Chapter Text
╔═ ⁺ ‧ ₊ 𖤓 ˚ ཐི ⋆ 𓊝 ⋆ ཋྀ ˚ 𖤓 ₊ ‧ ⁺ ═╗
Chapter One
╚═ ⁺ ‧ ₊ 𖤓 ˚ ཐི ⋆ 𓊝 ⋆ ཋྀ ˚ 𖤓 ₊ ‧ ⁺ ═╝
. ˳ · ⋆ ✶ 𓆩 ☠︎ 𓆪 ✶ ⋆ · ˳ .
The evening was calm, the coastal town of Brightshore looking like it was glowing from the gardens of the Lord’s Manor- the warm lamplight spilling from behind curtains in the windows of the houses, the tall lighthouse that gave the small fishing town its name lighting up the coast from its rocky outcrop.
The boy glanced back the way he’d came, lingering for a moment and letting his eyes following the path before pressing onwards up the hill toward the manor house.
A small army of guards in the teal blue livery of the Lord’s House patrolled the outside, rifles slung over their shoulders- an impressive display of wealth.
The boy ducked away from the path and made a wide arc around to the side of the property, carefully climbing over the tall wall surrounding the East garden and dropping into the thick hedge on the inside of the wall. He stayed pressed into the hedge, holding his breath as two guards passed- the light from their lantern barely missing him.
He waited for a few moments after the guards were out of sight before doing a quick, half crouched run to the outside wall. He quickly found good footing on the vines snaking up the bricks like veins, climbing up to the second floor window and perching on the windowsill.
The curtains were open slightly and the boy could see inside a plush bedroom- a four poster bed was against the far wall from where he was seated, other furniture like a desk, bookcases and a tall wardrobe took up most of the space along the other walls.
Another boy around his age was sat up on the bed, a book propped up on his knees. He wore soft looking clothes of expensive material- a darker teal than the colour his family’s guards did.
He smiled and tapped on the glass, holding back a laugh as the other child jumped. He watched as the boy quickly hopped to his feet, running over and opening the window.
“Atlas- hi!” He offered a hand and pulled Atlas inside, closing the window behind him, “How are you?”
“‘m doin’ good- you?”
“I’m doing quite well, thank you,” He shrugged, “Nothing much has happened here recently-“
“Fair enough-“
Atlas put his rough hand in the boy’s soft skinned one, letting himself be led to the bed and sitting down.
The smaller child put his arms around him, resting his head on his chest and Atlas hugged back, smiling.
“I missed you..”
“I missed you too..”
“Did you manage to get food today?” The boy asked, looking up at Atlas, “I can go downstairs and get you something if you need some-”
“I’m okay- Mr Wranglestone found out I’m out there and he said he’d let me pick from stuff that didn’t sell.” Atlas shrugged, putting his forehead to the other’s, “I’ll be fine for a good while I think-“
“That’s good news, the Wranglestone recipes are really nice,” The boy smiled softly, “So’re the Wranglestones in general- really pleasent family.”
Atlas barked out a quiet laugh, “You sound- so posh right now-“
“Well at least my clothes are clean-“
“My hair is better-“
He pulled away, reaching for his head and putting a hand to his long, brown plait self-consciously, the slightest hint of his growing insecurity shown in his eyes, “What’s wrong with my hair?-”
“Nothing at all. Nothing is wrong with any part of you, never has been,” He cups the other’s face with his hands, just looking into his eyes, holding the moment and smiling softly, “You’re my beautiful boy.”
His smile widened as tears came to his eyes- beautiful light blue eyes- smiling too.
“R-really..?”
“Yeah, I promise,” The smaller’s face was dusted pink and he sniffed, leaning into Atlas’s hand, tightening his grip on his other hand, “The prettiest boy I’ve ever seen.”
“Thank you..”
“Of course- I’ve never lied to you and I never want to start.” Atlas brushed a stray strand of hair from his face, putting their foreheads together.
The smaller boy smiled, feeling a thumb rub along his knuckles, putting his spare hand on the side of Atlas’s neck, lightly tracing the marks with his finger.
They pulled away after a few minutes of quiet, both smiling and blushing softly.
“There’s nothing wrong with you..” Atlas’s voice and expression turned from soft to mischevous, “..it’s just my hair is better than yours-“
He flashed a grin that was quickly replaced with a look of shock as the pillow collided with his face with a solid thump. The other child wiped his eyes, sniffling up the last of any tears and was holding tightly to the corners of the offending pillow, his own grin on his face.
“Oh- you’re asking for it!-“ He reaches behind him, grabbing a pillow of his own and the grin returning.
“Bring it on!-“
⋆ 𖤓 ༺ 𓆩𓆪 ༻ 𖤓 ⋆
Hallford slowly opened his eyes, reaching up and running his fingers through his hair, glancing over to the timepeice ticking quietly on the wall.
He pushed himself up, grumbling quietly as he pressed a hand to his side, gently massaging the bare scar that ran from his hip to the middle of his ribs on his left side.
The quartermaster stood and got ready, wearing a grey sleeveless tunic tucked into black trousers, pulling on a long-tailed orange waistcoat with gold trimming, only looking in the mirror once his shirt was on.
The sound of his boots echoed down the corridor as he strode to the dormitory, holding onto the handle of a large bell as it rang.
“Up and out! Daycrew on shift- topside all of you! Go- move!”
The crew hurried out of the cluster of doors of the bunk rooms and running past their quartermaster, calling greetings as they ran to the main deck- the smaller night crew coming down to their beds.
Soon the ship was alive- the crew running to their posts as they started on their morning tasks before starting breakfast.
Hallford surveys the crew from the uppermost deck, the navigator adjusting their course slightly from the wheel behind him.
After a while, he descends one flight of stairs and knocking on the door to the Captain’s Office.
“Captain?”
Hallford waits for a minute before knocking again, calling again but slightly louder.
“Captain- it’s Hallford!”
It takes a long enough moment to make Hallford think the Captain was actually sleeping in his room for once- but the door opened and a man Hallford’s age opens the door.
His shoulder length black hair matched the dark circles under his eyes. He hadn’t shaved, wearing the same clothes as he was the day before and Hallford sighed, internally rolling his eyes.
“Gooooooood morning Hallford!” The Captain smiled, having far too much energy for it being this early in the morning- in Hallford’s opinion, “How’s the crew this morning?”
“Very good I believe.” He looked the Captain up and down, “I see you haven’t slept again, Captain- we’ve talked about this-“
“Believe me, I am very aware- but I’ve got a very good reason for it this time I promise-“
Hallford gave him a look, crossing his arms, “And what reason is that Captain?”
“I thought of a new idea- a stronger, more versatile version of Fintan.” He waved the quartermaster in, closing the door behind him.
The showed the piles of chicken scratch notes scattered around and samples of white powder in sealed glass vials over his desk, main experiment table and his shelves.
He walked to the other side of the experiment desk, moving a few papers and notebooks.
“In theory, this new formula will combust easier with a stronger exothermic reaction- burning brighter, faster and hotter-“ He lifts a red topped vial full of a similar white powder to all the others, “It also has more of an energy release so if I put it in bombs then it’ll pack a whole other level of punch.”
Hallford held out his hand and examined the powder within the vial, “It’s amazing.. how much water required to start the initial energy release?”
“Not a clue-“ He looked up to see a wide grin on the Captain’s face, “I guess we’ll just have to test it on the next bounty hunters the Navy sends chasing our waves.”
The quartermaster shared in the grin, passing the vial back, “You really are a special type of crazy Atlas.”
“Isn’t that why you love me?” Atlas leaned over the table resting on his elbows, pulling a face at Hallford, “My.. eccentricity-“
He started to chuckle as Atlas continued, never looking anywhere but at his quartermaster.
“My sea spun charm-“
“Captain-“
“My first class mind-“
“Atlas-“
“My wonderful creations-“
“Firefly- I love all of that and more,” He smiled at him, “Of course I do, they’re all a part of you.”
He blushed and the smaller man’s smile widened as Atlas came around and one of his rough hands cupped his cheek.
“My beautiful boy,”
Now it was Hallford’s turn to have his face change colour, his cheeks and the tip of his nose going pink, making Atlas’s smile widen.
“Calling me that isn’t gonna get you out of going to bed and sleeping-“
“I know- you won’t let me hear the end of it if I don’t,“
Hallford smiled, nuzzling his face into his hand, “Bandit still out scouting?”
Atlas nods, letting his hand fall from the quartermaster’s face.
“I’ll call them back for you while you go get some rest.”
“Okay, thank you.” He walks for the door, hand resting on the door handle, “And make sure you get some food okay? I know you don’t like eating a lot in the mornings but you still need food.”
“I will, I promise Captain.”
Atlas nods and holds the door open for Hallford as they left the office, closing the door behind them. The quartermaster went down into the galley from the main deck as the captain only went down to the level below his office, pulling off his boots and collapsing onto his bed.
⋆ 𖤓 ༺ 𓆩𓆪 ༻ 𖤓 ⋆
Around an hour after he closed his eyes, he heard his door open and quiet footsteps approaching before something small and warm was placed in the crook of his elbow.
“There he is, see? Safe and sound..”
He heard a tiny, trilling purr, something small nuzzling into his arm and a soft chuckle.
“Alright, sleep well you two..”
. ˳ · ⋆ ✶ 𓆩 ☠︎ 𓆪 ✶ ⋆ · ˳ .