Things always seem to have the strangest way of working out.
Not exactly good or bad...just never the way you expected.
And Jango certainly never expected to find himself captured by a marine.
Now here he was laying flat on his back on the thin cot of a Marine prison cell awaiting his trial. The strange thing was, even being locked up in here, he felt almost felt....free. In a way. For the first time in God knows how long, Kuro wasn’t a part of his life.
The pirate shivered as the coldness seeped into his body.
Was he really just now admitting to himself how much he had hated it? How even those three years apart, when he had been captain of the Black Cat Pirates, he couldn’t do anything without thoughts of that man plaguing his mind. Much like drowning slowly in the depths of the sea.
Why had he stayed with his Captain so long anyway? It wasn’t just the fear of pain and death he knew would come if he ever betrayed him. It was as if something else had tied them together. Love? No, that was stupid. Kuro was incapable of such an emotion anyway. Jango had just been his favourite plaything, a good fuck now and then, nothing more.
Jango shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position on the utterly uncomfortable cot. He didn’t want to think about that anymore. Kuro, with any luck, would think that he was dead and wouldn’t bother coming to find him.
He probably would be dead soon anyway.
The creaking of the outer prison door and the sound of heavy footsteps thudding towards his cell caught his attention. It must have been dinner time, not that he could tell time from the little bit of light the tiny barred window let in above his head. Stale bread and cold soup probably, there was obviously nothing better to expect.
“Hey pirate, you’ve got a visitor.” The guard rapped on the bars to get his attention.
Who the hell would be visiting....
A familiar figure appeared behind the guard. Pink hair, scars, metal guards over his knuckles.
“Oh, it’s you.” Jango didn’t even bother to sit up, his heart shaped glasses hiding his eyes from view.
“You shitty pirate” The guard snapped. “Address a Marine officer with more respect!”
“It’s all right.” Fullbody raised his hand to calm the man. “Leave us.”
“But sir...”
“I said leave us.” He still had some authority and the guard left them, reluctantly, in peace.
Jango finally sat up, looking at the marine through the thick bars of his minute cell. “Well, what do you want?”
“He was right, you don’t have much in the way of manners, pirate.”
“I just don’t feel like using them, and I have a name you know.”
“Fine, Jango.”
“Thank you.” The end of Jango’s mouth turned up just a little. At least that was some kind of respect. “So did you come all the way down here for a reason or what?”
Fullbody paused, and then, “I wanted to ask you, why you came back.”
An eyebrow raised behind the bright glasses “I just....did.”
“What kind of a shitty answer is that?” Fullbody barked. So much for keeping his cool, there was nothing to hold down the hot-headed marine’s mouth.
“Why did you ask me then?”
Another pause. The marine frowned, he didn’t really know why himself. Why he hadn’t been able to sleep the last few nights thinking about the pirate he had captured. Even if the man had saved him, he was still just a pirate. He wasn’t supposed to care. He shouldn’t have cared. But he...
“I just need to know ok?”
The pirate’s stomach suddenly growled, loudly.
“Is it dinnertime yet? The food around here sucks by the way.”
Fullbody punched the cell door hard enough to make it rattle. “Fucking pirate,” was muttered under his breath as he started back down the hallway. By the time he got halfway down the hall, something caught his attention. Something very unexpected.
“Because you were my friend.”
The answer rung through the cold corridor, not that it was loud enough to reach the others, but definitely loud enough so Fullbody could hear. That was more than enough to make him stop and stomp back to the cell, staring at the man inside. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“You asked, and I answered” Jango lay back on his cot, eyes fixated on the ceiling. “Before you knew I was a pirate you were my friend, or something along those lines. You were nice to me. I thought that at least counted for something.”
“You came back to help me, because I was nice to you?”
“Yeah.” He didn’t look at the marine. “I know it’s a stupid reason but it’s the only one I have. So quit asking.”
“Oh.” It was the only thing Fullbody could think to say, and then, “Your dinner’s here.” as he passed the guard bringing the prisoner’s meal on his way out.
He couldn’t sleep very well that night either.