pirate king (pirate!au) ➵ ateez ✔️

awkward

"Can I please touch it?" You breathe, staring at it in awe.

"No."

"Pleaseeeee~" You whine, and Hongjoong stares at you with some sort of frightened expression, before clutching it closer to his chest.

"No!"

You clasp your hands together and puff out your cheeks in a pout, almost begging your captain. "Please...?"

Your captain falters at the look on your face, hesitating for a moment. Then he comes back to his senses and shakes his head frantically, trying to assume a stern expression.

"I don't trust anyone with the name Choi to steer this ship, the last time San took the wheel he ran us aground on a beach and Jongho broke the wheel into three pieces. You are not touching the wheel and that is final."

"But Hongjoong-hyung..." You pout and Hongjoong sputters at the use of his real name, before he forces himself to look away with a scowl.

"I know what you're playing at, Chin Hae! All of you only call me by name when you want something from me! I'm not falling for it!"

Then he whips around to glare at the man perched cheerfully on the railing of the forecastle deck, who is grinning at you proudly. "Wooyoung, I swear, you better stop teaching Chin Hae your persuasive techniques before I shoot you myself!

"Nope~" Wooyoung hums in a sing song voice as he basks in the sun's rays like a large cat, chuckling at the sour expression on his captain's face before he flashes two thumbs ups at you. "I know you can do it, Chin Hae!"

You nod eagerly, determined to work away at your captain until he caves in to your request, but then a voice from the stairs interrupt you.

"Wooyoung-ah, why have you been stealing my apprentice from me?"

You whirl around in surprise to see your master climbing the stairs with his arms crossed, shaking his head in mock disappointment. A smile pulls at your lips as he wraps his arms around you from behind and settles his chin on your shoulder, cocking his head while taking in Wooyoung and Hongjoong eyeing each other.

Hongjoong is glaring quite frantically, but Wooyoung merely laughs that high pitched dolphin squeal in response, body shaking with amusement. Your captain snorts in disgust and throws his hands up into the air.

"Does no one on this ship respect me?"

The reply is immediate.

"Yes, captain." You, San and Wooyoung answer simultaneously and then the three of you are exchanging a long and complicated handshake between you. It originally belonged to just San and Wooyoung, but after awhile of teasing Hongjoong together, you've learnt their secrets and you can now declare you are part of the inner fold of the crew.

Your captain just smacks his face into the wheel and groans.

It's been a month since you've left the sea witch behind you. In that time, you've grown so much closer to the crew already, truly integrating yourself into the crew. You've seen raids, actual battles on other ships, especially British East India trading ships that Hongjoong targets for the supplies and gold that they carry.

To your surprise, piracy is actually something rather peaceful, for you at least. Trading ships don't carry cannons, and usually the sight of the Treasure's orange and black flag is enough to scare the victim into submission. You haven't seen a battle in the whole time since you've left the sea witch, although Yunho and Jongho insists on keeping your fighting skills up in case anything happens.

You're a little surprised at first when Hongjoong doesn't insist on raiding the ship bone bare, instead preferring to leave enough for the ship to survive. A far cry, Mingi had told you, from what Hongjoong used to do. You know that your captain had been a dangerous man a long time before, but you had never expected such a change of heart in him.