Transient Waters

16

HongJoong had not expected the Omega to take to his duty almost immediately. He left, as he typically did on these days, because he had much to do regarding meetings around the ship. Having an extra crew member on board was a difficult thing to juggle, it always had been, and HongJoong did not think that it would be getting better anytime soon. Then again, he did not really think that they would be getting more crew mates anytime soon either. It was not many who were willing to join his crew, and even less managed to survive the first week that he put them threw. This...SeongHwa...They were a rather unique excemption.

He did not normally make excemptions, but there was nothing normal about this situation. HongJoong had no illusions that WooYoung would have likely cleaved his face and left a scar if he had not been willing to take SeongHwa on board. Then again, it was also uncommon to come across someone who did not know of him, nor his crew. Despite that, despite being finally of the realization that WooYoung had to have been a pirate, something most people were taught to fear, SeongHwa did not waver. It was not until he felt that WooYoung found him useless, and that he held no value that he tried to throw himself to the sea.

That had been...a rather startling situation. He felt that he had handled it quite well, nonetheless, but more so than anything...he did not want SeongHwa to throw himself overboard. The Omega did not deserve that, not after everything that he had to have dealt with on that navy boat. Add to it that he had spent the last month protecting WooYoung at the cost of himself as much as he was able? HongJoong definitely owed the Omega.

He was surprised, among all else, to hear that Seonghwa felt him safe enough to fall asleep to. Not just to or have him in the room, but physically on top of him. Though the Omega had seemed quite flushed earlier in the morning when he woke, he had not recanted anything, which made HongJoong's Alpha happy and a tad bit possessive. He did not really know what that meant, but again, he would get more answers once he got a hold of Taemin, and maybe Taemin's mate too. Either way, he would figure something out, and he was determined that SeongHwa no longer be lax on this ship.

He had thought at first it would be best for the Omega, but he was beginning to realize just how wrong he was to make such an assumption. The Omega did not need rest, he did not even want it, he wanted to be useful, and really, HongJoong thought that was just...hoplessily sad, in many ways. That SeongHwa felt he was only good alive if he had any sort of use or worth to someone? It was...painful to think of, and HongJoong was glad that he had taken down the whole navy fleet, otherwise he would have hunted each and every single one of them down for instilling such a belief in such a beautiful person.

There was much he had to do during the rest of the day, so he had not come back to the cabin until rather late, well into the night. He had sighed and walked to his cabin door dwelling on everything that he had to do. He had sent up a meeting time with Yeosang and SeongHwa so the other could get some sort of training over what it meant to be an Omega, or at least the bonds between Omegas and other levels as well. He just did not feel as though it would be right to have an Omega on board and not let him know something so easily taught. He had then talked to San and WooYoung about not allowing SeongHwa to be alone when he was outside his own cabin. The two had become rather flustered and a bit confused, but HongJoong had not bothered to answer any of their questions, before asking Mingi how much longer until they reached Taemin. He could really do with that information.

Before any of that, though, they would need to go through another supply run. While it was not that dire, as of yet, it was certainly going to be some trouble now that they had WooYoung back, and another mouth to feed as well. He sighed running a hand through his hair before pushing the door and abruptly stopped to stare at the state of things.

The entire room was...spotless. It was not something that he had expected, because he had thought he was pretty clear in the Omega resting while he was gone. Yet, he had cleaned his entire cabin. He stared. All of his scrolls were organized and neatly placed, and everything was perfectly clean. He shook his head, unable to believe it. Glancing more to the left he saw the Omega curled in the corner of the room, alseep. HongJoong sighed heavily. He would have to talk to the Omega, but not right now. He could not believe that the boy was so swift to go immediately and do something so drastic. He sighed. He would have to be more careful with his wording.