"'The Chimera', huh?" Jim read the side of the relatively small but impressive boat from where he stood on the docks, "…Cool."
How he'd ended up travelling on the unusual looking ship in the first place, he still wasn't sure. Dr Doppler had said something about "doing some good honest work" and "better than causing trouble at the Benbow during summer break" – but Jim hadn't really been listening. He'd been distracted wondering what kind of people these sailors the Doctor had decided to send him off with were. Since both Doppler and his mother had given them the ok, he had come to the conclusion that they must, in fact, be pretty dull. The teen had only really agreed to go for the sake of getting away from the Benbow for a while. Although; these sailors had agreed to let him take his solar surfer along, so they couldn't be all bad. (Well, that, or the Doctor really hadn't told them that much about Jim.)
As Jim stepped onto the deck he looked around him in awe; the Chimera looked even better from on board. He took it all in; the blood red sails, the detailed woodwork, and, was that a person swinging from the rigging-?
"Oof!" distracted, he walked right into what appeared to be a mountain. Upon closer inspection, he realised it was in fact a person. A very tall and mountain-like person who was lacking a shirt, but a person nonetheless, "Whoa, sorry – didn't see you there." Jim blurted out, thinking – given the size of the man – just how stupid that was.
The man laughed with a deep voice, turning to face Jim properly.
"You must be the new guy."
"Is it that obvious?"
"Just a bit." The larger man grinned, "What's your name?"
"Jim Hawkins." Jim stated simply, shrugging his bag further onto his shoulder. He was nothing if not antisocial.
"Cale." The man – Cale – held his hand out to Jim, "Welcome aboard the Chimera, Jim Hawkins."
"Thanks." The teen replied, hesitantly reaching out to shake the offered hand. By the looks of things, these sailors were way cooler than he'd been led to believe.
"Heh. Might want to save that thanks for after we've set sail. Come on."
Confused, Jim followed after Cale to where the rest of the crew were lining up in the middle of the deck, "…Aye Aye captain."
Cale gave Jim an amused glance, "Oh, I'm not the captain."
"What-?"
But before Jim could ask what the hell kind of person could have someone as strong-looking as Cale working for them and not the other way around – the door to the captain's cabin burst open.
"Good morning gentlemen!"
Jim looked along the long row of people to where a man clad in red was strolling casually across the deck.
"You men had better be ready, because we've got one hell of a trip ahead of us!" He asserted, grinning as he wandered past crewmates who nodded the affirmative, "Cale!" He spun to look at the tattooed man, "I trust everything is ship-shape as ever?"
"As ever, Captain."
"Ah, where would I be without you?"
"Probably still stuck on that island in Tahiti," Cale flashed a grin of his own at the dark-haired man as he gave his sarcastic reply.
"Oh Ha-Ha. You know- " the captain stopped mid-comeback as he noticed Jim standing next to Cale. Putting his hand on his chin thoughtfully, he looked him up and down for a moment, previous conversation forgotten, "and you must be the new cabin boy. You're scrawnier than I was expecting."
Jim was taken aback, "Cabin boy? But, I thought, I mean, I wasn't told – what the hell do you mean scrawny-?!"
"Oh well, you'll have to do," the captain stated dismissively, turning from an enraged Jim to face the rest of the crew; "At your stations men! Let's roll!" he commanded, heading for the front of the boat.
At once, everyone on board noisily set to work launching the ship; some speeding to handle the sails, others the mechanisms and machinery, and Cale smiling exasperatedly at the captain as Jim followed him to the wheel.
"Hey, hold on, answer me!" The brown-haired boy shouted above the clamour, reaching up to grab the captain's shoulder for him to face him, "what do you mean cabin boy?"
The captain shrugged Jim's hand off, putting his hands up innocently as the ships crimson solar sails flared brightly above them, "Why the confusion, that was the deal we set up!"
Jim narrowed his eyes up at him angrily, "no, I was told I was gonna be, and I quote: 'helping out on the deck of a merchant ship!'"
The dark-haired man stopped, before looking at Jim and smirking, the ship beginning to rise into the etherium sky, "…Say, you got a name, or shall I just call you cabin boy?"
Jim glanced at the port as it slowly got further away, 'too late to get off now' he thought; "Jim Hawkins. You got a name or should I just call you obnoxious?" he answered challengingly.
"The name's Sinbad, but you can call me Captain." Sinbad replied, "And let me tell you something Jim," he continued, putting his arm around Jim's shoulders in a show of mock-friendship, "If you were told, 'and-I-quote' that you were gonna be helping out on the deck of a merchant ship, then you were extremely misinformed."
"What-?" Jim glanced up at him as he tried to shove his arm off.
"Rat!" Sinbad called out, looking above them at the man Jim had seen earlier, who had gone back to swinging from the rigging, "Hoist our colours!"
"Yes Cap'tin!" the man mock-saluted before clambering towards the crow's nest.
"Colours-?" Jim looked up in confusion to the crow's nest, where a flag was being raised. His eyes widened.'No way…'
The captain looked at Jim's shocked expression, a fresh grin on his face, "I don't know if Cale said this already, but…"
Jim stared at the crest on the flag, mind running in a million directions. 'This is…'
"Welcome aboard the Chimera, Jim Hawkins."
'A pirate ship!?'
A/N: So it begins! more slashyness and adventure to come in later chapters :D also, this is my first fic so it'd be great to hear any comments you might have about it (^w^)