Iguanatopia - ONC 2021 (Completed)

Bonustopia 1: Pedro/Joe

Author's Note: This is just a little scene taking place while still on Iguanatopia. Because Pedro/Joe-shippers might feel like they missed out on how that relationship actually became official.

Pedro Mendoza had lived through a lot of dangers during the twenty-or-so years he had spent on the seven seas. Swashbuckling sword fights. Cannonball fire. A roaring kraken. A sharp-nosed swordfish. A deranged walrus. Oh, wait... those were the stories he told his fellow pirates of how he lost his leg.

There were other stories, of other dangers, that he didn't tell anyone though. Stories of merciless bullying and name-calling from other children because of his birth deformity. Stories of hobbling along on the cobblestones of the city as a young boy with a pegleg, trying to avoid his tormentors, even though he knew they were faster than him. Stories of cautiously walking down to the harbor, into hidden nooks and crannies where the pirates dwelled, in the hopes of finding a place where he could belong.

But despite all those things he had lived through, and the things he hadn't, Pedro had never been as scared as in that very moment. His stomach twisted, his limbs shook, and his mouth was dry.

The sun had set hours ago, soon it would rise again in purple, pink, and orange. Only embers remained of the fire in front of him. His fellow pirates laid asleep around it, cozied up together in the soft sand. The iguanas, capybaras, and turtles had tucked in for the night as well, some of them snuggled up next to humans and some entangled with each other. Soft snores rang all around him, from both animal- and humankind.

Yet, Pedro was still awake. And so was Joe beside him. Their hands were still interlaced. He wasn't even sure how that had happened, but he didn't want it to end. Instead, he wanted more. What, he didn't quite know, but he knew he wanted it.

His hand did a little circle over Joe's thumb, calling attention to their current entanglement. This made Joe look over, dirty blond stripes over hair hung down over his blue eyes. Blue like the ocean when it was calm and still. Joe had pretty eyes. Pedro had just never noticed it before. He hadn't dared to.

"We should tuck in as well..." Joe said, with a curious glare in his eyes.

"We should..." Pedro agreed in a hesitant tone. "But..."

"But what?" Joe's voice had an undertone of something else. A challenge. To perhaps step over the line their hands were currently straddling.

"But... I was waiting for you to..." The words trailed off. Too frightening if they were spoken out loud.

"For me to do what?" Joe's eyes glinted with mischief and desire. They both knew what they spoke of and they both knew they wanted it. They just had to take the step into the unknown waters together. To make reality out of unspoken and unacted desires.

"Just come here..." Pedro mumbled and lifted his hand, the one not wrapped around Joe's, from the sand and untoward a scraggly beard and enticing lips. He pulled himself toward the other man, feeling like he was about to wrestle a tiger. Scary, but also making him feel so alive.

The world stood still around them as they inched closer and closer together. Their eyes met again when only inches remained and their eyes told the story their lips wouldn't. They had both waited all night for the other one to be brave enough to do this. To take the first step. It made Pedro feel proud that he had been the braver one of them. Because no matter what they would be after this night was over, they would probably never stop trying to one-up one another.

Pedro would always be able to tell Joe that he was the one who initiated their first kiss. He could lord that over Joe for all eternity. It was worth more than any captaincy.

All thoughts of winning were vanquished as soon as their lips touched. Light at first, like they didn't quite know where to being, but soon deeper and more rhythmic, like the ocean. They drowned in each and let go of all fears.

As the first rays of sun peeked over the horizon they were still submerged in the waters of romance. Neither of them wanted to get up for air. They were sailors, and the ocean was their home. And from now on they would live there together.

There might be more scenes such as this one to come! And please tell me if you have a request for a specific scene! (I'm thinking they will all be set in the gap between the last chapter and the epilogue, and probably from different POVs than Alba's)