𝗖𝗢𝗔𝗦𝗧 | ateez ✓

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟖

soobin came and jumped into the queen's arms, hugging her as san catched up to him "daisies are also my favorite" he said, going somewhere before returning with a handful of daisies. their mother and father looks at the middle child in horror "where did you get those honey?"

soobin gives the bouquet to their mother "i pulled them out the from the garden-"

"your majesty!" the servants ran breathless as they look back and forth the child and the flowers "we tried to stop him"

the queen chuckles as she takes the flowers and dismisses the servants "these are beautiful. thank you"

soojin chuckles sadly, as a memory from her childhood returns. a single tear dropping and soaks the pillow below.

"soojin?" a knock came by her door. the navigator held a tray with some soup and water "can i come in? i have some food and something for you to drink" she doesn't reply as she hears seonghwa dropping the tray and placing it just outside her door "i'll leave it here.. please do eat"

soojin buries her face in her pillow once again as the navigator leaves.

seonghwa finds himself in front of the gunner's door. wooyoung, after the attack, had distanced himself from everyone. he shrugged off all the questions of 'are you alright?' or 'did something happen?'

but seonghwa knew better. he knew that something was bothering the gunner and he wanted to find out what.

he knocks on the door as he hears a hum, signalling him to enter the room. wooyoung was sprawled along his bed, his back against the mattress and his eyes trained to the ceiling above. he looks at seonghwa as he tries to hide away the bottle of beer under his bed.

"dont even try to hide that wooyoung" the navigator sat on the other's bed, staring at the gunner who also sat up. the latter gives him a sheepish smile as he scratches the back of his head and crosses his legs together.

"what's bothering you?" he asked as wooyoung shrugged "nothing. nothing's bothering me" the gunner said.

"the stench of alcohol and the bags under your eyes says otherwise" seonghwa crosses his arms as he looks at the gunner "i've known you for so long wooyoung, you arent going to fool me.. i heard what that man said, how did he know your name?"

wooyoung looks at him wide-eyed. this was a part of his story that almost nobody knew. that man, jongil, was someone he was very familiar with.

seonghwa holds the younger's hand. wooyoung takes a deep breath before conveying his story.

"he.. he was someone i was close with before, he was like an uncle to me but everything changed when he was taken by the higher ups. he changed.. he was there- he-" the gunner chocked on his words "i never saw him again until today"

wooyoung continued to tell his story, with seonghwa nodding along. the older tried to understand what the gunner was telling. his fist held the sheets tightly as he felt his blood boiling.

"that asshole" seonghwa suddenly said. he placed his hand over his lips as he himself looked shocked "im sorry for the language" he said, making the younger laugh.

"lets.. keep this between us for now" the gunner said "we already have tons of problems right now and i dont want to add up to the pile. hongjoong already seems super stressed as well"

seonghwa understood what the gunner meant. after the incident, they've been pretty busy as they're trying their best to get treasure to the nearest port island- bogwon, which would still take them a few days to reach. the navigator nodded "well.. join us for dinner if you can"