Drunk On Pride (pt. 2)
Part 1
character: Bakugou x reader
warnings: none
a/n: Part 2 of the pirate au. I'm trying to build up some of the lore but if I look at this for too long I'm going to start hating it.
w/c: 2027
“I’m the wraith.” You say as you exhale. His face goes slack and the men behind him start murmuring to one another. He whips his head around and glares at them, a silent command that forces their chatter to come to an abrupt halt. He turns back around and throws an inquisitive look at the red haired man that’s still holding onto your arm, calloused hands forcing you to stay by his side. Bakugou’s gaze falls back onto you as he speaks, “I didn’t realize that the wraith was a woman.” He says, pausing for a moment to scan your face as if he might somehow be able to discern the truth through analyzing your features alone. “But that doesn’t answer any of my questions. You’re an assassin, someone must’ve sent you my way.” His statement is a clear invitation for you to explain yourself, but you hesitate.
Normally a lie would roll right off of your tongue, but something about him makes you feel like you’re unable to utter a single word. The more pressing problem, aside from your current tongue tied state, is that he’s right. Revealing your identity might’ve bought you some time, but it makes you seem more guilty than you truly are. But telling him why you made the idiotic choice to start looting ships at a pirate port isn’t an option at this point in time.
The silence seems to permeate the air around you as his entire crew waits for your response. You can practically feel the irritation coming off of him in waves, you don’t even need to look up at him to know that he’s throwing daggers at you.
“Fine. If you don’t want to speak then you can spend some time in the brig and we’ll see how talkative you’re feeling after that,” he growls. You say nothing. Really, there’s nothing that you can say that wouldn’t put you in more danger than you’re already in. Silence is your only weapon, and your greatest defense. His gaze bores into your own as if he’s trying to compel you to speak, that is until your impromptu staring contest is interrupted by the red haired man that still has an iron grip on your bicep. “Aw come on Bakugou, she’s too pretty to throw in the brig. I can keep an eye on her tonight.” He says, throwing a wink at you. Bakugou lets out a sigh of annoyance and pinches the bridge of his nose, “Kirishima, I don’t have time for this. We’re leaving port now. Raise the sails and put her in the brig.” He says, giving a nod in your direction as if there might be some other prisoner that he’s referring to. You roll your eyes. If Bakugo catches your subtle defiance, he says nothing as he walks into what you assume are his quarters and slams the door behind him. “Alright boys, you heard him. Get ‘er ready to sail, we leave now.” Kirishima says in a booming voice as he opens a small trap door and begins walking you down into the brig.
Kirishima. You know that name, you’re pretty sure that he’s Bakugou’s first mate. And based on the way that he’s able to command the crew it seems that he’s certainly earned their respect. Your ear strains and you hear him unsheath a small blade. Bringing it down to your hands he slices clean through the rope and grabs onto your wrists. He tugs you down the stairs and then lets go as you stumble onto the floor and lose your balance, body making contact with the wooden floorboards. Kirishima gives you a sheepish smile, “Sorry about this, but you know, Captain’s orders. I wouldn’t usually keep a pretty lady like you all locked up. Even if you might be an assassin.” You roll your eyes. Leave it to a pirate to flirt even as he throws you into what is functionally a mobile jail cell.
You look around the brig, there isn’t much light save for a flicker of orange coming from a lantern hanging off of a hook to the left of you. You spot what looks like a large scrap of fabric and suppose that it’s passable for a blanket given your current situation. You lean your body against the damp wood and pull the blanket tight over your shoulders, hoping for a dreamless sleep.
—
“Enough.” He says. The icy tone sends a shiver down your spine, but you refuse to back down. You meet his eyes with a hardened gaze and speak again. “I’m not going to marry him.” The words carry all of the courage that you can muster up but it doesn’t matter. His decision is final and you know this but still, you can’t give up. You won’t allow yourself to be sold away for jewels and gold coins. Although your father might claim that what drives this union is the joining of two legacies; families that have been pushing out military commanders and generals since the Oceanic commission was first put together. You know the truth. He’s after the fortune that he’ll be privy to once he marries you into that despicable family. But he’ll be hard pressed to find you willing to marry Tomura Shigaraki.
The spoiled son of the general known reprehensibly as “All for One” is as much of a tyrant as his father is. With a long, sordid history of carrying out less than legal missions for All for one that tend to result in him leaving with piles of pillaged gold as entire towns go up in flames after claims of potential “uprisings” taking place there. You couldn’t in good conscience agree to this. As a little girl you’d dreamt of one day commanding your own crew, of keeping the seas safe for sailors and protecting coastal towns. You’d wanted nothing more than to be a hero of the people. But dreams are just that, dreams. It didn’t take long for you to realize that you were a woman which meant that certain things were expected of you, one of those being marriage. And while she hadn’t railed against your father’s demand for you to get married, your mother had always encouraged you to pursue a love match but he had seen it as nothing more than a frivolous waste of time. You’d lost count of the number of arguments, of the doors that had been slammed, of the times that you had run out of your home only to return a few hours later. Because really, where else could you go?
The scene in front of you begins to turn hazy, your father’s voice sounding muffled as you feel something touching your shoulder. Your eyes snap open, bringing you face to face with Kirishima and Bakugo. The latter of the two seemed to be leaning in to look at you, seemingly still searching for a fragment of the truth.
You groan. “Fuck, you couldn’t have given me a few extra hours of sleep?” You mumbled, eyes still adjusting to the light from the lantern that Kirishima is holding directly in front of your face. Bakugo lets out a disgruntled sigh. “You’re a prisoner, not a princess. You’re up when I say you’re up. Now let’s go.” He says as he hauls you upright, grabbing onto your shoulders. “Hands.” You look up at him and slowly put your hands out in front of you. Gentle is the last word that you’d use to describe how he ties the rope around your wrists, he tries the knot a few times, seemingly satisfied with his work he tugs you forward. You stumble and nearly trip over the steps as he roughly guides you towards his quarters, with Kirishima following suit. ‘A prisoner, not a princess’. You let out a dry laugh under your breath as he practically shoves you into the room. If only he knew.
—
If nothing else, it seems that the captain has good taste in home decor. The room is well furnished. You can see numerous oak bookshelves stretching across the walls, you wonder how he manages to keep them from falling over and reason that they must somehow be nailed to the wood of the ship itself. The books are leatherbound with titles stamped in gold leaf. A pirate that pillaged books of all things, certainly unexpected. Bakugou makes his way behind an old writing desk, clearly not brand new but you can tell that it was meticulously crafted. Beautiful designs are carved into the legs, vines that seem nearly lifelike. He sits down with a grunt in what looks to be a rather comfortable chair, the velvet upholstery is of fine quality despite it clearly having seen better days. Past the desk you can see a half pulled curtain revealing a well made bed. The entire thing seems a bit … tidy for a pirate captain’s quarters and you’re still wondering what kind of a pirate takes the time to grab a novel from his victims but you forget your curiosity as Bakugo shoos Kirishima out and faces you, training the full weight of his unyielding gaze on you. Instead of choosing to break the silence first, you take the time to really look at his eyes.
They’re unlike anything that you’ve ever seen before. A deep fiery crimson that reminds you of pumping blood. They look alive. You can feel the same energy, the passion radiating off of him as well. His intensity is something to behold.
“Why are you on my ship.” He says, and the sentence comes out as less of a polite question and more of a demand for a true answer. You can tell that his patience is wearing thin. His hands are folded neatly on the dark wood of the desk and you can’t help but catch a glimpse of the scars on them. Thin white lines that hug the contours of his knuckles. Just the price of doing business you suppose.
He tugs at the rope that’s keeping your hands bound and you feel your pelvis slam into the front of the desk as he brings your face to his. “When I ask you something, I expect an answer.” You take a moment and then start, “I checked the sailing logs for the port and you’re the only ship sailing north this month.” You hope that this alone is enough to convince him of your innocence. He pauses and then starts, “And what, you wanted a free ride somewhere up north?” He’s staring at you quizzically now and truthfully you did check the logs and see that he was the only ship travelling up north. But what that really meant was that him and his crew would have had to wait another twelve hours before they could rely on constellations for guidance. Which in turn meant that you would’ve had twelve hours before they checked their cargo hold prior to departure, giving you ample time to escape. Instead, what comes out of your mouth is a half truth. But this plan has potential and you’re just crazy enough to believe that it might work.
“I needed safe passage to Narberth. I'm running from ... certain people who would see me dead if they found me." You finish, praying that this damsel in distress act works. Bakugo’s expression is unreadable and finally he speaks, “Who exactly are you running from.”
You pause, “I’d rather not say.” He runs a hand through his hair, clearly exasperated as he sighs and starts again, “I don’t trust you. I don’t believe you, and I honestly don’t even give a shit about whether or not you’re telling the truth. But if you actually want safe passage-” You interrupt him as you nod your head vigorously. He sighs, continuing “I’ll take you with us, on one condition. You have to swear your fealty to me, to my crew, and to the ship. You can’t just hitch a ride, you either become one of us or I throw you into the water and we see if you can swim just as well as you can lie.”
