The Rookie Pirates (Parts 1-6)

05. Making Friends

The two redheads at the bar could have been mistaken for siblings. As the night continued, Elena watched the pair talk and argue, make deals, joke, laugh, play drinking games, and get on each other's nerves. They were starting to act like brother and sister.

Jessica's gazed up and down at his steampunk appearance, glancing at the strange mechanical devices; he had gear trains and nuts and bolts attached to his dark leather coat. Under his jacket, he wore a black shirt with a red-and-black striped waistcoat over the top and a pocket watch hidden in his breast pocket. Finally, her eyes landed on his face. He had dirty, unwashed skin, stubble growing across his jawline, a crooked nose - most likely broken from a fist fight- and amber eyes that always looked annoyed with the world. And, interestingly enough, he also had black eyeliner.

"Can I ask you something?" Jessica covered a snicker.

"What?" Kirk grunted as he raised a brow, looking down at Jessica.

He gulped his drink as he waited for her to continue.

"Are you gay?"

Kirk choked on his drink, ale spraying all over Elena. The landlady glared back at Kirk with hawk-like eyes, sending a nervous chill down his back.

Jessica burst out laughing, and Elena murmured something under her breath about pirates having no manners before disappearing to the kitchens.

Kirk glared at Jessica, his throat tightened from her accusation, and his facial muscles strained. The entire bar fell silent, waiting to see how the captain would react. Kirk's face reddened by the second as Jessica's cheeky grin broadened, knowing she had ticked him off.

"Not that there is anything wrong with being gay, but you're taking your time to answer," she continued, teasing him further.

"No, I'm not gay. Why would you think that?"

"Because of all the makeup you wear, and you're the only member of your crew that I haven't seen at the local brothel. I just assumed you liked men."

The girl made Kirk's blood boil.

"Camp Kirk has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

A crew member sat at the bar burst out laughing, and Kirk slammed his face into the countertop, breaking the wood in two. He turned back around to face Jessica, ready to strangle her, but she only dove out of his way.

Not only had Jessica burst out laughing from his reaction, but the entire crew was now laughing at the bar. The girl sure did know how to wind him up and make a fool of him. Jessica had annoyed Kirk to the point that he had unleashed his cursed soul and was making any loose object in the room fly around him. He took his anger out on any shipmates who dared to laugh at him, knocking them unconscious with one blow to the head. He turned back to face Jessica, but she was already lying on the bar floor, rolling around in a fit of laughter.

She was a such an immature child. Kirk shook his head in disgust.

Her childish behaviour only irked Kirk more, and he went on a rampage, destroying everything in his path. He didn't calm down until Cain talked some sense into him, saying that this was the reaction Jessica wanted out of him. Kirk breathed in deeply and sat back down at the bar and looked sharply back at Jessica, still pissed off by her accusation.

"Feeling better after your little temper tantrum?" She smirked.

He growled, ignoring her.

Jessica's face turned bright red as she tried to hold in her laughter. However, now and then, a spurt of laughter escaped her lips, and she would cover her mouth in an attempt to stop herself from falling victim to another laughing fit.