Prince of Blood

18. Overshadow

Seonghwa was holding Tikki's hand as he was showing her around the ship. She was curious about everything, pointing and asking questions as if she was planning to invest in the Precious. Seonghwa found it extremely adorable and paid extra attention to explaining all the details to her. Soon, she knew about how the wheel worked, about the ranks on board, and how they used salt to preserve food. So far, she seemed satisfied with all of the new knowledge that she soaked up like a sponge, but one thing.

"A monkey, why don't you have a monkey?" With this question, she turned to Hongjoong rather than Seonghwa. She stared the captain down with a withering look as if extremely displeased by the lack of a monkey on board. Seonghwa comfortingly rubbed her shoulder as his mother that was walking next to Hongjoong behind them giggled into her hand.

According to Hongjoong, Seonghwa had her smile, and now that his husband had mentioned it to him, he saw it.

"Isn't Wooyoung monkey enough? Why do you complain, he is right over there!" Hongjoong pointed at the man in question that was sitting on some barrels with San and Yunho. At the call, he gasped dramatically, ready to fight had San not held him back by his chest. Judging from how his fingers sneakily slipped underneath Wooyoung's partly open shirt, he had planned that out.

Seonghwa rolled his eyes at them.

"You are such a mean captain; your crew aren't monkeys! Do you call Ddeonghwa a monkey, too?! Brobro... You can come home at any time. I won't call you a monkey." Very serious, she ran her little thumb over the back of his hand in a gesture she had seen him do to his mom before. Seonghwa nearly melted into a puddle, absolutely devastated over the attempt.

"No, he doesn't, sweetie. Your dad is always very nice to me. I also call Wooyoung a monkey sometimes." Seonghwa threw a wink over his shoulder to make sure that Hongjoong knew he was on his side. The captain chuckled at him.

"You do?! Oh no... Granny, Dada is such a bad influence... I think we should take Ddeonghwa back with us." Very concerned, Tikki held her Joong plushie closer to her chest. Its little face that was painted with their scars squished against her collarbone. She had the adults laughing again.

They reached the place where San, Wooyoung, and Yunho were lazing around under the excuse of having guests over soon. Yunho slipped from his barrel smoothly to kneel down and open his arms wide for Tikki to run into. She immediately did, not looking back even once as she snuggled into the grip of the gentle giant. Yunho lifted her up in his arms as he sat down again, letting her cling to him like a sticky small plant.

San poked her cheeks with a coo. She poked him back, very interested in the dimples on his face. He smiled an especially sweet smile for her so that she could dig her finger into them.

While she was busy discussing important things with the crew and showing off her bracelet that had Yunho calling out for Mingi, Hongjoong turned to the other two again. Luckily, Seonghwa's mother did not look too uncomfortable with the situation, accepting her unfamiliar surroundings easily. He was glad that she felt safe. She certainly was aboard his ship.

"I have a question. We considered taking Tikki on a little adventure - completely safe, of course - someday in the near future. Would you consider letting her go with us? I know that a ship is not the best of all places to take her, but since you are her caretaker now, I wanted to ask for your consent formally. It can also wait if you want."

Hongjoong waited with his hands hooked onto his belt casually. Seonghwa was taking turns between monitoring Tikki and the laughing men near them and listening to their conversation.

"Oh, that's fine with me. I don't doubt your credibility in that regard, Hongjoong. You have proven to protect my son well so that I would trust you with your own kid any day. Actually, it comes together nicely. Yonghwan asked me to visit him a while ago so we could spend some time together."