pirate king (pirate!au) ➵ ateez ✔️

black crow

It's a fine day once more.

The morning sun shines down upon the Treasure, its golden rays touching your cheeks as you glance up at the sky. It's been peaceful the last few days, and you've heard from Yeosang that your captain has begun considering sailing back to Nassau so that Seonghwa can visit his childhood friends Seohyun and Soobin.

The cook's been in a much more cheerful mood for the last few days after hearing those words, excited about seeing how their baby is coming along. He can't stop gushing to you in the kitchen about how cute he thinks the baby is going to be, worrying endlessly whether they're going to be alright, to the point that you've resorted to stuffing bread rolls in his mouth to keep him quiet so that he can focus on his cooking.

You don't him to end up with two less fingers like Soobin.

After preparing breakfast with Seonghwa, you're now seated in the rigging swaying back on forth with the wind, letting the sun warm your face as you prepare for another day ahead.

"I can't wait to get back onto dry land." Yunho comments with a groan from above you on the main mast, hanging upside down from the ropes. You glance up at him with a smile, shielding your eyes against the sun.

"I'm sure Jongho could always throw you overboard if you're sick of being on the ship."

High pitched laughter comes from beside you and you turn to see Wooyoung swinging over from the mizzen mast, grinning as he steps over to you, expertly keeping his balance on the yardarm. He's surprisingly steady on his feet, considering the last time you'd seen him yesterday, he was screaming drunken insults about Yunho's apparent pea sized brain for not understanding how the mizzen mast was the better of the two. He bows mockingly, gesturing to the sparkling ocean far below you.

"Maybe you'd like to go for a swim, your majesty?" Wooyoung jibes, barely able to keep the snicker out of his voice. The lookout tosses his shoe at his friend and Wooyoung ducks easily, catching it in his hand.

"Be silent, you knave." Yunho grumbles, now missing a shoe. Reclining against the ropes, he gazes at the horizon with a steady eye, body bobbing up and down with the pitch and roll of the ship. "I still haven't forgotten the last time you pushed me off the yardarm to save your own ass and I fell into the sea because of you."

You raise your eyebrows as you glance at a shamelessly grinning Wooyoung, who is neither denying nor confirming it. Knowing the head gunner, however, it's probably... no, definitely true. "How did that happen?"

Wooyoung opens his mouth to answer, but before the silver tongued charmer can say another word, Yunho cuts in, obviously knowing full well Wooyoung is going to twist the story upside down to his own advantage.

"We were on the main mast, arguing about how the main mast is obviously the better mast," Yunho begins with a haughty tone, ignoring Wooyoung's cry of indignation. "When San was at the wheel he stupidly beached the Treasure on the shore and the whole ship jerked. I, being the better rigging monkey, caught my balance, but Wooyoung-"

You unconsciously grip the ropes beneath you a little tighter, suddenly wary of falling off the mast yourself. Ahh. So that's why no one on the ship trusts San with the wheel. You sometimes wonder how they even trusted him with their injuries in the first place.

"I'm a better rigging monkey than you!" Wooyoung splutters in outrage, but Yunho flat out pays no attention to him, continuing with his tale. "As I was saying, I caught my balance but Wooyoung fell. I was reaching down to save him, but then he grabbed my arm-"

"I didn't need any saving-"

"And I fell off instead! It's twice as bad because he stayed on the mast and I didn't!"