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The salty spray of the sea fills Reo’s lungs with endless pleasure as he breathes in the midday air. He stands at the ship’s helm, guiding the vessel and his crew through the vast blue ocean. The wind is calm today, making the surface glassy smooth everywhere the hull doesn’t touch. They’re headed to a small island village. Reo had heard rumors the last time they made port about a treasure in this area, and he is dead set on finding it. The crew moves about the ship as he steers toward the ever-growing island just off the horizon. They’ll be upon it in minutes.
One lap around the island reveals that they don’t have a dock anywhere large enough for the ship, so they make anchor a short ways away. Reo takes a seat in the dingy as the others row them to land. Water laps at the sides of the boat and he leans over the edge, running his fingertips through the crystal blue waters. It only takes a few minutes for them to reach the beach. Three small boats are tied together and pulled ashore to keep them from drifting away.
Reo steps onto the sandy beach shore and rests his hands on his hips. From what he saw on the ship, the village is to the west. Fortunately, they shouldn’t have to travel far to get there. The crew loads up their sacks and falls in line behind Reo. He looks back at them with an eager grin. “First, we head to the village—restock supplies, rest, try to gather information on this treasure.”
The crew cheers, excited to be on land for a few days. As much freedom as pirate life entails, being confined to the walls of a ship for extended periods of time can be exhausting. They make the trek westward, following the direction of Reo’s compass until the tall grass and dirt turn worn with use. A road leads them into a bustling village. Small houses surround the village and at the center is its marketplace. Shop stalls line the street with merchants selling their wares. Toward the end of the road is what appears to be a tavern, with tables and chairs set up for outside seating.
Reo pulls out a pouch, handing a few coins to each of his crew members. “Don’t just blow it all on booze. We need to stock up on supplies,” he reminds them, knowing fully that certain members of the crew will in fact ignore his warning, blowing it all on liquor and whores. Isagi follows diligently at Reo’s side. His first mate is his most trusted crew member and Reo would be at a loss without him.
“Let’s get food,” says Reo. “We can ask around about the treasure while we eat.”
“Sure thing,” agrees Isagi.
They head in the direction of the building with the outdoor seating. Isagi pushes the old wooden door open with the palm of his hand and steps aside to let Reo enter first. It’s dark inside the tavern and it smells like a combination of piss and liquor—too many drunks taking a leak wherever they feel like it. Reo doesn’t make it far into the tavern. Sitting alone at one of the tables is a man with sun-kissed white hair and dark eyes. His skin is fair, and his cheeks are rounded as he stuffs his face with a small loaf of bread. He’s the prettiest thing Reo’s eyes have ever had the privilege to look upon.
“Excuse me,” he says, leaving Isagi at the door.
Reo goes to the handsome stranger. His feet are drawn like a magnet and his brain shuts down. The noise of the tavern fades away into a dull buzzing. All he can see is shining white hair in the dimly lit room. The light reflecting from one of the windows casts a halo on his head. He’s an angel heralding a new chapter in Reo’s life. Reo comes to a stop at the corner of the table, standing opposite where the stranger sits. The man looks up at him with dark, bored eyes, and they swallow Reo whole. Looking into those slate-colored eyes is like sailing through a tumultuous storm. The blackened waters spell a sailor’s doom.
“Are you a siren?” asks Reo. The man quirks a brow and crumbs fall from his lips. Reo steps in, invading his personal space, and swipes the crumbs away with the pad of his thumb. “I would happily drown at your call.”
(Source: Renchurro)
The man stares at him stone-faced but it matters little. His bewitching presence has Reo swooning. His fingers linger against the man’s cheek and lips while he gazes deeply into the dark eyes before him.
“Captain!” Isagi interrupts, drawing Reo’s attention away from the siren eating his bread.
He huffs, casting his gaze upon his first mate. “What?” asks Reo, annoyed.
“We need to head out if we’re searching for that treasure. We need to cover ground before nightfall.”
Reo purses his lips and turns back to the man at the table. His expression is blank and unreadable as Reo gives him a onceover. “I’ve already found the greatest treasure.” There’s no sarcasm or hint of humor in his voice. His crew understands how stubbornly serious he is. There’s a groan from behind him but he ignores it. “Go without me.”
“Seriously?”
Reo smiles fondly as he moves to sit beside the man at the table. “Seriously,” he says. “I have all the treasure I need right here.”
There’s a beat of silence, then Isagi sighs in defeat. “I’m keeping your cut of the treasure. Let’s go.” He waves for the other crew members to follow him before leaving the tavern area and making their way out of town.
Reo catches the villager’s chin between his fingers again and draws him closer. “Tell me your name, sweet angel.”
The villager wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and takes a drink from his pint of ale. “Nagi. Nagi Seishirou.”
Seishirou. The name has a lyrical lilt to it, and it makes Reo’s heart soar.
Reo introduces himself and waves the bar wench over to get him a drink. He immediately turns his attention back to Nagi, not wanting to go a single second without drinking in the man’s effervescent glow. “Are you from here, Seishirou?”
Nagi gives him a look, likely from the lack of formality but Reo’s a pirate. Pirates don’t do formal. He brushes off the use of his first name and scooches a tad away. “Yeah. Born and raised in this village. Never been anywhere else. Never had a need to leave the island.” Reo cocks his head to the side and rests his chin on the butt of his palm, hanging on Nagi’s every last word. “We don’t usually get pirates here.”
“There were rumors of a treasure,” says Reo.
“Been here all my life, never heard anything about some treasure.”
With a dreamy look in his eyes, Reo smiles at Nagi, gazing at him from under dark lashes. “I already found all the treasure I need.” He says, repeating his statement from earlier directly to Nagi.
“You’re strange,” notes Nagi.
The tavern wench brings Reo his beer and a plate of food. He happily eats as he watches Nagi stuff his face. Nagi had already been eating when they arrived, but he consumes two more plates of food in the time it takes Reo to finish one. He has a healthy appetite. That’s a good sign. He has a lithe body and needs a good layer of meat on his bones. Reo wants to watch him eat until the sun goes down, but when Nagi finishes what Reo assumes is his third plate, he pushes the empty dish aside and stands up.
“Thanks for the company, I guess. I have to go now.”
Reo scrambles to his feet. “Go where? I’ll go with you,” he offers.
Silvery-white brows arch in surprise and then Nagi shrugs. “If you want.” He steps away from the table without further explanation and Reo follows at his heels.
They weave their way through the small village, stopping at the various vendor stalls for small talk. Everyone knows Nagi. Everyone seems to love Nagi. A pang of jealousy blooms in Reo’s chest. He shouldn’t be jealous. He knows it’s ridiculous. The people in this village have known Nagi his entire life. Reo’s only been graced with his angelic presence for the better part of an hour.
“Where are we going?” he asks again, hopeful.
Nagi glances back at him from over his shoulder and shoves his hands in the pockets of his trousers. “The docks.”
Reo remembers seeing the small boats at the docks when they circled the island. The walk is short from the village proper to what barely passes as a marina. Nagi folds his hands behind his head as he whistles, walking lazily to a small boat anchored to the first of three docks. There are nets and fishing poles in the boat. A live trap hangs off the side, dangling above the water, and Nagi climbs in.
“You’re a fisherman,” notes Reo. The boat is weathered with age. The hull has patches covering holes and the seats are splintered. It’s at the end of its life, but it’s clear Nagi has done his best to care for it over the years.
Nagi moves his gear around to make room for a second person, then looks up at Reo from where he still stands on the dock. “You getting in or what?”
Reo nods, stepping reluctantly into the boat. “I’m coming.” The shabby boat is fearsome. What if it springs a leak while they’re out at sea? They’d drown in an instant. The boat sways as he sits and Nagi reaches for the rope tying it to the dock. “You should join my crew,” says Reo as Nagi returns to his seat. “I have a large ship you could fish off. It’s way better than this shabby thing.”
Nagi frowns. “No one forced you to get in the boat. You could have stayed behind.” Reo opens his mouth to protest but Nagi continues. “Plus, I don’t have any interest in becoming a pirate.” He reaches for the oars and begins to row them away from the dock.
Reo hadn’t put any real thought into his proposition when he opened his mouth but now that Nagi was outright refusing him, he felt the overwhelming urge to win him over. His life is the sea, he wouldn’t give it up for anything, but he doesn’t want to set back out on the waters without the man in front of him. “Think about the money you could earn if you joined us,” he pleads.
Nagi shrugs. “Money doesn’t matter. I just want to live a comfortable life. I fish, I eat, I sleep. That’s good enough for me.”
Reo casts his gaze over the open waters. The seafoam sprays the sides of the boat and seagulls cry out as they dive into the waters in search of food. He understands wanting a comfortable life. Pirating is comfortable to him, so how does he explain that to Nagi in a way that will make him want to leave his island home and come with him? “You don’t have to be a pirate,” he says. Reo isn’t looking for another employee. That’s not what Nagi is to him. Nagi is a treasure, and treasures deserve to be put on display and adored. “If you join us, you’ll be my personal guest on the ship. You can stay in the captain’s quarters with me.”
Nagi fixes him with an unreadable look. He doesn’t reply. Instead, he pulls in the oars when they are far enough out and picks up his fishing pole. They sit in silence as Nagi leans back in his boat. He drops the trap into the water and hooks the net to the back of the boat. Reo takes up the spare pole in the boat and baits his hook from a bucket in the middle of the hull. He casts the line and waits. The cries of the gulls are the only sounds to accompany them as they leisurely rock with the waves. The silence as they fish is surprisingly comforting. There’s no shouting or singing, no barrels being tossed around. Everything is calm and peaceful. It soothes Reo’s heart.
The tip of the pole in Nagi’s hands dips and he yanks on it, hooking the fish that has taken a bite of his bait. He reels it in quickly and lifts the large fish out of the water and into the boat. Droplets fall to the floor as he hangs onto the line and reaches for its body to still its floundering movements.
“I’ll unhook it for you,” Reo offers. He sets his own pole down and grabs the fish. Reo fumbles with the hook and the fish’s slimy scales slip through his fingers. Its tail flaps and slaps him in the face, leaving him stunned.
A laugh escapes Nagi, and it is the most beautiful sound Reo has ever heard. He keels over, burying his face in his hands and tears track down his cheeks, blazing red cheeks. It’s a hearty laugh that comes from the pit of your gut and works its way up, one that is uncontrollable and won’t stop until it is ready to end. The sound is a symphony to Reo’s ears, and he is now more determined than ever to get this beautiful stranger to come with him.
When the laughter simmers and tapers out, Nagi reaches for a rag in his bag, pulling it out to wipe Reo’s face. “Here,” he says, and Reo catches Nagi’s hand in his own. Their eyes meet. Reo is lost in the deep waters of Nagi’s dark irises, not daring to look away. It feels like minutes pass when Nagi finally blinks and pulls away, the first to break the heavy gaze between them.
They continue fishing after that, filling Nagi’s nets and traps for hours until he’s satisfied with the amount they caught. It’s late evening by the time they make it back to the village, but he seems unbothered. There’s a stall that happily buys his entire stock, handing Nagi a bag of coins as he sets the fish in a large barrel of water. There’s a grill at the stall with meat being smoked so that they don’t go bad, likely what will happen to this fish as well. Nagi says farewell to the man, and they walk away.
Reo lingers in the street, watching as Nagi fiddles with the bag. He pulls out a few coins and takes Reo’s hand, setting the money in his palm. “Here,” he says.
Reo cocks a brow. “What’s this for?”
“Your cut. You helped catch the fish. You earned it.”
Reo wraps his fingers around Nagi’s hand, holding it in his clenched fist. “That’s not necessary. I just wanted to spend more time with you.”
A thought crosses Nagi’s face, and he chews on his bottom lip as he thinks it over, then says, “How ‘bout I buy you a drink as thanks, then?”
Reo smiles. “Good enough for me.” He hands the money back to Nagi and follows in step with him to the tavern from earlier.
Sunlight filters into the room from between partially shut curtains. Reo blinks, his head stinging from how much he had to drink the night before. The bed from the inn above the tavern is warm and the air humid from the island heat. There’s a weight on his chest and he looks down to see Nagi asleep at his side, arm stretched across his body. He’s ethereal in the morning light, his silver hair haloed in the sun’s warm rays. Reo kisses the small bald spot at the crown where Nagi’s hair whorls out around his head. Nagi stirs, lifting his chin to meet Reo’s warm gaze.
“Morning,” greets Reo.
Nagi grunts in reply, curling his body further around him. Reo knows he’ll have to leave soon, depart from this island, but he can’t set sail without Nagi at his side. It will break his heart to leave his newfound treasure behind. How other pirates could bury their loot and hope it will still be there the next time they return is beyond him. Reo could never trust Faith. He has to hold onto his riches with his own hands. He wets his dry lips and runs his thumb on the apple of Nagi’s cheek. “Come with me,” he says again, afraid to hear yet another no.
Nagi is quiet. He pulls his head away to lay it atop Reo’s chest and he breathes in, their heartbeats beating in time with one another. “Okay,” he says quietly.
“Okay?” asks Reo, afraid he had misheard.
Nagi nods his head against Reo’s chest. “Okay,” repeats Nagi. “I’ll come with you. As long as I can fish.”
“You can do anything you want!”
Reo’s smile splits his face in two and he takes Nagi’s face in his hands, drawing him in for a kiss.
They take their time getting ready to leave. Reo packs up his few belongings he brought on shore then escorts Nagi to his home to gather whatever he wants to bring with him on the ship. They’re in the middle of town, loading up on supplies, when Reo sees Isagi and the others making their way back from the forest. There’s a large crate being carried by two of the crew members and Isagi has a scowl on his face.
“Found the treasure,” snipes Isagi, “No thanks to a certain captain.”
Reo shrugs, uncaring. “Looks like we both scored booty.” He snakes his arm around Nagi’s middle, pulling him to his side. Nagi rolls his eyes but doesn’t move away. “Hurry and get that haul back to the boats so we can ship out.”
“Aye, aye.”