Holding a sword was harder than you remembered.
Your father kept a sharp rapier on his wall as a toast to his glory days in the navy. Jimin’s sword was incredibly similar, which made you comfortable andn nostalgic. It was almost as if you were a five-year-old girl again, your father telling you how to parry and strike with a laugh on his face, proud of his only daughter being as tough as the men of his ship.
Only you weren’t on his ship.
And you weren't as tough as you thought.
And Jimin was anything but proud of you.
“I suppose I shouldn’t have expected you to be naturally talented in this field,” he said, half to himself. “You’ve probably never lifted your arm longer than it takes to wave for a maid.”
You gritted your teeth. “You certainly have a lot of opinions.”
“Am I wrong?”
Your eyes dropped to the ground as you tried to catch your breath.
“All you taught me was how to hold a sword and wave it around in the air,” you threw back, changing the subject. “You taught me nothing useful at all.”
“Holding it in the air and waving it around is the basic use of a sword, you know.”
He smirked at you. You frowned.
“Forget it," you finally replied. "If you’re just going to insult me, I don’t need your instruction.”
You threw the sword at his feet and crossed your sore arms. He slipped a foot under the sword, bouncing it up in the air and catching it. He leaned it up against the wall and walked back towards you.
“You’ll take my instruction,” he commanded, “because I might not be able to save you when things go south.”
“Then make sure nothing goes south,” you replied shrugging.
You and Jimin shared a brief smile.
Suddenly the ship lurched to the side, knocking you both off your feet. You flew onto Jimin’s bed, and he stumbled forward, landing on top of you. You instinctively shut your eyes as the ship rebalanced itself, Jimin pinning you against the bed to keep you from sliding.
When it had calmed, you opened your eyes and huffed out a shaky breath, realizing how close he was to your face.
You gave a charming smile.
“Perhaps this was all a ruse to get me alone?” you asked, raising your voice slightly to make it sound more innocent despite the content of your words.
He gave a hungry smirk in return, resting his hands against your waist. You tried not to jump, confused from his reaction.
He leaned down to your ear. “Trust me, if I had wanted you in my bed… you’d have been there already.”
You swallowed, heart racing. “Such nerve. I'd expect this from Jungkook, not you."
He leaned back, that hungry glint now completely gone and replaced with a solemn frown. "That's right. You sleep in his bed, don't you?"
You tsked. "The monster makes me sleep on the floor. Then he purposely sticks his foot in my face to wake me up in the morning."
Jimin snorted, trying to press his lips together to swallow his smile.
"He's probably waiting for you," Jimin finally said, getting back to his feet and adjusting his shirt. "And the storm is coming. You should get back to your room."
You sat up, chewing your lip. “Can’t I just --”
“No," he replied all too quickly. He paused, sucking his lip for a second and shaking his head. "What I mean is… I …"
He trailed off, looking completely lost at how to answer. You sighed, sliding off the bed.
"I understand. I'll go back." You gave a slight curtsey before going to the door. "Thank you for the lesson."
"Y/N, wait."
You turned towards him. He avoided your eyes for a minute before speaking.
"If… if my brother tries anything, please inform me."
"Tries…?"
He narrowed his eyes and you caught his meaning.
"And come back tomorrow," he continued. "I still have a lot to teach you."
"Can you teach me how to get back at your brother for the beer stains in my dress?"
His lips pulled to the side. "It'll be our first lesson."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The wind hit hard against your face as you went back up the deck. Men were yelling to each other as they went from one side of the ship to the other. Your nerves shook as you watched them. Was the storm going to be bad? Could the ship topple over? Could you survive in the ocean?
You went through a thousand scenarios in your head, unsettled by each and every possible outcome. You ran to your room, shutting the door behind you with a slam.
Then you remembered why you had wanted to stay in Jimin’s room in the first place.
Jungkook looked up from his desk, looking at you through thin glasses. He took them off and threw them on the desk on top of his papers, leaning back in the chair to analyze you. You glared back.
“You’re late,” he said.
“I didn’t realize I had a curfew.”
“You got better places to be?”
“Anywhere away from you is fine by me.”
He stood from his desk, moving in to meet you. You took a few steps back to maintain space.
“I wonder if Jimin knows a way to silence you until the next full moon,” he said, smirking.
You glared at him, not answering. Truth was, you were pretty sure if Jimin knew a way, he would have used it on someone already.
Jungkook got further in your space, eyebrows matting as he looked at your face.
“What?” you asked shoving him back.
“Where were you? And why are you sweating?”
You didn't want to tell him about the sword training. He would probably ask you to demonstrate something.
“Shouldn’t you be out on the deck with the others, Captain?” you asked instead.
"My men don’t need me for a pithy drizzle. We’re not in any real danger.”
The ship lurched sideways again, knocking you to the floor. Jungkook stood above you, raising an eyebrow.
“You’re quite unbalanced,” he commented.
You tried to get back to your feet, but your ankle folded under you, shooting pain into your leg. It wasn’t half as painful as your embarassment. You smelled like beer and kitchen smoke, your hair was sticky, and your dress was starting to tear. You put your finger through one of the holes in your dress, cursing yourself for not selling all your clothes to help your father.
You were useless and unskilled, and could do nothing for yourself or your family.
It was the worst time to realize it.
“Are you just going to stay down there?” Jungkook teased above you.
You bit hard on your lip, trying to hold back your tears. He couldn’t see you cry. That was the last thing he could do.
He grabbed your arm and pulled you up to your feet, but you dropped your head down so he couldn’t see your eyes. It didn’t last long. He reached over and turned your chin up to face him. You couldn’t see his expression through your tears, but you felt his hand soften against your jaw before it dropped.
“These clothes are terrible for working in, aren’t they?” he asked, his voice soft.
Before you could answer, he stepped away to a chest in the corner, opening it and pulling out a large navy blue dress shirt, a belt, and some slacks. He handed them to you.
“They’re not the latest fashion,” he said, “but they’re clean, anyways.”
He held your gaze, the whites of his eyes soft and innocent. He did nothing but breathe as you reached out for them, your fingers grazing his as you took them.
“Thank you,” you whispered.
He nodded. “Happy birthday.”
You burst into laughter, the irony and idiocy hitting you funny. When you kept laughing, he laughed with you, like a boy instead of the fearful captain of the ship.
A terrible rumble ripped through your chest and made the windows shudder. You yelped, dropping the clothes in your hands and jumping into Jungkook’s arms. He scoffed, but you felt one strong arm wrap around you.
“It’s just thunder, Princess Blood.”
You wanted to let go out of pride, but you couldn’t.
“I’ve never been on sea during a storm,” you said. “Are we going to be okay?”
“No one dies on my ship.”
“What if we get thrown off?”
“I’ll come get you.”
You leaned back, looking into his eyes. He was smirking like a boy who liked to pull girls' pigtails and show them worms... but the way his arms were wrapped around your waist was anything but boyish.
“We still need to cut you open, right?” he added.
You shoved him away, remembering yourself. You looked down at your arm.
“I’m not going to kill you, you know,” he said. “It’s just a cut.”
“What are you going to do with this stone of yours once you find it?”
He shrugged. “Get a lot of money.”
Your mouth gaped open. “You’re using me for a get rich quick scheme?”
“Hey, I wouldn’t call it quick,” he returned. “First I had to get a crew, then I had to steal a ship, and then I had to find the decendant of one of the guardians of the king and kidnap her… I’ve been busy. This has been a lot of work.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“You’re high maintenance. We’re even.”
“I’m high maintenance? You’re the one --”
Thunder boomed again, sending you to your ankles. You held your arms above your head, as if you were under attack. You heard Jungkook snort and laugh over you.
“I guess there’s no other option,” he muttered above you. “I’m going to have to keep you close to me tonight.”