This story...Has recently become my obsession. I love it now. I wrote it for about two hours one weekend and then left it for who-knows-how long. Just the other day, however, the perfect plot leapt into my mind. Thus, I have picked it up again. This is an alternate universe in which the second movie doesn't exist. Ejoy. Rated for Will/Jack smut coming up in the future.

What A Kiss Is

Will,

I wish to be saying a goodbye, one which could not be said before the likes of Elizabeth. I shall be waiting for you on the north beach. Come before noon, if you wish to come at all.

Captain Jack Sparrow.

P.S. Don't tell Elizabeth.

Will Turner looked down at the note that had been nailed to his door that morning and sighed.

"What do you want now, Jack?" He whispered into the gloom of his smithy.

He absently dropped the note on the table and set about making ready for his trip.

"Why are you still here, Jack?" Will shouted, giving the man sleeping against the trunk of the tree a few spare moments to wake up.

"Wah." Jack shot to his feet, looking slightly woozier than usual. "What do ye mean, why am I still here? I said to be coming a'fore noon, and it's still a'fore noon, is it not?" Jack looked up at the sky, squinting in the light.

"I meant, why are you still in Port Royal? Norrington is looking for you. You should be clear on the other side of the Spanish Main by now." Will crossed his arms over his chest, frowning deeply.

"Ah, but that's what the Commodore would be expecting, now wouldn't it? He'd never think the Pearl was hiding right under his nose, as it were." The pirate grinned, looking rather proud of himself.

Will sighed, knowing full well that his efforts at making Jack Sparrow see sense were more than useless.

"Fine then. What did you want to talk to me about?"

Jack paused, staring at him for what probably constituted as the longest moment of Will's entire life. Jack's dark eyes gazed deeply into his own, freezing him where he stood. Suddenly, the older man sprang to life, wrapping his arms around the smith's neck and drawing him into a deep, almost violently passionate, kiss.

When the pirate released him, Will was quite literally breathless. He couldn't seem to get his head wrapped around what had just happened. He stood there, gapping like an idiot, while Jack waited patiently for his brain to start working again.

"Uh…" Will blinked, swallowing hard. "What the hell was that?"

"Well, young Mr. Turner, that was a kiss. You see, it is something people do when-"

Will cut him off, not really wanting to hear the rest of it.

"I know what a kiss is!" Will snapped. "Why are you kissing me?"

Jack seemed somewhat taken back. The older man cocked his head to the side, as if contemplating the answer to Will's question.

"Isn't it obvious?" He finally answered. "I luv you. I luved your father a'fore you, but I do believe I luv you even more than I luved him. That is somewhat debatable, however, seeing as how it's been ten years since I last saw your dear ol' dad, and my memory isn't what it used to be."

Will simply stood there, unable to speak. When it became abundantly clear that Will wasn't going to respond, Jack continued.

"Still, there's no need to be feelin' any kind of distress. You are your father's son, through and through. He would have nothin' of me, and I fully expect the same of you. All your father needed was his wife an' his child, and all you're needing in your Miss Elizabeth. I respect that, and I won't be forcing my attentions upon you. I jus' wanted you to know, a'fore we part ways for good."

Will struggled to find words, any words, to fill the empty silence that fell between them. Jack waited and Jack waited and Jack waited, and still, Will remained silent. Finally, with a mumbled farewell, Jack turned and walked off to his rowboat, the usual flair notably missing from his step. Jack's rowboat was pulled up onto the waiting Pearl, and the dark figure of the pirate made his way to his customary spot upon the helm.

Will stood upon the shore, watching the Pearl make ready to sail.

It wasn't until the ship was a distant speck on the horizon that the words he had so dearly wanted to say came to his lips.