pirate king (pirate!au) ➵ ateez ✔️

treasure (wooyoung)

 There's a girl.

She stands in the surf, the waves lapping over bare feet, strands of her hair flying with the sea breeze. Softened by the light of the sun just as it peeks over the horizon, burning orange sets the silhouette of her aflame, it's as if she's the sun herself, bringing with her warmth that seeps into cold fingers, gentle light that slowly fills his entire night even before he notices.

There's a girl, and she's out of reach.

He tries to take a step forward, to call her name, one hand reaching out to tuck her hair behind her ear. His lips move and nothing passes his ears, drowned out by the sea wind. But she hears and begins to turn around, and he just wants to see that radiant smile on her face one more time-

There's a girl, and it's a dream.

He wakes up.

Wooyoung's disoriented for a moment, the sea fading away in his eyes to be replaced by the ceiling of the room. The sounds of Yunho's noisy snores in the bed opposite him bring him back to reality, slowly but surely, and he sits up, one hand rubbing at his eyes while the other drags through his hair in an attempt to tame his messy bedhead.

Light and chain free.

Letting out a yawn, he turns his head to glance at bed next to his and finds it empty, the sheets already neatly folded and pillow fluffed. It's barely the crack of dawn.

He shifts to the side of his bed and looks out of the window, the familiar smell of sea salt on the air and soft amber light striking the blue aquamarine gem on his bedside table, throwing soft blue and orange flecks of light everywhere in the room.

He watches the sun rise until it lifts away from the sea into the sky, before he gets to his feet and changes into a simple shirt and trousers, slipping the silver hairpin into his belt.

It's a new day today.

"Oh, you're finally awake." Yeosang greets him as Wooyoung slips down into the living area of the house. Wooyoung cocks an eyebrow at him. "You're up early."

"I had some strange dreams and couldn't fall back asleep, so I came down here to read for a bit." Yeosang points at the book sitting in front of him on their dining table, a cup of coffee beside him. "Jongho got us breakfast from Seonghwa's before he went fishing this morning."

The fragrance of Seonghwa's beef stew fills his nose and he sniffs appreciatively, glancing around Yeosang to see the pot hanging over their hearth fire. "It looks good."

"Hurry, eat and wake Yunho up so we can go. We have a lot of things to prepare today."

"Isn't your turn to wake Yunho today?" Wooyoung reaches for a bowl and ladles some beef stew into it, perching himself on the table and legs dangling over the side. Even after leaving the ocean for three years, he still can't get used to the feeling of sitting down on a chair. "And Jongho's out early. What for?"

"He says there's been strange sightings of a giant squid monster further out and wants to check it out for himself, the brave soul." Yeosang chuckles as he flips a page, and Wooyoung catches sight of an ink drawing of a tentacles monster on the paper. "And as for Yunho, you offered to wake him up this morning yesterday in exchange for me doing the dinner dishes."

The memory is hazy at best, but Wooyoung remembers stumbling into the house late at night, completely exhausted and on the brink of falling asleep on the doorstep if it hadn't been for Jongho dragging him into his bed by the scruff of his neck. "Ah, shit. You sholdn't let me make regretable decisions when I'm clearly not in the right state of mind."