Ateez Present

Chapter 13

Trigger Warning

Mentions of drowning

"Seonghwa, I wanna teach you how to do something, but I'm not sure how keen you'll be to do it," Hongjoong said as he ate his cereal. Seonghwa glanced up from the further end of the table where he was eating as well.

"But you're teaching me sword-fighting," Seonghwa pointed out.

"No, I'm helping you brush up on your skills. As I said yesterday, you're doing really well so I don't need to help you anymore," Hongjoong said with a shrug.

"Oh, ok. So, what else do you want to teach me," Seonghwa asked. Hongjoong bit his lip nervously, glancing around the table before looking back to Seonghwa who was watching him expectantly.

"You're a pirate, you're going to be on this ship for a long time, in the middle of the sea," Hongjoong said slowly. Seonghwa gasped and whimpered as he registered what Hongjoong was implying.

"No. No, no, no. Please no," he cried, shaking his head quickly. Yunho shot up from where he was seated beside Seonghwa and wrapped his arms around him tightly, rubbing his back. Seonghwa clutched to him desperately, curling in on himself slightly, his head beginning to go fuzzy.

The waves were crashing around him, a big one slamming on top of him, forcing him back down under the raging sea, water entering his lungs. He coughed and spluttered but he was underwater so it didn't make a difference. Just as he thought it was going to be finally over, there was a tug around his mid-section and he was dragged back above water, his back smashing again-.

"Hey, Seongie, look at me darling." Seonghwa's vision came back into focus slowly and he realised he was on the floor, curled up tightly in Hongjoong's arms, practically sitting in his lap.

"Hey, there you are," Hongjoong said softly, giving Seonghwa a gentle smile. He had panicked when Seonghwa completely shut down and just started whimpering continuously so he dragged him to the floor and hugged him tightly, trying to bring him back to himself. Seonghwa sniffled and moved his head to snuggle into Hongjoong's neck.

"I've got you, you're safe," Hongjoong whispered. Seonghwa nodded into his neck and took a deep breath to begin calming himself down.

"M'safe," Seonghwa whispered. Hongjoong let out a sad smile and ran his fingers through Seonghwa's hair gently. The other were all gathered around, just sitting on the floor and waiting.

"Joong," Seonghwa whispered, pulling back a little. His hand was shaking as he gripped Hongjoong's shirt tightly and Hongjoong took notice of it.

"It's ok Seonghwa, I won't bring you near the water," Hongjoong promised, not wanting to stress the other out more.

"N-No. No, I need to do this," Seonghwa said quietly. Hongjoong frowned in confusion, raising an eyebrow.

"You want to go into the water? Seongie, you just panicked at the mere mention," Hongjoong pointed out quietly.

"I know," Seonghwa whispered. It's the fact that he's panicking so much that he wants to do it. He needs good memories with the water, needs to be able to swim so he doesn't have to rely on the others to save his life whenever he ends up in the ocean.

"I need to," Seonghwa whispered.

"Ok," Hongjoong nodded, pulling Seonghwa close again.

"Here's what we're going to do alright. Mingi, I want you to grab some of the sheets from my quarters, cut them up and form a rope with them," Hongjoong said.

"Why," Mingi asked in confusion.

"Because we're going to wrap it around Seonghwa as a safety mechanism in case something goes wrong, just to pull him up a little so he isn't under water. It's softer than normal rope so it won't hurt him," Hongjoong said.