Chapter 2 (Chinese Treasures)

Arthur, a fearless pirate captain, managed to find a map to the Chinese imperial treasures. There is just one thing that he need to get it. Blood from the Chinese imperial bloodline.

With an irritated groan Yao turned on his side and buried his face into the stinking pillow. The fish smell in the sheet entered his nose, making him feel sick and filthy. Slowly he turned to his other side and forced himself to open his eyes.

With his mind still clouded by sleep, he did not recognise the room right away, let alone did he notice the rocking of the ship. He scanned his surroundings with lazy eyes and noticed that it was already light outside. Yet none of his servant had come to wake him.

Wondering why that was, he closed his eyes again and slowly pushed himself up. He grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around him out of habit. Every morning when his servants woke him, he sat in his bed with a blanket wrapped around him for another fifteen minutes, until he would be fully awake.

Suddenly the door went open. Yao opened his eyes again and looked at the person in the doorway. Within a split second he was wide awake and remembered where he was.

His eyes met with Arthur’s shortly and then he quickly closed his eyes again. Nothing was as terrible as seeing the face of your kidnapper in the morning.

Yao heard footsteps coming closer. Arthur’s boots hitting the wooden floor made a loud ticking noise until they stopped before the bed.

The emperor took a deep breath. Arthur’s expression had been unreadable when the pirate stood in the doorway, because of that he knew that whatever Arthur had in mind, it was not something he was going to like.

He waited until Arthur would speak to him, but the Briton did not. It worried Yao slightly. He was in a stubborn mood and wanted to keep his eyes closed until Arthur would be angry, yet at the same time he wasn’t sure if he really wanted the pirate to get mad. It was clear that the pirate had kept his promise not to join him during the night, but Arthur probably wouldn’t be such a gentleman after Yao crossed the pirate’s lines.

A little hesitant Yao opened his eyes and slide them up to the pirates face. Arthur’s arms were crossed before his chest and he stared slightly irritated down to the emperor.

“May I ask you, why you are not cleaning the deck, Yao?” Arthur’s voice was calm but strict.

Yao took a deep breath and lowered his eyes slightly. As he had expected Arthur was angry. He fought the urge to lick his lips -nervous for what would come- and then answered Arthur. “It was an exhausting day for me yesterday, as you probably know.” He spoke confident. “There for my body needed more rest then normally.”

A glint of anger was visible in Arthur’s eyes and he licked his lips, Yao assumed it was to control his anger. “I think there are only two reasons for your behaviour, Yao.” He spoke. “Either you’re trying to get me angry or you changed your mind about giving me your body.”

Yao shock slightly and wanted to reject both options, but Arthur cut him off even before he could open his mouth.

“If you’re trying to make me angry, I would advise you to stop.” Arthur said, staring at the emperor with a penetrating glare. “If you decided to share my bed, you can rest as long as you want. You’ll need your energy during the night.”

A red embarrassed blush spread over Yao’s face. He wanted to react to Arthur’s so called advises and tell the pirate that he was filthy and disgusting. Yet he kept his mouth wisely shut, he would only make it worse and that was the last thing he wanted. “I’ll clean the deck.” He said annoyed and stood up from the bed. When he walked pasted Arthur his heart beat rapidly, scared that the pirate would pull him back.

But till Yao’s relieve Arthur didn’t. He forced himself to calm down and walked to the chair with his clothes. When he touched them he noticed immediately that they were still moist from the rain. A soft sigh escaped his lips. Hopefully it was sunny enough to dry them while he wore them.

Arthur suddenly walked away from the bed. Yao could hear that from the sound of his boots. The Chinese emperor looked over his shoulder to see where the pirate was.

Arthur stood with his back towards the emperor and walked with short and lazy steps around the room. It was clear that he wasn’t doing anything specific except for being there while Yao tried to dress.

Biting his lip and trying his best not to fire an irritated phase to the pirate’s head, Yao start to dress.

Like he had done the night before during undressing, Yao made sure that Arthur would see as less of his body as possible. With his back towards the pirate, he pulled his pants on first, making sure that the nightdress would cover his legs and bum, until they were hidden behind white fabric.

Then he pulled his arms out of the sleeves of the nightdress, but did not pull it off over his head. Instead he took his deep red shirt and slid his arms into the moist sleeves. In one quick movement he pulled the nightdress off and pulled his own shirt over his head.

When he clasped his shirt on the front, he suddenly noticed that he hadn’t felt Arthur’s eyes even once. Slowly he turned around and saw that the pirate captain was standing in front of a map that hung on the wall. Whether Arthur hadn’t looked at him on purpose or because he had been too busy, Yao did not knew, but whatever it was he couldn’t be happier that he hadn’t felt his emerald eyes.

The emperor looked through the room, searching for a mirror. He had to fix his hair, because even without seeing it, he knew it looked terrible. He found a small one in the corner of the room. While he walked to it, he suddenly felt and heard his stomach growl and protest. Yao closed his eyes a few second and remembered that he hadn’t eaten anything ever since the pirates kidnapped him.

With the thought that he could search for some food after he was done with his morning ritual, he walked closer to the mirror. As he had expected, his hair was pointing out into every possible direction. In the absence of a brush, Yao decided to brush his hair with only his fingers and ran his fingers through his long manes easier than probably expected by others. His hair was smooth and could be brushed out of tangle quite easily.

The emperor suddenly heard Arthur walking away from the map. Within the mirror he followed him, until he was out of sight. He heard a drawer opening and soon the rumbling sound of taking something out of the drawer.

The drawer closed and Arthur’s footsteps came closer. Soon Yao could follow him within the mirror again and saw he was walking towards him. His heart beat fast and nervously for what would come.

Arthur stopped behind his back staring at him through the mirror.

Yao stared at him for only a short while, seeing a somewhat soft look in the pirate’s eyes that looked rather out of place. Suddenly Arthur lifted his hand and showed Yao a silver comb.

A little hesitant, Yao looked to the comb and back to Arthur in the mirror. He slowly took over the comb and mumbled a soft ‘thank you’ before he started to brush his hair with the comb.

He stopped when he suddenly felt Arthur’s hand running through his already combed hair. He closed his eyes and bit his lip, forcing himself not to react. As if nothing was the matter, the emperor searched for the fibre he used to keep his hair together with and tied his hair in a ponytail, ignoring the British hand.

Arthur suddenly grabbed his wrists, keeping him from tying his hair. He buried his face into Yao’s hair and took a deep breath. “Keep it loose.” He mumbled with his lips against the back of the emperor’s ear.

Yao shock and looked into the mirror to see what the Britain was doing. He saw one emerald eyes staring at him, while the other was hiding behind his dark hair. He felt his cheeks turning red in anger and embarrassment and pulled away from the pirate. “I rather work with my hair tied together.” He said and tied his hair further.

When he was done he looked into the mirror again. Arthur still stood behind him, the soft expression the emperor had seen before had disappeared and took place for a slightly irritated glare.

Yao looked away from the pirate and turned around, ready to start his work on the deck. That was when his stomach growled another time in protest. He closed his eyes for a moment and opened them again when the annoying feeling lay down slightly.

Arthur hadn’t moved a muscle and stood before the emperor looking down on him. “Breakfast is over.” He said; his irritation clearly audible in his voice. “Dinner will be served at sun down.” Arthur said and then turned around, walking to his desk.

Yao shock a little when Arthur told him that and looked bewildered to the pirate’s back. “You can’t leave me without...”

The British pirate cut of his sentence and looked over his shoulder at Yao. “Can’t I?” He asked not expecting an answer. “Breakfast is at sunset and dinner at sundown. Be sure to be on time the next time.” Then he turned back to his desk again.

Yao took a deep breath in an attempt to cool himself down. He would find himself some food, a simple apple was enough to lay down the hunger for a short while. He turned to the door and planned to walk outside, but Arthur stopped him with words.

“Before I forget,” The pirate said. “Stealing food will result in another day without eating.” He didn’t not look over his shoulder and kept his eyes on the work before his nose.

Yao sighed out and looked over his shoulder. “Can you read minds?” He asked calm but irritated.

Arthur looked over his shoulder to the Chinese emperor with a satisfied smirked. “I know how the mind of my crew works.” He said.

Yao narrowed his eyes in hate. “Don’t compare me with pirates.” He said and opened the door to the deck.

“Apparently your mind works the same as theirs.” Arthur commented and laughed slightly sadistic.

Knowing that he would think about the pirate’s comment and would analyse it the rest of the day, Yao walked out of the cabin, letting the door fall in its lock a little harder than needed. But he did not care, because when he saw the mess the pirates had made on the deck within such a short amount of time, he wished he had closed that door even harder and louder to get rid of his frustration and irritation.

 

Yao hung against the railing at the front of the ship. He stared quietly over the sea, while he actually had to continue cleaning the deck.

He had stopped cleaning not too long ago, because he thought he deserved a break. He had been cleaning nonstop while the other pirates were uselessly wandering over the deck, only to irritate the Chinese male and give him more work than he already had.

Yao took a deep breath and stared that the sunset. His stomach was still growling, impatiently waiting for dinner to come. But it wasn’t going to be long now, the sun was already slowly disappearing under the horizon, colouring the sky red and orange.

Suddenly a loud ticking sound was audible. It sounded like a metal object was slammed against a hollow object. The first thing that came into Yao’s mind was a ladle against the bottom of a large pan, but that could be just him imagination combined with his hunger. Never the less he walked to the middle of the deck to see what was happening.

He soon saw that his imagination hadn’t let him down. On the other side of the deck stood a pirate with a long beard and a giant pan filled with food next to him. Before him formed a long line of hungry pirates. They all waited for their turn, one even more impatiently then the other.

Yao licked his lips. Something told him that if he wouldn’t get in that line quickly there wouldn’t be a single bite left from him. Without hesitating, he walked with large steps towards the line and put himself behind a pirate that was even shorter than he was.

Yet he wasn’t allowed to stand there for long, as a giant pirate suddenly pushed him out of the line. “Out of the way, Shorty.” He said grinning widely to the emperor and took Yao’s place in the line.

Yao looked at the pirate a little confused at first, but soon he glared at him and decided to quickly search for another spot before he would really end up another day without food.

He ended up between two pirates, who looked at him with a devilish chuckle. It didn’t make the emperor comfortable, but at least they didn’t push him out of the line.

The row slowly moved forward and during waiting Yao noticed that the pirate behind him came closer every time they could take a step forward.

Yao looked carefully over his shoulder, but didn’t look the pirate in the eyes on purpose. If he did there was no doubt that the pirate would react to it in whichever way he wanted to react. He took a small step forward to compensate the distance between the pirate before him and behind him.

The pirate behind him took a step forward as well, making the space between the two pirates smaller and enclosing the emperor. Suddenly Yao felt a hand against his left hip. His heart beat sped up and his eyes widened. He wanted to turn around and kick the pirate out of the line, but he kept himself from doing so, since there was a huge change that he would be the next to get kicked out of the line.

As irritated as he was, he tried his best to stay calm. “Sir.” He started. “I’d appreciate it if you would stop touching me.” He did not turn around to look at the pirate and kept staring at the back of the pirate in front of him.

The only reaction Yao received was a low satisfied chuckle and the discontent of a second hand to touch his right hip.

Getting even more irritated, Yao looked over his shoulder at the pirate with narrowed eyes. “Don’t touch me.” He said with an annoyed overtone.

He quietly glared at the pirate who didn’t seem to be impressed by it. Then the pirate’s hand suddenly moved back to the emperor’s bum.

Yao shock and moved forward in a reflex, bumping against the pirate in front of him who turned around irritated. The Chinese male held his hands up, quickly telling the pirate he was sorry and took a step back. The pirate behind him then took his chance and pinch Yao’s buttock with both his hands.

That was the moment something snapped within Yao. Nobody was allowed to touch him without his permission, not Arthur nor any of the other pirates and the brutal looking pirate behind him was no exception.

Within one swift motion, Yao turned around to the pirate and worked him against the ground with a simple push with the palm of his hand.

The pirate stared confused at the emperor, who was still standing in fighting position, ready to attack again whenever anyone dared to come to close.

“I told you to keep your hands to yourself.” Yao spoke angry to the pirate.

The other pirates all turned towards Yao and the licentious pirate. They seemed to be surprised by the strength the tiny Chinese male possessed, but it was not for long. As soon as all the pirates woke up from their confusing, a few already tried to punish Yao for attacking their fellow pirate.

Yao saw them coming from the corner of his eyes and quickly worked them against the floor one by one as well. It confused the emperor a little; he had expected the pirates to be a lot stronger then they seemed to be, especially because they broke into his palace the other day so easily.

Suddenly a voice quiet down the battle sounds around Yao.

“What is the meaning of this?” Without losing its calmness Arthur’s voice raised above all other sounds.

All pirates suddenly stopped with what they were doing and took a few steps away from Yao.

The Chinese emperor ended alone in the middle of the circle. He was slightly confused and looked around him. A sadistic smirk was spread over the pirates’ faces. They had planned this before, Yao could see it in their eyes and it worried him.

A pair of footsteps stopped behind the emperor’s back. Yao closed his eyes for a moment and opened them again when he turned himself around, looking confidently into the captain’s emerald green eyes.

“Explain yourself, Yao.” Arthur said with a raised eyebrow. The pirate’s expression was blank, what made it harder for Yao to guess in what kind of trouble he was.

The emperor suddenly straightened his back. He had defended himself from getting raped by a bunch of filthy pirates, even though it was probably a set up to show the emperor his place. Nevertheless he hadn’t done anything wrong and therefore didn’t need to be scared for Arthur’s reaction.

“I was purposefully touched at places one should not touch without permission.” He said and folded his arms within his sleeves.

Arthur’s expression darkened. “And there for you attack my crew?” He asked calm.

Yao was wary, but he didn’t allow himself to make it visible in his expressions. “I was merely defending myself.” He told the pirate captain calm. Offended that Arthur had claimed he had attacked the pirate with a poor reason, he glared at the pirate captain.

Arthur licked his lips once and took a step into Yao’s direction, forcing the Chinese male to look up. “I believe you do not understand, Yao.” He started. “You may have the highest rank in China. On board of my ship you have the lowest. I won’t let anyone lay a finger on my crew, not even the emperor of China.”

Yao noticed that Arthur tried to overawe him with his dominance, but the Chinese emperor wasn’t impressed. He hadn’t looked away from the pirate even once and waited until he would continue his lecture.

Arthur, who wasn’t amused that Yao refused to react, continued after a short silence. “Normally I would torture someone to dead for something like that. In your case I would rape you before I would torture you to dead and then sail back and capture the last one in the Chinese imperial blood line.”

Yao’s eyes immediately widened in shock when he realised what Arthur just said. “Jin,” he said softly and lowered eyes. He didn’t care what the pirate had planned to do with him, but he did mind it if Arthur would hurt his younger brother. Yao scowl at the pirate, but kept quiet, knowing that words would only make his situation worse.

Arthur continued strict. “I’m aware that I did not explain the rules to you properly, therefore I will be mild and reduce your punishment.” He said and grabbed Yao’s jaw roughly, forcing him to look at him. “But next time I won’t be so nice to you, savvy?”

Yao stared quietly into Arthur’s piercing eyes. He didn’t knew what the word ‘savvy’ meant, but he expected that Arthur asked him if he understood what he had said.

Knowing that his punishment would be reduced to only rape, Yao unwillingly brought out a soft ‘Yes’. If getting raped would keep the pirate away from Jin, he would at least try to bare with it.

Arthur raised an eyebrow and grabbed the emperor’s jaw even tighter. “Yes, what?” He asked, annoyed that Yao didn’t spoke to him in a proper way this first time.

Yao frowned and closed his eyes when he squeezed out the words that he detested most at that very moment. “Yes, captain.”

Arthur finally let go of Yao’s jaw, but kept looking at him with the same strict and penetrating look in his eyes. “Wait in my study. I’m not done with you yet.” He said and turned to the other pirates.

Yao bit his tongue, forcing himself not to react. Irritated and unwillingly he walked into the direction of Arthur’s cabin, rubbing his sore cheeks from Arthur’s firm grip.

Once he was at the cabin, he opened the door and looked over his shoulder once. Arthur looked at him and it was as if he was waiting until the Chinese emperor would be inside. It made Yao curious for what Arthur was planning.

He turned to the door, opened it, went inside and closed the door behind him. He turned to the door and waited a few seconds. Then he opened the door ajar and licked his lips nervously, scared that Arthur would see the door opening again.

Yao couldn’t see what was happening on deck, but he could hear it and that was good enough for now. He squatted in front of the opening between the door and the doorframe and pricked his ears.

The pirates were still quiet and only the sound of one pair of footsteps could be heard. It were slow and controlled steps and because of that Yao expected them to be from Arthur.

“Tell me, who was the course of all this?” Arthur broke the silence.

There was a moment of silence before one of the pirates answered the captain’s question. “He deserved it, Captain.”

Arthur’s footsteps were audible before he spoke again. “Is that so?” Arthur asked faked surprised. “And why, mister Brooks, do you think he deserved to be touched by you?”

Yao could swear that he heard irritation in the pirate captain’s voice. He frowned slightly, wondering why that was. He quickly pricked his ears again and made sure that he wouldn’t miss anything from the conversation on deck.

“I’d advise you to keep your hands of my properties, mister Brooks.” Arthur spoke again, this time the irritation was even clearer.

Yao narrowed his eyes irritated. “His property?” he mumbled irritated to himself. How dared that pirate to even think he was someone’s property? He was no one’s property and that wouldn’t change in the coming dynasties.

Annoyed by what he just had heard, he stood up and closed the door. He didn’t want to hear more of it, because he knew that he would only become more irritated then he already was.

He walked to the round table in the middle of the room and sat down on the chair next to it. He hadn’t felt his stomach growling since he kicked the licentious pirate out of the line, but as soon as he sat down his stomach start protesting again. He groaned low and irritated, placed his head on top of the table and wrapped his arms around his stomach. Then he quietly cursed himself, knowing that, after what happened, he wouldn’t get any food until the next morning. It was going to be a very long night for him.

The door suddenly opened and it shocked Yao slightly. He sat up straight and looked over his shoulder to Arthur.

The smell of warm food overwhelmed the Chinese emperor, making his stomach growl even more. He closed his eyes and slowly turned back to face the table.

He heard Arthur coming closer and with that the food’s smell. His mouth start to water and he cursed Arthur under his breath. How dared that b*****d to eat in front of someone who hadn’t ate for one and a half day.

Yao heard Arthur sit down on a different chair. Then something was placed before his nose, something that smelled like food. He slowly opened his eyes and found a bowl of stew before him. He looked up and saw Arthur sitting on the chair next to him with another bowl of stew. He slowly slid his eyes from Arthur’s bowl to Arthur’s face and found the pirate staring at him.

“Thank you.” Yao said a little bit stubborn. He never expected that the pirate captain had a generous side. Then he grabbed the bowl with two hands and drunk the bouillon first.

Yao couched disgusted after he swallowed the first gulp. The taste of the stew was horrible. It tasted burned and musty and apparently the cook had tried to hide the taste with an enormous amount of salt.

Even when the taste was horrible, Yao’s stomach was screaming for something to eat. Closing his eyes and forcing himself to block the taste out, he drank the rest of the bouillon as fast as he could. He placed the bowl back on the table and looked at the unidentifiable pieces of meat and vegetable on the bottom of the bowl.

In the absence of chopsticks, Yao cautious took a piece -that he thought was a vegetable- out of the bowl and stared at it for a moment. He closed his eyes and putted the piece into his mouth.

Just as he had expected the vegetables tasted as horrible as the bouillon. He quickly chewed the piece -with a carrot-like structure- and swallowed it as fast as he could. He couldn’t believe someone could ruin a dish like this and could even make a vegetable loose it’s flavour.

Yao looked at Arthur and saw how the pirate drunk the bouillon out of the bowl and placed the empty bowl back on the table like nothing was the matter with the stew.

The pirate stood up from his chair and walked into the direction of the bed. All of a suddenly he start unbuttoning his shirt and pulled it off, revealing the tight muscles in his arms, shoulders and back.

Yao was stunned, both because Arthur undressed while he was still in the same room and because of the pirate’s well shaped body. He slowly took another piece of food out of his bowl and ate it, while his eyes followed the smooth lines of Arthur’s body.

“About your punishment.” Arthur suddenly said.

Yao woke up out of, what seemed to be, a daydream. Because Arthur had turned around, the emperor’s eyes had been fixed on the pirate’s abs. He quickly looked up, met with the pirate’s eyes and then quickly turned his eyes to the bowl before his nose. He saw it was almost empty and realised that he hadn’t taste a single bite of the disgusted stew. An embarrassed blush appeared on his cheeks when he realised that he had enjoyed the short moment of staring at Arthur’s body. He closed his eyes and cursed himself.

When he opened his eyes again, he looked straight into emerald green eyes. He suddenly realised that the pirate’s well shaped body was going to top him the rest of the night and it made Arthur’s body suddenly a lot less interesting.

“What about my punishment?” the emperor asked carefully, when Arthur didn’t continue.

Arthur sat down on the bed and pulled his boots out one by one. “Tomorrow before breakfast, you’ll go to the kitchen. I want you to sort out the rotten food. Do the same with the supplies down deck. Clean both the kitchen and down deck and refilled the kitchen with supplies.”

Yao waited for more to come but Arthur didn’t spoke another word. “Is that everything?” The Chinese emperor blurted out before he knew it.

Arthur looked up and raised an eyebrow, before he started smirking. “Don’t get your hopes up, Yao. The last time someone dared to cleaned the kitchen was weeks maybe even months ago.”

Yao slowly turned pale when he thought about the filthy kitchen. He looked at his, not jet empty, bowl and shove it away from him. Suddenly he knew why the stew had tasted musty.

Nevertheless Yao sighed relieved. He wasn’t going to be raped and even a dirty kitchen or rotten food couldn’t ruin that relief.

“That was a sigh of relief.” Arthur mentioned surprised and curious.

Yao knew that it was better not to tell the pirate what he actually had thought his punishment would be. He didn’t want to offer the pirate captain ideas. “It’s not important.” He said and with that hoped the pirate would lay down the subject.

But of course Arthur didn’t. The pirate stood up, walked towards Yao and stopped behind the emperor. He hooked his finger behind the fibre that kept Yao’s hair in a ponytail and pulled it out of the male’s hair. Then he gently ran his fingers through the soft manes. “Don’t keep secrets from your captain, Yao.” He said softly. “It could cost you your head.”

Yao froze when the, still shirtless, captain came closer and ran his hands through his hair. Biting his lip he pushed the hand away from him and took the fibre back. He tied his hair back in a ponytail and stood up from his chair. “I am relieved because I thought that you wanted me to be involved into you vulgar fantasies.” Yao spoke. “I’m pleased that I was wrong.”

Arthur smirked, something that made Yao wary. He brought his hand to Yao’s mouth and slowly ran his thumb over the emperor’s bottom lip. “I wouldn’t mind it.” He said and licked his lips.

A shiver ran down Yao’s spine. He pulled away from Arthur and turned to the door. He still needed to clean the deck and he decided that this was the perfect moment to do so. “I told you before and will tell you again. I will never share your bed out of my own free will.”

Yao wanted to walk away, but Arthur grabbed his arms and prevented him from leaving. The emperor turned back to Arthur shocked, not knowing what the pirate had in mind.

“Willingly or not. In the end I will have you.” Arthur spoke. The smirk had vanished from his lips and made place for a grimace. “Try to get use to it and come to me out of your own free will, because I ain’t very nice when I run out of patience.”

Yao swallowed. In the back of his head he already knew Arthur was going to force him one day or another, yet hearing it from the pirate shocked him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Good luck forcing me.” He said daring and pulled himself loose from Arthur’s grip.

Without another word, he walked to the door, opened it and left to clean the deck, leaving Arthur alone in his study.

 

Yao was done quicker than he had expected. Most of the pirates were already down deck and the last few were gone before Yao knew it, what had made his work easier.

Reluctantly he walked back to Arthur’s cabin, scared for the things that the pirate might have thought about while he was away.

He opened the door and was surprised to find Arthur in bed facing the wall. Yao took a deep breath and shook his head before he got into the room. Not sure what he should do, he walked to the bed and looked at the amount of space there was left for him.

When he decided that he could sleep next to Arthur without lying against the pirate, he quickly changed himself in the nightdress Arthur had gave him the night before.

When Yao turned towards the bed he startled and took a step back. Arthur sat on the edge of the bed and watched the Chinese emperor quietly with a small grin on his face, apparently satisfied that he had scared the Chinese male.

“Could you at least make some sound when you wake up?” Yao complained and pulled the fibre of his ponytail out of his hair, putting it on the table. He doubted for a moment if he should leave and sleep with the crew, but after what happened that day his conscious told him he would be safer sleeping next to Arthur.

Arthur huffed amused. “You’re sleeping against the wall.” He said and stood up. With folded arms he waited until Yao would do what he told him and would lie down.

Yao stared at him for a moment. “Why?” He asked suspicious. “Because I can’t run away when I’m lying there?” He walked hesitant and displeased to the bed and crawled in it. He faced the wall and made sure to lie down as far against it as possible.

Arthur smirked. “That’s just a nice bonus.” He said and lay down next to Yao. He wrapped an arm around Yao’s waist and buried his face into the long manes, spooning with the emperor.

Yao gasped and jumped away from the pirate as far as he could. Because he already was as close to the wall as he possibly could be, that wasn’t far. “It would please me if you let go of me.” He spoke, trying to control the annoyance in his voice and quietly hoping that the pirate would listen to him.

Yao could feel Arthur’s mouth curling into a smirk against the skin of his neck.

“Get used to it, Yao.” Arthur simply said and with that cut of the subject.

“B*****d.” Yao growled irritated. He fisted his hands and tried to convince himself that Arthur would keep his hands to himself, apart from the arm around his waist.

After a few minutes Yao noticed that Arthur’s breath rhythm became slower, telling the Chinese emperor that he was slowly falling asleep or maybe already was asleep. He sighed relieved; at least he didn’t have to worry about being touched anymore.

He grabbed Arthur’s arm and attempted to move it away, but Arthur held him firmly and Yao was scared that he wouldn’t be able to move the pirate’s arm away without waking him. He bit his lips and decided that maybe it was better to leave it around his waist.

He pressed his face into the pillow and took a deep breath, letting out all the negative energy that had piled up during the day.

It only took a few more minutes before his eyelids became heavier and with one last deep breath, he fell asleep.

Author's Note

I do not have a beta/ So beware for grammar mistakes.