pirate king (pirate!au) ➵ ateez ✔️

old friend

You and Jongho move along the marketplace, scouring the stalls all around you. In your hand is a list of herbs San has asked you to buy for him while he searches the forests nearby for plants that your master needs fresh. Wooyoung had gone with him.

At the thought, you sigh. It has been weighing on your mind the whole time, what happened to Wooyoung. What exactly had changed up there in the mast between the two of you? You hadn't said anything to anger him in the slightest, or anything related to his past, so why?

"Chin Hae? Chin Hae, are you alright?" Jongho tugs at your sleeve and you're jerked out of your thoughts, staring at the younger battlemaster with wide eyes for a second. Then you register his words and sigh, shoulders slumping forward as all the energy in you seems to leave your body at once.

You really didn't intend on telling anyone anything, trying to convince yourself that this problem would all blow over in due time, but the words just spill out of you before you can stop them.

"Wooyoung... he's started acting weird around me." You confess, chewing on your lower lip nervously as your eyes flit across the bunches of herbs hanging from a stall roof. Jongho doesn't say anything, instead gesturing for you to continue. "He was going to tell me something just now but he just... he just stopped and suddenly he's ignoring me, I wish I knew what happened and honestly I don't know what I did wrong, Jongho-oppa, and-"

Suddenly, Jongho whirls around and grabs you by the shoulders, forcing you to jerk to a stop against his firm hold. "Hey, Chin Hae, breathe." He says slowly, thumbs rubbing soothing circles into your shoulders and it's only then that you realise that your breath is coming out is short, fast pants, your words tripping over themselves in their attempt to tumble from your mouth. You snap your mouth shut, gritting your teeth, but you're worried, worried about so many things all at once that it seems to be a constant weight on your mind.

You're worried about whether Yunho will survive.

You're afraid what Wooyoung's strange behaviour could mean.

You're terrified... about just how much time you have left.

You may be a positive person, but you're not that big of a fool to delude yourself into thinking that your constant nosebleeds and coughing are small issues that can just be swept under the rug and brushed aside. This is a sign of something unseen happening inside you, something that you can't simply ignore.

If your master knew you were hiding something like this from him, he'd kill you.

Then an uncontrollable, little giggle forces its way out of your throat, terror swirling deep within your body like a whirlwind. You might not even be alive by then.

"Hey." Jongho's hand comes up to your face and slaps your cheek, not hard enough for it to sting but with enough force for you to actually feel it. The usually silent maknae looks worried, his dark eyes glancing across your face silently before he squeezes your shoulders tight. It's not the hugs that you're used to from San and Wooyoung, not the gentle pats that Seonghwa gives you, but it's every bit as comforting and for a moment, you let your head hang, all your fears and thoughts running through your mind as you stare at the dusty ground beneath your feet.

Dirt. What you had come from. What you would eventually return to.

"I don't know what is going on with you, but don't let it eat away at you, alright?" Jongho claps you firmly on the shoulder, his gaze searching yours. You don't know whether you want to sob, scream or cry, perhaps do all at once, but you know that you need to keep your head on.

You have to save Yunho before you start worrying about yourself. It's like Captain said earlier. The Treasure can't afford to lose a healer now, especially not when Yunho might be dying from poison.