Ronance Oneshots! (And other ST oneshots!)

Oneshot 9- Falling in love on the ocean // Ronance

~Robin Buckley was just trying to escape her life. Her family doesn't accept her - no one does - and she's scared rumor will spread. All she wanted to do was leave. Hop on a ship, act like a man for months on sea, and find a life in Europe. She certainly didn't expect to fall in love with a beautiful pirate Captain nor eventually become one herself. But hey, fate gets in the way of things sometimes.~

This is the first 'Alternate Universe' fic I have ever written in an entirely different setting ever. I've written modern au's for fandoms, been creative with shit, but never an entirely different kind of world haha. I am so sorry if I got anything about pirates or life in the 17th-18th century, or just anything wrong haha. That being said, this was so fun to write haha so I hope you enjoy reading this!

Word count: 6,652

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robin nervously tries not to meet anyone's gaze as she briskly walks down the dock, gaze flickering everywhere to make sure no one looks suspicious. She desperately tries to refrain from tugging on her shirt too much, hating the feeling of the fabric, especially the odd frilly fabric at the front and at her wrists. Her breath is kept as careful as possible too, as she worries that the fabric she tightly wound around her chest is quite likely a bit too tight. Of course, it had to be tight anyways or else someone may notice she's got a chest and isn't a man, and that would ruin the whole plan. Anyways, she can't do anything about it now. Everything about what she's wearing from the blue bandana on her head to hide most of her hair — not that it's very long anyways but she wasn't ready to take it past chin length — down to the boots she actually loves, is set now. Nothing will be changed until she next reaches land. She'll have to be careful the entire trip to ensure she isn't found out and thrown overboard or worse, for being a woman.

The dock is bustling with activity as she gets closer to the ship at the very end. People are boarding other ships all around her, thankfully paying her no attention. Only a few glances are shot her way and she tries not to make eye contact with anyone. She forces herself to look up and appear somewhat confident as she approaches the ship she's supposed to get on. There was a poster up a couple weeks ago of a captain looking for a crew to work on the ship for a trip to Europe and back. Supposedly delivering a large quantity of precious goods, or clothing, or something. Robin didn't pay much attention to how the goods being transported were loosely mentioned, and had focused on the main point— an escape. A way to get out and start a new life. She picked up on a couple languages over time, despite having no one to teach her, and is confident enough that she can become fluent in no time. Besides, going to a foreign country is the best way to learn a new language.

As she reaches the ship and introduces herself, thankfully not making a fool of herself, she's immediately put to work. Despite having no experience on ships ever before — something she 'accidentally' failed to mention when asking about the job offers at a local bar — she picks up fairly quickly. It seems like there's a mix of experienced crewmates and inexperienced on the ship. Those that are more experienced or just ranked higher up take charge, ordering Robin and the others around, but it's nothing that bothers her much and she's really just glad she isn't the only one with hardly a clue on what to do. If anything, she's probably learning faster than a couple of the men by the time the ship has started its journey.

Trying not to talk much is one of the hardest parts, Robin finds out, just in the first few hours on the ship. Not the labor, or being told what to do, or anything. It's the fact that all the men love to talk. She'd always had a presumption that it was mostly women who would talk a lot, mostly exampled by her own mother and aunties. But no. She imagines that it could take a bit of time before the older men on board who know this ship, might take time in warming up to the new crew, but all the new crew and younger men were talking right away. Robin is asked early on about things like previous work, family, relationship, everything. She plays it off as being shy when she barely answers, otherwise giving awkward responses in a voice that she's sure will be unmistakably not manly at first but apparently passes.