Ashore (3/5)
pairing: chanbaek
rating: pg-13
summary: Chanyeol is saved by a man from the sea.
warnings: romance, fluff, slight!angst, siren!au, pirate!au
Over the past week, Chanyeol has been looting and destroying as many ships as he can in his path, both pirate and government. He ends up capturing himself a good boatswain from the government to replace Yifan, though Minho seems a bit hesitant to comply. A few threats, and he has become a great addition to the crew and a betrayal to the country like the rest of them.
But now they need more men to work around the ship and fight in general. They capture several great men from Captain Zhang Yixing’s ship, but Chanyeol wants to be prepared for another run in with the sirens. He also needs to get someone from the North who knows more about the sirens than they do. There has to be some sort of weakness they have that other ships use to ward them off. Chanyeol can’t keep losing his men to the sea and its damned creatures.
They dock in a seaside town known to be dominated by pirate and generally ill-mannered, sea-bearing folk. The government hardly visits or resides, so he knows he can easily get many men. Maybe he can find some secrets from the locals about going against the sirens.
Chanyeol entrusts Junmyeon, the new quartermaster chosen by the crew, to find some good men as he resides in his quarters with Minseok, discussing navigation plans for the following month. He finds it interesting to watch Minseok’s quill glide over the paper as he maps routes for the ship to take on his latest map. He was also originally working for the government before Chanyeol captured him too, but they’re like family now as it’s been a few years since then. Minseok’s become accustomed to the buccaneer life quite well.
“I think we should stop here sometime soon,” the sailing master looks up over his glasses and points to a marked spot on the map. Leaning over the desk, Chanyeol stares at the location that he’s gesturing to and discovers it’s another port village with a well-developed market that they visit sometimes.
“For supplies?” he replies, sitting back in his chair. “I think that’s a good idea.”
“Well, not just for that,” Minseok clarifies, continuing his work. “I have a friend that lives there, and he sent me a letter asking for travel assistance. But he’s well-versed in witchcraft and the likes. He knows many things about creatures like sirens. He can help us if we can’t find anyone here.”
“Can he? I suppose that’s alright then,” Chanyeol shrugs. “Is he known in the village for such things?”
“Yes, his brother makes medicines while he performs healing spells and creates many spells to ward off evil from the village. His village adores him so.”
“Good, then I look forward to meeting him,” he offers a smile to Minseok, who returns it. Chanyeol trusts Minseok’s word, since the navigator is very intelligent, so he has no worries about trusting his friend and allowing him to stay onboard for a week or two until they reach whatever destination he’s heading towards.
A knock at the door has both men turning and looking up. Raising his brows as he wasn’t expecting any disruptions, Chanyeol speaks up, “Come in.”
It’s Junmyeon who appears in the doorway, along with someone else who stands behind him but is hidden. He smiles apologetically. “Sorry, Captain, but this, um, man claims he knows a lot about the sirens and can help us.” There’s a tinge of blush in the quartermaster’s cheeks that leaves Chanyeol confused but nonetheless intrigued. He wasn’t expecting to find an expert so soon. Junmyeon has only been searching for men for a day or so.
Sitting up and straightening his posture, he motions Junmyeon forward. “Bring him in.”
Chanyeol expects an older man with obvious wisdom in his years, or maybe a woman clouded in black and murmurs words of voodoo or ancient legends, even though he specified it was a man. He certainly doesn’t anticipate for his breath to be taken away by a stunningly beautiful young man with eyes and hair as black as the ink lying on his desk. His skin is pale and fair, unlike the tanned skin of all the seamen. Yet, the most surprising thing about him is how his clothes are dripping and his hair is damp, and he smells strongly of saltwater, like he just took a swim in the sea before boarding their ship.
Those dark eyes lock with Chanyeol’s, and the stranger smiles brightly with milky white teeth, eyes thinning. “It’s nice to meet you, Captain. My name is Baekhyun, and I think I can be perfect help for you and your crew against the sirens,” he speaks with a lovely voice akin to ringing bells. Something about it is so enchanting that it takes Chanyeol a moment to reply.
Clearing his throat, Chanyeol folds his arms across the desk and puts on a serious expression. “How can you be of service to my ship? How do you know about the sirens?”
Baekhyun pieces together a smooth, confident answer. “My home far away knows many things about the sirens, and they have known for centuries. I know all of their weaknesses, and I know which spots of the sea are the most concentrated with them.” It’s not exactly a lie. “I can teach you all of these things if you let me come aboard and sail with you, Captain.” Something like a prideful smirk appears on his lips, and Chanyeol would be lying if he said it didn't reel him in immediately.
As if to challenge him, he raises a brow. “We set sail in two days. Can you fight and pull your own weight?”
“I assure you, Captain,” Baekhyun walks past Junmyeon and places his wet hands on the desk, hair dripping onto the wood and a droplet staining the corner of Minseok’s map. He smiles haughtily, and Chanyeol notices a hint of shadows along his eyelids as if he were wearing makeup, and his eyes aren't black like Chanyeol suspected, but a dark metallic silver. The young captain’s breath is caught in his throat as Baekhyun utters his next words.
“I've slain more men than you can imagine.”
The strange man named Baekhyun becomes a regular part of the crew in just the one month they have been out at sea. Chanyeol always finds himself being surprised at certain things he does and how he manages to make the entire crew become enchanted by him so quickly. He’s become quite the mood-maker on the ship and is always leading the crew into a song, though he never sings himself and claims he has a terrible voice. Baekhyun is smiley and talkative, and he’s eager to help anytime he can, especially asking Chanyeol if he needs help with this and that.
Chanyeol has to admit that he has him entranced as well, ever since he introduced himself. He was a bit concerned about the oddity of Baekhyun at first, considering his appearance. Junmyeon even pulled him aside once they started sailing and explained how he found Baekhyun running from a man who was screaming, “Thief! He stole my clothes!” The young man recognized Junmyeon somehow and asked him for help, and once they were away from his pursuer, Baekhyun further explained that he came to help out The Phoenix with its siren situation. Junmyeon still thinks there’s something off about their new recruit, and Chanyeol agrees, but Baekhyun’s become such a bright member of the crew.
One night, they’d been randomly fired at and attacked by the Jung sisters’ ship, Sea Vixen, and Chanyeol had been caught so off-guard that he wasn’t at his best wits. Jessica was a well-trained swordswoman, and she easily knocked his sword out of his hand, holding her sharp blade to his neck within moments.
“Give us all your loot, and I won’t slit your throat, Park,” she says angelically, though her gaze is anything but. He’s completely out of options, but he’d rather die than give up his fortunes, as greedy as it sounds. He’s a pirate; what can he say?
“Fuck you,” Chanyeol grins, noticing a figure approaching out of the brawl of men behind them.
But before Jessica can swing her blade, she senses the stranger and spins around, clanging swords with Baekhyun, who smiles at her. He’s in no way good at handling a sword, as Chanyeol’s found out after their first encounter with a government ship, but he can do as much as fend himself off long enough for Chanyeol to grab his own weapon and spear it through the woman’s chest. It’s a dirty move, he knows, but fighting is never fair on their ships.
“I don’t need saving,” Chanyeol grumbles later once Krystal has retreated with a dead sister and a broken heart.
“You’re funny,” Baekhyun smiles brightly at him as he mops the deck along with the other men in the dead of night, cleaning up the blood and dirt from the battle.
“How’s that?” Chanyeol furrows his brows, looking angry.
“Your mouth is saying harsh words, but your eyes are saying thank you,” the shorter man chuckles, poking a finger into the captain’s chest. He then sighs, still smiling at Chanyeol’s dumbfounded expression, and supports himself on his mop. “Such wide eyes can tell such long stories, you know?”
Chanyeol declares then that Baekhyun truly is strange. And yet, his strangeness helps them. Once Baekhyun starts to go over methods of keeping the sirens at bay, some of his claims are so odd that hardly any of the crew believes he’s being honest.
“Sirens hate it when their song is interrupted,” Baekhyun explains one afternoon as he stands before most of the crew that work on deck. “So, other than plugging your ears with wax, you can sing to drown them out!” He smiles excitedly and expects the same reaction, but instead the rest of the crew, along with Chanyeol, stare dumbly back at him.
“You want us to all sing together?” Minho asks from the back of the group with an unbelieving look.
“Yes,” Baekhyun blinks, wondering why they all look confused. “The sirens won't be able to get to you if you drown them out with your own voice. And their songs are their pride - shut them out, and they'll leave.”
“Where did you get this guy from, Chanyeol?” Jongdae, the cook who wanted to see what the fun was about, asks.
Looking around, the young captain sees all of his crew staring at him for some sort of validation, even Junmyeon is giving him a look. He presses his lips together and turns back to face Baekhyun from the front of the group. “It seems reliable to me,” he shrugs, Fei squawking and flapping her wings from the movement. “I haven't seen any of you singing when the sirens have visited.”
“You've only been around the sirens once,” Junmyeon mutters, earning a glare from his captain.
“Just trust him. He sounds like he knows what he's talking about,” Chanyeol reassures, earning a bright and joyful smile from Baekhyun.
“Yes! All of you love to sing! As long as we sing together, the sirens will cower,” Baekhyun encourages, pumping a fist in the air, and the men all hum in final, reluctant agreement.
But it saves their asses as just one day later, they sail straight into siren territory early in the morning, when the fog is coating the ship in a thick mist. Chanyeol is asleep when suddenly he is jolted awake by Junmyeon grabbing him by his sleep shirt and hauling him up to the deck of the ship.
“Sing, Captain, help us sing!” he urges, and the young captain finds himself hurriedly singing a song with the rest of his crew as they do their work.
Baekhyun appears, but he isn't singing and hurriedly runs over to Chanyeol like he's afraid. The taller male is drowsy and confused as Baekhyun hides behind him, and he isn't singing. Chanyeol turns to scold him for not participating in his own idea but then hands are clinging to his shoulders, and he hears the softest, melodic voice singing along in his ear. Time seems to stop, and Chanyeol can't see how Baekhyun could ever claim that he cannot sing. He finds himself not singing and listening closely to Baekhyun instead.
After their third song, all goes quiet and no other voices are heard. Junmyeon does the brave act of hanging over the edge to stare in the water before proudly proclaiming, “They're gone!”
Baekhyun slides out from behind Chanyeol and does a dramatic bow. The men cheer and laugh in the early morning at his humorous display and admirable wits, and Chanyeol lets a bright smile overtake his features too.
That night Jongdae and the other cooks prepare a grand feast in celebration for their first victory against the sirens that have terrorized them. The men break out the beer and rum in cheer, and the evening is full of smiles, drunken songs, and messy eating. Baekhyun admits to himself that it's more fun than he's ever had in his entire existence. But he gets a bit claustrophobic being in a confined space with cheery, drunk, and loud men, and he escapes out to the deck for fresh air.
Staring out at the moonlit sea, he muses over his decisions. He knows he's in way over his head, and there's a great possibility that one of the sirens could have sensed him on the ship, but he's never been so happy in his boring life. Being around humans is exhausting but exhilarating, and sailing out on a pirate ship makes every day different than the last. And Chanyeol, the young captain, is much more enchanting up close and awake. He's everything Baekhyun could have imagined and more. That smile he saw in the morning - he wishes he could see it every day for the rest of his life.
“Escaping the crowd?” a sudden voice nearly startles him and causes Baekhyun to spill some of the rum from his cup into the salty water below. He turns to see Chanyeol standing there with a smile toying with the corners of his lips.
“I'm not much of a drinker,” Baekhyun admits with a shy grin. “What about you?”
“High tolerance,” Chanyeol shrugs with pride, moving to stand beside the shorter man and gaze at the water. “Been drinking heavily since I was old enough to hold a bottle, you could say.”
“...How long ago was that?” Baekhyun turns to him with a smug look.
“You little-! You have no room to speak, short stuff,” Chanyeol snorts at Baekhyun's smirk. “How old are you again? Twelve?”
“Nice try,” he rolls his eyes. If only Chanyeol knew he was three times his mother’s age.
Their conversation settles there for a moment, and both men look up at the bright moon, only a crescent, but a beautiful moon nonetheless. Secretly glancing at one another, Baekhyun finds that Chanyeol’s russet hair looks black in this light, and Chanyeol thinks that Baekhyun looks particularly glowing at this time of night. They both open their mouths to say something at the same time and then blush, quickly looking away in quiet embarrassment.
“Um,” the siren tries first, “I wanted to thank you for backing me up there. I wasn't sure anyone would've believed me if it weren't for your encouragement.”
“I doubt it,” Chanyeol replies bluntly with a joking smile, “but you're welcome. I should really, uh, thank you for helping us.” His cheeks turn red, and he averts his eyes. Baekhyun figures with a sly smile that it's the first time the captain has ever really thanked any member of his crew.
“How do you know so much about them anyways?” Chanyeol knows he's asked this before when they met, but he just wants to change the subject and hopes Baekhyun will tell him more about his mysterious and odd self.
“I just grew up knowing because of my home.” It's not exactly a lie - just a stretch of the truth. Desperate to get the spotlight off of himself, Baekhyun takes a sip from his cup before asking a question for Chanyeol. “How long have you been a captain, Captain?”
“You can call me Chanyeol, you know. Most people only call me Captain when we're in battle.” That’s not completely true either, but Chanyeol wants to hear Baekhyun say his name.
“Okay, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun snorts, “when did you become a captain?”
A spark travels down Chanyeol’s spine and his chest warms from the sound of his own name from those lips - or maybe it was the alcohol.
“Well, my mother was a captain, but she had me, so she took all of her riches, sold her ship, and she raised me by the sea. She never wanted me to be a pirate though,” Chanyeol laughs a bit at that, recalling some long ago memories. “I think it was built in me though - the sea, I mean. I think she knew it was inevitable that I’d follow in her footsteps. When I was eighteen, I joined this ship, originally run by Captain Kim Jaejoong. He died by my hand and the crew. I took over at twenty. And now I’m twenty-six with a full crew and a ship to boast about.”
“That long? How come I’ve never seen - I mean,” Baekhyun shakes his head. “How come you haven’t been around the sirens? This entire part of the sea is their realm.” He almost blew his cover, and his heart thumps irregularly at the tiny panicking moment.
“We’re from the South. We’ve just recently been sailing up north, and that’s when we ran into the sirens. The attacks have mainly been at night, so it’s my men that have been the witnesses. But the last time before today, I saw them for the first time, and I nearly lost my life, but…” Chanyeol furrows his brows, remembering something and then digging into an inner pocket of his coat.
“But?” Baekhyun smiles inwardly, awaiting his next words eagerly.
“I was saved, but there was no one there when I came to,” he continues, producing the very sand dollar that Baekhyun left with him that day on the beach. “I found this in my pocket, but it could just be a coincidence. Do you know?” His chocolate brown eyes look to Baekhyun’s for answers.
“Hmm?” the siren pretends to muse and ponder as if he really is some siren expert and not the actual being itself. With a smile, his dark eyes glint in amusement. “Perhaps you really were saved by a siren, Chanyeol.”
Part 4
rating: pg-13
summary: Chanyeol is saved by a man from the sea.
warnings: romance, fluff, slight!angst, siren!au, pirate!au
Over the past week, Chanyeol has been looting and destroying as many ships as he can in his path, both pirate and government. He ends up capturing himself a good boatswain from the government to replace Yifan, though Minho seems a bit hesitant to comply. A few threats, and he has become a great addition to the crew and a betrayal to the country like the rest of them.
But now they need more men to work around the ship and fight in general. They capture several great men from Captain Zhang Yixing’s ship, but Chanyeol wants to be prepared for another run in with the sirens. He also needs to get someone from the North who knows more about the sirens than they do. There has to be some sort of weakness they have that other ships use to ward them off. Chanyeol can’t keep losing his men to the sea and its damned creatures.
They dock in a seaside town known to be dominated by pirate and generally ill-mannered, sea-bearing folk. The government hardly visits or resides, so he knows he can easily get many men. Maybe he can find some secrets from the locals about going against the sirens.
Chanyeol entrusts Junmyeon, the new quartermaster chosen by the crew, to find some good men as he resides in his quarters with Minseok, discussing navigation plans for the following month. He finds it interesting to watch Minseok’s quill glide over the paper as he maps routes for the ship to take on his latest map. He was also originally working for the government before Chanyeol captured him too, but they’re like family now as it’s been a few years since then. Minseok’s become accustomed to the buccaneer life quite well.
“I think we should stop here sometime soon,” the sailing master looks up over his glasses and points to a marked spot on the map. Leaning over the desk, Chanyeol stares at the location that he’s gesturing to and discovers it’s another port village with a well-developed market that they visit sometimes.
“For supplies?” he replies, sitting back in his chair. “I think that’s a good idea.”
“Well, not just for that,” Minseok clarifies, continuing his work. “I have a friend that lives there, and he sent me a letter asking for travel assistance. But he’s well-versed in witchcraft and the likes. He knows many things about creatures like sirens. He can help us if we can’t find anyone here.”
“Can he? I suppose that’s alright then,” Chanyeol shrugs. “Is he known in the village for such things?”
“Yes, his brother makes medicines while he performs healing spells and creates many spells to ward off evil from the village. His village adores him so.”
“Good, then I look forward to meeting him,” he offers a smile to Minseok, who returns it. Chanyeol trusts Minseok’s word, since the navigator is very intelligent, so he has no worries about trusting his friend and allowing him to stay onboard for a week or two until they reach whatever destination he’s heading towards.
A knock at the door has both men turning and looking up. Raising his brows as he wasn’t expecting any disruptions, Chanyeol speaks up, “Come in.”
It’s Junmyeon who appears in the doorway, along with someone else who stands behind him but is hidden. He smiles apologetically. “Sorry, Captain, but this, um, man claims he knows a lot about the sirens and can help us.” There’s a tinge of blush in the quartermaster’s cheeks that leaves Chanyeol confused but nonetheless intrigued. He wasn’t expecting to find an expert so soon. Junmyeon has only been searching for men for a day or so.
Sitting up and straightening his posture, he motions Junmyeon forward. “Bring him in.”
Chanyeol expects an older man with obvious wisdom in his years, or maybe a woman clouded in black and murmurs words of voodoo or ancient legends, even though he specified it was a man. He certainly doesn’t anticipate for his breath to be taken away by a stunningly beautiful young man with eyes and hair as black as the ink lying on his desk. His skin is pale and fair, unlike the tanned skin of all the seamen. Yet, the most surprising thing about him is how his clothes are dripping and his hair is damp, and he smells strongly of saltwater, like he just took a swim in the sea before boarding their ship.
Those dark eyes lock with Chanyeol’s, and the stranger smiles brightly with milky white teeth, eyes thinning. “It’s nice to meet you, Captain. My name is Baekhyun, and I think I can be perfect help for you and your crew against the sirens,” he speaks with a lovely voice akin to ringing bells. Something about it is so enchanting that it takes Chanyeol a moment to reply.
Clearing his throat, Chanyeol folds his arms across the desk and puts on a serious expression. “How can you be of service to my ship? How do you know about the sirens?”
Baekhyun pieces together a smooth, confident answer. “My home far away knows many things about the sirens, and they have known for centuries. I know all of their weaknesses, and I know which spots of the sea are the most concentrated with them.” It’s not exactly a lie. “I can teach you all of these things if you let me come aboard and sail with you, Captain.” Something like a prideful smirk appears on his lips, and Chanyeol would be lying if he said it didn't reel him in immediately.
As if to challenge him, he raises a brow. “We set sail in two days. Can you fight and pull your own weight?”
“I assure you, Captain,” Baekhyun walks past Junmyeon and places his wet hands on the desk, hair dripping onto the wood and a droplet staining the corner of Minseok’s map. He smiles haughtily, and Chanyeol notices a hint of shadows along his eyelids as if he were wearing makeup, and his eyes aren't black like Chanyeol suspected, but a dark metallic silver. The young captain’s breath is caught in his throat as Baekhyun utters his next words.
“I've slain more men than you can imagine.”
The strange man named Baekhyun becomes a regular part of the crew in just the one month they have been out at sea. Chanyeol always finds himself being surprised at certain things he does and how he manages to make the entire crew become enchanted by him so quickly. He’s become quite the mood-maker on the ship and is always leading the crew into a song, though he never sings himself and claims he has a terrible voice. Baekhyun is smiley and talkative, and he’s eager to help anytime he can, especially asking Chanyeol if he needs help with this and that.
Chanyeol has to admit that he has him entranced as well, ever since he introduced himself. He was a bit concerned about the oddity of Baekhyun at first, considering his appearance. Junmyeon even pulled him aside once they started sailing and explained how he found Baekhyun running from a man who was screaming, “Thief! He stole my clothes!” The young man recognized Junmyeon somehow and asked him for help, and once they were away from his pursuer, Baekhyun further explained that he came to help out The Phoenix with its siren situation. Junmyeon still thinks there’s something off about their new recruit, and Chanyeol agrees, but Baekhyun’s become such a bright member of the crew.
One night, they’d been randomly fired at and attacked by the Jung sisters’ ship, Sea Vixen, and Chanyeol had been caught so off-guard that he wasn’t at his best wits. Jessica was a well-trained swordswoman, and she easily knocked his sword out of his hand, holding her sharp blade to his neck within moments.
“Give us all your loot, and I won’t slit your throat, Park,” she says angelically, though her gaze is anything but. He’s completely out of options, but he’d rather die than give up his fortunes, as greedy as it sounds. He’s a pirate; what can he say?
“Fuck you,” Chanyeol grins, noticing a figure approaching out of the brawl of men behind them.
But before Jessica can swing her blade, she senses the stranger and spins around, clanging swords with Baekhyun, who smiles at her. He’s in no way good at handling a sword, as Chanyeol’s found out after their first encounter with a government ship, but he can do as much as fend himself off long enough for Chanyeol to grab his own weapon and spear it through the woman’s chest. It’s a dirty move, he knows, but fighting is never fair on their ships.
“I don’t need saving,” Chanyeol grumbles later once Krystal has retreated with a dead sister and a broken heart.
“You’re funny,” Baekhyun smiles brightly at him as he mops the deck along with the other men in the dead of night, cleaning up the blood and dirt from the battle.
“How’s that?” Chanyeol furrows his brows, looking angry.
“Your mouth is saying harsh words, but your eyes are saying thank you,” the shorter man chuckles, poking a finger into the captain’s chest. He then sighs, still smiling at Chanyeol’s dumbfounded expression, and supports himself on his mop. “Such wide eyes can tell such long stories, you know?”
Chanyeol declares then that Baekhyun truly is strange. And yet, his strangeness helps them. Once Baekhyun starts to go over methods of keeping the sirens at bay, some of his claims are so odd that hardly any of the crew believes he’s being honest.
“Sirens hate it when their song is interrupted,” Baekhyun explains one afternoon as he stands before most of the crew that work on deck. “So, other than plugging your ears with wax, you can sing to drown them out!” He smiles excitedly and expects the same reaction, but instead the rest of the crew, along with Chanyeol, stare dumbly back at him.
“You want us to all sing together?” Minho asks from the back of the group with an unbelieving look.
“Yes,” Baekhyun blinks, wondering why they all look confused. “The sirens won't be able to get to you if you drown them out with your own voice. And their songs are their pride - shut them out, and they'll leave.”
“Where did you get this guy from, Chanyeol?” Jongdae, the cook who wanted to see what the fun was about, asks.
Looking around, the young captain sees all of his crew staring at him for some sort of validation, even Junmyeon is giving him a look. He presses his lips together and turns back to face Baekhyun from the front of the group. “It seems reliable to me,” he shrugs, Fei squawking and flapping her wings from the movement. “I haven't seen any of you singing when the sirens have visited.”
“You've only been around the sirens once,” Junmyeon mutters, earning a glare from his captain.
“Just trust him. He sounds like he knows what he's talking about,” Chanyeol reassures, earning a bright and joyful smile from Baekhyun.
“Yes! All of you love to sing! As long as we sing together, the sirens will cower,” Baekhyun encourages, pumping a fist in the air, and the men all hum in final, reluctant agreement.
But it saves their asses as just one day later, they sail straight into siren territory early in the morning, when the fog is coating the ship in a thick mist. Chanyeol is asleep when suddenly he is jolted awake by Junmyeon grabbing him by his sleep shirt and hauling him up to the deck of the ship.
“Sing, Captain, help us sing!” he urges, and the young captain finds himself hurriedly singing a song with the rest of his crew as they do their work.
Baekhyun appears, but he isn't singing and hurriedly runs over to Chanyeol like he's afraid. The taller male is drowsy and confused as Baekhyun hides behind him, and he isn't singing. Chanyeol turns to scold him for not participating in his own idea but then hands are clinging to his shoulders, and he hears the softest, melodic voice singing along in his ear. Time seems to stop, and Chanyeol can't see how Baekhyun could ever claim that he cannot sing. He finds himself not singing and listening closely to Baekhyun instead.
After their third song, all goes quiet and no other voices are heard. Junmyeon does the brave act of hanging over the edge to stare in the water before proudly proclaiming, “They're gone!”
Baekhyun slides out from behind Chanyeol and does a dramatic bow. The men cheer and laugh in the early morning at his humorous display and admirable wits, and Chanyeol lets a bright smile overtake his features too.
That night Jongdae and the other cooks prepare a grand feast in celebration for their first victory against the sirens that have terrorized them. The men break out the beer and rum in cheer, and the evening is full of smiles, drunken songs, and messy eating. Baekhyun admits to himself that it's more fun than he's ever had in his entire existence. But he gets a bit claustrophobic being in a confined space with cheery, drunk, and loud men, and he escapes out to the deck for fresh air.
Staring out at the moonlit sea, he muses over his decisions. He knows he's in way over his head, and there's a great possibility that one of the sirens could have sensed him on the ship, but he's never been so happy in his boring life. Being around humans is exhausting but exhilarating, and sailing out on a pirate ship makes every day different than the last. And Chanyeol, the young captain, is much more enchanting up close and awake. He's everything Baekhyun could have imagined and more. That smile he saw in the morning - he wishes he could see it every day for the rest of his life.
“Escaping the crowd?” a sudden voice nearly startles him and causes Baekhyun to spill some of the rum from his cup into the salty water below. He turns to see Chanyeol standing there with a smile toying with the corners of his lips.
“I'm not much of a drinker,” Baekhyun admits with a shy grin. “What about you?”
“High tolerance,” Chanyeol shrugs with pride, moving to stand beside the shorter man and gaze at the water. “Been drinking heavily since I was old enough to hold a bottle, you could say.”
“...How long ago was that?” Baekhyun turns to him with a smug look.
“You little-! You have no room to speak, short stuff,” Chanyeol snorts at Baekhyun's smirk. “How old are you again? Twelve?”
“Nice try,” he rolls his eyes. If only Chanyeol knew he was three times his mother’s age.
Their conversation settles there for a moment, and both men look up at the bright moon, only a crescent, but a beautiful moon nonetheless. Secretly glancing at one another, Baekhyun finds that Chanyeol’s russet hair looks black in this light, and Chanyeol thinks that Baekhyun looks particularly glowing at this time of night. They both open their mouths to say something at the same time and then blush, quickly looking away in quiet embarrassment.
“Um,” the siren tries first, “I wanted to thank you for backing me up there. I wasn't sure anyone would've believed me if it weren't for your encouragement.”
“I doubt it,” Chanyeol replies bluntly with a joking smile, “but you're welcome. I should really, uh, thank you for helping us.” His cheeks turn red, and he averts his eyes. Baekhyun figures with a sly smile that it's the first time the captain has ever really thanked any member of his crew.
“How do you know so much about them anyways?” Chanyeol knows he's asked this before when they met, but he just wants to change the subject and hopes Baekhyun will tell him more about his mysterious and odd self.
“I just grew up knowing because of my home.” It's not exactly a lie - just a stretch of the truth. Desperate to get the spotlight off of himself, Baekhyun takes a sip from his cup before asking a question for Chanyeol. “How long have you been a captain, Captain?”
“You can call me Chanyeol, you know. Most people only call me Captain when we're in battle.” That’s not completely true either, but Chanyeol wants to hear Baekhyun say his name.
“Okay, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun snorts, “when did you become a captain?”
A spark travels down Chanyeol’s spine and his chest warms from the sound of his own name from those lips - or maybe it was the alcohol.
“Well, my mother was a captain, but she had me, so she took all of her riches, sold her ship, and she raised me by the sea. She never wanted me to be a pirate though,” Chanyeol laughs a bit at that, recalling some long ago memories. “I think it was built in me though - the sea, I mean. I think she knew it was inevitable that I’d follow in her footsteps. When I was eighteen, I joined this ship, originally run by Captain Kim Jaejoong. He died by my hand and the crew. I took over at twenty. And now I’m twenty-six with a full crew and a ship to boast about.”
“That long? How come I’ve never seen - I mean,” Baekhyun shakes his head. “How come you haven’t been around the sirens? This entire part of the sea is their realm.” He almost blew his cover, and his heart thumps irregularly at the tiny panicking moment.
“We’re from the South. We’ve just recently been sailing up north, and that’s when we ran into the sirens. The attacks have mainly been at night, so it’s my men that have been the witnesses. But the last time before today, I saw them for the first time, and I nearly lost my life, but…” Chanyeol furrows his brows, remembering something and then digging into an inner pocket of his coat.
“But?” Baekhyun smiles inwardly, awaiting his next words eagerly.
“I was saved, but there was no one there when I came to,” he continues, producing the very sand dollar that Baekhyun left with him that day on the beach. “I found this in my pocket, but it could just be a coincidence. Do you know?” His chocolate brown eyes look to Baekhyun’s for answers.
“Hmm?” the siren pretends to muse and ponder as if he really is some siren expert and not the actual being itself. With a smile, his dark eyes glint in amusement. “Perhaps you really were saved by a siren, Chanyeol.”
Part 4