Chapter Text
1
When he was young and his mother was still alive, Hoseok used to get told tales of rescue. Somehow, there was always some sort of royalty in utter distress; a princess who was too kind for own good, or a prince that’s too prideful to rule. Then there’s a monster—something ugly and unexplainable with too many eyes or a lot of slimy legs. Finally, there’s a hero. The knight in shining armour.
And the hero was always his favourite.
Out of the 21-fucking-years of his life, never did Hoseok think he would be kidnapped by some shabby pirates with technology that looks too old to actually function. Yet here he is, screaming his lungs out 500 something feet in the air. His legs have gone numb from how hard he had been swinging them earlier. Looking over the edge of the tower and down on the buildings makes his head dizzier than ever.
And it doesn’t really help that the leader of these pirates is one of the most handsome bastards he’s ever seen (let’s leave that detail out).
“Can you fucking—put me down!” Hoseok basically screams, eyes screwed shut as tight as possible. The feeling of being high up had started to get to him, a terrible headache forming at the back of his temples. Heights had never mixed well with Hoseok, despite how ironic it was that he lived in an extremely high tower. The highest place in the kingdom, to add.
The pirate simply chuckles to himself, adjusting Hoseok’s position in his arms. He’s got one arm supporting Hoseok’s lower back and one underneath his knees, holding him up like a typical damsel in distress. Jokingly, he pats Hoseok’s cute butt while trying to prevent him from flailing about to his death. All he gets in return is a distressed growl and a painfully tight squeeze from the arms around his neck. The gesture is greatly appreciated.
“Sure! I could drop you off right here, no problem princess!” The pirate happily exclaims. Hoseok screams even louder when he feels him start to retract his arms, the younger’s face practically buried in his chest. Even just of a centimetre of movement made multiple vessels in his neck pop, the fear getting to his head. Tears are slipping down his cheeks—and oh god, he’s crying. His grip is impossibly tight around the pirate—Yoongi’s torso, hands having moved to hug him like a teddy bear. Yoongi would find it cuter and much more endearing if the prince wasn’t so busy breaking his eardrums.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I promise I won’t drop you.” He winces, hoisting Hoseok even closer to himself as a sort of comfort. He starts to sob into the fabric of Yoongi’s shirt, lithe fingers beginning to grip the thin material on his back. Yoongi has an overwhelming urge of wanting to take of the boy, despite how terrible he might’ve treated him earlier.
“How comforting, coming from a pirate.” Hoseok spits annoyedly. “Might as well trust the king too.”
(he instantly takes back whatever affection he proclaimed earlier.)
His squirming, however, doesn’t make anything easier for him. Yoongi dropping Hoseok basically makes no difference with the amount of movement he’s doing within his embrace. Sighing, Yoongi leans himself closer into the younger’s boy space. He does his best to ignore the bright red dusting on his cheeks from their close proximity and from the anger simmering in his head. “Look, baby, if you want to live, I suggest you stop moving all over the place. It’s not making it easy-peasy for you or me.”
Scoffing, Hoseok tries to turn his head the other direction in some sort of form of disobedience. Though his shaking hands and tense muscles break his illusion of strength. “Put me down then. I wouldn’t struggle so much if you did just that, Pirate.” The younger tries to sound venomous like his aunties and uncles when he addresses Yoongi, but it comes out much sweeter and more forced than he’d expected. If Jinsol and Jungeun were to see him right now, they would’ve no doubt laughed at his efforts.
Nice try, little one. Jinsol used to say to him all the time, whenever he tripped over words or physically fell. Try it again, this way instead. Her blonde-headed self used to sing, cooing away the tears that usually-welled on his golden face. She and Jungeun were the only solid presences he’s had in his life, but now they’re gone. Most people tend to leave anyway (enough of that though. He’s too high up in the air to be crying about missing people).
The elder’s mechanical wings fizzle and snap as they stand on the ledge of the prince’s tower’s humongous window, and Hoseok is going delirious from anticipation. With every look down, an awful wave of vertigo washes over him. The kingdom’s little buildings make him feel like he’s plunging into a model city, ready to crash and break as soon as he lands. Between looking at the handsome pirate’s face and throwing up what little of his lunch remains, he chooses the latter.
Yoongi raises an eyebrow at his statement, an unusually wicked grin plastered on his face. The pirate is like an embodiment of the Cheshire Cat he used to read in the little stack of fairy tales he has tucked away in his room behind them. Jungeun brought it to him for his 6th birthday. The yellowed pages remind him of her bronze locket, and now, the colour of the stranger’s eyes. Hoseok feels even more sick for liking his own kidnapper.
“I thought we already established that we can’t do that babe. It’d be a shame for me to lose my hearing and my treasure in one fell swoop.” Yoongi comments crudely, gums showing up from laughing at his own joke. It’s been 10 minutes sinces he’s been forcibly manhandled from a pirate that landed from the sky, and the prince couldn’t have been more frustrated with the man God sent him.
“What treasure, you bandit! I am not a possession of yours!” Hoseok starts angrily, pounding at Yoongi’s chest and swinging his feet in hopes of catching him off guard. Yoongi battles between rolling his eyes and laughing at the same time. The prince doesn’t need to know that he’s been in jail more times than he count on his fingers, and someone punching him with the strength of a toddler won’t quite make a difference. “Put me down before I—"
“Before you what?” He interjects teasingly. The younger thinks about it for a second, going still for the first time in Yoongi’s arms.
With a frustrated huff, Hoseok starts once more and round three of don’t-drop-the-prince starts all over again. The game becomes less and less fun the more times you play it—mostly due to the risk of his hearing going wrong. “Before I do something! Now let me go hoodlum!”
“Hush-up before I drop you for real angel.” The elder growls, shutting the boy in his arms for a little bit with fear. He breathes a sigh of relief. The bones and flexed muscles in his arms seem to sing in sweet rejoice. “And I prefer the title professional thief,” Yoongi grins, “rather than hoodlum and pirate. Min Yoongi’s the name, babe.”
“Professional thief or pirate, you’re no better than a trashy kidnapper Min Yoongi!” Hoseok squeals, ignoring the other man’s excessive use of pet names (that don’t make him feel flustered). Despite all his big talk, his arms are still wound up tightly around the older boy’s surprisingly muscled torso. The fear of falling is winning the battle against his pride.
“Now that’s not quite the way you’re supposed to talk to the person who freed you, is it?” He thinks aloud. Yoongi’s lips are pressed into a hard line, mouth corners quirking upwards suspiciously. Hoseok’s also left more confused than he’s ever been; this Min Yoongi person is too sudden of a change for his usually bland life.
“You’ve freed me from nothing.” Hoseok exclaims, frown resting on his lips. Being kidnapped for God knows what is no better than being trapped in the fortress they’re on. The fortress he’s eventually gotten to call home.
Yoongi gives him a kissy face, laughing at his statement for no reason. Pouting, Hoseok starts a tiny punching fit. It’s more out of spite rather than him wanting to be free. “Let’s see then prince.”
A loud, echoing noise rings in his ears as Yoongi says something else, flooding with head with an unexplainable headache. All noise is cancelled out, the deafening tone making him dizzy. The pirate looks up and smiles like a madman, the expression being washed out as soon as the godawful tone leaves.
Before he even has a chance to say anything, Yoongi heaves and pulls him closer to his chest like a child. Hoseok burns furiously at the action, feeling himself get lifted even higher and tighter toward the elder. “You might wanna hold tight cutie.” The pirate whispers, a smug smirk painted on his expression; Hoseok even notices an odd glint in his eyes as he says it. He looks off in the distance, towards a cloud or building somewhere.
Hoseok furrows his eyebrows deeper in confusion. Most of the fight in him has left like a gust of wind. He’s too exhausted and puzzled at this point to try and fight his inevitable kidnapping. “What—”
“—No time for words little prince. 3—”
“—Yoongi!” He yells, trying to get the pirate’s attention. Panic is beginning to bubble in his throat, anxiety shooting up the longer he stares at Yoongi’s borderline-suicidal eyes.
“—2,” His palms grow sweatier with every passing moment. He decides to take Yoongi’s advice for once, tightening his already-bruising grip around the elder’s upper-half. Hoseok pulls his eyes tightly closed, mouth trembling against the scratchy cloth on the boy’s chest. Even the stone-faced guards guarding his door have never gotten him riled up.
“—1!” Yoongi breathlessly counts. “Showtime baby.”
And he takes a step near the end of the stone ledge, the gears and gizmos in his wings spurring to life. Hoseok can hear the sound of metal scrapping and creaking; the sound of Yoongi’s wings extending to full length. The bronze covers his ginormous window (more like an overly-large hole) like a proud eagle. The type he only reads about in those children’s books about heroes and ironically, princes.
Then Hoseok regrets opening his eyes to marvel at the machine. Yoongi looks down at him coolly before plunging the both of them off the edge, and into the open air.
Out of the 21-fucking-years of his life, never did Hoseok expect to plunge down the tower that has shackled him for so long.