He's a Pirate - ATEEZ Reader-Inserts

Here Were Fairies - Hongjoong

Mad with loneliness. No one had been here in years. But the sight made me sick.

I didn't want to believe it, but it was there, right in front of me: a pirate ship.

It floated to shore, eerily silent as it settled on the sand. Holes were ripped through its hull as it bottomed out. My hope that it was a ghost ship was almost confirmed until I made my way to the helm.

He's barely breathing. His skin is blistered from the sun. His body was sprawled out on the deck. He was dressed in brilliant shades of black and red adorned with elaborate patterns. His skin was parched, and his eye, the one not covered by a patch, was lethargically closed.

Even in such a mysterious state, he's alluring. My curiosity got the best of me. My feet touched the deck. His breath echoed through my ears, his massive body towering over me. First I tried tugging on his sleeve, but he didn't so much as flinch. I made my way closer to his face. Poking at his cheeks did nothing.

It's strange. He doesn't seem unconscious, more like he's in a deep, exhausted sleep.

His hair was shaggy, so silver it was almost white, and longer on the back than it was on the top. There was a single long braid leading from behind his ear and over his shoulder, woven with colorful threads. Aside from just wanting to touch it, pulling it seemed like a good way to wake him up.

My wings fluttered as I pulled on his hair, quickly exhausting myself from the force it takes to interact with such mass. The longer he went without waking up the more comfortable I became in the presence of a giant. But just as I lazily relaxed against his chest and stared up at his face, his nose twitched.

I bolted away from the nearly empty ship and tucked myself away in the forest of my home, far from the lone pirate.

Curiosity crowded my mind. There was no good reason for him to be alone. Despite what happened the last time pirates were here, I wanted to go back. He might need help.

What is there to lose? I'm the only one left. I might as well meet the same fate as the rest of my species.

The next day, I returned to the ship to the spot where the pirate had been slouched on the deck the day before, only to find he wasn't there at all. I searched the massive deck, but he was nowhere in sight. Just as I was getting ready to leave, I discovered the passages to the massive spaces beyond the deck.

I was just going to take a short peek and leave, but before I knew it, I was tip-toeing over a massive wooden table covered with maps, letters, books, navigation tools, and a particularly intriguing proclamation of an arrest reward for the "Pirate King," Hongjoong. What atrocious things must a pirate do to be declared the king among them?

Even though it housed some harrowing secrets, the room was warm and extravagant, and every artifact that filled it sparked my curiosity. There were chests filled to the brim with fabrics, candles, soaps, jars of spices, and other odd mixes of jewels and metals. Every time my eyes moved to a new corner of the room there was something new to see. I spun in the bliss of the excitement until a sound boomed from behind me. In front of the now shut door of the magnificent room stood the lone pirate.

He dropped the supplies in his arms, his gaze locking on to me as I fell backward onto the desk. Unsure of where to go, or how to escape, fear debilitated me. I was wrong. This isn't how I want to die. I don't want to be ripped to pieces by a pirate.

He moved closer, eventually towering over the desk with a bizarre smile on his face. He dropped to his knees and rested his elbows on the desk, his piercing brown eye listlessly falling over me. His voice finally met my ears but wasn't nearly as deafening as I thought it would be so close to his lips.