Jude slept soundlessly for the first time since boarding the ship. If he dreamt, he could not remember it, and he awoke with a clear head and a calmness that settled deep in his bones.

The feeling didn’t last long, but it was nice for a moment. When he rose from his hammock and meandered towards the mess hall, he was stopped in his tracks by a warm hand that darted out to him in the hallway. Jude jumped at the sight of Sebastián emerging out of nowhere, but allowed himself to be pulled close as his crewmate’s hands found their place at Jude’s hips.

“Good morning,” he murmured, lips hovering closer to tease a kiss out of him. “You slept so late, I’ve been looking for you.”

Jude chuckled at that, only pausing for one quick look around before deeming the hallway empty enough to return his kiss. “What can I do for you?” he asked, tone light and teasing despite the way Sebastián’s hands wandered with obvious intention.

A palm pressed against Jude’s crotch in answer, eliciting a gasp out of him as a shiver ran up Jude’s spine. 

“Insatiable,” Jude muttered, fingers tentatively lowering to hold his waist.

Sebastián wasted no time in rocking himself forward to press their hips together, revealing his already bulging trousers. “Is this a bad time?” He whispered, still grinning and still massaging the front of Jude’s pants.

Though Jude was feeling so relaxed moments earlier, the steady contact and brashness of Sebastián’s request left him feeling shy and hot. He shifted his hips against the hand and tightened his grip around the man’s waist, unable to look away from Sebastián’s lips as he recalled the fleeting touches they’d exchanged the night before.

“Absolutely not,” he whispered back, throwing another glance over his shoulder to check the long hallway behind them. He wasn’t expecting another tryst so soon, but wasn’t about to look this gift horse in the mouth. “The sleeping hall is almost totally empty. The beam by your bed should keep us hidden from view.”

Sebastián pulled away immediately, wasting no time to rush back to the quarters with Jude in tow. 

If he thought about it, he was actually quite thrilled– having gotten the worst of it out of his system the night before, he felt collected enough to take his time and make their morning feel much better than the rushed handjobs they exchanged in the brig. They’d also have blankets under their heads, and the light to properly admire what was beneath their clothes.

They rounded the corner together and bee-lined for Sebastián’s bed, shuffling far into the corner behind the support beam as soon as they settled down onto the blankets. The beam kept them hidden from the remaining pirates sleeping nearby, but they would need to be quiet to get by without suspicion.

Jude pressed a finger over his lips to signal their silence. Sebastián eased into a smirk and returned his hand to Jude’s crotch, palming his growing length as he laid back onto his blankets. To keep close, Jude had to crawl forward, until he found himself hovering over Sebastián on his hands and knees. Jude leaned all of his weight onto one hand so the other could reach down to unbutton his trousers, but Sebastián beat him to it and swatted the hand away.

Sebastián deftly pried open the button and reached into the parted fabric. Jude’s mouth fell open when Sebastián’s fingers wrapped firmly around the base of his cock, gently squeezing as he stroked up his length. 

Jude’s eyes fell shut and he exhaled a satisfied sigh, but his brows pinched together in a frown. “Okay,” he muttered to himself, sitting back and sliding out of Sebastián’s reach.

“Everything alright…?” Sebastián paused, brows knitting together with concern.

Jude sat over Sebastián’s thighs and reached out to grab his belt buckle with both hands. When he gave it a hard tug to pull his hips up with it, Sebastián’s eyes glazed over with realisation, and he relaxed to let Jude take control.

“It was you who came to me this morning,” Jude pointed out, finally easing back into a smile. “This is only fair.”

His eyes were glued to his hands as he pried the belt hook from the leather. He let it fall aside once it was undone, then made quick work of undoing Sebastián’s trousers. Jude could feel him squirming as he grew closer to his erection, shifting around underneath him in eager excitement to be touched. It made his morning all the more fun– to get to hear his relieved sigh when Jude’s lips finally touched around the head of his cock, and feel the tension in Sebastián’s fingers when his hands fisted in his hair.

Jude pushed a hand underneath Sebastián’s shirt, running up the length of his abdomen as he lowered his head to take his cock deeper into his mouth. Sebastián’s chest arched into Jude’s palm when his fingers grazed over his nipple, but his hips remained disappointingly steady as Jude carefully licked up the side of his length. Jude was ready to take him, and felt eager for the push and pull of Sebastián’s hips against his mouth.

His disappointment doubled when his friend’s hands released his hair. The tug of his fingers had been a delightful spark of pain which shot right to his groin, but it was soon replaced with a slow, gentle pet, and when he opened his eyes to glance up at Sebastián’s face, he saw the look of a man carefully restraining himself.

Jude pulled his mouth off him but kept the head of his cock nestled against his lips as he spoke. 

“You don’t have to be careful with me,” he whispered, hoping his smirk would be enough to make his request clear. The previous night had been a much needed release, but now he ached to feel. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt nails cutting into his skin, nor the burn that came from pushing his body to its absolute limits. 

But, to his dismay, Sebastián’s fingers merely dragged down to his cheeks and caressed him with gentle affection. “Jude… We have all the time in the world,” he laughed under his breath. “There’s no need for such theatrics.” 

Jude’s gaze returned to his cock as Sebastián’s hands settled either side of his jaw. Even the mere thought of swallowing him as deep as he could go and feeling him press against the back of his throat was enough to have Jude twitching in his pants. 

But, Sebastián’s request was clear, so Jude held back and took his time as he dragged his lips along his length.

***

Sebastián came to find Jude twice more before the day was out.

To say he was surprised by the Spaniard’s libido was a vast understatement. Initially, Jude had been convinced that no one aboard could have felt as desperate as he did– but, once he found release, the whole thing seemed a bit silly. 

In contrast, Sebastián’s intensity only seemed to increase. 

By the next day, Jude’s heart raced whenever he locked eyes with Sebastián from across the deck; even the slightest glimpse of him was a promise that they would soon meet, and there would be something tender in store. They met for hasty kisses in between their chores, then finally returned to the brig in the evening. 

With Jude leaning back against a sealed crate, Sebastián sat atop Jude’s lap and kissed him like his breath was the only air in the room. They ground their hips together as their tongues entwined, and Sebastián’s hands somehow managed to stroke and grasp everywhere all at once. With the privacy of their empty cell, Jude allowed himself to properly tear into Sebastián’s clothes until they were both a naked, tangled heap on the floor. His pulse quickened at the feel of Sebastián’s fingers grazing his bare skin, and shivers wracked his spine under the weight of the Spaniard’s hungry gaze. 

Somehow, even as Sebastián’s fingers curled inside him and his teeth gnawed at the skin on Jude’s neck, Jude’s chest felt heavy with the pressure of that look in his eye. The mischievous glint revealed his excitement, but his movements remained slow and languid. He’d never felt a bite so soft, nor a scratch so tender.

Eventually Sebastián’s fingertips brushed a wall of nerves inside him that filled his bloodstream with bursts of gunpowder. He groaned with delight and arched his hips into the touch, desperate to chase the feeling– even grasping the hand Sebastián had wrapped around his cock and placing it at the base of his neck, in an attempt to stack the pleasure with pain.

But Sebastián’s hand matched the rest of his movements, only stroking his skin gently with the strength of a loving massage. He then bowed down to meet their lips, leaving Jude silently gasping for more as Sebastián’s wrist rolled against him.

Jude finally turned his head away to tear their mouths apart. “Fuck–” he whispered through gritted teeth. “Fuck me already.” 

If Sebastián refused to tear or grasp or claw into him, then at least he could rely on the burn of their hips rocking against the hard wooden floors…

But it soon became apparent that Sebastián would take that just as slowly, his head bowed into Jude’s neck until he was surrounded by his gentle touch and his slow, loving embrace. 

Jude’s head swam as Sebastián thrust into him, the waves of pleasure dulled by suffocation from his warmth.