pirate king (pirate!au) ➵ ateez ✔️

far from home

It's quiet.

You've barely stepped off the gangplank when your attention is caught by a flicker of movement in the corner of your eye. Eyes narrowing, you step forward and see a familiar pair of cutlasses strapped to his hip as he slips down the street like a wraith in the night. There's no real need for him to be this subtle, the docks are mostly vacant at this time, the crews either asleep or knocking back drinks at the taverns. But still, you do wonder; what is he doing?

You try to remain as silent as possible as you move behind him, matching the tempo of his footsteps; left, right, left. He doesn't look back, eyes fixed intently on one of the ships at the harbor, white gleaming cold even in the faint light of the half moon.

When you glance back at your quarry, all you see is a swish of dark fabric as he disappears into a nook between two squat shophouses, vanishing from sight. Frowning, you steal quietly after him, making sure not to make a noise, but the second you round the corner of the first shophouse, a hand latches around your wrist and drags you inside.

"Ah-mhnpf!" Your cry of surprise is muffled in a coarse sleeve, the fingers around your arm digging in painfully firm. A single green eye meets yours, poisonous with ruthless intent at first, before he blinks and it fills to the brim with shock. "Chin Hae?"

You want to affirm that, but realise his forearm is still pressing against your mouth. When you wave at it indignantly with your prosthetic, he draws it away slowly, as if still in shock that you're actually here. Then his brows knit, his mouth opens and you wince, you're really in for it.

"What are you doing creeping around out here in the middle of the night?" He hisses sharply, voice hushed and urgent. You blink owlishly for about five whole seconds before your mouth presses into a flat line of annoyance.

"Following you, what are you doing creeping around out here in the middle of the night?" You retort and Hongjoong actually flinches a little. Out of the corner of your eye you catch a glimpse of the white ship, and when you look back at your captain realisation seems to dawn on him.

"You wanted to get Wooyoung's key back from that bastard too?" He asks, so incredulously you're almost offended. He takes one step closer and you gulp, his body almost pinning you against the grimy stone wall behind you. "All on your own? Without anyone else? Are you crazy?"

You suck in a breath, meet his piercing gaze firmly. "I'm not alone. I have you, don't I, captain?"

Flustered, Hongjoong takes a couple of steps back, before he lets out a sigh - and luckily for you, a small, self deprecating smile forms at the corner of his mouth. "I'm being rather hypocritical about this whole affair, aren't I?"

You try to wear a serious expression as you nod. "Extremely so, captain."

"I said, call me Hongjoong." He leans back against the wall and you realise he's not wearing his usual red jacket. He runs a hand through his hair, gazes at the white ship for a second. "If you're going to go get Wooyoung's key, you need to know that it's dangerous."

"I hope you have a completely fail safe game plan then, captain." You say with as much cheer as you can muster. Hongjoong lets out a soft chuckle.

"Well, one of our men at the taverns today reported back to me that he heard the crew of the Phantom discussing how the Phantom is only staying one night at Tortuga." You frown.

"That means we only have one shot at this."

Hongjoong nods, a sigh leaving his mouth. "I know it's just a key, and we could break Wooyoung's shackles with the right tools." You glance up at your captain. "I think it's more than that for him. I broke the chains that held him to the ship, but I don't think he's really moved on. As he said, all he's done is run, instead of confronting his fears, that's why he refused to let me break them. Getting the key won't help either, but..."