FELLOWSHIP || Ateez Fanfiction

Chapter Four: Caring

When I walk onto the deck the next morning the warmth of the morning sun hits my face. Even though it is already mid-autumn and we are currently sailing northwards it is still fairly warm. "Why is it getting colder each day? I hate it!", San says next to me.
"I guess you're not used to the cold weather."
"Where I am from, it doesn't get under 5 degrees cold. And it only gets that cold very rarely in the middle of winter."
Someone suddenly puts his arms around our shoulders and squeezes himself between us. "Good morning! Did you sleep well?", Mingi asks.
Last night's incident pops back into my head. I look at San who is giving us a forced smile. "I slept fine.", he lies.
"I stayed up late to help Yunho but I slept okay after that?", I tell.
Mingi looks back and forth between us. "Did something happen?", he asks. He catches onto these things easier than I thought. But I don't want to say anything for now. I think San should tell us these things when he is ready to do so. "Ehm, hello?" Mingi waves his arm in front of our faces.
"It isn't that important.", San says.
"O-okay. But you aren't angry at each other or something?", Mingi asks.
"No, no. How could I ever be angry at San? He is an angel.", I reply.
San's cheeks turn red.
"But I thought I was the angel.", Mingi protest and pouts cutely.
"You are both angels."
"Yaay, we are angels San."
Mingi hugs the smaller crewmate.
My stomach starts rumbling.
"I haven't eaten yet. So I will go to the kitchen now."
"Okay.", San says cutely.

In the kitchen I come across Hongjoong, Yunho, Yeosang and Jongho. They are sitting around the dining table, chatting, laughing and eating. "Good morning.", I say.
I take a plate out of the cupboard, get a knife out of the drawer, cut off three slices of bread and take cheese and jam out of the cold storage. I sit down next to Jongho and start eating. "I thought you would still be sleeping after staying up the whole night, Yunho.", I say.
"An hour or so after you left Wooyoung came to replace me, so I could get some sleep."
"Oh! That's unusually kind of him."
"I know that he seems like a rascal but he cares more than you think."
I see Yeosang smile because of Yunho's words.
"Is he still up there? Shouldn't he rest for a bit?", I remark.
"I will replace him when I'm done here. By the way. Do you have anything planned for today, Captain?", Jongho asks.
"Nothing in particular. If we sail past an island we could search for treasures there but otherwise you are free to do what you want today.", Hongjoong states.
"Maybe we can find a spoonful of treasures today... You know because we found a single spoon last time. Hahaha.", Jongho says and fake laughs at his bad joke. Yeosang starts fake laughing with him and eventually all five of us end up fake laughing at this stupid joke. All of sudden Jongho's face get serious again. "Enough now.", he commands and we stop. We return to eating our breakfast with a serious face.
Except for Yunho who, after a half minute, can't hold back his giggles at our comically behaviour.

After breakfast I clean the kitchen. San comes in to drink some water.
"Thank you for not telling Mingi about last night.", he says while filling up his glass.
"No problem. It's okay if you don't feel comfortable with telling us about your struggles, just know that I'll be there for if you want to speak about it.", I say.
San nods.

After I finished cleaning, I go to the bedroom to make sure that everyone has made their bed. I enter and see that Wooyoung is taking a nap. I quickly scan through the room to make sure everything is neat, fix Mingi's bed a bit and sneak towards the door again.
Just as I leave I hear Wooyoung talk in his sleep. "Mom! Dad! Noo! Why?", I hear him cry out. His body is shifting from side to side.

I walk up to him and sit down on the edge of his bed. I gently caress his head to calm him down. Wooyoung immediately seems less tense. For a few more minutes I just sit their making sure that he sleeps calmly then I tuck him in and quietly leave the room. I am not surprised that Wooyoung has a lot of nightmares knowing that he was born in the Nekra Kingdom, still I wonder what his story is. Whatever it is, he doesn't seem to let it mess up his life. He id always so cheerful and strong-minded. I wish I could be more like that.