“You know the painting in the captain’s quarters? Of the woman?”

“Yeah, I know it. What about it? Oh, nails.”

“Who is she?” Jongin handed the pot of nails to Chanyeol as he watched the taller man work, replacing a damaged board on a wall in the hold. In between engagements with other ships, there was very little to do these days but help Chanyeol with maintenance work around the ship. Jongin was pretty sure Chanyeol didn’t remember his name, but that was alright – he was entertaining enough and willing to teach Jongin what he knew about fixing up ships. Even if all Jongin could do at the moment was watch, learn and pass things to Chanyeol when he needed them.

The redheaded pirate was quiet as he considered where to put the nail. “I don’t know if I should tell you. I mean, if the captain hasn’t told you, maybe he doesn’t want you to know yet.”

“Was she his lover or something?”

Jongin wasn’t expecting Chanyeol to laugh, dropping the nail on the floor. It rolled back over towards Jongin before lightly tapping against his knee.

“I can’t tell you who she is, but I’ll tell you who she isn’t. She wasn’t his lover.”

“Okay.” He handed the nail back, and Chanyeol set about hammering it into the board. Jongin covered his ears at the sound, removing his hands again once the board was firmly secured into the wall.

“I’ve known Captain Kyungsoo for three years, give or take, since before the Siren hit water. He’s never had a lover. Sure, he’s too busy for it now, but before? Weird. I mean, you have seen his face.”

“Mhm.” Jongin didn’t say anything about that. Yes, he had seen the captain’s face. And he’d been kissed by him every night since boarding the ship. Chanyeol didn’t need to know that.

“He doesn’t tell you very much, does he?” Chanyeol stood up and took up his tools, kept loose in a metal bucket, and started walking down the hall. He gestured for Jongin to follow, but the boy took his time in standing.

“He doesn’t tell me anything at all…”

-

Since the excitement of the first encounter, the engagements with other ships had been largely uneventful for Jongin. He would spend several hours sitting in the captain’s quarters by himself, staring at the door or the ceiling or the floor or out of the windows, toying with the pens and the daggers, tapping songs on the desk, before someone would come to fetch him with news of a successful raid. It had become almost normal now, wiling away the hours at the captain’s desk, knowing the rest of the crew would be fine while he waited for their return. He knew full well how heavily armed the entire crew were, and how useless the majority of Sapphire sailors could be.

Indeed, the first ship they encountered had been the exception and not the rule, as all other engagements had the crew return only lightly injured and relatively quickly. Sometimes it seemed as simple as going to the market for supplies. Jongin wondered what it was like to be part of the invading party sometimes, but quickly shook those thoughts away at the realisation he would have to actually turn a weapon on someone. He was feeling rather settled in his new crew, but didn’t quite have it in him to kill in their name just yet.

During one particular engagement, the door to the captain’s quarters burst open with such force that Jongin scrambled for a dagger, the handsomely feathered one strangely comfortable in his hand.

However, it was only Sehun and Jongdae, both clutching a box.

“We’re back.” Jongdae grinned, yanking the box from Sehun’s hands. It was unusual, Jongin thought – normally it would be Kyungsoo coming to fetch him. “But check this out – we found this box in the other ship’s captain’s quarters, but it’s locked. Don’t you pick locks?”

“I do.” Jongin stood up to get a better look at the box. It was beautifully decorated, with patterns engraved all over and small gems embedded in the wood. It probably held something wondrous.

“Well, why don’t you try opening this? It looks too pretty to just smash open.” Sehun agreed with Jongdae, holding up his weapon of choice for emphasis. Jongin didn’t want to imagine the rather crude spiked club that Sehun carried being put anywhere near such a lovely box.

There was a small piece of wire jammed into the hinges at the back of the box. After taking it carefully from Jongdae’s hands, Jongin sat on the desk and removed the wire. “Lucky this is here, or I’d have to find something else to open it with…seems like part of a clothes hanger.”

“We did find it in the wardrobe.” Jongdae raised an eyebrow at Jongin’s observation. “Here’s a deal – if you can open this box, you get whatever’s inside.”

Sehun protested, but Jongin agreed all too readily. He did like a challenge. That, and there was already another witness to the deal being made.

Jongin wondered how he had missed the sound of clicking boots from down the hall.

“I told you two to fetch Jongin so he could help with moving our spoils.” Kyungsoo frowned at the gathering around his desk, but Jongdae only pulled him over with enthusiasm.

“But look! He’s going to pick the lock open on this box!”

It was slightly unnerving having the captain as part of his audience, but Jongin quietly set about manipulating the wire as he needed to in order to open the lock. It was fiddly work that required a lot of concentration, and it seemed to show on his face as even Jongdae calmed down enough to let Jongin do his work undisturbed. It took a while, and by the end of it Jongin almost wanted to take Sehun’s club from him and make a quick job of it, but the satisfying click as the lock finally opened was music to Jongin’s ears.

He lifted the lid gently, blinking in surprise at the gleaming jewels that met him from inside.

“Amazing! What’s in it, Jongin?”

“Jewellery.” Sehun sighed. “Why did we let him have it? I could do with that.”

“You wouldn’t keep it. You’d only give it to one of your paramours on land.” The carpenter made kissy faces at Sehun, who kicked him in the shin. Captain Kyungsoo only watched Jongin silently, as he had done the whole time the younger boy had been opening the box.

“I’ll take this.” Jongin took out a small gold necklace from the very top of the box, adorned with tiny gems in every colour. It was beautiful; almost like a rainbow on a chain. It made Jongin feel happy just looking at it. “And you two figure the rest out between you.”

“I’m having the box.” Kyungsoo said pointedly to the two excited pirates digging through the treasures.

“Understood, captain. We’ll bring it back here later.” And with that Jongdae was gone, holding the box out of Sehun’s reach as he ran with the younger in hot pursuit. Their footsteps faded out of earshot as they clattered down the wooden halls, laughing and cursing (though the latter was more Sehun than Jongdae.)

Kyungsoo looked on in interest as Jongin put on the necklace. It was quite funny, something so gorgeous and obviously expensive against Jongin’s worn shirt and small chest. He felt like a peasant in a king’s robes at that moment, but it was a good feeling, his fingertips over every smooth gem and interlocking golden loop.

“You were entitled to everything in that box. You had a deal.” He said, eyes following Jongin’s fingers as they continued to trail over the entirety of the necklace.

“I liked this.” Was Jongin’s reply.

And the captain didn’t question him any further, only watching him quietly for a while longer before eventually taking his leave. Jongin stayed in the captain’s quarters alone with his necklace for a little bit, eventually hiding it under a pillow and going up to help the other pirates with the last of the spoils. It was fruit again, and it was heavy, but Jongin didn’t mind.

Captain Kyungsoo found the necklace that night as they set down to sleep, Jongin having forgotten which pillow he hid it under. He could only give the captain an apologetic smile as Kyungsoo put the jewellery into a bedside drawer. A drawer where Kyungsoo kept a lot of his own possessions.

Jongin supposed that what was his was also the captain’s.

-

Whenever Jongin had a spare moment, he would take out his necklace and wear it, just sitting by himself in the captain’s quarters. It made him feel good – he’d never worn anything so expensive before, and a single gem out of the dozens it bore was probably worth more than Jongin himself was. The box it had come in sat on Kyungsoo’s desk, not being used for anything just yet, but Kyungsoo had insisted it would be of some use soon enough.

“Nothing secure, though, since we have no key to lock it with.” And he was right, of course.

Kyungsoo, Jongin had found, spent most of his time either in his quarters or on the top deck. Their time in the captain’s quarters never usually overlapped, save for at night, but one afternoon when Jongin came down from helping Luhan change the sails, Kyungsoo had been sat on his desk, looking at the painting that hung on the wall. Jongin never did like looking at her, fearing her judgemental gaze, but from the softness in Kyungsoo’s expression, he felt no such thing from the woman. In fact, Jongin could have sworn there was a touch of melancholy in his captain’s face which he found quite uncomfortable.

He had to ask.

“Captain, who is she?”

Kyungsoo hadn’t expected company, apparently, as he visibly tensed before relaxing again at the sound of Jongin’s voice.

He didn’t answer straight away, but when he did, he voice was strangely flat.

“My mother.”

Oh. Now that Jongin looked again, he did see a resemblance between the woman and his captain. They both had a strange sort of otherworldly beauty about them, though not in the elven sense that Luhan did. They shared those large eyes and pouting lips that turned down ever so slightly in the corners. He wondered why he had never noticed the similarity before – perhaps because he hadn’t liked looking at her, so avoided it.

“She’s very beautiful.” Because she was.

More silence on the captain’s part. Jongin hovered awkwardly in the doorway.

“She’s dead.”

“I’m sorry.” He didn’t know why he said that, but it just seemed right for the moment. He knew the feeling too, of course, but didn’t want to turn the conversation on himself. Kyungsoo didn’t look at Jongin at all, instead keeping his gaze trained on the painting on the wall.

“It’s been three years…”

Well that opened up a whole new world of questions that Jongin wanted to ask but knew he never could. Kyungsoo seemed almost like he was about to say something else, but in that moment, the door to the captain’s quarters burst open. Baekhyun stood there, looking between the captain and Jongin, a flush of embarrassment on his face as he realised quite quickly that he’d interrupted something.

“There’s a ship on the horizon, captain. We’re engaging.”

“Understood.” And Baekhyun left. Kyungsoo opened the drawers of his desk to take out his weapons – knives, swords, the whole selection as he attached the various blades to his body. Jongin headed for the desk as well, to take his usual position.

Captain Kyungsoo touched his arm lightly, expression stern but wavering as if he were about to say something very important.

He glanced back at the painting before moving his hand to the side of Jongin’s face.

“Be careful.” And he left.

Oh yes, Jongin would be careful, he was always careful. And he wouldn’t need to say a word considering how much was on his mind. Taking his necklace from the bedside table, he slipped the jewellery around his neck and sat at the desk, fingertips the feathered daggers as he looked up at the woman on the wall. The captain’s mother.

Who were you? He thought, though the painted ruby lips gave no answers. It was a beautifully done portrait, as though the paint itself were alive and breathing. The woman’s eyes held as many questions as Jongin had for her, and in the silence he felt almost like he was having a strange, wordless conversation with the late mother of his captain.

Her features seemed softer than when he had looked at her before, more familiar and less harsh. Her eyes were less judgemental and more concerned, not sulking but simply holding up a façade of indifference. Jongin tried to imagine her acting motherly, caring for her child with a smile on her face.

It didn’t quite work, perhaps because he could barely imagine such a face on Kyungsoo, but the woman’s face definitely had its secrets behind the stern expression. Kyungsoo was definitely like his mother.

Who is he?

He spent a long time, playing with his necklace and looking at the painting of Kyungsoo’s mother. He studied its every detail, as though it would help him understand his captain better. The rich jewel tones of her dress, the thick black in her hair, the gorgeous gem around her neck.

The gem caught Jongin’s attention the most. It was heart-cut, and appeared to gleam in every colour of the rainbow. It reminded him of his own new necklace, just a little bit, with the shining colours and a thin chain of bright gold. It was just as beautiful as the woman who wore it.

There were footsteps on the top deck – Jongin couldn’t normally hear them from the captain’s quarters, but he could now. They were heavy and frantic – an intruder perhaps? Or just the rest of his crew moving their spoils as quickly as they could so they could make a swift exit? He took up the purple and blue feathered blade, drawing imaginary pictures on the wood of the desk with the feathered end. It was a little like a paintbrush, at least, how Jongin imagined a paintbrush to be.

He lost himself in his thought again, of the portrait in front of him being painted. Kyungsoo’s mother sitting elegantly in a chair, effortlessly poised for her likeness to be preserved in oils. He barely noticed the ship begin to move. Normally someone would have come to get him around now if the raid was over.

Giving the painting a light nod and gripping his dagger tightly, Jongin opened the door to the captain’s quarters just in time to hear an ear-splitting scream from the top deck.

“CHANYEOL!”