Pirate!EnglandxReader

"Everyday your life will never be the same"

You pulled back your hair, letting a few strands remain free in front of your face. Then you smoothed out your masquerade dress, followed by placing the matching mask upon your face. Tonight was the masquerade ball your parents were throwing, only a few select (and highly important) guests were invited.
Well, a few guests and the one you had secretly invited, knowing they would never had allowed him to attend.

See, you were the princess of England, and a rebellious princess at that. You hated being put above everyone, and having to watch them do everything your parents thought was necessary for you. The attention was nice every once in a while, but usually it was just too much. So you tried to go against them every chance you got.
Tonight though, you were going to do something that topped all your other attempts.

A year ago you had met a certain pirate named Arthur Kirkland. You hadn't known this at first of course, you had just had a feeling about him. Maybe it was his huge eyebrows, or his amazing emerald eyes that had first drawn you to him. Or perhaps it was his golden hair, which was messy yet it still managed to look nice.
It had been a night exactly like tonight. There was to be a fancy ball, but anyone who wanted to attend could. Of course this was only because there hadn't been to many pirate threats yet, so no one worried about it too much. Everyone there had looked absolutely stunning, and they all seemed to be having a good time.
That's when he came and asked you to dance.
He told you that his name was Arthur Kirkland. You could have sworn you had heard that name around somewhere, but you quickly dismissed the idea, ignoring the fact that some of the wanted posters from around town started to come to mind.
It was so fun, dancing around with this random man, seeing the disapproving glances you were getting from your parents because you were with a stranger. It all seemed to end too quickly.

And that's when it happened.

Before you knew it, Arthur had literally swept you off your feet and was carrying you away from your castle, running as fast as he could from the guards. He knocked you out partway through so you would stop your struggling, and you awoke on a ship. You soon learned it was Arthur's ship, and that's when you remembered why the name had sounded so familiar. He just so happened to be one of the most feared pirates in England. It was definitely terrifying to be on a pirate ship, but at the same time it was somewhat...thrilling. It almost made you feel the slightest bit excited knowing that this was something that your parents definitely wouldn't approve of. And so, for awhile you put up with being a prisoner, only to be freed if a huge ransom was paid.

Knowing your parents, you weren't going to be freed for quite some time.

You got to know the crew a bit, and soon learned that they actually weren't half bad sometimes. Sure they had their moments when they could be quite frightening and you wanted to be as far away from them as possible, but then again, they had never tried anything on you, and once you proved that you didn't plan on trying to escape, they were slightly friendly...well, as friendly as cold-blooded pirates could be anyway.

Arthur Kirkland still sparked your interest though. For the first bit of your stay, you never saw him much. He would mostly stay in his cabin, only emerging to give orders or speak to the first mate briefly. However, when you did see him, you could have sworn your heart would flutter ever so slightly.
Then, you would start to see him more and more. He would even speak to you at times, and he really didn't seem all that bad. He made sure that you were getting enough to eat, and that you were always comfortable in your room. First he seemed rather stiff, like he was making sure to stay professional. After some time though, you and him got to know each other better, having normal everyday conversations, almost like friends would (but he told you you were never to tell the crew about these talks, otherwise they might think he was going soft).
You began to feel something for him. You couldn't quite identify it, as it was something you had never experienced before. All you knew was that he had started to invade your thoughts, and you blushed whenever he would call you "Love" (which is something he did quite often, go figure).

You didn't realize what these feelings were called until the one night when you had had a nightmare, and you had gone up onto the deck to get some air. Arthur joined you a few minutes after, and you both stood watching the moon and the stars on this particularly still night. The image of Arthur on that night would stay forever ingrained into your mind. The way the light had glowed, making him look like some sort of angel or something.
Then he looked at you gently, something you never would have expected from a  pirate of all people. He spoke gently, inching towards you ever so slowly. It wasn't until your lips finally met that you realized.

These feelings were called love.

The way your lips fit perfectly with his, how soft his hair was despite being at sea for weeks, the way your name sounded when he said it. It was all so perfect.  You couldn't care less about your parents at that moment, all you knew was that you wanted to be with Arthur.

That morning, you came up with a plan with him. It was a very smart plan indeed, but risky. One wrong move, and Arthur could end up being sent to the gallows. but you figured it was worth a shot.
So he dropped back off at the castle you were supposed to call home at the next chance he got, going over the scheme one final time. Saying farewell to him for a few months was slightly heartbreaking, but you knew it would all work out eventually. Everyone at the castle was astonished that you had managed to get away from pirates without having the ransom paid, and now you were guarded even more than before. You had been gone two months, which meant you would have to wait another ten to see him again. It was going to be exactly a year, that was the plan.

But it was all going to be worth it.


You waltzed down the stairs away from your room, towards the ballroom, slightly anxious about tonight. What if it didn't work out? Even though it seemed fairly foolproof, you couldn't help but worry. Your (e/c) eyes scanned the room, looking for the familiar face that belonged to Arthur Kirkland. What if he hadn't made it? What if they had caught him, and now he was waiting to be hung? What if you were never going to see him again?

"Ah there you are (name)." Your mother said, approaching you as you reached the huge room.

"This is Roderich Edelstein." She motioned towards a boy beside her, who merely nodded. You did the polite thing and nodded back, still trying to find any sign of Arthur.

"(Name), you are to dance with him. Now."
Roderich extended his hand and you took it, stifling a sigh. You mother would never understand that you didn't like any of the men she tried to set you up with, mainly because they met all of her criteria. Therefore they were all stiff, self-absorbed men who knew nothing about having fun and living a little.

You begun to dance half-heartedly, wanting to get away from the huge crowd as quickly as you could. However, pretty soon you were being handed off to several different men as everyone switched partners every once in a while. You were starting to get horridly bored after a few times of switching, and you wanted nothing more than to leave to your room. The boredom ended, however, when you  were given to a new man, and you looked into his face. His mask covered his eyes so only he could see, but his unmistakeable bushy eyebrows and messy blonde hair made it apparent to you who he was.

"A-Arthur?"

"So you do recognize me love. I almost began to worry."

It took every bit of your willpower not to grin crazily and kiss him right there. You could feel your mother's eyes boring into you though, so you had to restrain yourself.

"So then, when would you like to commence operation get-me-the-hell-out-of-here?"

"Let's get as close as possible to the door. If we can make a distraction of any sort to get everyone to pay less attention to us, we can make a break for it."

You swayed across the floor, and soon the song had ended, and the both of you were standing beside the doors that separated you from complete freedom. Now you just had to come up with a distraction...

"Hey look everyone, it's a unicorn!" You yelled, pointing in the direction opposite of your path. As everyone turned to look, you grabbed Arthur's hand and ran as fast as you possibly could, inwardly laughing at how gullible people could be. You kept running and running, ignoring some of the strange glances from the guards, until you got to the bush you hid a bag filled with a few of your most important possessions in. It was a momentary pause though, because you knew before long someone would be looking for you. So you continued your sprint, until you got to the dock and finally your feet landed on the wooden ship deck. Both you and Arthur collapsed onto the ground exhausted, before turning to face each other again.

"I missed you love." He whispered, still panting to recover oxygen. You stood back up and walked over to a peg where you could see Arthur's huge pirate hat sitting, and grabbed it. You then walked back over to him and placed to hat on his head, before whispering back,

"I missed you too."

He grinned and pulled you into a long awaited kiss, and you knew that this is where you truly wanted to be.

"I am a pirate,
you are a princess,
we could sail the seven seas"