Prince of Flour

19. Treasure Island

Hongjoong's bed was just as soft as Seonghwa had remembered it to be. When he awoke in the morning he had the whole thing for himself, stretching out his limbs comfortably. Honestly, he just wanted to stay here forever, cuddle Hongjoong's pillows and pretend he was not far from home at all but his life needed to be lived.

He noticed the ship not moving after some time, sitting up drowsily to look around in the room.

The light of the day filtered in through the windows and Seonghwa found no Hongjoong, nor his whip or sword. His boots were gone too so maybe they had gone ashore already.

Seonghwa stretched before standing up, his limbs slightly sore from the inappropriate place they had spent most time of their evening in. Even though his back and hips especially hurt, Seonghwa still felt warm when he looked down at his chest, carefully pressing his fingers against some of the painless marks Hongjoong had left on his skin again.

With a sigh he went to get some clothes, stumbling out on deck and directly into the hot sun just minutes after. He found Jongho scrubbing away on deck with Mingi sitting close by and accompanying him. Both of them greeted Seonghwa with matching smirks that made him feel fuzzy. Yes, he did notice the captain's infatuation with him, thank you very much.

"Good mornin', Princess Swab. Ye ready to live up to yer name?" Jongho nodded at the bucket and holystones not far from him and Seonghwa felt some more of his earlier tension lift. He lifted his arms to stretch them a bit more.

"Can I get some food first? I'm dying of hunger."

Mingi waved him over, having already prepared some things. Seonghwa plopped down next to him, starting to eat while studying the funny looking forest on the island they had anchored next to. There were trees that looked entirely different from those he knew, long and curved with some huge oval-shaped leaves at the top. It seemed more colourful too, many vibrant flowers peeking out from anywhere and strange sounds being heard from further away.

"Is Captain wearing you out that much? Poor boy." Mingi grinned at him and it was a nice grin actually. It seemed very gentle and made him seem more young.

In general Mingi seemed much more approachable and nice ever since he had gotten hurt. It had healed nicely these past few days but he was still exempted from heavy work and just enjoyed his time.

Seonghwa still blushed at the innuendo. Whatever he and Hongjoong did, it seemed to be a private thing, something between them two only. So he did not feel quite at ease when talking about it.

"Is he not tired at all?"

Mingi shook his head with a grin, staring at some birds circling the masts. Jongho ran around the deck with high speed, angrily scrubbing away.

"Maybe you'll get used to it after some time. San and Wooyoung were mighty loud yesterday too."

Seonghwa sat up at that, needing more information.

"So they made up? Or did they fight? Was San not like- hurt?" He could not imagine all of this rolling around and tensing in pleasure be enjoyable with an gaping wound in one's body.

"Aye, they made up. Might still need some time before San stops sweettalking everybody into bedding him. But I think they're onto something. And this kind of wound would not stop San from doing whatever the hell he wants. That man is scary."

Funny and Seonghwa had thought San was very kind and Mingi was scary.

He rose after finishing his meal, getting to work with helping Jongho. The other one had already removed the most ugly of stains, leaving them with the polishing work only and Seonghwa relaxed under the big and hot sun, revelling in the feeling of just losing his touch to the outside world.