Yes sir, Captain (Completed with trailer) [ReaderxPirate]

Chapter 8

As the sun set, a chilly breeze blew by.

"You know, if you want to wait to see the stars with me, I'll show you how to use the sextant."

Uhh... A sex-what?? "W-W-What?"

"A sextant. You use it to map the stars. What's that look for?"

"Nothing," you said quickly, and the two of you looked back at the sea.

There was a pause.

"It's a bit chilly out. Are you sure you don't want to sleep in the bunkers?" the Captain asked, leaning on the railing, turned out and looking across the vast waters.

"I'm sure." You said, a few feet away from him on the deck, leaning against the railing too. 

You'd tried sleeping in the kitchen before. Or some of the other rooms...but all they did was block the wind. The bunkers were only warm because of the amounting smelly pirate body heat. The only room on the ship with significant cold-stopping insulation was the Captain's cabin. The Mapping room's door (you weren't allowed in there anyways, though) still had major gaps in it and holes along the door and some of the walls.

He turned around and leaned backwards against the railing to look at you. "Well, you'll want to be out of the wind, at least. But it'll still be really cold. I don't know how you'd take to the offer, but we might have a prisoner's level in the Bilge rat if you want to try your luck there."

"What's the Bilge rat?"

"The bottom level of the ship."

"And...you want me to sleep in the prison?"

"No, I would never make you sleep in a prison, my dear. I mean if...only if you want to...I did promise my crew I'd never ever take slaves or prisoners. So the ship still has that empty bottom level."

"But what if it floods?"

"Well, with the wind, you never know if there's a possibility of a storm, and storms usually flood the bottom level, so you'd...possibly drown."

"So...thanks but no thanks to the prisoner's level."

"Right...of course...but if you want, you can..." he took a second to gather his confidence, "...sleep on my floor? I can't think of anywhere else." Oh, so that's why you awkwardly started off with a suggestion of the bilge rat. You want me to sleep in your cabin.

A suspicious smile grew on your face, and you turned from the horizon to look at him. "Captain, do you actually care if I freeze to death tonight?"

He raised his eyebrows and paused before answering. "Anika, I paid a lot of gold for you," he said. "Of course I do."

Yep, and that's why. Cause he bought me as a slave. Moment broken. "But if I actually...say I actually did sleep on your floor, this...would be totally separate, right?"

"Of course."

"Well...what would the crew think?"

"That you don't want to sleep in the bunkers and yet need somewhere warm to sleep for the night, and that I'd never accept a cabin slave, so I'd never touch you either."

"Oh." The thought of sleeping somewhere warm that didn't smell like the bunkers was tempting, welcoming. "Well, alright. You know, separate."

"We've already established that."

You nodded in agreement.

"You do know that I'd never make you let me touch you, right?" he asked you carefully.

"I..." You hadn't actually known that. Both times he'd ordered you to his cabin you were afraid he'd...yeah.

He looked reproachful, concerned, that you hadn't realized that already. "Anika...I would never hurt you, in any way, shape, or form, alright?"

You nodded slowly, learning this for the first time.

He sighed. "I didn't buy you for bragging rights that I had the Princess of Etholira scrub my deck. I bought you–"

"For favors, right?" you interrupted. "Your crew says you deal in favors. So you bought me so I'd owe you a favor."

He paused. "Favors. Right." He gave you a short strained smile and pushed away from the railing, walking off to his cabin.

.

~ ~ ~

.

You knocked on his door a few thoughtful minutes later, which was returned by a sleepy, "What do you want?!" from the Captain.

"Umm, hello?" you said cautiously. Was he mad? "It's me."

"Oh, it's you. Come in." Nope, just sleepy. And maybe a bit...tired-grumpy.

When you walked in, he was already mostly asleep, in only his pants, on his cot under a blanket.

He looked at you like a grumpy teenager who just got woken early on a Saturday, not the carefully-contained Captain from day two. "You didn't have to knock."

"Sorry, sir." Well of course I'm going to knock, this is your cabin.

He sighed. You looked at him strangely. "What?" he asked nervously. "Why are you looking at me like that?

"Sorry...Captain. I've...only ever seen you in your captain's robes."

"Yeah," he said sleepily, smearing his face with his hand. "There's a few blankets in the corner." He yawned. "G'night, or as my crew says, may fair dreams attend you, beauty."

You awkwardly lay down in your clothes on his floor with one blanket under you, one over you, and using one as a pillow.

You felt a bit self-conscious being in the same room with him, alone, at night...but he clearly didn't, and went straight to sleep. He was snoring within minutes.

Well then. So that was his personal life. Yep, the Captain was a real person with a real life.

But you kind of wished you had much of a life right then too.