Harbor
It was harder than Jack felt it should have been to get the ship safely anchored and everyone off it except Will and Elizabeth. For one thing, Elizabeth finding reasons to go ashore with one thing or another, which meant Jack had to go after her and find some errand for her aboard, which kept them both going back and forth in a longboat, leaving Will, he thought, all too amused by the sight. Finally Jack steered Elizabeth over to Will with one hand on the small of her back and deposited her there.
"Stay right here," he said, which should have been an order and came out more of a plea. "Just for a minute, all right?" He shooed Gibbs and Cotton off with the last of the rum, or at least the last of the rum that he felt ought to go ashore if he wanted anyone in the crew in any state to do repairs in the near future, and returned to find Elizabeth and Will standing awkwardly at the rail together. They looked like victims of an unfortunate introduction at some high-class party who were trying to figure out how long they had to talk to each other to be polite.
"Right, then," Jack said. "Into the cabin. Bring the rum. We are going to sort some things out."
"You mean you're going to tell us what to do," Elizabeth said, although she sounded more amused than angry.
"I mean young William here is going to tell you what to do," Jack said. Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at Will.
"Thank you for putting that in the worst possible way, Jack," Will said.
"Well, then, you explain things."
"You didn't exactly give me an opportunity."
"You've got to learn to seize the moment," Jack said.
"That would be when you pause for breath?"
"What precisely are you supposed to be explaining?" Elizabeth said.
"It's a hard blow," Jack said. "But I've gotten the lad into trouble, and now I'm going to have to marry him."
Will put his hands over his face. Elizabeth looked heavenward, as if seeking a confirming opinion that Jack was impossible, or possibly that men were impossible. It had succeeded in breaking the tension, though, which Jack felt made it worthwhile. Anyway, surely neither of them expected him to resist such opportunities.
"I think we should talk," Will said, raising his head. "Like normal people. Without rum. Can we possibly do that without a pantomime?"
"Without rum?" Jack asked, feeling alarmed.
"You're right," Elizabeth said. "I suppose the cabin is the best place, even if it is a bit ..."
"Suggestive?" Jack suggested, putting on a theatrical leer. "Well, if you're afraid you can't resist me long enough to talk."
"'Fraught with peril' is more the phrase I would have used," Elizabeth said.
"Or possibly just fraught," Will said. They were looking at each other with that look Jack was never sure he liked, as though they understood each other perfectly without either of them needing to say anything that made sense. They made a pretty pair to be sure, well-matched as carriage horses, although whether they were much inclined to pull together remained to be seen.
"If you're afraid to enter the lair of a notorious pirate --"
"Yes, terrified," Elizabeth said. "Come on, Jack."
He leaned back toward Will as Elizabeth tugged him toward the cabin. "You didn't really mean it about the rum, did you?"
"I plan to have this conversation sober," Will said. "Of course, if you're afraid to play host to a pair of debatably notorious pirates without a drink --"
"Come into me parlor," Jack said, opening the cabin door with a flourish. There was a bottle in the cabin, anyway. It would do if their talk reached a point where it seemed advisable for medicinal purposes.
Elizabeth seated herself in a chair at the table promptly, possibly to avoid the question of whether anyone would be pulling it out for her. Will sat in the chair beside her, and Jack leaned against the wall, not feeling ready to commit himself to a position from which to face possible fire.
There was a long pause. The only sound was the murmur of the surf, low and steady like a heartbeat. Jack found himself thinking of lying in the sand with the smoke from the dying fire drifting down the beach. He'd been able to feel them both breathe, and everything had seemed simple. If he caught both their hands, he could pull them up and tangle them all three together, which he felt ought to answer all their questions somehow.
He had to admit that he wasn't entirely clear on how it would, though, and he had promised to let Will take the lead for a bit. That had, however, been predicated on Will doing something other than looking like he was trying to compose the Magna Carta in his head. Jack kicked Will in the ankle in what he felt was a subtle fashion.
"Ouch," Will said.
"Talk," Jack said. He made little talking motions with his hands by way of demonstration, which ended with the talking hands kissing and then writhing together suggestively.
"Patience, Jack," Will said.
"I am being patient. Impatient would be --"
"I think we both know what impatient would be," Elizabeth said. She took Will's hand across the table, which Jack fervently hoped the boy would take as an invitation to begin before they all grew old.
"Elizabeth, tell me the truth," Will said. "Do you want to bed with me?"
Elizabeth looked up at Jack.
"You know you do, darling," Jack said. "To kiss those pretty lips--"
"Jack?" Elizabeth asked sweetly.
"Yes, me darling?"
"Please shut up," Elizabeth said. "Just for a minute. Can you do that for me?"
"I don't know," he said honestly.
"Try."
"Just for you," Jack said. "As a sign of the true depth of my feelings --"
"You're still talking," Elizabeth pointed out gently.
Jack held up his hands mutely. He started to pantomime his intention to be quiet, and then supposed that was contrary to the spirit of the thing. He wondered how much it was possible to communicate with just one's eyebrows.
"Thank you," Will said, although to Jack's annoyance he seemed to be saying it to Elizabeth. "So, er ..." He looked awkwardly at their joined hands, as if not sure he could bring himself to ask the question again.
"Yes," Elizabeth said. "Maybe. No."
Jack made a wordless noise of protest and waved his hands at her. She appeared to be pretending not to notice him.
"Why not?" Will asked, gazing at her intently.
Elizabeth held his hand tight. "I care too much," she said. "About both of you. I can't go with you knowing that Jack's left alone, and then turn around and go with Jack and know you're lying there wishing I was beside you."
Jack waved his hands dismissively. Will nodded, which unfortunately seemed to be what Elizabeth was paying attention to.
"I do miss you," Will said. "You know I do."
"I miss you, too," Elizabeth said. "But I can't keep leaving you when you need me. Leaving you once was hard enough."
"I'm here," Will said. He laced their fingers together.
Elizabeth smiled at him, her eyes suspiciously bright. "I know."
It was the moment to try for a better position, Jack felt, with some sort of easy assurance like "take all the time you need to think, darling," that might help make it easier to forget that the word "no" had already been spoken. Instead Will looked up at Jack. "Jack, will you tell me the truth for once?"
"Am I permitted to speak?"
Will seemed to be ignoring Jack's sour tone. "Do you want me to bed with you?"
Jack grinned. "Well, that's a pretty invitation. But don't you think it might put your lady-love off a bit, talking about buggery in front of her? Unless she likes that sort of thing. Which on reflection --"
"Yes or no, Jack."
"Are those my options?" Jack wasn't in the habit of committing himself, and certainly not when he wasn't sure what profit there was to be had from it.
"You've got to take some chances, mate," Will said dryly.
"Yes," Jack said hurriedly. "Not that I'm professing any tender sentiments, here. Not that I'm not professing --"
"I can share," Elizabeth said.
"Well, then."
"This is not the plan," Jack said, wondering how they'd gone so far astray.
"Was there a plan?" Elizabeth asked. "No one ever tells me these things."
"My plan is for us all not to kill one another," Will said. "If Jack has a plan --"
"You love each other," Jack said. "You keep giving each other long soulful looks across the deck until I'm half sick looking at you."
"It's not always that simple," Will said.
"It's not always that complicated," Jack said. "The bed's big enough for three, and that won't leave anyone on their own."
"And in the morning?" Elizabeth said.
"We get up and have breakfast and see to patching the hull and come back to bed when we're tired, the watches permitting."
"It can't work like that," Elizabeth said. "For a night, maybe, but --"
"And you know this because ..."
"No one's ever done it."
"People have done some strange things, love," Jack said. "In some parts the men have two wives, or more if they can manage it. They seem to get along swimmingly. Of course, they do have opium to smooth out any domestic disagreements."
"Jack ..." Elizabeth began.
"You think I won't leave if I have Elizabeth," Will said, as if working a problem out in his head. "And you think Elizabeth won't leave if she has me."
"I never asked you for any bloody promises," Jack said. "You'll do what you like as long as it suits you, the pair of you. Any pirates would."
"You suit me," Elizabeth said.
"It was a bit boring on land," Will said.
Elizabeth looked at Will, with that same look of mutual understanding. "I'd miss you."
"I'd miss you," Will said. "And I think you could both use a bit of a restraining influence sometimes."
Jack waved a hand to get their attention. "What exactly is being decided, here?"
Elizabeth looked at Will a little shyly. "If it's too hard for you ..."
"It's what I want," Will said. "I think I get to decide how hard a thing I can do. And so do you."
"I can share the bed," Elizabeth said. "And I can share Jack. And beyond that, we'll see."
"I can live with that," Will said.
"Must the two of you drag everything out into a great drama --"
"Yes," Will said. "So you might as well get used to it, because I'm staying."
"Is there a reason we're still wearing all our clothes, then?"
"Some people keep talking," Elizabeth pointed out.
"You should know better to think that taking your clothes off will strike me mute, love. Of course, if William wants to try his luck at doing that he's welcome to, but no one's managed it yet."
"There I'm not surprised," Will said.
"I'm still not sure this is a solution," Elizabeth said, but she rose and came to his side, wrapping one arm around his waist and the other around Will's.
"I can't take my clothes off this way," Will said.
"Hush," Elizabeth said, laughing against Will's shoulder. "Don't start."
Jack wanted to kiss her, but Will was easier to reach. He kissed Will instead, wanting to get them back into territory where he felt more confident of his bearings. "Still your turn to take the lead," he said.
"Is it, now?" Will asked, leaning back enough to consider Jack. "And if I said I wanted you on your knees --"
"We did that," Jack pointed out.
"The things I seem to miss," Elizabeth said.
There was a dangerous light in Will's eyes. "Not the way I'm thinking."
"Your call, mate."
Will smiled more wryly. "Or is that not so much to your taste?"
"Do you ever stop asking questions?"
"Will you ever answer them?"
"If you're around long enough, I expect so," Jack said. "Truthfully or otherwise."
"I don't expect you to tell the truth," Will said.
"No one does," Jack said. He kissed Will again, exploring his mouth in a leisurely way, with Elizabeth's arms wrapped around his waist. He smiled against Will's mouth as Elizabeth's hands began unfastening his breeches, and then breathed in sharply as she slid down to her knees. "Was this the plan?"
"Sometimes there's room for improvisation," Will said. He slipped behind Jack, his arm around Jack's waist, and Jack leaned back against him as he felt Elizabeth's mouth on him. It seemed more indecent with someone else watching, but Elizabeth didn't seem ashamed, even when Will reached around Jack and tangled his fingers in her hair. He still felt the urge to protect her, although he wasn't sure from what.
Will's other hand was on his hip, sliding under his breeches and exploring the skin. He pressed back against him, hearing Will's breath catch and feeling him rub his hips against Jack's. He smiled, pleased at the proof that he wasn't the only one being driven past endurance here.
"It is quite a sight, isn't it?" he said.
Will pulled Jack close, rubbing hard against him, and Jack felt that customary habits to the contrary, he'd willingly lie down under him at that moment, would in fact do almost anything for satisfaction. Elizabeth drew back before he reached the point he desperately wanted to reach, and he heard himself make a noise of protest.
"There's a reason you have a bed," she pointed out.
"Yes," Jack said fervently. "By all means. Where is it, again?"
He let them both draw him over to the bed and climb into it in a pleasant tangle. He was still trying to sort out whose hands were where when Will clutched at him and gasped in something like panic.
"Wait, I'll --" Will's whole body went taut with a belated attempt at self-control, but Jack could see him losing the battle, and he felt Will's hips jerk helplessly against him. "Damn," Will said after a moment, sounding both embarrassed and amused.
"If you intended to do anything else with that, I think you've missed the opportune moment," Jack said, his fingers playing across Will's hip to make it clear he didn't mean the words to sting.
"I can wait," Will said. "Or are you going somewhere?"
"You'd better not be at the moment," Elizabeth said.
Jack considered the two of them in their matching states of undress and mutual amusement. "I may be in trouble," Jack said.
"I know you're in trouble," Elizabeth said, and rolled onto him, pressing him down under her warm weight. He could only bear a little of her moving on him before he had to shift her down to straddle his hips, his prick achingly hard against her belly. When she stroked him, he thought he'd go to pieces in her hands, come crashing apart like the wreckage of a ship driven onto the rocks. It felt enough like it at the end.
Will kissed him, his lips just brushing the corner of Jack's mouth, and he found himself returning the kiss hungrily, reaching out blindly, looking for an anchor. Elizabeth slid off to the side, sprawling half-across him. He could feel the ship's movement under them, the steady rocking motion of the surf, and it took a moment to trust that it wouldn't drive them apart.
He didn't think they were finished with their sport, even for the moment. There was enough unexplored territory to keep them happily busy until morning, or any number of mornings if he had his way. For the moment, though, he was content to lie warm between them, feeling them both breathe. Elizabeth had her head on his shoulder, and he could feel Will warm against his other side.
"Better than the beach," Elizabeth murmured. "Less sand."
"And fewer spectators," Will agreed.
"Less opportunity to wander off," Jack said. "You've still got no sense of direction."
"I think I can find my way," Will said, his hand resting on Elizabeth's hair, and Jack closed his eyes, willing himself to trust in someone else's navigation for a while.