Gerald Poole and Pirates: Part IV
Final installment. A distinctly queer adventure full of internal conflict ensues when a gentleman and a sailor are captured by pirates.
A little bit of adventure, romance, and queerness in the 18th century Mediterranean!
An adaptation of my TweetFic, Gerald Poole & the Pirates.
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV
Content warnings: consent issues throughout and sexual threats, violence, period-typical racism and homophobia, ableism, self-esteem and identity issues.
They traded some ways east of Tripoli, and it didn’t occur to Gerald really, seriously, that neither of them had tried to escape until they were already sailing north again. He thought about asking Wicks about it, ask why he hadn’t even suggested it, assuming he had thought of it where Gerald hadn’t, but the matter wasn’t currently foremost in Gerald’s mind.
“You could come with me,” he said, and Wicks glanced at him.
“What?”
It was late in the evening, and Gerald was sitting up and not reading his book, his legs entangled with Wicks’ on the bed. Wicks’ legs were very warm.
“To my aunt’s house,” said Gerald. “To pick olives. If you can’t go back to sea, if the navy won’t take you back.”
“Oh,” said Wicks quietly. He shifted his position on the pillow, curling his face more into Gerald’s side, his blunt nose tickling at him, his breathing hot. It should have bothered him, really, but it didn’t, not at all. He liked Wicks’ head beside him on the pillow, Wicks’ arm around his thighs, even though he couldn’t see Wicks’ face, the expression on it. “Poole, I like the sea,” he murmured tiredly. “It’s my place, a ship’s deck.”
“You talk an awful lot about people’s place, as though it should matter.”
“For some of us, Poole, it does matter. Not everyone has the luxury of setting aside the destiny strangers assign to us.”
“Why, because you’re not rich?”
Wicks sighed, hard, and he leaned back from Gerald’s thigh, looking up at him. “Poole,” he said. “You do see the differences between us, don’t you…
![Johannes T. Evans](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="40" height="40"><rect fill-opacity="0"/></svg>){kind=small}
