The Pirate And His Sea

Chapter 1

(This is not my chapter and the credit of the characters goes to their respective authors)

Fury was tired. He'd a long day, even by his crazy standards. A total of three cars had blown up, two helicopters had to be pulled from the fleet for repairs that he couldn't remember, a stupid rookie had gotten himself captured in Australia and god knows how much paper work that takes, the Avengers had somehow demolished half a suburb (Stark had suspiciously muttered something about Santa's with rocket launching euphoniums and tequila) and his car had stalled on the way home.

Now, he just wanted to kick back and relax, maybe with some whiskey or beer and a movie or a book. A shower and his couch called for him, along with a good night's sleep. Yes, a good night's sleep sounded great, he thought as he climbed up the stairs to his flat. As he messed with the keys for the door, he inhaled the scent of freshly baked chocolate chip banana muffins, and decided to put off that shower for a few minutes. He knew that the muffins tasted just as divine as they smelled, and their enticing calls were just as loud as that of the couch.

Stepping inside, Nick kicked off his shoes and hung his trench coat on the antique coat rack standing by the door. His shoulder holster went into the small trunk hidden in the wall underneath the hall table, but he kept the gun at his hip to put it in its place in his bedside table. The smell of muffins intensified as he made his way to the kitchen, and the sound of humming accompanied it. Recognizing it as the song 'It's Great to be King' from the Lion King, he leaned in the doorway of the kitchen and watched the cheerful figure who was idling across the tiles.

"You look like you're in a good mood," he said. His lips twitched ever so slightly, coming out of their usual frown that always present at work except for a few choice moments, as he watched the black haired man in front of him jerk at his words. He knew he hadn't really scared him - the man was far too good for that - but he had the habit of subconsciously tuning everything that wasn't a threat out while in the kitchen.

"You look like you're in a pretty crappy one yourself," the man replied sarcastically as he turned to face Nick, his breath-taking green eyes meeting the director's. He vaguely gestured with the glass of what Nick guessed was rum and coke towards the tray of cooling - and blue- muffins on the counter. "Want one?"

Nick rolled his eyes and slid past his friend - no, he was more than that - and grabbed a muffin. Biting into the still warm pastry, he hummed appreciatively as the gooey chocolate and soft spices of cinnamon and banana dough filled mouth. "Why'd you decide to make these?" He asked the man across from him.

He shrugged. "Just felt like it. So, Nickie, just how much shit happened today?" Nick sighed at the nickname but put down his muffin and leaned forward to put his arms around the green-eyed man. Burying his nose into the man's long tanned neck, he inhaled slowly, and replied, "Too much, Percy."

His long-time friend and lover, Perseus ("Call me Percy, dammit!") Jackson, rolled his eyes and put his free arm over Nick's shoulder, the other still harbouring his precious rum and coke. "Yeah, yeah. Let me guess, the lovely Tony Stark was involved somewhere in that shit?" Nick's tired groan was the only answer he needed, and with an exasperated sigh Percy led Nick out of the kitchen and into the living room and sat him down on the couch. Feeling the comfortable leather beneath him, Nick reluctantly let go of Percy and flopped down in a show of unashamed pleasure that he only had alone with Percy. He could hear Percy's footsteps as he left the living room, went into the kitchen, and returned a minute later, only to press a cold beer bottle into his hand and shove his half-finished muffin into his mouth.

Nick bit down on the muffin and popped open the beer bottle with the ever present bottle opener on the coffee table, watching Percy bend over and fiddle with the DVD player, no doubt putting in some random movie. Nick took a moment to enjoy the view Percy's position was giving him - those tight grey jeans hugged just right and left nothing to his imagination (not that he hadn't seen it before, hah) - then took a deep pull from the bottle. God, his boyfriend was the best; a beer, his delicious blue chocolate chip muffins, a movie, and a comfortable couch after a horrible day. What more could he ask for?
Well, he amended, for Stark to stop his bitching and the Avengers to stop blowing stuff up and for people to stop attacking America (was the world too much to ask? Probably.) and for rookies not to be so stupid, and the list went on and on and on... But as his boyfriend, his gorgeous and badass and unbearably awesome boyfriend, settled down on the couch with him, leaning between his legs with his back on Nick's chest and his unruly black hair under his chin, he decided he was pretty happy with this too.

They lay there in content silence for a few minutes, watching the opening to some movie he'd seen a hundred times but Percy was still obsessed about (cough 300 cough) because of its attempt at ancient mythology and history - until Percy began squirming. Biting back a sigh, Nick let him sit up. Staying still wasn't easy for an ADHD, world-saving demigod hero with dyslexia, not that he particularly minded. All those hero aspects made for a nice match with the Director of SHIELD.

"What did you do today, other than bake?" Nick asked after another sip from his beer, watching the characters run about madly on screen distractedly. His boyfriend shrugged and stretched like a cat, his shirt riding up a bit to expose a slice of muscled, tan stomach. Nick watched it shamelessly as his lover spoke, "Mmm, went monster hunting down in L.A. for a bit with Nico, then swung by San Francisco with Blackjack for a few hours. I heard something about the Hunters stopping there through the grapevine, but it was just a dead end." Percy pouted (though he'd never admit it) at the mention of not meeting the elusive Hunters, none of which Nick had been told much about.

"So what did you do to stay there for a few hours?" Nick put his half-empty beer down on the coffee table, taking his hip gun holster off as well, as Percy cracked his neck to get rid of some kink. A smooth expanse of skin flashed teasingly at him from the joint of his neck and shoulder, and Nick swallowed. Percy's answer drifted over his head as he watched his stunning boyfriend shrug. "Played paintball with the party ponies. It was interesting, to say the least."

"I bet it was," Nick murmured, sitting up and shuffling towards Percy, who looked at him for a moment then smirked. He reached out and grabbed the hand Nick offered and let him pull him up from the couch. His beer forgotten and the movie somehow put on mute, Nick decided that that shower could wait a while