Chapter Text
No one ever said that any errand on the water was a safe or easy one, and certainly not sailing into the blue on a leaky tub full of idiots looking for adventure on undiscovered shores, but on mornings like this, Seokjin tended to find that the frequent life-threatening situations and hard manual labour without any regard for the state of his hands were all worth it. Perched on the topsail yard of the Mayflower with one arm around the mast and the other shielding his eyes from the morning sun, Seokjin took in the view around him. A city boy all his life, he didn't think this view could ever fail to take his breath away.
The sky sprawled out endlessly above him, bursting in brilliant colour as the sun broke the horizon. The sea, hazy in the lifting morning mist, was blessedly (relatively) calm, and the gentle (for once) breathing of the waves was the only sound reaching his ears. Up here on lookout, alone but for the wind snatching at his hair and clothes on a morning almost as beautiful as he was, Seokjin was reminded of why he was here in the first place, why he left his budding idol career to run away with his fellow trainees and sail the ocean blue.
The group hadn't even debuted yet, but already Seokjin was becoming notorious for his stunning beauty. There was talk throughout the company that his looks alone could catapult the group to fame. To iconhood. Stardom. International stardom. Mr. Worldwide Handsome, they called him. Seokjin had been enchanted. It took him a whole thirty seconds to believe that his looks alone could garner love and support from all across the planet, and from then on, there was nothing he wanted more than to see his new dream come true.
So when Namjoon came to him in the dead of night and described to him their fairytale plan, inviting him to run away with them in search of adventure on a ship he won in a rap battle during his dark past as a young rapper on the streets of Ilsan, Seokjin didn't hesitate for a moment and hadn't once since. Becoming an idol was a great way to gain international recognition for his beauty, yes, but travelling the world and receiving confirmation of his stunning good looks from everybody in the world personally? That was an even better plan.
Over the months their motley crew had come through many trials together, such as learning how to sail a ship by getting in it and sailing it, battling rival ex-idol ships in deadly dance showdowns for food, water, and decent skincare products and surviving the harrowing experience of learning there was no wifi or wall sockets in the middle of the ocean. But up here, gazing out at the endless unbroken hori- wait. Wait, hold on a minute. Wait wait wait holy shit -
Seokjin snatched a nearby rope and leapt off the yard, swinging down and landing gracefully on the deck. Sprinting to the prow of the ship, he whipped out his handy pocket telescope and poked himself in the eye with it twice before managing to focus it on - could it really be?
Holy son of a-
Holy son of a bitch it was.
'CAPTAIN KIM!'
Seokjin turned on his heel, fucked the telescope over his shoulder and raced to the other end of the ship. He burst through the cabin doors, scrambed down the stairs and through the hold til he skidded into the crew's quarters where his six fellow crew members were still snoring in their hammocks. He took a deep breath.
'LADS!'
Six bodies jerked abruptly from slumber, several started effing and blinding and wondering very loudly where the fire was, and at least three fell with a thump to the floor. Amidst all the ruckus, one voice rang out loud and clear.
'SEOKJIN WHAT THE FUCK?' Namjoon may have been a soft adorable marshmallow but he was their captain for a reason and could make himself heard when he needed to.
Seokjin ducked his chin and looked dramatically back up at the would-be boy band through his eyelashes. Silence fell and Seokjin internally patted himself on the back for his top quality suspense-creating skills and smouldering good looks. He grinned a devilish grin.
'Land ho, boys.'
His words hung in the air for a moment before the room exploded into yelling again and everyone still in a hammock rapidly joined the others on the floor in the sudden mad rush to get up on deck. Seokjin turned and raced back up the stairs, dongsaengs in hot pursuit. Together they burst dramatically through the cabin doors and stopped short in awe.
The view before them was breathtaking. The sun had truly risen now and the early morning fog had lifted. God rays appeared without any clouds at all and focused on one spot on the horizon. All forms of sealife leapt joyously from the water, birds sang, choirs burst into chorus, and a rainbow formed across the sky. Every eye was focused on its centre of curvature. Because there, practically invisible to the naked eye, was what could just have been, if you were optimistic about it, possibly a speck of land.
Never-Became-BTS lost their shit. Cries of 'Oh my god,' 'Is that a fucking blue whale,' and 'Jesus christ that's the most majestic and beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life Hoseok gimme a beat I need to rap about this right now' rang out from every side. Namjoon, however, intelligent and observant captain that he was, was actually looking at what Seokjin was trying to show him. He leapt to the forecastle deck and squinted into the distance. Seokjin joined him, whipping out his handy pocket telescope and handing it to him. Namjoon focused it on the near-invisible speck in the distance, stared at it for a few moments, and lowered the telescope. He turned to Seokjin.
'Could it... could it really be?' he breathed. Seokjin took a step closer and brought his hand up to cup Namjoon's cheek. He heard Namjoon gasp and the telescope slip from his fingers and land with a plop in the sea below. Seokjin stared deep into Namjoon's eyes, and Namjoon returned his gaze, focus only briefly straying downwards. Seokjin leaned in, so close he could feel Namjoon's breath on his plump, pink, freshly-glossed lips. He licked his lips, parted them and whispered,
'Yeah, I'm pretty sure? I mean it's kinda far away and impossible to tell but I'm pretty sure that's land in the distance.'
Tears welled in Namjoon's eyes.
'Foreal, Seokjin? You truly mean it?' he breathed, voice quivering in anticipation and disbelief. Seokjin smiled fondly down at his captain.
'Foreal,' he replied, and he knew all the emotion swelling in his heart could be heard in his words.
Tears fell from Namjoon's eyes and Seokjin was reminded of that thing Namjoon did to his Ryan plushie to make him look like he was crying, because Namjoon was just a big cuddly teddy bear and it looked exactly the same. Namjoon stepped back from Seokjin's grip, eyes shining as he smiled a watery but joyous smile at his hyung, and Seokjin felt himself tearing up too as Namjoon turned away.
'Boys!' he bellowed across the deck to where the others were all hanging over the port rail begging the whale to come back. 'Forget the whale!' Five voices paused in their pleading and five dismayed faces turned to their captain.
'What? But why?' cried Jungkook. 'We were making friends!' His eyes began to go puppydog and Seokjin quickly started poking Namjoon to hurry up before they reached full power or, God forbid, Jimin joined in with the pouty lip, because then they'd never get anywhere but lost chasing a bloody whale.
'We're going over yonder!' Namjoon announced, stepping aside and gesturing to the horizon behind him. The god rays reappeared in the sky and the crew were struck speechless once again.
'That's right!' Namjoon yelled triumphantly. 'Your beautiful, talented, handsome, beautiful, handsome first mate Seokjin has spotted land!' Seokjin blushed and made a charade of modesty. Namjoon just winked at him and continued. 'Cut the engines! Change the sail! Haul on the bowline!'
The crew broke free of thier awed stupor with a great cheer, and took up their leader's words in song. One of Namjoon's greatest talents and one of the reasons he was their captain was his ability to speak words and have them come out as the dopest rhymes on the planet. He would have showcased this talent well as an idol, Seokjin thought, but personally, he preferred to see him dropping ill beats and starting sick fires here, where he truly belonged: on a boat in the middle of the ocean.
Namjoon looked on with pride as his crew got to work. Seokjin stepped forward and threw an arm around his shoulder, squeezing him to his side for a moment. Namjoon looked up to meet his gaze and Seokjin gave him a proud smile of his own before heading to join the others as they created music from Namjoon's words and waves behind his boat. He concentrated hard on being a tough sailor far away at sea and pretended he hadn't noticed the blush that coloured Namjoon's cheeks at his touch or how soft it made him inside. Now was not the time for dwelling on good captain-first mate dynamics and deep, loving broships! This was a ship full of daring, intrepid explorers, and they had a brand new horizon to set sail for.