They did end up giving you a hammock (likely at Tubbo's insistence). It was with the rest of the crew's sleeping arrangements in the belly of the ship. The cabins back on the Knave had been organized to a tee; here a cacophony of hammocks and sleeping mats were strewn about, and everyone's things were all mixed together but no one seemed to mind. There was something strangely homey about it.
The hammock they gave you was right next to Tubbos (which he was excited about) and when it was time to turn in had clambered into his little cocoon, reaching into the depths of blankets to pull out a little stuffed animal and show you. His bee.
It was ragged, and had very obviously once lived a previous life as a striped sock but you had to admit that whoever had made it had done a decent job. Little buttons had been added for eyes, and the wings were made of strips of white fabric attached to the back. It was Tubbo's most favorite thing on the whole ship (which was impressive, because the amount of stolen trasure on this ship was enormous) and he kept it tucked away in his hammock so it wouldn't get lost.
Sleeping in a hammock was much better than sleeping on the floor. You were out in a matter of minutes, and when you woke up the next morning, you didn't even have any bruises from rolling into walls.
And so it went. You spent your days at Gemma's side, just doing whatever you were asked and making small talk as you went. The mornings was when you did the most of your work - helping Gemma with her duties as a first mate wasn't too hard though, and you came to recognize most of the other crew members.
It was in the afternoons and evenings that you had the most fun though - sometime around midday Tubbo would usually come around and steal you from Gemma, begging her to let you come play some game or see something on the ship or climb up to the crows nest and lift him up so he could see over the edge of the railing. You were always willing to let Tubbo drag you around - it was a little sad that an eight year old had become your best friend as of recent, but he was just too cute.
It was about three days of this routine before you had found out Tubbo couldn't read.
You had been drawing on a napkin while he watched - sketching out the three masts of the Ghost and the gentle slope of the bow. You had just finished the ram's head that kept a lookout from the front of the boat and scrawled the name over the top of the drawing when Tubbo looked at your curiously. "What's that bit?"
You glanced up at him. "What bit?"
Tubbo reached forward across the table you were sat at pointing to the words you had written on the top of the napkin.
"That's the name of the ship Tubbo - surely you've seen that before?" You asked.
Tubbo blinked down at the words again, squinting like he was trying to remember if he had ever seen the words before. He looked genuinely confused and you couldn't help but ask - "Tubbo, do you know how to read?"
"No." Tubbo said.
You couldn't help but laugh at how plainly he said it, and he began to giggle as well, just looking at you. It made sense though - from what you understood, he had been raised entirely on this boat, by this same crew for his whole life. You could see that most of the crew couldn't read - excluding Puffy and Gemma and possibly this one man Ajax who seemed too smart to have been a pirate his whole life - so it wasn't far-fetched that Tubbo wouldn't be able to either.
What with captaining a ship, Puffy probably wouldn't have time to sit down and teach him.
"Can you read?" Tubbo asked.
You nodded. "I can." You said. "My mother taught me when I was about your age, I think."
Tubbo's eyes widened. "You can read?"
You laughed again - it seemed like something so trivial to you, but he seemed absolutely floored that you could read. "Well, yes." You said. "It's a requirement to be in the king's army, since a lot of the orders we get from the crown are in messages-"
"Teach me please?" Tubbo cut you off, little hands reaching out to grab one of your hands and clutch onto your fingers. He looked so excited all of a sudden and you grinned, freeing your hand to reach over and ruffle his hair.
"I suppose, if you wanted." You said. "It's not too easy though Tubbo, and it takes some work-"
"But I'll be able to read those books that Mum likes!" He said, grinning. "And I can look at the maps that we have, and I'll be able to read the songs that Aunt Gemma writes sometimes!"
You thought about it for a moment - you had never really tried to teach someone to read before, but since you yourself knew how to read, you supposed you could do it. And it wasn't like you were doing much else in the afternoons anyway - there was only so many times you could deliberately let Tubbo win at checkers before he caught on. Plus, he seemed so excited about it.
"I'll teach you how to read if you really want, Tubbo." You said.
Tubbo grinned, scooting away from the table and running around the edge of the table to clutch around your middle, pressing his head into your stomach. The points of his horns dug into your skin a little, but you didn't mind, because you could feel him giggling as he hugged you - you had never seen a child so excited to learn.
Although, when he had never been given the opportunity to before, you couldn't blame him.