Eight makes one crew

Prank

"Are we sure we should be doing this?" Yeosang wondered. He was trying to trust Wooyoung but this really seemed like a bad idea.

"Of course, it'll be fine! Joong loves a good prank" Wooyoung nodded, uncoiling the rigging and tossing it to San. He caught it but San still looked somewhat unsure about this whole thing, like Yeosang. They did it anyways and then crept off back to their rooms.

"Sangie?" Jongho rubbed his eyes and sat up. Yeosang walked over and laid down.

"Go back to sleep, Jongie. Morning is almost here" Yeosang curled up beside Jongho and closed his eyes. Pretty soon he could feel the slow rise and fall of Jongho's chest and knew he was asleep. Yeosang hoped this prank would be okay. Maybe he should go back up and undo it. But then Jongho's arm around his waist tightened and Yeosang knew that he couldn't go anywhere. So he closed his eyes again and let sleep take him.
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"What the hell?!"

Yeosang jerked awake, accidentally hitting Jongho as he got up and ran to the main deck.

"What happened?!" He wondered, coming to a halt.

Oh. That happened.

"Who touched the ropes!?" Hongjoong's eyes were glowing, dark and angry. He looked like an angry hobbit, ones Yeosang had only ever read about. If he had to imagine what they looked like, it would be Hongjoong.

No one answered. Yeosang was still frozen in shock and San was staring at the tangled ropes, trying to process that he had helped do that. Wooyoung was being Wooyoung and playing innocent.

"Someone better start talking before I get after all of you!" Hongjoong gave a stern glare to the other seven, including Seongwha.

"Hongjoong, you don't really think-?" Seongwha interrupted, trying to talk Hongjoong down from his anger.

"Yes, I do think! And I'm going to get an explanation. One....two...." Hongjoong waited. Everyone was already lined up, having done so the second that their captain started counting. Seongwha even looked nervous and kept glancing at his friends.

"It was me! I was trying to be helpful, okay?" Seongwha blurted out. Hongjoong's mouth opened into an 'o' and then he shook his head. Somehow he didn't believe that but he also didn't see any reason why Seongwha would lie to him. Hongjoong had too much trust in his first mate to believe that Seongwha would lie to him. Wooyoung groaned. He hadn't planned on confessing anyways but it just got ten times harder.

"You?" Hongjoong tried not to sound surprised. Seongwha swallowed back his guilt at lying and nodded.

"Yes. I'm sorry, I thought it would help but I realize now I had no idea what I was doing and all I did was make things worse. I'll do whatever you want, take any punishment you give me" Seongwha explained, one lie snowballing into more. Hongjoong stared at him for a minute, trying to convince himself that this wasn't true. But if it wasn't, then Seongwha was lying to him and somehow that was worse.

Then he straightened up, glancing once at the his younger crew members. Yeosang flinched when Hongjoong looked at him and San seemed to be holding back tears. Wooyoung lowered his eyes, swinging his leg back and forth and scuffing the deck like a schoolboy that was called to the principals office. Hongjoong ignored the little warning bells in his head and turned back to Seongwha.

"Go to our room and wait. And no one is to touch those ropes" Hongjoong ordered then walked behind Seongwha, with a hand on the older's back, as they went below deck. Just as Hongjoong got to the bottom of the four steps, he heard Yeosang burst into tears and someone yelling at Wooyoung. Judging by the guilty expressions on Yeosang, Wooyoung and San from earlier, Hongjoong knew the whole story. Or at least enough of it.