It isn't Wednesday anymore here at Spain, but the page hasn't worked all day. Now, at around 1am, I can finally update.

I was going to wish you all a Merry Christmas, but then I realized there are a lot of other things you might be celebrating instead, and I probably couldn't list all of them, so I'll stick for wishing you to have a happy holiday, whichever you're celebrating :)


Chapter 12: Failed attempts

Even without opening her eyes, she could tell it was dark outside. It hadn't been dark before, and now that she thought about it she didn't remember going to bed, though there were a soft mattress and a pillow under her body as proof that she was, indeed, in bed. To be precise, the last thing she remembered was…

Her eyes snapped wide open.

What the hell?

She had gone to buy the wine with Marco. Some of it had been good, Evelyne could admit that much. After that they had come back to the ship to leave the bag, and she had been in a very good mood, so she had kissed Marco.

Evelyne didn't need any light or a mirror to know a blush now covered her face. She had groped him.

Oh, great.

A conversation of which she didn't remember the words was the last thing in her memory.

Evelyne didn't panic thinking they had had sex or anything of the sort, years of reading and many conversations with friends telling her that after her first time she would feel something down there.

But what had happened?

It was obvious Marco was the one who had brought her to bed, but how had she ended up unconscious in the first place?

She couldn't have passed out, that was for sure. She hadn't drunk enough for even a lightweight like her to pass out.

After long minutes of careful thinking and trying to find some other explanation for her loss of consciousness, Evelyne realized that there was only one possible scenario that made sense: Marco had knocked her out.

What. The. Fuck.

Sitting on the bed, feeling incensed, she barely stopped to put her shoes on before she was out of the bed and out of the bedroom, not caring when the door slammed shut.

Evelyne didn't know where to go, to the deck, from where the sound of laugher came all the way to the hallway, or to Marco's cabin, but she didn't need to decide.

"You're finally awake."

Evelyne jumped, blinking several times and finally paying attention to her surroundings and noticing that Marco was some feet ahead of her, leaning casually against a wall.

Too angry to notice the strange coincidence of Marco being there, she glared at him.

"You knocked me out," Evelyne snapped.

"I had no choice, you were bent on having sex."

She crossed her arms.

"What about talking?"

"Tried that. You didn't listen."

"Still, you went a little overboard," Evelyne insisted, though she had to admit, now that he mentioned it, she did remember trying to get her hands on him during the conversation she couldn't recall.

"No, I didn't," Marco said, stepping away from the wall.

Evelyne blinked, confused.

"W-What?" She hadn't expected that answer, and didn't know how to react to those words.

Marco walked closer, until she had to tilt her head up to look him in the eyes.

He leaned down and kissed her on the temple, descending until his lips brushed her ear.

"If you had continued," his hands came up to her shoulders and trailed down her upper arms, "even a little longer," Marco stopped talking long enough to lick the shell of Evelyne's ear, sending a shiver down her body as his hands fell from her still crossed arms down to her waist, "I would have pushed you onto my bed and wouldn't have stopped." She was so distracted that she uncrossed her arms.

Marco's lips descended on her neck and Evelyne tilted her head slightly up and to the side, too caught on them and the hands moving around her waist to bother with an answer.

She had been mad at him, she still was somewhat mad at him, but now wasn't sure if yelling at him was worth the effort.

"Is that how you want your first time to be? Because, if it is, I can remedy it right now." And Marco pulled her up, making her stand on her tiptoes, and brought her flush against him, where she could feel him harden against not her center, but as close as it could be with her feet still touching the floor.

Now Evelyne grabbed Marco's shoulders and kissed him, for a moment thinking she wouldn't mind losing her virginity right there and then, the thought strengthened by the hands that had found the hem of her dress and were now inching up her bare thighs.

Her eyes snapped open, a moan escaping her and into Marco's mouth as she felt a finger rubbing her over the thin fabric of her knickers on a place only she had touched before now.

Marco broke the kiss and took a step back, letting go of her. Evelyne's hands fell down to her sides.

"You should go to bed."

She blinked.

"What?"

"It's about two in the morning, and tomorrow you start with chores. Your companions know already, but you were asleep."

Another blink.

"Huh?"

Marco took on a pensive look.

"You do have the afternoon shift, so I guess you could stay awake if you want to. Either way, I'm going to bed," he said, and turned around.

Before he had taken even a couple of steps, Evelyne reacted.

"Wait! What was that?!"

Marco stopped and turned his head. He smirked at her.

"Payback."

"Payback?! What are you, five?!"

"No, a pirate."

And now, ignoring any further protest she might have, he left in the direction of his cabin.

Throwing a last glare at his rapidly disappearing back, Evelyne sighed in frustration and squeezed her legs in a fruitless attempt to calm down. She sighed again when it was apparent it wouldn't work.

She groaned, realizing she would have to go to the girl's bathroom. She refused to masturbate in a bedroom with other eleven girls, praying no one would wake up and catch her.

Deciding she would take a night shower while she was at it, Evelyne headed for the bathroom.

Damn Marco.


The next time Evelyne woke up it was early morning. So early, in fact, that she was the only one awake in the bedroom.

She guessed it was to be expected after spending over half of the previous afternoon asleep. She had only been awake around half an hour that night, enough time to get her attempt to yell at Marco turned against her.

Evelyne blushed at the memory of what had happened the night before.

Damn Marco, he had to go and do that to her.

Masturbating in a shared bathroom wasn't exactly easy, she had been afraid all the time that someone would walk on her, but that bastard had left her so aroused that not even the possibility of being discovered had been enough to calm her overheated body.

She sat up, annoyed again at Marco for getting her drunk and then leaving her like that, and an idea formed in her mind. By his words, she could guess he had been waiting for her, and the soft light entering through the window told her it was really early morning, the sun hadn't been out for long most likely. That meant it couldn't have been more than four of five hours since their encounter.

Marco had to be asleep.

Decided, Evelyne stood up and went to her new closet, where her bags were still in the bottom with her clothes in, and chose one of the items on top, a summer dress she had bought the day before, deciding she would forgo a bra today. Most of the nurses didn't wear them, anyway, and she hated those infernal things, but back at her world not wearing one would get you some strange looks and annoying comments, especially if you had a size at which it would be noticeable. But now she was on a pirate ship, and that by itself was enough to get frowned at, a bra wouldn't make much of a difference.

She didn't encounter many people as she walked down the hallways, and soon she was before Marco's door. Evelyne grinned when she found the door wasn't locked.

Entering as carefully as she could, and holding a relieved sigh when the door closed silently, Evelyne approached the bed through the barely lit cabin, intent on waking Marco up in the most annoying way she could manage, thinking that a bucket of cold water would have been very useful right now.

She shrieked when a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her down on top of a muscled and, her face light up when she noticed, very much naked body. The lack of light had hidden that little detail, and there wasn't even a blanket covering Marco.

Evelyne tried to push herself up, but by the time she reacted there was already an arm around her back holding her against Marco's body. She noticed, dismayed, that her skirt had rode up her legs, baring her thighs almost completely.

And, during all this, Marco was still asleep.

She tried to squirm out of his hold, but it was useless. She pounded his chest, slightly, and he didn't react. She called his name, in a low voice because she didn't want to attract the attention of anybody in the adjacent cabins, and he didn't respond.

Evelyne sighed, almost defeated, trying to think of another way to get out of this predicament, preferably without waking Marco up and risking being made fun of, something she realized could happen now that her initial panic had passed, but she didn't come up with anything. Being held by Marco's arms was like being held by two stone arms. Two warm stone arms that weren't uncomfortable at all.

She blinked, realizing she had relaxed, and tensed for a moment. Then, reaching the conclusion that she wouldn't be able to get out of this without waking Marco up, Evelyne decided that it wasn't so pressing to get out of here. Marco would react the same way now or later, and it was so early that she doubted there was even food at the mess hall. Besides, it was one of her dreams to sleep for a whole day. This wasn't a whole day, but sixteen hours or so would do nicely for a first attempt.

And Marco was such a nice pillow, too.


The next time Evelyne woke up it was to the same warmth she had fallen asleep to. A warmth that didn't really bother her despite the hot weather they seemed to still be subjected to.

Eyes still closed, she noticed something was wrong with her position, and realized she wasn't lying down, but instead sitting with her back against Marco's chest and one of his bare arms around her waist. And she could feel, to her relief, his clothed legs brushing hers. Which meant that he was awake.

Her whole body tensed, and she heard a chuckle right above her head.

"Hey."

She tried to play asleep. He shook her shoulder with his other hand.

"I know you're awake."

"'M not," she mumbled, mimicking the movements of burrowing into the blankets, which in this case was pressing closer against Marco.

"Oh? Really?" And the hand around her waist went down until it slipped under the skirt of her dress.

She jumped, eyes opening wide, almost hitting Marco's chin with her head, and crossed her legs, effectively capturing his hand between them and separating them as soon as she realized what she had done.

"I'm awake, I'm awake!" she said, blushing, and tried to move away from him.

He held her back, moving now his other arm around her waist.

"Not so fast."

"What?" she asked.

"Why are you in such a hurry? You're the one who tried to sneak up on me."

"W-Well…" she started, but then cut herself, frowned, and turned her head to look at him. "How do you know that?"

Marco just grinned.

Evelyne blushed, but this time it wasn't in embarrassment.

"You asshole! You were awake!"

He actually laughed at her and, glaring at him, she tried again to get out of his arms. Just like earlier in the morning, she couldn't.

"You are the one who tried to pull a prank on me, you can't blame me for this."

Still glaring, she elbowed his ribs, but Marco didn't react at all at that, and instead he brought the arm still around her waist up, his hand cupping one of her breasts.

"What do you think you're doing?"

She felt his mouth coming down on her neck and starting to kiss along her skin, the hand on her breast massaging it over the fabric of her dress, thumb rubbing her nipple, and the one on her thigh going up her skin.

Evelyne sighed softly.

"It was so hot having you squirming over me, I could barely hold back," Marco said right under her ear.

"So?" she asked, proud of how steady her voice sounded. "As if I would forgive you so easily after last night and earlier." To emphasize her words she made another fruitless but very meaningful attempt to move away, even if she really liked what he was doing.

"Should I apologize?" he asked, squeezing her breast as his other hand was almost where she refused to admit she wanted it.

"No, thank you," she ground out before her hormones could win the battle against her brain. "I want breakfast."

Evelyne grinned when she felt a puff of air that strongly indicated a sigh before Marco's hands left her body. She was slightly frustrated right now, but she had a strong feeling she wasn't the only one. Getting back at him, even if only like this, compensated that frustration. After all, she couldn't regret that much not having something she hadn't had before, and she was reasonably sure Marco was far more frustrated than she was.

Finally able to move away, Evelyne moved her feet over the edge of the bed and cursed as soon as they touched the floor.

"What?" Marco asked from behind her.

"I forgot my shoes."

Silence.

"You forgot your shoes," Marco repeated, incredulity noticeable in his voice.

"I was half-asleep," she growled, though that wasn't entirely the truth. The truth was, she realized to her dismay, that she had been so centered on trying to be stealthy —so much good that had done— and come up with a revenge against Marco that she hadn't noticed she forgot her shoes. There hadn't even been a cold floor to remind her, the wood planks warm with the nice weather.

Evelyne heard a choked sound that distinctly resembled a laugh, but couldn't really blame Marco for it. She would laugh at the absurdity of the situation too if it wasn't her who was in the middle of it.

Marco moved to sit at the edge of the bed to put his sandals on. She glared at them for a moment.

"Hey, Marco," she called him, trying to keep her annoyance at the situation at bay, "can I ask you something?"

He glanced sideways at her.

"What?"

"Could you get my shoes for me?" Evelyne gave him her best smile.

Marco raised an eyebrow.

"You walked all the way here, you can go back perfectly."

She pouted in a way that couldn't be different from a five year old.

"But now that I know, I'm afraid to step on something."

"And you want me to go to your room, take your shoes, and bring them back here." She nodded. He smiled. "I have a better idea."

She was about to ask what he meant, but then her eyes opened in horrified realization.

"No!"

"Why not? Are you afraid I'll throw you overboard?" A shake of her head. "Then?"

"The damn gossip. This ship is worse than high school, and then my classmates are even worse."

She saw a slight puzzled look on Marco's face, probably at the mention of high school, but he smiled again almost immediately.

"You'll have to get used to the gossip sooner or later."

"I'd rather later," she mumbled.

Marco stood up.

"Let's go."

She screamed shrilly when he lifted her up from under her legs and around her shoulders.

"I said no! Put me down!"

"You sure? It's this or walking there on your own," Marco said in an entirely too pleasant way that had her glaring at him immediately.

Crossing her arms, Evelyne huffed and then rested her head on Marco's shoulder, who took that as her agreement and headed for the door. He managed to open the handle with the hand under her knees, stepped through, and then closed it behind them with a foot.

Evelyne was immensely glad that they didn't have to go up on deck, for the looks they got from the pirates they passed, added to raised eyebrows and wide grins, were entirely too saucy for her taste, and she had blushed at almost all the comments. Marco's smirk hadn't exactly helped to correct his crewmates' too obvious assumptions.

By the time they reached her cabin she had almost become used to the situation. Thus, as soon as she knocked on the door and got the confirmation that her roommates were presentable, she opened it and ignored the baffled stares from the two girls in there at seeing her getting down from the arms of a shirtless Marco, cross the room to open her closet, put on a pair of flat sandals, and head back to the still awaiting Marco. She ignored the surrealism of the whole situation as she closed the door again.

Two confused girls were nothing in comparison to very explicit sexual comments from around twenty pirates.

To be continued


You know, I think I'm having too much fun with Evelyne not knowing about haki.

It's probably a good time to warn you that this is the first time I'm trying to write anything remotely sexual with a het pairing, so sorry about anything weird I might write.