The Opal Coast

Siren Song

The bath had been heavenly, the warm water threatening to send Jongin to sleep right there as he settled amongst the bubbles. Relief washed over him, pains in muscles he didn’t even realise were aching slowly ebbing away, suddenly so limber and free he felt almost like he could dance. He wondered if this kind of freedom in the water was how a fish felt as it swam, so natural and comfortable he couldn’t even imagine getting out of the tub again.

He had to get out eventually, though, and quickly towelled himself off before getting into the clothes Captain Kyungsoo had retrieved for him from a room he had assumed was frequented by Sehun. They were a little big, but very comfortable, like they could be worn for sleeping or outside both.

Jongin suddenly felt very out of place again, in his baggy clothes (that weren’t even his) in such a luxurious bathroom. Everything from the lamps on the walls to the taps on the bath shone brightly, white tiled walls and enormous mirrors making the room seem about thrice its actual size. Jongin felt small, perhaps even unworthy of being in such a room, but at least he was clean now, and after folding up the towel somewhat haphazardly and placing it on a nearby shelf, he padded out of the bathroom to find…well, somewhere else he should be. The room opposite the bathroom had been where Kyungsoo got the clothes, so that was likely Sehun’s. Every other room in the hallway, however, bore identical wooden doors that could have led to anything at all; more bedrooms, recreation rooms, studies?

A quiet humming could be heard from one of the doors – someone inside. Perhaps they could tell him where he should go in this ridiculous house?

Knocking once, twice, Jongin decided on pushing open that door.

Sitting on the bed, apparently just about to extinguish the bedside lamp, was Captain Kyungsoo, looking far different to what Jongin was used to. He was dressed in a manner quite like Jongin, for one thing, more comfortable than intimidating, and he sported very similar damp hair. It took years off the captain, leading Jongin to wonder if they were closer in age than he’d originally thought. It was as though cleaning up a little had made Kyungsoo literally shrink in size.

Jongin’s cheeks reddened not when he realised he’d been staring, but that the captain had been staring back.

“Sorry.” He breathed out awkwardly. “I don’t know what to do.”

Kyungsoo drew his hand away from the lamp, lips pressed together. “Most of the crew are retiring for the night. Perhaps you should do the same.”

“Where?” Jongin let out before he could stop himself, promptly reddening further. Judging from Captain Kyungsoo’s sudden change in expression, glancing down at the floor, the accidental implications of Jongin’s question were loud and clear.

Do I sleep here or somewhere else?

They had never really acknowledged Jongin sharing Kyungsoo’s quarters on board, not since the first night Kyungsoo told the younger boy to join him. It had simply become a given, a normal part of life on the ship that nobody talked about because there was simply no need to. In a new environment like this, though…there was no need to share. There was plenty of space for Jongin to sleep elsewhere (though there had been on the ship as well) and no pre-established place for Jongin to sleep already.

There was no need for them to sleep in one room.

But was there a want?

The question was never answered out loud, but Kyungsoo glanced to the empty space in the bed beside him, then back to Jongin. The captain’s eyes held something questioning, and something else not demanding, but…firm.

Jongin wordlessly slipped into the bed beside Kyungsoo, coming over incredibly sleepy when the blankets covered him. They were heavy and comforting, pulling Jongin into sleep from the moment they were over him. Something else swept over Jongin as well, from his shoulder up to his jaw.

Captain Kyungsoo’s hand, thumb lightly resting on Jongin’s cheekbone as he drew the younger a little closer for a short touch of the lips.

The captain was asleep and the lights were out before Jongin really registered it, but that didn’t really matter to a sleepy Jongin – he was cleaner than he had been in a long time, warm and safe in a bed more comfortable than he had previously thought possible. The sounds of the waves could still be heard from bed, though across the street rather than surrounding them on all sides, and it soothed Jongin into a peaceful sleep within moments.

That, and the warm press of Kyungsoo’s back against his as they slept, despite the bed they shared being larger than that on the Siren.

-

Jongin woke up alone.

Wandering downstairs to the kitchen, he found the mansion almost entirely deserted, save for just one person who sat at the dining table stirring sugar into a cup of tea.

“Good morning.” Joonmyun nodded from behind his teacup, bringing it to his mouth to take a sip. Using the spoon in his other hand he gestured to a small plate of bread, meat, cheese and fruit waiting by an empty seat. “The rest of the crew are visiting Chanyeol, but Kyungsoo chose not to wake you.” Jongin stood awkwardly in the doorway for a while, looking over at the food but too nervous to actually make a move towards it until Joonmyun rolled his eyes. “It’s for you, you know. Eat.”

On Joonmyun’s instruction, Jongin sat down at the table and began to eat, but he couldn’t help but feel on edge. There was a strange tension in the room that made Jongin eat even slower than normal, eat bite cautious as if the slightest sound would snap the tension, cut it like a knife. He could feel Joonmyun’s eyes on him, watching him over the rim of the teacup, and desperately wished he wasn’t alone in the room with this man. If only there was another person he knew…

“What is the situation with you and your captain?” Joonmyun asked him suddenly, before taking a bite of bread and meat as if he had casually asked Jongin how he slept the night before.

Jongin could only answer him truthfully. “I don’t know.”

A quirk of Joonmyun’s eyebrow told that he wasn’t entirely convinced. “And if I told you that, in wishing to speak to Kyungsoo last night, I saw the two of you together?”

Jongin’s heart stopped. He hadn’t shut the door when he entered Captain Kyungsoo’s bedroom the previous night; anyone could have seen and apparently Joonmyun had. Their odd nightly habit wasn’t something they even cared to acknowledge aloud between themselves. For someone else to know…

“My answer wouldn’t change. I don’t know.”

The older man’s stance changed then – his shoulders relaxed and his face softened a little. He pushed what appeared to be a tiny slice of cake in Jongin’s direction. “My apologies. It is just very…unlike the Kyungsoo I’ve known for all these years, and true to his usual form he wouldn’t breathe a word to me when I asked.” Jongin paused again. Joonmyun had outright asked Kyungsoo what was happening?

What kind of man was Joonmyun?

“I just wondered if you would be able to give me any clarity, Jongin.”

“I’m the last person to ask for answers.” The bite of cheese Jongin just took suddenly an obstruction in his mouth. “Nobody tells me anything.”

Joonmyun gave him an understanding smile and they continued their breakfast in silence. It was all delicious, but the enigma sat opposite Jongin made it difficult to fully enjoy the meal. He decided to risk it; if Joonmyun was so fond of asking questions, perhaps he wouldn’t mind answering a few, too.

“What about you?” Jongin cursed internally when his question came out stammered. Joonmyun tilted his head in confusion before taking another sip of his tea. “You and the captain…”

“Ah.” Joonmyun only nodded. “He hasn’t told you?”

“I said already, nobody tells me anything at all.” Perhaps he was being too bold, but Joonmyun didn’t seem to mind.

“First, Jongin…” His voice dropped to a whisper despite them being alone. “How much do you know of Kyungsoo’s story already? Of his past? Of his mother?”

Oh, how Jongin wanted to take that chance. To say he already knew everything so that Joonmyun would share the details with him that Captain Kyungsoo never gave. Everything he had been desperate to know for the past month or more was on the tip of Joonmyun’s tongue, he knew it. All he had to do was say yes.

And yet…the earnest expression Joonmyun wore cut into him. It made him think what a betrayal it would be to the captain to wheedle information out of Joonmyun that Kyungsoo apparently didn’t want to share with Jongin, frustrating as it was. It made him think of silent kisses and backs pressed together as they slept.

He couldn’t.

“Only that she died.”

Another nod. The corners of Joonmyun’s mouth were turned down somewhat as if weighed down by a burden, like he wanted to share Kyungsoo’s tale as much as Jongin was desperate to hear it. But it wasn’t his story to tell.

Joonmyun must have been a good man.

“Well, that’s all you need to know for this story, I suppose. About three years ago now, Kyungsoo came to the Opal Coast on a ship.” Jongin popped a grape into his mouth and leaned on his elbows to listen. “He had lived on that ship with his mother and some other sailors, but when his mother died, the sailors brought him here and left him, with the clothes on his back and his mother’s portrait as a memory.”

“The one from his quarters?”

“The very one. He was only a boy when he came here, in his mid-teens. He had nowhere to go, so I offered to have him stay in my home.” He gestured around him. Clearly, Joonmyun had the space and money to support an extra mouth. Were he even half as wealthy as he was right now, he would still have been able to provide for another quite comfortably. “He needed someone then, someone to tell his story to without judgement, and he told me everything. It was while living here that he came into ownership of the Calling Siren, gathered the first members of the crew. He always told me he would never stop repaying me for how I helped him, but I’d say he helped himself, wouldn’t you?” Jongin wasn’t there and didn’t really know, so ate another few grapes noncommittally. “He’s a fine man now. All I can do for him is give him a place to come back to when supplies and morale are low, and take care of the crew’s spoils until all of this is over, Kyungsoo finds the things he’s looking for and everyone can come back for what they’ve earned.”

For a moment, Jongin was tempted to ask more about this ‘all of this is over’ thing, but something else caught his attention before he could open his mouth.

The things he’s looking for?

“I thought,” he pushed his now empty plate away from him, cringing at the sound it made across the table, “the captain was only looking for one thing.”

Joonmyun’s expression was odd, like it was cycling through multiple options before deciding nothing quite fitted the situation. He didn’t look comfortable, though, and Jongin wondered if he hadn’t accidentally shared information he shouldn’t have.

“Well, it’s true he’s only looking for one thing.” He stood up, offering a hand to Jongin to pull him out of his chair. “A something and a someone.”

“Wha-”

“Now, we should go and visit Chanyeol. The others will be wondering where you are.”

Joonmyun’s tone was as firm as his grip, and the two of them ended up down the street and in Yixing’s surgery in no time at all. The rest of the crew of the Calling Siren were, as Joonmyun had said, already there, gathered around Chanyeol who had a little more colour in his cheeks already.

All of them greeted Jongin with a nod or a wave, save for the captain who took one glance in Jongin’s direction before focusing his attention back on Chanyeol. This was the Kyungsoo that Jongin was familiar with – the soft and comfortable clothes he wore the previous night covered by his formal coat and low heeled boots. Accessorised with a slight frown, this was the style of Kyungsoo that Jongin knew well.

Yixing appeared from another room, patting the shoulder of Baekhyun, who was close to Chanyeol’s side, as he passed.

“Good news, Chanyeol is going to recover well.” His smile was lazy, though Jongin did wonder if that was just his face all the time. “There are no signs of infection, though the wound is still quite raw. With a lot of care and good nutrition, the wound will heal steadily.”

“But what of the bad news?” Luhan leaned into Minseok with a pout. “Whenever a man says ‘good news’ it is going to be followed by bad news.”

Yixing sighed. “That’s true. Though Chanyeol’s wound will heal, the loss of a limb is no small order. It will be fragile for a long time, he will likely experience phantom pains, and it will be a long time before he will be able to put weight on it – a matter of months rather than weeks.” The crew looked at each other uncertainly then, many of them worrying their bottom lips in their teeth. It was the best outcome they could have hoped for, but still…

“How can a man put weight on a leg he doesn’t have?”

“When the wound is healed enough, I’ll see about attaching a wooden one in its place. However Chanyeol will need to have healed enough to be able to use his left leg without the wound breaking again. Wood is weaker than metal, but easier to replace, and should he lose the wooden leg in combat it is less of a threat if used against him.”

Silence blanketed everyone in the room, pirates and civilians alike. From his bed in the middle of the crowd, Chanyeol broke the silence first.

“When will I be able to go back?”

“Not for a long time.” Yixing’s smile was sad. “Your wound needs to heal, your mind needs to heal, you’ll need to be fitted with the wooden leg and then get used to using it as though you had it all your life. To go back onto the Siren any earlier would be suicide, possibly for all of you.”

Holding one of Chanyeol’s hands close to his chest, Baekhyun whispered – ending up sounding like a shout because the room was so painfully quiet around him. “I’m not going back without him.”

The resigned faces of the rest of the crew seemed to silently say back ‘we know.’

-

Leaving Jongdae and Baekhyun at the surgery, the other pirates went out to explore the town along the Opal Coast. Luhan and Minseok showed Jongin around, buying him some simple new clothes of his own instead of resigning him to wear Sehun’s spares and taking him to the most important sights on the coast.

“I used to work in this tavern, a long time ago.” Minseok gestured to a handsome green building, adorned with gold letters, facing out over the harbour. “I met the captain there, and it’s where he won the Siren.”

Jongin gasped. “He won her?”

“That he did! In a game of chess with a man across the tavern who had been bragging very loudly about his fine ship. If he’d lost, he would have had to marry the man’s daughter – can you imagine?”

Jongin couldn’t imagine that at all. Captain Kyungsoo married to a pretty young thing from the coast? Perhaps he could see it for his other crewmates, but Kyungsoo didn’t seem even remotely interested in finding a wife for himself.

“I’d surprised they held to a deal like that. Actually handing the ship over…”

Minseok shook his head. “This place is a haven for pirates, so a culture around bartering, dealing and exchange sprang up pretty quickly. After all, not every pirate carries regular coins on his person. All sorts of things are bought and sold and swapped without money and wagers just became another part of that culture. To go back on a deal, made publicly…well, the whole coast would know of it soon enough. Far better to lose a bet with dignity.”

Jongin was about to ask more when Luhan pulled Minseok towards the entrance to a covered market which appeared to hold clothing stalls. Luhan’s roots certainly came through when he was on land, admiring clothing made of fine fabrics and gleaming gems and accessories, bought to keep away for the days when he would no longer live on the ocean.

“Jongin, do you think you know your way around now?”

“I think so.” It seemed good enough for Minseok.

“Luhan will probably be spending the next few hours shopping for fripperies he’ll never wear,” he said with a grin, ignoring Luhan’s protests, “and I’d hate to bore you, especially when you don’t know the area and could be having fun. We’ll take your things back to Joonmyun’s later, while you go and explore?”

Jongin wasn’t given enough time to even answer as Luhan hauled Minseok into the market, leaving him alone to find something else to do. Not that it was a problem – it was a gorgeous day, with the sky a brilliant blue and the flowers adorning most every building every colour Jongin could imagine. It was warm and quiet in the town, save for everyday chatter of residents and the rolling of the waves.

That, and the quiet clinking sound of something rolling across the floor, before tapping into Jongin’s foot.

“Sorry mister.” A small voice from the tiny alley between the entrance to the covered market and a nearby butcher’s shop. Picking up the small item at his feet, which had turned out to be a stick of chalk, Jongin looked for the source of the voice. A pair of little children hiding in the alley, surrounded by drawings in white chalk all over the walls and the ground.

Something tugged at Jongin’s heart as he handed the chalk back to the little girl closest to him, who had taken a semi-confident step out of the alley to retrieve what was hers. The children’s dusty knees and slender builds were something he knew well, from his own childhood. Their clothes were worn through in places and their feet without shoes, picking up the white chalk as they stepped over their own drawings.

Street kids.

“Hey…” He crouched down and smiled gently at the two children, the older girl and her little brother who trailed nervously behind. “Want me to teach you some games? All you need is chalk…”

Jongin ended up spending the rest of the afternoon with the children, with more appearing as time went by. He taught them simple games, hopscotch, jumping and counting games he had played in his own childhood. It was with a twinge in his chest that he realised, among the street children like this, he finally felt like he had returned to land. Not in Joonmyun’s giant house, not browsing market stalls and actually being able to buy something if he wanted it, but drawing chalk patterns on the floor in the alleyways, dust on his knees and chalk on his face, laughing with the small crowd of children who now swarmed around him, following him in their games.

It reminded him a lot of the older days, before the Siren, before the sea, before the orphanage, even. The sunny days when he would dance on street corners for coppers from passers-by, or the occasional kind soul bringing him a sandwich or a bowl of rice. The rainy days when he would hide in the long abandoned winery, sleeping in the warm cellar far beneath the ground. The days when getting from one day to the next meant befriending every child he came across, to avoid territory disputes with the bigger kids or to increase the chances of luckier children sharing their hard earned fortunes with him, small bags of sweets or loaves of bread.

Some of the children joining the crowd were wearing shoes – likely those with homes to go back to, but even those kids could be fun. Jongin would often play with children like that too, remembering a cheeky older boy who would sneak out at night to join Jongin in the wine cellar or stealing from the grocers under the cover of darkness, all red hair and gappy grin as they shared boiled fruit sweets in their sort of underground fort together. Only Shoe Boy to Jongin, but dear nonetheless until the day he vanished without a trace, shoes and all.

“Mister?” One little boy with a dirty face was drawing Jongin’s likeness on a nearby wall. “Why are you playing with us?”

He wasn’t quite sure what was being asked. “Because I used to be just like you.”

“But now you wear shoes.” He paused, having not drawn Jongin’s feet yet. Jongin just smiled – clearly he hadn’t been the only street child to use shoes as a measure of the haves and have-nots. He wondered what the children would think of Captain Kyungsoo’s smart, low-heeled boots. “What changed?”

Seagulls cawed and the ocean rolled, and Jongin knelt beside the boy to draw on the wall too.

“I met my fate on the ocean.”

-

The sun was on its way out of the sky when Jongin bumped into Sehun, who had been saying farewell to a beautiful young woman with a bouquet of flowers and a kiss. If he had felt Jongin’s judgemental gaze he hadn’t cared much for it, and instead pulled Jongin along, only just letting him wave goodbye to the children.

“We’re all going to see a show.” Sehun was grinning. Of course he would be, Jongin had seen the advertisements for shows along the coast, all bright lights and sparkling costumes, beautiful girls and cheers and dancing. It would naturally be Sehun’s idea of fun. “Come on.”

Jongin didn’t particularly want to go with him, but found himself outside one of the largest buildings in the town soon enough. In addition to Joonmyun, some of the crew were also there – Luhan, Minseok and Kyungsoo. The captain didn’t look very happy, however.

“It’ll be strange, going to a show without Chanyeol. He’s always loved going.” Luhan sighed. “Say, wasn’t he friendly with some of the dancers? They’ll want to know how he is.”

“Bat your eyelashes at them from a front row seat, they’ll remember us, I’m sure, call us backstage for a chat.”

“I won’t be going.” Captain Kyungsoo wasn’t even looking at the others, his gaze instead wandering out over the harbour, to where the ocean came to a stop at the horizon.

“You never go…” Sehun whined, but if he was aiming to get a reaction out of the captain he hadn’t succeeded.

“Have you ever been to one of these, Jongin? They’re fun!”

“I…” Jongin glanced over to where the captain was watching the waves roll in. “…I won’t be going tonight, I’m afraid.”

The whole group turned to look at him, including the captain. Jongin could feel it on him as Sehun pouted. “Why not?”

“I…don’t feel well.” Not entirely a lie, as Kyungsoo’s eyes on him made Jongin’s insides twist uncomfortably. “I’ll come next time.”

“Okay. Captain can take you back to Joonmyun’s then. You should come next time, for sure!”

The others hurried inside the large building, lit up with lamps all over and men calling from around the entrance to bring in an audience. Kyungsoo appeared at Jongin’s side, taking the younger’s arm with a gentleness Jongin wasn’t used to. It made him tense.

“I’ve never been fond of such bawdy shows.” Kyungsoo answered Jongin’s question before it even formed on his tongue, leading him away from the crowds with a frown still on his face. “We should get you to Yixing.”

Yixing? “Why?”

The captain frowned. “You said you were unwell. Your ailment…”

Oh. That made a lot of sense, and Jongin couldn’t help a failed attempt at stifling a laugh. “My ailment was not wanting to go to the show, captain.”

Kyungsoo’s face immediately softened into a small smile, and his hold on Jongin’s arm relaxed, but didn’t quite break away completely. “Ah yes, quite a serious condition. I suffer from it regularly. Come now – did you eat? Most places will be empty now that the shows are starting.”

It was strange, walking alone with the captain through the streets. They never spent much time alone together unless they were about to sleep, or short conversations in Kyungsoo’s quarters. To be alone with the captain like this was…frankly quite terrifying for Jongin, who stayed silent for the whole walk. They eventually found themselves at the green-fronted tavern Minseok had pointed out to Jongin several hours before, seated at a small table in a corner of the room. It was strangely intimate and Jongin didn’t know what to do. The air was too thick with tension to even breathe in.

“I won the Siren in a bet in this tavern. At this table, actually.” Kyungsoo began when their drinks, as well as some bowls of a simple stew the tavern seemed to be serving alongside their drinks at this hour, arrived. “Ah, you spent the day with Minseok and Luhan, didn’t you? I’m sure you already heard the story.”

Jongin had heard the story, but still ached a little. He would have liked to hear the tale from the captain himself, considering he never told Jongin much of anything. Still, they spent a while in amicable silence with their meals, before making their way to the main street along the harbourside.

The sky had turned deep blue now, and the ocean black with the odd silver shine of stars. Jongin and Kyungsoo no longer touched, but walked close as they eventually came to a familiar small cottage with a thatched roof.

Before Jongin could say a word, he was shushed by the captain and tugged to the side of the house, from which Kyungsoo peered around the wall. The front door of the surgery was open.

“Why are we going outside?” The first voice they heard was Yixing’s, oddly stern in contrast to its usual dreamy tone.

“So you can calm down.” Jongdae.

“I don’t need to calm down. You just need to listen to me. I’m not letting you go back out there where you could get hurt!”

“The Siren is already missing its best medic. If I were to stay behind as well, what would happen to the others? I have to go.”

“But you can’t!” From what Jongin could see, Yixing had grabbed hold of Jongdae’s arms. The front porch of the surgery was small, and the two were stood very close. In the moonlight Jongin could see the desperation on Yixing’s face. “They can find somebody else with medical training. I can’t let you go.”

“Yixing…”

“Jongdae I…” the doctor’s words came out almost choked. It hurt to hear. “I know I can’t stop you, I know you love the crew and the Siren, I know you want to help, but I love you! How can I sleep at night when the next wooden leg I have to fit could be yours? How can I let you go out there for months on end, never knowing if you’ll come back to me in one piece, or at all?”

The two held each other tightly on that tiny front step, faint whispers of ‘please don’t leave me behind again’ barely reaching where Jongin and his captain were watching from around the corner. Turning away from the intimate moment to give the two a little privacy, Kyungsoo and Jongin shared a look that told everything without words.

The Siren was going to need more men.

Soon.

Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!
LalaLuhanne
Chapter 22 and Epilogue UP!! SS is COMPLETE

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
lilthsua #1
Chapter 23: Hello can I translate it?
lilthsua #2
Chapter 23: Hello can I translate it?
ryujinsnose #3
Chapter 11: insane
ryujinsnose #4
Chapter 2: AAAAAAAAAA
givemebiscuits #5
Chapter 23: Re-reading this masterpiece in this trying times 🍪❤
shonwanigop
#6
💙
INFTJazm
#7
Chapter 23: WAAAAAAAHHHHHH
INFTJazm
#8
who was the red haired boy is it taemin :((((
INFTJazm
#9
Chapter 16: damn for a moment i forgot this might actually be a romantic story HAHAHAHAHA GOOD PLOT I SWEAR
ByunDal #10
Chapter 23: I hope to see more of your writing