Disclaimer! I do not own any human beings or names used in the duration of this story.  Heck this is fanfiction.  The only thing I own rights to is some original plotline?  You have been informed.

Tom was going to be sick.

Leaning over the side of the ship, he clutched his stomach, waiting for the contents of his stomach to make an unwanted guest appearance in the endless abyss of the ocean below.

Despite all the situations he'd endured and hardships he'd faced, the sea always knew how to break him.

Joining this mission had been a rushed decision.  One he wasn't sure whether or not he regretted yet.  He had overheard Tucker and Jordan talking on the subject and had lept out of hiding to volunteer his services on a split second decision.  Tucker, of course, had then promptly tried to take his head only to be stopped by Jordan.

"He could be useful." Jordan had argued.

Even though he felt grateful for the unexpected assist, he sorely regretted his decision now as he felt bile rise up in his throat again.

He could feel a presence next to him, and instictively knew it was Tucker by the spray of salty wind that smacked him in his face. He could imagine the smirk across the clean-shaven man's face as he watched the green man turn even greener.

"What's this? The great and evil Syndicate can't find his sea legs?"

Tom told him very politely where he could go stick his legs and Tucker snorted in amusement, but Tom could taste the air's sodium content increase.

Tucker had been more excited to sail with the pirates than he had let on.  He had spent the day complaining and griping about the alliance, but had later shown up to the party bearing a vibrant red sash about his waist, dark leather boots, and a pirate hat in placd of his regular cap that looked like it had been dug up from the trash.  He had even gone so far as to wear a large stuffed parrot on his shoulder that vonstantly spat out ridiculous phrases in its painful mechanical voice.  Capsize had taken one look at it before little Polly took a swim.

A peal of laughter broke through Tom's thoughts and the ship's silence.

Tom carefully lifted his head from the soft water-worn wood siding of the ship and turned to find the source of the noise.  He groaned as he found it and turned back to his misery.

Tucker noticed the movement and glanced back his well, clicking his tongue softly.

"Sparkles and Capsize.  Those two have gotten close, huh?" Tucker muttered, and Tom heard a creak as Tucker grabbed the railing, resting his head in his arms as he stared out at the ocean.

Tom only groaned in response.

"Oh, I'm sorry mister grumpy pants.  Is someone jealous?" Tucker teased.

Thomas didn't reply for a second, fighting off his growing nausea for the moment.

"I just don't get it." He grumbled once his nausea had quieted, looking back at the two seated at the bow, talking animatedly.  "Didn't that crazy chic kidnap him not to long ago?"

Tucker quirked an eyebrow.

"Didn't you try to kill him not too long ago?"

"But I didn't."

"But you could have."

"I tried to give him a chance at least!  I went easy on the spoon.  I could have easily ended it quickly."

"As if." Tucker snorted "Sparklez is a way better fighter."

Tom looked at him in disbelief, his nostrils flaring in indignation.

"Is not!"

"Is too." Tucker nodded wisely. "I've seen him practice on dummies back home.  He was definitely going easy the entire time. On Capsize and you"

"So you're saying not only did he protect me from Dianite, but he also let me hit him?" Tucker nodded confirmation and Tom groaned, his body seeming to deflate.  "Oh gods I'm never going to be able to get out of debt."

Tom slumped down once again.

"Is that why you came?" Tucker prodded.  "To lessen your guilt?"

"I guess." Tom replied, clutching his stomach tighter as he glanced back at the two captains. Jordan was talking animatedly while Capsize nodded, and Tom could swear she was even blushing. 

"Yeah... That's all." He added softly.

Tucker followed Tom's line of sight and raised an eyebrow at his friend.  Thankfully, however, he said nothing.

"Tucker!  Look, there's a whale!"

Tucker perked up at the sound of his girlfriend's voice.  She had finished her mission early and arrived back just in time to find everyone suddenly getting along and setting off on a cruise.  So of course, she had hopped on without question.

"Oh sweet, Sonj!  Coming!"

Tucker raced off to the stern where the fox leaned dangerously far over the edge, waving at the mammoth sea creatures as if they would wave back.

Tom sighed. He was alone again.

The acidic taste in his throat rose again and his temper flared.

"Why the Dianite do we have to ride in one of these bloody death traps!" He cried down to the ocean, however, it thankfully didn't reply.

"You know, standing at the bow helps."

Tom stiffened, having not heard Jordan's approach.

His body automatically relaxed as he noticed who it was, however his mind began to run wild with shame.

Reluctant to bring up recent events, he instead played dumb, which was embarrassingly not too hard to do.

"How the heck are you so quiet on this creakin' monster?" He muttered.  "Ya nearly made me jump ship."

"Sorry." Jordan grinned, not at all looking sorry. "Just feels nice to be back in my element."

Despite the small gestures Jordan seemed to be trying to make, the air still felt tense between the two.

Tom couldn't blame the guy.  I mean, he had tried to kill the brunette.  He knew he should be used to it by now with all the attempts he had made on Tucker's and Sonj's lives, but hurting Jordan had felt different... wrong even.

Jordan had also taken to the theme of their ride.  While most of his normal attire remained,  his slick dress shoes had been replaced with more appropriate hardened leather boots and strangely a red bandanna wrapped about his forehead to match his signature red shades. His long black sleeves had been rolled up, revealing paling skin and defined muscles.  Tom studied them for a moment, suddenly fully recognizing the truth in Tucker's words.

Jordan would have massacred him.

Oh man, he really wanted to spar against those muscles.

Looking away from them, a thought came to Tom about what Jordan had just said.

"Didn't you use to live in a forest?" Jordan nodded. "So where the bloody hell did you sail in a forest?"

Jordan frowned.

"What do you think I am? Tarzan? I didn't always live in the forest." He reprimanded. "It was more of a jungle anyways." He grumbled as an afterthought.  (#TrIggerEd)

Tom stuck his tongue out at Jordan playfully, the gesture quickly returned only this time with a bunch of spit spraying him in the face.

Jordan laughed as Tom wiped the spittle off, his face a mask of disgust.

"So how did you end up living in one?" He continued, refusing to stop there.

"Since when did you want to hear about me?" Jordan chuckled.

"C'moooon Sparklez!"

Jordan snorted at the use of the nickname, but didn't call it out.  Tom took it as a silent victory that he was getting through to him.

"Or we could talk about your new girlfriend." Tom teased.

Jordan scowled down at the green man, his face flushing.  Tom's heart sunk at Jordan's expression.

"Just tell me about your pirate life, mate!" Tom cried dramatically, dropping the topic of Capsize.

After a moment of internal debate, Jordan loosed a long sigh and nodded, Tom responded with a quick fist pump, even though the action made him feel queasy.

Tom felt the boards creak as Jordan leaned against them and let out another sigh.  Tucker flinched as the flaps of Jordan's open jacket slapped him in the face, but didn't move.

"It wasn't my original intention, to be honest." He said quietly.  "Settling down was far from my thoughts for a long time.  I thought the ship would be the only home I'd need."

"What was your ship like?" Tom bounced excitedly, the movement making his stomach churn unhappily.

"She was one I built myself actually." Jordan replied.  "I worked for an old boatyard for years and whenever someone brought in a wrecked ship or there were extra supplies left from repairs, my boss would let me have at them.  I admit she wasn't the prettiest vessel to ever cross your vision, but she was mine." Jordan's eyes lit up in pride at the memory. 

Tom watched, amazed at this new side of Jordan.  This wasn't the awkward dork he'd come to know, but a captain.

"We sailed everywhere, Tom.  You should have seen some of the places I've been.  Islands inhabited by deformed radiation cows and mushrooms as big as trees.  Ancient hidden temples filled with booby traps, and-."  He flushed.  "Though, of course being a near immortal warrior of a god means you've probably seen crazier, huh?"

Jordan glanced down at Tom, embarrased.

"Dianite never really sends me out here too often." Tom admitted quietly.  "And before I came here, well, I wasn't much of a traveler then either."

Something askance to pity flashed in Jordan's eyes and it was Tom's turn to look away in embarrasment.

"Hey wait a minute." Tom looked up at Jordan, eyes narrowed.  "If you were such a big traveler... how come you never knew about the gods?"

Now it was Jordan's turn to flush in embarrasment.

"

"Did you have a big pirate crew?"  Tom asked, determined to keep the conversation off himself.

Jordan hesitated for a second, then chuckled, though the sound was half-hearted.

"Nah, my crew was actually pretty small, but they were some of my greatest friends."

"Were?  Are your mates not your friends anymore?" Tom interrupted softly, noticing the past tense.

Jordan smiled softly, and his eyes met Tom's briefly before looking away.  The smile never reached his eyes.

"There was a tempest we weren't prepared for.  End of story." He spoke quickly, no longer meeting Tom's eyes. 

Tom's heart sunk at the look on Jordan's face then.  He regretted asking the question and said so to the brunette.

"It was a long time ago." Was all he said.

For a moment stretched a painful silence that Jordam finally broke.

"I crashed on the shores of a continent I had never crossed before."  He began again as if the deaths of his friends had never been brought up.  "I ended up with what felt like a thousand splinters of wood piercing my leg." As he spoke, Jordan rubbed his left leg subconsciously. 

"You just have the worst luck with those." Tom muttered and Jordan shot him a small, rueful grin.

With one smooth motion, he kicked of his boot and slid up his pant leg.  Tom winced at the collection of jagged scars littering the man's leg.

"You could say that again." He chuckled, covering his leg again.

Once he had pulled the boot back on, he returned to his previous position, the boards once again creaking at his presence.

"So was your tree there?"

Jordan turned to stare out over the ocean, his eyes seeming to mist over at the memory.

"Well after three days of wandering, I found her." His voice was wistful.  "She was easily the largest specimen of tree I had ever run across in all my travels."  His eyes met Tom's   "She was giant, Tom.  I immediately decided that I would make camp beneath it.  I never planned on staying long, but I had no idea where in the world I was and there was easy access to all I needed around the tree.  Once my leg had mostly healed, I could make the trip to my ship in a much faster time and I began salvaging what I could.  Slowly but surely my campsite became my home and well, Jerry and I were happy there."

"Jerry? I thought you said you were the only one who made it off the ship?" Tom questioned curiously.  He had never heard mention of a Jerry.

Jordan stiffened and his eyes cleared as he looked down at Tom as though he had forgotten he was there.

"Ah yes, well uh I didn't lie.  Jerry wasn't on my ship." He stuttered.

"Wait so there were natives? Did you find a village?  Was he your boyfr-"

"Oh shut up. Nothing like that."  Jordan's face flashed with something like amusement.  "Jerry was just... well he was alone."

Tom had a feeling that Jordan wasn't just talking about Jerry.

Tom was almost afraid to ask his next question, but his curiosity forced it from his tongue.

"What happened to him?"

For a moment, Jordan was quiet as he stared out over the ocean. 

"I....I wasn't there for him." He whispered so quietly that Tom nearly didn't catch it.

Tom opened his mouth to reassure the man, to apologize for asking, but he was cut off as a large wave buffeted over the side of the ship, filling his gaping mouth with the foul ocean water and knocking off his balance.

He spit it out quickly, coughing and gagging as he fell back from the railing, his suit soaked through and eyes squeezed shut.

He opened his eyes to find Jordan still with his back leaning against the side of the ship, his body stiff with surprise and completely soaked.  He turned his head slowly and looked down at Tom, his mouth hanging open slightly in shock.  Suddenly, he was laughing and to Tom's surprise, he soon found himself laughing as well.  Soon it seemed like they were laughing at each others laughter. 

Jordan's back slid down the side of the ship until he was resting level with Tom, his eyes beginning to tear up as their nigh on hysterical laughter rang throughout the ship. 

Oh gods, Tom hadn't laughed in forever.  Hadn't really laughed.  And there was the man he deserved hatred from laughing so openly with him.  He felt like a giant weight had been pulled from his shoulders as he laid back, going completely limp in relief, tears streaming freely down his face.

Both were so immersed in their mirth, they didn't notice the two figures approaching.

Tucker shook his head, looking down at the two soaked figures as Sonya quickly pulled out her camera.

"I leave for one second."

A/N

Hi.

My name is Turtle.
And you're not watching Disney Channel.

You're sitting on a site.

Full of fanfiction.

So congratulations.

I suppose you could have done worse.

Though now you've successfully wasted 10 seconds reading this.

And then you wasted another 2 trying to see if it took you 10 seconds to read this note.

I hope you enjoyed your stay.

But if you haven't, well...

That's your problem, isnt it?

Because you know what?

....

Well?

Do you know?

Cause I sure don't.

...

. . .

I need sleep.

This chapter kinda sucks blah blah blah.

Anyways

So I got a couple new fandoms under my belt now. 

Stranger Things
And
Voltron: Legendary Defender

Highly recommend both if you're like me and don't have a life to do anything else with.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go back to beat- fixing my computer.

I need to level up on Overwatch.
~ \(-o-)/ ~

Update: my computer is way more screwed up than I thought.
As in I have to buy a completely new motherboard, wiring, and RAM ...yay

~Turtle