Eight makes one crew

Captain's Duty

"Hongjoong! What do we do!?" Seonghwa yelled, holding on tightly to the rope which just refused to not slip from his hands no matter how much he held on. Hongjoong stood frozen at the helm, eyes blank. It was unclear if he was just deep in thought or completely clueless but it didn't matter. The crew needed him present, mentally more than anything.

"KIM HONGJOONG!"  Seongwha yelled again, finally snapping the smaller man out of his daze. 

"Right! We leave, gentleman!" Hongjoong ordered. The eight-member crew got right to work without a word but it was no good. The other ship chased them, slowly getting close enough to board yet they never did. By night, the crew of the Siren was on edge. They sat around on the deck, watching the other ship with weary eyes. Wooyoung, to nobody's surprise, was the first to stand up.

"I'm going over there" He announced. San was quick to join him in standing.

"No. Nobody goes over there. Sit down" Seongwha took charge, seeing as how Hongjoong was zoned out again. Seongwha felt a pang of worry for the captain; this wasn't like him at all. He was normally so involved in everything, never allowing his mind to stray for more than a few seconds. 

"We can't just do nothing!" Wooyoung argued. Seongwha looked up at him, sternly. Wooyoung huffed, crossing his arms.

"Wooyoung. We cannot risk it; we know absolutely nothing about these guys or how many there are. Sit down before I make you" Seongwha repeated. San wisely chose to sit back down, looking to see if Wooyoung would do the same but he never did. Seongwha got up with a sigh and grabbed Wooyoung's arm, lowering his voice to a whisper.

"You need to stop this right now; you're not a child anymore so don't go acting like one. I am the second in command, which means when Hongjoong is unable to make a decision, I'm in charge. Now, are you going to sit down or do I need to take you below deck?" Seongwha warned. Wooyoung scowled, hesitating. Seongwha took his silence as an answer and nodded, almost sadly. 

"Go to your room" Seongwha pointed below deck. Wooyoung stomped off without waiting for another order. Seongwha retook his seat, keeping a sharp eye on the other ship. It was unnerving, how they had yet to attack. At this point, an attack would be preferrable to this silent chase. 

"He's not wrong-" Yeosang mumbled. Seongwha's head snapped around to stare at the younger man.

"Don't you start too" Seongwha snapped, making Yeosang bow his head. Jongho rested a hand on his shoulder, shooting the oldest a sharp look over the top of Yeosang's head. Seongwha pretended not to see it. Truthfully, he wanted nothing more than to investigate their pursuers but he had to stop himself, for the sake of the crew. If he were to fall apart, everyone else would too. Hongjoong was already.....well, Hongjoong. 

"Well, we have to do something! I'm tired of just sitting here" Mingi got up with a frustrated shout. Seongwha couldn't blame them; none of them were very patient and just sitting around, waiting for something to happen, it was torture for the eight men. 

"But what are we supposed to do?" Jongho made a good point. They couldn't do anything; there wasn't enough information to make a successful attack. So, they just sat and watched. Or at least, they were supposed to. Things didn't always go the way they were planned, especially when it came to crazy ideas. Wooyoung could be blamed but he wasn't the one who initiated the whole thing; that was all Hongjoong, unfortunately. But still, by the time that Seongwha, with Mingi, Yunho, Jongho and San behind him, got onto the other ship, he was pissed. Even more so when he saw Hongjoong, Yeosang and Wooyoung tied up against the mast, physically fine. And maybe emotionally fine too since one of them was smiling, the other gave Seongwha a small shrug of pure innocence, and the third....was staring off into the distance. Again. Okay, maybe they weren't all fine. 

"These are your guys, I'm assuming?" The Captain of the other crew approached Seongwha and the younger men.

"Unfortunately. Sorry for the trouble, I hope you don't take it personally. They're just...on edge, what with you trailing us for days" Seongwha explained.

"Trailing you?" The other man laughed. "We're not trailing you. We're looking for one of our little ships. Broke off from us a while ago and we thought they might come around here. Been wanting to give them a piece of my mind" 

Seongwha felt like a fool. Of course these guys weren't after them, it should have been obvious. If they had been after the Siren, they would have made a move by now instead of just waiting around. 

"Right. My mistake. I'll be taking these three back then, sorry again for the trouble" Seongwha motioned to Hongjoong, Yeosang and Wooyoung. Someone untied the ropes and pushed the three of them towards Seongwha. It was quiet until they got back onto their own ship. Seongwha pushed Wooyoung and Yeosang in front of him, managing to get a single smack in before they jumped away.

"Below deck. NOW!" Seongwha pointed. He didn't have to say it twice. San caught Wooyoung around the waist and dragged him downstairs. Yeosang went limp over Jongho's shoulder, pouting but secretly enjoying it. Yunho and Mingi quickly made themselves scarce without needing to be told. Hongjoong stood completely still, shoulders hunched tensely and fists clenched by his side.

 "Kim Hongjoong" The words came out in a hiss, cold and unfeeling. Seongwha was beyond upset, beyond angry. If there was a worse word for those two things, that was how he felt at the moment. 

"What the hell were you thinking?" Seongwha kept his voice low, there was no need to shout and it would only make things worse. Hongjoong did not like being yelled at. Seongwha's body pressed against Hongjoong, a constant reminder of his imposing presence. Hongjoong chewed his lip, feeling a nervous shudder run down his spine. 

"I.....I had to do something" Hongjoong whispered. He had never sounded so unsure of himself but deep down, he knew that he had made the wrong choice; he had put his crew in danger just because of his own crushing anxiety. Seongwha knew this but that didn't make a difference. 

"Had to do something? What you had to do was fucking listen to reason! You were in no position to be making choices!" Seongwha snapped, roughly grabbing Hongjoong's arm. The captain flinched, trying to pull away but Seongwha held on tightly. It was almost enough to scare Hongjoong. What really got him was that this was the same man, the same prince, that Hongjoong had rescued a little over three years before. The one who had been unable to even tie a rope properly, and now here he was making demands and giving orders. And expecting to be obeyed. Hongjoong loved it. 

"I couldn't just let them intimidate us" Hongjoong argued again, weakly. Seongwha spun him around so they were face to face.

"They weren't trying to intimidate us, you fool! They were trying to find the rest of their crew. Which means we didn't need to get involved. Except you just couldn't stay put so now we might have made enemies with them! You're lucky that Captain was understanding, he might not have been. You put the whole crew in danger! You put all of us in danger!" Seongwha's voice rose the longer he talked. 

"Or you could have been killed! And then what? We'd have been without a Captain. Wooyoung, Jongho and Yunho would have lost the closest thing they have to family because of your foolishness!" Seongwha added. Hongjoong had nothing to say to that so he chose to stay quiet, which seemed to upset Seongwha even more.

"Get below deck. I don't want to see you for the rest of the day. You're lucky things turned out alright or we'd be having an entirely different kind of conversation, and trust me, it would not be pleasant for anyone involved" Seongwha watched their captain go. He went to check on the others but it seemed like San and Jongho had things under control and there was nothing for Seongwha to do except worry about Hongjoong. He had no idea what to do about that though. Getting after the others was one thing but Hongjoong? The Captain, the one who always had everything together and under control? Hongjoong, who was usually the one handing out punishments instead of being the one on the receiving end? It was unheard of. And yet, it needed to happen and Seonghwa was the only one who could do it. Seongwha sighed, undid his belt, and went below deck. 

He hated being first mate.