In July, the inn is bustling with customers.

The sun has gone down and the island is just about completely surrounded by docked seaplanes and boats, the owners of which are booming with laughter and song in the bar downstairs. There are pilots and sailors, air force officers and pirates all in the same room. Normally they wouldn’t be getting along--always some grudge held and revenge to be had through the years of the chase--but since it’s A Casa and since it’s Hyukjae, who they are and which side they’re on beyond these four walls doesn’t matter. Arresting the most wanted pirate can wait til morning.

It’s Hyukjae’s favourite time of year, where summer nights at the inn are filled with life and camaraderie.

Ji-Eun, on the other hand, looks like she could barely keep up, scrambling from one end of the bar to the other, cleaning tables and grabbing drinks for the hearty bunch of guests in her own bubble of stress and worry. She doesn’t stop for one second to rest and it’s almost tiring just looking at her. Hyukjae laughs from behind the counter, catches her arm as she’s frantically walking by.

“Take a break, have a seat why don’t you,” he nods to a large table where a group of adriatic seaplane pirates sat. Ji-Eun looks at him, unsure and hesitant. She dries her hands on her apron and Hyukjae smiles as he guides her to the table of men.

“Don’t worry, they’re not here for any trouble,” Hyukjae says, “Right boys?”

“On our best behaviour, boss!” one of them booms as he raises a jug of beer.

Ji-Eun scans the faces around her when she’s introduced by Hyukjae. They’re not what you’d imagine pirates to be, no eyepatches or bandanas or stitches across their faces. In fact, they look like normal pilots, their helmets buckled to their belt and goggles hung around their neck, except they probably shave a little less than some men in the air force would, their hair less tidy, and the leather jackets they wear are decorated with patches and skulls rather than medals of honour. Hyukjae pulls out a chair for Ji-Eun, sits her down, and walks around the round table to squeeze into the seat across from her. Throwing an arm around the pirate next to him, he pours himself a drink.

“So what’s the deal with the cute girl?” the pirate says and gestures towards Ji-Eun, “You runnin’ a daycare or somethin’?” he jokes.

“Oh, this place was a daycare long before she came around,” Hyukjae says and Ji-Eun giggles.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” another pirate at the table barked.

“Just kidding Piero,” Hyukjae laughs and takes a sip from his beer, “Ji-Eun here came all the way from the mainland to help me out with this place, she’s one hell of a worker.”

To this, Ji-Eun blushes and smiles shyly.

“She’s also an admirer of notoriety,” Hyukjae adds, “So why don’t you boys introduce yourselves?”

The pirate under Hyukjae’s arm snickers. He’s dark haired and appears to be in his mid thirties, not much older than Hyukjae, but he’s got a tougher look and a beard to go with it. “Notoriety huh? You sure came to the right place, girl. I’m Giovanni, this here’s my gang Nostra Vita. You wanna know how a seaplane’s supposed to fly, you just gotta look at us.”

A man from across the room yells, “Ah, don’t listen to this idiot, he thinks he can call himself a flyer when he couldn’t even rob the Grand Voyager!”

The Grand Voyager, of course, was one of the biggest cruise lines to sail the Atlantic.

Ji-Eun flinches when Giovanni jumps up and barks back, “You shut up! We were just low on gas on that job! Besides, we’re not the ones who got caught by the English police that one time before our planes even left the beach!”

At the other end of the bar, a few proper looking young men, badges stuffed carelessly into their pockets, look over at the mention of “English police”, and chuckle in their booth before turning their attention back to their own conversation.

“Yeah? Well did us Fifth Horsemen lose to Lee Donghae thirty times in a row?” The other pirate, a member of the Fifth Horseman gang it seems, rebuttals. The rest of the men at his table laugh obnoxiously at the Italian pirates’ fortune. The Nostra Vitas on the other hand are stirring with inaudible threats, some slipping out of their jackets and rubbing their knuckles.

Ji-Eun looks over at Hyukjae worriedly, but he seems perfectly calm and content, chuckling at the insults currently being thrown across his bar. The tension in the air is thick, and Ji-Eun is suddenly reminded that these people are pirates, they’re men who cheat and steal and fight for a living. Maybe getting a job at a place where they gather every night is not the best idea after all.

Giovanni is at the point where he’s rolling his sleeves up when Hyukjae steps in and puts a gentle hand on his shoulder. And somehow that’s all it takes for him to look back at Hyukjae and be reminded of his place, where he is, and just whose hospitality he’s currently under. Giovanni grunts, mumbles something like “whatever” under his breath and sits back down. The captain of the Fifth Horseman gang is about to shout something else but Hyukjae shoots him a look, nothing of menace, a rather handsome one really, and he, too, shuts up.

It’s the first time Ji-Eun’s witnessed Hyukjae like this. She’s reminded of how he’s been able to run this business for so long, how his older sister said he was the charm of the silver islands. It’s something else, she imagines, to make a seaplane pirate admit defeat, to make a man swallow his pride when he’s the type who lives in the clouds and sees the world only by looking down.

“Now gentlemen, how ‘bout a song to cool us all down?” Hyukjae announces with an eye-crinkling smile.

--

Indeed, Hyukjae’s voice captures everyone’s attention. He picks a smooth jazz of sorts, one that his husky and smoldering voice is made for.

The storm has died down and the atmosphere in the inn is calm as the sea. Ji-Eun stays at the same table with the crowd, the romantically sad melody tugging at the corners of her heart as Hyukjae takes the stage like he was born there. It’s not so much the quality of his voice so much as his sincerity though, the way his heart is worn on his sleeve. He's beautiful, Ji-Eun catches herself thinking, really, really beautiful. Looking around, it seems like everyone else is just as captivated by Hyukjae, the women whispering into each other’s ears without breaking eye contact and the men staring at their drinks like they’re reminiscing past lovers and fleeting memories of youth. The piano in the background is slow, lulling.

“You know why I ignored that stupid comment about Lee Donghae?” Giovanni whispers beside Ji-Eun.

She shakes her head, surprised that he would bring it up. The door to the pub at the back opens inconspicuously and closes again with a soft click. No one notices the slow footsteps, the sound of careful leather boots against wooden floors. There is an instrumental break in the song where Hyukjae pulls away from the microphone and looks up. Ji-Eun stares at the way the lights play off his red hair and sparkle in his eyes. There is a moment where it looks like Hyukjae has noticed a particular face in the audience, where the expression in his eyes changes and the kindest, most tender smile Ji-Eun has ever seen stretches softly across his face.

“Because this here’s the only man who can get even that bastard out of the sky.”

Ji-Eun pulls her gaze away from Hyukjae to turn around.

In the very back of the room, there is a man Ji-Eun’s never met before in a brown leather jacket, standing by the door with an orange satin scarf tied loosely around his neck. His opaque black aviators completely block his eyes, but even from here, Ji-Eun knows who has finally showed up.

Super slow build up I know OTL But I just really like characters.

Just let me roll around in my love for this au a bit im sorry.

Let me know what you think so far! A lot more about Donghae and their relationship will be revealed after