#and maybe by then I'll be a bit closer on the pirates au

[theladycarpathia]

Empty Places chapter 2- Cold Spots

Back to chapter 1 

Creel House. Since its creation, this house has attracted bad luck, violence, and murder. A site of great evil? Or just a magnet for coincidences? We’re here to discover the truth, today on Mystery Spot!

“Did that sound cheesy?” Robin complains, twisting her head back to glare at the framed portrait of the Creels, as though they’re the ones responsible for their bad dialogue. “I think that sounded cheesy!” Billy raises an eyebrow and presses pause.

“It sounded cheesy,” he says bluntly. “You sound like an infomercial.” Robin sticks out her tongue and adjusts her beret. It slipped a little during her speech and now threatens to topple off onto the fraying carpet below.

“Fine,” she mutters. “I’ll think of something else. Even Steve’s intro sounded better than that.” Steve looks up from where he's fiddling with the ring light. He’s removed himself from this particular piece of theater as he has no design to stand near that horrible portrait or stare into Billy's eyes. Damnation all round.

“Hey,” he says, mildly offended. “You weren’t around when I was recording that!” 

“It’s an educated guess, your intros are always cheesy,” Robin says and then sighs heavily. “Okay, maybe we should come back to this. You guys want to go have a look around? There’s two more floors above this, including an attic, and I think there’s a basement too.”

Steve makes a face. “I’m not going to the basement,” he says automatically, because he does not care about being seen as a jittery coward, so long as it means he doesn’t have to go to the basement. Basements are notoriously for murder rooms, and dark tunnels, and books covered in skin. No, thank you.

“I’ll take the basement,” Billy says, in a tone that implies that he knows exactly what Steve is doing. They once found a secret room in an old house that Billy had willingly gone into. He either doesn’t believe in squatters hiding in the walls or he’s very, very stupid. “You guys can head upstairs. Meet back in fifteen?” 

Robin grabs her bag from the table, digging for her recorder. “Sounds good. Walkies on?”

“Yes,” Steve says, before Billy can scoff at the idea…again. “It’s an old house, Billy. You could fall through an old piece of floorboard and we might not find you until you’ve bled out. Turn on the damn walkie.” Billy digs out his walkie, clips it to his belt and makes an obvious show of switching it on.

“Happy?” he asks and Steve tries to not let it bother him. Billy’s just like this. Reckless, wild, immortal. Safety precautions are just a joke to him. 

“Ecstatic,” Robin says, dryly. She tucks the recorder into her pocket, along with her walkie, and dumps her bag back down. “Don’t get dead. Let’s go, Harrington.” 

Steve lingers just long enough to watch Billy wander out of the room first, heading for the basement door, before he trails after Robin. He can see by her face that he’s not subtle. 

“Lech,” she hisses, tugging on his arm. The stairs are still pretty fucking incredible, a grand sweeping staircase of some rich, dark wood, carved into delicately sculpted banisters. Steve shrugs.

“He’s a dick but he’s got a great ass,” he says practically. And he would know. He’s the sucker who gets to see the curve of his best friend’s rear in boxers every time he sleeps over, after every basketball game as teenagers, that one time Billy jumped into the lake. 

“I’d agree but my problem is that he has a dick,” Robin says, bounding up the stairs. Steve follows more carefully in her wake, mindful of how the wood creaks under her weight. “You’re on your own there.”

The second floor is pretty much the same as the first. Dusty, empty and abandoned and Steve has to resist the urge to sneeze. Robin drifts into the little girl’s room, looking at the faded pink teddies, the streaks of dust over the unicorn lamp. There’s a Barbie left on the floor, her blank plastic eyes staring judgmentally at their invasion. 

“I just keep thinking that this is just all…really sad, you know?” she says, her voice echoing through to Steve in the hall. When Steve steps through the door, he finds her gently touching another family portrait with her fingertips. “You know? Like, they left everything. All their possessions and their memories. What on Earth scared them so badly that they did that?”

“I don’t know,” Steve says, but he feels it too. There’s something strange about this house, not just in the unnerving wrongness of it all, but the idea of a family just leaving and never coming back. No matter what Billy says, something had to have happened to make them leave everything in their lives behind. All they took was the kids, the dog and the car. Every family photo, every soccer trophy, every piece of artwork on the fridge. No one does that unless you’re absolutely desperate.

“If we found out why we’d be legends,” Robin continues, excitement coloring her voice. Steve tilts his head back to look at the glittery pink lampshade, faded after a decade in the sun. They probably would be - crime podcasters have helped make progress on cold cases before, and breaking the mystery of Creel House would definitely earn them some fame. Maybe enough to get him and Ro out of Family Video, which isn’t really where he thought he’d be rotting so soon after high school. Billy used to work at the local pool during the summer and recently - begrudgingly - got work at the local diner. 

“Ro, if it was bad enough that they left one night without even taking their urn of Grandma’s ashes, I doubt that we really want to know,” Steve points out, and walks back out into the hallway. Robin follows, stopping only to look at the family portrait again.

“This little girl is all grown up by now,” she says and Steve looks at the remaining doors, more rooms and lives left behind.

“I hope so,” he says, because it sounds to him that Creel House always gets its blood.

XXX

The little boy’s room has a football deflating by the door. The parents’ bedroom has dust coating over the full length hanging mirror, a dress still lying discarded on the bed. There’s more mold on the shower curtain that they care to think about so they leave quickly. 

“Didn’t you say there was an attic?” Steve asks, pivoting on his heels to see which door is left. There are two and after a shared shrug, they each step up to one.

“One?” Robin says, hand resting on the doorknob. Steve grins and does the same.

“Two,” he says, closing his hand around the metal.

“Three!” they say as one and push open their doors. Robin groans.

“Damn,” she says grumpily, dramatically leaning on the door frame. “I got the study.” 

But Steve’s door has opened to a small, narrow staircase, a spider carefully making its web in the corner of the door. He reaches out for the pull light but a few quick yanks prove that it’s long burnt out.

“I’ll go up,” he says, digging in his bag for a torch. “Follow me when you’re done?” And then he puts his foot on the bottom stairs, ducks under the spider’s intricate work, and begins to climb.

The attic is…an attic. It’s so caked in dust that Steve has to cough once he takes his first deep breath. Like everywhere else, it’s filled with relics of another time, the remnants of a normal family life. Boxes labeled BABY CLOTHES, XMAS DECS, and CONCERT T-SHIRTS. There’s even a Christmas tree, still in its box in the corner, and Steve wonders if it’s the same one the kids were sitting under in the photo downstairs. 

“Creepy,” he mutters, and that’s when the bell starts to chime.

He’s glad that no one is around to hear his squeak, as he whirls around to face the source of the noise. A large, polished grandfather clock sits at the very end of the attic, against one wall, the pendulum swinging back and forth with every chime. Swallowing his nerves, Steve inches closer. The time is all wrong, the hands set to the twelve and the two. He wonders if the clock thinks it’s early in the morning or early afternoon. 

Wait. Two o’clock. Two chimes. So why won’t it stop chiming?

Steve freezes, suddenly unnerved. It’s fine. It’s a decades old clock. It’s definitely busted. It doesn’t know the right time so there’s probably no way that it’s going to chime the right amount of times either.

No. No, wait, that’s still all wrong. It’s been well over two decades - closer to three - since the Packards left their house. Steve doesn’t know much about physics and that shit but he knows enough that stuff needs power. Electric, batteries, some kind of fuel. And like a lot of clocks, this one would need to be wound. It wouldn’t keep going for nearly thirteen years. So who wound it?

Oh shit, he’s going to regret this.

He steps forward carefully, clutching his torch like a weapon, the beam cutting across the ceiling and occasionally illuminating the pale strings of another web. The clock continues to ring, the sound taking on an unnerving tone, each one growing more distorted as the bell chimes. Up close, Steve can see the thick crack across the glass face, the smears of dust on the curves of the wood. But just as he reaches out to touch it, the dark crack split from the eight all the way up to the two begins to squirm and Steve bites back a yelp as a small black spider emerges from the clock face.

“What the fuck?” Steve mutters, retrieving his hand and carefully turning the torchlight over the clock. The spider skitters over the glass, unaware of the intruder in its midst. Steve exhales, chastising himself for being startled. It’s a broken old clock and a tiny spider has taken up residence. It’s fine. 

But then Steve sees the second spider. 

And then the third.

And then the crack froths and hundreds of the little bastards emerge from the clock face, tumbling over each other in their race to get out, turning the clear glass a squirming inky black as they spread.

Steve bolts.

He promptly smacks into Robin on the way down and only her quick reflexes stop them both careening down the small staircase.

“What the fuck, Harrington?” Robin curses, pulling herself- and him - upright by tugging firmly on the hand-rail to right them both. Steve lets go of her shirt, the fabric now seriously crumpled from his damp fingers. She continues to look annoyed, until she sees the fear on his face.

“What is it?” she asks and pushes her way past him up the remaining stairs. Steve drops down on the closet step, heart hammering in his chest. He hasn’t felt like this since they found that odd bloodstain in the living room of that empty cottage. But even peeling up the carpet to see the massive dried rust underneath doesn’t quite feel like this. 

“What?” she asks, looking baffled. She peers back down the steps towards him, her face unusually anxious. “Steve, what is it?”

Once the blood pounding in his ears fades, Steve can immediately hear what’s wrong. The chiming has stopped. 

“What?” he says, in disbelief and pushes himself up so he can climb back up the steps. Aside from Robin, and her overwhelming aura of worry, the attic is exactly as it was.

Except for one thing.

“There was a clock here,” Steve says stupidly, pointing at the now unoccupied patch of wall. He turns to look at Robin. “A big grandfather clock and it was chiming, and it had spiders coming out of it. It was right here!”

Robin stares at the wall. The now empty patch of wall. The expression on her face flickers between worry and bemusement.

“Bud, I love you,” she says, tilting her head. “But did you inhale something really old that you weren’t meant to?”

“No!” Steve howls in frustration. “There was a clock, okay? A big one and it kept chiming. Even though the clock hands were pointing to two o’ clock, it just kept chiming a lot. And who even would wind up a clock that old, okay? It’s not like the ghosts of the Creel kids are coming back to keep the old vanishing grandfather clock wound up!”

“Steve,” Robin says gently, face now turning to one of pity. “I get that you’re…having some issues. Like this house is really fucking weird and the whole Billy thing gets really obvious every time that we do a video, but can you chill?”

Steve turns and storms back downstairs.

Fucking murder house.

XXX

Steve stomps down the attic stairs, not even bothering to close the door behind him. A small petty part of him suggests that slamming the door would feel really satisfying but he pushes it down. 

He feels rattled and frustrated. Nothing about this day is going as planned and as he storms back down the main staircase he can’t help but think that maybe this is what they deserve. None of the other places they’ve explored have ever been like this, the remains of a family still waiting to be collected. It feels more like a violation than the old barns, the empty factory, the burnt out mill. Steve stops at the bottom of the staircase and drags a hand across his face.

It’s stupid. He’s letting this weird old house get to him.

Steve sighs and jams his torch back into his bag. They’ll need the lights soon, as the sun begins to set, but they’re good for now. Enough time to do a little scouting around for interesting spots, get some filming done. It’s been over a year since they started this and they have it down pat by now. Getting used to filming in the dark took some time in the beginning and they try not to do it too often for various reasons, but they decided today that filming some stuff as night fell would look really creepy.

Steve regrets that choice now. 

He heads back to the dining room, intending on waiting with the rest of their gear. Let his friends finish the walkthrough by themselves. He’s going to find Robin’s emergency chocolate and eat it in front of the Creels’ weirdo portrait.

But the dining room isn’t empty. To his surprise, Billy is standing by the wall, staring up at the picture frame. He must have finished up early, the basement taking less time than upstairs.

“I didn’t think you liked that picture,” Steve says, dumping his bag onto the table. Robin's bag is already there, as she prefers stuffing her pockets full of the tools she might need rather than carrying a large backpack around. And anything else that doesn’t fit, she makes Steve carry.

“I don’t,” Billy says shortly. “It’s a lie.”

“Okay?” Steve asks, unsure. These days he never quite knows how to handle interactions between him and Billy. He hates it because Billy’s still his best friend, having been there for nearly all of his life. He doesn’t want to not know how to talk to Billy.

But it’s become more and more inevitable as Steve’s crush grew into something unmanageable and persistent. Talking to Billy leaves him open to saying something stupid without Robin as a buffer, to Billy flirting with him, Billy making a dumb comment about the cute guy he went on a date with last week. 

“It is, though,” Billy says, gesturing up at the warm smiles of the Creels. “It’s all fake. People don’t pose for these family portraits because they’re really that happy. You have this huge fuck off painting in a room where they probably brought guests. It’s bullshit.”

“I suppose,” Steve says slowly, digging in the front pocket of Robin’s bag for a mini chocolate bar. He probably should know, as his own family have pictures just like that in their front room and they’re definitely only for show. He’s probably unable to see it in the same way that you can’t see the forest for the trees. Billy never had the kind of family that put on a front like that. No one gathered the Hargroves together for a cheesy group shot. “And they all died, in the end.”

“Hmm,” Billy murmurs and turns away from the portrait. His eyes move to the chocolate in Steve’s hand but he doesn’t comment on it.

“Did you find anything?” Billy asks curiously, the fading glow of the sunlight rippling off of his dirty blonde hair. Steve exhales, wondering in what universe it’s fair to make one man so fucking attractive.

“No,” he mutters mutinously, shoving the last of the chocolate bar into his mouth and stuffing the wrapper into his pocket. “Well, sort of. Upstairs is the same as down here. They left everything. But there was this freaky clock in the attic.”

“Okay,” Billy says, the single stud that he wears in his left ear glinting in the light as he fully turns to face Steve. “I’ll bite. Go ahead, Scooby Doo, what did you find?”

And sometimes Steve just wants to punch him in his stupidly gorgeous face. 

“I saw this weird clock,” Steve says, because it really does sound stupid now. Hey, audience, subscribe now to see Steve freak out at a clock! There’s probably a totally rational explanation but he’s going to freak the hell out about it anyway! Hell, they’d probably lose viewers. They’ve never tried a stunt like that before. Steve didn’t even have his camera rolling. 

Maybe Robin’s right. Maybe there’s like thirty year old drugs up in the attic that he breathed in.

“It was just chiming and shit,” Steve shrugs, wandering over to the freaky portrait of the Creels again. He has to admire the Packards for their bravery. If he’d just moved in and found this painting in his dining room, he’d have burned in a cleansing fire out in the backyard.

“And that’s freaky how?” Billy asks, sounding totally reasonable. 

“It vanished when Robin came up to see it,” Steve says sheepishly. “I know it sounds bullshit but I swear-”

“Hey,” Billy says and gives that brilliant smile, the one that makes moms go weak at the knees and persuades gym buffs into his bed. Steve feels his own knees go a little weak under the full power of it.

“I know you believe in all this weird, spooky shit but you’re not crazy,” Billy continues, his eyes a brilliant, impossible blue at this range. “And this house is really fucked up. Even I agree with that.”

“You do?” Steve asks, a little dumbfounded, because not once has Billy ever been creeped out by anything. They visited the old Miller barn once, where old man Miller supposedly hung each of his daughters from the rafters, and upon seeing the tattered rope hanging from the beams Billy had scoffed and said that some idiot had probably hung it up to trick gullible assholes. 

“Yeah,” Billy says simply. “I mean, you can feel it, can’t you? There’s something different about this one.”

“Yeah,” Steve says quietly. “There’s something different about this one.”

“Maybe there’s a reason for it,” Billy suggests. Steve snorts, taken aback.

“You’re kidding, right?” Steve says. “Should I get out a camera or will our ratings plummet? Billy Hargrove, born skeptic, admitting to the possibility of ghosts, ghouls and goblins?” Billy dramatically presses both hands to his chest, faking hurt.

“Ouch, Harrington,” Billy says, a teasing glitter in his eyes and something dips in Steve’s belly at that familiar challenge. High school basketball games had been hell. “That was right out of King Steve’s playbook.” Steve shrugs, turning his head away from Billy’ piercing gaze. 

“Yeah, well…” he mutters. “Just didn’t expect it.” He leans against the solid wood of the dining table, and doesn’t really think about the inevitable dust and dirt clinging to his rear until too late.

“I’m just saying,” Billy protests. “At some point the teenage investigators stumble across the genuinely haunted house.”

“No, thanks,” Steve says, because he’s seen that movie. Which is kind of every horror movie. “I do actually prefer that we stay the kids with a dog Scooby gang rather than the Sunnydale Scooby gang.” 

“Ok, but even they found actual ghosts sometimes, you know,” Billy says, and tugs up his sleeves, allowing that brief glimpse of his tanned arms, the leather cuff around one wrist. “Like, all of the movies have them find mummies and zombies and shit.”

“I may believe in this stuff,” Steve says frankly. “But I’d still prefer that we don’t stumble across the room in the basement with the chains and bathtubs full of blood. Okay?” Billy grins.

“I didn’t see much of that downstairs, I swear,” he says and then tilts his head up towards the ceiling. “Hey, where’s Robin?” Steve shrugs and looks up too. He hasn’t heard her footsteps for a while but maybe she stopped to film something. 

“Dunno,” he says, and immediately hates that apparently they can’t be alone together without needing Robin around. “What do you want to do? Wait for her?”

“We don’t have to,” Billy says, pivoting to lean against the wall across from Steve. “We could film something. It’s been a while since it was just the two of us.” 

“I guess,” Steve says vaguely, because a lot of that has been by design. He’s always been slightly worried that if he’s left alone with Billy for an unlimited amount of time he’ll do something stupid. He’s good at that, as his mother likes to remind him. He hops down from the table, intending to grab a camera. They might as well make use of the light. “I don't know why it turns out that way.”

“Well, that’s because you’re in love with me,” Billy says suddenly, like it’s obvious, and Steve stops dead.

“You…you knew?” he whispers, because oh God, Billy knew. Billy knew all of this time and he didn’t say anything. He probably just pitied poor Steve, the idiot with the crush. Everyone wants Billy. Billy could have just about anyone he wants. Steve can’t blame him for not choosing Steve. 

“Not that subtle about it, Stevie,” Billy chuckles, folding his arms across his chest. There’s something not very nice about that smile. It’s not Billy’s real smile - it’s the one he uses when he thinks the middle aged women at the pool are getting too close, too handsy. It’s the one he used to use on the courts when some asshole from the rival team used to call him a fag. It’s all teeth and venom, badly concealed disdain hidden behind Billy’s bright pearly teeth. Steve’s known Billy long enough to know when he’s faking it. 

“I didn’t want to ruin our friendship,” Steve says, crushed. He feels a little bit numb inside, a little bit stupid for expecting any other outcome. Admittedly, this is worse. He thought he’d just get the ‘hey, we can still be friends, but I just don’t feel about you that way’ speech, followed by an awkward arm pat. Not whatever this is. 

“You’ve been in love with me since, what?” Billy asks, inspecting his nails like he has nothing else to do while he breaks Steve’s heart. “Freshman year? I mean, you’re not that great of an actor, Steve.”

“I…I don’t get why you’re being like this,” Steve protests, the sharp sting of tears coming to his eyes. He’s never known Billy to be so cruel and he doesn’t know what he’s done to deserve it. “I am in love with you and maybe you don’t feel the same way, but do you have to be such a dick?”

“You know I’m a dick,” Billy says bluntly. He’s still leaning against the wall, watching Steve with sharp blue eyes, as though this is just sport to him. “And yet you fell for me anyway. That’s the really stupid move on your part, Stevie. I’m a fuck up who’d rather screw half the basketball team rather than you and yet you love me anyway. You probably always will, which is the pathetic part. Did you honestly think that we’d stay friends?”

“We certainly won’t now!” Steve spits, taking a step back. But it’s no good because Billy follows, like a shark that has sensed blood in the water. 

“Well, maybe you should have said something years ago,” Billy retorts, sticking his fingers through his belt loops. “Broken off the friendship after that night at Robin’s. Do you remember? We watched the first three Die Hard movies right after the other until Robin fell asleep. It would have been easier then. Repressing things just isn't good for you, Steve.” But Steve barely hears his last words, staring at Billy in absolute horror.

“No, but…how did you know it was that night?” he asks, something crawling up the back of his spine. He never told anyone it was that night. Not even Robin knows. Steve remembers every second of that sleepover, the one they’d had before they’d all been shipped off to different places for Christmas. It had been the night he’d looked at his best friend and thought that he wanted something more. 

So how does Billy know?

“Steve!” The walkie barks furiously and Steve jerks his head down to the walkie still attached to his waist. The spell is broken, Billy looking startled as the voice continues to call for Steve.

Because it’s not Robin’s voice. It’s Billy’s. 

Steve whips his head back up, terror killing the words in his throat before they can reach daylight. It’s not possible. Billy is on the walkie. Billy is in front of Steve. Which one is real?

Billy sighs heavily before frowning ruefully. “Shame. I was having fun.”

“You're…you’re not…” Steve stutters and in his haste to get back from whatever this…thing is, his foot catches on the edge of the rug. He loses his footing and falls backwards, the walkie skidding away as he crashes to the ground. The Billy clone looks dispassionately at him and Steve wonders how he missed it before. There’s nothing in this Billy’s eyes.

“No, I’m not Billy,” it says, sounding amused, and Steve had been correct in his assessment that it was all just a game. He just hadn’t known that it wasn’t Billy’s game. “But I had you going, didn’t I?”

“Steve!” Billy’s voice continues to shout down the walkie like a siren song but Steve can’t make himself move to answer it. All he can do is curl his fingers into the threadbare rug and stare at the entity stalking towards him. 

“You made a mistake, coming into this house feeling like that,” the thing continues, dropping down into a crouch in front of Steve. Steve stares, open-mouthed, because every freckle, every dark lash, every curl in his hair is exactly the same. There was no way he ever could have guessed that this was merely a copy, even while this Billy spat poison at him with that cruel smile. He was expecting ghosts, see-through and wailing and rattling chains. He wasn’t expecting…this. 

“I…” Steve starts but the words stop as the thing moves its hand up to stroke his hair back from his face. Its fingers dig into Steve’s scalp and Steve holds still as it turns his face up. He can feel a warm breath on his skin but it smells strange. Old, musty, metallic. Inhuman.

“Yes,” the creature murmurs, studying every inch of Steve’s face with an unsettling amount of interest. “Yes, you’ll do.”

And then the creature is gone, leaving Steve slumped against the wall like a puppet without any strings. 

“Someone answer the fucking walkie!” Billy screeches down the receiver and Steve scrabbles to answer it. It slips from his cold, shaking fingers a few times before he can grip it properly.

“Billy?” he says, voice trembling, because he half expects this to be another trick, another Billy who will pull his heart out piece by piece, just to show him the tangled bloody mess of where Steve used to keep his love. But Billy just heaves a sigh of relief down the walkie, something ragged and familiar and human.

“Thank fuck, Steve,” he snaps, because that’s how Billy usually works. “I’ve been out of my mind. Shit’s weird down here. Are you okay?”

Steve pulls himself up and rests his back along the wall, just under the portrait. His heart is skipping in his chest, because they fucked up and ended up in the only actually fucking haunted house in America. With some shitty ghost who likes copying their faces and mocking their deepest insecurities.

But Billy doesn’t know. Billy didn’t just tell Steve that he was worthless for loving Billy. Everything is exactly the same as it was before.

“Yeah,” Steve says, hollowly. “I’m okay.”

Onto Chapter 3

@dragonflylady77 @cupc8keblonde @ihni

I genuinely can’t remember if anyone else wanted to be tagged for this specific fic so lmk!

[wayward-lives]

Prompt list

Hey guys! This is all the prompts I had in my writing folder that I never got around to writing anything for. Some of them are just a couple of words or sentences, while others are absolute monsters. If any of you wanna do something based on one of these prompts, go for it! I'd love it if you tagged me or let me know, just so I can read/see where you've gone with it <3

"How about you take me out back and I don't call you tomorrow?" "How about I take you home after and you sneak out when I'm asleep?" // "You make a habit of sneaking around behind buildings?" "Last time I did, I fucked a cute guy. Maybe I'll get lucky again."

Nymph Bucky falls in love with a hiker who walks through his woods

Post WS. Bucky is in SHIELD custody and doesn’t remember Steve, but he remembers Natasha from the Red Room when she was a child

Vet Bucky. Steve is running from New York after the Snap and he hits a dog and brings it into Bucky's clinic

Bucky doesn't do relationships, but Steve keeps seeing him for sex and Bucky falls in love - friends with benefits (what's love got to do with it - Tina Turner)

College AU - Bucky is an international student who's paired with Steve's roommate Sam

Steve and Bucky are close friends, Steve is complaining one night about how annoying hook-up culture is, and Bucky suggests a FWB situation. Bucky's been in love with Steve for years and it's only when they start sleeping together that Steve realises that he feels the same way

Bucky recognises Steve during their fight on the bridge

Bucky and Steve had broken up, but they keep sleeping together whenever they run into each other

Shrunkyclunks: nurse Bucky works at Stark tower

"just friends who have sex sometimes and live together" where Bucky and Steve don't realise they're dating

Winter Soldier Steve/civilian Bucky

Pirate AU - Bucky's dad is a fisherman who takes Bucky out on trips. One day when Bucky's twelve, they're taken by the crew of the HYDRA, run by Captain Pierce. Pierce kills Bucky's father and keeps Bucky as a slave. Several years later the captain from a rival ship (Steve) is captured by Pierce and he and Bucky fall in love

A/B/O post-winter soldier where the mask doesn't come off and the WS is brought into custody at Avengers tower by Natasha, and Steve falls in love with him without knowing he's his long-lost mate

Steve survives the war but Bucky still falls off the train. In the 50's the Winter Soldier has a mission in New York and on his way is spotted by Rebecca Barnes's daughter, who's eight and has been told all about her uncle Buck. The daughter finds it so amazing that this total stranger looks exactly like uncle Buck and pulls him along to meet Rebecca, who has a breakdown and persuades the Winter Soldier to come home with her. The Winter Soldier just kinda goes along with it because nobody's ever been nice to him and this lovely woman has promised him meatloaf and pie and for some reason he knows that he really likes meatloaf and pie. Becca calls up Steve and the Winter Soldier moves in with Steve because Becca can't look after her amnesiac brother on top of two kids and a third on the way

Big Eden Shrinkyclinks AU

I hope it's warm in hell, because darling I hate the cold

My dreams look like you - Steve and Bucky used to be best friends during high school but lost contact when Steve moved away - they meet again at a mutual friend's party when Steve moves back home

Steve and Bucky used to be together and are both masked vigilantes. They have a bit of a rivalry going but the fun kind where they both kinda wanna fuck. Neither of them know who the other is.

Post WS - Steve and Sam move back to NY to be closer to the other avengers. Sam starts noticing someone following him and watching him and he soon realizes it’s Bucky. Sam starts gently trying to get Bucky to interact with him and starts buying him sweet pastries. Soon Bucky becomes more comfortable and lets Sam help him recover as long as Sam doesn’t tell Steve

(NSFW) Steve is a knight who often visits a manor house where a disgraced Lady lives. The Lady was disgraced for her promiscuous and sexual appetites, but she's comfortably set up in the Manor. Steve visits because the Manor's on a path he travels often, and it's one of the only places to rest for the night. The Lady always sends a group of her servants to service her guests, and Steve is used to this by now. Bucky is a new servant who works in the kitchen who's sent to Steve's chambers with food, and he sits by Steve's bed and hand-feeds him as Steve is serviced. Steve never takes his eyes off Bucky. Each time Steve visits after that, they manage to see each other

Bucky chooses to forget Steve and has his memory erased, because it’s too painful for him to be around Steve when he thinks that Steve doesn’t love him. A few years later Steve picks Bucky up in a bar and pretends not to know him

Prompt: My husband thinks that our parents arranged this marriage. We’ve been married for ten years now, and for ten years he has thought this. I’m not sure how to tell him that my parents wanted me to marry his older brother but I fell in love with the younger brother (my husband) so I pretended to be my parents and sent his parents a letter asking for his hand in marriage. And then the wedding invitations were being made, and it was too late for my parents to do anything. And I was very happily married to my Husband, but he courted me for two years after our marriage not knowing that I was already in love with him.

Steve falls for vet nurse and animal lover Bucky despite being allergic to pretty much all household pets and trying to hide it

Shrunkyclunks - a few dates in Steve tells Bucky he's Captain America, but Bucky doesn't believe him and thinks he's delusional. He doesn't tell Steve he doesn't believe him and has a moral crisis about whether or not he should be dating someone with such strong "delusions". Steve just thinks he's hit the jackpot with supportive boyfriends.

Pirate Captain Bucky captures Navy Captain Steve from his ship and holds him for ransom (very homoerotically) (steve is confused and horny)

Steve is a warrior in his village who's come down with a mysterious illness. The townspeople send him to the "evil" witch who lives in the forest to see if he can be healed

Weird a/b/o

Hardly any Queen Omegas, those who are a threat to national security. Bucky is the WS working to murder hydra and Steve is sent to take the same hydra base that the WS targets

[pawprints-upthehill]

Thursday 15th June --

Fancied trying to do some writing today, so below the cut is my first, actually finished attempt at writing something for the myct fandom. It's a little Redscape/Mumscarian scene from an AU I've had buzzing around in my brain for a while.

Basic premise - Boatem, sailing the world for treasure. That's it. But of course I had to make it shippy. I might write the whole thing at some point but who knows.

Also this is very very unedited. Its past 1am for me and I am so tired so if this is horrific apologies!

Mumbo's voice broke the tranquil quiet of the night at sea, startling Scar into a more upright position in his seat with a grunt. 

Boatem Pirates AU - Nighttime Talks

"Scar?"

"Ah- Mumbo! You surprised me," he turned to face his mustached companion, dusting himself off as if he hadn't just been caught nearly asleep at the wheel. "What brings you out here in the middle of the night?" He tilted his head, adding in a teasing tone, "I'm sure Grian is missing you."

"I couldn't sleep," seemingly feeling like that was a good enough answer, rather than explain himself at all Mumbo instead raised an eyebrow at him, "But it looks like you should. When was the last time you slept?"

"I'm fine," Scar snorted, waving a hand dismissively, "Just daydreaming is all. I'll get some sleep when Impulse takes over at dawn."

Mumbo hummed, a noise somewhere between concern and acknowledgement. "Sure. If you say so. Now budge up a bit, its freezing out here."

Scar chuckled but obliged, scooting along in his seat so Mumbo could sit with him. It wasn't exactly comfortable but Scar was never one to miss out on an opportunity.

"Well why didn't you say so?" as soon as Mumbo was settled he pulled his arms out of his overcoat and tossed it over both their shoulders, "There you go, much better."

The benefit was twofold. Not only did it mean Mumbo was closer to him (as if shoulder to shoulder hadn't been enough) but the way Mumbo blushed at the gesture was adorable. 

"Oh, cheers," Mumbo settled then turned and gave him what was probably supposed to be a serious look. The effect was utterly ruined by the fact the tip of his ears were slowly turning the same lovely pink as his face. "Now, Captain Goodtimes."

"Uh oh, the full title, I feel like I'm in trouble."

"Pft, no. Your ship mate," Mumbo rolled his eyes good naturedly, "You wanna sleep sail us into some rocks that's your business."

"Hey! I would never be so careless," Scar splutterred. He probably would (he wasn't known primarily for his clumsiness for no reason), but not while he had other lives on board to worry about.

"Sure," he wasn't sure he particularly liked the disbelieving note in Mumbo's voice there but he continued before he could comment, "What I was gonna say was, I think I've known you long enough now to know when something's bothering you. You've been distracted and spacey all day." His voice softened, and quite out of nowhere, Mumbo raised his hand to gently brush Scar's hair back out of his eyes. "I wanna help, if I can. What were you thinking about?"

The affection, so casually given, was still startling to him. Not that he'd lacked for a kind touch in his life just…this was different. Mumbo wasn't looking out for the abandoned kid he'd found in the woods, or maneuvering him to better suit his pleasure, he was just concerned for him. 

Again he couldn't help but wonder what life would be like if he'd known Mumbo and Grian before. Before they were established and clearly happy with just each other. Would…he liked to think maybe…just maybe, there could have been room in their lives for him too.

It was his nature he supposed. Wanting what he couldn't have and chasing it anyway. 

Unwilling to ruin the moment, he settled for a half truth. "I was thinking about the moon," Scar said softly, taking his eyes of Mumbo, despite his reluctance, to look back up at the sky. 

"The moon?" Mumbo's voice sounded slightly dumbfounded and Scar grinned, delighted to have caught him by surprise.

"Yup. I was thinking about how much of my life is controlled by the moon. I mean, think about it, if anything happens to it - if it moves further away or gets closer somehow - it'd throw all the tides out of balance. Who knows where we'd end up. It's kinda crazy to think about." Scar felt his smile falter. Maybe it was because he was so tired, or maybe he just wanted to keep that warm, closeness feeling in his chest for a little longer but whatever the reason he felt a sudden need to continue. "I had a dream once, a while ago, where the moon got really big. Or it crashed. Something like that. Anyway, the moon was gone. And with no tides, I couldn't sail. I was stuck on my island, never seeing the world, never meeting-...never meeting any of the friends I've made."

He lowered his eyes to the horizon, doing his best not to fidget. Despite how strong the impulse to share a little more of himself had been he still didn't think he could look Mumbo in the eye. That felt…a little too vulnerable, a little too real. "That probably doesn't make any sense," he finished softly, hoping he didn't sound as uncertain as he felt. 

There was a contemplative pause. "It does." Scar blinked, surprised and stupidly hopeful as he finally turned to look at Mumbo. His dark eyes were shockingly warm, his gaze softer than he'd ever seen it. "Grian did that for me. Got me out of the home I was trapped in and showed me the world. I think about that a lot too. I think it's only natural to wonder what life would be like if things were different." 

They fell into a companionable silence for a little while, each taking in the other's words. "I like to think we'd have found each other somehow," Mumbo added finally, quietly.

"You and Grian?" Scar let out a breathy laugh, "I don't think even the universe had a choice there. Pretty sure Grian would find you no matter what corner of the cosmos any Gods tried to hide you in."

"You're not wrong," Mumbo chuckled affectionately, "But I meant us, actually. Me, you and Grian. Cause he'd be like that about you to ya know." 

"You think so?" The hope that swelled in His chest was dangerous. 

"Of course, once Grian decides you're his best friend there's no backing out," Mumbo grinned, "Pearl and Impulse too, no one escapes the pesky bird once he's decided your his."

His? Was Mumbo trying to kill him? Gods above did he like the sound of it though…

"Only a truly crazy soul would try," he agreed solemnly, determinedly ignoring the heat he could feel rising on his face. "Not me. Never."

"Good," Mumbo looked satisfied and for a.second he thought he'd leave it at that, get up and head back to bed. Instead though, Mumbo scooted a little closer, leaning against him just a little.

"Still cold?" Scar asked, raising an eyebrow as his mustached friend. 

"Nah, I'm good where I am." Apparently comfortable now they were essentially all but cuddled under Scar's overcoat, he found his gaze again. "You?"

"Me?" Scar gave Mumbo his best lopsided grin, "Absolutely a-may-zin."

[s-s-painland]

Pirate! Spain x Orca! England pt 0.5

I drew something for this au and I really wanted to show it off, but I think it'd be more fun if I wrote a little to accompany the piece. :3

This scene may be a little out of context, and when motivation strikes I'll start from the beginning later.

This takes place towards the beginning, when they're children.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Antonio had been visiting the old dock outside of town for the past four days since he met the strange mer-child. By the time he spots the hidden waterlogged dock the blonde child was already there, like they had been for the past four days as if waiting for him. He breaks out into a grin and speeds up to a jog, cheeks hurting at the force of his grin excited to spend the day with his new friend. Talking to each other was a little difficult, but to Antonio's amazement his new friend seems to be picking up on speaking rather quickly! They're already able to ask basic questions! Sometimes it's a little hard to understand but Toni tries his best and teaches his friend as they go along.

" 'Tonio!" A loud voice accompanied an inhuman squeal of excitement as they wave back. They had forgot the first syllable to his name again, but he didn't mind since they were so excited. Antonio slowed down as he neared the dock, skipping the last few steps before kneeling down at the edge close to the water where his friend was.

"Hi!" He breaths through labored breaths smiling still, the creature grinned back and chirped, large tail slapping against the surface of the water in their excitement.

"Hiii!" They drawled out hands tapping mindless patterns against the wood practically vibrating with their excitement. Antonio huffs out a fond laugh before setting down a book he brought with him.

"Look! I found a book on sea creatures! Maybe we'll find out what exactly you are!" He taps at the cover of his book vibrating in his own excitement. His friend pulls themselves up a bit to get a better look at what he brought.

"Booook? Wha' am?" They tilt their head to the side making a sound of confusion as they watch Antonio open the book.

Mhm~ You're not like any merfolk I've ever seen, so I thought maybe we'd find your kind in here!"

"Mewrfwok?" They tried, blinking a few times before furrowing their brow realizing what they said didn't sound like what he said. They open and close their mouth repeatedly trying to wrap their head around the sound they were supposed to make.

"Mer. Fol. k." Antonio breaks it down slowly while flipping through pages until he found the one on warmwater merfolk, he looks up and taps at the picture.

"These." His friend looks down at the page, tilting their head to try and get a better look at the picture. Laughing a little at their antics and turned the book around so it was upright for the creature. Bright green eyes go wide and they push themselves back with their arms while growling at the picture.

"B-aad!" They snap their teeth, low growl still rumbling in their chest. so deep Antonio could feel it in his. "Hu-rt me." They reach up and tap at their head where the wound he had fixed four days earlier for his friend.

"Is that how you got hurt?" A blonde head nods up and down quickly.

"Mea-n to me, don' kn-oh why. Me ne'er hu-rt th-eh-m" They whine scooting closer to the human, lifting themselves up into his space.

" Tonio st-ay fr-om meh-r f-oh-l-k." They demand seriously pressing even further into his face, he leans backwards a bit looking at his friend a little cross-eyed.

"Okay, promise." He nods slowly while the creature slowly pulls back out of his space looking satisfied. Antonio looks down again and turns the book back around to flip through it's pages, taking the time to read briefly and admire the illustrations, trying to find something that matches his friend. The two of them sat in silence save for the soft sound of the waves.

About half way through the book Antonio stops, staring down at the page in front of him in surprise.

Whale-folk

an incredibly rare species with several different breeds, each of them immensely powerful in both strength and magic. frequently called the rulers of the ocean. Most whale-folk are friendly to terrestrial creatures, and even other sea dwelling creatures. Although there are a few that are notably hyperaggressive and dangerous.

Amongst these aggressive breeds is the Killer folk. The Killer folk closely resemble the killer whale, with the large black and white tale and face markings. But most notably is their wicked intelligence and propensity for violence. Sailors are most afraid of these folk, their magic just as violent and conniving as their personalities. Some Killer folk had been known to disguise themselves as humans and play with terrestrial folk, usually reaping widespread destruction in their boredom. Of all the Whale-folk the killer breed are the most feared and were often hunted to minimal success-

Antonio stops reading and looks up at his friend, staring at the pretty and soft face in front of him. He tilts his head to the right and studies the possible orca. His friend blinks and tilts their head with him, staring back while cooing in question. 'They don't seem all that dangerous.... Are they really an orca?' He leans to the side and tries to get a peak at their tale. catching the familiar sight of the black and white pattern of an orca he nods his head, fully confident in his decision. He closes the book and puts it behind him before laying down on his stomach grinning in excitement.

"I think I figured out what you are." He hums laying his head on his folded arms watching as his friend lowers themselves back into the water to look at him better staring with rapt attention and amazement.

"Mm? Wha' am?"

"You're what's called a whale-folk, more specific, you're an Orca." He states confidently while reaching out to hold and play with a clawed hand. giggling at the sparkle of excitement in the eyes of his pretty orca friend.

"Orc-aa?" Antonio nods a little smiling.

"Orca!" His friend trills claws flexing slightly.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lol this was as fun to write as it was to draw, its kinda half-assed in it's worldbuilding and I'm likely to change things around a bit at a later date. But I hope you all enjoyed!

Antonio is 10 and Arthur is about 8. Idk if it's obvious but Arthur doesn't get a proper name until a little while after this. Also lol Antonio can't tell if Arthur is a boy or girl and just thinks he's really pretty and moved on.

@breadsoda here you are <3

[your-local-uwu-artist]

Yoooo Marilou has a sword? :O

Also I saw something about waterproof hair and fabrics in that gijinka universe, which is really interesting! Are there any other little details like that, about the funky traits pokemon can have and how they affect the world?

(my inital response got too long and crashed my computer lol TAKE TWO)

SHE DOES! She's an oshawott so her sword is her scallchop :3 it looks and behaves mostly just like a normal non gijinka one does. is attached to her belly button and considered a part of her body. the suction to her belly button is strong enough that it can be attached through a thin layer of fabric: but ussually marilou will still have her clothes either modified to have a hole or have a special belt to attach it too. Her scallchop extends to a full length sword when she chooses! no one else including another oshawott can make it extend to sword mode.

the sword itself is based off of pirate swords and samurotts' sword thingie

THERES SO MUCH FUN FUNKY STUFF so much i'm working on some drawings of eevees evolved into every eeveelution as an excuse to infodump lol

heres some fun psmd gijinka au world building/lore facts!

-if marilou were to put on a normal collared shirt, the collar would transform into an upturned frilly one: bassically a pokemon 'pokemonness' (being very connected to not just nature but like the nature of the world) connects with the physical natural material in the clothes and can modify it slightly. never by a whole lot. but enough that theres a canon explanation

so yeah the universe has a species dress code basically

-species names function a bit like last names. most (but not everyone!) does have a 'real' name, and in smaller communities generally everyone will know and address others as such (with the exception of like, an elder figure, like a kid won't call the kind charizard across the street by her name she's 'ms charizard' ), but generally speaking it's rude to ask for someones name, or adress someone by such if they havn't told you you can. whats wacky is sometimes if someones adopted by another species they'll adopt an aspect of one of their adoptive parental figures names as a middle name. Marilou and Comet both do this! Marilou's full name is 'Marilouise Brazil Oshawott' Brazil as in the tree nut (Nuzleaf's name) and is 'Comet Costa' Bulbasaur' Costa like Carracosta

- humans (while considered exitnct technically can still exist in the psmd-gijinka verse) can't have 'unnatural' hair colors! within anime reason of course like a black haired humans hair can be actually a shade of blue but like, a human can't naturally have a bright colorful hair color: they can have any color eyes though!

-pokemon still come from eggs in the psmdgijinka-verse. And they still can only reproduce with pokemon from the same egg group and the species of the kid will ussually be that of the 'mother' theres a chance it can be the other parent's. though maybe some species may give live birth like how there are some reptiles etc in our world that do that, but i'm not sure yet. yeah I'm that one nerd that will go on about how theoretically how pikachu can be both a mammal and lay eggs

-most fairy types have particularly like idk the word cause usually 'fair' means pale but what I really mean is that when drawing a fairy type I'll make sure they're skin tone is more saturated than I'd usually choose has more noticeable blush and is closer to the red/pink then orange/yellow hue

-so the shades of color a pokemon can be varies a lot! however the shiny color of a pokemon does effect this. like take vaporeon for example, It's more common for a vaporeon's shades of blue to be teal then indigo sense indigo is closer to purple (vaporeons shiny color)

-while more rare type exclusionist/discrimination/not comparable to any real life bigotry so idk what to call it does exist: like they make grass type dominated towns where fire types aren't allowed and dark and ghost types are often stereotyped as mischievous and up to no good. like yeah sometimes they are but not to the extent that people act

[winter-spark]

One thing I can say though is that my citoita fics are getting closer and closer to being a Zafran Princes fic and since this itself won't appear in the tags let me share the order in which they go from not about them to very about them.

CitoIta via Konomi/Konomi version of SSR fam: as I'm sure you can guess they don't get mentioned. CitoIta is only mentioned a bit towards the end and only one side confirmed. It's very short and like maybe my first a3! fic, will never be posted.

Mankai Meddlers: CitoIta edition: Tangerine and Navel are both mentioned. (No hate to Orange <3, I just needed to point out a souvenior as a good gift for one of them and I decided it was more Navel) (Tangerine was supposed to appear in a scene but this is an incomplete fic, I skipped over that scene and never wrote it) {Tangerine is also mentioned in the sequel. Yes I started a sequel to a fic I didn't finish. Both probs won't ever be finished... unless! But probs not lol.} {Which I guess means I'll never finish the MisuKazu and MarshMugi ones even tho those are prequels lol.}

I think it's safe to say that even though Apartments was an idea first that it's definitely the Arrange Royal Marriage AU: This fic is solely Itaru's pov but Citron shares some details about them sometimes. His relationship with them plays into stuff they discuss and Citron's moods sometimes. They don't appear tho, it ends before they would have too. (Don't worry they get Orange a gift in this fic this time)

Apartments/Neighbors AU: I think they'll get an appearance, I'm not starting from the beginning of Citron's story there. But Rewrite the Stars is almost a song I associate w/ this fic so that mixed with Citron's storyline he might go home at somepoint? Haven't written that far yet tho. But they are pretty important to Citron and half the story is in his pov. Tho it'll probably be mostly Tangerine.

Tangled HS AU: They each got a solo conversation scene with Citron as well as just having a presence in the first couple of chapters, & this story is in Citron's pov only and Citron mentions them throughout the story and they are part of his(and somewhat one other character's) motivation for what they are doing. {Also I've written a couple of side drabbles that go along with the fic in their pov, they each have one but I have plans for another Tangerine one and another Orange one}

Pirates AU: We start on their family Pirate ship! And we'll be there for a little before there's a split in the story, then there'll be a return to the ship towards the end but as I mentioned, this is sorta a bigger idea. So I think even tho CitoIta will probably be the main main characters, I think Orange (and Izumi) are also sorta main characters and get povs too. So we'll still see our dear Zafran younger brothers throughout the story.

Sidenote, I could probably do a separate list like this about Guy's appearances lol.(As of right now he appears the most in either Apartments or Tangled HS. The or is because Tangled HS is shorter but I've written more and Guy's been around, while in Apartments there's less written and there's a distance beimg created between him & Citron lol have I said too much idk)

Past me is a joke! In one of my draft posts, I mention I have a CitoIta fic idea that might be larger but would likely be able to include Izumi and the rest of the Spring Troupe. What idea was that?

The only one I can think of is thief!Itaru but I don't think I developed nearly enough to make a claim like that. Did I have a really good idea I forgot to write down?

[spitfire-of-the-sea]

Shenanigans

Day#3 of the @whitebeard-pirate-week : Pops birthday!

I'm not really entirely happy with how it turned out. It was fine in my head, but now it seems a bit boring. v.v Maybe I'll try to write a bit at the AU idea I had thanks to this event =) I definitely need much more practice!

Marco slid his glance over to Ace, who had been weirdly quiet for the better part of the last half hour. He seemed to be trying to contain himself, but a grin was constantly pulling at the corner of his mouth, even as he sat there, lips pressed together tightly. His foot was nervously bobbing up and down, his eyes fixed on Pops and darting back towards the door then and again. Marco squinted.

“Look, Pops! This came from Sphinx Island!” Haruta announced, skipping up towards their captain, a little parcel in his hand. He held it up eagerly, eyes wide as he weighed it in his hands. “It’s heavy! I wonder what it is!”

Whitebeard chuckled, plucking it from his hands delicately and placing it on the table in front of him. “Thanks, Haruta,” he rumbled and laughed when Haruta started to fidget. “I’ll open it with the other presents once we’ve had cake.”

“Mwaaaah….,” Haruta groaned. “You could open at least one of them! You don’t need to keep them all for later! Open mine! It’s that one over there!” The commander quickly hopped over to stand beside their captain, grabbing a parcel that was half as big as he was, wrapped entirely in newspaper. Several layers, it seemed, as some were already starting to peel off.

“Haruta,” Whitebeard warned, the smile making his eyes crinkle belying the chastising tone.

“Fine,” Haruta sighed, throwing his hands up.

Marco chuckled, his eyes wandering over to Ace now, who had shifted and now crouched on top of the crate he’d chosen as a seat before. Thinking himself unobserved, he was almost cackling with glee. The little gremlin. Marco shook his head, trying very hard not to laugh and wondering if he should already start getting a few buckets of water ready.

Just then he sensed Thatch approaching and went outside to meet him. Their chef nodded his thanks, his hands full with a giant plate filled with an assortment of cakes. Marco slowly blinked at him as he watched him balance it on one hand as he came closer.

“That’s the birthday cake you’ve been talking about for days? As in, singular-yoi?” he asked mildly and Thatch shot him a glare.  

“It’s Pops’ 70th birthday, I’m not gonna make just one cake, you dolt.” Thatch looked at him as if he was an idiot for even considering that option and then focused on his task at hand. “I have created seven different cakes, one for each decade Pops has lived. They have different themes, ingredients, and combinations, each one is chosen for the decade they present – make sure Haruta doesn’t eat from cake 5. It has nuts.”

Marco hummed, seeing Haruta shoot out of Pops’ quarters out of the corners of his eye. Their brother came to stand next to them, matches in hand and vibrating with excitement. “Can I light them?”

Smiling, Thatch held the plate out for him. Each cake held 10 candles. Now that Marco got a closer look, he saw that they all had a different color and every single one was meticulously decorated from top to bottom. Thatch had probably taken all day to make them, if not longer – not that he’d ever admit it. “Are we ready?” Thatch asked him and Marco held up a hand, idling back over to the door and casting a glance inside. They all looked at him expectantly and he chuckled, then leaned back and gave Thatch and Haruta a thumbs up.

Haruta lit a match on fire and quickly lit all the candles and it was then that it occurred to Marco how utterly strange it was that Ace hadn’t even suggested taking this little task over. Sure, he might not have wanted to interfere with their little birthday traditions – Haruta always lit the candles – but that he hadn’t even offered was… weird. Marco’s eyes found Ace, where he stood next to Atmos, his hat put aside now and his grin ever-growing.

He lost sight of him when Thatch entered, all candles alight and Haruta dancing along behind him. It was Thatch who started to sing, and one by one they all joined it, some quieter and some loud enough to make Pops chuckle as he sat there, hands on his thighs, and watched them, eyes a-twinkle.

“Happy birthday, Pops!” they chorused, hooting and hollering as they all settled in around the table. Haruta was already there besides their captain, leaning against the table. “Blow them out, Pops! You gotta make a wish!” Even Izou had inched closer to stand next to them now, his usually aloof expression softer now.

“Alright, alright…,” Whitebeard said and got up, placing his hands flat on the table and looking over the cakes. “Seven, Thatch?” He quirked an eyebrow at the chef, whose face was almost split in half by the big grin he wore now.

“Yes, Pops! One for each decade! It’s not just any birthday, you know? I used all your favorite flavors!” Thatch told him proudly.

“You’ll have to tell me how you made them.” Whitebeard smiled at him and Marco chuckled. He knew that his Pops understood as little about baking as he himself did, but he also knew that Thatch loved to talk about how he came up with new ideas and how he tried out different things, and why the final creation was so special – as did their captain. Which was exactly why every single year he made a point to ask Thatch about the cake.

“Later!” Jozu said, urgency in his voice. “You have to blow the candles out now, Pops! They’re starting to drip on the cake!” He was standing just off to the side, eyes fixed on the cake. “Yes, blow them out! Thatch can tell you later!” Haruta agreed. “You’ll have to get them all in one go!” Fossa added as if this was a completely new process for them.

“Brats…” Whitebeard shook his head. “You keep that up and I won’t share my cakes with you!” Still, he obliged, and leaned forward, taking a deep breath and then blowing out all the candles at once. Just as he leaned back, one flickered back to life and then a second one. He slowly blinked at them, and then, one by one, they were all alight again.

The room was suddenly silent, all of them staring at the cakes in confusion. Thatch stepped closer, brow furrowed as Whitebeard leaned forward again and blew them out again. It took a few moments before they were all burning again, the little flames dancing happily under the stares of all commanders.

“Pops…,” Blenheim said slowly, “looks as if you’re getting old. Didn’t even manage a single candle?”

It was then that Ace erupted into laughter, hands on his belly and tears in his eyes as he danced back and out of reach of Pops’ hand as he made to grab for him. Their youngest member was quick to dodge the hand a second time, too, and once he deemed himself safely out of reach, he grinned at them like a little boy. “What’s up, Pops? Don’t you wanna blow out your candles?”

His eyes widened when Whitebeard slowly turned to him, one eyebrow raised. “Brat… come here…!” With a yelp, Ace turned tail and was quick to dodge behind Atmos, his laughter only growing when Pops made to follow him.w

“Pops! No…!” Jozu cried out. “The cakes! You have to blow out the candles! The cakes!”

[woossexyponytail]

Chapter three, The troublemakers

Ateez x reader

Ateez pirate au

■█■█■█■█■█■█■█■█■█■█■

The door slammed open revealing a young man with purple hair, his red dirty shirt open and only two of the last buttons closed showing off his bare chest, a large scar across his stomach.

"Oh! A female.. GUY'S THEIRS A FEMALE ON BOARD. And she is pretty" he said eyeing me, I blushed at him looking down at his boldness.

"Wooyoung shut your trap" Yeosang told him rolling his eyes at him, the guy, Wooyoung smiled at him then laughed loudly.

"Show respect to the lady" Seonghwa said walking in to the cabin smacking Wooyoung on the head. Wooyoung groaned rubbing where he was hit.

"Ok sorry" Wooyoung whined as he slumped his posture and started to pout some others walked in one was amost as tall as Yunho while the other two were taller then Wooyoung but shorter then Yunho.

"Yn, this is Wooyoung, that's San next to him is Jongho and the tall guy is Mingi. Guys this is Yn our new crew member" Yeosang introduced us all.

"Nice to meet you Yn" San said he had black hair that was slicked back with a white strip, he smiled kindly at me as he gently kissed my hand, making me blush a little.

The next up as Mingi as he gave me a crooked Smile and a small wave, he had red hair that pushed to the side, his clothing was like all the others a dirty white shirt and brown trousers and boots.

"Pleasure to meet you gorgeous" Wooyoung said walking up to me and placing his lips to my hand for another gentle kiss like San just did. He looked up with a smirk and winked at me after that but then Yeosang pushed him away.

The last was Jongho but just like Mingi he just smiled and waved at me, maybe the two are shy?. Well either way I'll get to know them soon enough.

"I can't believe you four, you actually did it" Hongjoong said as he was the last to walk through the door, closing behind him as he chuckled shaking his head.

"What you didn't believe in us? I'm hurt captain! You gave us a job and we completed it. Where's the gratitude?" Wooyoung asked faking being hurt as he pouted again.

"Shut it you idiot" Hongjoong said as he sat down on to the desk taking out what looks like a ruby, opening the draw on his desk and getting out the sapphire as he placed them together.

"Now we need to get one more right? Where is it?" Mingi asked his voice was very deep I wasn't really expecting that. Looking over at Hongjoong he placed the two gemstones on the desk and looked up.

"Tortuga, is our last stop until we get to Utopia. It will take about a week to get there" he said as he looked around at all of us they nodded as I just stood there with my arms crossed.

"All hands on deck" Hongjoong said as the crew all ran out, I stayed behind wanting to ask Hongjoong something and not infront of the crew.

"You alright love?" He asked walking up to me as I thought about how to say it, I looked up at him as he smiled down settling my ease.

"How did you know about my father?" I asked, thinking about what Yeosang said earlier, Hongjoong sighed then bit his lip.

"I might of done a bit of research with Yeosang help, but don't worry about it to much love" he said as he walked out of the doors leaving me in the room on my own.

✥---------------†------------------✥

The sea, perfectly calm, was like a peaceful lake, and its soft murmurs were scarcely audible, the waves seemed to sleep, as I saw a line of dark blue marked the curve of the horizon. The flat sea stretched in all directions, the afternoon sun scattering diamonds across it's surface as Seagulls wheeled overhead, carried by the cool ocean breeze.

We have been at sea for about a day now, I sat atop of one of the mast as the calm wind blew through my hair. I heard someone climbing up towards me, looking down I saw San as he sat beside me giving me a smile.

"You okay?" He asked his smile still bright as the sun, I hummed at him as I closed my eyes letting the warm sun gracefully moved around my skin.

"I'm just wondering what would of happened if I didn't follow Hongjoong, And how my father is" I whispered softly to him, San kept quiet for a little while before talking.

"You know my father would describe sailing as flying over water, dancing over the white crested waves, cleaving a path through the wind whipped water.

He would say it was freedom to him, to set sail into the wide blue and leave the duties of the land behind him. He said that the water called to him like a lover and whispered sweet nothings in his ears. He longed to feel the breaking of the waves on his prow as the boat headed out into the drink for a long voyage.

I never understood him, why he would waste away at sea when he had a family that needed him on shore, that is until he died there was nothing on land to keep me there after my mother passed away. So I sailed on any ship that wanted me. And I finally understood what he meant back then"

"What I'm trying to say is, Your father is probably worried about you, but if he leaves you for his own adventure, why can't you?" He said after that he started climbing down but stopped quickly looking up at me.

"It will be night soon, come down in a bit to have dinner with us ok?" He said that bright smile on his face as he climbed back down, leaving me to the peace of the afternoon ocean.

✥---------------†------------------✥

I saw Mingi as he was sat bellow deck a box next to him with a lot if different things placed in the box.

"Mingi, what are you doing?" I asked walking up to him, the young man flinched at the sound of my voice and quickly looked behind him to smile at me.

"Yn! I'm just cleaning the weapons don't want them breaking on us if we get in trouble now can we" he said laughing, I giggled along with him as he patted the chair next to him.

"Come take a seat I'll show you a few things" he said as I sat down next to him and watched what he was doing.

"We fill pots of metal or glass with gunpowder and attached a fuse" he said showing a metal ball it looked like what Hongjoong used in the cell.

"Chain shot they do little damage but slow down enemy ships." He said hold up some chains that are placed in the canons.

"You see, seeing a pirate flag cause lots of fear. This is one of the best examples of the effect that we have on our victims. Our reputation as villains makes our jobs easier as most would rather surrender than fight." I nodded with interest.

We walked back up on deck together as he finished off his talk, Hongjoong then called out to the crew, we all looked over at him.

"We're looking out for Merchants, Boys. Them that's fat with cargo!" Hongjoong yelled to the crew as we got ready to fight, well the crew San grabbed my hand keeping me with him.

"Find us a Schooner with that Spyglass, Wooyoung." Seonghwa yelled up to him as Wooyoung nodded and searched for a ship.

After a few minutes, Wooyoung yelled pointing in the direction of a ship in the distance, Hongjoong sailed the ship over the the merchant boat.

"Fire what Cannons you will, and land a few Strikes if you must. BUT FOR GOD'S SAKE DON'T SINK HER." Hongjoong yelled the last part, I stood watching the crew run in different directions.

"It's no fun fishing Cargo out of the sea. Although it can be done." Hongjoong whispered under his breath but loud enough that San and I could hear.

The merchant ship blew up, I jumped at the sound, San rubbed my back telling me that the crew would all be fine.

The ship got closer to the now stopped merchant ship, San dragged me away so I wouldn't see, but I still heard the whole thing.

"Good day to you sir! I am Captain Kim and this is my Crew. We're sailors like yourselves, but quite unalike in our Purpose. For we intend to take all that you own. Yet no Harm shall befall any Man, so long as they remains at Ease. Is that clear?" I heard Hongjoong say to the other crew.

"Don't kill me, Sir! I have a Family. Please!" A man's voice was heard I looked over at San and he smiled sheepishly at me.

"Tell your friends we're stealing your goods. And we won't hurt nobody if everyone stays as still as a sandbar. You got that?" Hongjoong said, I sighing knowing that they won't hurt anyone.

"Lock 'em in the hold, and take everything that isn't nailed down." Seonghwa said, the sound of footsteps rushing around was heard as the boys came back with stuff in their hands.

✥----------------------------------✥

As night fell the blue haze of day lifted to reveal the stars. The stars shone as sugar spilt over black marble, glistening in the sun. The night sky was such a welcome sight, appearing like magic at each sunset, promising to return as it faded in dawn's first light. 

I sat on the fore mast in the calm, this has become one of my favourite things to do, to just watch the calming sea.

"What are you doing up here on you're own?" Wooyoung asked sitting next to me, I have become use to one of the crew sitting with me in silence, maybe to get to know me or to enjoy the silence.

"It's peacefully beautiful" I said looking up at the night sky, the stars hung above us, as if strung in the air by invisible strings. Wooyoung hummed, I felt his eyes on me as I looked over smiling shyly at him.

"So Wooyoung tell me about yourself" I said watching him, Wooyoung's eyes widened then he giggled at me a light blush appearing on his cheeks.

"There's nothing really to say about me. I grew up as an orphan, when I was old enough I ran away and got on a ship" he said shrugging as he looked out to the horizon.

"How did you get in this ship?" I asked still watching him, he was more interesting then the night sky.

"The ship I was on sunk it's how I got this scare, Then the Aurora sailed passed saw me and dragged me on board, been here ever since" he said, his hand rubbing his stomach, I nodded, my focus going back to the sky.

"Come on it's getting late" Wooyoung said as he stood up holding out his hand, I looked at his hand then to his face, he smiled brightly at me as I grabbed his hand as he helped me get up, walking down to the cabins.

Opening the doors Yeosang, Yunho, San, Mingi and Jongho sat in their hammocks, looking up they smiled at us as Wooyoung and I went to our own hammocks.

"One more day at sea then will be in Tortuga, are you excited about it, Yn?" Yeosang asked as he looked over at me.

"How is Tortuga different from the rest of the islands?" I asked laying back watching the guys laugh.

"Tortuga is the city of piracy home to all pirates, a safe haven one might say" San told me, I nodded in understanding.

"Who are we supposed to meet?" I asked, the guys looked at one another with a confused look on their faces, finally looking back at me.

"We don't know" Yunho said as the rest layed down and started drifting off to sleep, I layed there thinking about the person we are supposed to meet.

✥--------------†-------------------✥

I was in the kitchen helping Yunho when he asked me to go and grab some apples for lunch, I nodded making my way to the cargo hold at the bottom of the ship.

As I made my way down the stairs I heard singing, peeking around I saw Jongho stand his back towards me as he sang, there was somthing in his hands that I couldn't see.

I watch him for a while liking how soothing his voice is, he is a very good singer that's for sure. The younger boy turned around and froze seeing me standing there.

"Please don't tell my hyungs that I was breaking apples again" he asked me a sheepish smile on his face as he scratched his head, I smiled walking closer to him.

"I won't tell a soul" I said the boy smiled at me happy to hear that, I grabbed a basket that was to the side and placed some apples in there.

"Our we having apple's for lunch again?" He asked, I nodded my head as he smiled brightly at me.

"Here let me help" he said grabbing the basket from me as we walked to the kitchen, on the way I got to curious and asked about his life.

"Hmm, not much to say. My mother looked after me taught me how to pick pocket, showed me how to live on the streets. She passed away shortly afterwards, one day I pick pocket Hongjoong hyung. Instead of cutting my hands off he asked if I wanted to come aboard his ship as a crew member" he said I nodded as we got to the kitchen.

Opening the door for him Jongho walked in first seeing Yunho busying himself with cooking as Jongho placed the basket down on the table.

"I could teach you, you know. How to pick pocket, if you want" he said smiling, I thought about it for a few moments, it could be useful.

"Sure why not, sounds fun!" I said laughing we both laughed together as Yunho shook his head at us, Hongjoong then came in to the room a smirk on his face.

"What happened to 'I don't steal'?" He asked me, I blushed looking down as Hongjoong laughed patting me on my shoulder.

"We've corrupted you already have we?" Seonghwa asked chuckling to himself as he walked in with Yeosang, who smiled at me.

"Well she is a part of the crew now, she needs to learn somethings about being a pirate" Yeosang said shrugging, the others nodded agreeing.

✥----------------†-----------------✥

I was standing on deck with Jongho as he taught me how to pick pocket, I had successfully pick pocket a ring from Wooyoung who still hasn't noticed.

"Yn, here" Hongjoong said walking up to us as he passed me a sword, I grabbed it looking at it then at Hongjoong wondering why he gave it to me.

"You need to learn how to protect yourself if we get in to a fight" he said Jongho who stood next to me walked off to the side as he watched us.

"Uh can't I carry on hiding with San?" I asked noticing San behind Hongjoong who smiled when I asked that, Mingi shortly join us as well.

"You will but you need to learn, Mingi will teach you, San will watch to make sure you don't die in the process" Hongjoong said as he nodded to Mingi then San as he walked off.

"Die?" I asked looking over at Mingi then to San, I was terrified, they both started to laugh as Yeosang walked up to me.

"Don't worry Mingi won't hurt you" Yeosang said as he rubbed my shoulder, I nodded taking breath as Mingi showed me how to hold a sword probably.

After a few hours I was able to get the basic down, the boy's all cheered me on, wanting to see Mingi fail, after a few more rounds I was finally able to pin Mingi with the sword.

"See I knew you could do it" Yeosang said as the guy's clapped Mingi pouted once he lost but then laughed as he patted me on the back telling me well done.

"Land head!" Wooyoung yelled as we all turned around seeing the huge island that was getting bigger the closer we got, tuns of ship docked, as the island was crowded.

"Yn, Welcome to Tortuga" San said walking up behind me, Mingi next to me as he smiled with excitement, Jongho watched rubbing his hands together, probably thinking about stealing. The whole island looked colourful as I watched in amazement.

[alphacrone]

and i'll use you as a focal point [bittyrans vampire au]

[Read on AO3]

There was something off about Bitty.

At first, Ransom thought it was the gay thing—but not in a bad way! Ransom was, like, 90% sure he was bi, so the idea of Bitty being gay didn't make him uncomfortable, per se. It was just, they'd never had a guy as small or as feminine on the team before. Things were weird because a lot of the guys clearly didn't know how to act around Bitty. But no one was an outright dick to Bits, except Jack, but he was a dick to everyone in the pre-season, and soon Bitty was just another teammate.

Even then, Ransom couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about Bitty.

Most of the time, the kid was a sackful of sunshine and puppies and rainbows, bustling around the Haus kitchen and making the best fucking pies appear out of thin air. But sometimes...sometimes there was something sharp in his smile, something harder in his gaze.

Bitty let slip in a conversation once that he'd been bullied growing up, and for a while Ransom believed that was the secret he'd come to believe Bitty was hiding. After all, no one as kind and bright as Bitty could harbor anything more sinister than that in his heart, could he?

The thing was, when you were best friends with Adam Birkholtz, you tended to live half your life in fantasy.

And not in a fun, sexual way. Hell, not even in a regular fun way most of the time. Holster consumed media the way most people consumed oxygen: constantly and effortlessly. And he exhaled commentary on it like it was carbon dioxide. Ransom knew far more about Netflix shows and web comics and sci fi novels he'd never even seen than he felt was appropriate or even possible.

So it was really all Holster’s fault when he started noticing the signs.

The first was the most concerning, in the beginning. After a year of team meals and literal buffets of pie in the kitchen, Ransom looked across the dining hall table one morning to realize he had never seen Bitty eat. Bitty baked and cooked constantly, attended every team meal, even made himself plates of food, but he never, ever put anything in his mouth. Ever .

Ignoring his own dirty joke setup, Ransom continued to spiral down this path. Bitty was super thin, he already knew that. Jack was always harping on Bits to eat more protein, to Bitty’s annoyance. But Ransom had met Mrs. Bittle and she was tiny too; he'd just assumed Bits was naturally... bitty.

Now, Ransom wasn't Holster. His first thought wasn't some grand conspiracy theory. Instead, he approached Bitty on a sunny September day, a baggy of kolaches from Svoboda’s in hand. No one could resist Svo’s jalapeño-cheese kolaches. No one.

Except Bitty, apparently. Ransom found him lounging on a blanket by the pond, textbooks open but blatantly tweeting instead of studying. Bitty was stretched out like a cat, languid, and his tank top was rucked up a little to show off the thin, blonde happy trail running down his stomach and disappearing beneath the band of his shorts.

“Bits, bro,” Ransom said, plopping down next to him, shoving one of the books away. “Have some kolaches with me, man. They're fresh.”

Bitty grinned up at him, wide and amused. “Those are klobasneks, you heathen.”

Ransom, who already had one shoved into his mouth, barely managed to say, “But the sign-”

“It's not uncommon to lump the two together,” Bitty continued, tucking his phone back into his pocket and turning to better look at Ransom. “Especially since the Svobodas are from Texas and it's a whole, complicated thing there. But kolaches have fruit filling; klobasneks have sausage or cheese or eggs.”

Ransom was a bit taken aback. Swallowing the half-chewed pastry roughly, he asked, “How did you know these were cheese and not fruit?”

Bitty shrugged. “I could smell them. Plus you and Holtzy love the jalapeño ones.”

Ransom couldn't argue with that. He held out the bag to Bitty, shaking it a little. “Eat me, Bitty!”

Bitty laughed and shook his head. “I'm good, thanks.”

Ransom frowned. Maybe Bitty’s food issue were worse than he thought. “Dude, I don't wanna sound, like, intrusive, but honestly...I have never seen you eat. Is it…? Do you need to talk to someone? You can always talk to me.”

Bitty’s smile turned endeared, and he shook his head. “I can smell garlic in those.”

“Huh?”

“I'm allergic,” Bitty clarified. “I have quite a few food allergies. It's why I have a mini fridge in my room, it's stocked with things that are safe. I really can't eat most of what I bake, but I love baking so much I do it anyway. And I go to team meals to socialize, not eat. I promise I don't have an eating disorder,” he said, touching Ransom’s arm gently. “But thank you for being concerned.”

“Oh.” Ransom frowned, then gasped and tossed the bag of kolaches away from Bitty. “Shit, dude, I'm so sorry-”

“Ransom, it's okay.” Bitty laughed again. “There isn't a whole lotta garlic in there, being near it won't kill me.”

“You've really got a strong nose, eh?” Ransom asked, leaning back on his elbows. Bitty shifted onto his side, and Ransom couldn't help but note the sharp lines of his silhouette, the stark brushstrokes of muscle in his shoulders and arms, the thickness of his thighs in contrast to his small waist. When they were on ice, Ransom was guilty of thinking of Bits as small and fragile; it made him a more ardent d-man, for sure, being on Bitty’s line, always looking out for his bittiest bro. But here, in the reddish sun of early Fall, Bitty was nothing if not a perfect specimen of raw, compact power. It unsettled Ransom, mostly in a totally gay way, but also, a little, in a way that made something small and primal at the back of his mind cower in fear.

“Ha, yeah,” Bitty said, in response to the question Ransom had forgotten he'd asked. “Survival instinct, I guess. You know, because of my allergies,” he added quickly.

“Right,” Ransom said, feeling hot and awkward under the gaze of Bitty’s dark brown eyes. “Allergies.”

When he eventually excused himself to go to class, Ransom didn't even remember to grab the bag of kolaches from the ground. It wasn't as if he had much of an appetite anymore.

After that, it was little things that made Ransom wonder just what Bitty was hiding behind his sunny, southern facade. Though he wasn't proud to admit it, Ransom had started an Excel doc just to keep track of everything, titled ERB and hidden deep in his pirated comics folder on his laptop (labeled PORN, of course, just in case).

Bitty wore sunscreen constantly. He tried to claim it was a southern thing, but Holster had family in Texarkana and claimed that they all had nasty, leathery skin because they literally never wore sunscreen ever and that Bits was full of shit. And he didn't just wear it in the summer—Bitty showed up to morning practices in January smelling like Coppertone. It was one of those quirky things about him. Absolutely no cause for alarm.

But then there was the way he was always cold. Bitty’s hands could rival ice cubes, even in the heat of August or after working out. “Poor circulation,” he'd explained once while drunk. “What can you do?”

Except, it wasn't just his hands. Bitty didn't let people touch him often, but Ransom had held his legs for kegstands and clapped his shoulders and even, once, slapped his bare back in the locker room and every time it had felt like Bitty had just stepped out of an ice bath. That couldn't be normal, could it?

And there were other things: his freakishly good sense of hearing and smell; how silent and still he was when he slept on roadies, barely seeming to breathe; the way he went on and on about his church back home but didn't attend at Samwell. Ransom had them all marked down in his spreadsheet, and on nights when Holster was dead to the world and Ransom sad supposed to be studying, he'd make whole charts of possible ailments, disorders, and lifestyle choices that could add up to the enigma that was Eric Bittle.

A small part of him—the part that had been forced to binge-watch those godawful Twilight movies with Holster and Shitty—whispered that there was another answer, one far simpler than the impossibly rare diseases he’d researched.

But that was the same part of him who believed he was being haunted by two dead sororities girls, the same part of him that got scared when Lardo and Nursey exchanged their favorite urban legends, late at night. There was no fucking way Bitty was a v-

He couldn't even think the word, it was so ridiculous. Bits was just a quirky dude with health problems; there was nothing paranormal about it.

Still, there were times Ransom felt Bitty’s gaze on him, and a chill would involuntarily run down his spine. And only a little in a gay way.

Everything came to a head when Ollie got decked in the face by a puck.

The dipshit had removed his helmet in the middle of drills, so Ransom didn't have that much sympathy for him, but it still looked like it hurt like a bitch. His nose broke with an audible crunch and Ransom saw the blood on the ice before he even realized what had happened.

“Shit, fuck, man, I'm so sorry!” Wicks called, skating over as fast as he could. “Bro, are you okay?”

But Ransom didn't hear Ollie’s answer; he was too distracted by Bitty.

Bitty was staring at Ollie with his mouth agape, eyes large and- not scared, or angry. Shocked seemed a closer description, but didn't feel quite right. Determined, maybe. His hands were shaking in his gloves, and his knees were bent, like he was poised to rush over to Ollie at any second. What was most unsettling, however, was the fact that Bitty didn't appear to be breathing at all.

Before anyone could blink, Bitty was in front of Ollie, half-crouched, eyes black in the weird light of the rink. He opened his mouth, but said nothing, and everyone fell deathly silent in their confusion.

Then Bitty was gone, sprinting from the rink faster than anyone on skates should be capable of. Ransom stared after him, unsure of how to process what he just saw.

“That was weird,” Holster said as Wicks moved to get Ollie off the ice. “Li’l dude can't handle the sight of blood?”

“I guess,” Ransom murmured. “Weird.” 

As soon as practice ended, Ransom rushed to the Haus. Normally he hung out at Founders until class in the mornings, but today he was on a mission. One way or another, Ransom was going to figure out what Bitty was hiding from them, from him.

Without even bothering to check the kitchen, Ransom sprinted up to the second floor, throwing his bag to the side of the hall and knocking on Bitty’s door. “Bits, bro, you okay?” He called. When there was no reply, he pushed open the door.

Nothing could have prepared Ransom for the sight in front of him.

Bitty’s room was a mess. Books had been knocked off his desk and the chair was overturned. His mini fridge was wide open and empty, cool air drifting to brush past Ransom’s shins. Several IV bags and plastic tubs were scattered across the floor, empty but stained pink by something . And Bitty-

Bitty was curled into a ball in the corner, half hidden by the bed, face pressed into his knees. His whole body was shaking like a leaf in the wind. He hadn't even changed out of his under armor.  

“Bits?” Ransom moved around the bed slowly, lowering himself to his knees in front of Bitty. “Hey, are you okay?”

Bitty raised his head from his arms slowly, and Ransom almost screamed. Bitty’s lips were stained red, and protruding over them, just slightly, were two fangs, clear as day. But the fear in Bitty’s eyes kept Ransom from running. He'd never seen Bitty look so small.

“I nearly attacked Ollie,” Bitty whispered, not meeting Ransom’s gaze. “I...I thought I was getting better. I thought I could handle things like that.”

“But you didn't attack him,” Ransom said, trying desperately not to let any hysteria seep into his voice. “You ran away. That's…that's good, isn't it?”

Bitty groaned and covered his face in his hands. “Not good enough. I can't just run away every time there's blood…”

“Is it-?” Ransom paused, grimacing. “Are you-?”

“It’s a rare disorder,” Bitty said quickly, voice monotone. “Porphyria. It’s why I wear sunscreen all the time, why I don’t eat with the team-”

“You don’t have any of the other symptoms though,” Ransom interrupted. “Pain, seizures, vomiting. And it doesn’t make you crave human blood . Bits.”

Bitty looked up at his name, shaking a little with...fear?

“It’s okay if you’re a vampire,” Ransom continued, not missing the way Bitty flinched at the word. “I mean, as long as you’re not killing anyone.”

“Ransom,” Bitty said glibly. “You’re pre-med, you don’t believe in- in monsters .”

Ransom shot him an unimpressed look. “I live with Holster. I’ve seen Twilight. And, like, weird shit happens to me all the time.”

“The ghosts?” Bitty asked softly.

“Yeah, them,” Ransom huffed. “Pretty sure my neighbor growing up was a werewolf. Or maybe just a hairy alcoholic.” At Bitty’s confused and horrified look, he added, “Dude woke up naked in our backyard, like, a hundred times.”

“You can’t tell anyone,” Bitty pleaded. “Please.”

“Of course,” Ransom said, sitting back on his heels. “Not that anyone would believe me…”

“I need to clean up,” Bitty said after a moment, looking around the room. “If MooMaw hears about this…”

“She won’t, because nothing happened,” Ransom said, standing and holding out a hand to Bitty. He took it and rose, slowly. “You just got nauseated at the sight of blood and left practice early. Tomorrow you’ll take a pie down to the coaches and apologize. Bits, it’ll be okay.”

Bitty sighed and began picking up plastic tubs. “If I end up killing someone again, the Council is gonna make me go back home to Georgia and live in the compound. I can’t be out there, or bake for anyone, or even listen to my music. There’s no skating, no hockey, nothing .” He sighed and sat down on the bed, face distraught. “If I go back there I’ll die .”

“Then, we’ll...work on it,” Ransom said with a shrug, feeling a little too much like Jack in this moment. “Somehow.”

Bitty’s lip quirked up at one corner. “Sure. We’ll just run some drills, learn not to murder people. Easy.”

“That’s the spirit,” Ransom said, clapping Bitty on the back. Bitty flinched involuntarily, then let his shoulders droop.

“You’re a good friend,” he said quietly, picking at some dirt under his nail to avoid looking up at Ransom. “And weirdly okay with... all of this .”

Ransom shrugged and picked up a few scattered IV bags. “Got your back, bro.”

Bitty laughed and Ransom’s heart skipped a beat. Definitely in a gay way.

[My writing tag]

[woossexyponytail]

Chapter five; Utopia.

Finale.

Ateez x reader.

Ateez pirate au.

■█■█■█■█■█■█■█■█■█■█■

My eyes snapped open and I shot up, looking around I was in a room a cabin maybe? I wasn't to sure, my head was spinning along with my throat hurting.

"Where-" I spoke, my voice weak, it hurt so I stopped, I was laying on a bed it looked like I was on a ship but who's?

The door slowly opened and I froze not knowing what to expect, I picked up the covers from the bed pulling it around me a sence of comfort.

"Yn what are you doing up?" Geonhak asked as he walked in, my eyes widened in shock as I just stared at him not knowing why he was here or how I was here.

"Geonhak? What where?" I asked standing up to walk over to him, my throat still hurting as I spoke.

"Calm down your safe now, we are on your fathers ship, no pirate will get to you" he said as he placed his hands on my shoulders and started rubbing, I frowned moving away from him.

"What are you talking about how did I get here? Where is here?" I asked glearing up at him, crossing my arms.

"We saw Blackbeard's ship, saw his men throw you in to the ocean, we saved you and now we're heading back home." He explained, I stood quietly as I thought 'what about Yeosang?'.

"No we can't go back, wait what about Yeosang?" I asked panic in my eyes and my voice, Geonhak snorted at me asking that, his turn crossing his arms.

"That pirate is in the cell where he belongs. Gonna be hung the moment we get back to England " he spits out venom in his voice as he spoke.

"No you can't! Where's father?" I asked panicking even more needing to explain myself to father, maybe he'll have some sence.

"Where he normally is-" he said looking behind him as I quickly ran past him and out of the cabin, looking around I saw him by the wheel.

"Father! Father!" I yelled, my voice getting worse, I ran up the stairs now realising I was wearing a dress, I picked up the skirt so I wouldn't fall.

"Yn goodness you shouldn't be up yet you almost drowned" father told me as he ran up to me scolding me for being up.

"Father you have to follow Blackbeard's ship!" I told him, he looked at me shocked then shook his head no. "Why on earth would I do that?" He asked as he started walking away from me.

"Their heading to Utopia, do you really want pirates to be the first to set foot on land?" I asked thinking quickly, knowing he would not allow that.

"Change of plan! We're heading for Utopia men!" Father yelled, my eyes widened, not expecting him to agree so quickly, but it now helps.

"You stay in the cabin I don't want anything happening to you" father said as he walked away, I shook my head no but he didn't listen.

"Geonhak take her back to the cabin" father said, Geonhak grabbed my arm, then slotted father with an "Aye sir" and walked me down the stairs.

"Get off me-" I said struggling to get out of his grip, as we got to the cabin, Geonhak throws me in as I trip and land on the floor.

"Stay here and don't cause anymore problems" he said anger in his voice as he gleared at me, then he slammed the door close and heard him stomped off.

"Unbelievable" I said as I got off the floor and sat down on the bed crossing my arms as I gleared at the door.

✥-----------------------†-------------------✥

I waited long enough sitting doing nothing so I creeped to the door and slowly opened it, looking around the crew was busy so I ran to the stairs and bellow deck.

"Yeosang? Yeosang?" I whispered walking around, it was dark as I squinted to see, I should of brought a candle with me.

"Yn?" I heard his voice as I quickly ran up to him and my hands landed on his, I was so relieved to see he was alive, a few cuts on his face maybe from a beating I'm not sure.

"Yeosang your ok, oh thank god" I said smiling at him, Yeosang smiled back as he placed his hand on my cheek through the cell.

"Shh your not supposed to be here" he told me as I place my hand on top of his, I felt tears in my eyes as I watched him, I thought I'd never see him again.

"I know but I needed to make sure you were alright" I told him, Yeosang smiled as he wiped the tears away, leaning closer to lean our heads together.

"I'm ok how about you love?" He asked as he closed his eyes and breathed in heavy. "Fine we need to get you out of here-" I said pulling away to look at the cell.

"No don't it's no use at the moment" he told me, I stopped and looked at him as we stared for a while.

"We need to get to Utopia, Blackbeard will kill the crew soon, we need to save them" Yeosang said after a while fear in his eyes.

"It's fine we're following them" I told him smiling softly, Yeosang looked shocked for a moment "What how?" He asked as I smirked.

"My father hates pirates he's not going to let them be the first to get there" I told him, Yeosang chuckled at that.

"For once I'm actually glad your father hate pirates that much" he said through laughter, I nodded giggling myself.

"You need to leave" he said a now serious look on his face, I shook my head no "But-" I began but he cut me off.

"No buts who knows what would happen if they saw us talking" he said, I sighed and nodded in understanding, I turned around and walked back on deck.

✥--------------------†-------------------✥

I managed to get to deck without being seen, as I went to go back to the cabin, but got stopped.

"Lady Yn what are you doing?" A crew asked, I quickly tured around facing him, I blushed and smiled nervously.

"I was looking for the kitchen I'm quite hungry" I said the first thing coming to mind, the crew chuckled at that.

"Oh follow me I'll show you were it is" he offered I smiled thanking him as we walked to the kitchen.

"Yn!" Was heard as we opened the door, the first thing I was greated to was the cook yelling my name.

"Seokjin?! What are you doing here?" I asked as I ran up to him giving him a hug, Seokjin was the chef at home, I'm to happy to see him.

"Your father said you were kidnapped by pirates, I offered my service to help. Glad to see you safe." He said hugging me back as we embraced.

"It's good seeing you too." I laughed as we pulled away from eachother, "Now let's get you some good food in you" he said as I sat down at the table watching him work.

✥-------------------†--------------------✥

"Hmm so that's what happened, Gunhak is a bit of a snob isn't he?" Seokjin said as he sat next to me as I was eating, telling he what actually happened.

"You go stay in the cabin, I'll make something for Yeosang" Seokjin said as he winked at me, I grinned at him thanking him again as I made my way out the kitchen.

"Thank you Seokjin, your the best" I said as I left hearing a faint "I know" as I chuckled at that and in a happier mood now.

✥------------------ † ------------------✥

I stayed in the cabin waiting patiently, it had now been four days at sea, everyday I would sneak down to see Yeosang to see if he was doing ok.

I was just walking to the door when I heard movement outside, taking a look the crew was standing around staring at something. I walked out gasping at the island infront of me.

"There it is" one of the crew members said, "The legend is true" another said as the crew walked closer to the edge of the ship to get a better look.

"Utopia" Seokjin said as he walked up next to me, I couldn't look at him since my eyes were glued to the island.

"It's beautiful" was all I was managed to say, as my eyes followed the flock of birds that flew around the trees, the colours almost too intense to be true. There was the dazzling blue of the ocean, the immaculate white beach, the rich elemental green of the pine trees and rain forest, it was truly Utopia.

"There's Blackbeard's ship!" One of the crew members yelled out, pointing over the the black ship, Father ran up glearing at the ship.

"Listen up men, I want two groups, you lot sail over and take over Blackbeards ship, the other group will come with me to the island" my father yelled, the crew scattered as they grabbed what they could.

"Yn, you stay here with Geonhak and a few other crew members, stay safe" my father said, I nodded with a serious expression on my face. He kissed my forehead then walked over to his first mate as they got a boat ready to go to the island.

I watched father leave I stood by the edge of the ship but Blackbeard's ship was still in the corner of my eye.

The ship slowly sailed towards the pirate ship, I frowned then turned to head below deck to get Yeosang.

"Yn where are you going?" Geonhak asked as he grabbed hold of my arm stopping me from moving.

"Nowhere important" I told him as I struggled to get out of his grip, his hold on my arm tightened the more I struggled, tears pricked the corners of my eyes as the hold hurt.

"You are my fiancé I need to know where your going!" Geonhak yelled, the crew left on ship did nothing as they watched.

"I remember never agreeing to marry you Geonhak!" I yelled back at him, I put my hand on his trying to push him away from me.

"You will marry me after we get back to England" his voice was low almost deadly, at that I froze from fright not knowing what to do.

"Let go of me" my voice was weak, I closed my eyes cursing myself for sounding weak infront of him.

"Or what?" He asked, his frown turned in to an evil smirk as he started dragging me to the cabin, I tried to get free with no use.

"Or you'll regret it" I heard someone say, and then in a second Geonhak fell to the floor unconscious, turning around my eyes widened.

"Yeosang?! How did you get out?" I asked running up to him hugging him tightly, he held me close as I buried my face in to his chest.

"Seokjin helpped" Yeosang explained, his hand landing on my head as he stroked my hair, I gripped him tighter feeling more comfortable with him.

"I know I'm amazing" Seokjin said from behind Yeosang, I pulled away smiling up at the older man, Seokjin smirked and rubbed my head.

"Now you two get over to that ship save the crew I'll pretend I didn't see anything" Seokjin said as he wondered away, probably back to the kitchen.

✥----------------- † ------------------✥

Thankfully the crew left Yeosang and I alone as he sailed the ship over to Blackbeard's ship, the closer we got the quieter it got, it seemed that there was no crew on his ship.

Yeosang came down grabbing a sword placing it in his holder, grabbing my hand we walked over to the edge of the ship.

Yeosang grabbed one of the ropes climbing up on the side, he turned around and held put his hand for me to take.

"Your mad" I said shaking my head looking down at the ocean then back up at Yeosang, "thank goodness otherwise this wouldn't work" he chuckled as he pulled me up and placed his arm around me.

We swang across to the ship landing on the deck, we looked around and the ship was pretty quiet, Yeosang pulled out his sword and my hand leading me down below deck.

"Yeosang!! Yn?! You two are alright!" Wooyoung yelled the moment he saw us, we ran over to the crew that was now locked in a cell.

"Oh thank god" Seonghwa sighed as he breathed out a sigh of relief, then smiled over at the two of us.

"We thought you were gone" Yunho said as he walker over to us, I looked down at the lock and pulled out a clip from my hair to unlock the cell, hearing the click I pulled open the door as they got out.

Wooyoung ran out first, hugging both Yeosang and myself as he smiled brightly at us laughing.

"Wait wheres Hongjoong?" Yeosang asked as he looked around not seeing him, I turned to Seonghwa waiting for him to explain.

"With Blackbeard, Hongjoong is leading them through the island" Seonghwa sighed rubbing his head in frustration, the rest looked down to the floor.

"Why would he do that?" I asked as I frowned, looking over at Yeosang who was also frowning at the news.

"Blackbeard was going to kill us if he didn't" San said, he looked very sad, Jongho stood next to him rubbing his back.

"Then we got to get to the island" I said as I rushed to deck having a look around to find a boat, the guys following close behind.

"That's not only dangerous but stupid. Yn your father is on the island now, if he knew what happened he'd have us all killed where we stand" Yeosang explained as he got hold of my shoulders so I could look at him.

"My fathers main priority is Utopia, he won't care until he takes out Blackbeard" I told him looking over at the others who all nodded.

"Then what's the plan?" Jongho asked looking around also seeing no more boats, we stood there thinking for a moment until Mingi spoke.

"I might have an idea?" He said as he looked around a smirk on his face chuckling quietly to himself.

"Why don't we crash the ship in to the island, then sink the other boats apart from two, hide the two, go grab Hongjoong then take the navi ship back to Tortuga?" Mingi explained a proud smile on his face.

"Ok anyone have a better idea?" Seonghwa asked shacking his head as he crossed his arms, at that the others chuckled at Mingi as he pouted.

"What's wrong with my plan?" Mingi asked as he gleared over at Seonghwa, "Hmm I don't know, maybe the whole plan!" He yelled at Mingi, the others laughing louder.

"It could work. At least the getting and going to the island, if we find some weapons and keep low, we could grab Hongjoong without a fight, but more likely it will end in one" Yeosang said his hand to his chin thinking.

"That could work, ok let's find some weapons" Seonghwa nodded as we all rushed around to find any weapons that was left.

✥--------------------†---------------------✥

After a while we found a descent amount of weapons to use, Seonghwa made his way to the wheel as the others took care of the ship, the moment everything was done the ship sailed off.

As we moved closer to the island we all braced ourselves for the hard impact that was about to happen.

The ship creaked dangerously as waves thrust forward in great amounts of power, the crash happened fast as we all fell to the floor from the impact, Yeosang was by my side immediately helping me up.

"Is everyone alright?" Seonghwa yelled to us, we all nodded as he walked down towards us.

"We gotta do that again!" Wooyoung yelled laughing clapping his hands as he had a bright smile on his face still laying on the floor.

"Focus Wooyoung! We are here to save Hongjoong remember" Seonghwa said glearing at him, Wooyoung stopped laughing looking up at Seonghwa as San walked over to help him up.

"Right let's go" Seonghwa said as he climbed down to the beach below, one after the other following after him.

As I placed one foot out from the wooden ship, and the next foot out, my feet decided to plant itself into the sand.

My eyes felt like it didn’t know how to blink at that moment as I was awe struck by what my eyes witnessed.

In front of me was a place filled with the unending grains of golden sand, as if the whole island was made out of gold itself.

Shimmering blue waters that sparkled in the presence of the sunlight encircled the island.

Greenery spread out all around the island, with patches of different coloured flowers that grew among bushes occasionally.

As we all got down from the ship Seonghwa started walking in to the jungle, cutting our way through the dense, suffocating undergrowth, fighting through the very thick air, which hung heavy, moist and still.

Trees tall as cathedrals surrounded us, and a strange green light almost holy shimmered through the vast canopy of leaves.

The forest seemed to have an intelligence of it's own. It's voice was the sudden screech of a parrot, the flicker of a monkey swinging through the branches overhead. It knew we were here.

So far we had been lucky. We hadn't been attacked by pirates or from fathers navi, of course we had by mosquitoes and stinging ants. But the more dangerous things had left us alone. The rivers we had crossed had been free of anything deadly.

"How far have they gone! I'm tired!" Wooyoung whined as he walked behind San, San moved a large leaf out the way but let it go as it hit Wooyoung in the face hard making him whine louder.

Yunho laughed along with the others, I smiled over watching them goof around, but it was shortly lived as we were surrounded by the navi pointing guns at us.

We all froze holding up our hands, I looked over at the others seeing panic in their eyes, I sighed realising we weren't going to get Hongjoong back.

"Wait! Guns down! That's my daughter!" I heard father say as he ran up to us, he grabbed my arm pulling me away from the crew.

"Tie them up we should be there shortly" father said to his crew who nodded running up to the guys and taking away their weapons.

We walked for what felt like hours, I could hear the boys quietly complaining behind me, I had asked father multiple times now what is he looking for but he wouldn't say.

Thoughts floated around my head remembering what the mermaids told me. There is an internal Island of legend, a place with unimaginable beauty, but a growing evil, where the forces of life and death are in constant conflict, for centuries many have come in search of it's power, only to fall for its corruption, and now you have come to this place alluried by the promise of power and immortality, the darkness will claim you. Are you willing to risk everything for a taste of Utopia?

"Power? Immortality? Forces of life and death in constant conflict?" I whispered to myself, I thought harder what connect those together? I wondered.

"The fountain of youth! That's what's here that's what everyone is looking for!" I yelled after gasping, father turned around smiling.

"You truly are my daughter" he said laughing, we carried on walking for awhile something wasn't right why would father want to see the fountain of youth? What is he planning?.

We stopped, seeing in the distant was a majestic waterfall that looked like a sheet of blue velour swishing down, its edges hemmed with whipped white lines. The water thundered down into the pool like a gigantic waterspout. This must be where the fountain is.

✥---------------------†-----------------✥

There was a cave hidden behind the water fall, the cave was built into the muddy brown rock of the cliff, the stone guarding the entrance was jagged and uneven, arranged in such a way, that it would be difficult to pass.

One by one everyone entered the cave, we then became engulfed in chilling blackness. The absence of light meant the absence of its warming touch, as I shivered.

Small, loose stones littered the floor causing me to trip as we got further in, the loose stones shifted, twisting my ankle one way and then the other, and the noise of those disturbed rocks echoed off the dense stone walls. Ahead was the sound of more water dripping in the distance.

But without even a match to cast light into the black there was no way to tell how deep it was or if the next step would take us into it's frigid depths.

Father held a stick lighting it on fire, All of a sudden, flaming torches sparked to life, lighting up the tunnel ahead and bathing the entire cavern in a flickering orange glow.

"Let's go" father said as he started walking off following the torches, As afraid as I was I turned to look over to Yeosang he smiled softly at me.

We enter into the massive underground chamber, the walls covered in crystals, the middle of the chamber was a fountain, obviously the fountain of youth the place was full with pirates, Blackbeard's crew.

I stood next to the guys, out of the way of what was about to happen, seeing Hongjoong looked over at us a smile placed on his face.

My father grabbed his sword aiming it at Blackbeard, him doing the same with his sword, father was about to reach him and slashed downwards with the sword. 

Blackbeard parried with one of his gauntlets and the blade clashed against the metal strapped to father’s arms with a shriek that sent sparks flying into the air. 

Father was quick and uppercut slashed at Blackbeard, attempting to catch him from stem all the way to stern. Blackbeard side stepped to the right just enough and the blade passed a hairs breath from his face. 

As they fought the other pirates joining in I moved over to the guys cutting the ropes loose as we made our way to Hongjoong, we watched around as everyone was detracted.

"We got to destroy this place" Hongjoong said we looked over confused as he started to explain.

"This place is to dangerous for any man to ever see" he said, we looked around thankfully everyone was still fighting not paying attention to us.

"Hongjoong you wanted to find this place, all the trouble we went through and now you just want to destroy it?" Seonghwa asked getting confused.

"It's better this way" he said sighing as he turned around looking at the fountain, I nodded agreeing with him, who knows what would happen if someone got hold of this power.

"On three we push" Hongjoong said, we all grab hold of the fountain, on three we pushed making it tilt, pushing harder it finally started to fall knocking it to the floor.

The moment the fountain crashed to the floor the crystal walls started to shake, rocks fell from the ceiling some landing on other knocking them out.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" Father and Blackbeard yelled, they both ran up to us aiming the swords to Hongjoong and Yeosang.

Quickly Yeosang and Hongjoong lifted swords, hearing the clash I jumped away, San and Jongho grabbed me as we started running out, now realising that the chamber was caving in.

I looked behind seeing Blackbeard fighting Hongjoong, and father fighting Yeosang, my heart racing hoping nothing will happen to the two pirates I've come to care about.

As we ran I saw that we were the only ones running out, maybe we were the only ones who saw the place caving in. Finally getting out the sun beaming down the light blinding.

We waited hearing the rocks falling, I held my breath waiting for Hongjoong and Yeosang to come running out, the others stood getting anxious as well.

Seonghwa pushed us all back as we saw the dust come rushing out of the cave entrance, still no sign of Hongjoong or Yeosang, my hand grabbed Wooyoung's hand he squeezed back nervous as well.

We all leaned in to see two figures getting closer to the entrance as they ran, coming out of the dust was Hongjoong and Yeosang, we cheered seeing them.

"Let's get the hell out of here" Hongjoong said as he sighed rubbing his head and walking the way to the beach. We looked back at Yeosang waiting for him to say something but he just started walking as well.

✥-----------------†--------------✥

We ended up sailing back to Tortuga after a few days, Hongjoong explained that they ran out of the cave while both my father and Blackbeard tried to save the water from the fountain of youth, the cave trapping them in and now probably dead.

We walked off port and on to Aurora finally feeling comfortable and safe again, Yeosang grabbed my hand pulling me away from the others.

"I wanted to apologise about your father" he said, looking down at the floor, both hands in mine, I shook my head.

"Don't be I knew Utopia would kill him one day, it's sad but true, so there is nothing you should apologise for" I told him kissing his cheek as I walked back over to the others.

"Well Yn what's your plan, wanna stay with us or go home?" Hongjoong asked standing next to them, I thought about it for a bit, seeing them all watching me waiting for my answer.

"Theres nothing at home for me now, really there never was.." I said really thinking about my options, I looked up at Yeosang he just nodded at me probably already knowing what I'd choose.

"Stay with us then please!" Wooyoung yelled as he ran up hugging me tightly, the others laughed as I giggled hugging him back.

"Of course, if you'll have me?" I asked glancing over at Hongjoong, he grinned as he came up to hug me too, that was the sign for the group to all hug me making me laugh louder.

"It would be our pleasure to have you as a permanent member of the crew" Hongjoong said as the others cheered.

Letting go Hongjoong made his way to the wheel as we started sailing once again, Yeosang quickly kissed my lips then ran off to where Hongjoong was standing.

I blushed realising that the whole crew saw what just happened, the sound of giggling was heard from some of the younger crew making me blush harder.

"As you've likely seen, the number of Merchants roving these waters is three score the number of military ships." Hongjoong said getting our attention.

"Aye. Easy Purchase, but in small doses." Seonghwa said nodding as his eyes roamed the ocean seeing the ships in the distance.

"Right. So to lure the Navy out of hiding, it's best to cause a bit of mischief." Hongjoong said smirking at us, the others cheered getting excited.

"Catch a few small fish to attract the big ones." I said now understanding what they were talking about.

"That's right. So plunder and pillage as you see fit." Hongjoong said laughing, Utopia far from our minds now as we set off in to the horizon for the next adventure, finally my dreams have come true, I thought smiling to myself watching the crew mess around, truly I was home.