FSE

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Nick's ears perk up and swivel around as he pokes his head out from his and Jason's room. His acute hearing only picks up on the light snoring from Jason's mother as she slumbers in her room at the stern of the ship. Carefully, he pushes the old wooden door open, thankful that Jason's parents were meticulous in the care of the ship and lubed each door hinge from bow to stern. Now standing in the dark passageway, Nick motions for his accomplice to follow and Jason carefully sneaks out of the room behind him and closes the door as quietly as possible.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" The wolf asks as they begin sneaking slowly down the hall, the lingering smell of dinner wafting their way from the mess hall and making both hungry again. The feline grins and Nick suddenly gets uneasy as he looks back at his friend and only sees the glow of his eyes and his white teeth.

"Yes. 'You can't be a proper pirate without a pirate map.' That's what you said. Besides, they'll never know it was gone. I think they forgot about it."

Jason had told Nick about a map that his father had discovered in the ship when they were restoring it. He said it was kept in the captain's quarters in a box below the bed. They never figured out where it came from as it was written in a different language but it did look legit.

As they reached the edge of the halo of light that the lantern in the mess hall was casting dimly over the stained wooden floors and cabinets, Jason flipped the pirate eye patch he was wearing down over one eye and quietly chuckled like a pirate.

"Arr arr arr.." Nick rolled his eyes and swatted at the feline that was also wearing the pirate garb he had taken from the storage room below earlier. They quickly padded across the mess hall, ears tuned in for any sound coming from above and the helm where Jason's father stood watching the midnight waves and keeping the vessel on course.

As they came up to the door of the captain's quarters, fear began gripping at Nick's chest as the memory of the fox burglar suddenly invades his thoughts. He stopped and recoiled a little from the door. Jason stopped behind him and poked him a little which made the little wolf almost jump out of his skin as he covered his mouth to stop the yip that wanted to escape. He glares back at Jason who shrugs his shoulders.

Shaking his head, Nick takes a deep breath and slowly advances towards the door again, carefully gripping the latch. As slowly as possible, the wolf turns the latch and pushes it open a couple inches. Jason's mother continues to snore, fast asleep, in the room. Sniffing inside a little, Nick finally pushes the door open enough for them to slip in. He motions for Jason to go first and the feline carefully sneaks in followed, hesitantly, by his little wolf accomplice.

Inside, the dim candle light from the dresser casts long, dancing shadows over the room. The soft sigh of the sea rushing by as the boat glides along under the midnight sky and the occasional creaking of the old wooden ship are the only sounds that accompany the snoozing female panther as the two quietly pad over to the foot of the bed.

Nick stands lookout as Jason reaches under the bed and feels around for the box. After a moment, he pulls his paw out empty. Nick looks back at him and tilts his head. Jason shrugs.

"It's not under there... they must have moved it..." the feline barely whispers to his partner.

They begin looking around the room for any sign of the wooden box. Minutes begin to tick by as they two become more frustrated and anxious. Jason was about to give up when he stumbled upon a false bottom below one of the dresser drawers as he tried to close it. The edge got caught and prevented the drawer from closing fully. Slowly, he pulls the drawer all the way out and opens the false bottom. His eyes go wide as he peers inside.

"What?" Nick says as he kneels next to his friend. The wolf covers a gasp as he looks over Jason's shoulder. The glint of gold coins, various gem laden necklaces and other treasures are piled into a sunken compartment below the dresser. Very carefully, Jason reaches up and takes a candle from the top of the dresser and holds it to the opening of the dresser to get a better look. The gold and jewels glow brightly in the candle light and the two stare, wide eyed and jaw dropped for a moment before Jason starts reaching a paw out towards the booty.

"No!" Nick quietly hisses at Jason.

"Pirates never take ALL the treasure... plus it could be booby trapped." Says Nick as he peers over the feline's shoulder again. Jason chuckles and flicks his tail at the wolf.

"I'm not taking any of the treasure. That's theirs. I see the box in the back." He says as he reaches back into the sunken compartment and carefully picks the small wooden box out of the pile of gems and gold and pulls it out.

"Ok, we've got what we came for. Can we go back to the room?" Nick whispers as Jason sets the box down and carefully closes the false bottom of the dresser and hands the candle to Nick.

"Just a sec." He says as he slides the drawer back into the dresser and then kneels over the box.

"I want to see it first." Jason says as he begins unlatching the lid of the box. Nick glares at him.

"Can't it wait until we get out of here?" Nick grumbles.

The two freeze as Jason's mom snorts a little and rolls over in her sleep. They wait an agonizingly short moment while she repositions herself and then falls back asleep, oblivious of the two intruders in her room. They both finally breathe a sigh of relief and Jason latches the box back up.

"Ok, you're right. Let's get out of here."

Nick replaces the candle they borrowed in the candle holder and they both quietly pad back out of the room. Re-tracing their steps back to their room, they pass through the mess hall and Jason suddenly stops. Nick looks back from down the hallway at the door to their room and grumbles a little as he walks back to Jason who is opening the fridge.

"Really? We already had dinner."

The panther hands the box to Nick and quietly rummages around inside.

"Just getting something to celebrate." Jason says as he pulls out a strawberry pie from the back and sets it on the counter. Nick rolls his eyes as he watches the panther pull open the utensil drawer and look around for a pie cutter. Just as he pulls it out they both freeze again at the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs from the helm. They both take a moment to look at each other before Jason frantically tries to find a place to hide.

Just as Jason's dad opens the door up the stairs, the two little thieves stuff themselves under one of the counters in a cabinet, Nick in Jason's lap whom took up most of the room under the small cabinet. The little wolf clutches the wooden box in his arms as he curls up and holds his breath while Jason deftly closes the cabinet door just as his father comes down into the mess hall.

Sniffing the air a little, the elder panther looks around suspiciously for a moment before eyeing the pie on the counter. Raising an eyebrow, he walks over to the pie and looks at it and then the fridge.

"Huh..." He picks up the pie and holds it for a moment while looking back at the fridge.

"Midnight munchies?" He chuckles as he goes about putting the pie back into the fridge and then pouring himself a glass of water. Meanwhile, the two little pirate thieves sit, breaths held in their throats, curled up against each other under the counter and just behind where Jason's father is standing.

Only now does Nick realize how much Jason must be sweating. The feline's scent, from the close proximity, sends a sudden shudder through the little wolf and he works hard to stifle a shaky sigh. Jason notices this and offers a hug, thinking that the shudder was Nick's nerves. Now being pressed further towards the panther, Nick quickly moves a paw up to muffle the shaky breath escaping his maw.

After what felt like an eternity for the two, Jason's father finally finished his glass of water and made his way towards the stern to check on his sleeping wife before returning to the helm. Slowly peeking out of the cabinet, Jason confirms that his dad is, in fact, down the hall and out of sight. Quietly, the two slip out from under the cabinet and quickly pad down the hallway and into their room.

Jason quietly closes the door behind them and latches it just as his father comes out from his room down the hall and makes his way back to the helm. Nick sits with his back against the wall and clutching the wooden box as he breathes hard, both trying to calm his nerves and clear out the feline's musk from his lungs.

"You ok?" Jason asks as he sits down next to his friend. Nick just nods in return as he forces his breathing to slow down.

"C'mon, let's see it." Says Jason as he reaches for the wooden box still clutched in Nick's arms. Nick pulls away and glares at the feline.

"Your stomach almost got us caught!"

"I'm sorry! I get hungry when I get excited..." Jason says, ears flattened and looking away. Nick sighs and sets the wooden box down between them. For a moment, they both look at it, not sure if they should actually open it or not.

"You don't think it's cursed... do you?" Nick asks as he looks over the box and tilts his head a little.

"Let's find out!" Jason says as he flips the little latch holding the lid closed and opens the box.

Inside, they find a long and stained white bag that's tied at the end with some twine. Carefully, Jason picks it up and undoes the twine and pulls out a rolled up piece of thick parchment. The feline holds it up like it's a holy relic and they both look at it for a moment before Nick suddenly bounces on his knees and smiles.

"Open it! I wanna see!"

Jason chuckles and slowly unrolls the paper. As the paper flattens out in their laps, it reveals a series of dark lines that seem to bleed into the paper and create the outline of a few land masses. Thinner, more intricate lines cut through them and form what look like either current lines or topography lines. Various bits of some foreign language are scrawled in the same bleeding ink that the landmass lines are and sit atop dark dots marking spots along the land masses as well as a few spots out from the shore.

"A-are you sure we should have this? I mean, it looks pretty old. Your parents might be mad if we lose it or rip it..." Nick says as he gets a sudden chill down his spine and shivers a little, unsure if its from the slowly dropping temperature in the room or some feeling of dread emanating from the map.

"Bah! They never pull it out anyway. I think they probably forgot it was in this box." The pirate-garb clad feline says as he looks over the map and glides his paw over some of the lines.

"This is so cool.." Jason whispers as he tries to make sense of some of the lines on the map. He catches Nick yawning out of the corner of his eye and looks up at the sleepy looking little wolf. A smile cracks across his jet black muzzle.

"Aww too much adventure?" The panther snickers and is swatted at again.

"It's midnight! And dinner made me sleepy."

"I thought you said pirates never really sleep."

"Yeah, well I'm not the one wearing pirate clothes so yes, I'm sleepy." Nick retorts.

Jason chuckles as he carefully rolls the map back up and slides it back into the old bag it came from and ties it back off with the twine.

"Yeah, we should probably go to bed. We've got plenty of adventure ahead of us tomorrow, right?" Says Jason as he places the map back into the box and latches it closed before hiding it in the wardrobe closet under some of his clothes. Nick smirks at his feline friend.

"Yeah, as long as it doesn't involve any more sneaking around in your parent's room or midnight snacks that almost get us caught." The little wolf says as he gets up from the floor and sits down on the bottom bunk and looks up at Jason. The panther sticks his tongue out at his friend and walks over to the bunk and starts climbing up top. Nick's ears droop a little as he watches Jason climbing up. Something in him wanted to cuddle with the feline again. It felt so good to be that close and have someone hold him. He felt protected and safe.

'I want to ask him but... I'm afraid...' Nick thinks to himself as he hears the feline settle down above him. These strange and conflicting feelings seem to have been happening more and more often since they kissed on the beach and Nick really wished he didn't feel so hesitant about it. He wanted it so bad but feared for it at the same time.

"Goodnight bud!" Jason says above him as he drops the pirate clothes down on the floor and settles in under his covers.

'Great... now he's naked... mostly... I think... Ugh! This is so unfair!'

The little wolf frowns and flops back onto the bed, looking up at the bottom of the top bunk and wishing he could just gather up the courage to ask Jason to come down and sleep with him again. He lets out an irritated sigh and closes his eyes. Above, Jason hears the wolf and peeks over the edge of the bed and sees Nick's legs and tail over the edge still.

"You ok? I thought you said you were tired. You're not gonna sleep like that, are ya?"

Nick springs up at Jason's words and looks up at him briefly before looking back down at the floor and folding his ears back.

"No, just... thinking."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Nick shrugs and the panther frowns.

"Well something is clearly bothering you." Jason says as he sits up.

"Just... stuff. I'm ok, really." Nick's ears perk up as he hears shuffling and looks back up to see Jason climbing back down wearing some black boxers. He looks away as his face flushes with red, embarrassment now setting in as the feline sits down next to him.

Jason looks over at the little wolf who is looking down and a little bit away from him. So many things had been happening he wasn't sure what was bothering his friend. All the panther wanted to do was hug his friend and make him feel better but didn't want to do something that would make him feel uncomfortable.

"Ok..." The panther simply says as his shoulders droop a little and he looks away as well.

A moment of silence passes by before Jason smiles a little and shoulder bumps Nick, looking over at the little wolf.

"Hey! We did pretty good huh? Got in there and out without getting caught... well there was a close call but we got through it. I think we make a great pirate team!" The feline says proudly as he puffs his chest out a little flexes his muscles. Nick's ears perk up a little and he looks over at his friend and smiles a little before looking away, realizing that Jason is still JUST in his boxers.

"Yeah, I guess we do huh?" The wolf replies as he scoots himself up on the bed farther and pulls the covers over himself to warm up from the cold room.

As Jason watches the little wolf curl up until only his fuzzy little head is poking out of the thick blanket, he suddenly gets this sinking feeling like he should do something. As brave as the feline felt that he was, he couldn't bring himself to do what he felt he should. The underlying fear that Nick was mad at him for something he did on the beach or that the poor little wolf was still coping with the burglar incident made him hesitate as Nick rolled over and curled up.

"Well... goodnight buddy." Jason sighs as he climbs back up to the top bunk and curls up himself after blowing out the lantern, feeling lonely and worried.

The night wore on for the two of them as they both lay awake for some time and ponder what each should do, not knowing how the other felt and wishing they did until sleep eventually took both of them early in the morning.

---

Raised voices tickle at the slumbering wolf's sensitive ears until they finally swivel in the direction of the noise and Nick's golden eyes slowly blink open. Judging by the light coming into the room from the little porthole window, it was well into the morning and Nick could still hear Jason snoring lightly above him. With much effort, the little wolf pulled himself out from under the heavy blanket and sat up on the bunk and stretched for a moment while he yawned.

"I don't know what happened! The stupid thing just quit before I had a chance to call out to the coast guard and tell them our GPS stopped working..." Jason's dad blurted out as he and his wife come down from the upper deck.

Nick's ears perk up at the conversation between Jason's parents in the mess hall down the hallway. He quietly pads over to the door and puts an ear to it and listens. He can hear shuffling of paper and something being set down on the table hard.

"Calm down, honey, we'll just use the old compass, sextant and the almanac like we learned and we'll find our way back to get the radio fixed." Jason's mother tries to sooth her husband's growing frustration.

"Are you sure the antenna isn't damaged?" She asks.

"Yes! I checked it twice AND the wires. I should have bought a backup radio!" The elder panther sighs heavily and buries his face in his hands.

"You haven't slept all night, honey... please go to bed and get some sleep. I'll make the kids breakfast and try to get our bearing." The male panther sighs and Nick can hear him standing up.

"Ok, just wake me up in a couple hours. I don't want to be stuck out here long with no idea where we are." Jason's father says before Nick can hear him padding off to the stern.

Pulling away from the door, Nick's ears fold back and his fur stands on end as the reality of what he just heard sinks in.

'W-we're lost... at sea... oh no...'

Fear clutches at the little wolf's chest now and he looks up at the top bunk where Jason is still sleeping. He was scared and needed protection and the only one here, now that he felt comfortable with he was still scared to get close to again and he didn't know why. Closing his eyes, the wolf felt his breathing quicken and he put a paw to his chest. He could feel a panic attack setting in as morbid images of death at sea and flashbacks of drowning flood his mind.

"N-Nick.. Nick what's wrong?"

Jason's sleepy voice snaps the little wolf's eyes open and he looks up at the groggy panther who is looking down at him from the top bunk, still half covered by the heavy blanket as he pushes himself up a little. With barely any time to react, Jason is tackled as the little wolf frantically climbs up the bed and buries himself under the blanket with the feline and hugs him tightly.

"Woah, woah.. what's wrong!?" Jason asks as he holds the shivering little wolf and shakes off the remaining sleep in his eyes before looking around the room for any immediate danger.

"We're lost..."

Jason quirks and eyebrow at Nick's statement as he looks back down at him.

"What?"