Crown

21. Back to the Roots

Eating with Hongjoong's pack had gone fairly well. Wooyoung maybe nearly choked on his salad when Seonghwa shifted at the discomfort of having Hongjoong's come soak his pants. Mingi kept throwing him weird glances, but he was too busy wolfing his food down to care much about Seonghwa. Jongho just ate, too, but Seonghwa could have sworn he once heard something along the lines of 'don't get that on my seats' muttered underneath his breath.

In all, they were far more civil than Seonghwa's pack would have been towards Hongjoong and he thought that was hilarious. San alone would suffice in spilling Hongjoong's guts all over the floor, and Yeosang would probably set his dead body aflame while Yunho held Seonghwa down. They made an interesting comparison, and it was painfully obvious that Hongjoong was their alpha with the way they all were drawn to him like moths to a flame.

After their only slightly awkward breakfast, Seonghwa had allowed Hongjoong to carry him back up into his room. He had already put on fresh sheets on the bed while Seonghwa had been in the bathtub and they smelled heavenly of him as Seonghwa buried his nose in the blanket.

"Actually I would have loved to take you to the basement to my sex dungeon now," Hongjoong casually dropped on him while he walked over to his bookshelves and began sorting through his collection.

Seonghwa choked on his spit, his hips throbbing in protest. In general, he was so not ready for more sex with Hongjoong right now, he was still digesting all that had happened the night before between them anyway!

"Your what?!"

"The gym, are your ears alright? I'd have loved to have you teach me some of your tricks. And show you some of mine, of course." He threw a flirty wink over his shoulder that had Seonghwa gaping at him once again. That was not what he has said in the beginning. Sly little bastard.

"But then again that's not an option. So you know what we're gonna do now? Study your great King Arthur." With that, he came over to drop a stack of books in front of Seonghwa. He fetched his laptop, too.

"Wow, here I am, getting pulled into your net of being oddly nice to me suddenly and making me all woozy. Yet, the time we could spend bonding includes a third party."

Hongjoong climbed over his body to drop down next to him with a huff. He rolled over onto his stomach and opened his laptop to select the app for video chatting.

"You know us bonding right now would end in things made of lead stuck inside our bodies that we don't want there. Plus, it also includes a fourth party. Pull up your info guy." He gently nudged the laptop over to Seonghwa so he could type in the keys with a sigh.

And despite them not having the horrible first date small-talk, sitting like this and laughing about stupid myths felt way more domestic than any forced conversation could have been. Yeosang rolled his eyes at them multiple times, but Seonghwa could not help falling in love with Hongjoong's smiling face more and more.

Or rather, not falling. Just falling deeper than he had already done a long time ago.

-

Seonghwa jumped out of the chopper feeling refreshed and stretching his legs languidly. They had departed earlier than expected after he had taken some pain killers and soon felt better. Thus, they had spent their evening flying over to Cornwall to meet Seonghwa's team there while both Hongjoong and Seonghwa had caught up on some sleep leaning against each other's shoulders.

Wooyoung had gagged at the sight of them multiple times, but Seonghwa couldn't care less. It was not as if Hongjoong's pack not only continually supported him with his weird interest in Seonghwa, but they also kept throwing him the warmest glances. Seonghwa was positive his pack was all too willing to receive this mess of a relationship.