(Lavashipping) Tend to the Flame: The Lost Pendant

Extra|Existence

TW! mentions of death

Becalmed from the game Sea of Thieves
Pure Love by Mother mother

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  “That was the closest I got to dying.”

  The ocean is as calm as ever.

  The starry night sky is, as always, full of wonder and radiance. The Bounty is quiet and still, with its crew sleeping soundly back in the berth with blankets poorly draped on them; the hammock where the others lay would ever so slightly rack. The lantern supposedly illuminating the balcony is unlit, as only the moon and stars welcome their world with gentle glows and foregrounds of existence.

  Although staying up late with no one but the other, it is still quite a wonderful night.

  Just quite.

  Kai silently adjusts the blanket to cover more of his body and looks up to the pirate beside him.

  “Back there, in the boiling sea,” Cole mumbled beneath his breath, unsure with the shorter one hearing it as he said those words. Kai still heard it nonetheless, for even in this hushed air, he can even take it to heart how the noiret’s breathing changed. 

  “A-are you alright?” He softly stuttered.

  Cole’s eyes are practically glued on the waters it is reflecting. He’s not looking at the stars. His face isn’t crinkled in a way, nor is it even twitching other than the occasional blinking. He visibly takes a ragged breath.

  The pirate shakes his head, and it was all Kai needed.

  He pulls himself off the rails and adjusts the fabric again. A few footsteps was all it took to close the space between them. With a raise of his arms and draping them on the noiret’s cold body, he places a warm hand on the back of Cole’s neck, and pushes the noiret’s head down to where his shoulder is as he straightened himself to add height.

  Cole blinks his wide eyes, completely startled by the sudden affection coming from the brunet.

  He spills no words, neither does the other. After much consideration, he gives up, and nuzzles his face on Kai’s shoulder and lightly wraps his arms around the smaller frame.

  Kai closes his eyes in content. He remembers consoling Nya exactly like this whenever she was upset, and it always gave her some sort of assurance.

  It’s currently what’s working on Cole as he melts in the hold and the hand rubbing circles on his back. He listens to the soothing heartbeat; it grounds him, and it reminds him that he is alive, well, and still there.

  He’s still there.

  He’ll always be there.

  And she’s not.

  Flinching at the blaring noise breaking the silence, Cole bolted his hands up to his ears and gawked up at the belting person beside him.

  He waited for the noise to stop before exclaiming, “Bugger, what was that for?”

  She tore her gaze away from the morning sky to look down at the young boy merely entering his teenage years. The lass was two and a half times taller than him, with dark locks tightly tied into a low messy bun underneath a pirate hat adorned with two feathers frolicking in the wind: a black one appearing lighter than her hair, and a white one mostly covered in brown.