AN: A little early, but here's the first part of my fic for AU-gust Day 10. Prompt: Pirates AU.
Captain Rumlow of The Hydra, also known as Captain Crossbones, often reminded his crew that if you fell behind, you stayed behind, to whatever grim fate may have awaited you. That was one of the rules of piracy.
To the unknowing eye, Vision really should not have cared when Wanda did not get back on the ship after a recent raid at a nearby port.
Vision was not actually a pirate.. he was a kidnap and ransom gone wrong, forced into a life as the ship's cabin boy. Wanda was a pirate.. technically one of his captors. To the unknowing eye, he should have been glad she was gone. However, behind closed doors, the truth of them was much more complicated.
Vision remembered the night his home had been raided, the night he had been snatched from his bed by invading pirates. Really, the fact that his bedroom was beside the servant's quarters, and that no-one really made any effort to stop him from being taken should have been a clue that he was really not what they were looking for.
He remembered being dumped on the deck of The Hydra at the Captain's feet, wearing only his underthings. Remembered Rumlow smugly announcing the ransom that they were going to demand. And Vision had laughed.
"He won't pay that."
"Don't try any funny stuff kid" Rumlow had scowled. "We did our research. You are the only son of Lord Ultron."
"Obviously you didn't research enough.. I'm his Bastard son" Vision pointed out. "He won't pay two thousand gold pieces for me. I doubt he'll pay anything at all."
"If that's true.." Rumlow drew his sword, obviously hoping Vision would take back his statement. "Then I suppose I'd better thank you for not wasting our time.. But if you're not worth anything, there's really no reason for us to keep you around, and well.. the fish have to eat too.."
When Vision still said nothing, Rumlow pressed the sword to his throat. Vision had always expected his life to be cut short, although not exactly like this. Bastards often met with unfortunate accidents once legitimate children were born.
He'd closed his eyes, waiting for the end, until..
"Wait.. don't kill him."
Vision opened his eyes, turning his head to see a dark-haired woman, a little younger than himself.. and, it seemed, the only woman on the ship. She was dressed very much like a pirate, a red bandana wrapped around her head and a cutlass hanging from her hip, but otherwise, she seemed rather out of place among the other cutthroats aboard the ship.
"Are you questioning me, Wanda?" Rumlow scowled. He pressed his sword harder against Vision's throat, nicking it slightly.
"No, of course not" The young woman, Wanda, apparently, replied. "I'd never be stupid enough to question the great Captain Crossbones.. I only wanted to point out that The Hydra does need a Cabin boy.. unless you want us all to keep arguing over the chores no-one wants."
There was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the crew, and Wanda smirked slightly.
Rumlow considered. Looked at Vision.
"Can you cook and clean, bastard?"
"I can." Vision hadn't even flinched at the mention of his status. He was well used to it by this point in his life.
"Then congratulations, cabin boy, you just got a reprieve" Rumlow smirked, shoving him towards Wanda, who had seemed a little less pleased about this stage of proceedings. "And since Wanda argued to spare you, she can show you the ropes. Get him some clothes and show him where we can sleep."
"Yes, Captain.." Wanda had grumbled.
She'd taken him below the deck, to a little nook some way away from where the rest of the crew slept, and left him there while she fetched him clothing.. Nothing fancy, but it would do for his new purpose.
Away from the other pirates, her expression softened.
"You knew you were on a pirate ship, right?" Wanda had asked him. "Why didn't you just lie, when Crossbones said what he wanted you for?"
"I didn't see the point" Vision shrugged. "It would have bought me a day at most.. Why didn't you let him kill me?"
"Because we needed a cabin boy" Wanda's expression had hardened again, and she threw the clothes at him. "Just do what the Captain says and you'll live. I'm around if you need help, but.. try not to need help."
Despite what Wanda had said, Vision found that Wanda would hang around nearby to stop her shipmates from bothering him as he scrubbed the deck, or prepared meals. Sometimes he had asked her why, and for a while she would just say that it was because she was responsible for him.
She had often eaten with him too. They didn't speak much in the early days, but Vision, for some reason, enjoyed her company anyway. Once, after a meal built mainly of the scraps left behind before the Ship next stopped for supplies, he had noticed her stomach rumble, and without thinking, tipped the remains of his own meal into Wanda's dish.
"You already get less than the rest of us.." She'd frowned.
"I'm not hungry" Vision had replied, only lying a little bit. He may have been bastard-born, but he was a gentleman too, and wouldn't let a lady go hungry, even if she was a pirate. "Don't let it go to waste.. eat."
Wanda was quiet for a while, then began to eat.
"Thank you.."
Wanda was kinder to Vision after that, even if only when no-one else was watching.
"You know" He'd said once, a little while after Wanda had stopped Rumlow's first mate, Rollins from beating Vision for a supposedly missed spot of dirt on the deck (with the excuse that if he beat the cabin boy, someone else would have to clean up the mess), "You are.. not really like most pirates."
"That's because I'm not a pirate" Wanda had replied, making Vision feel very confused. "Well.. I am, but it's.. complicated."
"It's not like I'm going anywhere, so I have time to listen.."
Wanda looked around, checking no-one else was in earshot.
"My twin brother Pietro and I were wards of The Hydra's previous Captain, Von Strucker.. He took pity on us after a raid gone too far" Wanda explained. "Not many little girls dream of becoming a pirate, but this boat, this life.. I can't remember anything else."
"And your brother?" Vision looked around, as if waiting for her to point him out. "Which one is he?"
"My brother isn't here anymore.." The subtle warmth that was often in Wanda's voice when she spoke to him was gone, but Vision had been too intrigued to notice then.
"What happened to.."
"What happened is none of your business" Wanda stalked off.
Vision, far too late, had realised his mistake. He hurriedly returned to scrubbing the missed spot on the deck. He had learned to be extra careful when Wanda was not around.
She avoided him for a while after that, and Vision found that he missed her presence, and not only because she usually kept the rest of The Hydra's crew away from him. Some of them seemed a little scared of Wanda. Vision supposed she had to make herself a little scary, being the only woman on the boat.
Unfortunately, around such people as populated the Hydra, Wanda could not protect herself all the time. Her silent treatment of Vision ended the night she came to find him in the galley as he was preparing a meal, a bruise blooming across her face. She didn't have to explain what had happened. Vision had noticed that the Captain was bad-tempered, and tended to take out his frustrations on whoever happened to be closest. It seemed Wanda had been the unlucky one on that day. He hurried to fetch a small jar of ointment.
"Where did you get that?" Wanda frowned.
"I made it" said Vision. "I'm used to dealing with bruises, and here I thought.. well, that doesn't matter. Come here.. that's not an order of course, I'd never try to.."
"I know. You're not that stupid." Wanda had already moved closer to Vision, very close, and he jumped.
"Right.. just tilt your head to the left a little.." He'd scooped some ointment onto his fingers. Wanda tilted her head like he asked, and he carefully dabbed the ointment onto her cheek."
"My brother is dead.." Wanda murmured.
"I guessed.. I'm sorry."
"He was killed during a mutiny when Rumlow took The Hydra from Strucker.. I'm not sure exactly who did it."
"Why do you stay?" Vision had asked, genuinely curious. "Can't you just jump ship at the next port?"
"And go where?" She'd scoffed. "It's not like I have a Lord Father to scurry back to."
"My 'Lord Father' is the reason I know how to make my own bruise ointments.." Vision chuckled darkly. "I have no idea where I'd go if I left this boat, but it wouldn't be back to him."
"Oh.. I guess we're both a little stuck, huh?"
"I guess we are."
After that, Wanda had always come to Vision if she was injured, and sometimes she would give him a kiss on the cheek when he was done patching her up. And other times, if she didn't arrive in time to defend him from the wrath of her shipmates, Wanda would patch Vision up too. She never told anyone else about his healing gifts.
When Vision had been on the boat for around three months, Winter came. Nights aboard the Hydra were bitterly cold, especially in his lonely little nook.. at least they were, until the night when a warm soft someone slipped under his blanket. And, since there was only one woman on the boat, a pair of warm soft somethings pressing into his back were a dead giveaway as to who the warm soft someone was.
"Wanda? What are you.."
"It's cold, and you're the only person on this ship who I trust not to grope me in my sleep. You're not going to grope me, are you Vision?"
"No!"
"Good boy."
Vision felt Wanda's lips on his cheek, and blushed.
It wasn't long, however, before he got used to that little kiss. Having her crawl into his little nook at night became routine, even after winter was over, although she was always gone by morning.
He was bandaging a wound on her arm, the first time she really kissed him. It was an accident, apparently. She'd got in the way during someone else's fight. Vision wasn't sure he believed her, but he hadn't been there to see, and he'd learned not to push the matter, and so he'd said nothing.
And Wanda had stared at him for a long moment, her soft green eyes gazing into his blue ones. Vision was about to ask her if something else was wrong, when she kissed him, her hands suddenly buried in his golden hair. It was a real kiss, deep and passionate, and it was also Vision's first. He flailed for a moment, not sure where to put his hands, until he let instinct take over, settling on her waist to pull her closer.. And then there was a pounding at the door of the galley, and they immediately sprang apart, red-faced.
"Hey, Cabin bastard, there's blood on the deck!" Rumlow's voice yelled. "Come clean it up!"
"Yes Captain.." as Rumlow's feet stomped away, Vision looked back to Wanda.
She'd smiled at him, a sweet little smile, reaching out to stroke his still blushing cheek.
"I'll see you later, okay?"
Then she had left, blowing him a kiss as she went.
He'd had an inkling before, but that was the moment Vision knew for certain.. He was falling in love with a pirate.