[b.a.p] like salt in your hair
Who: Yongguk, Himchan; Jongup; Younjae, Zelo
What: 8.2k, G
Summary: THEY ARE PIRATES. (except, being B.A.P, they basically fail at every single check on the runsheet... so nothing really happens.)
For suitofarmour at thebrowniebunch exchange. ♥ THERE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AN EXTRA ENDING WITH YOUNGLO + ACTUAL DAEHYUN but then i... will do that later. *3*; (wahhh also thank you for such fun prompts!! ;u; ILU JINNERS.)
*
Within thirteen hours on one fateful summer's night, a plan is conveyed from Prince to bodyguard.
A country boy finally learns all the rigging theory he can from a jaded, semi-retired ship Captain.
The bodyguard sends out a four-word message.
And a young but skilled ex-kitchenhand receives an offer he can't refuse.
An adventure begins.
*
"The time is now," the Prince says.
Jongup spares him a sidelong glance over the bound volume of records he's looking at. (Looking at. Not reading, mind. He's not stupid, but reading words has never been a thing he's fond of.) "Yeah?"
The response is a little on the rude side for royalty, but in theory he's the Prince's bodyguard and in very daily life practice he's the Prince's personal sounding board and sometime punching bag. He can afford a little rudeness. The Prince doesn't really have anyone else.
"The time is now," the Prince says again for, it seems, dramatic purpose alone. "My sister's wedding is over and she and her husband will soon be touring the country, blessing the commonfolk. There's a baby on the way, and while our entire population is happy and distracted nobody will pay attention to my whereabouts. Neither will the palace wish to dim the festivities with a missing persons search."
A frown forms on Jongup's face, more of habit than actual annoyance. He's heard far more ridiculous things out of the Prince's mouth before, and it's never been his place to judge. (Though he does judge. In the quiet of the back of his mind. Oh does he judge.) "Your sister won't be mad if you disappear?"
The Prince laughs. "Jongup, Jongup, you know that while she and I do get along well enough these days, it's hardly as if she's actually going to miss me."
"Alright," Jongup says, decisive.
The Prince pauses with his mouth half open. Clicks it shut. "Wait. 'Alright'...?"
Jongup shrugs and closes the volume in front of him, ending the farce of an idea that he actually study alongside the Prince. What nonsense. "I know of a guy..."
The Prince looks intrigued, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. "A guy. Go on."
There's not much else to say though, even by Jongup's taciturn measure. When he's not talking about things like shark catching. "...he has a boat. And sails around." A shrug.
Something about being docked to the West and spending his time teaching inland kids things about the sea. Something about a skeleton crew. Something-ish. Jongup's not really the type to sweat the details.
"This... guy," the Prince says slowly. "Is he trustworthy? Is his boat trustworthy?"
These are questions Jongup knows the answers to. "Yes," he says. And: "Um. Yes. It's new." Technically it's not quite his, but these are things the Prince doesn't really need to know. The Prince is the type to sweat details. Jongup doesn't care to get bogged down.
"Then we shall find him," the Prince decides. Decrees. (His tone changes sometimes when he's made up his mind, and once upon a time Jongup had found it pretty amusing but these days it's just one of those things that happens.)
"He's docked to the West," Jongup says, as if this is a truly spur of the moment decision. As if the Prince hasn't been growing increasingly more restless and unhappy during his studies and his sister's courtship and all the various ceremonies involved. (There are things Jongup knows because he's always with the Prince. That the time is now is just one of those things.) "Give me a day. I'll arrange it."
"Very well," the Prince says, and settles back with his books to study, the whole matter apparently dismissed from his mind with a satisfied smile. As simple as that. "Make it so."
Jongup sets his bound volume back in order with the rest of the Prince's tomes and bows perfunctorily before taking his leave.
There's a lot to arrange in preparation for a royal adventure.
(Well, no, there isn't. Not really. Just a boat, and a bunch of people who won't throw the Prince overboard, ransom him right back to the palace for a ridiculous sum, or auction off his alabaster behind to the highest bidder. Not a tall order at all.)
*
Later that night, wrapped around the leg of a small, sea-bound messenger, four words fly: operation escape is go.
*
Up in the Mercy's crows nest, Junhong squints into his telescope. Not that he's trying to read the Captain's message or anything-he's not okay, he's just practicing not getting his eyelashes in the way of the lens when he blinks and the Captain's little scrap of paper is a good target to focus on. It's a tiny scrap of paper. With bad handwriting on it. Junhong can't make the inky words out before the Captain heaves an apparent sigh and scrunches up the paper into a tiny ball that goes flying overboard. Into the water.
Junhong sighs himself. Now he'll never know what secret messages the Captain's getting from whoever's... Whoever's sending them to him. Important people, probably, since the Captain's been an important kinda guy before. Junhong's overheard things from people who don't think gangly cabin boys understand anything. (Junhong does though, even if he doesn't always get the details.)
"Zelo." The Captain never speaks loudly, but his voice easily carries everywhere with so much water around them. Junhong immediately secures his telescope to the mast and scales the Mercy's rigging down to deck.
"Sir! Yes, Sir!" he says smartly, saluting though the Captain isn't that kind of Captain. (Anymore. Or that's what Junhong's heard, anyway.)
"Don't do that," the Captain says, halfway between exasperated and fond. "But I do have an errand for you." He hands Junhong another scrap of paper, not unlike the one Junhong had seen him throw overboard, and says, "I want you to go to this crockery store. And ask for this person."
Junhong squints at the paper in his too-big hands. "Y... Yoon...g?" He's learned a lot of things in his life so far, but letters still escape him most of the time.
"His name is Youngjae," the Captain says. "Yoo Youngjae. He was a kitchenhand some years back. Tell him I want him on board."
Junhong's eyes go round. "On board? You mean we won't be eating at the Tavern anymore? We'll be eating on the boat?"
The Captain grins a gummy grin. "We'll eat at the Tavern one last time tonight for old times' sake. But it'll be a little hard to take with us out to sea."
Out to sea.
The words ring in Junhong's mind as he trots through the streets, running intermittently when the adrenaline of it all becomes too much for his nerves. Out to sea. Finally, right? He's never left land before, not really, since just being on a docked boat doesn't really count.
Out to sea is where his parents aren't. Even if he hasn't been with them for nearly a year already, they've always theoretically been reachable. He could always have, in theory, turned tail and run back to them at any time.
But that won't be an option from tomorrow. The thought makes him dizzy with excitement and maybe just a little bit of childish fear. He's seventeen, though. He can do this.
He hopes this Youngjae person will be interesting. Because he doesn't think he'll be getting much sleep tonight.
*
"And you can't call me by title anymore," says Himchan. "And you can't treat me any different from anyone else."
Jongup makes a noncommittal noise. It's pretty clear that Himchan's eyes are lit up at the very idea of it all, though. Of being a normal person.
Being normal isn't all it's cracked up to be, Jongup thinks. But then again, he's never been anything but to compare it with. (Or so he thinks. He's been told otherwise, but what would anyone else know about the business of being Moon Jongup. He is, by all of his own standards, incredibly utilitarian.)
"I like this boat," Himchan decides. "It even smells like fresh varnish and paint. Very tidy. Small crew-skeleton for this boat size, I'm guessing?" He nods to himself. "It means we shall have to pull our weight, but that's hardly going to be an issue. Well done, Jongup. Well chosen. That Captain isn't a bad looker, either. Not a thing unkempt or unshaven in sight. I approve."
Jongup readies the ropes and does a boatswain's checks. They're going to cast off as soon as the Captain returns from some last minute errands, and as soon as they cast of it will be a holiday in Jongupland. It isn't that Himchan is a handful to mind, as far as targets go in Jongup's occupation-he can count the number of attempted abductions on only one hand, so it's not many-it's just... the responsibility...
If Himchan happens to die out at sea, well. Nobody will be around to hear him scream. And Jongup's relatively certain he is capable of clearing any witnesses if necessary.
Not that it will be necessary, of course. Jongup is relatively certain.
*
The Captain comes back from his errands, which had, apparently included helping to roll a couple of large kegs for a person who Himchan thinks has the air of a Quartermaster. (Youngjae, Himchan thinks he recalls the name?) A reliable-looking person, unlike the gangly-tall cabin boy who is far more wide-eyed than worldly.
Himchan watches them secure their supplies, and check over the ship one last time from tip to tail, readying her for castoff.
He thinks about how he isn't going to have anything to do with land for a good long time to come-six months at least, or maybe a year. Two, if he can get away with it. It will all depend on how long his parents can be kept preoccupied for, and (perhaps or) how long he can run unfound. There could, in theory, be rather a great many people looking for him (for, in theory, a rather great amount of money), but he isn't about to dwell down that route at present.
At present, there's not a cloud in the sky, a gentle breeze fills the sails of the ship he's going to start calling home for a while, and Jongup is making fast friends with the gangly-tall deckhand. The name's Zelo, apparently.
They've started climbing the rigging like monkeys.
"Careful!" Himchan calls up, not because he wouldn't know what to do with himself if Jongup fell and, god forbid, died, okay, he would be just fine, but he has grown strangely sentimentally attached to Jongup's presence by his side over the years. It wouldn't do to lose him to some silly acrobatics on day one.
Jongup doesn't even spare him a glance down.
Himchan huffs to himself, a little unhappy at the slight. Okay, so he'd told Jongup to treat him like everyone else, but still, some common courtesy-!
"Something the matter, Princess?" comes the soft voice somewhere by Himchan's ear.
Himchan's ears flame immediately and acutely bright red. "I am not a princess and even if you are Captain of this boat, you have no right at all to address me as such!"
He decidedly leaves out the fact that, as their kingdom's actual Princess, his older sister has whupped many an insolent ass for demeaning use of her title in the past. And, boy, can she whup ass.
The Captain looks amused, eyes crinkling and an unreasonable amount of gum showing when he smiles. "I guess... if you stopped loitering in the shade and actually helped hoist the sails with the rest of us, I might call you something else. But, as it stands..."
"You could have simply requested my assistance," Himchan blusters, simultaneously indignant and annoyed at himself for being caught out at this civilian business already. He wipes his palms on his, semi-itchy, low-weave count trousers and strides out into the sun. He's not afraid of a tan. So what if it's a little bit warm. He can do this. He-
Abruptly, he realises he has no idea at all what to do. He's learned navigation during his studies, of course, by the sun and the stars both; learned the winds and the waves and their wiles thoroughly, and studying maps, but... all just in theory. The handful of times he'd toured Royal Navy vessels and watched their crew set up, the ships had all always been much, much larger and more complex...
What's there even to do on a boat as small as the one they've got?
"Assistance requested here, please," says the Captain from the end of a long rope. Himchan follows the line of it up directly into the sun-backed mast, and sees Jongup toiling with that lanky deckhand at its other side. Himchan squints back down the rope. The Captain still has that stupid little grin on and Himchan can tell he's just-
"You're mocking me, aren't you!" he accuses, striding over to where the Captain stands and picking up the very end of the rope, pulling on it when the Captain pulls-not because he's been requested to work, mind, but because, for a supposed seaman of the wildest waters, this Captain looks like he has avian bones and will blow away at the slightest turn of a strong wind.
With Himchan's weight to anchor them to deck, they get the ropes secured taut in no time.
*
Down in the galley, Youngjae hears laughter. He lets it go in one ear and out the other while chopping up carrots and thinking about tax free entitlements. There's really only two reasons he's aboard this boat.
One: tax-free entitlements for him and his brother, and their small, burgeoning crockery business.
Two: free berth and provisions abord a ship where he won't be thrown overboard, plus free storage space for any crockery he should choose to purchase at various ports and ferry back home.
Not a bad deal. In fact, a very good deal. This is because Youngjae only makes plays for good deals. If he has to cook a little here and there, place a little oakum or amputate a few limbs, it's no skin off his nose. If he also has to turn a blind eye to the uselessness of certain other last-minute additional crew members, he can do what needs to be done.
The country-bumpkin-deckhand-riggingmonkey-cabinboy who calls himself Zelo is pretty cute, too, and not, unlike said other last-minute crew members, a thoroughly obnoxious and irritating human being.
But where unique tax concessions are involved, power must necessarily be, and Youngjae isn't stupid. He knows who the power is on board this ship and it's not quite the Captain, though the Captain is certainly in a class of his own in many other ways.
Silence is silence, though, and Youngjae isn't stupid. He'll just keep his head down and chop up a couple more leeks while he's at it. He didn't get to where he is, or anywhere near it, tax breaks and all, after all, by breaking promises and talking conspiracy theories. He can enjoy the simple things. Like a tax-free life.
And maybe, if the night is fine, a night out under the stars with that country cabinboy after everyone else has gone to bed, talking about everything else and nothing in particular at all.
Maybe. (Maybe not. He'll see if he feels like it later.)
*
It takes approximately four weeks for Yongguk and Himchan to stop calling each other Captain and Princess (face to face. In truth, behind each others' backs takes a little longer but it becomes more fondness than stiff titles and arm's-length mocking-or so Himchan thinks).
It takes roughly another month again for Himchan to wear in his scratchy, low-weave count trousers and reconcile with the fact that, even if he jumps at every chance they get to climb overboard and submerge himself in seawater on calm and balmy days (where there aren't any sharks), and wash his clothes in an effort to get rid of that sweaty smell, it's not the same as taking an actual bath, and his hair is never going to be the same again so long as there is no actual fresh water to wash with.
Rainwater is sadly not to be wasted on baths.
Himchan does quite miss the Palace's relatively reliable (and modern!) plumbing systems amongst other things, but there's been more than enough adventure and first-time experiences out at sea to make the trade-off (so far) worthwhile.
The first time they'd encountered another boat, it had been a foreign trading vessel from the East. And Himchan had managed to drudge up dusty lessons from the corners of his mind and speak passably in their language-had managed to trade a barrel of salt for a small load of dried fruits; a large bag of jerky for a bolt of silk. (Had, he thinks, managed to gain a bit of that savvy little Quartermaster's respect. Maybe. A little.)
And now their scratchy hammocks are all silk-lined, which is a great thing to think about even when Himchan doesn't actually feel like sleeping.
"What are you doing?" Himchan asks, climbing up onto deck. The stars have long been out, the anchor long dropped, and below deck the three younger crew members snore soundly.
Bang Yongguk grunts. "Sleeping is a waste of time."
"But are you reading-?" Himchan persists. "I didn't know we had books on board."
Yongguk still doesn't look up. "I make it a point to bring three with me each leg of the journey. They will be sold at the next port and I'll buy there more. My sight is not great, but reading is a necessary skill to practice."
"Did it ever occur to you that the reason you have bad eyesight might be because you read by moonlight?" Himchan says archly, but leans over Yongguk's shoulder anyway.
"It's a full moon," Yongguk says stubbornly. "...You're casting a shadow..."
"I've read this one," Himchan announces, and stands back. Sits down. "It ends badly."
Yongguk closes the book with a pointed frown. "Tales of war generally do."
Himchan pats the deck beside him. It's not so late yet, or cold, that the wood has been sapped of all its sun-baked warmth. "Lie down with me. Rest a bit. I'll tell you a better story."
"I'll have heard it," Yongguk says stubbornly, but does settle back with his precious book tucked securely behind his head.
"No, you won't," Himchan says confidently. "Or if you have, I'll know another."
Yongguk actually chuckles a little bit at that, and Himchan grins because, for one, laughter is infectious, but also there's a tiny thought in the back of his mind that maybe this is what it feels like to have... a friend...
Someone who isn't being nice because of rank or station. Someone who isn't going to just tolerate Himchan's presence because it's royal. Someone who is... someone.
Himchan thinks he likes this new direction.
*
Jongup stares off into the middle-distant sky over his toes, feet propped on the edge of the crows nest, listening to the sound of Himchan's voice. He had left his blankets all in a lump on his hammock for some peace and quiet, because even at night Zelo mumbles in his sleep (and sometimes Himchan even replies)... but this isn't so bad either.
It had been okay with just Yongguk out, reading. It had been peaceful and silent, with just the occasional wave lapping at the side of their boat for sound. But then Himchan had come up and...
There's talking; occasional laughing; exclamations over Yongguk's quiet replies.
It's a one-man noise show, but not so bad.
Jongup doesn't think he's heard Himchan sound so relaxed in years. The timbre of his voice is low and soothing when he returns to his stories, almost melodious, lacking any stiff tension, and... it's nice, in its own way. Like the waves. Pleasant.
Jongup finds himself dozing under the moonlight, which is also pleasant but as soon as the night chill sets in he's the one who's going to be stiff in the morning. He wonders if he can head back down without being heard, but the night is really very quiet...
At length, Himchan's steady tales become a disjointed mumble, then lapse into silence, and when Jongup finally stands to peer down onto deck he can see Himchan curled on his side with an arm around Yongguk's waist, his legs curled around Yongguk's legs, his head resting light on Yongguk's shoulder. He seems to be snoring softly.
Jongup figures going unnoticed won't be a problem anymore.
Yongguk hears him as soon as the ropes move, but that's okay. Jongup's feet land quietly on deck and Yongguk looks up at him, upside down.
"You needn't worry," Yongguk says, his own voice low and calm, the remnants of a smile lingering on his face. "You can leave us here with a clear conscience. I'm not going to kill him."
Jongup pauses. Smiles a little himself, in appreciation, maybe, and a little disbelief, as he pads across the deck. He shakes his head. And takes his leave.
*
"I like this life," Himchan says, another night without preamble. But that's okay. Preamble is for two-way conversation anyway, and this is more a pop quiz for Jongup. Or, a mini-interrogation to determine correct courses of action. "Do you? You don't get bored, do you? Does Youngjae hit you too much? Is it too much work?" He watches Jongup's face carefully out of the corner of his eye.
Jongup shrugs and takes a while to reply. Himchan knows what he's probably thinking. He's probably thinking that he's a bodyguard and it's not any of his business liking or hating anything. But Himchan's expecting a reply. He waits. At length, Jongup says, "I like the quiet. It's not bad." And that's a real answer.
Himchan's smile feels soft on his face-the gooey type-not that he had needed Jongup's approval, but, of course it's nice to have, and... it really isn't bad. Out here. Himchan thinks he'd like to stay. "Yeah."
*
"By the way, we're completely out of food in about three days," Youngjae says casually at lunch, because he likes dropping bombs like this. After roughly six months with the same company, day in, day out, he's learned they garner great reactions.
"What?" Zelo gasps. "Isn't that horrible? Aren't we like, nowhere?"
"Why didn't you say something earlier?" Himchan demands. "We've managed to properly budget for and ration out every other amount of food from previous ports; why is this time different!"
Youngjae treats the question as rhetorical. He's hardly going to say, after all, that his stores of crockery have been growing, diminishing space for supplies. That's not even it-there have been supplies kept in his glazed pots.
Yongguk shrugs. "Humans can survive without eating for a while. As long as we still have water..."
They do have water, of course, because rainwater baths are forbidden. But, "Fish would be nice, too," Youngjae says mildly. "We haven't had any since the last time Jongup caught a shark." Fish are also a pleasant source of non-salty sustenance.
Jongup doesn't say anything into his bowl of jerky congee.
"What if I keep my eye out for a fishing vessel, or another boat that might have supplies we can share," Zelo says brightly. He wolfs down the rest of his own congee and bolts out the galley door.
"Take a hat up to that crows nest!" Himchan yells after him. "Don't dehydrate yourself!"
"I did just say we still have water," Youngjae says just to be contrary.
Himchan huffs. "That's entirely besides the point. That boy has delicate skin, like mine. He'll burn."
It had occurred to Youngjae many weeks ago that the priorities aboard this ship were rather... not straight.
Boats at sea that weren't Royal Navy, merchant or commercial vessels, so far as Youngjae had been aware, were supposed to be... rougher. Pirates, Youngjae had thought, or perhaps more technically boats drifting illegally in Royal waters that contain people who do not contribute to society or pay taxes were supposed to be more of a savage, opportunistic bunch. In fact, one of the clauses Youngjae had stipulated in his sign-up contract had been that he would not need to become involved in the violence, should it occur.
He clearly hadn't had to worry about that.
All they've done so far is drift, trade with other ships, drift, barter at port, drift, and occasionally chart onto paper the coastlines that Himchan and Yongguk didn't recognise. And, by some stroke of incredible luck, they have managed to avoid the actual savage pirates out there.
Because there isn't a weapon in sight on Bang Yongguk's boat. No cannons in the hold, no gunpowder stores. No swords otherwise strapped to the persons aboard. In fact, Jongup had taken down the aforementioned shark with a length of rope and a sharpened stick (which, actually, had made Youngjae hold his skills in even higher regard).
"Jongup!" Himchan says. "Catch us another shark!" Like it's that easy. Like Jongup isn't an actual genius by being able to do this, possibly repeatedly. Youngjae scoffs.
Jongup finishes up his congee and sets the bowl aside. And then he leaves the galley much like Zelo had done before, except without saying anything.
"Guess he's going to catch another shark," Youngjae says.
"Jongup's good like that," Himchan agrees, and Youngjae kind of wonders where Himchan actually gets off talking in that manner about another person, but then remembers that this is Himchan and really, this boat might actually technically be his boat.
Not that Himchan seems to know it.
Youngjae's still not an idiot. He's not going to say it. "Going to help him?" he asks instead.
"Me?" Himchan looks startled. "No, why would I? Jongup is the best shark catcher I know."
A part of Youngjae's brain sidesteps the proper route at that reply, making him crack up laughing. "The best... shark catcher... you know..." He laughs until his tummy hurts. Maybe there are shark catchers out there, what would Youngjae know? Maybe competitive shark catching is a thing in the world Himchan comes from. Youngjae's just a kid with a vested interest in ceramic pots.
"...this boat is full of idiots," the Captain says with resigned finality, setting the rest of his congee aside and leaving the table. Youngjae keeps laughing.
"Bang Yongguk, finish your food!" Himchan shouts out the door. "Just because we're running low on supplies doesn't give you license to eat less than you already do-!"
"Idiots," Youngjae tries to breathe. Tries.
He fails, and ends up laughing some more.
*
The shark catching operation isn't actually a success, to nobody's actual surprise except Himchan's own. Bang Yongguk has been acquainted before with false hope in the eyes and lives of comrades past, but none quite so convicted as Kim Himchan's. But then, Himchan isn't a run of the mill kind of man.
"Bang Yongguk, your maps, please!" Himchan demands. He's dragged Yongguk below deck for an Emergency Meeting, so a meeting they're going to have.
"I've already plotted our shortest course," Yongguk says, because he's been the ship's Sailing Master until now, but he gets the maps out from his locked chest anyway. Speaking honestly, he's unfamiliar with their current area and another pair of eyes couldn't hurt.
Himchan waits with his hands on his hips as Yongguk dumps the rolls of maps on his work table. "There is always a better way. And given our current other options include continuing on our current rations and arriving at port half starved; or halving our current rations and living very hungrily for a week, I am going to find that better way!"
"Have you traveled this area before?" Yongguk asks, because Himchan is a man of surprises. He has, actually, managed to tell Yongguk stories he's never previously heard. Yongguk can appreciate this in a shipmate.
Himchan selects the map of their current area with a pout, and rolls it out onto the table with his thick-fingered hands, pressing it down. Yongguk can't quite remember if Himchan's hands have always looked so weathered or if it's just been since they've been on this boat together. It's been a while, after all. Half a year at sea is nothing to scoff at. "No, but I have always made it a point to be familiar with my... territory." He squints at the map with his small black eyes and Yongguk watches him. Watches the gears tick over in his head.
Territory. A pleasant way to put it.
"This map is the same as the ones used by the Royal Navy," Himchan says at length, sounding not so much confused as vaguely grim about his findings. He continues anyway: "As such, its off-limit areas are marked with much larger ships in mind. Our hull is shallower, so we can shave time off around this cape, and cut through the coral reefs around this one. Furthermore, we can cut past this island entirely. The new bridge built to connect it to the mainland last year should be high enough that we can fit under it at low tide. Then we can also take advantage of the night winds in that area, since you don't care to sleep ever..."
Yongguk thinks to himself that there is probably a very decent amount of information inside of Himchan's head that a real pirate ship could make very good use of. It's probably just as well that they're on the same side. The thought tugs a little smile onto his mouth. And he says, to cover for it, "You're more than just a pretty face, huh."
Himchan turns immediately and predictably indignant. These reactions are tried and true by now, and Yongguk finds that he finds them... endearing. "I am so much more than just a pretty face, Bang Yongguk. So much more you don't even know!"
"I know," Yongguk says. It comes oddly soft out of his own mouth-fonder than usual.
Himchan gives him a strange look. "No, you don't..."
Yongguk laughs. "But what if I do?"
It's meant to be funny, just a little routine teasing, but Himchan doesn't laugh. His face takes on a troubled expression and he's quiet, almost sullen for the rest of the evening.
Yongguk observes this and at the end of the night decides that, even if humans can survive without eating for a while, he has his own reasons for wanting to hit their next port early.
*
"Oranges," Himchan says firmly, hands on hips. "We have to get plenty of oranges and lemons and fresh things, or you'll all get scurvy and then what? I'd sooner make Jongup throw you overboard than nurse you back to health."
Youngjae looks at Yongguk. Yongguk shrugs as Himchan stalks past them all and out of the cabin having said his piece. Youngjae shrugs himself and adds five oranges to the end of his shopping list in careful, scratchy letters. Five oranges, and five lemons just for good measure. He'll soak them in honey, thinly sliced. (But if anyone annoys him, they'll be eating theirs whole.)
"...buy what you like," Yongguk says. "Within budget." And takes his leave from the room in Himchan's wake.
"Why do we have to listen to Himchan?" Zelo whispers, careful because even ship walls sometimes have ears and he's learned the hard way about being quiet when it matters. Youngjae has taught him.
How to reply, though? Youngjae purses his lips. Sometimes ship politics are thick and tumultuous. (Not really. Not onboard the Mercy, anyway.) "Himchan might not be Captain, but he holds the drawstrings to the Captain's breeches," he says. There. A technically correct, satisfactory answer.
Zelo's only response is to scrunch up his nose.
Youngjae laughs.
*
"Where did Yongguk go?" Himchan demands. "We always go shopping together after docking!" It's not like he needs Yongguk around to carry his bags or anything like that; their relationship isn't that kind, but he has a healthy respect for tradition and also what would they all do if Yongguk got lost? Who would keep Himchan from murdering his shipmates then?
Youngjae shrugs. "I don't know. Probably snuck off to see a girl or something. He was pretty adamant about getting to this particular port in this particular timeframe. Instead of, you know, scrounging for coconuts on a desert island or something."
"Coconuts are nutritious," Himchan says, frowning automatically. He crosses his arms. Yongguk with a girl? Yongguk with a girl? Himchan's never asked about it and Yongguk's never said, but... now that he thinks about it, it stands to reason.
Of course a gentle idiot like Yongguk would have girls-perhaps even lots of girls, all with poor and terrible taste in men-at various ports here and there. They're docking for two days at this one. What if Yongguk spends that whole time away and comes back with bedhead and smelling like sex? What if Himchan then feels like using him to chum the water for sharks for Jongup's next exploits?
What if Himchan actually has the poorest and most terrible taste in men of all?
Himchan pauses because, no, those are silly thoughts. His taste is and always has been exemplary. He frowns some more.
"Are you alright?" Youngjae asks, more out of obligation than any actual caring. Himchan knows this because he knows Youngjae by now. All Youngjae ever wants to do is buy crockery and kiss Zelo. (This is an unfair evaluation of his character, at best, and patently untrue in reality. But it can't be helped. Himchan is annoyed.)
"I'm not alright," Himchan decides, because he's annoyed and when he's annoyed nothing is alright. "I'm taking Jongup shopping. I'm going to buy you all food. Except for Yongguk. He isn't going to get any because he's not here."
*
While Himchan buys lemons and oranges, Jongup defends his purse strings from pickpockets at least twice. But that's easy fare. He's been countering pickpockets and street urchins since he was twelve.
"Do you think Zelo would prefer strawberry or pickle flavour?" Himchan asks, holding out the two boiled sweets options. Jongup picks the pickles without too much thought. (Himchan buys both anyway.)
Tomorrow, Zelo and Youngjae will do the actual shopping and Himchan and Jongup will stay behind to mind the Mercy.
If Jongup is honest, he'll be relieved to get back to the boat. Not just because Himchan's stress-spending will no longer be an issue. (Jongup's lost count of the number of rings from his personal collection that Himchan has traded and bartered for gold and goods.) It's just that, it's been a while since he's had to be quite so on-edge with regard to threats. There are a thousand ways to kill a man on land, in a busy market square.
And it's three days before the supposed end of Operation Escape.
That's actually what's bothering him the most. Rogues and anti-Royalists are standard fare, but an official (and determined) Prince Retrieval Operation by the Palace cohort is not something he's personally equipped to deal with alone. (Even if Jongup is also determined.) He's not actually sure what he would, should or could do in the event that Himchan were summoned back to his parents.
The glimpse of a man with a white towel tied on his head, farmer-style, catches Jongup's eye. He thinks the same mand had also been by the water when they'd docked, but upon craning his neck to get a better look Himchan says, "Jongup, hold these watermelons for me," and suddenly his arms are loaded with fruit.
Jongup scowls and mentally scales down his area of interest. He'll settle for direct threats and Himchan's purse strings for now. At least that much is still manageable without the use of his arms.
"What's the matter?" Himchan asks, looking surprised. "I thought you liked watermelon."
"Yeah," Jongup says, turning his attention back to the one real issue at hand. Himchan. "I do."
Himchan grins. "I knew it!"
*
They return without event. The next day, so does Zelo and Youngjae. That night, so does Yongguk.
"Jongup, a word when you have time," says Yongguk lowly. Himchan isn't in their immediate vicinity, but water carries sound and he'd rather not take any chances.
Jongup nods and doesn't reply aloud at all, continuing to coil the ropes from cast off. Yongguk leaves him be.
*
"Where is everyone?" Himchan asks the mast. It doesn't answer, but that's okay. By everyone he really just means Jongup and Yongguk anyway-Zelo is in the galley with Youngjae being taught how to peel oranges without lifting his knife from the rind. It's messy business, which Himchan wants nothing to do with.
But, Jongup. Jongup isn't in the crows nest, isn't port or starboard, fore or aft up on deck, or in his hammock, and, since the hold is currently utterly full of crockery and supplies, it means he can really only be in the other cabin-the inner cabin, the Captain's cabin.
It's not that Himchan needs to know what they're doing in there, it's just that he really, really wants to. He steps up to the door, careful to avoid each creaky board that he's come to learn will give him away. And then, he waits. For a sound, for a thud or a laugh or anything that would give him the excuse needed to barge in and join the fun...
Instead, he hears his name in low tones. His title. Operation E, whatever that is. The words, A little longer.
He stands there, staring at the door and the hand he's got pressed to it, waiting for... What, again? He stands there still listening as his heart begins to thud into a dull roar, washing out the quiet waves beneath them all.
So much for secrets.
Yongguk knows. Yongguk's in on it and has been all along and-
That's... really all Himchan needs to find out. He turns-stubs his toe, cursing a bit through the tears sprung to his eyes. But they've already cast off and there's nowhere to actually go. The crows nest is too high, the deck is too exposed.
Climbing into his silk-lined hammock, Himchan curls up as small as he can and pulls his blanket tight all around him.
There's silence from the Captain's berth, or maybe it's just that he can't hear anything anymore.
*
Yongguk stops talking at what sounds like a dull thud against the outer cabin wall. "...ah," he says.
"Yeah," Jongup agrees. "That was him."
Yongguk sighs, but the sun is sinking and the chill night winds are starting to blow. In order to take advantage of them and get as far away from port as they can, as soon as possible, he and Jongup need to man the sails and rudder. Yongguk decides that Himchan can wait. It's not as if he'll go anywhere. And it's probably best not to touch a smoking volcano immediately anyway. He catches Jongup's sidelong glance. "I'll... deal with it in the morning..."
Jongup nods and stands to leave and, true to perfect form, says nothing about the matter at all.
*
The sea is calm, the boat is steady. Land is nowhere in sight, and the three younger crew members are playing in the rigging. Apparently, Youngjae has thought up a new game. Bang Yongguk gives their Quartermaster silent and eternal thanks for being able to entertain children. He keeps his voice low and presses the cabin door shut behind him. "Himchan."
Himchan remains, from last night, a rockish lump in the lower hammock. "Go away."
Yongguk sighs again. He's been sighing a lot about matters involving Himchan lately. He's not actually sure why. "Not this time. Where is there to go." It's a rhetorical question, of course.
A corner of Himchan's blanket peels back to reveal one baleful eye, red-rimmed and only a quarter homicidal. Himchan's glare is weaker than Yongguk had been expecting. That's something, perhaps. "I hate you."
Or not. Yongguk can understand that though. Carefully, carefully, he sits on the hammock's edge, keeping his feet on the cabin floor. His legs are as skinny as they've ever been, but remain stable enough. "I'm sorry," he says. "For deceiving you."
The open corner of Himchan's blanket pulls back down, reverting him into a blanketed potato. "I hate you," Himchan mutters, soft, though Yongguk can hear him anyway. The blanket isn't thick. He can see the curve of Himchan's spine; the strong notches in it; the minute shift of Himchan's head-shape when he (probably) brushes the hair out of his eyes before settling again. His voice turns petulant. "I thought you were my friend."
"I am your friend," Yongguk says, in truth. It's not hard. He's never found saying the truth particularly hard. "What's changed?"
"The fact," Himchan says, "that I now know that you know who I really am, and therefore know you'd have felt obliged to be nice to me just like everyone else in the stupid world!"
Yongguk laughs. Not for the first time, he wonders just how a guy with as much intelligence as Himchan has can be so inconceivably dumb.
"Hey! I'm being serious here!" Himchan snaps, sitting up suddenly. The hammock rocks.
Yongguk stops laughing when he nearly falls off.
Himchan, that asswipe, cracks the faintest vindictive grin...
"You are an idiot," Yongguk says with derision. "I could have tripped you overboard anytime if I'd really wanted, and disposed of the evidence. I could have cold-shouldered you and it wouldn't have made a difference out here at sea. Nobody else is here. Nobody else would have seen it."
Himchan's lips are pursed, a frown on his face. For once, he doesn't say anything.
Yongguk takes this opportunity to continue: "You wouldn't have lasted a single night on a real pirate's ship, you know. Or sleeping under the stars on the run, and yet you still did want to run. What else was Jongup to do? I don't regret helping him out."
Himchan's jaw works.
Yongguk continues. "A few years from now, when you settle down with a wife and take ownership of land and a title, maybe you'll remember this time fondly and-"
That brings Himchan's voice right back.
"I have never wanted a wife! Or a title," Himchan glowers, tumultuous fire in his black eyes. Yongguk considers this. "All I want is..." The fire dies. "To stay here... on this stupid boat..." Himchan crumples, shoulders sagging. "With you... Like, I mean, you guys."
Yongguk considers this some more. "...you really feel that." A statement. But it... soothes an edge in Yongguk's own heart, too, to know that this isn't just some passing fancy for Himchan; not just a Royal Whim.
"I actually do really feel everything I've ever said aloud, unlike some people, you know!" Himchan huffs, for some reason really indignant about this slight to his pride.
For some reason, Yongguk smiles.
"Is something funny to you, Bang Yongguk?" Himchan demands. "It's not actually easy, you know, having to be perfect for the court all the time! Even when you're me! The amount of bootlickers I have to deal with-daily-who are just waiting for me to make a mistake so they can trash me behind my back, or to the faction that supports my sister's ascension-It's not the slightest bit funny at all!"
"No, I just..." Yongguk isn't sure what he 'just'. But it's making him smile more and more. Lately. Now. He scratches the back of his head. Shrugs a little. "Well, whatever. You're... welcome to stay on this boat... with me... for as long as you like."
Himchan's black eyes narrow. "Isn't there a time limit, though? I know my parents! If you and Jongup organised this whole escapade with them; if the Navy itself is in on it, then there must be one. What is it? Six months? A year?"
Yongguk clears his throat. "Well... six months... was thought to have been the limit of your patience for sleeping in hammocks and bathing in saltwater..."
Himchan fumes, the grip on his blankets white-knuckled. "They underestimate my resolve! And my mettle. I'll show them. If it comes down to it, I'll go without washing for a month! Three months, even!"
Himchan's indignance makes Yongguk laugh. "Nobody wants that. You sweat like a horse in summer."
"Horses sweat, Bang Yongguk!" Himchan corrects. "Men perspire." He pauses, uncertain. "...hasn't it already been six months, though? Wasn't that last night? It was the full moon again..."
Yongguk shrugs, supposing he can afford to explain a few more things while they're at the business of airing laundry. "...last port... When Youngjae was saying I had a girl... I was actually finding the messenger to your parents..."
Himchan looks scandalized. "I'm not sure which option I'd have preferred to believe. Why have you been babysitting me to such an extent? Have you been giving them reports? Monthly digests?"
Yongguk laughs again. "No, I just...! Had to get a message out... that I'd be keeping you a little longer. That the rendezvous wasn't going to happen. That's why I was glad you could chart us a course that made landfall a little earlier than necessary... It probably saved us a run-in with the Palace cohort."
Himchan frowns, head-gears all but visibly turning. "Wait, you were going to hand me back over to my parents? They wanted you to, right? Wait, are you now a princenapper-?"
"Am I, if you're here by choice...?" Yongguk asks pointedly.
"It was not an informed choice, so yes, I would say it definitely qualifies as princenapping!" Himchan huffs. "Though now that I have lent ear to the events that have transpired, I shall choose to allow my royal person to remain in your keep, as you so indelicately put it, for a little longer."
Yongguk smiles. "Then... I gratefully accept any time you will offer me."
*
"What are they trying to say?" Zelo whispers, confused. "It's like, it's bad but it's not?"
"Pretty sure they're just trying to avoid the fact they're in desperate like with each other," Youngjae states.
Jongup casually thuds his heel back against the cabin wall. It has the intended effect.
"Jongup!" Himchan barks through the door. "I know you're out there!"
Jongup shrugs at Zelo and Youngjae, who shuffle back out view of the cabin door. "Guess that's my cue. Later, guys."
*
"Explain yourself," Himchan demands, as Jongup settles himself on Youngjae's hammock across the small cabin. He pulls his legs up and crosses them. "You said you knew of a guy, and it happened to be this-?" He gestures at Yongguk, who has reverted to ignoring proceedings and fiddling with a pocket compass. Typical.
Jongup shrugs. "My hyung worked at the docks."
"So, whose boat is this?" Himchan demands. Pop quiz time.
"It's a decommissioned Royal Navy scout ship."
"Was it sold to Yongguk?"
"Given."
"Why?"
Jongup glances Yongguk's way, but the Captain seems to have turned into a mushroom. Or maybe Jongup just doesn't understand because he's never found compasses very interesting. "It was a charitable donation to the program he worked for, helping inland children learn ship skills."
"I'm on leave from the Navy," Yongguk mutters. "Personal reasons."
Himchan pinches the bridge of his nose. "...Jongup. One last thing."
Jongup waits.
"Explain yourself."
An easier question than Jongup had thought. "My job has always been to protect you. Not to tell you what to do. Just to make sure you always stay safe doing what you want." He shrugs again.
"I see," Himchan says. "I'm sorry. Thank you."
Jongup jerks up and stares. He's not sure he's ever heard Himchan say words like that his whole life.
"Don't look at me like that!" Himchan blusters. "You're dismissed! Get out!" His cheeks are red and beside him Yongguk is grinning again.
Youngjae, Jongup thinks, is probably right about the desperate like. He says, just because he can, "I don't have to take orders from you while we're out here, though. You said so yourself."
"Moon Jongup!" Himchan lunges.
Jongup laughs and takes his leave. Not because he has to, mind, but because Yongguk is laughing and holding Himchan back with a strong hug and Himchan looks surprised and delighted all at once and, really, Jongup doesn't think he needes to see what happens next.
*
"What if I have to go back one day?" Himchan asks, later, under the stars. They lean against the banisters, side by side.
Yongguk hums. "You'll probably have to..."
Himchan sighs. "Would you come with me?"
Yongguk chuckles. "Maybe."
Himchan looks surprised. "What? Really? Return to military life? Or get a job in the courts? With your mind, they'd easily be able to find one for you, you know..."
Yongguk grins. "Well... either that, or maybe I'd stay out here. And visit every now and again. Let you know we're in port, you know? So you can run away again if you ever feel like coming with me."
Himchan scowls, but there's no irritation behind it. No malice. It's just a scowl. "Don't even joke about that, Bang Yongguk."
Yongguk smiles.
"You know I'd go with you every time."
What: 8.2k, G
Summary: THEY ARE PIRATES. (except, being B.A.P, they basically fail at every single check on the runsheet... so nothing really happens.)
For suitofarmour at thebrowniebunch exchange. ♥ THERE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AN EXTRA ENDING WITH YOUNGLO + ACTUAL DAEHYUN but then i... will do that later. *3*; (wahhh also thank you for such fun prompts!! ;u; ILU JINNERS.)
*
Within thirteen hours on one fateful summer's night, a plan is conveyed from Prince to bodyguard.
A country boy finally learns all the rigging theory he can from a jaded, semi-retired ship Captain.
The bodyguard sends out a four-word message.
And a young but skilled ex-kitchenhand receives an offer he can't refuse.
An adventure begins.
*
"The time is now," the Prince says.
Jongup spares him a sidelong glance over the bound volume of records he's looking at. (Looking at. Not reading, mind. He's not stupid, but reading words has never been a thing he's fond of.) "Yeah?"
The response is a little on the rude side for royalty, but in theory he's the Prince's bodyguard and in very daily life practice he's the Prince's personal sounding board and sometime punching bag. He can afford a little rudeness. The Prince doesn't really have anyone else.
"The time is now," the Prince says again for, it seems, dramatic purpose alone. "My sister's wedding is over and she and her husband will soon be touring the country, blessing the commonfolk. There's a baby on the way, and while our entire population is happy and distracted nobody will pay attention to my whereabouts. Neither will the palace wish to dim the festivities with a missing persons search."
A frown forms on Jongup's face, more of habit than actual annoyance. He's heard far more ridiculous things out of the Prince's mouth before, and it's never been his place to judge. (Though he does judge. In the quiet of the back of his mind. Oh does he judge.) "Your sister won't be mad if you disappear?"
The Prince laughs. "Jongup, Jongup, you know that while she and I do get along well enough these days, it's hardly as if she's actually going to miss me."
"Alright," Jongup says, decisive.
The Prince pauses with his mouth half open. Clicks it shut. "Wait. 'Alright'...?"
Jongup shrugs and closes the volume in front of him, ending the farce of an idea that he actually study alongside the Prince. What nonsense. "I know of a guy..."
The Prince looks intrigued, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. "A guy. Go on."
There's not much else to say though, even by Jongup's taciturn measure. When he's not talking about things like shark catching. "...he has a boat. And sails around." A shrug.
Something about being docked to the West and spending his time teaching inland kids things about the sea. Something about a skeleton crew. Something-ish. Jongup's not really the type to sweat the details.
"This... guy," the Prince says slowly. "Is he trustworthy? Is his boat trustworthy?"
These are questions Jongup knows the answers to. "Yes," he says. And: "Um. Yes. It's new." Technically it's not quite his, but these are things the Prince doesn't really need to know. The Prince is the type to sweat details. Jongup doesn't care to get bogged down.
"Then we shall find him," the Prince decides. Decrees. (His tone changes sometimes when he's made up his mind, and once upon a time Jongup had found it pretty amusing but these days it's just one of those things that happens.)
"He's docked to the West," Jongup says, as if this is a truly spur of the moment decision. As if the Prince hasn't been growing increasingly more restless and unhappy during his studies and his sister's courtship and all the various ceremonies involved. (There are things Jongup knows because he's always with the Prince. That the time is now is just one of those things.) "Give me a day. I'll arrange it."
"Very well," the Prince says, and settles back with his books to study, the whole matter apparently dismissed from his mind with a satisfied smile. As simple as that. "Make it so."
Jongup sets his bound volume back in order with the rest of the Prince's tomes and bows perfunctorily before taking his leave.
There's a lot to arrange in preparation for a royal adventure.
(Well, no, there isn't. Not really. Just a boat, and a bunch of people who won't throw the Prince overboard, ransom him right back to the palace for a ridiculous sum, or auction off his alabaster behind to the highest bidder. Not a tall order at all.)
*
Later that night, wrapped around the leg of a small, sea-bound messenger, four words fly: operation escape is go.
*
Up in the Mercy's crows nest, Junhong squints into his telescope. Not that he's trying to read the Captain's message or anything-he's not okay, he's just practicing not getting his eyelashes in the way of the lens when he blinks and the Captain's little scrap of paper is a good target to focus on. It's a tiny scrap of paper. With bad handwriting on it. Junhong can't make the inky words out before the Captain heaves an apparent sigh and scrunches up the paper into a tiny ball that goes flying overboard. Into the water.
Junhong sighs himself. Now he'll never know what secret messages the Captain's getting from whoever's... Whoever's sending them to him. Important people, probably, since the Captain's been an important kinda guy before. Junhong's overheard things from people who don't think gangly cabin boys understand anything. (Junhong does though, even if he doesn't always get the details.)
"Zelo." The Captain never speaks loudly, but his voice easily carries everywhere with so much water around them. Junhong immediately secures his telescope to the mast and scales the Mercy's rigging down to deck.
"Sir! Yes, Sir!" he says smartly, saluting though the Captain isn't that kind of Captain. (Anymore. Or that's what Junhong's heard, anyway.)
"Don't do that," the Captain says, halfway between exasperated and fond. "But I do have an errand for you." He hands Junhong another scrap of paper, not unlike the one Junhong had seen him throw overboard, and says, "I want you to go to this crockery store. And ask for this person."
Junhong squints at the paper in his too-big hands. "Y... Yoon...g?" He's learned a lot of things in his life so far, but letters still escape him most of the time.
"His name is Youngjae," the Captain says. "Yoo Youngjae. He was a kitchenhand some years back. Tell him I want him on board."
Junhong's eyes go round. "On board? You mean we won't be eating at the Tavern anymore? We'll be eating on the boat?"
The Captain grins a gummy grin. "We'll eat at the Tavern one last time tonight for old times' sake. But it'll be a little hard to take with us out to sea."
Out to sea.
The words ring in Junhong's mind as he trots through the streets, running intermittently when the adrenaline of it all becomes too much for his nerves. Out to sea. Finally, right? He's never left land before, not really, since just being on a docked boat doesn't really count.
Out to sea is where his parents aren't. Even if he hasn't been with them for nearly a year already, they've always theoretically been reachable. He could always have, in theory, turned tail and run back to them at any time.
But that won't be an option from tomorrow. The thought makes him dizzy with excitement and maybe just a little bit of childish fear. He's seventeen, though. He can do this.
He hopes this Youngjae person will be interesting. Because he doesn't think he'll be getting much sleep tonight.
*
"And you can't call me by title anymore," says Himchan. "And you can't treat me any different from anyone else."
Jongup makes a noncommittal noise. It's pretty clear that Himchan's eyes are lit up at the very idea of it all, though. Of being a normal person.
Being normal isn't all it's cracked up to be, Jongup thinks. But then again, he's never been anything but to compare it with. (Or so he thinks. He's been told otherwise, but what would anyone else know about the business of being Moon Jongup. He is, by all of his own standards, incredibly utilitarian.)
"I like this boat," Himchan decides. "It even smells like fresh varnish and paint. Very tidy. Small crew-skeleton for this boat size, I'm guessing?" He nods to himself. "It means we shall have to pull our weight, but that's hardly going to be an issue. Well done, Jongup. Well chosen. That Captain isn't a bad looker, either. Not a thing unkempt or unshaven in sight. I approve."
Jongup readies the ropes and does a boatswain's checks. They're going to cast off as soon as the Captain returns from some last minute errands, and as soon as they cast of it will be a holiday in Jongupland. It isn't that Himchan is a handful to mind, as far as targets go in Jongup's occupation-he can count the number of attempted abductions on only one hand, so it's not many-it's just... the responsibility...
If Himchan happens to die out at sea, well. Nobody will be around to hear him scream. And Jongup's relatively certain he is capable of clearing any witnesses if necessary.
Not that it will be necessary, of course. Jongup is relatively certain.
*
The Captain comes back from his errands, which had, apparently included helping to roll a couple of large kegs for a person who Himchan thinks has the air of a Quartermaster. (Youngjae, Himchan thinks he recalls the name?) A reliable-looking person, unlike the gangly-tall cabin boy who is far more wide-eyed than worldly.
Himchan watches them secure their supplies, and check over the ship one last time from tip to tail, readying her for castoff.
He thinks about how he isn't going to have anything to do with land for a good long time to come-six months at least, or maybe a year. Two, if he can get away with it. It will all depend on how long his parents can be kept preoccupied for, and (perhaps or) how long he can run unfound. There could, in theory, be rather a great many people looking for him (for, in theory, a rather great amount of money), but he isn't about to dwell down that route at present.
At present, there's not a cloud in the sky, a gentle breeze fills the sails of the ship he's going to start calling home for a while, and Jongup is making fast friends with the gangly-tall deckhand. The name's Zelo, apparently.
They've started climbing the rigging like monkeys.
"Careful!" Himchan calls up, not because he wouldn't know what to do with himself if Jongup fell and, god forbid, died, okay, he would be just fine, but he has grown strangely sentimentally attached to Jongup's presence by his side over the years. It wouldn't do to lose him to some silly acrobatics on day one.
Jongup doesn't even spare him a glance down.
Himchan huffs to himself, a little unhappy at the slight. Okay, so he'd told Jongup to treat him like everyone else, but still, some common courtesy-!
"Something the matter, Princess?" comes the soft voice somewhere by Himchan's ear.
Himchan's ears flame immediately and acutely bright red. "I am not a princess and even if you are Captain of this boat, you have no right at all to address me as such!"
He decidedly leaves out the fact that, as their kingdom's actual Princess, his older sister has whupped many an insolent ass for demeaning use of her title in the past. And, boy, can she whup ass.
The Captain looks amused, eyes crinkling and an unreasonable amount of gum showing when he smiles. "I guess... if you stopped loitering in the shade and actually helped hoist the sails with the rest of us, I might call you something else. But, as it stands..."
"You could have simply requested my assistance," Himchan blusters, simultaneously indignant and annoyed at himself for being caught out at this civilian business already. He wipes his palms on his, semi-itchy, low-weave count trousers and strides out into the sun. He's not afraid of a tan. So what if it's a little bit warm. He can do this. He-
Abruptly, he realises he has no idea at all what to do. He's learned navigation during his studies, of course, by the sun and the stars both; learned the winds and the waves and their wiles thoroughly, and studying maps, but... all just in theory. The handful of times he'd toured Royal Navy vessels and watched their crew set up, the ships had all always been much, much larger and more complex...
What's there even to do on a boat as small as the one they've got?
"Assistance requested here, please," says the Captain from the end of a long rope. Himchan follows the line of it up directly into the sun-backed mast, and sees Jongup toiling with that lanky deckhand at its other side. Himchan squints back down the rope. The Captain still has that stupid little grin on and Himchan can tell he's just-
"You're mocking me, aren't you!" he accuses, striding over to where the Captain stands and picking up the very end of the rope, pulling on it when the Captain pulls-not because he's been requested to work, mind, but because, for a supposed seaman of the wildest waters, this Captain looks like he has avian bones and will blow away at the slightest turn of a strong wind.
With Himchan's weight to anchor them to deck, they get the ropes secured taut in no time.
*
Down in the galley, Youngjae hears laughter. He lets it go in one ear and out the other while chopping up carrots and thinking about tax free entitlements. There's really only two reasons he's aboard this boat.
One: tax-free entitlements for him and his brother, and their small, burgeoning crockery business.
Two: free berth and provisions abord a ship where he won't be thrown overboard, plus free storage space for any crockery he should choose to purchase at various ports and ferry back home.
Not a bad deal. In fact, a very good deal. This is because Youngjae only makes plays for good deals. If he has to cook a little here and there, place a little oakum or amputate a few limbs, it's no skin off his nose. If he also has to turn a blind eye to the uselessness of certain other last-minute additional crew members, he can do what needs to be done.
The country-bumpkin-deckhand-riggingmonkey-cabinboy who calls himself Zelo is pretty cute, too, and not, unlike said other last-minute crew members, a thoroughly obnoxious and irritating human being.
But where unique tax concessions are involved, power must necessarily be, and Youngjae isn't stupid. He knows who the power is on board this ship and it's not quite the Captain, though the Captain is certainly in a class of his own in many other ways.
Silence is silence, though, and Youngjae isn't stupid. He'll just keep his head down and chop up a couple more leeks while he's at it. He didn't get to where he is, or anywhere near it, tax breaks and all, after all, by breaking promises and talking conspiracy theories. He can enjoy the simple things. Like a tax-free life.
And maybe, if the night is fine, a night out under the stars with that country cabinboy after everyone else has gone to bed, talking about everything else and nothing in particular at all.
Maybe. (Maybe not. He'll see if he feels like it later.)
*
It takes approximately four weeks for Yongguk and Himchan to stop calling each other Captain and Princess (face to face. In truth, behind each others' backs takes a little longer but it becomes more fondness than stiff titles and arm's-length mocking-or so Himchan thinks).
It takes roughly another month again for Himchan to wear in his scratchy, low-weave count trousers and reconcile with the fact that, even if he jumps at every chance they get to climb overboard and submerge himself in seawater on calm and balmy days (where there aren't any sharks), and wash his clothes in an effort to get rid of that sweaty smell, it's not the same as taking an actual bath, and his hair is never going to be the same again so long as there is no actual fresh water to wash with.
Rainwater is sadly not to be wasted on baths.
Himchan does quite miss the Palace's relatively reliable (and modern!) plumbing systems amongst other things, but there's been more than enough adventure and first-time experiences out at sea to make the trade-off (so far) worthwhile.
The first time they'd encountered another boat, it had been a foreign trading vessel from the East. And Himchan had managed to drudge up dusty lessons from the corners of his mind and speak passably in their language-had managed to trade a barrel of salt for a small load of dried fruits; a large bag of jerky for a bolt of silk. (Had, he thinks, managed to gain a bit of that savvy little Quartermaster's respect. Maybe. A little.)
And now their scratchy hammocks are all silk-lined, which is a great thing to think about even when Himchan doesn't actually feel like sleeping.
"What are you doing?" Himchan asks, climbing up onto deck. The stars have long been out, the anchor long dropped, and below deck the three younger crew members snore soundly.
Bang Yongguk grunts. "Sleeping is a waste of time."
"But are you reading-?" Himchan persists. "I didn't know we had books on board."
Yongguk still doesn't look up. "I make it a point to bring three with me each leg of the journey. They will be sold at the next port and I'll buy there more. My sight is not great, but reading is a necessary skill to practice."
"Did it ever occur to you that the reason you have bad eyesight might be because you read by moonlight?" Himchan says archly, but leans over Yongguk's shoulder anyway.
"It's a full moon," Yongguk says stubbornly. "...You're casting a shadow..."
"I've read this one," Himchan announces, and stands back. Sits down. "It ends badly."
Yongguk closes the book with a pointed frown. "Tales of war generally do."
Himchan pats the deck beside him. It's not so late yet, or cold, that the wood has been sapped of all its sun-baked warmth. "Lie down with me. Rest a bit. I'll tell you a better story."
"I'll have heard it," Yongguk says stubbornly, but does settle back with his precious book tucked securely behind his head.
"No, you won't," Himchan says confidently. "Or if you have, I'll know another."
Yongguk actually chuckles a little bit at that, and Himchan grins because, for one, laughter is infectious, but also there's a tiny thought in the back of his mind that maybe this is what it feels like to have... a friend...
Someone who isn't being nice because of rank or station. Someone who isn't going to just tolerate Himchan's presence because it's royal. Someone who is... someone.
Himchan thinks he likes this new direction.
*
Jongup stares off into the middle-distant sky over his toes, feet propped on the edge of the crows nest, listening to the sound of Himchan's voice. He had left his blankets all in a lump on his hammock for some peace and quiet, because even at night Zelo mumbles in his sleep (and sometimes Himchan even replies)... but this isn't so bad either.
It had been okay with just Yongguk out, reading. It had been peaceful and silent, with just the occasional wave lapping at the side of their boat for sound. But then Himchan had come up and...
There's talking; occasional laughing; exclamations over Yongguk's quiet replies.
It's a one-man noise show, but not so bad.
Jongup doesn't think he's heard Himchan sound so relaxed in years. The timbre of his voice is low and soothing when he returns to his stories, almost melodious, lacking any stiff tension, and... it's nice, in its own way. Like the waves. Pleasant.
Jongup finds himself dozing under the moonlight, which is also pleasant but as soon as the night chill sets in he's the one who's going to be stiff in the morning. He wonders if he can head back down without being heard, but the night is really very quiet...
At length, Himchan's steady tales become a disjointed mumble, then lapse into silence, and when Jongup finally stands to peer down onto deck he can see Himchan curled on his side with an arm around Yongguk's waist, his legs curled around Yongguk's legs, his head resting light on Yongguk's shoulder. He seems to be snoring softly.
Jongup figures going unnoticed won't be a problem anymore.
Yongguk hears him as soon as the ropes move, but that's okay. Jongup's feet land quietly on deck and Yongguk looks up at him, upside down.
"You needn't worry," Yongguk says, his own voice low and calm, the remnants of a smile lingering on his face. "You can leave us here with a clear conscience. I'm not going to kill him."
Jongup pauses. Smiles a little himself, in appreciation, maybe, and a little disbelief, as he pads across the deck. He shakes his head. And takes his leave.
*
"I like this life," Himchan says, another night without preamble. But that's okay. Preamble is for two-way conversation anyway, and this is more a pop quiz for Jongup. Or, a mini-interrogation to determine correct courses of action. "Do you? You don't get bored, do you? Does Youngjae hit you too much? Is it too much work?" He watches Jongup's face carefully out of the corner of his eye.
Jongup shrugs and takes a while to reply. Himchan knows what he's probably thinking. He's probably thinking that he's a bodyguard and it's not any of his business liking or hating anything. But Himchan's expecting a reply. He waits. At length, Jongup says, "I like the quiet. It's not bad." And that's a real answer.
Himchan's smile feels soft on his face-the gooey type-not that he had needed Jongup's approval, but, of course it's nice to have, and... it really isn't bad. Out here. Himchan thinks he'd like to stay. "Yeah."
*
"By the way, we're completely out of food in about three days," Youngjae says casually at lunch, because he likes dropping bombs like this. After roughly six months with the same company, day in, day out, he's learned they garner great reactions.
"What?" Zelo gasps. "Isn't that horrible? Aren't we like, nowhere?"
"Why didn't you say something earlier?" Himchan demands. "We've managed to properly budget for and ration out every other amount of food from previous ports; why is this time different!"
Youngjae treats the question as rhetorical. He's hardly going to say, after all, that his stores of crockery have been growing, diminishing space for supplies. That's not even it-there have been supplies kept in his glazed pots.
Yongguk shrugs. "Humans can survive without eating for a while. As long as we still have water..."
They do have water, of course, because rainwater baths are forbidden. But, "Fish would be nice, too," Youngjae says mildly. "We haven't had any since the last time Jongup caught a shark." Fish are also a pleasant source of non-salty sustenance.
Jongup doesn't say anything into his bowl of jerky congee.
"What if I keep my eye out for a fishing vessel, or another boat that might have supplies we can share," Zelo says brightly. He wolfs down the rest of his own congee and bolts out the galley door.
"Take a hat up to that crows nest!" Himchan yells after him. "Don't dehydrate yourself!"
"I did just say we still have water," Youngjae says just to be contrary.
Himchan huffs. "That's entirely besides the point. That boy has delicate skin, like mine. He'll burn."
It had occurred to Youngjae many weeks ago that the priorities aboard this ship were rather... not straight.
Boats at sea that weren't Royal Navy, merchant or commercial vessels, so far as Youngjae had been aware, were supposed to be... rougher. Pirates, Youngjae had thought, or perhaps more technically boats drifting illegally in Royal waters that contain people who do not contribute to society or pay taxes were supposed to be more of a savage, opportunistic bunch. In fact, one of the clauses Youngjae had stipulated in his sign-up contract had been that he would not need to become involved in the violence, should it occur.
He clearly hadn't had to worry about that.
All they've done so far is drift, trade with other ships, drift, barter at port, drift, and occasionally chart onto paper the coastlines that Himchan and Yongguk didn't recognise. And, by some stroke of incredible luck, they have managed to avoid the actual savage pirates out there.
Because there isn't a weapon in sight on Bang Yongguk's boat. No cannons in the hold, no gunpowder stores. No swords otherwise strapped to the persons aboard. In fact, Jongup had taken down the aforementioned shark with a length of rope and a sharpened stick (which, actually, had made Youngjae hold his skills in even higher regard).
"Jongup!" Himchan says. "Catch us another shark!" Like it's that easy. Like Jongup isn't an actual genius by being able to do this, possibly repeatedly. Youngjae scoffs.
Jongup finishes up his congee and sets the bowl aside. And then he leaves the galley much like Zelo had done before, except without saying anything.
"Guess he's going to catch another shark," Youngjae says.
"Jongup's good like that," Himchan agrees, and Youngjae kind of wonders where Himchan actually gets off talking in that manner about another person, but then remembers that this is Himchan and really, this boat might actually technically be his boat.
Not that Himchan seems to know it.
Youngjae's still not an idiot. He's not going to say it. "Going to help him?" he asks instead.
"Me?" Himchan looks startled. "No, why would I? Jongup is the best shark catcher I know."
A part of Youngjae's brain sidesteps the proper route at that reply, making him crack up laughing. "The best... shark catcher... you know..." He laughs until his tummy hurts. Maybe there are shark catchers out there, what would Youngjae know? Maybe competitive shark catching is a thing in the world Himchan comes from. Youngjae's just a kid with a vested interest in ceramic pots.
"...this boat is full of idiots," the Captain says with resigned finality, setting the rest of his congee aside and leaving the table. Youngjae keeps laughing.
"Bang Yongguk, finish your food!" Himchan shouts out the door. "Just because we're running low on supplies doesn't give you license to eat less than you already do-!"
"Idiots," Youngjae tries to breathe. Tries.
He fails, and ends up laughing some more.
*
The shark catching operation isn't actually a success, to nobody's actual surprise except Himchan's own. Bang Yongguk has been acquainted before with false hope in the eyes and lives of comrades past, but none quite so convicted as Kim Himchan's. But then, Himchan isn't a run of the mill kind of man.
"Bang Yongguk, your maps, please!" Himchan demands. He's dragged Yongguk below deck for an Emergency Meeting, so a meeting they're going to have.
"I've already plotted our shortest course," Yongguk says, because he's been the ship's Sailing Master until now, but he gets the maps out from his locked chest anyway. Speaking honestly, he's unfamiliar with their current area and another pair of eyes couldn't hurt.
Himchan waits with his hands on his hips as Yongguk dumps the rolls of maps on his work table. "There is always a better way. And given our current other options include continuing on our current rations and arriving at port half starved; or halving our current rations and living very hungrily for a week, I am going to find that better way!"
"Have you traveled this area before?" Yongguk asks, because Himchan is a man of surprises. He has, actually, managed to tell Yongguk stories he's never previously heard. Yongguk can appreciate this in a shipmate.
Himchan selects the map of their current area with a pout, and rolls it out onto the table with his thick-fingered hands, pressing it down. Yongguk can't quite remember if Himchan's hands have always looked so weathered or if it's just been since they've been on this boat together. It's been a while, after all. Half a year at sea is nothing to scoff at. "No, but I have always made it a point to be familiar with my... territory." He squints at the map with his small black eyes and Yongguk watches him. Watches the gears tick over in his head.
Territory. A pleasant way to put it.
"This map is the same as the ones used by the Royal Navy," Himchan says at length, sounding not so much confused as vaguely grim about his findings. He continues anyway: "As such, its off-limit areas are marked with much larger ships in mind. Our hull is shallower, so we can shave time off around this cape, and cut through the coral reefs around this one. Furthermore, we can cut past this island entirely. The new bridge built to connect it to the mainland last year should be high enough that we can fit under it at low tide. Then we can also take advantage of the night winds in that area, since you don't care to sleep ever..."
Yongguk thinks to himself that there is probably a very decent amount of information inside of Himchan's head that a real pirate ship could make very good use of. It's probably just as well that they're on the same side. The thought tugs a little smile onto his mouth. And he says, to cover for it, "You're more than just a pretty face, huh."
Himchan turns immediately and predictably indignant. These reactions are tried and true by now, and Yongguk finds that he finds them... endearing. "I am so much more than just a pretty face, Bang Yongguk. So much more you don't even know!"
"I know," Yongguk says. It comes oddly soft out of his own mouth-fonder than usual.
Himchan gives him a strange look. "No, you don't..."
Yongguk laughs. "But what if I do?"
It's meant to be funny, just a little routine teasing, but Himchan doesn't laugh. His face takes on a troubled expression and he's quiet, almost sullen for the rest of the evening.
Yongguk observes this and at the end of the night decides that, even if humans can survive without eating for a while, he has his own reasons for wanting to hit their next port early.
*
"Oranges," Himchan says firmly, hands on hips. "We have to get plenty of oranges and lemons and fresh things, or you'll all get scurvy and then what? I'd sooner make Jongup throw you overboard than nurse you back to health."
Youngjae looks at Yongguk. Yongguk shrugs as Himchan stalks past them all and out of the cabin having said his piece. Youngjae shrugs himself and adds five oranges to the end of his shopping list in careful, scratchy letters. Five oranges, and five lemons just for good measure. He'll soak them in honey, thinly sliced. (But if anyone annoys him, they'll be eating theirs whole.)
"...buy what you like," Yongguk says. "Within budget." And takes his leave from the room in Himchan's wake.
"Why do we have to listen to Himchan?" Zelo whispers, careful because even ship walls sometimes have ears and he's learned the hard way about being quiet when it matters. Youngjae has taught him.
How to reply, though? Youngjae purses his lips. Sometimes ship politics are thick and tumultuous. (Not really. Not onboard the Mercy, anyway.) "Himchan might not be Captain, but he holds the drawstrings to the Captain's breeches," he says. There. A technically correct, satisfactory answer.
Zelo's only response is to scrunch up his nose.
Youngjae laughs.
*
"Where did Yongguk go?" Himchan demands. "We always go shopping together after docking!" It's not like he needs Yongguk around to carry his bags or anything like that; their relationship isn't that kind, but he has a healthy respect for tradition and also what would they all do if Yongguk got lost? Who would keep Himchan from murdering his shipmates then?
Youngjae shrugs. "I don't know. Probably snuck off to see a girl or something. He was pretty adamant about getting to this particular port in this particular timeframe. Instead of, you know, scrounging for coconuts on a desert island or something."
"Coconuts are nutritious," Himchan says, frowning automatically. He crosses his arms. Yongguk with a girl? Yongguk with a girl? Himchan's never asked about it and Yongguk's never said, but... now that he thinks about it, it stands to reason.
Of course a gentle idiot like Yongguk would have girls-perhaps even lots of girls, all with poor and terrible taste in men-at various ports here and there. They're docking for two days at this one. What if Yongguk spends that whole time away and comes back with bedhead and smelling like sex? What if Himchan then feels like using him to chum the water for sharks for Jongup's next exploits?
What if Himchan actually has the poorest and most terrible taste in men of all?
Himchan pauses because, no, those are silly thoughts. His taste is and always has been exemplary. He frowns some more.
"Are you alright?" Youngjae asks, more out of obligation than any actual caring. Himchan knows this because he knows Youngjae by now. All Youngjae ever wants to do is buy crockery and kiss Zelo. (This is an unfair evaluation of his character, at best, and patently untrue in reality. But it can't be helped. Himchan is annoyed.)
"I'm not alright," Himchan decides, because he's annoyed and when he's annoyed nothing is alright. "I'm taking Jongup shopping. I'm going to buy you all food. Except for Yongguk. He isn't going to get any because he's not here."
*
While Himchan buys lemons and oranges, Jongup defends his purse strings from pickpockets at least twice. But that's easy fare. He's been countering pickpockets and street urchins since he was twelve.
"Do you think Zelo would prefer strawberry or pickle flavour?" Himchan asks, holding out the two boiled sweets options. Jongup picks the pickles without too much thought. (Himchan buys both anyway.)
Tomorrow, Zelo and Youngjae will do the actual shopping and Himchan and Jongup will stay behind to mind the Mercy.
If Jongup is honest, he'll be relieved to get back to the boat. Not just because Himchan's stress-spending will no longer be an issue. (Jongup's lost count of the number of rings from his personal collection that Himchan has traded and bartered for gold and goods.) It's just that, it's been a while since he's had to be quite so on-edge with regard to threats. There are a thousand ways to kill a man on land, in a busy market square.
And it's three days before the supposed end of Operation Escape.
That's actually what's bothering him the most. Rogues and anti-Royalists are standard fare, but an official (and determined) Prince Retrieval Operation by the Palace cohort is not something he's personally equipped to deal with alone. (Even if Jongup is also determined.) He's not actually sure what he would, should or could do in the event that Himchan were summoned back to his parents.
The glimpse of a man with a white towel tied on his head, farmer-style, catches Jongup's eye. He thinks the same mand had also been by the water when they'd docked, but upon craning his neck to get a better look Himchan says, "Jongup, hold these watermelons for me," and suddenly his arms are loaded with fruit.
Jongup scowls and mentally scales down his area of interest. He'll settle for direct threats and Himchan's purse strings for now. At least that much is still manageable without the use of his arms.
"What's the matter?" Himchan asks, looking surprised. "I thought you liked watermelon."
"Yeah," Jongup says, turning his attention back to the one real issue at hand. Himchan. "I do."
Himchan grins. "I knew it!"
*
They return without event. The next day, so does Zelo and Youngjae. That night, so does Yongguk.
"Jongup, a word when you have time," says Yongguk lowly. Himchan isn't in their immediate vicinity, but water carries sound and he'd rather not take any chances.
Jongup nods and doesn't reply aloud at all, continuing to coil the ropes from cast off. Yongguk leaves him be.
*
"Where is everyone?" Himchan asks the mast. It doesn't answer, but that's okay. By everyone he really just means Jongup and Yongguk anyway-Zelo is in the galley with Youngjae being taught how to peel oranges without lifting his knife from the rind. It's messy business, which Himchan wants nothing to do with.
But, Jongup. Jongup isn't in the crows nest, isn't port or starboard, fore or aft up on deck, or in his hammock, and, since the hold is currently utterly full of crockery and supplies, it means he can really only be in the other cabin-the inner cabin, the Captain's cabin.
It's not that Himchan needs to know what they're doing in there, it's just that he really, really wants to. He steps up to the door, careful to avoid each creaky board that he's come to learn will give him away. And then, he waits. For a sound, for a thud or a laugh or anything that would give him the excuse needed to barge in and join the fun...
Instead, he hears his name in low tones. His title. Operation E, whatever that is. The words, A little longer.
He stands there, staring at the door and the hand he's got pressed to it, waiting for... What, again? He stands there still listening as his heart begins to thud into a dull roar, washing out the quiet waves beneath them all.
So much for secrets.
Yongguk knows. Yongguk's in on it and has been all along and-
That's... really all Himchan needs to find out. He turns-stubs his toe, cursing a bit through the tears sprung to his eyes. But they've already cast off and there's nowhere to actually go. The crows nest is too high, the deck is too exposed.
Climbing into his silk-lined hammock, Himchan curls up as small as he can and pulls his blanket tight all around him.
There's silence from the Captain's berth, or maybe it's just that he can't hear anything anymore.
*
Yongguk stops talking at what sounds like a dull thud against the outer cabin wall. "...ah," he says.
"Yeah," Jongup agrees. "That was him."
Yongguk sighs, but the sun is sinking and the chill night winds are starting to blow. In order to take advantage of them and get as far away from port as they can, as soon as possible, he and Jongup need to man the sails and rudder. Yongguk decides that Himchan can wait. It's not as if he'll go anywhere. And it's probably best not to touch a smoking volcano immediately anyway. He catches Jongup's sidelong glance. "I'll... deal with it in the morning..."
Jongup nods and stands to leave and, true to perfect form, says nothing about the matter at all.
*
The sea is calm, the boat is steady. Land is nowhere in sight, and the three younger crew members are playing in the rigging. Apparently, Youngjae has thought up a new game. Bang Yongguk gives their Quartermaster silent and eternal thanks for being able to entertain children. He keeps his voice low and presses the cabin door shut behind him. "Himchan."
Himchan remains, from last night, a rockish lump in the lower hammock. "Go away."
Yongguk sighs again. He's been sighing a lot about matters involving Himchan lately. He's not actually sure why. "Not this time. Where is there to go." It's a rhetorical question, of course.
A corner of Himchan's blanket peels back to reveal one baleful eye, red-rimmed and only a quarter homicidal. Himchan's glare is weaker than Yongguk had been expecting. That's something, perhaps. "I hate you."
Or not. Yongguk can understand that though. Carefully, carefully, he sits on the hammock's edge, keeping his feet on the cabin floor. His legs are as skinny as they've ever been, but remain stable enough. "I'm sorry," he says. "For deceiving you."
The open corner of Himchan's blanket pulls back down, reverting him into a blanketed potato. "I hate you," Himchan mutters, soft, though Yongguk can hear him anyway. The blanket isn't thick. He can see the curve of Himchan's spine; the strong notches in it; the minute shift of Himchan's head-shape when he (probably) brushes the hair out of his eyes before settling again. His voice turns petulant. "I thought you were my friend."
"I am your friend," Yongguk says, in truth. It's not hard. He's never found saying the truth particularly hard. "What's changed?"
"The fact," Himchan says, "that I now know that you know who I really am, and therefore know you'd have felt obliged to be nice to me just like everyone else in the stupid world!"
Yongguk laughs. Not for the first time, he wonders just how a guy with as much intelligence as Himchan has can be so inconceivably dumb.
"Hey! I'm being serious here!" Himchan snaps, sitting up suddenly. The hammock rocks.
Yongguk stops laughing when he nearly falls off.
Himchan, that asswipe, cracks the faintest vindictive grin...
"You are an idiot," Yongguk says with derision. "I could have tripped you overboard anytime if I'd really wanted, and disposed of the evidence. I could have cold-shouldered you and it wouldn't have made a difference out here at sea. Nobody else is here. Nobody else would have seen it."
Himchan's lips are pursed, a frown on his face. For once, he doesn't say anything.
Yongguk takes this opportunity to continue: "You wouldn't have lasted a single night on a real pirate's ship, you know. Or sleeping under the stars on the run, and yet you still did want to run. What else was Jongup to do? I don't regret helping him out."
Himchan's jaw works.
Yongguk continues. "A few years from now, when you settle down with a wife and take ownership of land and a title, maybe you'll remember this time fondly and-"
That brings Himchan's voice right back.
"I have never wanted a wife! Or a title," Himchan glowers, tumultuous fire in his black eyes. Yongguk considers this. "All I want is..." The fire dies. "To stay here... on this stupid boat..." Himchan crumples, shoulders sagging. "With you... Like, I mean, you guys."
Yongguk considers this some more. "...you really feel that." A statement. But it... soothes an edge in Yongguk's own heart, too, to know that this isn't just some passing fancy for Himchan; not just a Royal Whim.
"I actually do really feel everything I've ever said aloud, unlike some people, you know!" Himchan huffs, for some reason really indignant about this slight to his pride.
For some reason, Yongguk smiles.
"Is something funny to you, Bang Yongguk?" Himchan demands. "It's not actually easy, you know, having to be perfect for the court all the time! Even when you're me! The amount of bootlickers I have to deal with-daily-who are just waiting for me to make a mistake so they can trash me behind my back, or to the faction that supports my sister's ascension-It's not the slightest bit funny at all!"
"No, I just..." Yongguk isn't sure what he 'just'. But it's making him smile more and more. Lately. Now. He scratches the back of his head. Shrugs a little. "Well, whatever. You're... welcome to stay on this boat... with me... for as long as you like."
Himchan's black eyes narrow. "Isn't there a time limit, though? I know my parents! If you and Jongup organised this whole escapade with them; if the Navy itself is in on it, then there must be one. What is it? Six months? A year?"
Yongguk clears his throat. "Well... six months... was thought to have been the limit of your patience for sleeping in hammocks and bathing in saltwater..."
Himchan fumes, the grip on his blankets white-knuckled. "They underestimate my resolve! And my mettle. I'll show them. If it comes down to it, I'll go without washing for a month! Three months, even!"
Himchan's indignance makes Yongguk laugh. "Nobody wants that. You sweat like a horse in summer."
"Horses sweat, Bang Yongguk!" Himchan corrects. "Men perspire." He pauses, uncertain. "...hasn't it already been six months, though? Wasn't that last night? It was the full moon again..."
Yongguk shrugs, supposing he can afford to explain a few more things while they're at the business of airing laundry. "...last port... When Youngjae was saying I had a girl... I was actually finding the messenger to your parents..."
Himchan looks scandalized. "I'm not sure which option I'd have preferred to believe. Why have you been babysitting me to such an extent? Have you been giving them reports? Monthly digests?"
Yongguk laughs again. "No, I just...! Had to get a message out... that I'd be keeping you a little longer. That the rendezvous wasn't going to happen. That's why I was glad you could chart us a course that made landfall a little earlier than necessary... It probably saved us a run-in with the Palace cohort."
Himchan frowns, head-gears all but visibly turning. "Wait, you were going to hand me back over to my parents? They wanted you to, right? Wait, are you now a princenapper-?"
"Am I, if you're here by choice...?" Yongguk asks pointedly.
"It was not an informed choice, so yes, I would say it definitely qualifies as princenapping!" Himchan huffs. "Though now that I have lent ear to the events that have transpired, I shall choose to allow my royal person to remain in your keep, as you so indelicately put it, for a little longer."
Yongguk smiles. "Then... I gratefully accept any time you will offer me."
*
"What are they trying to say?" Zelo whispers, confused. "It's like, it's bad but it's not?"
"Pretty sure they're just trying to avoid the fact they're in desperate like with each other," Youngjae states.
Jongup casually thuds his heel back against the cabin wall. It has the intended effect.
"Jongup!" Himchan barks through the door. "I know you're out there!"
Jongup shrugs at Zelo and Youngjae, who shuffle back out view of the cabin door. "Guess that's my cue. Later, guys."
*
"Explain yourself," Himchan demands, as Jongup settles himself on Youngjae's hammock across the small cabin. He pulls his legs up and crosses them. "You said you knew of a guy, and it happened to be this-?" He gestures at Yongguk, who has reverted to ignoring proceedings and fiddling with a pocket compass. Typical.
Jongup shrugs. "My hyung worked at the docks."
"So, whose boat is this?" Himchan demands. Pop quiz time.
"It's a decommissioned Royal Navy scout ship."
"Was it sold to Yongguk?"
"Given."
"Why?"
Jongup glances Yongguk's way, but the Captain seems to have turned into a mushroom. Or maybe Jongup just doesn't understand because he's never found compasses very interesting. "It was a charitable donation to the program he worked for, helping inland children learn ship skills."
"I'm on leave from the Navy," Yongguk mutters. "Personal reasons."
Himchan pinches the bridge of his nose. "...Jongup. One last thing."
Jongup waits.
"Explain yourself."
An easier question than Jongup had thought. "My job has always been to protect you. Not to tell you what to do. Just to make sure you always stay safe doing what you want." He shrugs again.
"I see," Himchan says. "I'm sorry. Thank you."
Jongup jerks up and stares. He's not sure he's ever heard Himchan say words like that his whole life.
"Don't look at me like that!" Himchan blusters. "You're dismissed! Get out!" His cheeks are red and beside him Yongguk is grinning again.
Youngjae, Jongup thinks, is probably right about the desperate like. He says, just because he can, "I don't have to take orders from you while we're out here, though. You said so yourself."
"Moon Jongup!" Himchan lunges.
Jongup laughs and takes his leave. Not because he has to, mind, but because Yongguk is laughing and holding Himchan back with a strong hug and Himchan looks surprised and delighted all at once and, really, Jongup doesn't think he needes to see what happens next.
*
"What if I have to go back one day?" Himchan asks, later, under the stars. They lean against the banisters, side by side.
Yongguk hums. "You'll probably have to..."
Himchan sighs. "Would you come with me?"
Yongguk chuckles. "Maybe."
Himchan looks surprised. "What? Really? Return to military life? Or get a job in the courts? With your mind, they'd easily be able to find one for you, you know..."
Yongguk grins. "Well... either that, or maybe I'd stay out here. And visit every now and again. Let you know we're in port, you know? So you can run away again if you ever feel like coming with me."
Himchan scowls, but there's no irritation behind it. No malice. It's just a scowl. "Don't even joke about that, Bang Yongguk."
Yongguk smiles.
"You know I'd go with you every time."