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The sound of seagulls squawking away outside of the small crew room that he and his friend Nick had taken over brings Jason out of his slumber. He lies there in bed for a moment, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes, before he remembers that Nick came along with him on his trip to the Caribbean with his parents. Excitedly, he drops his head over the edge of the bunk bed to look down at his friend and wake him up but is only met with a neatly made, empty bed. No corner is left un-tucked and the comforter is smoothed out perfectly. Jason frowns a little.

"Now where'd he go? The crew isn't supposed to be up before the captain!" He laughs as he hops off the bed and dresses himself. He takes note that Nick's drawing back is not on the bed and not in the wardrobe or storage chest.

"He's probably drawing more pirate stuff." Jason chuckles as he pulls the latch up on the door and exits their room and heads up on deck.

"Breakfast will be ready soon!" His mother yells after him as Jason passes through the mess hall and makes his way up the stairs.

Emerging from the doorway, Jason holds his paw to his brow to search for his friend in the bright morning light. He finally spots him up by the bow of the ship sitting cross legged on top of a wooden box and looking out at the water with his drawing pad in his lap and a pencil in his paw. With a grin, he begins sneaking his way up behind his friend.

As he nears Nick, Jason can hear his friend humming something to himself while he lightly scratches the paper to add some shading and then alternates to outlining something else. Jason stops where he is and just watches his friend in that moment. Something about the innocence of that moment, as he watches Nick gaze out at the water for a moment and then look back down at his drawing pad while a gentle breeze plays with his scruffy head fur, stirs up some strange feelings. Before Jason has time to analyze the feelings, a hand on his shoulder makes him jump.

"Gah! You scared me!" Jason says as he glares at his father who is now holding his stomach and laughing.

"I-I'm sorry son, I couldn't help it!" His father says through his laughing fit. Behind him, Jason can now hear Nick's higher pitch laughter. He turns and sticks his tongue out at his wolf friend who returns the playful gesture.

"Ok you two, let's go set up the dining table for breakfast. We've got a lot of work ahead of us today and we'll need the energy." Jason's father says as he turns and heads over to the door leading below deck. Nick hops down off the wood cargo box and pads over to Jason. They walk side-by-side to the door as Nick shows Jason the picture he had been working on. The picture is of a pirate boat, flag and all, sailing across a choppy sea. Puffs of smoke coming from cannon holes in the hull of the ship and little figures holding up swords and guns on the bow of the ship make it seem that they are fighting another vessel.

"Wow, you really are getting into the whole pirate thing huh?" Jason chuckles as he opens the door and lets his friend go ahead of him.

"Yep, I think it's so cool!" Says Nick as they come down the stairs and into the sweet smell of bacon and eggs.

His mother looks up from stirring something in a bowl and smiles at the two.

"Hey guys! Go help your father with the table." She says to Jason, who nods and tugs Nick along with him.

The two shipmates get the table set just in time for the plates of food. The four of them quickly eat the delicious food and help clean up the dishes afterwards.

"Come on you two! It's time to weigh anchor and get going!" Jason's father calls out to them as he makes his way up the steps towards the deck. They both quickly dry off their hands and race each other towards the stairs.

"Thanks for the food mom!" Jason yells back to his mother as he hops in front of Nick and ascends the stairs.

"Yeah, it was delicious!" Nick adds as he swats at his feline friend. They both giggle as they come out of the doorway and onto the deck.

Nick walks along one of the railings on the side of the ship and looks out along the water. He can see that they are a couple miles or so from shore on their port side. The land is beginning to look less and less familiar and he briefly wonders how far they had sailed last night before Jason's dad anchored them in the little nook along the sea shore that he had.

"Come on Wolfie! We need help!" Jason's voice snaps Nick's attention over to the two felines that are busying themselves with re-positioning the sails to bring themselves over the spot where the anchor is stuck in the seabed. He sprints over and begins taking instruction from Jason's father on what to do. Trying his best and with Jason's help, Nick begins getting the hang of how the sails operate and work with the wind. A smile comes across his face as he wipes a bead of sweat from his brow and watches as the boat slowly glides along the water.

"Alright boys, let's be getting' that line on the anchor wheel and pull that heavy barnacle up!" Jason's father barks out as if he were a pirate captain himself. Both Nick and Jason laugh as they both work to pull the anchor line across the deck and feed it into the motorized anchor wheel. Jason's dad pushes a button on a small console next to the wheel and the wheel hums to life and slowly turns, bringing the line up and uprooting the heavy anchor from the seabed.

Soon they have the anchor up and stowed away and begin busying themselves with readjusting the sails to make their way out of the small nook in the shoreline and continue on their journey.

The beginning of their day went by in a blur of moving sails and hefting rope around. Nick tried his best and was beginning to become sore from all the moving around and lifting. Just when he felt he was going to collapse on the deck, Nick heard Jason's father yell out to them from the helm.

"Ok boys! Looks like the wind is in our favor for now! Take a break!" Nick drops to the deck right where he stands, the rope he was carrying falling in a bundle atop him as he breathes hard. He can hear Jason laughing as he squats next to him.

"Aww come on! You can't be that tired!" The jet black feline jokes and is met with a paw swatting at him in return.

"Aaahh!" Jason screams out as Nick begins trying to toss the rope around him to tie him up.

"I'll show you tired!" Nick laughs as he springs up and starts chasing after Jason with the rope. They run around the deck a couple times before Jason dives below deck, Nick hot on his heels.

At some point, Jason looses Nick in the lower hold. Slowly, Nick creeps down the narrow corridor leading towards the engine room. Doors line either side leading into various storage rooms. The little wolf quickly peeks into each one, rope at hand and ready to tackle his friend and tie him up. As he peeks into one particularly dark storage room, he can hear the muffled chuckle of his friend somewhere in the darkness. A grin creeps across the wolf's face as he holds the rope out in front of him and slowly makes his way into the room.

"Here kitty kitty kitty." Nick teases as his ears twitch every which way, trying to pick up on even the slightest movement from Jason.

Even with the dull glow coming from the lanterns in the corridor, Nick can only see vague gray shapes in front of him. Nervousness suddenly jolts through his body as some of the shapes begin to look as though they have arms and legs and... are those swords!?

His fur suddenly stands on end as an arm wraps around his midsection and what feels like a blade is placed against his throat. He can feel the warmth of a body pressed against his back but cannot tell who it is. His arms go limp and he drops the rope as an audible whimper escapes his suddenly dry mouth.

"Arrr.. what do we have here? A scaredy dog!" Jason cackles in a mock pirate voice. Nick almost collapses as a rush of relief washes over him just before he elbows his friend in the gut.

"Oof! Hey! It was funny!" Jason chuckles, still somewhat holding Nick from behind. Now the feline's scent hits Nick's nostrils and he is forced to inhale again and instinctively moves towards it, leaning back against his friend and letting out a partially stifled murr.

"What? Did I scare the breath out of ya?" Jason chuckles as he holds his friend up and moves whatever he had against his neck away.

Nick suddenly stiffens and stands back up, pushing Jason's hands away.

"Yeah! What was that anyway?" He says, blindly searching for a light switch.

"Oh, you mean this?" Jason says before Nick can hear the sound of something flicking against metal. Finally, Nick finds the light switch where any logical person would put it, right next to the doorway. The room is suddenly cast in the glow of a fluorescent tube affixed above them.

Nicks eyes go wide as he stares at a bunch of mannequins wearing various pirate costumes and wench dresses. Shelves holding various swords and pirate guns as well as a couple large, wheeled cannons line the walls. It appeared to be pirate museum storage. Nick just stood there, mouth agape, as he looked around.

"I forgot about this. This is where my parents store the pirate stuff for the shows we'd do for people." Nick looks back at Jason who is holding a pirate looking sword.

"Shows?" He says, tilting his head a little.

"Yep. They wanted to make money to help with the restoration of the ship so they got together some costume and prop stuff and had pirate shows where people could come on board and be part of a 'pirate battle' or a 'pirate party'. Kids really loved it and the parents had a blast as well." Jason says as he swings the dull prop sword around. Nick laughs a little.

"Lemme guess, they made you mop boy?"

"Nope, I got to be the bad guy quite a few times!" Jason boasts as he flexes his muscles and grins. Nick rolls his eyes.

"It fits you."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?" Whines Jason as he tosses the prop sword onto a shelf and walks over to Nick who is looking at one of the cannons.

"Nothing!" Nick giggles as he runs a paw across the top of one of the cannons. He suddenly jumps and turns to Jason all in one motion, an excited smile on his face.

"Oh my god! You should dress up for me so I can draw you!" Nick blurts out excitedly as he hops up and down a little. Jason narrows his eyes at the wolf and crosses his arms but a smile cracks across his face.

"Why should I do that?"

"Because if you don't let me get my drawing fix I'm going to tie you up and draw you anyway." Nick playfully growls as he picks up the rope he had dropped and begins slowly advancing towards his friend with it.

"Hey now! No need to get all forceful!" Jason giggles as he starts backing up, holding his paws out in front of him... too late. Nick pounces on him, knocking him to the floor and tries to wrap the rope around the panther's wrists but fails. Instead, he manages to get it wrapped around Jason's ankles. The two fill up the room with their laughter as they wrestle around on the floor, Jason trying to squirm away from Nick who adds loop after loop around the feline's ankles. He scoots closer to a shelf and tries to reach out for one of the prop swords to play fend off his attacker. Surprisingly, he is drug away just as his paw comes close to the hilt of the sword. Nick uses all of his weight to pull his friend away from the shelves and then hops on his stomach, straddling him a little and holding him to the floor.

"So are you gonna!?" He insists as his butt wiggles from his overly excited tail. Jason is suddenly made aware of their position as Nick's tail brushes against the front of his pants. Thankfully his jet black fur hides his blush. He readjusts himself a little under the wolf.

"Well I can't really do that with a lump of wolf on me." He points out. Nick hops up and helps his friend remove the tangled bindings around his ankles.

"Sorry."

"S'okay." Jason finally kicks free of the rope and stands up. He scans around the room at the various pirate costumes.

"What do you want me to wear?"

"I don't know... something cool!" Jason walks over to a mannequin wearing a pirate wench's dress.

"How about this?" He says, poking at the tattered skirt. Nick bursts out into laughter.

"I don't think my paper would survive the consequences." They both laugh.

After a little bit of browsing and picking through what wasn't too big for Jason, they put together a respectable pirate getup complete with an eye patch and a flashy hat and sword. Giggling, they both make their way back up to fetch Nick's drawing stuff and make sure everything was ok with the boat up top.

"There you boys are!" Jason's mom says as she looks up from the map spread out on the dining table. They both walk up to her.

"So we're going to have to make a detour and dock at the next port tonight." She says, eyeing the pirate clothes in Jason's hands. They both look at each other and then to her.

"Why, what's up?" Jason asks, setting the clothes on the table and sitting down to look at the map.

"There is a storm coming in from the south and the coast guard is saying that there will be some pretty big swells."

"Yep, and we don't want to risk anything. I trust this old girl but don't want to push it." Jason's father chimes in as he comes down the stairs from the deck. Nick hugs his drawing pad to his chest, a nervous look on his face.

"So... does that mean the trip is cancelled?" Nick asks, looking at Jason's dad.

"No! Nope, we're just gonna dock and spend the night there... maybe check out the local night life." He says with a chuckle and a wink to his wife. She laughs and rolls her eyes.

"Hey! Where'd you guys get those? Have you been digging around in the prop storage?" Jason's father says, finally noticing the garb on the table next to Jason.

"We were playing around down in the hold and found it. I almost forgot about it until now." Says Jason as he bundles the garb back up in his arms. "Nick wants some material for his drawing so I'm going to dress up as a pirate and he'll draw me." He says with a smile as he looks over to Nick, noticing the still somewhat nervous look on his face.

"Ok, just be careful. Those prop swords are still heavy." Jason's mother says as she stands up and walks over to her husband.

"We will!" Jason responds as he stands up and takes Nick's hand, leading him out of the mess hall and down towards their room.

They enter the small room and Jason shuts and latches the door, turning back to Nick with a concerned look on his face.

"Hey, you ok? You look a bit nervous or something..." He says to Nick as the wolf sits down on his bottom bunk and sets his drawing pad next to him.

"Huh?" Nick looks up at Jason, a little muddled in though between the storm and the thought of drawing Jason in the pirate costume. Jason sits next to Nick, still holding the garb, and gives him a friendly shoulder bump.

"What's up? The storm scare you?"

"Well... yeah, kinda. Just a little afraid of... I dunno." Nick says, his ears flattening a bit. Jason sets the clothes down and hugs his friend. Nick doesn't even try to resist and nuzzles against Jason's chest.

"Hey, it's ok. We're gonna be fine... I won't let anything happen." Jason says, reassuringly, as he hugs Nick tighter who clings to him a little.

"Hey..." Jason pries Nick enough from him to lift his head up and look at him. Nick's golden eyes look a little glossed over like he is about to cry. Now Jason gets really worried.

"What's wrong?" Jason asks as he pulls Nick back into the hug. Nick sniffles a little.

"I... I um..."

"Is it the storm? Are you afraid of lightning or thunder?" Nick shakes his head. "What is it then?"

"I... I almost drowned when I was a pup... I have a fear of water." Nick cringes as he says it... afraid of being laughed at or making Jason angry for letting him take Nick on the trip. Jason says nothing, only lifts the wolf up and sets him in his lap, making Nick yip a little in surprise as the feline hugs him tighter. Nick lets out a shaky breath as he wraps his arms around his friend and nuzzles into his neck.

They sat there on the bed for what felt like an hour to Nick but was only a few minutes. Jason didn't move or say anything, just held the little wolf and let him calm down. Finally, Nick sat up and sniffled a little and just looked down at his hands after pulling them from around Jason's back and sat them in his lap.

"I'm sorry... I know it sounds stupi-"

"No, it's not stupid. It's perfectly normal. Don't feel bad about it." Jason says as he rubs Nick's back a little. "Don't worry, I'm not going to let anything happen to you." He says before taking the wolf into another hug. He lets go after a moment and lets Nick sits back down beside him.

"Sorry for being so huggy... I just don't like seeing you upset." Jason says as he awkwardly laces his hands together and looks down at them.

"It's ok, I don't mind. It really helped." Nick says as he manages a smile and bumps against his friend. Jason's ears perk up and he smiles back at the little wolf and ruffles his hair a bit.

"Good, I'll remember that."

Nick looks over to his drawing pad.

"It's just hard to talk about sometimes. My mom was really upset about it. I remember her crying as she held me after they pumped the water from my lungs."

"Wow... that sounds horrible." Jason says as he looks over at Nick.

"Yeah..."

Jason suddenly hops out of bed with the pirate costume.

"C'mon! Let's get you drawing and happy again!" He says as he unrolls the bundle and sets the sword down.

Nick's ears perk up and he manages a smile as he picks up his drawing pad and pencil.