night flight

"We need a leader - we need a captain, if you will."

For the first time in this conversation, a tremor appears in Hongjoong's carefully levelled voice. "But you don't need me."

A fragile silence settles over the room. Effectively, they're all still strangers - but he feels a sort of bond, a connection formed by their individual circumstances that have thrown them here together, like it was supposed to happen. It feels like the strings of fate have pulled them here, together, and now they're tangled so tightly that they could never be undone.

Kind, sweet, gentle Seonghwa has risen to his feet, and now he moves slowly to stand beside Hongjoong, looking him dead in the eyes.

"I need you." He says quietly, reaching behind Hongjoong's back to extricate one of his hands, pulling it forward to hold it tight against his own. "You promised that you wouldn't leave me."

A whole set of unusual circumstances has brought these eight young men together - it almost feels like fate. Now they're learning how to come together as a team while struggling to understand themselves. And while sailing a pirate ship

*NOTE:
this is my original work that I have also posted to ao3

*TW:
mentions of blood and death throughout, past abuse but not detailed