𝓢𝓲𝓻𝓮𝓷'𝓼 𝓒𝓪𝓵𝓵

⏳Seven Days⏳

    Seonghwa sat up, gently rubbing Woo's hair. "How long have you been in here, bud?" Hwa softly whispered to him. "I came in here a few hours after everyone went to bed..." Woo mumbled, burying his face in the blanket Hwa had brought with him the night before. Hwa continued to rub his hair, waiting a little before speaking again. "You wanna get up here with me?" He asked quietly. Woo looked up at him and nodded before climbing under the covers and hugging up to Hwa. "That's it, buddy. I've got you" Hwa said, gently rubbing his back, petting his hair, and planting a small kiss on the top of his head. Woo eventually dozed off, cuddling up to Hwa as he did so.
    Woo woke up hours later, still cuddled onto Hwa. Their voices were faint and he couldn't understand them, probably due to the fact that he was still drowsy. "I don't want you getting up and walking around like you're fine. You need to lay in here and rest" Hwa said. It sounded like they were arguing. "You know I want to get out there and take the boys off your hands Hwa...I" "I can handle them Hong. I've handled a kingdom...I'm sure a few grown men shouldn't be too hard to handle." "Hwa you barely ruled your kingdom..." "That doesn't mean I can't handle myself" "I know, honey...I'm sorry. I'm just worried that I'm putting too much on you" "Dear, you're hurt. I think I can survive bossing around a few boys while you're recovering." Hwa said stubbornly. Wooyoung sat up, still drowsy "Are you two fighting..." He asked, rubbing one of his eyes a little. "Of course not" they said, both denying that they were fighting "We were just having a little disagreement, buddy. Just go back to sleep" Hwa said, getting Woo to lay back down. Woo let out a little "hmp" and laid back on top of Hwa.
For the rest of the day, Hwa took care of his husband. He stayed taking care of Joong until he was sure that he could be fine mentally without him being able to see him for a bit.
The next day was the beginning of the crew trying to find San's location. Sadly, not much work got done. Woo was clung onto Hwa like a child all day and he was making it difficult for Hwa to get around and think. The rest of the boys were just fighting about stupid stuff the whole time and not even attempting to help Hwa get anything done. Hwa sighed, biting his lip as Woo hugged up to his arm. 'Can I really handle them..?' Hwa thought to himself, doubting his abilities.
On day 5 of San being missing, Woo started to snap out of him feeling lost and he'd started to help a little. The available crew(besides Hong) gathered in Hongjoong's office with a map, trying to find the area that the sirens couldve taken him. Hwa's facial expression showed that he was focusing. It looked as if he was trying to wrap his head around something. "Hwa...are you ok?" Yeosang asked softly, trying not to startle him as he gently touched Hwa's arm. "Hm? Oh, i'm just thinking" "What are you thinking about?" "Well...this isn't normal siren behavior. They don't just go around kidnapping humans and dragging them away" The whole crew looked at him a little confused, not quite understanding his concern about this. They'd always read that this is just what sirens do. "But the stories.." Mingi started to say but Hwa cut him off. "Those stories aren't true...they were never true. It was just a sailors tale to make us seem all bad..and to make them a little money" He said with disgust in his tone. "I-i'm sorry.." Mingi apologized quickly, worried he might have offended Hwa. "My sirens would never act like this. There's gotta be some kinda outside influence..." "Maybe a human?" Yunho suggested. "You know...that might just be it.." Hwa said, looking down at the map. "So where is Sannie then.." Woo said, hovering beside Hwa. Hwa took a good look a the map before circling an area in the middle of the water. No land was in the area he'd circled. "But there's no land there.." Yeo said quietly. "Well. These little maps you humans make aren't always accurate." Hwa said, setting the pen down. "There's an island there. But, due to human error...there's no land drawn there. It is indeed a good place to hide...whoever picked the spot was certainly smart. It's nice, secluded, and undetectable on most maps"
At nightfall, Hwa was heading to his room before Jongho stopped him. "Sir, Captain needs you." "What? Is something the matter?" Hwa said, immediately beginning to walk towards the infirmary. He came into the room to see Hong absolutely exhausted. He walked over quickly and sat at Hong's beside. "Are you ok? Is everything alright?" Hwa asked quickly, gently moving Hong's hair out of his face. "Did you tell him..?" Hong asked, looking over at Jongho. "No. Tell me what?" Hwa said, looking over at Jongho before quickly looking back and Hong. "No, sir. He was on his way over here as soon as I told him you needed him" Jongho replied. Hong giggled a little before speaking "My medication is giving me a few side effects, love. I'm having trouble sleeping and I don't know what to do. I was hoping your presence would help" Hwa sighed, relieved that it wasn't anything serious. "You had me scared" He said, giggling a little. Hwa thought for a second before he'd came up with an idea. "When I was younger and I couldn't sleep, my Appa would come into my room and sing me a lullaby. I could try that with you if you'd like. I have it memorized" Hwa said, gently holding Hong's hand. Jongho smiled and left the room, figuring it was time to give them their alone time. "I don't know, Hwa. Lullabies never really worked on me..." "Oh come on, let's just try" Hwa said with a soft smile. "You know I can't say no to you" Hong said, smiling a little. Hwa's smile got bigger and he soon started to sing, gently petting Hongjoong's hair as he did so. Joong was entranced by his wife's voice. He now understood why people said that sirens voices were dangerously pretty. He sat there peacefully, listening to his queen's voice as he felt himself drifting off.
Once Hong had fallen into a deep sleep, Hwa stopped singing. He stood up, gently kissing Hong's forehead before heading to his room to go to bed.
The next day they would start their voyage to find San. Sadly, a boat was not as fast as a siren. This trip would take them about a week but for a siren the island was but hours away. They were made to swim fast...but a boat...it was made to sail.