"No," Kai laughs and bumps his shoulder against Aidan's as he moves away from the man, letting some well needed air between them. "I'm just teasing you."
The man huffs, shaking his head and blowing on his next spoonful of stew, willing his cheeks to cool off because he's a grown man and this is ridiculous.
"As always, everyone gang up on Aidan," he grumbles, rolling his eyes, though he doesn't feel all that put out by it. Besides, Kai and Grey were usually more likely to tackle each other for daring to tease Aidan in front of them, as if only they themselves were allowed that privilege.
"Oh, please," Kai huffed with a soft laughter, then leaned in to roll his eyes at Aidan, then out of a whim presses a kiss to his cheek. "You're alright. No one is quite as adored as you are."
Then he goes back to his bowl of stew with a small, lingering smile.
There's another little huff, but Aidan's got a smile on his lips that he hides behind his own stew, cheeks just a tad pink and a faint flutter in his chest from that kiss that he absolutely refuses to address. That way lies madness.
"I suppose that's why I get to have some company tonight when you could instead be out, enjoying the evening on land for once," he comments, bumping shoulders lightly.
Kai tilts his head to actually look at Aidan, his smile reaching both of his golden eyes and crinkling the skin around them to merry crowfeet.
"I could be fucking a whore or drinking myself sick," he agrees. "But here I am, making stew for you." His smile turns into a grin as he ventures: "I don't know if that says I'm getting old or if I like you more than whores and liquor."
"Careful, I might swoon with that sort of declaration," Aidan murmurs, smiling sidelong to Kai. Then he has another bite of his stew, and adds, quietly, "The stew is delicious, by the way."
"My god," Kai murmurs, his voice mockingly shocked. "I don't know the power of my own words."
Sad as it is. A part of him feels a dig in his gut because damn if he doesn't actually want that. And Aidan keeps telling him in so many words how it's never going to happen.
"I'm glad you like it," he says then, smile calm and warm, his gaze in the stew that he keeps poking.
Aidan chuckles softly and has another piece of fish to chew on, commenting wistfully, "You'll make someone a wonderful husband, some day. Where will I be, then? Who will feed poor little old Aidan?"
The last part is meant as a tease, but Aidan doesn't like how it feels... uncomfortable, inside. It leaves him feeling prematurely sad and even bitter, but so what? Kai deserves all the happiness in the world. He deserves a partner who would adore him for how wonderful he is.
Okay, that... That hurt. It takes Kai a moment to gain his equilibrium after that. His brow furrows and he stares into his bowl with something of a sickening sadness rising in his throat.
It's been... most of his life. He's been away at the sea, he's done a great deal of things, and the depth of his feelings for Aidan just keep getting deeper and worse. He's never going to marry and have all that other people seem to enjoy so much.
"I don't think so," he finally says with a smile that is a little frayed at the corners but brave enough to endure. "Don't you worry about that, darling. You'll have a nice wife making stew for you while I'll be out here, sailing the seas..."
Aidan forces a quiet laugh at that. "Is that so? Well, according to each our own predictions, I suppose you'd best find my skin and just take me as your sea bride. Then you can make me all the stew in the world while we sail the seas until we're both haggard and crooked old men."
Even as a joke... the thought is surprisingly enticing. Dangerously so. Aidan focuses on finishing the fish, then, letting the crisp crunch of bones distract him from those thoughts he shouldn't be entertaining.
Kai draws in a breath and can't even force a laugh at that. He just stares into his bowl and thinks about how he would love that life, sailing around the seas with Aidan until they're both wrinkled and old. But while he would love it, he also has no idea how long he would be able to be without kissing the man.
He glances at Aidan from the corner of his eye and then sighs, all fight leaving him as he leans onto Aidan's side and lets out a soft whine.
"I promise you, if you haven't found some little lady to love and keep your skin, I'll marry you and sail the seas with you until we're both too old to hoist a sail." He leans his cheek onto Aidan's shoulder and then suggests slowly: "I could bring back something of the female delights in the next port for you..." There are hookers that wouldn't mind going into the ships to see to the needs of some sailors. Maybe Aidan is just too shy to ask.
"Alright," Kai murmurs, quietly thankful for Aidan's immediate response but at the same time frustrated because it doesn't help his case at all. "I figured I should offer in case you're just too shy to ask."
He feels his cheeks burn as he suddenly finds his stew very fascinating, staring down at it intently as he resumes eating. Just the thought of Kai bringing some woman for Aidan to fuck is... wrong and downright embarrassing.
Then he's hesitantly asking, "Do... you... go looking for 'company' in towns?"
After all, he's aware Kai had been dabbling in sex with Ulysse a bit before Rook joined their crew, and potentially with Marco and Al, possibly Midnight, but now he's wondering if the man's appetites extended further beyond.
Shrugging, Kai leaves it alone. Aidan's reaction is a little bit stronger than he expected and it makes him glance the man with furrowed brows, searching his expression for answers but finds none...
Just embarrassment or more?
"Not really," he replies easily. "I used to do that," he admits. "When I sailed under the merchant flags, or in the few pirate crews that I was in." He leans against the railing as he tilts his head back to look at the sky. "But it's not what I want." There's a certain amount of sheer intimacy that you can get from a hooker. A little more so with a friend. And Kai craves that intimacy. He did fuck Ulysse a few times, and they had a great time, playing off of each other and making sure pleasure was had. They're both just as intent on giving that it was a good experience to both of them. He's put his dick in Midnight and spend a few hours sandwiched between Marco and Al, but there's not a whole lot of what that gives him except for the physical release.
It's the quiet nights when he manages to curl up next to Aidan and burrow against his warm back that Kai finds the peace that he desires. Sex is one thing, it's easy and it's messy and it's .... liberating in a way. But he's had a lot of it in his life and it's just no longer an actual priority to him. It's just a way to pass time. And a way to help the mages if they need it.
"Sex is... just sex if you don't care about the person after all," he says with another small shrug. "You can rub it off yourself if all you want is a release."
Aidan smiles crookedly, shaking his head and having a few more mouthfuls of stew. He has to distract himself from the thoughts of Kai jerking himself off because he shouldn't think such things. "Interestingly, Kimi hasn't quite caught up to you in that thought, I suppose..."
It's always been interesting to him how the three siblings, despite having hatched within minutes of each other, have always shown such varying levels of maturity, Kimi somehow behaving as though he's much younger than Kai and Kat.
"Well," Kai laughs, winking at Aidan. "He's the little brother after all." All three minutes worth of it. Kat had found love so very early on. No one had been surprised when she had married the neighbour's boy. Kai on the other hand had been thirsty from early on to figure out everything about life. Kimi had been more cautious perhaps.
"You are a little bit of the same, aren't you?" he asks softly as he pokes his stew and finally selects himself a spoonful of it. Grey was early sure what he wanted and he didn't hesitate in taking it. Aidan had been much slower to realise just what he wanted and how he couldn't get it. Kai had been watching all this from the side lines and it had been the reason why he decided to sign in on the first ship that passed their little shoreline.
"I'm a good deal less... confident than you or Grey, I suppose," he admits with a little shrug, tucking back some hair behind his ear. "But unlike Kimi, I actually am a few years younger than my brother."
And perhaps that's why Aidan had been so slow to realise his attraction to Kat (and Kai) because he's always been the youngest and mostly treated as such.
"Oh, I know," Kai chuckles as he breaks a piece of his bread into his stew and soaks it in the bowl. "You could hide behind the baby status for so long, darling."
He laughs and grins up at Aidan with good mood once again restored. "You were so cute as a baby. Always running after us." Even then it had been Kai who had been the most eager to help him climb over rocks and keep up with the older kids. Grey had been there to make sure Aidan didn't get hurt but out of the whole group of them, Kai was the one with the most nurturing instincts.
"You say that, but I was always faster than all of you in the water," Aidan 'huffs', not really all that offended as he hides his smile behind a spoonful of stew. "It's not my fault all of you were more interested in running around on land."
Some of Aidan's fondest memories of his childhood are from when the others hand hit their growth spurts, all lanky pre-teens that were suddenly towering over the younger boy, but they hadn't used it against him. Instead they'd helped the smaller Aidan keep up with them, and at the end of the day, Grey or Kai would carry the tired young boy on their back, warm and safe all the way home.
Sometimes Aidan wishes they could go back to those times.
He blows on the stew, watching the steam waft away, and lifts the bowl to his lips, tipping it up a bit to just drink down some of the cooled liquid, savouring the warmth of it with a quiet sigh.
"Oh, you were," Kai nods and laughs softly as he remembers their trips to the shore. They were always in the water. Couldn't keep them away from it. Aidan sometimes, small and stubborn as he was, even fell asleep in there. And then they had to carry him back home.
"Do you ever miss those times?" he asks quietly. Because Kai does. Life was so much simpler back then. Full of wonder and joy but not that many complications.
Kai rolls his eyes at the answer that wasn't really an answer. But his smile is still soft and fond as he takes the bowl from Aidan and piles it with his own.
"I'm glad you liked it," he says with a soft sigh.
That smile is arresting all on it's own. Similarly shared between the three siblings, but Kimi's is rarely that soft, and Kat's had somehow always made Aidan feel too young. That smile made it crystal clear, that Aidan would always be a younger brother to her.
Kai's, though...
It makes that fluttering warmth return to Aidan's chest and he hesitates a moment before deciding to hell with it, leaning in and giving a quick little peck to the man's cheek, murmuring, "Thank you."
Even as a child, he'd never been the most physically affectionate, except with Kai and Grey, and even with the latter, they hadn't exactly given each other a lot of brotherly kisses. Those had always been for Kai who had been just as willing to give them back along with warm, squeezing hugs and pets to his hair.
As quickly as he'd leaned in for the kiss, he's pulling back just as fast and straightening away, taking the bowls from Kai and announcing a bit louder than necessary, "I'll get us some drinks. We might still have some of that nice rum from the last port."
And he knows that particular bottle is tucked away so it should give him enough time to get the blush off his cheeks in finding it.
Kai, foolish as he is, for a moment thinks that Aidan is going to kiss him on the lips and his heart suddenly stops working like a reasonable organ and jumps to his throat, racing to the finish line like fire had been set under it. His breath is caught in his throat and he finds himself frozen to where he stands.
Aidan's lips are dry and his beard tickles his face. Kai has nothing to offer but a little bit lost look as Aidan pries the bowls from his fingers and talks something about rum before he disappears with heat crawling all over his cheeks.
It's after he's left that Kai draws in a deep breath and slumps against the railing, blinking as he stares up at the night sky.
There must be a god somewhere there who is laughing his ass off at Kai right now. Just a simple, sweet, boyish kiss that used to be norm for them and Kai knows exactly why Aidan went for it because it isn't supposed to be anything more.
But he hopes it could be, he wants it so bad it makes him ache.
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perhapstomorrow2020-01-25 10:33 pm
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And he should know that. Shouldn't he?
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"As always, everyone gang up on Aidan," he grumbles, rolling his eyes, though he doesn't feel all that put out by it. Besides, Kai and Grey were usually more likely to tackle each other for daring to tease Aidan in front of them, as if only they themselves were allowed that privilege.
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Then he goes back to his bowl of stew with a small, lingering smile.
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"I suppose that's why I get to have some company tonight when you could instead be out, enjoying the evening on land for once," he comments, bumping shoulders lightly.
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"I could be fucking a whore or drinking myself sick," he agrees. "But here I am, making stew for you." His smile turns into a grin as he ventures: "I don't know if that says I'm getting old or if I like you more than whores and liquor."
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Sad as it is. A part of him feels a dig in his gut because damn if he doesn't actually want that. And Aidan keeps telling him in so many words how it's never going to happen.
"I'm glad you like it," he says then, smile calm and warm, his gaze in the stew that he keeps poking.
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The last part is meant as a tease, but Aidan doesn't like how it feels... uncomfortable, inside. It leaves him feeling prematurely sad and even bitter, but so what? Kai deserves all the happiness in the world. He deserves a partner who would adore him for how wonderful he is.
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It's been... most of his life. He's been away at the sea, he's done a great deal of things, and the depth of his feelings for Aidan just keep getting deeper and worse. He's never going to marry and have all that other people seem to enjoy so much.
"I don't think so," he finally says with a smile that is a little frayed at the corners but brave enough to endure. "Don't you worry about that, darling. You'll have a nice wife making stew for you while I'll be out here, sailing the seas..."
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Even as a joke... the thought is surprisingly enticing. Dangerously so. Aidan focuses on finishing the fish, then, letting the crisp crunch of bones distract him from those thoughts he shouldn't be entertaining.
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He glances at Aidan from the corner of his eye and then sighs, all fight leaving him as he leans onto Aidan's side and lets out a soft whine.
"I promise you, if you haven't found some little lady to love and keep your skin, I'll marry you and sail the seas with you until we're both too old to hoist a sail." He leans his cheek onto Aidan's shoulder and then suggests slowly: "I could bring back something of the female delights in the next port for you..." There are hookers that wouldn't mind going into the ships to see to the needs of some sailors. Maybe Aidan is just too shy to ask.
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Kai, why are you like this?
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How many times can Aidan say no?
He feels his cheeks burn as he suddenly finds his stew very fascinating, staring down at it intently as he resumes eating. Just the thought of Kai bringing some woman for Aidan to fuck is... wrong and downright embarrassing.
Then he's hesitantly asking, "Do... you... go looking for 'company' in towns?"
After all, he's aware Kai had been dabbling in sex with Ulysse a bit before Rook joined their crew, and potentially with Marco and Al, possibly Midnight, but now he's wondering if the man's appetites extended further beyond.
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Just embarrassment or more?
"Not really," he replies easily. "I used to do that," he admits. "When I sailed under the merchant flags, or in the few pirate crews that I was in." He leans against the railing as he tilts his head back to look at the sky. "But it's not what I want." There's a certain amount of sheer intimacy that you can get from a hooker. A little more so with a friend. And Kai craves that intimacy. He did fuck Ulysse a few times, and they had a great time, playing off of each other and making sure pleasure was had. They're both just as intent on giving that it was a good experience to both of them. He's put his dick in Midnight and spend a few hours sandwiched between Marco and Al, but there's not a whole lot of what that gives him except for the physical release.
It's the quiet nights when he manages to curl up next to Aidan and burrow against his warm back that Kai finds the peace that he desires. Sex is one thing, it's easy and it's messy and it's .... liberating in a way. But he's had a lot of it in his life and it's just no longer an actual priority to him. It's just a way to pass time. And a way to help the mages if they need it.
"Sex is... just sex if you don't care about the person after all," he says with another small shrug. "You can rub it off yourself if all you want is a release."
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It's always been interesting to him how the three siblings, despite having hatched within minutes of each other, have always shown such varying levels of maturity, Kimi somehow behaving as though he's much younger than Kai and Kat.
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"You are a little bit of the same, aren't you?" he asks softly as he pokes his stew and finally selects himself a spoonful of it. Grey was early sure what he wanted and he didn't hesitate in taking it. Aidan had been much slower to realise just what he wanted and how he couldn't get it. Kai had been watching all this from the side lines and it had been the reason why he decided to sign in on the first ship that passed their little shoreline.
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And perhaps that's why Aidan had been so slow to realise his attraction to Kat (
and Kai) because he's always been the youngest and mostly treated as such.no subject
He laughs and grins up at Aidan with good mood once again restored. "You were so cute as a baby. Always running after us." Even then it had been Kai who had been the most eager to help him climb over rocks and keep up with the older kids. Grey had been there to make sure Aidan didn't get hurt but out of the whole group of them, Kai was the one with the most nurturing instincts.
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Some of Aidan's fondest memories of his childhood are from when the others hand hit their growth spurts, all lanky pre-teens that were suddenly towering over the younger boy, but they hadn't used it against him. Instead they'd helped the smaller Aidan keep up with them, and at the end of the day, Grey or Kai would carry the tired young boy on their back, warm and safe all the way home.
Sometimes Aidan wishes they could go back to those times.
He blows on the stew, watching the steam waft away, and lifts the bowl to his lips, tipping it up a bit to just drink down some of the cooled liquid, savouring the warmth of it with a quiet sigh.
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"Do you ever miss those times?" he asks quietly. Because Kai does. Life was so much simpler back then. Full of wonder and joy but not that many complications.
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He polishes off the stew, cleaning the inside of the bowl with what's left of his bread, and sighs happily. "That was delicious."
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"I'm glad you liked it," he says with a soft sigh.
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Kai's, though...
It makes that fluttering warmth return to Aidan's chest and he hesitates a moment before deciding to hell with it, leaning in and giving a quick little peck to the man's cheek, murmuring, "Thank you."
Even as a child, he'd never been the most physically affectionate, except with Kai and Grey, and even with the latter, they hadn't exactly given each other a lot of brotherly kisses. Those had always been for Kai who had been just as willing to give them back along with warm, squeezing hugs and pets to his hair.
As quickly as he'd leaned in for the kiss, he's pulling back just as fast and straightening away, taking the bowls from Kai and announcing a bit louder than necessary, "I'll get us some drinks. We might still have some of that nice rum from the last port."
And he knows that particular bottle is tucked away so it should give him enough time to get the blush off his cheeks in finding it.
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Aidan's lips are dry and his beard tickles his face. Kai has nothing to offer but a little bit lost look as Aidan pries the bowls from his fingers and talks something about rum before he disappears with heat crawling all over his cheeks.
It's after he's left that Kai draws in a deep breath and slumps against the railing, blinking as he stares up at the night sky.
There must be a god somewhere there who is laughing his ass off at Kai right now. Just a simple, sweet, boyish kiss that used to be norm for them and Kai knows exactly why Aidan went for it because it isn't supposed to be anything more.
But he hopes it could be, he wants it so bad it makes him ache.