Private Tales No Jackets

[Lucius]

"I didn't think it was real." Lucius said as he nodded and quickly stood with her aid.

Whatever the hell that memory had been, it certainly wasn't his. It only made him question whether anything else was.

"Back in Teth..." Lucius began nervously, frowning as he used the desk and Peyton to prop himself up. "When I used to take shade...I did it to push the memories away. I didn't want to remember the Concordant, the Captain, You..."

He bit his tongue. "But there was always something else. Something else lurking, calling."

Lucius knew he must have sounded insane. "It drowned that out too."

Now that he was clean...it had come back.

"I'm a junkie Peyton." He bit the inside of his cheek hard enough to taste blood. "I didn't want you to think..."

He left it unsaid.

 

[Peyton]

She helped him settle against the desk and watched him to make sure he wasn't going to fall again. She understood not wanting to remember, but she still managed to look physically pained as he told her he hadn't wanted to remember her either and she let go of his hands. She'd picked him up and dragged him home and got him to give up the shade that had been keeping his mind numb to it all, and he'd somehow managed to make her feel bad about that. She hadn't considered that he might have preferred it that way.

Peyton's brow knit with a flash of anger on her face "Don't do that, Lucius. You're not a junkie, you're a fucking Captain of a galleon.. You didn't want me to think what exactly?.." her head shook and she turned away to get a breath and a grip on her guilt which was blurting out as rage.

She rubbed at her brow and huffed quietly.. "Maybe Ana would be able to help.." she suggested and looked at the floor, feeling utterly hopeless.

 

[Lucius]

"I don't know." He said quietly.

Ana had seemed as confused about the whale as anyone else, maybe even more so. He doubted that whatever was wrong with him had much to do with Ana, but perhaps she'd have some sort of insight.

A frown touched his face as she turned away from him, his hand reaching out to her for a second before lowering. "I didn't want you to think I threw away everything you've given me."

Despite the dreams, despite the calls, he didn't crave Shade anymore. There were bad nights, sure, but the feeling of being with family again, of being at sea...it had been enough.

Peyton was enough.

"You're the one that saved me Peyton. You're the one that brought us here." He motioned to the Galleon. "Whatever obstacles come with it...I don't care."

Lucius looked at the ground. "As long as I'm with you...nothing else matters."

It was a rather roundabout way of saying what he felt, but the truth had to fall from his lips somehow.

 

[Peyton]

She sighed and hugged her ribs as she shifted her weight from one side to the other, her gaze lifting with a soft frown "Lucius I would never think that. You saved me just as much, quite literally in fact." she laughed under her breath.. "And we wouldn't have this galleon if you hadn't come with me, you've given me just as much.. You wouldn't have been in the gutter at all if I hadn't left you there." she huffed and curled her fingers into her vest.

Her gaze narrowed at the way he spoke to her, watching his gaze fall, and she felt her chest tighten and her cheeks warm slightly.. Something was different and she bit gently on her lip as she fell silent. What was he saying? He'd always expressed how grateful he was and made her feel cared about but this was different.

"Luc?.." her head tilted at him in question.

 

[Lucius]

Today was just one of those days it seemed.

Lucius looked down at the floor, staring at it as if suddenly the world would fall away around him and he wouldn't have to worry.

When nothing happened his lips thinned, and he slowly looked up towards Peyton. His eyes caught hers, and he smiled. It wasn't a cocky smirk, no, the smile held almost no confidence at all. "I..."

He bit his tongue.

"I love you Peyt." The words slipped from his lips, and as soon as he said them he wondered how quickly he could jump out the nearby window.

 

[Peyton]

She frowned at that smile and her brow lifted again in question as he seemed to have trouble speaking.

Her expression instantly loosened at his admission and her lips parted to allow a sharp breath to escape her chest. For a moment all she could do was look at him and listen to the pounding heartbeat in her ears. In a way, she knew, they'd been glued to one another for weeks and they shared a history, they'd always loved one another, all of them had.. but he didn't mean that sort of love.

Why the fuck couldn't she speak? All manner of verbal ability seemed to leave her standing there staring in shock as her mind raced and her chest ached. She raised her hands to her face to press at her temples and run into her hair and grip hold.. Today, of all days, as though she hadn't had enough emotion.

Say something.. Did she care about him? Yes, more than anything. She knew she'd do anything for him and he for her. She knew she didn't want to be apart from him again and the thought of him in that gutter tore her apart and she'd do everything she possibly could to make it up to him and give him everything that was within her power to give him.. She knew the pain on his face had been unbearable, and how comfortable she'd felt in his arms...

"I.. think I love you too." she frowned and let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

 

[Lucius]

Relief flooded him like a tidal wave. He found his tongue tied and twisted, his mind almost completely blank, but he managed to nod his head as a wide idiotic grin slid onto his face.

He could still hear his heart thundering in his chest, could still feel the weakness in his knees. Lucius wasn't entirely sure if it was the vision or Peyton making him weak now, but with a wordless step the young Pirate Captain closed the distance between himself and Peyton.

Before she could object or speak Lucius practically seized her.

His arms wrapped around her in an instant, his lips pressing against hers as everything else from the day was utterly and completely forgotten.

Thoughts of the Concordant disappeared, fears of the future washed away, the pain of his wounds was gone. All that mattered was the moment, all that mattered was her.

Everything else could wait.

 

[Peyton]

Peyton let out a shuddered laugh under her breath at the grin on his face and she returned a warm, almost shy smile at him as her hands flopped back to her sides. Her pulse pitched to frantic as he stepped toward her, she had no time to prepare herself for it. She'd been in his arms before, slept beside him so many times, but this was entirely new and she felt ridiculously nervous around him for the first time.

She realised how much she'd belonged in his arms when she felt them around her again. She hadn't realised how much she'd wanted his kiss before now. The second she'd felt his mouth against hers she melted into him and kissed him back firmly, her hands cupping either side of his face to keep him there. She couldn't help but smile against his lips and everything she'd been worried about fell away with Lucius demanding her full attention.

She broke their connection to let out a soft laugh under her breath and find his gaze, her cheeks holding more colour than they had in days.. "You pick your moments..." she mused quietly, studying his face anew with a shy, gentle bite on her lip.

 

[Lucius]

"I've never had good timing." Lucius said with a wide smile, his face practically beaming at her.

Joy permeated through him, and it was like every worry that had weighed on their shoulders was suddenly lifted away. At least for now.

"I uhh." He smiled. "I'm sorry I didn't say something sooner."

Perhaps that would have made some of this easier. He breathed in slowly, his arms tightening around her as he softly held here. It was hard to describe how grateful he felt, how happy he was that she had returned the feeling. His greatest fear had been her rejection.

Everything else he could handle.

 

[Peyton]

She could feel how happy he was.. It was all she wanted, and it seeped into her and burned in her chest as she laughed quietly at him.

“I’m more upset that you wait until I look like shit...” she smirked and dropped her gaze for a moment, realising just how awful she looked when she was normally pristine and so well groomed and dressed..

She let her hands slide from his face and onto his chest as he apologised and she stood up onto her tiptoes to press another soft kiss against his lips. Nerves danced up her spine and she smiled again.

“I forgive you.”

 

[Lucius]

He smiled even wider. "Good."

Lucius could feel his head buzzing, fingers tightening gently against her skin as his thumb brushed gently back and forth. There was something electric about this, and he couldn't stop himself from closing his eyes and just enjoying the moment.

"I think." He said slowly as he opened his eyes and looked down at her. "I think I've lived enough excitement for one day."

Lucius cast a glance towards the bed that had belonged to the previous Captain, and then without any warning he suddenly scooped Peyton off her feet. The wounds on his back and chest cried out in protest, but Lucius swiftly ignored them as he swept her into his arms and headed across the room.

 

[Peyton]

“Understatement of the centur-“ her words ended with a short squeal and she laughed at him. She really wasn’t used to being manhandled but she quite clearly found it amusing. “Lucius gods damn it put me down, I’ll have to re-do those stitches, they’re bad enough as it is..” she grinned and held onto him regardless as he carried her.

“Does this mean.... I get to stay in a captain’s quarters?.... Because, I really like this cabin..” her lips twisted in amusement. She did enjoy the finer things in life, a vice he was well aware of.

 

[Lucius]

He chuckled. "Suppose it does."

Just as they reached the bed Lucius gently placed her onto the feathered mattress, deciding that it was probably for the best that he did not just throw. Both for his wounds sake and hers.

Half a second later he plopped himself down on the bed besides her, glancing around the cabin.

"Might even be inclined to give you the desk." He joked. "If you make it worth my while."

The Cabin really was a pretty thing. Located at the back of the Galleon with large windows gazing out into the sea and decorations fit for two Kings. Anirians really did like to pamper themselves.

 

[Peyton]

Peyton grinned at his joke and stretched herself out with a wince at the pain in her shoulder and she pressed at it gingerly. “That so?.. I think I’ve already made it worth your while. Should’ve kept the lot for myself.” she quirked a brow.

She watched him for a moment, an irrevocable smile on her lips, and she sighed deeply as she curled herself against him. Despite how long she’d known him, everything felt different. Her skin seemed to tingle against his touch, and her heart seemed to beat a little harder.

Was this real? She reached out to trace her fingertips across his cheek just to be sure and she smiled at him.

“You know my father would lynch you in the rigging don’t you?..” she smirked.

 

[Lucius]

He smiled, slowly sliding a hand onto her hip.

"Would he?" Lucius knew that the man absolutely would. He and the other boys on board had been warned countless times about that fact. Not that anyone had ever said as much to Peyton.

"Not so sure." He teased. "I'm respectable now."

Lucius reminded her. "Captain and all that I am."

He would have to use that more often.

 

[Peyton]

Her eyes rolled at him. “Pulling the Captain cars already. I’ve created a monster.” she huffed, snaking her hand to the back of his neck to draw him closer to her.

Lucius has become her one stable force, her one stability in a world filled with chaos and she so desperately need that in her life. She loved him for it, and she couldn’t believe she’d just realised it.

The feeling was strange; it stretched throughout her entire body. It was overwhelming, yet made her feel complete. It had no bound nor length nor depth; it was just absolute, like a hole in her life she’d never been aware of was now suddenly filled and it’d given her peace.

It was strange – frightening even – how suddenly her life had changed. To go from being alone to being so infatuated with him that she couldn’t imagine her life without him again. She knew she had things to worry about but they seemed to have melted away and she didn’t care right now. He was her anchor, and they had so much lost time to make up for.

She knew it now, she didn’t have to think anymore, and she wanted to say it again, whisper it against his lips before she kissed him.

“I love you Luc.”

 

[Lucius]

"I love you." Every time she said the words it was like a mallet of joy to his head.

Lucius felt himself nearly overwhelmed with that fact, caught up with the fact that this moment was so calm and they had all this room for themselves...Lucius wondered if it could have gotten any better for the two of them.

His hand came up, gently running over her form. He took careful measure to avoid any of her wounds, but he found himself wanting to touch her, wanting to take her in and simply enjoy the feel of her.

It was all he could do not to kiss her again and again.

His lips brushed against hers, and for the first time in years Lucius found himself feeling truly comfortable. The last five years were forgotten, the dreams were forgotten, even the voice in the back of his head died down.

All because of her.

 

[Peyton]

Peyton's teeth captured her lower lip as she grinned at his words. She doubted she'd ever tire of hearing them. Her eyes closed under a brief frown as he ran his hands over her, leaving a trail of goosebumps blooming on her bronzed skin in it's wake. She sighed deeply and let herself relax completely..

"You know.." she smiled as he grazed over her lips and she brushed back "I had the biggest crush on you when I was seventeen, right?.." her cheeks dimpled with a grin and she laughed under her breath, but she claimed his lips again before giving him a chance to respond.

 

[Lucius]

He shook his head. "I didn't."

Back then he hadn't really been focused on such things. His attention had instead been drawn towards being a better fighter, fitting into the crew.

The thought had never even occurred to him that Peyton might have seen him as anything more than just another crewmember. He'd been too preoccupied with his own little world.

"But." He reminded her. "I've never been too smart."

Another small kiss was planted on her lips to silence any argument.

 

[Peyton]

She felt her cheeks heat up a little at her admission, she figured there was no need for her teenage infatuation to be a secret anymore. She'd always tried to impress him with training and maps and such, but he's never seemed to notice her, or had been warned not to, and so she'd soon given up trying. It was amusing now that he'd finally taken notice, and her inner teenager swooned as he kissed her again.

She argued anyway as soon as the kiss broke and she swept a lock of hair back from his face to curl it behind his ear and traced her fingertips over the scar over his eye.. "You are smart.." she frowned gently. He really didn't think much of himself and the thought saddened her, she'd been trying to convince him otherwise but it seemed a heavier challenge than getting him off of shade.

 

[Lucius]

"In my own way." He admitted, fingers splaying over her skin.

His eyes closed as she traced the scar above his eye, letting out a long and satisfied breath. He could have stayed here forever if given the choice. Though he supposed that wasn't really an option.

The arm around her tightened a bit, pulling her closer.

"Eventually we'll have to get out of this bed." He told her softly. "But I think...not for a little while."

A little while, perhaps after they slept.

He certainly felt he needed it.

 

[Peyton]

Peyton had grown used to sleeping next to him, but not this close, and she quickly realised how much she enjoyed the warmth and how perfectly they seemed to fit together. Her legs entwined with his and she pulled the blanket over them both.. "Just a few hours.." she smirked.

Her golden eyes blinked sleepily but she done everything to try and stop them from closing as she looked up at him, her fingers stroking the contours of his cheek and jaw and capturing locks of hair betwixt her thumb and forefinger.

She finally allowed her eyes to drift closed with a deep sigh in contentment, her arm draped over him possessively as the gentle rocking of the ship as well as the soothing sound of his breathing lulled her to a deep and peaceful sleep.

 

[Lucius]

Lucius followed her into the dream soon after, except this time there was no nightmare waiting for him.

Nearly every night since they had embarked on this journey the young Captain had suffered through some sort of terror. He'd watched his friends drown, he'd seen his mind swallowed up by something he did not understand.

His sleep had been filled with small trembles, silent fleeing from what darkness his mind held.

Yet as he passed out next to Peyton none of that came. All that he found within the dream was a sense of peace. No memories washed through him, nothing compelled him to wake in a cold sweat. All that he did was sleep beside his love.

 

[Peyton]

Despite how emotional the day had been, she'd been completely soothed and there were no traces of her worries left in her mind for her sleep to be a restless one. She barely moved within the entanglement of limbs and her eyes fluttered open to see that he was still sound asleep beside her.

She smiled sleepily as she watched him, but she didn't want to move for fear of waking him before he was ready to be woken. The light of dawn spilled in through the mullioned windows, casting a checkerboard of soft golden light around the cabin. It was as calm outside as it was inside, and Peyton sighed softly and nuzzled into her pillow.

 

[Lucius]

Lucius awoke nearly an hour after Peyton did, his eyes opening as he tensed his muscle in an odd almost contained stretch.

His head slowly turned, catching Peyton's eye. A smile immediately spread across his face as soon as he saw her. "Sleep well?"

He asked softly.

The Mattress was certainly nicer than the one they'd shared on the other ship, bigger too. That plus the events of the night before...Lucius felt like he could have taken on the entire Allirian Armada.