Chanyeol: Why Can't I Wait To Meet You?

Call to the Sea

Chanyeol was not overreacting. To him, this wasn't just any old star-gazer. It was something he bought to remember his very first trip across the sea. He found it at a very small market for only two gold coins (which was cheap considering the thing currently has a value of over 100). He didn't know the thing was meant for men who wanted to see the stars up close, but he did like the brass device and the blue stone in the center. It fit perfectly in his hands and that's how he knew it was meant for him. 

Back then Chanyeol was captain of a small nameless boat and a crew of himself. He'd been sixteen then, when he first left his home and travelled anywhere the wind decided to take him. Ever since that first trip he's never stopped living his life free and on the sea. It took a few years, but before he was twenty years old, he had the Black Pearl and a crew of 12 (not including himself) all his own. To say he was proud was somewhat an understatement. Chanyeol didn't ever want to toot his own horn, but not many had accomplished what he had by his age and thus he felt as though he could do anything he wanted. 

He slowed the horse when he reached the west end of the village. This part of the village was considered dangerous as it was common ground for bandits to buy and sell (most often) stolen or illegal goods. There were many people on this side of the village and it was safe to assume that a majority of them weren't very nice. Chanyeol thought of how out of place he must look amongst all these vicious looking people. Chanyeol thought he was scary enough to pass as a ruthless pirate that no one would mess with, until one day Baekhyun pointed out to him that he looked like an oversized happy puppy with floppy ears. Chanyeol objected at the time, but over the years he's realized how accurate that description really is. He should fight more often and maybe he can get a scar on his face. Face scars are intimidating...

All thoughts of appearance flew out the window when he saw two men dragging a man into an alley behind a trading tavern. He paid the action no mind, but when he saw the horse in front of the tavern he considered the possibilities. He tried his best to recall the horse from earlier and though his memory wasn't the greatest and he only had about four seconds to look at it, that horse looked pretty damn similar. Those sons of es must have sold my stargazer in there. I better get it before whoever they sold it to leaves… Chanyeol dismounted the horse and tied it next to the other one near the tavern. He heard groans and grunts coming the alley next to him. He ignored them and was just about to open the door when he felt something tugging in his chest to at least take a look at the situation. 

Chanyeol shook his head and thought of how he could lose his precious possession if he chose to do this. He growled and practically threw himself away from the tavern door. When he reached the alley, he saw two bandits, both average in size, walking towards him. They both stopped moving and speaking once they noticed Chanyeol. He peered around them and saw someone lying on the ground covered in blood. Chanyeol thought it best to leave the situation as it was and continue his mission when he suddenly recognized the face on the ground. It was that kid from earlier. 

Chanyeol couldn't describe it exactly even if he tried, but he felt something inside him take hold and he couldn't stop his fist from flying into one of the men's faces. He continued that way, dodging and blocking every punch and kick that was thrown his way all the while throwing punches and kicks of his own. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye one of the men was grabbed away and Chanyeol thought perhaps the face he saw was Baekhyun’s. 

Moments later, both men were unconscious and lying on the ground. Chanyeol darted over to the kid’s side in a heartbeat. It was clear the kid was having a hard time focusing his vision. Chanyeol attempted to speak to him, ask if he was alright, but he only stuttered some mess of words. Judging by the look the kid had he couldn't hear what Chanyeol was saying anyway. His eyes were beginning to close and at this point Chanyeol could feel Baekhyun's hand on his shoulder. “He's gone. Come on, the bartender inside has your thing. We can persuade him to give it back if we hurry before someone else buys it.” 

“We have to get him back to the ship. Lay can tend to this.” 

“We can't carry him back fast enough-” 

“I borrowed a horse and you can take theirs.” Chanyeol nodded to the men on the ground behind them as he spoke. 

“Borrowed or stole?” Baekhyun's questioned. 

“Does it matter?” Chanyeol snapped. 

“What about your stargazer? It won't be here if we come back.”

“Leave it.” Chanyeol replied, lifting the kid into his arms. 

Chanyeol had to fight his emotions when he felt the kids blood on his arm. It was more than what Chanyeol would have preferred. He heard Baekhyun's steps behind him a second later, helping him to lift the kid up on the larger of the two horses in a somewhat safe and comfortable position. Chanyeol was on top of the horse and spending through the streets back towards his ship faster than he thinks he's ever moved before. 

*** 

Back on the ship Lay was immediate at taking the kid into his care. Chanyeol had tried to follow him into the medical room, but Lay kicked him out and locked the door, insisting he needed space to work. It's been nearly an hour and Chanyeol is getting more and more worried he won't recover by the minute. 

The ship itself has already set sail and Chanyeol can't find that much comfort in the breeze and the light spray of the water against his skin like he normally would. There were so many questions on his mind. Who was this kid? What was taking Lay so long? Why couldn't Chanyeol relax? Why did he get so worked up over a stranger? Why did his heart beat like a caged bird whenever he found himself near this kid?

Every inch of him felt panicked and when any of his crew members approached him, he snapped at them to leave him alone. He felt bad about it now, but he wanted-needed-to be alone. He couldn't deal with any of them trying to help. Especially since he didn't really know what he needed help with. 

A few minutes that felt more like a few years later, Jackson announced to Chanyeol that Lay was finally done. Chanyeol was quick as lightning to get up and dart to the room where the kid was. 

Inside, Chanyeol immediately felt a bunch of emotions ranging from sick all the way to angry at the sight of the kid laying on the small bed. Jackson stood behind Chanyeol and he was about to speak, but Chanyeol was quick to dismiss him. Jackson looked as though he wanted to object, but instead bowed his head slightly and left the room, closing the door behind him. Chanyeol couldn't take his off the bruised golden skin that lay in front of him. The gash a few inches above his hip bone was sewn up but it still looked bad, especially with the way the bruises were littered all around it. Chanyeol made a note of how the kids face was devoid of injury minus a single bruise to his bottom lip, which Chanyeol suddenly noticed was gloriously shaped and full. “He was very injured. He has a few broken ribs and one nearly punctured his lung. It didn't, however the stab wound did cause internal bleeding. I've stitched it up, but he'll need lots of rest to keep it from reopening.”

Chanyeol nodded. “I've also sent the children to get one of Yugyeom’s shirts.” 

“Why does he need one of Yugyeom’s shirts?” 

“His build seemed better than yours.” 

Chanyeol was taken aback by Lay’s words and he had stuttered momentarily to find his own. “That-that-that is not what I meant.” 

“Then what did you mean?” 

“Why does he need a shirt, like at all?” Chanyeol's lie sounded dumber than his previous statement and he knew it. 

Lay chuckled. “Because, Chanyeol, most people prefer to be clothed, especially around strangers.” 

Chanyeol only then realized exactly how stupid he has sounded thus far. He was going to retort what Lay had said, but thought it'd be better to just keep his mouth shut.

Lay was filling a needle with some sort of amber liquid when the kid suddenly awoke. He just groaned at first and looked around. When he saw the needle in Lay’s hand, his eyes widened and he looked as if he was full of panic. Lay turned to him and began to speak, but the kid yelled the word ‘no’ and pushed him away. Chanyeol made an attempt to catch his wrist, but the kid was fast. “You have to get him back here. He shouldn't be out yet. The wound could reopen if he moves too much.” Lay said.

Chanyeol understood immediately and had to push past a confused Yugyeom and Bambam outside the door to get after the kid. He didn't see him anywhere at first. Judging by the scent that filled the air Kyungsoo was cooking, which meant the rest of the crew were probably all in the dining hall. Chanyeol looked around the deck but the kid was nowhere. He needed help if he was going to find him before something bad happened.

Chanyeol ran as fast as he could into the dining hall. All of the laughter and chatter ceased when they saw Chanyeol's panicked expression. “The kid is missing. He ran away somewhere, he's still on the ship, but he's seriously hurt and Lay needs him back. Find him.” 

“The food is going to burn. I'm not leaving it unattended.” Kyungsoo said, not bothering to glance up at Chanyeol. 

Chanyeol growled slightly, but nodded. The rest of the crew stood up and in a satisfyingly quick manner began their search. Chanyeol followed them with efficiency and made his way towards their rooms. 

As captain, Chanyeol had the largest room, but he didn't have to share it with anyone. Perhaps that was rude to the other members, but at the moment Chanyeol didn't care much about it. He looked all around, but nothing seemed out of place. Chanyeol turned and was ready to look in the next room, but he suddenly heard a release of breath that sounded much like a sigh of relief. 

Chanyeol turned and looked around again. It was now that he saw the blanket on his bed was slightly pulled down and Chanyeol was certain that never happened. He walked closer to his bed and slowly kneeled down. He lifted the bed sheet just a little bit and saw the kid huddled as close to the wall as he could possibly be. Chanyeol couldn't help but sigh in relief. “Hi.” Chanyeol said. 

The kid didn't change his position. If anything he looked even more scared than he was before. Chanyeol watched as the kid even attempted to scoot closer to the wall. Chanyeol noticed how he winced in pain in the process. “We don't want to hurt you. We just want to help, you're hurt and if you don't come out it could get worse.” 

The kid didn't reply. Chanyeol thought he looked just like a frightened puppy under the bed like that. He had to try really hard to not think about how cute he was. “Hey, well, can you tell me your name at least?” Chanyeol asked in the sweetest and softest voice he could muster. 

When the kid said nothing in reply Chanyeol turned around so his back was leaning against his bed. “I guess we'll just have to sit here in silence then.” he said. “I don't mind the silence. It's actually kind of nice. The rest of the guys on the ship can get pretty loud. They are  loud, I guess I should say. Well, except Mark. Mark is usually pretty quiet. I think you might like Mark. He's nice and you don't seem very chatty either. How would you two communicate? Do you think you'd just know what each other were thinking? Or would you two just sit together quietly? Or do you actually like talking and I'm just scaring you? I'd be so cool to just know what other people are thinking. But only if you can control it, I'd get super annoyed if I had to hear someone else's thoughts all the time.”

“You're not very good at the silence thing.” the kid said, his voice so quiet Chanyeol would've missed it if he wasn't actively listening for it. 

Chanyeol scrambled back down to look at the kid again. “Hi!” Chanyeol said way too loud. “Sorry!” he tried to correct, probably just as loud. He stumbled over his words for a moment before he came to the right ones. “Do you want to come out now?” 

The kid simply nodded and Chanyeol, again, scrambled to get to his feet. He stood back a little and waited as the kid made his way out from under Chanyeol's bed. It seemed like was struggling and Chanyeol wanted to help but wasn't sure how. He felt kind of helpless in this moment. 

Once the kid was fully out from under the bed Chanyeol could tell he was having a hard time moving so he darted to his side. Chanyeol wrapped his arms around the kid and he let him. Chanyeol had to walk a lot slower than he was used to in order to move with the kid.  

Despite their slow pace, they made it back to Lay, where Chanyeol was instructed to lay the kid down then leave. Chanyeol, rather reluctantly, did as he was told. However he couldn't help but look back just once before he shut the door. 

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Passerby127 #1
Chapter 39: oh so it was a indeed dream ! ok ok ok ok ...
Kaiho attract me more than it should ... sorry channie but you're slow take all your time XD
anyway I wonder of they gonna do it or suho will ask for chanyeol head on a silver plate to Kai or maybe both ! Please update very soon ><
blooddragon
#2
Chapter 39: I like the kaiho dynamic even though it's so wrong.
blooddragon
#3
Chapter 38: Good action scene. I imagine it's a dream.
Passerby127 #4
Chapter 38: welcome back and happy new year !
Aaaah well I am excited XD
Can't wait for the next chapter !
Passerby127 #5
Chapter 37: oh and sukai relationship too ! how will channie react ? please update very soon >u<
Passerby127 #6
Chapter 37: oooh so exciting! I can't wait for channie to meet Kai !
Passerby127 #7
Chapter 36: omg where did Jongin go !? I seriously can't wait to know !
Passerby127 #8
Chapter 35: Aye stuck between 2 bastards ... poor Nini .
Zico story is so freakin horrible T_T