The Hunter and the Pirate (Pirate!England x Reader)

...Before They Get Worse

"Man, I thought you guys would take forever!" Allistor yells, delight written all over his face.

"Allistor, get out of my cabin!"

Arthur runs from you again as he chases Allistor out of the doorway, Allistor cackling the entire time. You grin, feeling a lot like one of those village girls back home. It would be a completely different adventure than your normal pirate-hunting ventures.

And you were ready.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The last month before you docked flew by quickly. You got to know Arthur more, and the two of you grew even closer together. You also got to know the rest of Arthur's crew.

There was Kiku Honda, the first mate and also the man who had spoken to you when you first were taken captive. He was nice and all, but you got the feeling he was always watching with overly-keen eyes whenever you and Arthur spent time with each other.

There was also Ludwig Beilschmidt, the second mate. He was a tall, strict blonde of German descent. You appreciated the level of control he maintained on the ship and liked to think that same level of control had been present on your late ship, but with Albert and Gilbert as your first and second mates, it was probably less orderly than you would have preferred.

There were also a pair of... interesting twins. The Vargas brothers were very charming, but they were a bit much at times. You just made a note to yourself to never give them sugar.

Finally, there was a Matthew Williams. You were most interested in him because of his striking resemblance to Alfred. You mentioned this in passing to Arthur once, and he merely said that "it was Matthew's story to tell, not mine." Now you were curious.

You and Arthur are playing a light game of cards (where cheating runs rampant) when land is sighted by the nice Vargas brother. A cloud comes over Arthur's cheery disposition, and you notice immediately.

"Arthur? What's up?"

"Ahh, just..." he waves his hand in a "don't worry about it" motion. "Not such a huge fan of England."

You're about to ask why when the realization hits you. You had forgotten Arthur's reputation as a cold-blooded, merciless pirate.

Funny how those things can slip one's mind.

He shifts the cards around in his hand and discards one. You react accordingly, now deep in thought.

"You know, we're going to be going to a rather large hub of activity," Arthur says absentmindedly. You hum in acknowledgment, deciding which card to lay down next; Kiku had clued you in earlier.

"And you know, there's a lot of places where people can... build a life for themselves."

You don't notice Arthur's gaze resting on you. All you can think about is how you're so going to back him into a corner in just a couple of moves.

"[F/n]..."

You finally look up at him, hand hovering over the winning card.

"Yeah?" you ask questioningly. Inside you're panicking. What if he asked for your opinion on something? You hadn't exactly been... listening.

"You don't have to stay with me, if you don't want," he says quickly but firmly, almost as if he's expecting the worst answer imaginable.

You study him for a long moment before chucking the card at his face.

"Stupid," you say with a small grin. Arthur looks elated.

"Captain, we are nearing the dock," Kiku says, walking over to your game. Arthur nods and stands up, if a bit reluctantly.