would let Gillion's eyes pass over him. It did not. 

They locked eyes, and after only a moment longer, Chip relaxed and walked over to Gillion.

Gillion wrapped him in a rib-crushing hug the second Chip was close enough to him, not even checking for injuries, just pumping as much healing magic into him as possible. 

“Where were yo,u Chip?”

“Gil-bud, can we talk about this tomorrow?” Chip pleaded, “I’m beat.”

“I want this conversation to happen now. Where were you? We were scared.”

Jay wasn’t scared, not really, and Ollie was only scared until Gillion said it was Chip’s destiny. But at points, they were all scared. It wasn’t a lie. 

“I-” Chip huffed, “Gillion, I’m not gonna lie, I really don’t want to talk about where I was.”

Gillion’s face must have morphed into something concerned, because Chip very quickly tacked on. 

“I was fine, and like not getting into any new trouble. I was just- I had unfinished business here. It’s-”

“You were scared, Chip.”

Chip laughed a little, “Not really actually-” his eyes widened, “Oh. Gillion, I- how… I’m sorry.”

“You have no need to apologize, Chip, you cannot control it. I hope not feeling that fear helped you wrap up your unfinished business,” Gillion sighed, “I hope that one day it is past enough that you can tell me what the business was.”

Chip smiled, “I think it did help Gil. And- one day. Just not today. Now, can we go to bed?”

“You said you had something to talk to me about after you got your tattoos. Could you-” 

“Tomorrow, okay? Please?” 

Gillion nodded, and turned to talk to the Captains Quarters, before hesitating and turning and pulling Chip back into another hug, relishing the feeling of holding him close, knowing he was alive. 

He felt Chip place a kiss onto the top of his head, “I’m sorry I scared ya Gil, I’ll try not to do it again.”

Gillion nodded, letting go of Chip. Trusting that he would genuinely try not to scare him like that again. 

Not scaring Gillion lasted a whopping half a day. But Gillion would be hypocritical if he didn’t admit he was also doing wildly stupid shit. 

He just didn’t get scratched. 

And now they were back on the Albatross. None of the healing Gillion tried worked. Nothing Jay was doing was working. And it didn’t have to be Gillion’s wound for him to feel it festering. 

There was something innately magical about this. A curse. They would need something equally as powerful to heal it. 

“Gill-” Chip’s voice was weak, though it was all performance, “Gill c’mere,”

Gillion did, stepping next to where Jay was trying a few different healing potions on the wound. 

“Jay- can… can I have some time with my soulmate before I die?”

“You’re not dying, Chip,’ Jay said, completely deadpan, though she got up and left anyway. 

“Sorry if I scared you again,” Chip said, voice completely normal.

“It’s alright, was… was it fluffy?”

“Dude. I cannot stress enough it was so fucking fluffy.”

Gillion smiled, “Is that… all?”

“No,” Chip pushed himself up, grimacing. Gillion frowned a little at the pain coming through the soulbond, he supposed he’d have to get used to it until they found someone who could heal Chip, “I uh. I wanted to talk about your sister-”

Gillion cringed, “Why?” 

Chip blanched, waving his hands in a ‘no’ gesture, “it ’s-it’s nothing like that- no, I wanted to apologize. I was- pretty immature around her. And… that’s all.” 

Gillion was thoroughly baffled. “That’s all?”

Chip nodded, “There’s nothing else I need to say to you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yup!”

Chip wouldn’t lie to him, though he wouldn’t be surprised if there was more he wanted to say that he didn’t consier strictly necessary to add on. Or- maybe not wanted to say but felt he should- either way Gillion didn’t press. It would come out eventually he was sure. 

All things did with Chip.