Pairing: Captain EJ x Pirate Nicholas
Vibe: Enemies-to-lovers, tense banter, chained flirting, slow-burn heat with a dangerous twist
Setting: Below deck, brig of The Vortex

The brig smelled like salt, blood, and arrogance.

Specifically, Nicholas's.

EJ stood just beyond the bars, arms folded, expression unreadable.

Nicholas sat casually on the bench inside, ankles chained, smirking like this was a date instead of an arrest.

"I didn't think you'd come visit me yourself, Captain," he drawled. "Touched, really."

EJ didn't blink. "Where's the treasure?"

"Which one? I steal so many things these days—it's hard to keep track."

EJ stepped closer. "You stole from my ship."

"Oh, that treasure," Nicholas said, like he'd just remembered. "It was lovely. The jewels caught the moonlight beautifully as I dumped them overboard."

EJ's eye twitched. Just barely.

Nicholas noticed. He always noticed.

"Don't look so tense. You got something better than gold in return."

"And what's that?" EJ asked coolly.

Nicholas leaned forward, grin sharpening.

"Me."

The Thing About Nicholas

He never shut up.

He flirted like breathing. Teased like it was strategy. Smiled like he'd already won.

EJ had seen hundreds of liars. Con men. Thieves.
But Nicholas?

Nicholas was the only one who made him think about kissing someone while interrogating them.

And Nicholas knew it.

"You're not here for the gold," Nicholas said softly, voice dropping just enough to stir the air between them.

EJ's jaw tightened. "What makes you say that?"

Nicholas stood, chains clinking, stepping as close as the bars allowed.

"Because you didn't kill me. You didn't beat it out of me. You brought me aboard."

EJ's gaze flicked to his shirtless back—tan skin marked by faded scars... and something else.

Lines. Curves. Ink.

A map.

A real one.

"Smart of me, then," EJ murmured. "Looks like you brought the directions right to my ship."

Nicholas's smile faltered.

Just a flicker.

"So you noticed."

"Hard not to," EJ said, stepping closer. "It moves when you breathe."

Nicholas sucked in a breath—reflex. Wrong move.

EJ didn't miss the flush that rose beneath the ink.

"You going to take it, then?" Nicholas asked, quieter now. "Carve it off me? Copy it in the dark?"

EJ leaned in, close enough for his voice to cut like a knife.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Nicholas's fingers tightened on the bars.

"Try me."

The Game Shifts

The silence between them pulsed.

One heartbeat. Two.

Then EJ reached between the bars, grabbed Nicholas's chin, and tilted it up—hard enough to command attention, soft enough to make Nicholas freeze.

"You don't even know what the map leads to, do you?"

Nicholas's lips parted.

"...No."

"Then why steal it?"

"Because I knew it mattered to you."

That stopped EJ cold.

Nicholas held his gaze.

"I've been chasing you for two years, Captain," he whispered. "I didn't want your gold. I wanted your attention."

EJ didn't move.

Didn't breathe.

Then he stepped back, sharp and sudden, and unlocked the door.

Nicholas's smirk returned, wry and confused. "Finally giving in to your baser instincts?"

EJ grabbed the chain, yanked Nicholas forward, and hissed:

"You're going to tell me everything. What you know. Who gave you the map. Why you thought you could use it."

Nicholas stared at him, heat rising in his eyes.

"And if I don't?"

EJ's hand slid to the back of his neck, fingers brushing the edges of the ink.

"Then I'll figure it out myself."

The Twist?

Nicholas did know what the map led to.
He just didn't want EJ to find it—because it led to a weapon, not treasure.
A secret that could turn the tides of every sea.

And Nicholas wasn't planning to betray EJ.

Not anymore.

He was planning to help him.

Even if it got them both killed.

The Landing

They made landfall at dawn.

The rest of the crew remained on the ship. EJ didn't trust anyone else to see the map burned into Nicholas's back—and Nicholas didn't trust anyone but EJ not to gut him mid-step.

It wasn't peace.

It was a truce built on too much tension and not enough sleep.

"Still don't think I'm going to run?" Nicholas asked, keeping pace beside him.

EJ didn't look at him. "You'd already be dead if I did."

Nicholas smiled.

God, he hated that he liked that answer.

 The Jungle

The map led to a collapsed ruin in the middle of the jungle. Carvings covered in moss. Stones etched with warnings.

"The sea buries power for a reason."

They ignored it, obviously.

Nicholas went ahead, steady on his feet. EJ followed—watching, measuring, deciding.

"You still think this leads to treasure?" Nicholas asked, voice lower now.

EJ didn't answer.

"It doesn't," Nicholas said. "It leads to something worse."

EJ stopped walking.

"What do you mean?"

"A weapon. The kind kings would slaughter oceans for."

EJ's hand went to his sword. "And you didn't mention this before because—?"

Nicholas turned. Eyes sharp.

"Because I didn't trust you."

A pause.

"And now?"

"I still don't. But I trust myself not to let you destroy everything."

They stared at each other for a beat too long.

Then the ground gave out beneath them.

The Fall and the Kiss

They crashed into a hidden chamber. Stone floor. Dust. Darkness.

Nicholas landed hard. EJ landed harder.

The ceiling creaked. A crack snaked through the wall.

Something was going to collapse.

Nicholas scrambled up—his arm bleeding, leg shaking—and found EJ barely conscious.

He cursed, dragged him up, and barely got them out of the chamber before it caved in behind them.

They collapsed in the grass outside, breathless.

EJ coughed, blood on his lip.

Nicholas turned his face toward him, hands pressed against his shoulders.

"You idiot. You reckless, stubborn—"

"You saved me," EJ rasped.

Nicholas looked at him.

And then, without thinking, without planning, without winning—

He kissed him.

It was messy. Fierce. Not a victory.

Just survival.

Just relief.

Just real.

And EJ kissed back.

Like he meant it.

Like he'd been waiting.

The Betrayal

They found the artifact in a chamber behind the ruins.

It pulsed—light, heat, hunger.

EJ stepped forward.

Nicholas blocked him.

"You can't take it."

"We came for it."

"I lied. I led you here to stop you."

EJ's eyes darkened. "You used me."

Nicholas's voice broke.

"I fell for you."

"That doesn't undo what you did."

"Then kill me," Nicholas whispered. "But don't pretend this—" he gestured between them "—was nothing."

EJ stepped back.

Pain in his eyes.

"It wasn't nothing."

"Then don't take it."

"I have to."

EJ brushed past him.

Nicholas didn't follow.

He just whispered,

"I hope you survive what it turns you into."

The Aftermath

EJ took the artifact.

The sky cracked.

The island began to sink.

He looked back once.

Nicholas was already gone.

End.