Maelstrom

Chapter 7

Ruse's POV

You chuckle before trying to maintain a straight face as the red haired pirate looks at you in shock.

How were you supposed to know that he thought you were a boy? Well, you may have worn your clothes on purpose to misconstrued your gender -but it's not like you were trying to deceive anyone, really. You snort.

Ah, well it's not like anyone really cared to find out much about you before. No harm no foul.

"You're a lass, kid?" Shanks questions, clearly trying to make sense of the predicament.

You nod at him, agreeing with his statement.

He seems to be thinking about the clarity of your statement as his steel eyes narrow in concentration.

"I mean, if you don't wanna take my word for it, you want me to prove it?" You quip back in retaliation, raising an eyebrow him.

Before the pirate has time to react you're already grabbing his hands, dragging them towards you. You knew he couldn't see it but there was a shit-eating grin on your face from beneath your muzzle at the response he had given you.

"Here, this should prove enough for ya. Superstitious redhead idiot." His large hands -heavy and warm- now rest atop your chest.

Your own slender hands are encircling his own as you look up at the pirate- eager to see his response.

"The hell?! Kid! That's indecent, y-you can't just do something like that without warning someone!" He stammers out, face tinted red in embarrassment.

You shrug as you let him rip his hands away from you. With a yawn you stretch your limbs out, shooting the man in front of you a smug grin. "I'll remember next time to let you know then."

You honestly were more than happy to fix your attention to something trivial compared to the bombshell that was just dropped on you, and you'd prefer for Shanks to do the same.

Hearing that your entire life had been a lie? That you had an actual father out there somewhere and he had only left you your last name and some strange initial of 'D' that everyone seemed to freak over?

Yeah, it wasn't the best subject to dive into right now.

Thankfully Shanks seemed to be respecting your choice of ignorance- for now at least.

You knew that you would have to come back to this conversation at a later date, but not today. You couldn't- you weren't going to be able to handle that sort of trauma tonight.

Another time.

That was a problem to unpack for future Ruse, current Ruse was going to be soaking in the fun times she had whilst she was still able to enjoy them.

You grimace, barely covering it with a poorly disguised snicker. Ahh, this was going to be hell. You were already eager to take your mind off the subject at hand.

He lets out an exasperated sigh at your antics.

"So where's this ship of yours? We've been walking around for hours, and I'm way too hungry to take another step." You whine.

Yeah you were over exaggerating slightly -only a smidgen- because yes, you are rather hungry and yes, you were being somewhat truthful about your raging gluttonous appetite- but Shanks doesn't need to know that you were half-serious about what you said.

God forbid he teases you again. You had barely even met him and yet that man had already seemed to taken you under his wing. Although, you could do without all his taunting and teasing. Honestly, the redhead pirate had a surprising amount of childishness to him. Stupid idiot with his stupid smirk. But maybe if he were preoccupied with taunting you he would take his mind off the sudden bombshell he had dropped you. Huh. That didn't sound like the worst plan that existed.