Smut warning! Mild bondage and mild blood

******

Seonghwa was over the moon in gratitude. To him, there had never been a reason to second-guess going to the mirror world. He would have left without a second of hesitation. So long as Hongjoong would live, he could do anything.

Hongjoong appealed to his caution better, but ultimately, he caved under the desperation of his husband. They both knew it was a terrible idea. Not even Yongguk could fathom how dangerous the Abyssus was, especially without the mark of their umbras on them. But they had done it once. They could do it again. Like last time, they would bear all suffering to make it out together.

Once Seonghwa's rush of gratitude ended, he surged to press his lips to Hongjoong's. They tumbled into the sheets together, overwhelmed by Seonghwa's zeal as their mouths moulded into one. Hongjoong's gasp of his name to slow him down became a breathy whimper when Seonghwa nipped at him, cradled him close. He held Hongjoong impossibly tight, as if he needed to feel his heat with every inch of him.

Hongjoong gave in. The happiness washing over to two swept him away. Nothing was more precious than Seonghwa's delight. He raked his fingers into his husband's overgrown hair, tilting his head with gentle force until he could control the kiss. Pinned under Seonghwa's larger frame, he lost the sense of everything else.

"I'll make it come true," Seonghwa vowed between kisses. "Our world, this island. Our children, turnin' old together," he listed. Everything he wished for that was so mundane and easy for others. Somehow, to them, it was the most intricate fortune.

"We will always stay together," Hongjoong replied, soothing Seonghwa's stress. "Forever."

A word Hongjoong used hesitantly. Forever was a long time and he couldn't make such promises light-heartedly. But for Seonghwa, he would. For his crew, as well. They meant forever to him.

He needed to see them soon. To clarify the situation, catch them up on everything that went on behind closed doors. While they established their safety in the pirate's nest, Hongjoong was about to imperil everything they worked for yet again.

Although he would let anyone stay who wanted to stay. This time, they weren't forced to go together. If anyone feared for their life or their loved ones, they could relax and await their return. Especially Wooyoung and San made many advances and many regressions because of their umbras. Hongjoong understood if they wanted to treasure their brittle peace. They had come a long way from their prior loathing.

Seonghwa's hands dipped under Hongjoong's shirt, roaming up his scarred flanks and the planes of his stomach. When his thumbs caught onto his nipples and the captain sighed, the quartermaster sat up to undress them. Moments later, their bodies intertwined, naked as the day they had been born. Used to each other yet ever so enamoured, they traced their hands over each other's shapes lovingly.

Sometimes it was hard to convey all the love for Seonghwa in Hongjoong's heart through the prison of his flesh. It limited him, created a barricade. Today, too, Seonghwa couldn't be close enough. As the captain ignored his dizziness to hold his treasure close, Seonghwa sighed into his neck, completely enamoured.

"'Ow do ye want it, sugar? Let's celebrate by makin' yer wishes come true," Hongjoong suggested. Seonghwa's eyes blazed in joy and Hongjoong wanted to purr like a cat. This was what he liked. Not miserable, hopeless Seonghwa. He liked when those deep eyes were bedazzled with stars. When his crooked smile made him the most charming person on earth.

"Which surface 'ave I nay bent ye o'er yet? Which position be left fer me to eat at ye in?" Seonghwa chuckled. He kissed Hongjoong's jaw, trailing hot lips up to his ear. The captain's lashes fluttered when their hips ground into each other. He clutched Seonghwa's hips, helping his movements.

"Thar must be new ones to find," Hongjoong mumbled against Seonghwa's lips. He was more than happy with the same old, but that was his fatigue speaking. He wouldn't let the shadows win. Seonghwa wanted to celebrate, so they would celebrate.

"Show me I be yers then. That ye will never let me go."

"Even if ye cry an' beg?" Hongjoong's hand traced down Seonghwa's thigh, seeking the approval he needed whenever their words lost meaning during sex. There was a trick San taught them. If one of them was tied up and wished to stop, or if they riled each other up with words they didn't mean, one term would be spoken and everything would stop. Shoving hands, refusals, they all could be excused in their throes. Not this word, however.

They never used it, but they shared it with the crew, just in case. Most of them had no reason to retreat, they all were rough with each other. But if someone on the ship had to express himself with 'mizzen', end.

Seonghwa met Hongjoong's eyes. He knew their word; he knew to use it. If he couldn't speak, he could trace it on Hongjoong's skin. If he couldn't move, he could look towards the mizzen at the stern of the ship.

"Especially when I cry an' beg," Seonghwa purred. When Hongjoong's hands found his knees, he levered his body, exposing himself to Hongjoong's roaming palms. He squeezed at the supple flesh bared to him, skimmed his fingers over that sensitive place.

Seonghwa shuddered in his arms, about to sit up, but Hongjoong kept him trapped with an arm around his waist.

"Stay."

Putty in his embrace, Seonghwa waited. He was watchful if Hongjoong would black out, but his gathered strength was enough. After fumbling with the drawer for a moment, he came back with the oil and slicked his fingers in it. As they sunk into Seonghwa, he tilted the man's head to kiss him, give him everything. They needed to be one, needed to taste the bottoms of each other's souls.

Hongjoong eased him open, knowing Seonghwa's body better than he knew his own. When his rings slipped in, nudging into Seonghwa's walls, the pirate dropped his head to Hongjoong's chest with a sigh of satisfaction.

Before he entered Seonghwa, he rolled them around. While Seonghwa sprawled in the sheets, beautiful like the morning sun on the ocean, Hongjoong reached for his discarded clothes. The whip slithered from the pile to find its familiar place in the curve of his hand.

From lidded eyes, Seonghwa watched as Hongjoong slung it around his narrow waist, stretching the leather taut. It matched Seonghwa, the wildness of him. But he didn't need taming. He complied, Hongjoong's most loyal devotee.

"Gonna keep ye real close," Hongjoong whispered as he bent to align their chests. He pressed them together until nothing would fit between their bodies and tightened the whip around his own back. It tied them together, turned them into one. Their heartbeat thumped in tandem against their ribcages, reaching out for one another.

Seonghwa raised his hand to yank the bindings taut. They cut into their skin, chafing harmlessly as he looped the grip around, tightening its knot behind Hongjoong's back.

"Come in," he pleaded, legs splayed open to present himself to Hongjoong. Blind from their proximity, Hongjoong ground into him until his tip caught onto that willing entrance.

While he sunk in slowly, blissfully, to connect the last piece of them that still had space to move, Seonghwa dipped his fingers into the far jar of oil. He embraced Hongjoong, kissing him with those pillowy lips. When he guided the handle of the weapon inside Hongjoong to keep it from unravelling, Hongjoong stifled a gasp in his mouth.

They were locked in place. Tied up against one another, they never parted their gaze as Hongjoong rocked into his lover. The deep grind rubbed against Seonghwa's arousal from both sides, trapping it between their feverish bodies.

Seonghwa raked his hands through Hongjoong's hair, tugging on it to get him far enough down to lap at his neck. Eyes fluttering shut, Hongjoong encouraged him with a moan, pressing deeper until he believed Seonghwa's insides would never let him go.

Nothing came between them. They belonged to each other, body and soul.

Relishing in Seonghwa's every breath, every thump of his racing heart, Hongjoong plunged deep with another minuscule thrust. Seonghwa clenched around him, head dropping as he approached his euphoria. As the tan spread of his throat came into sight, Hongjoong gulped. Other than his scarred and discoloured neck, Seonghwa's skin was beautiful and even. It begged for a touch, a mark, a promise.

Hongjoong wanted to adorn it with the prettiest jewels, always. Silver and red. Red suited Seonghwa so well.

No thought crossed his brain when he leaned in, nosing over the smooth curve. As he bucked into Seonghwa, the man's back arched, wet insides clamping down on Hongjoong in the most delicious way.

Not moving an inch even when Seonghwa squirmed from the deep intrusion, Hongjoong bared his teeth to sink them into Seonghwa's neck. A stuttered moan was his response, more spasms as Seonghwa was pinned beneath him with no way to shove Hongjoong off.

His mind clouded over. The squirming below jostled the whip inside and the grip on him was so good Hongjoong believed he could never leave. Seonghwa's clawed fingers raked over his scarred back, holding him impossibly closer as his come pooled between them.

Everything became too much when Hongjoong tasted blood on his tongue. With a muffled growl, he let go of the heated coil in his belly, keeping Seonghwa pinned as he filled him up. Shallow thrusts pushed his come deeper, wanting it to stay with Seonghwa forever.

Seonghwa's blood was so sweet on his tongue. It tasted heavenly, bathing his senses in a state of drunken euphoria.

He ripped away when he forgot to breathe, tongue flicking out to lick the traces from his lips. The wound wasn't too big, the imprint of his teeth blunt apart from where his sharp canines ripped skin. It beautifully marked Seonghwa, and he dipped to lap up the fresh red oozing from him. So pretty, suiting him so well.

"Hongjoong," Seonghwa gasped, voice throaty.

Distracted, Hongjoong peered down at him, finding his debauched husband so blissed out, so glowy.

Satisfied, Hongjoong hugged him closer, warmed him through their shudders.

Seonghwa eased the whip out of him so Hongjoong's body could also relax. As he loosened it to put it aside to clean later, Hongjoong came after him, pressing him back down before he could roll off.

With an endeared chuckle, Seonghwa grabbed a pillow to hug under his chest as Hongjoong parted his shaky legs once more.

"Ye be insatiable," he hummed, then his eyes rolled back when Hongjoong slid back home. Nothing had leaked from Seonghwa and he was satisfied to stir it into a mess with proper thrusts this time. Though these made Seonghwa's orgasms more explosive, more abrupt, none twisted their guts as good as feeling each other in their throats.

"I want everyhin' from ye," Hongjoong replied as he bent over his lover to lick at the wound, making Seonghwa's back arch to accommodate their difference in height.

They lost themselves to their intimacy, their adoration for each other. After their second orgasm, Seonghwa crawled away to get them some water, throats starved and black spots dancing before Hongjoong's eyes.

The captain dragged him back in by his ankle, dawning upon him again to mark his pretty skin with that sweet red, to give Seonghwa everything until no sense was left in him.

When they finally collapsed, they still refused to let go of each other. They spent every second clinging, relishing the safety and peace of this place even when Hongjoong's waning was a constant reminder.

Later, when Seonghwa got up to prepare a bath for them to clean off their shared grime, he took Hongjoong along. He gathered the pirate into his arms, holding him like a precious good as he wrapped lethargic arms around Seonghwa's neck.

They sat together in the tub, washing each other as Hongjoong dozed on and off. Never apart, never making room for anything to come between them.

Forever, Hongjoong had promised. Whatever awaited them on the other side, they would best it; they would stay like this.

Nothing in the world would keep them from holding on to each other.