𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐑𝐒

#.. NINETEEN

waking up, hyeongjun coughed up too much water, his senses slowly returning as he looked up in the bright sky, smelling the fresh air.

he heard many relieved voices, someone touched his hands, the warmth spreading a cozy feeling through his body.

lying on something soft, he started to realize the situation - he was alive.

hyeongjun couldn't help but weakly laugh in relief, the fear leaving his body, being replaced by the intense euphoria of living.

then his blurry vision started to turn clearer, until he noticed gunil and jiseok leaning over his body.

"you're still here" jiseok exclaimed, relieved and happy, fidgeting with his hands. gunil, who was holding onto hyeongjun, let out a happy cry, hugging the boy tightly.

"i was so scared" he admitted silently. "you didn't breathe at all for so many hours... we thought you were dead!"

and so did hyeongjun. sitting up, he noticed that they were sitting on gunil's gigantic bird.

he noticed how seungmin and jungsu talked to jooyeon, caring for him the same way gunil and jiseok cared for him.

"but... how?" that was hyeongjun's only question, the only memory being the cold water enter his lungs, slowly but surely suffocating him till he fell unconscious.

"i felt your presence" gunil started, caressing hyeongjun's cheek with his thumb. "then we saw the sinking ship of the earth kingdom..."

so gunil did hear his message? hyeongjun was so relieved. "i created an air bubble in the water, so seungmin and jiseok could still breathe while swimming down to get you out of there."

that could've ended so bad for them. but seemingly it was effective enough - otherwise the four of them wouldn't be alive.

hyeongjun felt like kissing the elder, so he did. pulling him closer, hyeongjun smashed his lips on his, the reality of having survived crashing down on him.

jiseok just laughed quietly, sliding closer to the other three to leave their two lovebirds alone.

parting from the kiss, hyeongjun couldn't help but marvel at gunil. "thanks for saving us" he whispered, his hands running along gunil's arms.

the elder patted hyeongjun's hair. "i'm just glad you're still with me. you and jooyeon suddenly didn't return from your little trip.."

hyeongjun sighed. "yeah, well- we didn't expect being abducted either." they then heard jooyeon shout.

"we almost died because of your father!" right, he still hated seungmin.

but seungmin definitely wasn't in the mood for that anymore. "congratulations!" he just shouted back, annoyed.

"how often do i have to tell you that i am not my fucking father? if i was like him i wouldn't have risked my ass to get you out of that fucking ship!"

jungsu put his hand on seungmin's shoulder to calm him down, jiseok doing the same for jooyeon, turning the youngest around so he wouldn't have to face him, watching the infinite sea pass by them.

gunil and hyeongjun looked away again, sighing. "i understand both point of views.." hyeongjun mumbled and gunil agreed.

"i bet seungmin must be tired of being compared to his father all the time... as if being king oh's son was his only achievement.."

they both agreed on that, but also found jooyeon's reaction justified. the boy acted out of raw emotions, especially because they tried to hide that fact from jooyeon at first.

gunil and hyeongjun thought more rationally, not relying on emotions that much. they didn't mind that seungmin was the earth kingdom's crown prince, despite having lost their parents to the king.

in contrary, hyeongjun so much gratitude towards seungmin, who saved him from being executed seven years ago.

they couldn't blame the earthbender, he was still a child, put into so much pressure of having to lead a whole tribe at such a young age.

"what are we going to do now, though?" hyeongjun asked the eldest, tilting his head slightly.

gunil put his hand on hyeongjun's cheek, his thumb caressing the younger's prominent cheekbone. "we'll do a stop by at the western water tribe.

the troops of the earth kingdom were there already, they won't search for us there again. jooyeon wants to see his people."