The Island Prince (Seventeen VerKwan story)

Chapter 6 - The Long Road Back

A/N: The only thing that keeps me motivated to get up and go to work is that I get paid next week and I can finally get a new laptop.

Btw, this chapter is basically a summary of their way back to Carat Kingdom. Since this was the part in the movie with that ICONIC song 'I Need To Know', but I didn't want to make a musical out of my fanfic so I made these small scenes up instead. Enjoy ^^

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'This is the sail.'

'The sail?'

'Yup. It uses the wind's power to make the ship go.'

'That's amazing!'

Seokmin was currently showing Kwan around the ship, explaining him how everything works, simplified enough for him to understand. The island boy was really thankful for it, and seeing his amusement made Seokmin's smile even wider - if that's even possible.

They had some problems when they had to get on the ship since Hoshi couldn't swim, but Jun took another turn with the small boat and got everyone safely over onto the ship.

Kwan stood at the back of the ship, watching as they slowly started drifting away from the island - his island. He basically spent his whole life there, and he never would've imagined that he'll ever go back to society. He felt sad about leaving, but at the same time he was really excited. He thought about what he was about to do: find his family, discover his roots. This quickly cheered him up. He'll find his family. He knew that he will.

'How do you like it?' someone leaned on the railing next to him. Kwan bit his lip to fight back a smile at the thought of the other boy and turned to Hansol.

'I can't thank you for this enough' he said seriously. Hansol just stared back at him, then nodded. They didn't need to say more. Then Kwan turned his attention back at the ship.

'This is so cool! Humans are so smart for making stuff like this!' he said excitedly, currently studying the railing of the ship. Hansol smiled to himself amused. The glint in the boy's eyes fascinated him. And also the fact that he was talking like if he wasn't a human himself.

'It's going to take a few days to get back to Carat Kingdom. Actually we've been travelling for weeks now.'

'Weeks? What's a week?'

'Uh, it's kinda how we count time? Seven days is a week. How come you know what a day is but don't know what a week is?' asked Hansol.

'Maybe because I know when the day starts and when it ends, but I have no reason to count them' shrugged Kwan.

'Understandable' nodded Hansol. The ship was slowly drifting on the waves of the sea.

'Look, my friends!' gasped Kwan, leaning onto the railing as he started waving. Hansol followed the other's gaze and he could see three dolphins swimming and jumping in the sea in the sunlight. They started making dolphin sounds seeing Kwan. Hansol smiled unknowingly.

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'What is he doing?' wondered Jun.

It was past midnight. It's been almost four days since they left the island. Out of the crew it was only Jun and Hansol awake, the others went to sleep. They will switch at around 2 am as always.

Hansol looked up from his sitting position and followed the older's gaze. Kwan was climbing up on one of the ropes, then made himself comfortable between the sails as if he was sitting on a tree, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

'He's going to fall down' said Jun. Hansol was still staring at Kwan.

'He spent his whole life on an island where he slept on trees. I don't think he'll fall' he said finally. The two of them were looking up at the sleeping boy while Jun was also holding onto the steering wheel. Finally the older looked at Hansol.

'You are whipped for him already' he grinned. Hansol snapped out of his thoughts at that.

'What?! No, I'm not!'

'You can't deny it, I can see it. It's the same look on your face that Mingyu gives to Wonwoo.'

Hansol bit his bottom lip and looked down, playing with the sleeves of his shirt.

'I can't, hyung. Like yeah, he is so cute and everything but we just met him. And we just got him from an island where he grew up. I can't just attack him with stuff like relationships. And I can't fall for him.' Jun just hummed.

'You know, I can see some similarities between Mingyu and you' he said finally.

'How so?' asked Hansol absently.

'Both of you are terribly dumb when it's about your crushes.'

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It was almost midday when the ship was slowly nearing the dock. People were already there, waiting for the crown prince and his crew to arrive back.

'Niiiiceee' said Dino sitting on Hoshi's back.

'They are just like me!' said Kwan excitedly.

'There's so many of them! Imagine this many tigers!' said Hoshi, making them chuckle while Kwan picked up Hao so he won't lose the tiny frog.

A chirping bird was flying above the ship. He looked down for a second just to see a tiger standing in the front of the ship. He was so surprised that he didn't see the sail that was right in front of him and managed to fly straight into it. His smol body started falling down as he couldn't hold himself up in the air after the impact. He landed right in front of Kwan's legs.

'Oh no' the boy gasped and crouched down. He picked up the bird in his palm. It stood back on his tiny legs and waved his small wings. He was fine.

'You alright?' asked Kwan.

'Yup! Just fine!' chirped the bird.

'Hi, Tiny' Hoshi was about to poke the bird with his nose but Kwan held him back.

'Don't scare him' he said.

'I'm not Tiny! I'm Hoonie!'

'Well, nice to meet you, Hoonie! I'm Kwan. I hope to see you around!'

'Definitely! Thank you!' chirped Hoonie again and he flew away. Kwan stood back up.

'So, how do you like this?' gestured at the streets Hansol, stepping next to the boy. Kwan sighed satisfied.

'Everything's so different.'

'You'll get used to it. Come on, the carriage's taking us to the palace' Hansol held out his hand to Kwan.

The boy hesitated for a second, but then he felt a push on his back, making him almost crash into the prince. He didn't need to look back to know that it was Hoshi. He almost rolled his eyes, but instead just took Hansol's hand. Both of them blushed as their fingers entwined  and Hansol helped Kwan inside the carriage through the door that was opened by a servant boy. He closed the door after them.

Kwan looked out just to check on his family, and also to wave back to Seokmin. The older boy was busy with docking the ship with the help of Jun, Mingyu and Wonwoo, but they still waved to each other with a smile.

Then Kwan looked at Hoshi and Dino and...

'Wait! Where's Hao?' he gasped. Hansol looked out towards the tiger and the otter too, then-

'I'm here' came Hao's small croak from Kwan's pocket. Kwan sighed and let out a chuckle. He forgot that he picked the frog up before the whole thing with Hoonie. He quickly patted Hao's head.

'Ready to go?' asked Hansol with a smile. Kwan smiled and nodded. He was ready.