SCATTERED PEARLS ☆ KIMCHAY AU

☠︎︎ 21. Poetic ☠︎︎

"Yes," Kim looked right into Chay's beautiful eyes. "I love you."

Chay's smile dropped. He looked stunned for a second. Silent as if the whole world stopped at that moment.

"Say it again," Chay whispered.

"I love you, darlin'."

"Wait... you can't just say it here in... in front of a picture of your death!"

"Why not? I think it's poetic," Kim chuckled and pulled Chay into his arms. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Chay's lips curved into a big smile as he threw his arms around Kim's neck, "I'm so happy you finally said it. So happy!"

"I'll say it again once we are alone," Kim whispered into Chay's ear and kissed his cheek.

They were in public—Kim should have stopped flirting so much or he was going to give Chay a heart attack. "Uhmm, yeah, I can't wait," Chay mumbled under his breath and nodded his head towards the Ruby Red. "Let's talk about this. We have found it, Captain. We did! We can get back home."

"Home?" Kim repeated in awe. "My timeline is your home?"

"You are my home," Chay didn't hesitate for a second. Those words left his lips so naturally as if it was a prayer they kept repeating all his life.

"Darlin'..."

"What?" Chay raised his eyebrow. "You aren't the only one who can flirt. Now back to our Ruby Red. Isn't it surreal how not so long ago I held it in my hand and now it's right in front of me but I can't even touch it?"

"We can just break the glass," Kim offered already raising his hand.

"Wou wou, hold up," Chay stopped Kim's hand and shook his head. "You can't just break this glass, captain."

"Why not?" Kim frowned. "We'll just steal it and run away. I'm a pirate, remember?"

"Times have changed," Chay giggled. "This is probably a security glass which you can't just break, and especially just with your hand. And even if you could, the alarm would go off the moment you do it, and I'm sure there are cameras everywhere and I'm not even talking about the security guards at the door. Conclusion—we can't steal the Ruby Red right now."

"Security glass? Alarm? Camera?" Kim mumbled under his breath, frowning in confusion. "Are you sure I can't do it?" He asked.

Chay softly smiled, "trust me, captain. Not today and not like this. We have to come up with a plan."

"But I'm the best at stealing."

"And we will," Chay winked. "Just not today."

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

They took their time to walk around the rest of the exhibition, but the most important thing they already saw. There was one mention of The Reckoning burning to ashes which made Kim restless for a while, but Chay was quick to calm him down. Despite not spending that much time on board of The Reckoning yet he knew how much Kim cared about that ship so he promised to protect the ship the same way he promised to not let Kim nowhere near the gallows and sealed the promise with a sweet kiss.

When they walked out of the museum it was already afternoon. The sun was dancing warmly on their skin and the wind was softly playing with their hair. Chay took Kim to a park which was fairly empty and lay with him on the grass.

"Are you happy that we saw what we saw today?" Chay asked, plucking out a couple of dandelions close to them.

Kim turned to Chay, squinting his eyes into the sun, "I feel... it's complicated. I saw how I'd die, but I'm still alive and now I might not even die that way. And all I know is that I don't want to die so soon. I want to spend my whole long life with you. That's all I want."