Imagine falling from the rigging and Billy catching you.
Content warnings: None, well, one lewd joke ;)
“It’ll be fine,” you call down to the older pirate twenty feet below you. Reaching forwards, you strain to just shift a little closer.
“What’s going on?” You hear Billy’s voice from below, the thought of him giving you a momentary distraction and making you almost lose your concentration. You shake your heated thoughts of him away and focus on the task of unhitching the stray bit of wood from the rigging.
“She thinks she can get the stuck wood out,” the other man grunts, the disbelief in his tone only making you more determined to succeed. You shuffle your feet along the rope a little further, one hand gripping the rigging, the other completely outstretched to the splinter of wood causing such troubles for the sails.
“It’s too dangerous,” Billy replies.
“I already told her that.”
You ignore the conversation as best you can, now tip toeing to reach just that bit further. Your fingertip skims the piece of wood but doesn’t budge. You let out an annoyed groan and try again to push it from its place.
“Good view for you though, eh, Billy?” the man says suddenly.
“What?” Billy replies, annoyance in his tone.
The man laughs. “I saw you the other night; couldn’t keep your eyes off of her.”
All thoughts of the piece of wood disappear, replaced by complete focus on Billy’s reply. It’s as though your heart stops beating just so as it’s silent enough for you to hear.
“I didn’t- It’s not like that…” he stumbles.
“It’s all right, lad, we all take a shine to someone. Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it?”
Your body aches, still stretched into an awkward position across the rigging, but you don’t dare move and interrupt the conversation.
His response makes your silent heart race, the surge of heat that courses through your body making your knees weaken.
“Oh, shit,” you mutter as your feet give in. The toes of your boots slip on the rope, and you don’t have the strength in one hand to keep you upright.
After a moment of unladylike fumbling, you fall completely away from the rigging.
You let out a shriek as you tumble towards the ship below. Squeezing your eyes shut, you brace for the pain of collision with the deck, a fleeting hope flashing through your mind that the worst you’ll get is a broken arm.
But when the impact does hit, its not painful at all, in fact it’s the complete opposite. There is a distinct, ‘oof’, from someone, and your eyes snap open to meet the bright blue ones of Billy’s.
It takes a while for the adrenaline to flood from your system, but when it does you realise your being held in his arms, the man having saved you from a very painful, and possibly fatal, landing.
Your gaze shoots to the ground and then back up to his face in shock.
“Uh, thanks,” you stutter, your voice hoarse.
He blinks a couple of times before giving you a quick, uncertain smile. “You’re welcome.”
Where his skin makes contact with yours it feels like its on fire, and it takes all your willpower not to grab his shirt and tug him down to kiss him. The temptation is overwhelming, especially after the near-death experience.
His hands grip you a little tighter, the tension in his body relaxing, as though sensing your thoughts.
“I think you can let her down now, lad.” At the sound of the voice, Billy seems to pull himself from some kind of trance.
“Right,” he says, and places you carefully on your feet. You almost topple again, and he curls an arm around your waist to keep you steady.
The man behind you chuckles, but you barely hear anything over the blood roaring inside your head as Billy keeps hold of you.
“Well, she got rid of the wood,” the man says.
“Yeah,” another pirate says close-by, “though I think she gave it Billy instead.”
A round of raucous laughter erupts around the ship, and your face burns a bright red.
“That’s enough,” Billy yells, letting his arm slip from around you.
The men listen to his command, eventually, after a little more giggling.
Billy clears his throat and turns back to face you. “Are you all right?”
You nod, unsure you can actually speak.
He offers a final small smile before moving away, though your stomach flutters when he glances at you over his shoulder once more before disappearing below deck, his gaze lingering longer than necessary.
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