Lanterns, everywhere you looked. Hanging from balconies, roofs, and strung along between tall buildings, they glow with gentle golden light. In the darkness of night, they provide illumination enough to walk the leaf-laden path leading through the heart of the port town.
The fallen leaves crunch underfoot, and with a firm grip on your hand, Law leads you in and around the worst of the bustling crowds. You would easily lose sight of one another if you happened to let go, the moving, mingling sea of people all around you unpredictable.
“Where are we going, Law?” You ask, having to raise your voice to be heard over the crowd.
He throws you a look over his shoulder but doesn’t bother to respond. All you can do is continue to follow him. His hold on your hand is strong, not that you would dream of letting go.
It takes several minutes of weaving but eventually the number of people begins to wane. His direction has wound the both of you up at the edge of the town, and he only begins to slow as you start over a bridge crossing the small river running underneath. With all the excitement in the town, no one else is around nearby.
He stops half-way across the bridge, tentatively letting go of your hand as he nears the ledge to lean against. You take your place beside him, looking out to the river.
Out here, it’s quiet. The distant noise of the town’s festival is overtaken by the babble of the water as it rushes downstream. Your eyes track along the sight, lifting up towards the moon that hangs high in the sky above. A slow, steady breath helps you to unwind from your trek through the town.
None of you had expected such a big festival to be going on when you’d arrived. And while most of the crew had been thrilled to get the chance to unwind after many days at sea, Law had been noticeably tense since spotting the many lanterns decorating the town.
“Just wanted to get away from it all.” He suddenly says, and your eyes slide over to look at him. The tension that sat on his face since you’d arrived on the island is gone, and finally you see him begin to relax. “Sorry if you wanted to stay and enjoy the festival.”
You offer him a smile, glancing up at the few lanterns that were hung from the corners of the bridge’s light posts. “We can still enjoy it out here. We don’t need to be in the middle of town to celebrate.”
Law hums, nodding his head thoughtfully, but doesn’t respond.
You’re honestly content to simply stand at his side and take in the crisp, autumn air that the evening’s breeze brings.
Simply seeing the wondrous sight of the lanterns in such a beautiful place was enough for you. And while the rest of the crew might find getting drunk and singing and dancing with the locals the most enjoyable, you were fine with the quiet of a peaceful night at your lover’s side.
Neither of you got the chance to just…step away from it all that often. The life of a pirate was a dangerous and unpredictable one. Relaxing was a luxury you couldn’t afford to have all that often.
A particularly hard wind prompts you to step closer to the captain, nudging your head to settle onto his shoulder. You catch him glancing at you for a moment, but he doesn’t pull away. In fact, he even wraps on arm around your waist to keep you close.
The tenderness is rare. And something you refuse to take for granted. You could stand in his embrace for the rest of the night and be content.
“This is nice.” You say, causing him to hum noncommittally. “I’ve never seen a lantern festival like this before.”
“I have.”
“Really?”
You feel him nod. “They’re held to honor the deceased and welcome the new year. I went to many as a child.”
“That sounds so exciting.” You say, smiling to yourself at the thought. Such a fantastical view, every single year? How incredible! You go to tell him how lucky he must have been to be able to see all the pretty lanterns when he was young, but your enthusiasm drops when you notice he wasn’t smiling.
There’s a melancholy in his eyes you weren’t anticipating. Any words you might have wanted to say die in your throat, and you decide to remain quiet.
You aren’t sure how long you remain at the bridge, overlooking the water. It’s peaceful. It’s quiet. Yet there’s this unspoken…something, that holds him back from completely being there with you. Your curiosity eventually wins out, and the words come out.
“Do you not like festivals?” You mutter, hoping he wouldn’t retreat further from you at the inquiry. “You’ve been so tense since we got here.”
“No, they just…” He says, then after a long pause, “bring up old memories. Ones I try to forget.”
You wait, but no further details are given. You nudge your head further into his shoulder. For a long time, you aren’t sure what to say. Law’s low moods are always tricky to work around. But you always strive to be of some help to him when he gets to that point.
“Well…” You think to yourself what you can possibly say, “then I hope we can make some new ones. Good ones. So you can look back on those instead.”
He glances down at you, at the warm and tender smile you aim up at him. And despite his hesitation, you do begin to see the cloud of reminiscence fade until he’s finally there alongside you, in body and mind.
A breeze blows past, rustling your hair out of place. You move to fix it, but Law is quicker, turning towards you and reaching up to gently slide the misplaced strands back behind your ear. His eyes holds yours in a stare heavy with unspoken words you wish he’d say aloud. But this is Law. You both know it isn’t likely.
His fingers trail your jaw, gaze never leaving yours as he leans in close. Your lids drift closed, and for just a moment you can feel the heat of his breath as he pauses before fully capturing them in a soft kiss.
His lips are guiding and slow, as if savoring your every movement. Hands lift to tilt your head higher. Your own place themselves on his chest, wishing to feel his warmth beneath your fingertips.
The chill from the evening is forgotten as you press closer. Your heart feels alight with something deep and unexplainable. A part of you wishes to preserve this moment somehow, to never forget a single detail. But all you can do is enjoy every second, and commits as much to memory as possible.
Finally, you pull away. Reluctantly, of course. And the tiny smile on Law’s face when you open your eyes is intoxicating.
“Shall we return to the festival, then, and make those memories you spoke about?”
All you can do is nod silently, snaking your hand into his and pulling him back towards the town.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A lantern hung just outside the window of the hotel room paint you both in red, smoldering light. The cheering and laughter of those out on the busy street below falls deaf on your ears. The celebrations are at their height for the evening. The ahh’s of the people speak to the releasing of the numerous paper lanterns, but none of that matters as Law’s steady, deep thrusts steal your higher cognitive function away. All you can confidently produce with his cock buried in you is the keening moans that make his blood sing.
In the near-darkness your feet accidentally knock away the forgotten bottle of sake and the cups you’d been drinking from. It wasn’t like you’d be having any more for the night. You were both as intoxicated as you needed to be, both from the alcohol and the intense heat of lust that had settled between you.
The hotel’s plush futon isn’t as comfortable as your bed back on the submarine, but it’s enough. Your head is thrown back, exposing your neck enough for Law to latch onto your pulse point with his lips and tongue, panting his own pleasure into your skin. Breathless moans of your name, of vows and promises, of things you’re likely to forget come morning make you shudder, and send your heart stuttering an irregular rhythm within your ribcage.
That night, fueled by sake and whatever intimacy you’d cultivated at the bridge, Law was a giving lover. Every touch was a caress, each breath in dedication to you and your beauty, and every pump of his hips into the wetness of your body a promise to find the peak of ecstasy for both of you.
One hand grips the sheet beneath you in a fist, the other tugs on his hair. You aren’t gentle, but any pain he might feel is overpowered by the pleasure your cunt provides. Slaps of skin, and the wet sounds of your slick join the noise from the crowds in the streets outside the walls of your room. If you’d bothered to look out the window, you’d see the spectacle of the lanterns floating up into the darkness.
Perhaps without even meaning to, his hips switch angles, and the steady rise of your impending climax thus far shifts gears. Thighs tensing around his hips, voice growing more ragged with each depraved moan, you cum around his cock with a shocking intensity.
Law groans low, feeling every throb and squeeze of your body on his hard, aching flesh still sliding inside of you. His speed increases, all thoughts focused on seeking his own high of lust now that he’d felt you come undone around him. The sight of you truly debauched and light from orgasm gave him enough energy to thrust those last several times needed.
His muscles shake as he spills himself deep in your core. He pressed his hips harder against you with each significant spurt, until he holds himself up above you on his elbows, exhausted from your prolonged session together.
Unable to hold himself up for long his sweat-laden body eases down onto you. The last waves of your orgasm begin to ebb away, though the feeling of fullness stays with his cock still buried in you. Your hand reaches behind him to his back, tracing up and down his spine as you come down together.
Amidst the celebrations outside, which go deep into the night, you appreciate the quiet laboring of Law’s breath fanning against your skin. You wish so much to tell him of the love that fills your heart, to say the words you so rarely hear from him in return…but you hold your tongue. Tonight, it feels redundant. Tonight, it is unnecessary.
Sleep takes you quickly, wrapped in the embrace of the man you love. And come morning, this night will be nothing but a memory recalled in a hazy fog of a pounding hangover. But…it will be a pleasant one at the very least, which is all you hoped to give him.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
