Pairing: Maki x Harua

AU: Pirate captains, enemies with history, reluctant allies

Tropes: Old flames | rivals to lovers (to maybe enemies again) | betrayal that still burns

Tone: Tense, sharp, emotionally loaded, and ready to combust

🌒 PREQUEL: The Night He Took It

Setting: Years before the fire, the betrayal, the split.

The cabin glowed dimly with lanternlight.

Harua was asleep, back to Maki, breathing steady.
His hair a mess against the pillow. His arm slung across the edge of the bed like he was still reaching out even in sleep.

Maki stood at the foot of it, already dressed to leave.

The map was in his coat. The bounty on his head rising by the hour. And the enemies he'd made were closing in—not on him, but on Harua.

That's why he had to go.
That's what he kept telling himself.

But his hands trembled when he reached for the ring.

It lay on the nightstand. Silver. Unpolished. Worn down to the shape of Harua's life.

Maki picked it up.

Held it for a long time.

Then slipped it onto a chain around his neck and whispered—

"I'm sorry."

Not because he wanted to steal it.
But because he didn't know how else to hold onto Harua if he couldn't be beside him.

He didn't take it as a trophy.
He took it as a promise.

"I'll come back when I can deserve you again."

And he left.

🌊 ACT I: Forced Together

The alliance wasn't by choice.

Maki steps onto Harua's ship with a swagger too loud for the silence that greets him. His coat's redder than last time. His smirk's the same.

Harua doesn't smile. Doesn't blink.

"Thought I told you to never step on my deck again."

Maki (grinning): "Thought we were past that, captain. New enemy, remember?"

"I remember," Harua says coldly, "everything."

And he does.

Especially the night Maki left.
Especially the ring missing from his bedside table the next morning.

🔥 ACT II: Old Sparks, New War

Their ships dock side-by-side as the sea war brews.
They fight together. Badly. Loudly.
Too in sync to deny it. Too angry to enjoy it.

"You still lead with your left," Harua mutters after their third skirmish.

"You still correct me like we're on the same crew," Maki fires back.

But when a cannon nearly clips Harua's mast, it's Maki who throws himself into the line of fire to stop it.

"Don't flatter yourself," he says breathlessly afterward. "I need you alive to yell at."

And Harua—he doesn't thank him.
But that night, his fingers find the chain under his shirt again.
The one with the ring. Still warm.

🗡️ ACT III: The Back-to-Back

The final battle comes fast. Too fast.

The sea is a blur of smoke and screams.

And Harua and Maki stand—back to back—swords drawn.

"This is just like that port in Blackhaven," Maki calls out, laughing.

"That was a bar fight. This is a siege."

"Still fun."

"You're insufferable."

"You missed me."

Steel clashes. Blood spills. They cover each other like instinct.
Like they never stopped.

💔 ACT IV: The Fight After

When it's over—when the enemy's gone and the ocean is too quiet—Harua turns.

"Why did you keep it?" he asks.

Maki blinks. "What?"

"The ring. You took it. Never said why. Never gave it back."

"I didn't think you'd want it returned by a traitor."

"I wanted it returned by you."

The wind howls between them.
Salt stings—but not the kind from the sea.

"You left me," Harua says. "I would've burned the world for you, and you left."

"I was trying to save you," Maki snaps. "From me."

They stare at each other, breathing hard, swords still in hand.

Maki steps closer.

"It wasn't just a ring to me."

Harua doesn't back away.

"Then what was it?"

Maki (quietly): "Proof I was yours."

They don't kiss.
Not yet.

But Harua takes the ring back—
And puts it on Maki's hand himself.

"You burn everything you touch," he murmurs.
"So let's start again. And burn the whole damn sea."

⚓ SEQUEL: Co-Captains. Co-Disasters. Co-Everything.

Setting: Present day, aboard the Silver Reign, their shared ship.

The crew's used to it by now.

Harua commands from the left side of the deck.
Maki from the right.

Their orders contradict each other constantly.

Harua: "Lower the sails two degrees starboard."

Maki (two seconds later): "Or—don't. Just let the wind decide!"

Harua: "That's not how physics works."

Maki: "That's not how vibes work."

They argue through storms. They argue over breakfast. They argue during raids.

But the moment a cannon's lit, or a ship draws too close—
They move like one body.

No words. No doubt.

Maki laughs in the face of gunfire.
Harua stands beside him with a blade and a quiet smile that says "try me."

And when it's over, and the crew is cheering, and the deck smells like salt and smoke—

They meet at the helm.

Harua (dry): "Your chaos nearly capsized us."

Maki (grinning): "Your control nearly bored the wind to death."

And then Harua grabs his collar, kisses him hard, and pulls away just as fast.

"Next time, listen when I give an order."

Maki (smirking): "Then make it sound sexier."

💬 Final Line:

The crew rolls their eyes.
The sea rolls beneath them.

And on both their fingers—

The matching rings still shine.