Chapter Text
The waves crash against the barnacle-covered wood of the haul. The Tulpar can withstand it, she’s survived much worse.
Wind whips at his face. He’s glad he tied his hair back; the golden curls are getting pretty long. The first thing he’s going to do when they get back to land is get a hair cut. Daisuke, the cabin boy said he looks like a girl. It upset him more than it should’ve. He had laughed it off, like a good captain, but it gnaws at him sometimes.
Curly sighs. He has a lot of work to do, but here he is, avoiding it. The list of things he’s been procrastinating makes itself comfortable in his chest.
So, he breathes in the saltwater air and looks out over the thrashing waves. Times like these remind him why he took up sailing in the first place. It calms him. He loves to forget all his thoughts and worries in favor of steering and hoisting. It’s nice to turn his brain off for a bit.
He loves the thrill of a storm and the slow gamble of fishing. He loves the comfort of lapping water and the sting of saltwater. It’s like meditation for Curly, he feels like a different person when he’s out on the ocean. He’s not a lonely, hopeless man with no sight of if what path he’s on is right; at sea he’s brave, in control, excited.
There’s only one downside: He has to leave his volatile best friend alone for at least a few weeks. Jimmy is… definitely a piece of work. He’s immature, unstable, obsessive, and sometimes just plain mean. But he’s always been there for the blonde… in his own way.
Jimmy is the only one he can vent to, the only one he can sit in comfortable silence with. The only one who will force him to loosen up, the only one he can have sleepovers with, where they’re both turned twelve again, giggling over girls and playing video games. Jimmy makes him feel alive.
Curly hates leaving him. He doesn’t like being separated from his pessimistic, borderline addict anchor. He also knows without him, he turns into a mess. He’s seen it: Jimmy curled up on the bathroom floor or so high he doesn’t know where he is. It breaks his heart, but he can’t do anything about it. All he can do is hope.
“Hey, sailor~”
He blinks, looks behind him. It sounds like Jimmy, but more… seductive.
“No, over here, idiot!”
Curly looks back towards the waves. Then, rubs his eyes. Nope, still there. There is a shirtless man lounging on a rock. Oh yeah, he also has translucent skin and a tail. And looks a lot like Jimmy.
What. The. Fuck.