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Yoongi is not supposed to be here.
His kingdom is waiting for him, his wedding with Prince Hoseok scheduled for a full moon from now.
Yoongi is king now and he hates it.
His father still breathes down his neck and Seokjin is of no help at all either anymore. It is difficult to lead a kingdom when he feels trapped by it.
And then there is Hoseok. They have known each other since they were just guppies, Yoongi acting like the older brother he wished his own would have acted for him. They found out about their marriage soon after Yoongi's older brother passed, plans already in motion to make sure that Yoongi could take over when it was his time.
Yoongi loves Hoseok, but not in that way.
Not in the way that he fell in love with Taehyung.
But Yoongi does not have the freedom to marry someone for love. Marrying Hoseok is for the sake of his kingdom, for the sake of two kingdoms to come together as a form of peace and Yoongi cannot afford to risk that when war is brewing in the Southern Seas. Here in the North, they need a one hundred percent certainty that when the war moves upward, the kingdom will have the military support of its neighbors.
Which is why Yoongi has not gone to the surface to peek a glimpse of Taehyung ever since his coronation. He listened to Seokjin's warnings and kept his image intact as a crown was placed on his head. He has not uttered a word about Taehyung or anything that he saw above the surface to anyone. Not even Hoseok. And he used to tell Hoseok everything, best friends, and all that jazz.
Now, of course, their relationship is a lot more strained and Yoongi wishes that they could go back to how they used to be, but sometimes he does indeed have his best friend back. Hopefully, that will be enough for the both of them in their soon to be loveless marriage.
Apart from planning for the upcoming wedding and running his kingdom, Yoongi does not have enough time to even spare Taehyung a fleeting thought.
So it doesn't make any sense for him to be watching Taehyung now.
(But it does because despite Seokjin telling him he should forget about Taehyung, he has also been the one to give Yoongi regular updates about him. He has frequently been sailing out alone at night on a tiny rowing boat with no supplies or food. It worries Yoongi more than he lets on since storms have been cropping up at random lately and Taehyung could easily get swept into one.)
The pirate is doing what all previous reports have said he has been doing, circling around and around and around. He is a pirate, the captain of his ship that he once saved Yoongi's life on, and he is more than capable of sailing by himself at night. Still, it worries him and when Yoongi is worried, he just can't let it go. Yoongi does not know what kind of pattern Taehyung may be following, if one at all, but it is almost hypnotic watching the bottom of Taehyung's boat sail across the water.
It is peaceful, yet Yoongi still feels on edge anyway. His tail has not stopped swishing back and forth ever since he first caught sight of Taehyung's boat and a feeling he cannot describe constricts his waterways. Taehyung's boat passes by again, slowing down as if he has somehow sensed Yoongi is nearby but it is not until the water's temperature drops an uncomfortable amount that Yoongi realizes exactly why.
The storm is sudden, but if Yoongi had been paying closer attention to the warning signs, he might have been able to avoid what happens next. The fact of the matter is that Yoongi is much too absorbed and distracted by Taehyung to notice and that alone is all kinds of dangerous. He needs to let this go.
After he has saved Taehyung from the clutches of this storm, of course.
Yoongi propels himself forward and breaks the surface of the ocean to see gigantic waves battering Taehyung's tiny rowboat. Taehyung is standing up in the rowboat and yelling loud enough to leave Yoongi's ears ringing. He swims towards the boat as quickly as he can while he maneuvers between the currents and waves that try to sway him from his path, but it still is not fast enough to reach the pirate in time.
The rowboat capsizes and Taehyung is thrown into the sea.
Most of what happens next is a blur in Yoongi's mind, but he remembers the cold panic that gripped him as he dived back under and searched for Taehyung. The pirate was floating slowly down towards the bottom of the sea, eyes blinking slowly as if he was losing consciousness already, but he was not struggling or even fighting to make his way back to where he would be able to breathe without difficulty. Yoongi swam towards him and hooked his hands underneath Taehyung's arms, swaying his tail to push them up.
Taehyung is heavy but limp in his grasp and Yoongi would panic over that if he wasn't desperately fighting against the current wanting to keep them underwater.
Yoongi is not King for nothing though and soon enough, they break the surface and Yoongi rushes towards the boat, flipping it over easily with one pull from his tail. He pushes Taehyung into the rowboat and pulls himself up next, slipping as he comes over the edge. He lands in a heap on Taehyung's chest and panics momentarily before he realizes that Taehyung wheezed when he did that.
He pushes himself up on his elbows and repositions the pirate so that he is leaning against one of the wooden bars that run across the width of the rowboat. Yoongi presses both of his hands to Taehyung's chest and concentrates, focusing on finding the water that has found its way into the pirate's lungs.
When he finds it, Yoongi pushes it up and up and up until Taehyung is coughing out the water and sitting up by himself. Yoongi only relaxes once his coughing fit has subsided and pulls himself over the edge of the boat once more, feeling dizzy out in the open air. He is already meeting the water's cold embrace when a hand grabs his own and keeps him from disappearing completely under the waves like he wants to.
Yoongi belatedly realizes that the sudden storm has passed and there is a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach that is keeping him tethered to the here and now.
Taehyung is dripping wet and flushed as he looks down into Yoongi's face, leaving the King numb to everything else.
"Don't leave me again."
Yoongi still doesn't understand the language Taehyung speaks, but he can understand the helplessness in his voice and the desperation in his eyes. Taehyung is gripping onto him like he never intends to let go with his face pinched together in distress and Yoongi leans up before he can think of what he is doing.
He presses his lips to Taehyung's and pulls back just as quickly, using Taehyung's shock to rip his arm away from the pirate's hand and brave the currents underwater. As he goes, Yoongi pushes Taehyung's rowboat towards the distant shore, hoping with all his might that maybe Taehyung will finally leave him alone.
He ignores the pain that lances through him at that thought and sets out for his kingdom, for a place that no longer feels like home and to a lonely reign ahead of him.