Capturing Adventure (BakuKami Week 2018 Day 2)
December 3rd [Day 2]: Mermaid/Pirate AU | “Don’t you fuckin’ dare” | Injury
Ship: Bakugou Katsuki/Kaminari Denki | Rating: let’s say G | Wordcount: 1821
Read on AO3
“What with the costume?” Bakugou felt someone slide next to him and breathe in his direction but didn’t acknowledge the intruder. He sipped from his bottle, waiting for the dude to get the message and leave. Alas, he prodded further. “Hello? I’d like to know where I can get myself such a fine garment.”
A sensation of fingers caressing his loose sleeve made Bakugou react at last. In the blink of an eye, he had a knife pointed at the intruder who instantly pulled away, although didn’t seem really fazed by the blade pointed at him. Katsuki figured with this attitude he had knives pointed at him a lot.
“I stole it,” he rasped out. He stuck the knife in the table between them, eyeing his unwanted company threateningly.
The company leaned back in but kept the distance.
“Oh? Isn’t that a crime?” the man raised his eyebrow, smirking. That made Bakugou lean into his personal space with threatening, overwhelming presence. That must have been a first for the stranger because he finally seemed to start questioning his life choices.
“Are you threatening me? You’re a fucking pickpocketer yourself,” he hissed and grabbed his arm, pushing up his sleeve to retrieve a coin from there and put it back in his pouch. When he straightened he expected the exposed thief to flee but he was still there proudly puffing his chest.
“Excuse you, but I’m not a cheap pickpocketer. I’d rather call it,” he waved his hand, “a hobby, you’d say? Or a way of checking one’s dispositions,” he smiled charmingly, but it had an undertone that told Bakugou not to trust him.
“Dispositions?” Bakugou found his mouth moving despite himself. The stranger had the kind of aura around him that made him want to know more.
“Why yes, I’m hiring! Aren’t you here to taste the adventure yourself?” he asked, leaning in by putting his chin on his fist.
Bakugou was. But he hoped he wasn’t that obvious. He came to the shady tavern to escape his boring life, the pampering, the praises and the gifts, all seasoned with whispers behind his back. He wanted to flip them all off and taste what being feared, respected and admired felt like. That was impossible in the stiff society he was living in so far. He squared his shoulders.
“How do you know I’m not here to hire someone myself?” he asked with confidence accented with a sip of his drink. The smile he got in return rubbed him in the wrong way but he knew he had to keep his cool. For now.
“Boy, I can tell someone who hadn’t had an ounce of fun in their life from afar. I’ve spent half of my life on a ship sailing the world; I know how an adventurer looks like.”
Katsuki gritted his teeth. He hated the tone he was treated with. And boy? He looked the stranger upside down. He was dressed similarly to Katsuki, but his clothes looked more worn and tattered, dirty even. His skin was sunburnt and covered with small scars. He had gold earrings and few signets. Next to him laid a feathered tricorne hat. His appearance and the look in his eyes aged him but he couldn’t have been older than Bakugou. How dare he look down on him? He gulped down some more of his drink. He was glad for the alcohol in his system; otherwise he wouldn’t be able to take all of this so calmly.
“So you’re hiring for a ship?” he asked to keep himself occupied. Even if he didn’t want to work with the douche it was good to gather some information.
The stranger smiled at his interest.
“Not just a ship. A pirate ship,” he stage whispered. Getting the reaction he wanted – eyes widened in surprise – he offered his hand. “Captain Chargebolt, it’s nice to meet you.”
Bakugou didn’t take his hand. He looked at his smiling face in confusion, and then burst into a husky, barked laugh. The captain put his hand down, frowning.
“What’s so funny?”
Bakugou have heard stories about Chargebolt, the gruesome pirate who sunk one of the biggest ships of the Queen’s fleet. Who spread his bad fame throughout all the seas and lands. He saw the bounty posters in many port towns, each with more horrifying face than the previous one. And none of them looked like a young man with smooth face, blond hair and a soft spot for nice clothes.
“You don’t even look like a pirate, and you go around titling yourself like that?” he leaned back, looking at him with amusement. “You shouldn’t be so loud, what if the real Chargebolt hears about it?” he chuckled, visibly enjoying having back the upper hand and a victim to make fun of.
The so-called captain, on the other hand, went silent. He looked calmly at the man in front of him and it took Katsuki a longer while to notice something was off and drop the smile off his face. He frowned at the calm anger the pirate was emanating. Before he could say anything, the man stood up, slamming his fist on the table. The smile he gave him was completely lacking of mirth.
“Oh, you saw through me. Such a clever boy.” His mocking tone made Bakugou’s blood grow hot, but he stayed in place, because he knew he was right. There was no way the man was a pirate captain. Let alone the one he was claiming to be.
The adventurer opened his fist, thus throwing some coins on the table. “Have a drink on me as a prize,” he said patting him on the shoulder. “See you around.” He left the tavern followed by squinted red eyes.
*
In retrospect, Katsuki should have known better than to buy so many drinks for money he was given by a stranger. The walk to the closeby inn he rented a room in wasn’t that hard, but he barely had the time to kick down his shoes and put down the hat the stranger left behind, before he saw a flurry of yellow followed by an unpleasant zap and then the darkness engulfed him.
Now he was lying surrounded by soft, fluffy pillows. Opening his eyes to a dim light awakened a throbbing headache that made him groan and push his face back into the pillow. He heard a rustle somewhere close to him.
“Are you awake?” came a quiet, unfamiliar voice. He remained silent but the stranger followed with another question anyway. “Do you want some water?”
Water sounded good to his dry tongue so he grunted in response and slowly turned around, lifting himself on his elbows. He blinked a few times to clear his vision.
In front of him was a muscular man with wide shoulders and a tan. His bandana-tied hair was obnoxiously red and his smile consisted of threateningly sharp teeth. He was holding a wooden cup that Katsuki accepted, sniffed and took a tentative sip before deciding it was plain water and chugging down the whole cup. The stranger smiled at him, showing off his fangs.
“I’ll tell captain you’re awake,” he announced and before Katsuki could ask anything else, he disappeared.
When he was gone Bakugou put the cup down and looked around. It seemed he was in a cabin full of books, maps and various trophies, one more exotic than the other. The pillows and covers he was lying on were all of different fabrics and patterns, visibly from different sides of the world. It was exactly like he imagined a pirate cabin and a little bit more.
The door opened and a smiling blonde entered the cabin. Bakugou’s first instinct was to get on his feet but he was still too hangover to do so, so the best he could do was sit up and straighten his back to look at least a little bit more threatening and confident.
“Welcome aboard the Thunder Queen!” the man greeted, opening his arms with pride. Bakugou gritted his teeth, feeling his headache worsen.
“Did you just fucking kidnap me?!” he hissed out with slowly boiling fury. But it didn’t faze the pirate; he just laughed it off and leaned on his desk.
“I sure did. You wouldn’t believe I was Chargebolt and that deeply wounded me,” he feigned hurt in his voice, placing a hand over his heart. Bakugou scoffed.
“Like hell it did.”
The captain smiled.
“Look, I couldn’t have a boy like you go around spitting on my name. Such a pretty one too. I’d rather have you on my side. So, what do you say?” he cocked his head to the side, eyeing Katsuki with mirth.
“Huh?” he was too angry to even understand what that madman was saying. The captain only smiled at that, but something in his eyes shifted mischievously again.
“I’m a man of my word, so you either sign a contract to earn your food and a part of the loot or we leave you in the next port we deck in. You don’t have to decide just yet, of course.”
Bakugou was fuming but the captain kept his annoying, amused smile on. He pushed away from the desk and approached him to sit down next to him, which made Bakugou scoot away, but it didn’t put enough distance between them to his liking. The captain chuckled and pulled a small bottle from an inside pocket of his coat.
“Drink it. It’s good for a hangover.” He offered him the bottle but seeing his threatening stare he raised an eyebrow. “You’re on an open sea, on a ship, surrounded by pirates. You think it can worsen your position?” And after another second he added. “I’m not gonna drug ya, I’m a consent type of guy.” He smiled charmingly leaning in and that made Katsuki rip the bottle out of his hand and chug down its contents.
It was spicy and thick and his first reaction was to spit it out, but the captain was instantly on him, covering his mouth with his hand.
“Swallow it, it’s fucking expensive.”
Bakugou looked into his stern, golden pupils from too close and swallowed, his eyes watering. He breather through his nose feeling a weird soothing sensation in his mouth and throat slowly fighting the nausea and making him think a little clearer already.
The captain noticed it and took his hand away, patting his cheek.
“Good boy,” he cooed. Bakugou swatted his hand away, which made him chuckle. He took the bottle and stood up. “Now come, I’ll show you the deck.”
Bakugou put on his displeased face and stood up reluctantly. But inside, he was thrilled for the unknown that was coming towards him so rapidly. For the sea adventures awaiting him with the Chargebolt he has heard so many stories about. Stories which truthfulness he was about to verify.