Archive of Our Own

“Pull up the main sail, that wind’s going to tear it to shreds,” Pi called out, though his voice was barely audible over the storm. He moved as quickly as could across the deck, dodging wind slung ropes and water that was being tossed onto the deck with every swell of the waves.

“Blasted bilge-rat,” he muttered, struggling to tie up the sails as speedily as possible before the sharp wind flayed the fabric from the masts. The wind that was sweeping across the deck made the cold water feel even colder as it hit his skin sharply, making it feel like he was being cut by thousands of tiny knives. Pi wasn’t new to vicious storms, but this was by far the worst he’d ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

His crew was new to him, and it was only their first week out on the sea together, which didn’t lend him a lot of faith in their abilities. He’d interviewed them all himself, but without a First Mate that he could trust implicitly, it had been a long week.

A sudden cross wind had the main boom swinging towards him, catching him off guard and hitting him square in the stomach. Unable to even find the breath to curse, Pi found himself knocked clean over the side of the ship and into the angry ocean, the shock of the icy water stealing his breath even further and blackening the light from his eyes.

The storm had seemingly come out of nowhere, and now as Pi struggled to keep to the surface of the choppy water, no land in sight, a small part of him had to wonder if perhaps there had been any sort of signs that he might have missed that may have saved their lives. Treading water as hard as he could, being pulled under over and over by the strength of the waves and the tired heaviness in his limbs, it was hard to cough up the water that was slipping into his lungs while at the same time keeping focused on staying alive.

The slow creep of blackness over his vision had him panicking, fighting harder than ever to win against what seemed like an inevitable fate. Panic caused his heart to leap ever higher in his throat, the pulse of it pounding in his ears and making him feel like his blood was too thick as it rushed to his head.

Panting heavily, interspersed with his coughing, Pi inhaled more water at the feel of something slick and soft brushing against his legs beneath the water. Coughing violently to clear his lungs once more, there were a million thoughts swirling in his mind, but the most terrifying was just one; shark.

He didn't think he was bleeding, but that wouldn’t stop the hungry animal from taking what it wanted if it was starved and vicious. Fighting the urge he had to flail away from where he was, Pi stopped treading water and took a deep breath, holding it as he slowly sank beneath the frothy surface of the storm whipped sea.

It was a gamble, playing dead, but the odds were high that he wouldn’t have to play much longer, and it was a bit of a toss up as to whether he’d rather be eaten by a shark or merely drown.

Those options changed in a startling twist of fate, because as what he’d thought had been a shark swam into view, Pi was pretty sure he must have already died or passed out, because it was obvious he was hallucinating. That or the murky storm-tossed water was a lot murkier than he’d thought, because it was leading his eyes to believe that there was a merman swimming in front of him.

Too shocked to do much else, it was difficult not to let his mouth fall open in shock, and only the small reptilian part of his brain that was pure survival instinct allowed him to keep it shut and his breath held tight in his lungs.

Flinching away instinctively when the creature swam closer, Pi had to wonder if merpeople were carnivores or herbivores, and whether or not eating people was considered cannibalism, or if it was much like a human eating seafood but in reverse.

Head spinning from lack of oxygen, he couldn’t – or didn’t – fight the merman off when he reached out once more and pulled him close, tail powerful as they moved back towards the surface of the water, breaking through the waves and allowing Pi to gasp in air greedily before finally passing out. Whether it was from the shock of all that had happened or merely from exhaustion, it didn’t matter, though were he conscious and able to put in his two coins were, Pi would have argued that it had been exhaustion, not fright or shock.

In the end it didn’t really matter why or how he finally succumbed to the blackness that had been clawing at the edges of his consciousness, just that he did.

“Nnnh…”

Coming back to consciousness hurt, and there was nothing Pi wanted more than to roll over and go back to sleep until this bad dream went away. In less than a day he’d lost his ship and his crew, along with any treasure and coin he had had on the ship that would have allowed him to barter for a new one.

“You’re awake. Are you awake? Heeeeeeey… wake up!”

“Shut it…” Pi croaked out, sitting up slowly and carefully. His throat ached from the amount of water he’d both inhaled and coughed up, his eyes felt gritty, and the last thing he wanted to be was awake.

“Well now you’re just being rude.”

Sure he must be still dreaming – though it would have been nice of his body to hurt a little less if he was – Pi finally forced his eyes open. Rubbing the gritty feeling from them, he stared blearily at the annoying man who’d woken him.

And stared.

And stared some more.

And continued to stare, definitely sure now that he was still sleeping, because there was no such thing as merpeople, and yet there in front of him, strong looking tail coiled beneath him, was something, someone, that very definitely looked exactly like a merman would if they indeed existed.

Rubbing at his eyes again in what was probably a useless and futile gesture, Pi grumbled under his breath, praying he was dreaming. It was bad enough that he’d lost everything, the last thing he needed was to be going crazy on top of all that.

“Are you real?” he finally asked, at a loss for what else to say. Coughing a few times and grimacing at the sharp rough pain in his throat, a small part of him wished he had some booze, because it would make this whole situation a lot easier to deal with.

A soft snort of laughter greeted his question, and Pi almost felt himself smiling at the way the merman tossed long dark hair and gave him an almost sultry look. “Do I look real to you?”

Rolling his eyes at the flirty merman’s words, Pi had to admit that he did look real to him, which was what made this all so ridiculously fantastical. Either this was the most involved dream he’d ever had, or he had to take on faith that this was actually happening, and a merman had saved his life.

“You do look real… so I’m going to guess you are. Thank you for saving my life. I hope you didn’t do it just so you can eat me later,” Pi said, voice slightly amused even if there was still a lingering concern that if this man really was a merman, he knew nothing about what merpeople were like, and whether or not he was in danger just by being with him.

“… I’m not going to eat you, that is gross and ridiculous,” the merman said, nose wrinkling in disgust as he flicked the end of his tail in the water, lightly splashing his scales in order to keep himself hydrated. “Besides, you’d probably take far too long to roast.”

That startled Pi into laughter, but it also broke the tension a little between them. Sighing softly and flopping back onto the hot sand, one hand covering his eyes from the mid-day sun, the reality of all that had happened hit him hard. He’d lost all of his crew, his ship, and every last bit of money and treasure he’d saved. He was on an island in the middle of the sea, with presumably no provisions, and no way to leave. It was more than a little disheartening and he honestly wasn’t sure what he was going to do about it.

The slick and yet rough touch of scales to his bare feet had him absently wondering what he was going to do when the merman got bored of him and returned to the sea. It was almost more likely that he’d go mad long before he starved to death.

“Hey… hey pirate man, are you awake still?”

Groaning in annoyance at the merman’s poking and continued conversation, Pi forced himself to sit up once more, leaning on his elbows and looking at the merman grumpily. “I have a name you know… and it’s not ‘pirate man’.”

“I have a name too, but you never asked what it was, so we’re even,” the merman returned, sounding a little bit put out. “… so what is your name?”

Feeling a bit bad for assuming that something like a merman wouldn’t have a human name, Pi blushed a little bit in embarrassment. “It’s Yamashita Tomohisa, but you can call me Captain Pi.”

“… can you be a captain without a ship or a crew?” the merman asked.

“… yes I can, now, what’s your name, or should I just call you fish-boy?”

The glare the merman gave him at that almost made Pi laugh, because he looked like a pouting teen.

“It’s Jin… and if you call me fish-boy, I’ll knock you back into the water and let you drown this time,” Jin said petulantly, tail flicking in irritation and splashing water over them both.

“No you wouldn’t, or you wouldn’t have bothered to save me in the first place,” Pi pointed out, reluctantly getting to his feet and cursing softly under his breath as the hot sand burned at the bottom of his bare feet. Splashing his way into the shallow water and letting the cool liquid soothe his feet, Pi grimaced as he looked over what was left of his clothes.

He’d lost his boots after falling into the sea, and his tunic and trousers were ripped in a few places from being tossed to and fro before Jin had rescued him and dumped him on this island. He supposed it could have been worse, but he wasn’t quite sure how just yet.

Staring down at the clear water as it lapped over his feet, tiny waves breaking against his ankles, Pi wondered just what it was that he was supposed to do now. He hadn’t exactly been following a trade route with his ship, and there were also the high odds that he’d been tossed a great deal off course thanks to the violent storm. He could be anywhere in the Caribbean and the chances of another ship passing by close enough to rescue him before he starved to death was slim to none.

Letting out a defeated sigh, Pi turned at the sound of a splash, and watched as Jin swam in the water a little further out from where he’d been sitting on the rocky outcropping on the beach. It was still a little surreal to be seeing an actual merman, and Pi found himself watching Jin swim with a tinge of awe. There were few things in real life that he encountered that were truly magical, but Pi was pretty sure the merman definitely fell under that heading.

He continued to watch Jin swim and frolic for a while before turning away a little desolately and padding back through the hot sand, heading further inland in order to find some shade, and maybe something to eat.

The island didn’t look all that big, but he was a little bit worried about night falling and possibly running afoul of wildlife, so he wanted to hurry and scope out the terrain before the sun set. The more he wandered around though, the grumpier he got. He’d only come across a handful of plants that looked edible, and he hadn’t seen even the smallest mammal that he could maybe trap and cook if he could have gotten a fire going.

By the time he returned to the beach, he couldn’t see Jin anywhere and had to wonder if the merman had gotten bored now that the excitement of the storm had passed. Setting down his collection of food that he’d managed to scavenge, he headed back to the edge of the trees and did his best to tug down the massive tree leaves so he could keep himself off of the hot sand, as well as put a layer between himself and whatever might be crawling in the ground while he slept.

A sudden splashing sound had him turning back to face the water. It also had him getting smacked in the face with a fish that then slid to the ground and ended up getting coated in sand.

“… Jin. You just threw a fish at me!”

The merman shrugged a bit at that, not making any excuses at all, but Pi wasn’t completely a fool and he didn’t miss the mischievous grin on his face. It was obvious that even if Jin hadn’t intended to smack him with the fish, he still found it funny.

“Blasted son of a crawfish…” Pi muttered, bending down to pick up the fish and rinsing the sand from it as it wriggled and flopped in his hands. It was hard to be truly angry though when Jin was helping him stay alive by feeding him. “Thanks…” he added, looking out at the merman who had returned to fooling around in the shallow water. He didn’t want to come across as ungrateful when Jin had saved his life twice now, even if it had been in a much less dramatic way this time.

“You’re welcome,” Jin replied, stilling in his antics to merely sit in the shallow water.

It was strange how normal he looked when the water was hiding his tail, and Pi had to look away before he started having thoughts that were inappropriate to be having about a merperson. He was normally pretty easy going about who he slept with, not caring whether they were male or female – especially when he spent so much time at sea away from land and women – but there was definitely a line he couldn’t cross when there was a different species involved.

Pushing away those thoughts before they developed any further, he set the still flopping fish down on his pile of clean leaves and drifted back to the woods in order to try and gather enough dry kindling to start a fire. If he was lucky, it would smoke enough to attract any ships that might be passing by, but it was hard to be optimistic when he hadn’t even caught sight of a single boat or ship since waking up on the beach. He had a feeling this was going to be a very, very long stay.

“I’m bored…”

“Nnh…”

“Pi… I’m bored!”

Forcing his eyes open reluctantly, Pi glared sleepily at Jin. He’d been on the island for about two weeks already, and he’d yet to have a full night of sleep, because the merman was constantly waking him up at all hours whenever he was bored of his own company.

“It’s the middle of the night,” he mumbled, flopping back down on the bed he’d managed to make out of foliage. It wasn’t altogether that comfortable, but it also wasn’t horribly uncomfortable either. He’d definitely slept in worse conditions, and if he was honest to himself, he had to admit that it was almost like being on a vacation right now. He only wished that he had a little more variety when it came to food, because he was getting kind of sick of fish and fruit.

“Yeah… but I’m bored,” Jin replied more than a little petulantly.

Rolling his eyes and sitting up after a moment or two, Pi almost wished that he hadn’t found this inlet and cave a few days after being on the island, because even though it was sheltered from the elements, it allowed Jin to bug him every minute of the day, unlike if he’d been sleeping high up on the beach away from the water.

“Then go chase some fish or something, I’m going back to sleep,” Pi said after a moment, sure that he’d spaced out thanks to how tired he was. Flopping back down on his bed, he had to wonder when he’d become so comfortable with Jin that the fact that he was a merman seemed to be more of an afterthought now than the knowledge that he could be really annoying.

“Pi…”

“You’re whining…”

“I’m bored!”

“And I’m tired!”

It was silent for a long moment, and Pi let out a relieved sigh, thinking that Jin had finally got the message and had wandered off to swim or do whatever it was that merpeople did under water. He honestly should have known better though, because it didn’t take long for him to feel a trickle of cold water on his bare feet.

“Jin…”

“Would you like me if I were a human?”

The question came out of nowhere so fast that Pi had to sit up and peer through the darkness in order to look at Jin in utter confusion, not sure what he was getting at, or what he meant. Nothing the merman had ever said or done in the last week had even remotely indicated that he felt uncomfortable or unhappy with what he was, so this was sort of coming out of the blue.

“What do you mean?”

Jin remained silent for a moment, and Pi wished that it were daylight so that he could see the merman properly, because it was infinitely more difficult to gauge his mood and feelings when he couldn’t see his face or any of his body language. He didn’t say anything to force Jin’s hand though, merely waited for him to speak, because this seemed like it was something serious to the merman, and he didn’t want to take anything away from that.

“If I had legs… if I could travel with you, help you, would you like me more?”

The question was so loaded that Pi still wasn’t sure how to answer it. He couldn’t possibly give the merman hope for something that would never happen, but he didn’t know how else to answer such a question.

“That’s an unfair question,” Pi said after a long moment of silence. “I like you how you are, but I have to admit that I have given thought to what it would be like if I could take you with me when I finally leave… even if it is unrealistic.”

“I could become a human you know… if you wanted me to…”

The words were said so casually that for a moment they didn’t sink in for Pi. Instead he sat there, staring into the darkness for a long moment wondering just what it was that Jin was babbling about. When the implication finally sunk in that Jin had said he could be human, it wasn’t hard to admit that he was intrigued and more than a little interested, despite how annoying the merman could be.

“What do you mean, you could be human if I wanted you to?” he asked, wishing again that he could see Jin, because this was a strange conversation to be having in the dark.

“I can change my form. Merpeople are magical after all. Though unlike selkies, if I were to become human, it would be a permanent change,” Jin admitted, which was one of the reasons he’d never done so before now, no matter how tempted he’d been. Something about Pi though, made him want to take that risk.

“You can’t!” Pi exclaimed without thinking. “I’m not going to be responsible for taking you away from your home and your way of life. There’s no way you’ve given this considerable thought.” He didn’t mean to come across rude or dismissive of Jin’s words, but the idea of a merman giving up who he was for someone he’d only just met seemed like a very bad idea. Pi couldn’t believe that there were a great deal of merpeople left in the world, and he didn’t want to be responsible for decreasing that number even further.

“I have! I’ve been thinking about this every night since we first met… and it is something I want. I want to be able to walk on land, I want to be able to talk to people without having to worry if they’re going to kill me, and I want to fall in love…”

A heavy silence fell between them after that, Jin’s words weighing heavy on Pi’s mind as he considered them. Jin’s last sentence made it clear that there weren’t that many other merpeople around, if he was willing to change his species – or at least his looks – in order to increase his chances.

“You shouldn’t have to change who you are or what you look like in order for someone to love you,” was all he could find to say in the end, unsure of what kind of answer Jin actually wanted.

“No… you shouldn’t, but people do it anyway… and for me, it’s not an expectation of changing my looks to suit someone’s tastes, but because it’s the only way I’ll ever have the real chance to meet someone,” Jin replied, voice more somber than Pi’d ever heard him speak.

Unable to argue with that, Pi sighed softly and shifted a bit to finally sit up properly. “I don’t know what to say to you. I can’t tell you what decision to make, but I can tell you… don’t do this for anyone but yourself. If I get off this island and you choose to come with, I’m okay with that as long as it’s what you want for you.”

The cave was silent for a long moment, nothing but the soft splashing of water as Jin’s tail twitched back and forth.

“Don’t make this decision tonight, Jin. Think about it, please,” Pi added, wanting the merman to do this properly and not just jump into something without giving it proper thought.

“I will, I promise,” Jin said softly, reaching out in the dark with cool and damp fingers to give Pi’s hand a squeeze. “Thank you. I’ll see you in the morning, alright?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, and Pi was left with his mouth hanging open and words on his tongue. Sighing a bit in annoyance at not having known what was the right thing to say to Jin, it was difficult to go back to sleep right away, leaving him tossing and turning uncomfortably for a long while.

“Ship!”

The shout was loud and grating on his ears, and Pi wanted nothing more than to roll over and go back to sleep, until the shouted word sunk into his brain and he sat up sharply, eyes wide in disbelief.

Hurrying out of the cave, doing his best not to trip over rocks or anything else, Pi stared in shock at the small ship that was mooring itself a little ways out from the beach, longboats being lowered and crew climbing into them.

It was such a surprise to see the ship that it took him a moment to realize that Jin was sitting on the rocks by the shore, and that if he stayed there, then these people would see him. Hurrying over, voice nearly breathless, he struggled to get his words out in order to warn Jin to hide.

“H-hurry up. They’re going to see you,” he wheezed out, resting his hands on his knees as he caught his breath.

The look Jin gave him was a little bit hard to interpret, but thankfully the merman did as he was told and dove into the water, swimming deep to avoid being seen by the men coming ashore.

Letting out a relieved breath, Pi turned his attention back to the long boats, wondering if they were fellow pirates or if he was about to end up in irons for being rescued by the wrong people.

A tiny knot of pain swelled in his chest at the thought that if he left with this group – should they allow him to – he might not have the chance to say goodbye to Jin, or even find out if he still wanted to become human and join them. After all that the merman had done for him while he was stuck on the island, catching fish for him and such, it was hard to imagine just taking off and leaving him.

As annoying as the merman could be, something about him still made Pi wish he had had more time with him.

It was hard to push those thoughts away as he waited at the shore for the approaching boats, needing to focus on ensuring a trip back to Port Royal. It was going to be a long trip though, when his mind couldn’t seem to push thoughts of Jin away. He knew that he needed to get over this, when the odds of seeing the merman were slim to none, but after the two weeks they’d spent together, it was a hard thing to just push him out of his mind.

Forcing his attention on the moment at hand, Pi made himself smile and lift his hand in a wave to the approaching boats, inwardly praying this all went over well.

The trip back to Port Royal was long, but uneventful, and after Pi disembarked and thanked the merchants for allowing him to join their crew, he headed right for an inn, charming the maids into letting him borrow a room and have a bath.

He hadn’t had a chance to wash properly since before his own ship had sunk in the storm, and it was nice to just sink into the copper tub of hot water and let his eyes slide shut, doing his best to block out the noise from the rest of the inn.

Laying there, absorbing the feeling of the soft oils that the maid had poured into the water, Pi could feel the stress of the last few weeks slipping slowly away.

A sudden knock on the door pulled him away from his inner thoughts, and he glared at the closed door. The last thing he wanted to do was get up out of the bath and answer the door, but with a reluctant sigh he pushed himself up and heaved himself out of the deep tub, reaching for his towel and wrapping it around his waist as he made his way to the door.

The shock when he opened the door and saw Jin’s face almost had him closing the door right away, thinking that he was hallucinating – again. In the end he just stood there, gaping, and feeling a bit like an idiot. The only words that could fall from his tongue were, “—you have legs…”

Jin’s snort of laughter pulled him back to the present and Pi tugged the former merman into his room before shutting the door behind him and tugging the latch across to lock it. Nothing could have surprised him more than seeing Jin there – with legs - so he was more than a little shaky as he led the man over to the chairs by the banked fireplace, flopping into his own chair and staring at Jin in further disbelief, not sure what he was supposed to say or do.

“I told you I could take human form,” Jin finally said, sitting comfortably in the chair and allowing his gaze to roam over Pi, who was still wearing just his towel.

Caught up in the absurdity of the whole situation, Pi barely noticed Jin’s gaze and just shook his head a little as if he could clear the sudden cobwebs from it. “I thought you were… exaggerating… and how did you even get here?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Jin grinned a little bit as he replied. “I followed the ship that picked you up. I knew you wouldn’t have time to say goodbye to me without exposing me to the crew, so I followed you here. It was a long swim.”

Unable to think of anything to say to that, Pi just continued to stare at Jin like he’d lost his mind. “You followed a ship… into one of the most crowded ports? What were you thinking! You could have been captured and turned into the next entrée at an inn!”

It was hard to be calm when he was concerned about Jin’s safety, even if things had obviously worked out all right. The former merman had shown a ridiculous lack of self preservation, and in good conscience, Pi couldn’t just leave him to look after himself in a town that he nothing about, especially when he couldn’t have been human for that long. Getting up from his chair and pacing back and forth in irritation, he was startled by Jin’s sudden appearance in his path.

Any words that he was about to say were stolen directly from his mouth when Jin’s warm hands settled on his upper arms and he pulled him close and kissed him. It was unexpected and had him freezing in shock, mostly because he couldn’t deny the coil of heat that settled low in his belly just from what should have been nothing more than a simple kiss.

It was with great reluctance that Pi gently pushed Jin away from him. He would have loved nothing more than to drag the other man to the bed and pleasure him until they were both exhausted, but it felt all too much like he would be taking advantage of him.

“You don’t like me?” Jin asked, looking so desolate that Pi almost immediately wanted to draw him back into his arms and kiss the pout from his lips.

“It’s not that at all, I like you very much,” he said instead, stepping back a little more to keep the space between them, doing his best to fight any urges he had towards Jin. “But you’re new to this… to this body, and this life, and the last thing I want is to take advantage of you. I refuse to do something that might hurt you, even if it’s something I want to do.”

Jin’s pout deepened even further at that, and Pi had to clench his hands into fists to forcibly stop himself from reaching out. It was strange how much the sight of Jin as a human had him reacting even more than he had when he’d been a merman. It might have been because there was the possibility of a relationship now, but Pi was still unsure about stepping into something that could become painfully messy emotionally.

“Jin… please understand where I’m coming from,” Pi said softly, reluctantly closing the space between them and reaching out to cup the other man’s cheek. “You’ve only been human for a day or two. You’re new to the feelings you’re experiencing, and you want me because I’m familiar to you.”

“That’s not it! I want you because I want you. You’re the reason I chose to be human,” Jin returned, turning away and putting his back to Pi, arms crossed over his chest, and anger visible in the tight line of his back and shoulders.

Inwardly cursing at making things worse when he’d only been trying to make them better, Pi reached out and tugged on Jin’s arm, doing his best to get him to turn around. “I just don’t want you to regret this. I like you, I care for you, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

Almost right away, the tension seeped out of Jin’s body. It was like his anger had melted away with Pi’s soft words, and he turned to face the other man slowly before reaching out to wrap his arms around Pi’s shoulders, burying his face in the curve of his still damp neck.

It was hard for Pi to just stand there, almost naked with Jin in his arms, and to not think bad thoughts, but he did his best, gently patting his back until he could feel the other man calming down. “I won’t deny that I find you attractive,” he said after a moment of silence, Jin still holding him tight. “Under any other circumstances, I would have happily taken what you were offering… I just don’t want to do anything that you’ll come to regret later.”

The silence lingered for another moment or two before Jin pulled back, though it was obviously with great reluctance. “… can I come see you again if my mind doesn’t change?”

“In a week. If you still want this in a week, then I won’t deny you, but I want you to think about it seriously.”

The sigh of relief that Pi wanted to let out managed to be held inside until Jin nodded and left the room, fumbling for a moment with the door latch before he left, shutting the door behind him. Allowing the sigh to escape him then, Pi hurried to re-latch the door before returning to his bath, making a face when he found it was now only luke warm. Grumbling under his breath, he finished washing up and went straight to bed, no longer interested in going out into town to seek out pleasure. Seeing Jin again had brought back the inappropriate feelings that he’d harboured on the island, and he honestly couldn’t imagine being with anyone else while the merman was still filling all parts of his mind.

He fell asleep restlessly, waking often from dreams that left him wanting, and wishing that he hadn’t told Jin to wait that week.

Nearly two weeks had passed since finding Jin at his door, and Pi had to admit to himself – if no one else – that there was an ache in his chest at the thought that Jin really hadn’t wanted him, and that by this time he’d probably found someone else to be with.

It was probably a bad idea to be sulking in his room, but the thought of going out to a pub and drinking himself blind just didn’t seem appealing at all, when he could just lay here on his bed and think about Jin. He hated the thought that he was being so mopey and ridiculous, but it was hard to move away from when he’d had his hopes raised so high that Jin would coming running back at the end of the week.

The unexpected knock on his door had him sitting up and staring at it for a moment, wondering if he’d heard things.

The second knock that was even firmer than the first had him scrambling off the bed and throwing back the latch to yank it open.

Before he could even say anything, Jin’s arms were around his shoulders and his mouth was pressed hotly against his own, sending them tumbling back into the room and almost knocking them to the floor.

It was with great reluctance that Pi finally pulled away, but it was only for as long as it took him to close the door again and re-latch it before pulling Jin back into his arms and continuing the kiss, tasting the other man like he was drowning and kissing Jin would somehow grant him the oxygen to live.

There were no second thoughts or words at all for them to make their way to the bed, falling onto the hard mattress and continuing to kiss. It had been a long time since Pi had been with someone so responsive, and it made him feel good inside that every touch and kiss he bestowed upon Jin had the other man gasping and moaning softly with pleasure.

Clothes were soon strewn around the bed, sheets twisted and the heavy top blanket pushed to one corner as they rolled around trying to assert dominance, hands everywhere and mouths as equally occupied as they kissed and licked and bit as much bare skin as they could find.

Jin was the first to come, his inexperience in sexual pleasure showing as Pi wrapped warm hands around his cock and stroked him gently but firmly, pulling his orgasm from him and grinning in pleasure when he collapsed back onto the mattress panting, belly trembling from exertion as Pi absently wiped his hands clean on the sheets.

Unsure of whether the other man wanted to go all the way, it was easy for Pi to settle against Jin’s side and jerk himself off as he continued to kiss Jin hard, biting at his lips and licking into his mouth as his own hand touched his body in all the right places.

Even though he brought about his own orgasm, it was just as fulfilling as any he’d ever had, and he didn’t regret anything. Pulling Jin close and into his arms, he felt Jin’s body stir against his own as their spent cocks rubbed together. Letting out a soft laugh, he reached out and tucked a strand of soft and sweaty hair back behind Jin’s ear before kissing him gently before speaking softly.

“Later, sweetheart. We have all the time in the world,” he said, loving the feel of Jin’s body against his own. “I’m going to show you everything you’ve been missing, and then some.”

It was easy to just lay there and kiss, legs tangling together and hands exploring each other’s bodies. Content to take his time, Pi continued to make good on his promise well into the night, the tightness in his chest gone now that Jin was in his arms.

A small part of him wanted to ask Jin why he had waited the extra week, but in the end, he decided it was the last thing that mattered. They were here and they were together, and that was enough for him.