Pirate Jackson - A Percy Jackson AU

Chapter 4

(Quick AN: sorry it's been a while everyone, lots of things have been happening. Life things. I won't waste time feeding you guys excuses; on with the show!

P.S. this chapter is a little dry, and i apologize for that. hopefully things will pick up next chapter!)

Hazel always got stuck training the new guys.

After she'd been with the crew for a few months, she offered to show a new member the ropes - one time, mind you - and had been stuck with the title of Unofficial Tour Guide ever since. It got dull very quickly.

"This is the deck. Down here are the barracks. That's where we keep your mop. We eat over there. Be up and bushy tailed by sunrise, whatever the captain says goes, don't hoard any loot if you don't want to take a dip with the sharks, blah blah blah. Any questions?"

Hazel looked the new guy up and down while he processed the information she'd just thrown at him. He was tall, taller than her (though that wasn't saying much) with a pretty unruly mop of hair. She glanced at his upper arms and decided his muscles looked a little soft. They'd fix that in no time.

Finally, after a lot of blinking, the recruit - was his name Percy? - cleared his throat. "What exactly are my responsibilities as a cabin boy?"

"You clean up. Everything. And do whatever else needs doing." Behind Percy, Hazel spotted Frank squabbling with a crew member over the proper location of the water barrels. She needed to go over there and help. If only she could shake this kid. "Is that all?"

"Where are we going once we set sail? A deserted island?" He sounded eager, like a puppy about to be walked.

Hazel rolled her eyes. "Far from it. We're looking for a corespondent of the captain's in Tortuga." She began walking towards Frank and the girl he was shouting at. Over her shoulder, she offered some words of parting: "Good luck, kid!"

She heard him mumble something like, "Who's she calling 'kid'?" and laughed. True, she was one of the younger crew members, but she held her own. She'd become the official navigator after only a month on board, and Captain Chase held a lot of respect for her. The respect was mutual; if ever a day came when Hazel parted from the Argo II's crew, she wanted to become a brilliant captain just like Annabeth.

As she neared closer to the arguing pair, she recognized Katie Gardner as Frank's opposer. It wasn't surprising - Katie was stubborn as a mule, and often the cause for disputes among the crew.

"Frank, I'm telling you verbatim what Jason told me. The water barrels need to be on the third deck!"

"We always keep them on the second deck! Why would he want them moved?"

"Go ask him yourself! All I know is what he told me, and what he told me was the third deck."

The redness in Frank's ears was spreading to the rest of his face when Hazel intervened. "Katie, there's been a change of plans. The water needs to stay on the second deck for now. You can go help above deck with the rigging. Thanks for your work."

Katie threw her hands above her head before stomping off with a growl. Frank took a deep breath and scratched the back of his head.

"Thanks, Hazel. I probably got too worked up over that."

"It's fine." She smiled at him. "Katie's energy is contagious. It wasn't your fault."

He grinned, and her heart fluttered. She tried to ignore it.

"Let's go help with the sails," Frank suggested. "I'm ready to get going. There's supposed to be a storm in five day's time, you know. If we don't get moving, we could run into the middle of it before we hit Tortuga."

"Is that so?" They began walking together, just close enough for their arms to brush. "I wish you could read people like you can predict the weather. The captain just let on a new cabin boy."

"Is he that kid with the dark hair that really needs a comb?"

Hazel laughed. "That's him!"

"I don't know," Frank murmured, scratching his chin in contemplation. "He looked pretty shifty. I bet he'll try and sneak more than his share of the loot."

"How much are you betting?"

Frank pulled out a golden coin from his pocket and tossed it to Hazel with a smirk. "A full callot."

"Just one?" Hazel matched his smirk with her own. "I bet two."

"You're on, Levesque."

Hazel couldn't help but wonder at how differently Frank acted around her than he did around the rest of the crew. To all others, he was usually quiet and a little awkward. It was his awkward charm that attracted Hazel to him in the first place, prompting her to start a friendship. Since then, she'd discovered the side of him that most others never saw. The side that was confident and funny and absolutely endearing. She didn't want to admit it, but there was a small part of her that wondered what life could be like if they decided to take their relationship further than something platonic.

They reached the stairs leading above deck, and Frank gestured for her to lead the way. Hazel stuck her head up right as the captain shouted, "All hands on deck! Set to sail!"

With Frank scrambling behind her, Hazel dashed to the nearest rope and tugged, lifting the sail and waiting for it to catch the wind. Waiting to be blown into the wide ocean, where she and her crew were all on their own.