Waking up was disorienting. The room was so dark and something in the back of your mind insisted it shouldn't be. Your room -.

You weren't in your room. The cold reality of it all sank into your bones and your conscious mind like a lead weight. You tried to let your eyes adjust, to take in any scrap of light that might exist in the room, and after a moment you could see the barest hints of the outlines of things.

Turning onto your back you saw an enormous lump asleep on the other side of the bed. Your heart nearly leapt into your throat, but you managed to not make a sound. Kid's form rose and fell at an even pace, and you could hear the soft sounds of his breathing. For a guy so big you expected he snored loud enough to rattle the boards off the ship.

You didn't know what time it was, but the need to pee pulled you off the bed and carefully into the bathroom. It was a mix of trying not to be too loud, and a mix of beginning some semblance of a plan.

Step one was sorting out which boards creaked, and which didn't.

Trying to log the soft creaks in your memory you make your way to the bathroom and find more light coming into this room than the bedroom. It's dark outside. You weren't sure if the night had just started, or was coming to an end, but you couldn't imagine you'd done anything more than sleep the day away.

It was just after morning when Kid found you, and just before noon by the time you'd gotten back to the boat, patched up, and fed. You weren't sore enough to have slept for days, so you likely just slept the day away.

Who knows when Kid joined you. Who knows how deep asleep he was or wasn't.

Coming out of the bathroom, you use the faint light of the moon and stars to help you see a little better for a minute before you close the door. You keep your sense of hearing on Kid's breathing, your sense of touch on the floor, and your sight focused on the light creeping through the main doors to the room. If the ability to jump ship presented itself again, you'd take it, but your real goal was just to get comfortable with the layout.

Kid was being... almost uncomfortably kind to you so far. You kept expecting him to just take what he wanted, but as intent as he was on thinking you both loved each other, he didn't seem to be in a rush to consummate anything. For a pirate he wasn't treating you like you expected him to.

When you opened the door to the bedroom, you froze. You could feel his eyes on you even though he hadn't said anything. You wait for a moment, forcing yourself to not look back at him, to not let those golden eyes catch your gaze, and when he doesn't say anything you walk out of the room, closing the door quietly behind you.

You can feel the tension leave your body when his eyes were no longer on you, and you walked calmly down the hall. If you ran, or tried to walk quietly, you were worried he'd take it as an attempt to leave. Which wouldn't have been entirely inaccurate, but you hadn't been confined to his room, so you wanted to wander around.

The more comfortable you got with the layout of the ship, the more ways you'd have to leave it. You were smaller than most of the crew, if not all of them, so there might be avenues of egress no one else would worry about. If he was going to call you his pet mouse, then you might as well learn how to scurry about like one.

You moved about the ship easily enough. It was certainly nighttime, when you stepped out onto the deck a good chunk of the crew was still up and about, but the moon was in the sky and there was no soft glow of sunlight anywhere on the horizon.

People looked at you, or watched you, as you meandered around the deck, but no one approached you, and you didn't approach anyone else. There would be a time to consider making friends with the crew, but right now wasn't it. Even if you meant so genuinely, there would be concerns about your intentions, you were sure.

You gave a slight nod every time you made eye contact with someone, enough to simply admit you were acknowledging their existence. You weren't trying to be completely cold and rude either.

A slow circuit around the deck showed that it was less cluttered than when you made your escape. The lifeboats were also tied a little more securely. It was a fine-line between needing to get them in the water fast, and keeping you on the boat for a second or two longer.

"Hey." A muffled voice speaks up behind you and you flinch, turning around to see Killer.

It was a little disorienting the difference between how he'd been at the pub versus how he was now.

"Hey." You reply, looking around to see if anyone else was around. "Guard duty?"

Killer shakes his head. "Kid doesn't need the help."

You can feel yourself bristle at that a little, but you can't argue it. "Then...?" You prompt.

"Dinner was two hours ago, but I'm not going to make you go without. Hungry?"

A strange guilt twists in your stomach, and you feel like it's been needling at you since the entire shit show started. You sigh a little because of it.

"Yeah."

You know full well that anyone on this ship could do whatever they wanted to you. You're not strong. You're not practiced with haki and you don't have a devil fruit. You have a bit more strength and a bit more stamina than most people just by virtue of your jobs. Nothing more.

Even Kid hasn't been shy about admitting what he could do to you.

Here you are, being fed, despite having run, despite having screamed at the captain, despite everything. Fed without fanfare. Killer didn't even hover over you while you ate.

Some part of it all felt nefarious, but some part of it felt like you were the one being unreasonable.

No one was mistreating you. Kid didn't even touch you despite you both sleeping in the same bed. He wasn't an idiot, but if he was manipulating you by doing things like this it seemed too subtle for him.

As you ate you thought about what he had said. That if he wanted a mindless toy you'd already be without your legs covered in cum and spit, and who knows what else. You were certain if you misbehaved too much that would be your fate anyway. If you couldn't escape you'd rather that than this.

Whatever this was.

You finished your meal, gave Killer your thanks, and resumed walking the ship. You stayed inside, working your way through the decks, bringing yourself back to the mess hall and making a rough mental map. It was going to take weeks to not get disoriented below deck. Above deck the floors had enough light coming in you could always sort out what side of the ship you were on easily.

After your feet started to ache, the cuts and bruises from your excursion not entirely healed, you wandered back to Kid's room. You didn't have a room of your own, and didn't expect you ever would, but you also figured if you dared to sleep anywhere else right now you'd be woken rudely.

You climbed back into bed, staying close to your side. You could tell Kid was awake enough to know you'd come back into the room, but neither of you said anything. If your relationship had been legitimate, you would've thought you were fighting, and maybe you were. You had yelled at him earlier.

Even if your reasons had been valid.

You fell asleep easily enough despite everything on your mind. When you woke in the morning you weren't surprised to see the other side of the bed empty. There were a change of clothes set on the corner of the bed, and a note to clean up. If it was Kid's handwriting it was surprising to you how neat it was.

Somehow you expected it to be chicken scratch.

You cleaned up, and got dressed. You didn't feel like you needed to bandage your feet, there'd been socks and simple shoes provided. You remember hearing somewhere that kidnappers would often deny their victims shoes so they would be less inclined to run. Since you'd already done so shoeless you guess no one saw an issue with providing you a pair.

You meandered around the ship again. One of the people you passed, Heat, you were sure, had muttered that there was still breakfast in the mess, and he could guide you if you needed it. You knew where it was, and didn't want to play dumb, so you thanked him and admitted as much, heading off toward the galley.

You got a tray of food from the kitchen, manned by Killer and Hip, and sat down across from Kid. His eyes had been on you since you entered, and you didn't want to know what display of authority would happen if you ignored him.

The tension was almost enough to make you sick, but you'd been tense for so long at this point you'd looped back around to relaxed, or at least relaxed enough to eat most of your meal. Kid left first, the only words exchanged between you were about your cuts, and if they started to bleed you could go to the infirmary and have House patch them up.

The rest of the day was barely any different. You went to the mess hall when someone let you know it was time for a meal, sat with Kid, barely exchanging ten words between you, and then going your separate ways. Kid disappeared into some room that was down a hall no one would let you go down, and so you spent the day exploring.

One day.

Two days.

Three.

Four days at sea and you knew Victoria really well. You knew most of the storerooms and their contents, which rooms were actively occupied and which weren't. You knew a dozen different ways to get from one end of the ship to the other, and you'd even found a few of the hides that smugglers and pirates used in case the ship was boarded.

You never saw Kid except for meals, and at bedtime. You'd even tentatively started talking to the crew by the third day. A couple of them showed you what they were doing, but no one seemed ready to trust you with anything potentially dangerous for the crew. You weren't being taught any knots, or given so much as a whittling knife.

On the fifth day you stayed in Kid's room and read all the titles of the books that were in there. Books on building, engineering, navigation, welding, thirty books on tinkering and mechanisms, leather working, rigging, and even a few books on agriculture and diseases like scurvy. Some were almost pristine, some were barely held together, a few were obviously rebound, the titles in the same handwriting as your morning notes.

Different island markers too. It was hard to say which he started with, and which he gathered while the crew had sailed. The idea that Eustass "Captain" Kid would steal books from other pirates, towns or marines was absurd. You could picture him running around with armfuls of gold and jewels, but books?

There were a few books in a script you recognized, but you didn't even want to touch those. Interest in books about poneglyphs was bad enough, if anyone even thought you could read the script it could result in your death. Best to just not even touch them.

You heard the door open and pulled your hand away from a book you were about to pull down to read, eyes wide toward the door as Kid stepped in. Kid's eyes found yours and you could hear frustration when he clicked his tongue.

"No one saw you scurrying about today, little mouse." He says after a second. "I was just checking to see if you were in here."

You take a step back, putting more space between yourself and the bed. "I... thought I'd read today. If I'm allowed." You add the last bit hesitantly.

He's silent for a moment, and you can hear something creak – either the door or his metal arm, you aren't sure, but there's a soft clipped sigh that escapes him. "Stay away from the damaged ones, I don't have time to fix 'em right now, you can read the others."

"Thank-."

"Just stop being so godsdamned timid!" He barks, interrupting you. "You're all spit and fire toward the crew on that island, even defied being brought onboard!" He takes a step toward you, and you do your best to at least stand your ground. If you cower right now he'll probably just get angrier. "Five days and no one on this crew has even raised their voice toward ya, and yer still scared!"

You can feel yourself bristle. Of course you're scared. They're all pirates. He is a pirate! You're a barkeep and a dock worker who got kidnapped, how could you be anything but scared in this situation?! The way he seems dead set on not realizing how he messed up causes you to snap.

"Take me back home and I'll go back to being all spit and fire again!" You bark back. "You don't want me scared, then let me leave! The anxiety is killing me!"

"What the fuck do you have to be anxious about?" He growls, stepping into the room more.

"You! You, you giant asshole!" You bellow, taking a step toward him. "I've already said why I'm scared you bastard! I keep waiting for it to break! For this damnable farce to end! For your patience to finally crack and for you to just take what you want, LIKE THE PIRATE YOU ARE!" You're practically seeing red by the time you're done.

You're breathing heavy. Exhausted despite the day still being pre-afternoon. The whole ship must've heard you, you'd never yelled so loud in your life.

"I take what I want, and your anxiety will go away, is that it?" Kid questions, locking the door and stepping toward you.

"What?" You barely breathe the question, your anger draining from you and being replaced by cold fear as he draws nearer. You can't keep your feet and step back.

"If you're dying waiting for me to fuck you, then doing so will fix this timid shit." He asserts, standing over you as you back into the bookshelf behind you. "Right, little mouse?"