pirate king (pirate!au) ➵ ateez ✔️

trap

The night is utterly quiet.

It's silent, almost eerily so. You're seated on the rigging of the mizzenmast (Wooyoung's favoured one, you remember glumly), rocking back and forth gloomily with your feet dangling in empty air, lost in your thoughts. Far beneath you, the glow of a few lanterns ripple faintly across the surface of the sea, moonlight fading in and out behind the clouds like a phantom in the night.

You follow the trail that the moonbeams leave behind, eyes glancing up towards the sky. It's dark out, the faintest sliver of white peeking out behind dark, roiling clouds – storm clouds. It's as if they're heralding the coming of something ominous, something grim... you're not quite sure if you should feel worried.

Something tugs at the edge of your consciousness.

You frown, eyes casually scanning the decks beneath you but your breath remains locked in the cavity of your lungs, your fingers absentmindedly edging towards the blade at your hip. It's no surprise that you're tentative, on the edge, almost, with how vulnerable the Treasure is and the natural wariness that comes with the night, but before your gaze can wander too far from the ship something near the forecastle deck catches your eye.

It's Yunho.

He's leaning against the railings of the forecastle deck, looking wistfully at the dark outline of the island before him, a solitary figure in the lonely night. You wish you could go to him, comfort him in some way, tell him it's going to be alright, but he's stinging with raw hurt and betrayal right now. It might not be the best time.

After all, you were the one who had knocked him out with a wooden mug.

You can see the weary sag of his shoulders, the way his fingers are clenching and unclenching around the railings of the gunwales. If you were closer, you'd swear that his knuckles have turned stark white, bloodless, but it's too high up atop the mizzenmast and it's nearly dark out.

You're filled with worry for Yunho. The older of the two battlemasters is still suffering from the effects of the poison, rendered helpless as he watches the crew literally go on their way to kill the brother he loves so much. Gunho might have betrayed him, but you know Yunho. Not very well, but enough, at least.

He's too kind for his own good.

Sighing, you grip the handle of your cutlass tightly, tracing the well worn leather grip with a finger. In this case, you have to be selfish, you think. You pray that they find the antidote, and if necessary, that they'll be able to kill Gunho or Captain Kang to get it. As much as you'd hate to see Yunho suffer from the second loss of his younger brother, Yunho's life is more important to you.

"Chin Hae!"

Nearly startling in shock, you glance around wildly for the source of the voice, frissons of panic running through you. To your relief, it's only your captain, standing on the deck and waving up at you, seeming to be a tiny ant to you from above. "Can I come up?"

You frown a little in concern, remembering how awful you were at scaling the mast for the first time even with Yunho beneath you, waiting for you in case you fell. You've never seen your captain climb the rigging before, so you lean over and peer down at him worriedly. "Yeah, but do you need some he-"

Your words trail off into nothingness as you watch your captain leap to the ropes, scaling the rigging gracefully like it's been his natural habitat all along and you fight the urge to smack yourself across the face. Of course your captain is capable of climbing the mast by himself, in addition to double wielding cutlasses in a battle, captaining a crew, and steering a ship. Why did you ever think there was something your captain couldn't do?