Jolly Sailor || Elizabeth Swann

04

"So how long is your friend staying?" Jeannette asked as she banged several empty tankards onto the bar top. Her dark curls bounced as she jerked her head at where Elizabeth was sat in one of the empty and still intact booths in the corner of the pub. The dance floor and several chairs was full of drunk and snoring sailors. Elizabeth was regarding them with a faulty annoyed and disgusted expression. Benjy chuckled at the look on her face before resuming his task of washing out the cups. 

"She's waiting for her fiancee and Jack. So probably until either of them make port. Why?" 

"She still sleeping in your room?" Jeanette pulled up the slipping neckline of her dress and both Benjy and Issac, who was wiping down the bar, paused to watch. Jeanette noticed and smacked them both with the stinky dishcloth she was carrying. Issac smiled in absolute besotted love, while Benjy ducked the blow laughing. 

"Yes. It's not like I am using it at the moment". He grinned and wriggled his eyebrows at the two of them. "My arse is still sore from last night". 

"Poor baby", Jeanette giggled. 

"Want me to make it better?" Issac asked, large hands slipping round Benjy's waist then down. He squeezed and Benjy jumped to the side with a curse. 

"Oi! Hands off when I'm working or my boss will get mad". 

"I definitely will", Jeannette nodded. "Do that later when I can watch". 

"Insatiable", Benjy muttered with a fond roll of his eyes. 

"Says the merman", Issac smirked. "You're not around very often. Let us enjoy our time". 

"Besides, if that thing with that man you like turns out well then our arrangement might not last much longer", Jeannette added. She picked up one of the tankards and began to join Benjy in washing them in the bucket of water behind the bar. 

"Yeah. That Jolly sailor is getting married, so I don't think that it is going to happen between us". 

"What?" Issac gasped. "To who?" Benjy jerked his head towards Elizabeth and the couple glanced towards her. She was chewing on the stew the cooks had made earlier, looking worn. 

"To her?" Jeanette frowned. "She is pretty though, if she dressed better. The sailor clothes make her look like a teenager. You could always be the dirty mistress". She nudged Benjy with her hips. 

Benjy huffed and set down the clean tankard before reaching for another. "I can do better than dirty mistress". 

"I still think you seduce some old rich merchants with your mermaid charms, marry him then kill him so we can live like kings", Jeannette suggested. 

"I don't want to such old man dick", Benjy pulled a face. "Yuck". 

"Don't give me that mental image", Issac groaned. His wife giggled and poked him in the ribs. 

"Just picture me in that yellow corset Benj stole for me last year. I'm sure it will help". 

"That does help. Thank you love". He leaned close and Jeannette perched up on her tiptoes to receive the kiss. Benjy huffed fondly and kept cleaning as the rising sounds continued behind him. Some part of him was jealous. Yeah, the two of them kissed him but they had a relationship that he would never be apart of. He wanted a bond like that. 

He finished cleaning the last glass and climbed over the bar. Boots strolling along the wood in the direction of Elizabeth. The wood of the bench creaked as he slouched down at her side. "Good?" He asked. 

"Could be worse", She grumbled as she finished the last of the bowl of stew. She wiped her mouth on her sleeve, any ladylike manners having dissolved within a day at sea. Benj pulled a pink handkerchief from his pocket and tossed it at her. 

"Keep it. I have plenty more". 

Elizabeth blinked at it, reading the initials sewn into one corner. "C.F?" 

"I dunno. I stole it". 

"Should have guessed". She tucked the handkerchief into her pocket. For a second there was silence other for the snoring of the passed out drunks and Issac and Jeannette making out against the bar. The dark skinned man had his hand up her skirt and her hands were somewhere out of sight. Benjy chuckled at them. 

"They're very, passionate", Elizabeth began. "Your friends". 

"They've always been like that. Very sexual and unashamed of it. You would think one of them is the mythical creature often associated with seduction". 

Elizabeth was quiet for a second seemingly in thought. After a minute she spoke. "Do you sleep with them too?" 

"When most of the time I'm on shore", he replied as he fished a small flute from his pocket and began twirling it in his hands. "My lovers before used to try and kill me, or kidnap me to sell. So now Jeannette, Issac and I have an arrangement". 

Elizabeth frowned. Benj watched with amusement, she was taking this far better than Will had. "So you like men and women?" 

"That's right". 

"Is there a difference?" 

"Not really. Only on who is being fucked, and even then not much. Jeannette has fucked me a few times". The blonde's face frowned at the use of the vulgar language but it was less of an reaction she'd had the last time Benj had seen her, months ago. 

"What are you? I never did ask. Half mermaid? But I thought they were creatures of myth". 

"Last year you thought cursed pirates who turned into skeletons under the moonlight were myths too", Benj pointed out. "My mother is a mermaid. My father was her entertainment, then her food. Serves him right though, he tried to kill me. As far as I know, I am the only male halfbreed out there. Its why so many people try to kill me or sell me". 

Elizabeth's face creased, probably remembering Barbossa's threats of doing that very thing from when they were captured. "Is that how you saved Will all those years ago?" 

"Yeah. I remember making off with some of your father's very expensive items that time too", he sighed wistfully. 

"You stole his favourite pocket watch", Elizabeth grumbled. 

"That watch feed the three of us for months", Benj shot back. "You do what you have too". 

"We would have gotten you an apprenticeship, like we did with Will. You didn't need to return to piracy". 

"Ah", Benj sighed. "But piracy was all I had known. Besides, it was safe. Port royal would have turned on me the minute someone noticed what I was and I would have been sent back to England for dissection or imprisoned as a pet. I also had to get back to Jeannette and Issac as well. Half of the money from your father's ridiculously frilly coats went towards saving for this place". He waved a hand at the general room. "You can't judge us until you've been our situations". 

Elizabeth sighed defeatedly. "I think I am beginning to learn that". 

"Good", Benj smiled slightly. "By the way, you took to my relationships far easier than Will. He floundered like a guppie for about five minutes upon realising that one could fuck men too". 

Elizabeth blinked as her eyes widened, then she chuckled. "That makes a lot of sense". She laughed, then began laughing harder. Benj snorted then joined her, caught up in her mirth. When she finally stopped to wipe the tears from her eyes, she smiled at him. "Your parting kiss had him stumbling for days. The fact that I followed it with my own might not have helped". 

Benj laughed harder. "Goddess, at least he's pretty". 

"And good with his hands". 

"That too". For a second the two of them smirked at each other, cheeks warm and laughter still dancing in their eyes. 

unedited