A Pirate's Life For Me

Chapter Two; Twit

Alfred had been on the ship for the last 30 minutes, peacefully chatting with the boy, Peter. Well, peaceful wasn't quite the word. More like Alfred was too scared to say anything bad to Peter because of his looming uncle behind him.

     Arthur had been watching the two talk and play the entire time, and it made Alfred shiver whenever he felt Arthur's glare into the back of his head. If his glare could kill—which it might—he would be well over six feet under. Alfred wanted to look over his shoulder to look at the older man, but didn't in fear of having to look him in the eyes. Instead, he simply attempted to converse with his new friends.

"Uh, um.." He trailed off, not sure what to say because of his friendless life on the streets. "W-What's it like? Being a pirate, I mean."

"Oh, it's great!" Peter exclaimed happily as he clapped, his eyes filled with excitement. "I get to see all sorts of great things! Like new lands and people! Sometimes, there's even some new food to eat or never-before explored lands!" Peter laughed happily before smiling even brighter, looking past Alfred and towards something else. "And it's all because of my uncle!"

Alfred turned his head, his blue eyes instantly clashing with Arthur's own green ones. Alfred flinched away and quickly turned back to Peter, but was stopped by the captain himself.

"Peter? Why don't you go see when dinner will be done?" Arthur questioned, still glaring at Alfred. "Take the long way too, would ya'?" Peter smiled at his Uncle before nodding innocently and skipping out of the room.

'No..!' Alfred's mind whined quietly, watching his only chance of escaping, ironically, escaping his grasp. 'Come back, escape route!' He sighed as the door slammed shut and flinched at the sound it made. He slowly and hesitantly turned to Arthur, and flinched away as he looked at him.

"Why are you here? And don't lie, I know if you will." Arthur said with a suspicious glare. "And while you're at it, sit across from me so I don't have to look down at you the entire time. Something tells me this is going to take along time, am I right?"

As Alfred stood and walked towards the dark wooden desk, he shrugged. Not thinking much of it, he walked past Arthur. He was walking fine, until a hand grabbed the back of his torn, dirty shirt and pulled him back.

"When I ask a question, I expect a verbal answer. You hear me, you twit?" Arthur growled with a glare. Alfred nodded shakily at the scary man, causing him to be dropped. Alfred looked up at Arthur, but all the older man did was nod towards the chair in front of him. Alfred took that as a sign to sit in the uncomfortable-looking chair, and sighed in relief when he wasn't wrong.

"First, what's your name, kid?" Arthur asked. The beginning of a long interrogation, Alfred could tell.

"Alfred, Alfred F. Jones." The boy replied.

"What's the 'F' stand for?"

"No idea, Captain."

Arthur hummed in thought, bringing a hand up to rub his stubble in thought before continuing. "Age?"

"Eight. The same age as Peter."

"You think I don't know my own nephew's age?" Arthur questioned with a small but harsh glare.

"N-No, Captain. I was just saying—" Alfred was cut off.

"Yes. You were saying, not thinking. That's gonna be a problem."

"What do you mean—" He was cut off again.

"Anyways. Why were you on my ship?"

"I-I was told by the older man to steal some treasure. But, I swear I wasn't really going to!"

"Uh-huh. Sure." Arthur replied sarcastically. "Anyways. Can you fight?"

"I've lived on the street all of my life, Captain."

"That doesn't answer my question, boy." Arthur sneered with another glare.

"...No," Alfred answered hesitantly, looking down shamefully.

"That's also going to be a problem. But no bother, I'll get that fixed soon enough."

"What does that mean? What do you have planned for me?" Alfred snapped in annoyance before his eyes widened. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"Then next time, don't do it." Arthur snapped back, using the same tone Alfred had used. "And I was just about to tell you, you twit—"

"What's that mean? Twit." Alfred said the word slowly and dragged it. "It sounds weird. Like a type of bird or something.." He trailed off, looking at the wooden ceiling of the boat.

"Is this seriously what's goes through your head?" Arthur said in a slightly shocked tone. "I'm about to tell you about what I'd been talking about the whole time, and you're there asking what a twit is." He paused to look at Alfred for a second before shaking his head. "And by the way, you're a twit."

"You've already said that, a lot. But that doesn't tell me what a twit is, you twit." Alfred huffed back with a small glare, his hair falling into his eyes as he spoke.

"I'm not a twit, you are!" Arthur snapped back with a harsh glare. "Stop saying thing you don't understand!

"Then tell me what it means!" Alfred glared back. "Then I won't have to use words I don't understand!" It was silent for a moment before Arthur glared heavily at Alfred. 'If he was anymore angry,' Alfred thought, wanting to smile. 'He might even have smoke coming out of his ears.'

"Why am I arguing with you? We have things to get to that don't involve the word twit." He paused to think about what he said. "Well, maybe a little bit for when I call you a twit. But only I can say it, so ha!" He said with a triumphant grin, surprising Alfred greatly.

"Anyway," He continued. "You've snuck your way onto my ship, gotten into my office, and befriended my nephew in less than," He checked his watch before looking up. "An hour. You did all of that in less than sixty minutes."

Alfred looked to the side to the pirate-like directions on the darkly colored wall. "I said sorry..."

"I know you did, and that gives you something the other men on my ship don't have." Arthur said with a small smile that he disposed of when Alfred turned his head towards him. Alfred tilted his head in confusion as Arthur moved and knelt down in front of him. He tapped where the younger boy's heart was, beating at a fast pace to keep him living and breathing. "You, my friend, have heart. And that is something those men will never have. I'm letting you join my crew. Welcome aboard, Alfred."