Unseasoned Ties

It’s been around twenty minutes since Jack left you by yourself in his room, and you’re still sitting on the side of the bed. The most you’ve moved would be to rub your ear, the damn earring is driving you crazy for some reason. You can’t help but think about everything that has happened so far in this psychosis of yours, still unsure if this is all real. ‘Well at least I know where I am…that’s a step forward. And I know who I’m with, and that’s multiple steps forward...or maybe it’s a hop. Actually it could be a whole leap...I should really stop this train of thought or it may just derail and Jack will find me twitching on the floor,’ you think, laughing at the thought of Jack actually finding you twitching on the floor.

You pull yourself up off the bed and glance over at the two bottles of rum Jack had saved from the terrors lurking underneath his bed. You let the idea of hiding them cross your mind, but then think better of it and decide to put that plan away for later. ‘I think he deserves at least one night that’s free of my shenanigans,’ you decide, feeling rather compassionate this evening. Looking around you, it’s obvious that there isn’t much in the form of entertainment to be done in Jack’s bedroom. You figure all Jack uses it for is eating, drinking, and sleeping. He seems to enjoy being out on the ship far too much to be able to sit inside and let the crew do all the work. You’re not much of a drinker so you can’t think of anything that would hold your interest in here without Jack.

You do notice a couple large trunks though. One at the end of the bed and the other just set against the wall. They look rather inviting but you’ve never been one who snoops around other people’s belongings. You grin at the memory of accompanying Anya to help her boyfriend move out of his parent’s house. He left to take his mattress over to his new apartment and Anya has this brilliant urge to read through all of his journals. It almost made you queasy watching her invade his privacy so blatantly. She actually got angry at some of the things he wrote about girls he met, before he had even met Anya. For obvious reasons, their relationship did not last long. After moving in with her, you constantly wondered if she went through your things while you weren’t home. ‘I wonder if I’ll ever see her again any time soon,’ you think. ‘Shit she would love this. She probably would have already mounted Jack and they’d be in their sixth round of sex by now.’ Deciding to leave your thoughts of your best friend behind, it won’t do any good to dwell, you make a mental note to ask Jack about the chests’ innards later.

Your eyes fall on double doors at the back of the room and you wonder why you didn’t see them before. Walking over to them, you cautiously swing them both open at the same time, not really knowing what’s on the other side.

‘Woah,’ you think as you look out at the ocean. ‘Holy…shit.’ You’re standing on a balcony that’s in the back of the ship overlooking the water. Walking out to the railing, you notice that the Pearl is moving and you can see Tortuga straight ahead, which means that you’re moving away from the town. You can see bright lights all over Tortuga and realize that they must be small fires. ‘It’s probably a good thing that Jack found me before it got dark,’ you thankfully think, ‘I probably would have already gotten into a bar fight and maybe even have kicked some guy in his good bits.’

The sun looks as if it’s falling into the sea, either that or the sea is swallowing the sun. Bright colors spread out through the water from the sun’s rays. ‘It looks like a painting that I could never create.’ Feeling a sudden cool breeze hit you from the left, you wrap your arms around yourself and turn around looking up at the ship. Rubbing your hands up and down your bare arms, trying to create friction, you wonder if Jack is up there standing behind the giant wheel. You want to go up there and stand next to him, but you quickly dismiss the idea. ‘If he wants me to join him up there, he’d ask me. Or just make it a standing fact that I could if I wanted to,’ you decide as you lightly chew on your bottom lip, it’s been a habit of yours for as long as you can remember.

You decide to stay out on the balcony even though the air is turning quite frigid rather quickly. ‘At least there’s something to look at out here, as opposed to staring at some blank walls singing to myself,’ you think as you swing the doors shut and turn around. You go to the far right corner of the balcony and sit down hugging your knees to your chest. Wrapping your arms around your knees you rest your head back on the wall behind you. You stare out into the water and sky for what seems like hours.

‘When did I become so exhausted?’ you ask yourself as your eyes start closing without your permission. The sun is almost completely beneath the horizon now and you can barely see the town of Tortuga. All that’s left are the reddened twinkling of flames.

Suddenly hearing shouting from within Jack’s room, your eyes reluctantly open. The doors to the balcony swing open and you look to your left to see Jack stomp over to the railing and peer down into the water. Figuring he doesn’t see you, you just wait, eyebrows raised in amusement, until he notices that you’re there. A frown mars his tanned face as he spins towards you.

“Bloody ‘ell!” he shouts as he sees you, “What the ‘ell are ye doin’ out here? I thought ye jumped ship.” You unwrap your arms from around your legs and stand up from your spot on the ground.

“It was too boring in that room Jack, there’s nothing to do. I just wanted to watch the ocean for awhile. Don’t fret my little pirate man, if I was planning on swimming with the fishes, I’d let you know... 10 minutes ahead of time. Or at least leave you a note,” you look up at him feeling a little guilty for the frown still displayed on his face.

“I’m sorry for freaking you out, I really hadn’t planned on it,” you apologize as you move around him and walk into the room. “But now that I know how you react, I can’t promise I won’t use that to my advantage in the near future,” you add wearing a humorous smile. Looking around, you notice all the glowing candles placed randomly around the room. Shadows now hide in the corners while the flickering flames make the bare room look almost alive.

“Jus’ try it luv, you’ll see what happens,” you hear Jack say behind you as the double doors to the balcony slam shut.

You turn back around facing him, raising your eyebrows a little, “Would that be a threat Jack?”

Jack stalks up to you and lowers his body a tad so he can look you straight in the eyes, “No luv, tha’s not a threat, tha’s just a fact.” You stare back at him not saying anything. His eyes seem to have darkened and they now have this inhuman glow. Jack straightens his body back up and asks you curiously, “If you were so bored luv, then why didn’ you just come out and find me? I would ‘ave no problem keepin’ ye occupied. Your pirate man can cure anythin’.”

Sighing you look down realizing that he will now refer to himself forever as your pirate man. Knowing that joining him would have been the obvious choice, instead of sitting out in the cold alone, you mumble loud enough for him to hear, “I don’t know Jack, I didn’t know that I could. You did just leave me in here, you didn’t say I could go with you, so I stayed.” Hearing Jack softly chuckling you look up at him and see that he’s laughing at you. ‘That ass, I should kick him.... hard.... in the shin!’ you think as you frown angrily at him.

“Why, exactly, are you laughing at me? I have a severe urge right now to kick you in the shin you know. I could do some damage Jack. You could get a bruise so large it could be detrimental to your health,” you ramble off.

Jack quickly sobers up and smiles a little out of the right side of his mouth. ‘How does he do that so perfectly?’ you wonder.

“No need ta be bruising your pirate man luv, not by those means anyhow. I jus’ never got the impression that ye were the type that needed permission ta do anything, don’ tell me I’m wrong about ye. It would just break me criminal heart.”

Your anger disappeared when he referred to himself as your pirate man again and by the time he was done talking you were wearing an amused smile, “Oh yeah, I’m sure it would just tear you up inside if I felt that I needed your approval to do everything.”

“It would, I like ye feisty,” Jack replies as he suddenly flings his left arm around your waist and pulls you in firmly against his side. He squeezes you tightly and you start feeling like you can’t breathe.

“Umm Jack, as much as I enjoy this, I enjoy breathing a little bit more. Can’t say that I love the lack of oxygen,” you tightly say. Immediately you feel his grip loosening so he’s just lightly holding on to you.

“Sorry luv, got a little over-excited,” he replies as he leads you over to the table. There’s a couple of plates of food in the middle that he must have brought in the room with him earlier. One plate has pieces of meat still attached to the bones that look like pork. One plate is filled with bread and the other you’re not quite sure about. But it all smells delicious. You look up at him to see him staring down at you, like a father would look at his little girl.

“Is this for me?”

Right after you ask it, you realize what a dumb question it was. ‘Why the hell did I ask him that? Now I seem like a ditzy cheerleader. Not that he knows what those are, but still. I seem like a real scholar with that one.’

Jack leads you to a chair and sits you down. “Na, the food's not for you luv, cause I’m plannin on starvin ya. Gotta get rid of all those lovely curves ye have,” the sarcasm in his voice is evident as he looks down at your chest. You don’t really know what to say to that. You’re not really used to guys noticing your body. You’ve never been the type to flaunt what you have. If you really wanted to you could, you have plenty of the breast tissue to do some serious flaunting with. You’ve just always preferred a nice comfy band t-shirt over a lacey restricting thingy any day. But remembering that women don’t usually walk around wearing jeans and a t-shirt in this year, you assume that you probably look a little odd.

Realizing that his stare is still directed at your chest, you pick a piece of bread up and throw it at him. You smile triumphantly as it hits him square in the face. Knowing that Jack approves of how you look still makes you feel like a giggly little school girl, but you choose to ignore that feeling.

“Oi!” Jack warns, “Don’t be throwin’ things luv, you may start a war you won’t win.” Jack walks around to the other side of the table and throws his body down on the chair. ‘I really wish he wouldn’t walk like that,’ you think, ‘He makes it very hard not to stare when he walks like he’s having sex. It’s just wrong he can walk like that.’ It’s like he’s slightly tipsy but you know that it can’t be that. He probably has one hell of an alcohol tolerance built up by now, especially for rum. Leaning forward, he grabs his two bottles of rum and sets one down on each side of him as if to prove the point you’re making in your head.

You two both start eating, though not really speaking. Both of you are too concentrated on the food in front of you. You declined when Jack offered you some rum and he looked surprised that someone could possibly turn rum down. Or maybe he was just surprised that someone could possibly turn him down. Throughout the whole meal, pieces of bread were thrown without words being shared.

After you are both pretty much done eating, Jack picks all the plates up, leaving the one with bread on the table and sets the other plates outside the door. You’re glad he left the one with the bread on the table. You get hungry at odd hours in the night and for some odd reason you love bread, so it works out perfectly.

“Why did you put them outside?” you ask Jack as he shuts the doors once again.

“Ta be washed in the mornin’,” Jack informs you like you should have know this very simple reason.

“Now let me look at your arm luv,” Jack says as he moves to stand in front of you.

“What do you mean?” you ask, not really wanting him to fuck around with your elbow and not sure how he knew you were hurt to begin with.

Jack sighs. “You’re elbow is cut up luv, I saw it in the tavern. I wanna look at it, wrap it, and then be done. You can’t pretend it’s not there luv, I saw it, an’ I saw ya favorin’ it,” he explains while undulating his hands slowly. He picks a bottle of rum up and gathers a reddish piece of cloth from the cupboard, then sets them down on the floor by the bed.

Figuring you probably have no choice in the matter and that if you fought him on this he’d probably sit on you in order to do what he wants, you get up to move over to the side of the bed. Sitting down lightly on the edge, turning your body towards the middle, you wait for Jack to sit down himself.

Jack sits down next to you and turns his body towards yours. “Give me your arm then luv,” he says as he picks up your right arm and pulls it slightly towards him. He turns it slightly inwards and leans his head down so he can get a closer look at it. You can feel his warm breath puffing against your skin. You say nothing as you allow him to poke and prod the surrounding area, looking for other possible injuries. He looks up from your arm and looks you in the eyes intensely. You take a deep breath and just render to his stare.

“Pretty bruised ye are luv, but ye’ll be alright,” he says in an almost whisper and sets your arm back down so your hand is resting on his calf. He leans down to gather the cloth and rum, while his dreaded hair brushes against your open palm you fight the urge to move your fingers. He sits back up and flings the cloth over his shoulder. He takes your arm back in his hand and pulls you forward so your elbow is directly above his lap. Holding the bottle of rum in his other hand he says, “This may sting a little, but I promise ta make it hurt as little as possible.” Looking at you, waiting for your consent, you suddenly realize what an unbelievably compassionate guy Jack really is. Smiling a little, you tell him that it’s all right. You’ve never felt like you were in the right hands this strongly before, you just know that he would never deliberately do anything to cause you harm.

You watch as Jack turns your arm a little bit more and holds the bottle of rum over your elbow. Slowly he pours a small amount of rum onto your abraded flesh, letting the excess drip down into his lap. You hiss as you feel the alcohol burning your skin and wince a little at the prickling sensation now spreading throughout your arm.

Softly, Jack sets the bottle of alcohol back on the floor by his foot. He takes the long piece of red cloth from his shoulder and proceeds to gently wrap your elbow, making sure not to wrap it too tightly. You watch his fingers diligently doing their job and then look up into Jack’s concentrated face. His eyebrows are slightly furrowed and his lips are pursed, and you can’t seem to gather even one coherent thought. Going back to watching his dirt smudged fingers at work, you don’t even realize that the pain is nonexistent. At some point during his nursing, you put any thought of pain far from your mind.

Finally Jack seems content with his work and ties the two ends of the cloth together. Looking up he asks, “How’s that feel then luv?”

You smile widely at him and thank him. Feeling his thumb start to slowly trace small circles across the inside of your elbow, you look down at his hand still holding your arm in place. You suck in air quickly while briefly closing your eyes. You feel the warmth of his hand and the slight pressure of his thumb, causing a shiver to go down your spine. Jack makes a rumbling sound in the back of his throat, which causes you to open your eyes and slowly pull your arm out of his grasp.

‘What the hell am I doing?’ you ask yourself, swallowing thickly, ‘I can’t start feeling things for Jack, I can’t go down that road, going down that road would be bad, very bad. Bad Jack for touching me. Bad me for liking it. Bad for us both. Let’s see if I can use the word bad some more, or…not.’

Jack suddenly gets up from the bed and swaggers over to the chest at the foot of the bed. He gets on his knees as he opens the heavy lid and starts digging around inside. Remembering that you wanted to know what was inside, you crawl over to the foot of the bed and look down at what he’s doing. The chest seems to be full of clothing. Not very exciting, but at least you now know what’s inside it, now only one chest to go.

Finally finding what he was apparently looking for, Jack pulls out a large white long-sleeved shirt that looks very similar to the one he is wearing now. He shuts the chest and stands up handing the shirt out to you. You take it, not entirely sure what you’re supposed to do with it.

“Tha’s for you luv, unless of course you’re wantin’ to be sleepin’ in the buff, in tha’ case I’ll have no objections,” he says as he winks at you.

“As great as sleeping au naturel with you sounds Jack, I’m just going to have to pass. Plus frostbite doesn’t really sound like a good time to me. I rather enjoy the use of my opposable thumbs. Makes picking things up a lot easier,” you shoot back while standing up.

“Tha’s a shame luv, body heat does wonders.”

You look around, wondering where exactly he expects you to change. You swing your head back around to Jack to see that he’s already untied the sash around his waist and is now pulling his boots off.

“Umm...Jack? What are you doing?” you slowly ask.

Jack looks up at you and laughs, “What does it look like I’m doin’? Honestly luv, did ye hit your head when you hit your arm back there? Or are you just tryin’ ta pretend that ya don’ wanna see me bare-assed?”

“Yes Jack, I live to see your bare ass. I want to see your bare ass so unbelievably bad. But I fear that the sheer titillation I will most defiantly feel at seeing your bare ass may be overwhelming for me. I may just pass out from the pure joy,” you sarcastically reply.

“Well we wouldn’ want that luv,” Jack throws back in an equally sarcastic tone.

“Seriously Jack, could you be any more full of yourself?” you wonder out loud.

“Actually luv....”

“No! Don’t answer that, I do not want to know,” you interrupt him quickly.

He smirks and starts humming an unfamiliar tune to himself. He starts lifting his shirt over his head and your mouth literally drops as you let the shirt in your hand fall to the floor. ‘I...am...fucked,’ you think, ‘I’m supposed to sleep in the same bed next to that!? Shit I’m gonna have some wicked dreams.’ Your eyes scan his torso and you can’t help but like what you see. You’ve always preferred the upper bodies on guys, but Jack’s takes your preference beyond anything you could ever imagine. The two reddish round scars on the right side of his chest are prominent and you assume that they were made from bullets. Your fingertips itch with the impulse to trace circles around the scars. You get the sudden urge to seek out whoever shot him and beat the living shit out of him. You’re not much for physical fights, you’re more the verbal attack kind, but you’d make an exception for this moment. Jack raises both arms and you get a glimpse of his inner right arm. He has long mottled scars running down, that bare a resemblance to veins. ‘The scars only seem to enhance his beauty,’ you think as you see the familiar sparrow tattoo on his right arm and the ‘P’ scar underneath.

Hearing Jack shout from within his shirt causes you to snap out of it and look up at him to see him struggling with his shirt. A thread seems to have gotten caught on the long bone tied in his hair and you watch as Jack keeps tugging on it, just causing the problem to get worse. You start laughing as you go over to him, “Calm down Jack, you’re just making it worse. Hold still and I’ll save you from your man-eating shirt.” You wish that you had a camera with you so you could capture this moment forever. Captain Jack Sparrow wearing a hurt little boy expression while trapped in his shirt.

“Are you pouting?” you incredulously ask him as you reach up and unhook the thread from around the bone.

“No,” Jack stubbornly replies. You laugh as you pull the shirt the rest of the way off his head and place it in his hands.

“All better,” you tell him as you pat him on his bare shoulder and try not to notice how hard it is. You walk back to the shirt you had carelessly dropped on the floor and bend over to retrieve it. ‘At least he didn’t notice me oogling,’ you think.

“Are you plannin’ on tellin’ me your name luv?” Jack asks you, “I need somethin’ else ta call you between ‘luv’s’.”

“I haven’t decided yet, I’ll get back to you on that,” you reply as you walk over to the bed and set the shirt down. “Now you need to leave or keep your back turned while I change, your choice. But if you stay, and I see you peeking, I will throw my shoe at you. And these are heavy shoes, they could do some damage,” you warn.

Jack turns his body around so he’s facing the table, “Hurry up then.”

You pause to rake your eyes over his back. The muscles underneath the tan smooth flesh are tense for some reason. Surprisingly, there are no scars at all marking his tanned back. It’s untouched and perfect. You realize that he’s not a big man. He’s not overly built up and huge. The muscles are toned, but not overdone. For a moment you’re glad that he’s not thinner than you, that would be sad. ‘He has the perfect body,’ you think to yourself, ‘Oh god I’m fucked, sooo screwed.’ You shake your head as you check to make sure he’s still look straight ahead. Seeing that he actually is, you quickly pull your shirt over your head and decide that there is no reason to take your bra off. You pick up the shirt he gave you and tug it over your head. It’s huge on you. Reaching down past your knees a little, the sleeves hang down off your arms. You button it up the rest of the way, only to see that the top three buttons are missing, ‘Well that’s just great.’ Thinking about leaving your jeans on for a second you rapidly throw the idea out. It wouldn’t make sense, they aren’t all that comfortable to sleep in. You unbutton your jeans and try to slide them down your legs, but then the fact that you are still wearing your shoes kinda hinders the process. You almost trip as you try to sit on the bed.

“Ye all right luv, do ye need me help?” Jack asks you and you can tell he’s smiling.

“No Jack, I’m fine, for the love of god do not turn around,” you frustratingly say while you try to pull your shoes off. Finally you get them unlaced enough to kick them off and you get your jeans completely off. Standing back up, you sigh and fold your jeans neatly and then your shirt. You smooth the shirt your wearing back down and set your folded clothes on the top on the chest at the foot of the bed.

“Okay I’m done,” you proudly state feeling a little shy about standing half naked in the same room as a half naked Jack Sparrow.

Jack turns around and smiles appreciatively at your attire.

“Alright then luv, time for bed.”

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AN: Everything on my computer was wiped out so updates will take longer. I had a lot written up for this, as well as my other story 'Writing Class'. I'm also doing finals right now in school, so untill after next week, updates will be slower. Read and review.