Later, the two of them lay on their blankets, Hayden resting on Harry's chest who is absently running his fingers up and down his pale arm, both having tossed their jackets to the side.
"How exac'ly are we handlin' this whole mess then?" Harry asks quietly.
Hayden sighs. "Well," he says, "at noon tomorrow we head down to Pirate's Bay."
"Mm-hm."
"Mal and the others will be there with the wand-"
"Which I'm guessin' is a fake, righ'?" Harry asks knowingly.
"Obviously," Hayden tells him. "She and Uma will inevitably take the time to insult each other before they do anything else."
"There's prob'ly gonna be some singin'," Harry says, smirking because he knows Hayden just rolled his eyes even if he can't see it.
"Unfortunately," he agrees. "We will also be there so I can talk to Uma about releasing Ben."
"Which only migh' work," Harry points out.
"Let's hope it does," Hayden tells him as he sits up. Harry follows, grabbing his hand as he does, seemingly reluctant to let go of him now that he's back. Hayden just squeezes lightly, locking their fingers together.
"Wha' do we do if it doesn' work?" he asks curiously.
Hayden looks up at the night sky for a second in thought before shrugging his shoulders. "Sit back and let 'em fight it out?" he suggests. "See who wins and go from there?"
Harry hums thoughtfully. "Simple," he says with a grin, "an' no' a lotta work fer us. I like it."
"Why am I not surprised?" Hayden drawls.
Harry leans in and presses a soft kiss to his lips. "Mm. 'Cause yeh know me so well," he says as he pulls away.
"Guess I do," Hayden murmurs with a small smile before gracefully standing up, grabbing his jacket and dropping Harry's hand as he does. "Come on," he tells him.
Harry rolls to his own feet, sliding his coat on and running a hand through his messy hair. "Where we goin'?" he asks, frowning as Hayden quickly folds up the blankets, shoving them back in the crate and starting towards the ladder down.
"My place," Hayden says with a shrug as he starts to climb down. Harry's eyebrows shoot up as follows him. "Nothing actually happens until tomorrow so we're good for the night," he continues.
"An' yer invitin' me back to yer place fer it?" Harry says as he jumps down the last two rungs, boots landing with a heavy thud on the cracked pavement. He presses one hand to his chest as he turns to face Hayden with a mock serious look. "My, my. How presumpt'ous of yeh," he tells him.
Hayden gives him a look, lips twitching as he tries not to smile. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Hook," he says, turning and starting down the alley. "We're sleeping and that's it."
Harry grins and hurries to catch up with him. He throws one arm around his shoulders, sighing in content when Hayden immediately wraps his own around his waist. "Wha' else am I s'pposed to think when yeh say somethin' like tha'?" he teases.
Hayden rolls his eyes. "Not like it'll be the first time you've stayed the night, Harry."
"Ah, bu' I don' have to stay on the couch this time, do I?" he teases again.
"You will if you keep that up," Hayden says simply. Naturally, that's enough for Harry to be quiet.
They keep walking and it's as they come to Hayden's front gate, passing one last skull and roses tag as they leave the last alleyway, that he finally asks about them.
"Harry?" Hayden says.
"Hm?"
"Why exactly is my symbol painted all over the Isle?" he asks as they pass the statue of Cerberus.
Harry gives it the same appreciative glance he always does as he answers. "I told yeh. The whole Isle's behind yeh. Ev'ryone knows yer the only one tha's been tryin' to change thin's."
Hayden gives him a look as he opens the door, ignoring the creak it gives as the lights come on. "I didn't think you were being literal."
"Well, I was," Harry claims as he flops down on a couch that used to be black velvet but is, at this point, a faded gray color. He kicks his boots up on the scuffed coffee table, sending a slightly mad grin in Hayden's direction. "I gotta say, I'm impressed. I've never seen a buncha villains an' crim'nals agree on somethin' like tha'."
Hayden just rolls his eyes as he sprawls on the other end of the couch, throwing his legs over Harry's who wraps a hand around one of his ankles without protest.
"Yeh really think yeh can change Uma's mind?" Harry asks after a few moments of silence.
"Yeah," Hayden answers honestly. "I think I can. I think I've gotta way for everything to work out and everyone to be happy."
Harry looks skeptical. "Ev'ryone?"
Hayden sends him a smirk. "Well, maybe not the royal council but I don't really care about them, so..."
Harry laughs at that and Hayden just smiles at him.
"Tell me a story," he tells him. "I've been so busy the last six months I've hardly been able to pick up a book."
Harry smiles. "I ever tell yeh 'bout the curse of the Black Pearl?" he asks. Hayden shakes his head, getting comfortable as Harry starts to spin a tale of undead pirates and ancient Aztec gold.
When he wakes up, Hayden immediately notices that they're both still on his couch. His legs are still laying over Harry's and the pirate still has one hand around his ankle, the other hanging off the couch's arm.
He turns as much as he can to not disturb him and looks at the cracked face of the clock on the wall. When he sees the time, all thoughts of not waking Harry up fly out the window.
"Harry," he calls, kicking him gently with one foot. When that doesn't do anything more than earn him a few mutters in what is either his thickest and most indecipherable accent or just half-asleep nonsense, he kicks a little harder. "Harry!"
"Wha'?" Harry grumbles, rubbing at his eyes and, somehow, not even messing up his liner.
"We fell asleep," Hayden explains. "We've got about an hour before we have to be at Pirate's Bay."
Harry groans in annoyance. "Firs' of all, tha' means I could've slep' longer. Second of all," he looks at him with wide eyes, "I still ended up sleepin' on the couch?"
Hayden laughs at his distress. "I did too," he points out. "You'll get over it." Harry just groans again. "Come on," Hayden tells him. "We better get going."
Harry frowns in confusion as he watches him get up and walk towards the door. "I though' we had an hour?"
"We do," he says. He looks back and sends him a smirk. "The bay's on the other side of the island and I figure we'll probably end up making a few stops before we actually get there."
Harry looks at him in confusion for a second before his eyes widen in understanding. He hops off the couch with a grin, quick to follow his godling out the door.
They finally make it to Pirate's Bay in just over an hour. They weave easily through the crowds of pirates and sailors. The way people move out of their way seems to indicate that the whole island knows something is going down today.
They're almost at the actual docks when they hear something that makes them pause.
"Is that...?" Hayden starts to ask.
Harry grins at him. "Sounds like it," he answers, amused at the way he immediately rolls his eyes. "Called it," he adds, sounding smug.
"No," Hayden calls loudly as he and Harry step on the dock, one level above everybody else. "No songs," he adds firmly, pleased when the sourceless music stops.
"Hey, it's Hayden!" Gil exclaims with a bright grin from the ship's rigging.
Uma laughs a little as she sees him. "So, you really are back," she says with a smile. "How you been, boy?"
"Stuck in the land of sunshine arguing with hypocrites," he drawls. "How do you think?"
"You're late," Mal tells him as he walks down to her dock, Harry right beside him.
Hayden glances over at Harry, taking in the messier than usual hair and knowing that his is probably in a similar state. "I, uh, got distracted," he explains.
They keep moving past her and the others, who all (except Lonnie who is both confused and, for whatever reason, there) give him very knowing looks, down to Uma's ship. Harry tosses an arm around his shoulders as they go, a proud grin on his face that Hayden pointedly ignores.
Uma snorts as she sees it. "I'll say you did," she says as they come to a stop in front of her. "Took you two long enough."
"Aye," Harry agrees. "Tha' it did."
Hayden looks over at the ship's main mast where he can see Ben, dressed in Isle-worthy leather, tied up. "Not bad," he compliments. "How long's he been there?"
Uma glances at the captured king with a shrug. "Little over an hour," she says. "We had him in the brig before." She looks at Harry. "Your boy enjoyed that before he ran off to find you," she adds.
Hayden looks at him with one eyebrow raised. "Harry, were you threatening the king?" he asks in amusement.
Harry holds up two fingers with less than an inch of space between them. "Jus' a wee bit," he says, completely unashamed.
"Hello!" Mal interrupts. They all look over at her. "Hayden, you're here for a reason," she reminds him.
Uma laughs in understanding. "They got you to come talk to me?"
"They did, yeah."
She raises one eyebrow and sends another look over at Mal. "And I'm guessing that's a phony wand?" she asks.
"It is, yeah."
"I told you she'd notice," Evie tells Mal.
Mal shushes her. "I had to try," she mutters.
Uma sends Mal a mocking look for her failed plan then sighs and looks straight at Hayden. "I'm guessing you've also got a plan for all," she waves her hand to gesture at roughly everything around her, "this?"
"I do, yeah," Hayden says with a smirk.
There's a long moment of tense silence.
"Alright," she says, one hand on her hip and sword in the other. "We can talk in my cabin. Let me just get the king," she sneers the word, "over there."
Hayden turns back to the others. "We're gonna have a little talk," he says, gesturing over his shoulder toward the captain's cabin. "If all goes well, Ben walks out on his own," he adds.
"Wha' are we s'pposed to do in the meantime?" Harry asks, pouting as Hayden steps away from him.
Uma and Mal lock eyes and nod in apparent agreement. Hayden smirks as he figures out exactly what they just agreed on.
"You guys can still fight," Hayden says, loud enough for everybody to here. "You've got until our little conversation is done."
"No maiming," Uma orders her crew as she unties Ben and escorts him to her cabin.
"Have fun," Hayden calls as he follows the two of them, fighting back a smile when Harry immediately pulls his sword and sends him a wink before jumping into the fray.