Aye, But We're Loved

by ambermalachite

Will has joined the crew of the Pearl and finds himself confused by some of Jack’s actions. Jack/Will slash, only the first movie exists.

Title: Aye, But We're Loved

Summary: Will has joined the crew of the Pearl and finds himself confused by some of Jack's actions. Jack/Will slash, only the first movie exists.

Disclaimer: Definition of fanfic - Fiction written by fans as an extension of an admired work or series of works, especially a television show, often posted on the Internet or published in fanzines. Translation – I don't own anything.

AN: This is dedicated to my beta aeneckar21000. You should all feel special because I've never let anyone but her see my stuff before.

Captain Jack Sparrow swayed in place as he slashed and parried the swords of the sailors from the merchant vessel that had the misfortune of crossing the path of the Black Pearl. The sailors were decent fighters, but he was confident that his crew would take them. A quick slash with his sword took out another opponent and bought him the opportunity to glance around.

The Pearl sat in the water quietly, only a couple of her crew members still aboard to prevent the merchants from coming over. The rest of her crew was on the merchant vessel, fighting furiously. This ship had been sailing low in the water when they had spotted it, so the pirates were eager to discover what it held. He had tried to convince the merchants to simply had over their goods, but they had resisted and it became a full out fight. The pirates were winning the fight easily he noted.

Jack snapped back to attention, or rather as close as he ever got, as another enemy approached him. They crossed blades a couple times, carefully stepping over the bodies on the deck. The other man got a toothy grin on his face, causing a moment's concern in Jack and a desire to put his back against a wall. A thunk from the side wiped the expression off of the sailor's face and a look of shock replaced it. A glance to the side showed a foe pinned to the bulwark with a sword through his middle. The pirate captain slit the throat of the still surprised sailor and turned to find another victim.

Only to find that Will was in the process of killing the last one with his dagger.

'Dagger?' Jack thought distractedly and a glance back toward the bulwark confirmed his suspicion on where Will's sword had gone. He scowled slightly. 'He still doesn't understand looking after himself first,' the pirate thought grumpily. 'Have to talk to him.' He had tried to convince the former blacksmith to worry about his own skin and not play hero shortly after he joined the crew. But apparently saving the damsel in distress in the form of Elizabeth Swann, even if they had decided not to get married in the end, had solidified an already existing part of his personality. This was the third time he'd let himself be distracted in a battle by Jack's fight.

Jack shook his head and brought his thoughts back to the present.

A quick count revealed that all his crew had survived and that only a couple were any worse for the wear. "Anamaria, see that any provisions get stowed away."

"Aye Captain!" The only female member of his crew and his quartermaster answered crisply. When they had first set out she would have argued that order, saying that he dumped her with the job simply because she was a woman. However, after seeing the mess that Gibbs had made of it the only time Jack had left him in charge of that part of the plunder, she had stopped arguing.

"Gibbs, move any cargo of value over and then destroy this ship."

"Aye Captain," the former Navy man, now the first mate on a pirate ship, said with a grin.

"All right crew! Move the booty t' our ship and we'll divide up the swag!" Jack shouted and received an answering shout from the other pirates. They all scrambled to retrieve their weapons and started to go about their usual duties.

Jack grinned as he watched them work. "A pirate's life for me," he sang softly and returned to his ship.

POTC

Jack stumbled into his cabin, a bottle of rum in one hand and the other waving as though it was conducting the singing of the crew still out on the deck. Everyone had greatly enjoyed the celebration that evening, for not only were they celebrating the success of their attack but the discovery that the ship they had taken had been shipping rum. The only thing that would make the crew happier at this point would be to put into a port long enough for them to enjoy the company of some whores. Even Anamaria and Will had been convinced to have a little to drink, in spite of their dislike of rum.

Jack snorted. 'Two peas in a pod those two. Ne'er expected them t' hit it off that well.'

When Will had come on board everyone had eyed him warily for days. After all what else do you do with a man who breaks an engagement with a governor's daughter, only to become a pirate. Jack had been too busy rejoicing in the fact that the attractive young man was on board, while reminding himself not to let his hands wander, to do anything to help the blacksmith-turned-pirate settle in. Then one morning the crew found that Anamaria had taken Will under her wing and had learned to accept him real fast rather than deal with an unhappy female pirate. None of them knew what had happened that she had done so, but none of them were foolish enough to ask. Several rumors had been spread about them being lovers but the few who had known her longer corrected that notion, as she preferred her lovers female.

Jack flopped on his bed with a sigh. He'd had to leave the deck after watching the two of them laughing together. He was jealous, even if he would never admit it out loud. He wanted to be the one making Will laugh and showing him how to be a pirate and getting to be close to him. He'd done his best to ignore the issue but it kept coming back to haunt him. Normally he'd just take what he wanted, he was a pirate after all, but somehow that didn't seem right in this situation.

Taking another swig from the rum bottle still clenched in his hand, he ignored the little voice in his head telling him that he should stop thinking about it now, before he came to a conclusion he didn't like. An additional swig for good measure drown out the voice and allowed him to admit it. 'Bloody hell I've gone and fallen for the whelp.' He groaned, chugged the rest of his drink, and buried his head under the covers.

'Now what do I do?'

POTC

"And you-" Anamaria was saying to Will when they were interrupted. They had been talking together while they cleaned their weapons, as all pirate's aboard the Pearl were required to do every day, their sleeves rolled up over their elbows, and weapons and rags sitting in their laps. One of the newer crew members stood in front of them, nervously eyeing the gun in Anamaria's hands like she would shoot him for being there.

"'Cuse me, but the Cap'n want t' see Will in his cabin," he said quickly before turning and scurrying off.

Will blinked and looked at Anamaria. She shrugged and went back to her cleaning while Will carefully returned his weapons to the appropriate sheaths around his body. He stood up and gave a slight wave to his friend before walking to Jack's cabin.

A knock on the door resulted in a muffled 'Aye' so Will opened the door and went in. Jack was bent over his desk, looking at various charts. Will smiled at the sight for a moment before speaking up. "You wanted to see me Jack?"

Jack spun around in his chair and stared at Will, before seeming to shake himself. "Of course I wanted t' see ya. If I hadn'ta wanted t' see you I wouldna sent someone to tell you I wanted t' see you, would I have?" he said in his usual tangled way.

Will snorted. "With you? You can never be sure."

Jack grinned. "You wound me, truly you do," he said theatrically, hands waving around in emphasis.

Will rolled his eyes, a smile on his face. "What did you want Jack? Just an audience to practice in front of or was there something else?" he asked playfully.

But Jack wasn't playful anymore. He was staring at the bandage on Will's forearm. "Where'd ya get that?" he asked stalking over and gently touching it.

"I didn't get my dagger up quite in time yesterday." He gave a one-shouldered shrug. "It's just a scratch, not a big deal."

But Jack was scowling. "Why did ya throw your sword? Ya should have been worrying about your own fight so that you didn't get any scratch at all!"

"Jack the guy was about to stab you! I couldn't let him do that!" Will said, exasperated.

"I've told ya not to play hero! You are a pirate! Worry about your own skin. Concentrate on your own fights and not keeping others safe!" Jack was shouting now.

"You make it sound like you want me to just let you get stabbed!"

"I want you to stay away from my fights!"

"JACK–" Will started again, also yelling now, but Jack cut him off.

"NO! You are a member of my crew. I want you to worry about your own fights, stay away from my fights and me."

Will froze staring at the Pearl's captain. "You want me to stay away from you?" he asked, confusion obvious in his tone.

"Yes! Leave me alone!" Jack snapped back. "I am your captain!"

Will stared at Jack as he stood there, seeming perfectly serious. He felt something inside of him die as he realized that Jack didn't want to be anything but the captain of the ship he sailed on. He made his face go blank. "Aye, Captain," he said in a voice that matched his face. "Is there anything else you wished to speak to me about?"

"No."

"Then I'll go." He nodded his head to the Captain and left the cabin.

POTC

Anamaria frowned as she listened to Jack and Will shouting in the captain's cabin. She couldn't understand the words but she could hear both of them. It got real quiet suddenly. Then the door opened and Will walked out, face blank. Her eyes narrowed and immediately grabbed him by the arm and hauled him into her cabin.

"What happened?" she demanded, hoping that he wouldn't start crying. That was something she couldn't stand.

Will looked at her and she sucked in a breath. His eyes looked dead. She suddenly wished that he was in tears instead. "He ordered me to stay away from him."

"What!" Will didn't say anything, knowing that she had heard him perfectly well. She scowled. No wonder he looked dead.

They'd become friends after she cornered him and demanded to know what he thought he was doing on a pirate ship. He'd done ok when they were going to retrieve Elizabeth, but he didn't seem to be drawn to it like most sailors. He had confessed to a fascination for Captain Jack Sparrow that drew him out there. And she'd understood. Many people were drawn to him. She herself had been once. She thought there was a little more to it in this case, however. Will had left everything he knew behind because of it and was learning a new trade that he wasn't truly interested in.

And Jack. Jack wasn't doing as good a job of hiding the fact that he was interested. At least not as well as he thought he was. She was one of the few who would recognize it but she did. After considering it thoroughly she decided that the two of them would be good together and that she was going to help them. Besides Will had turned out to be a good friend and a much better sailor than she had initial expected.

Well, she wasn't about to let Jack get away with spoiling her plans!

POTC

Jack frowned as the crew prepared to board a new ship. It had been a rough week for him, in spite of the fact there was plenty of rum on board. Will was avoiding him as much as possible, and was doing a surprisingly good job considering they were aboard a ship. Anamaria, on the other hand, wasn't avoiding him and he wished she was. He wasn't certain what she was upset with him about but suspected it had to do with Will.

He sighed. He hadn't planned to tell Will to leave him alone when he called him into his cabin. He had been planning on getting some idea if Will returned his interest but when he saw the bandage he panicked and wanted the younger man to stay away from him in the hopes he wouldn't do anything else stupid trying to help him and get hurt more. It wasn't very logical thinking he realized now, but he wasn't exactly known for that.

And now that Will wasn't around, he had realized how much he liked the time they spent together. It hadn't been a lot, as they were on a ship where there was work needing to be done almost continuously, but total lack of it was making him grouchy and irritable.

And Anamaria glaring at him all the time didn't help.

Shaking his head he stepped forward and started giving orders.

POTC

Will took a deep breath as he got a small pause in his fighting. The ship they had attacked had better fighters on it than any of them had expected. They were still winning but it wasn't as easy a fight as they had grown accustom to. He glanced around trying to decide where they needed help the most. He noted several people's locations and glanced toward Jack –

Just in time to see him go down.

Will shoved his way through the fight, slashing wildly at the enemy, until he stood over Jack. The soldier who had hit him over the head had been distracted by another pirate long enough for Will to get there. He turned back and found his guts spilling out on the deck.

A couple others attempted to take out Will, assuming he was easy prey, all alone and trying to protect someone else. They were rapidly disabused of the notion.

The fight ended well for the pirates and they began to loot the ship, with Gibbs giving orders when they realized that Jack was out. Will ignored all of this, and picked up Jack as best he could and took him back to the Pearl.

POTC

"He told me to leave him alone though!" Will said, frustrated.

Anamaria ignored him, pulling him along in her wake. Seconds later they reached the Captain's cabin and she shoved him in. "You sit with him. Somebody needs to in case he wakes up disoriented. You don't care about the distribution of the take from today's attack, so you are the best person."

"Ana, he ordered me – "

"And since he is in no shape to be giving orders right now, I'm counteracting those orders and telling you to go sit with him! Now!" she barked at her friend.

Will sat in one of the chairs, arms crossed over his chest like a child. "If he starts yelling I'm sending him to you," he said grumpily, knowing he was being ridiculous and not caring at the moment.

Anamaria rolled her eyes. "You do that."

Will sighed as he heard the door close. He was being childish but it had hurt when Jack had ordered him away. He wanted to get closer to the man, not further away. Hopefully Jack would forgive him for going against his orders during the fight.

He curled in a ball as best he could in the chair. He hadn't been sleeping well, and it wasn't easy to avoid someone when you were on the same ship. And sailing was hard work at the best of times. He put his head down on the arm of the chair, only to sit back up as his back expressed its discomfort with the position. Will looked longingly toward the bed and the empty space next to Jack. Not only could he stretch out and take a nap but he could be close to Jack too.

He frowned, debating. Finally, he gave in when a little voice in his head asked, "Are you a pirate or aren't you? Take a little risk!" He stretched out on the bed slowly doing everything he could to make sure he didn't wake Jake up. He froze when Jack groaned and rolled over. An arm slung over his stomach and Will bit his lip. But the other man didn't wake up and Will settled in, telling himself to enjoy it while he could.

POTC

Jack woke up slowly trying to ignore the ache in his head. 'How much did I drink last night?' he wondered absently. He smiled as he realized there was another body next to him and immediately started going through his memories to try and figure out who it was before he opened his eyes.

His smile turned to a frown when he realized that his last memories were of the fight and getting hit with the pommel of a sword at the same time as he slipped on the deck. He remembered falling, and vaguely recalled someone appearing over him and a feeling of safety.

Examining the memory more closely brought him to the conclusion that his protector was Will. 'Who else?' he thought to himself. 'But who am I sharing my bed with then?'

His eyes popped open and he winced at the light. A slight shake of his head and he got his eyes to focus. 'Will again.'

At that same time Will began to wake up and Jack watched him closely, smiling when he snuggled closer for a few seconds before waking up completely. When their eyes met Will started.

"Jack! How do you feel?" he asked sitting up quickly, although Jack managed to keep his arm around his waist.

"Bit of a headache, and quite curious. Tell me, what are you doing in me bed?" Jack asked and Will flushed. "Not that I don't want you here, cuz I do," he continued before the other could respond.

"I'm sorry. Anamaria gave me the job of watching you till you woke up and I was tired but I couldn't sleep comfortably in the chair," Will explained. "I'll go tell her you are awake and find another job now," he continued and started to get out of the bed.

Jack's arm tightened and pulled him down onto his back in the bed. "Ah, but I don't want you to go anywhere," Jack said, leaning close. "And what the captain wants, the captain gets."

Will blinked. "I thought you wanted me to stay away from you?" he asked confused.

Jack shook his head. "I want you to stay close. Very close."

"Then why - ?" Will started but Jack cut him off. "I was being a fool. You getting hurt scared me and I hoped that if you stayed away from me, you wouldn't take any more stupid chances to try and help me."

Will stared for a moment before saying, "Jack, it would hurt me much more for you to get hurt when I could help you. I find my self very much wanting you to be safe."

Jack nodded. "I feel the same way."

Will smiled and Jack grinned back. "Now I believe I was going to tell Anamaria you were awake," Will said and started to get up again.

Jack rolled quickly and pinned the former blacksmith to the bed. "Oh no," he stated, his grin growing bigger. "You aren't going anywhere."

POTC

Anamaria knocked lightly on the door and walked in without waiting for an answer. "Will, I brought you some supper…" She stopped and stared, frozen, when she saw the two men sleeping the bed. Although there was a sheet covering most of them, she could still see a few bare limbs.

She grinned.

Setting the tray she was carrying on the table, she turned to leave. One last glance at the bed revealed Jack watching her. When their eyes met he pulled Will's sleeping body closer to him possessively. She raised an eyebrow. "You hurt him and I'll gut you," she told him flatly.

"Don't worry. I have every intention of seeing that he stays safe."

Anamaria nodded her head in acceptance as she slipped out the door, knowing that was as close to an admittance of love as she was going to get out of Jack.

Her grin became broader and she cracked her knuckles, ignoring the shudder of the passing Mr. Gibbs. She looked the crew over with a thoughtful eye. 'Who should be my next set of victims?'

The End