Prince of the Seven Seas - l.s

Chapter 29

"You were friends with benefits..."

The words that came out of Louis's mouth were sluggish and they were paired with an equally slow nod and slightly disbelieving expression from the royal, his mouth slackened in a rather unflattering way that reflected his opinion on the prospective.

Liam's eyes were askew from Louis's own gaze whereas Zayn appeared entirely unashamed.

The First Mate of One Direction heaved a breath and glanced out to the ocean from his spot at the edge of the ship, "It's weird to you? I had a feeling it would be... Ah... Zayn, why did you tell him?" His words were breathlessly spoken with a hint of tiredness in them.

Louis made a popping noise with his tongue within the confines of his mouth as he raised his eyebrows, "It's not really weird... It's just—"

"Weird?" Zayn intervened simply, a bit of a smirk on his lips while he watched Louis open his mouth as though to defend himself, though the brunet quickly closed his lips with his eyebrows furrowed in resemblance to a child that was about to speak up but was stopped once they reviewed their unspoken words within their head.

Unable to help himself, Zayn let out a small laugh at the expression of conflict that Louis wore on his face.

Not taking too kindly to the fact he was obviously being laughed at, Louis's lips pursed and he gave Zayn a hit on the shoulder.

The pirate ceased his mirth audibly, but he still watched at the royal with amusement within his eyes.

"Okay, I admit it's just a little weird." Louis confessed uneasily, his eyes briefly meeting Liam, who groaned as he allowed his head to droop over the ledge of the ship. "Not that I'm judging you both or anything."

"You little liar." Zayn snorted, his arms folding over his chest before he sized Louis, "You're judging us."

Louis couldn't stop himself from chuckling at the pirate's words.

Talking with Zayn and Liam up near the front of the was actually more refreshing than Louis would have ever thought, especially after the past three days had been filled with rain and fog that made running across the deck a challenge without falling down.

He'd been forced to stay inside of Harry's room for a majority of those days... Harry only becoming truly stern on him being cooped up when Louis tried making a new game out of sliding across the deck when the rain was falling at its lightest.

Of course it was probably for Louis's own good considering how he'd ended up slamming into the mast during one of his slides but it was still all in good fun. He'd even gotten Niall to join him.

Being stuck up in Harry's room and his study was boring, but Dusty made it more tolerable.

Since today the rain was finally gone, he'd planned on visiting Eleanor at last to privately discuss some things that had been clouding his mind over the passing few days, but he had ran into both Liam and Zayn and somehow had been sucked into a conversation with them that led to more.

Something more like discussing how exactly Zayn and Liam functioned prior to meeting Niall...

The story was amusing to a wide degree even if Louis found it a bit strange.

"But hey, I don't care if you judge. I'm not exactly going to let myself be offended by someone who used to criticize people for the type of wig they wore." Zayn shrugged plainly.

Rolling his eyes, Louis gave him a short glare, "I did not do that."

"Oh, my mistake. You criticized them for the type of dresses they wore. Forgive me, Your Highness?"