#hongjoong notices how red she gets and how she fumbles trying to joke back with yunho

[atinycafe]

thinking... thinking about hongjoong calling 9th ateez member!reader to his room after she acts out during a live, and just spanks her till she's a sobbing mess...

[shining-red-diamond]

Ch. 21: Fighting Gravity

Cast of Characters//Ch. 1//Ch. 2//Ch. 3//Ch. 4//Ch. 5//Ch. 6//Ch. 7//Ch. 8//Ch. 9//Ch. 10//Ch. 11//Ch. 12//Ch. 13//Ch. 14//Ch. 15//Ch. 16//Ch. 17//Ch. 18//Ch. 19//Ch. 20//Ch. 21//Ch. 22//Ch. 23//Ch. 24//Ch. 25//Ch. 26//Ch. 27//Ch. 28 (coming soon)

Words: 1.8k

Pairing: ATEEZ OT8 x OCs

Genre: Adventure, Pirate AU, Fluff, angst, slight suggestive themes

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: mentions of blood, injuries bug attacks, side effects from medicine, medical procedures, labor scare, falling out of the sky

A/N: Italics means they’re speaking Korean

It wasn’t long before the crew returned to the ship with the next piece in hand, and they covered the elephant’s trunk back to where they had found it before booking it to the ship. No one was out by the river, so they were able to sneak back to the ship without anyone else noticing. Mingi double checked that everyone was on board before gearing up the ship to take off towards Egypt, Grace-Anne stored the piece in her lab with the other diamond, and Dinah set up the shield as dark clouds thundered as they rolled in. Three members rushed to the medic as everyone else tried to clean themselves from their journey.

“It stings!” Hongjoong whined as Dahae and Yeosang treated his left arm. He had been the one to accidentally touch a crystal after dropping one of the notes. He was able to retrieve it, but not without getting attacked by the glowworms.

“Even the captain stumbles sometimes,” Yeosang sighs in sarcasm as he gives him an herbal shot to drink.

Hongjoong was about to comment back, but the bitter taste of the medicine restrained his tongue. At least it was a distraction for the stinging in his arm.

“It’ll keep you from getting an infection,” Dahae reassured him. “However, it’s possible that you’re gonna have some...frequent bathroom runs.”

“Like what?” the captain’s brow rose, his face still contorted in disgust from the bitter elixir. “Pooping?”

“It’s only a side effect, babe. It just flushes out any bacteria. An infection from those glow worms can cause intestinal issues as well if the poison gets deep into the bloodstream.”

Hongjoong sipped on some water to wash down the bitter herbal taste. “Diarrhea I can deal with.”

“If you do end up having that side effect, it will only last about a few hours.”

The captain nodded and let his fiancée finish patching up his wound as Yeosang went to go check on San. Hongjoong just kept his eyes on Dahae, the pain in his arm becoming numb the less he paid attention to it. Three years of traveling the world and finding artifacts in dangerous territories, and she still stayed with him.

“How did I get so lucky?” he wondered out loud, a smile growing on his face.

“I should be asking the same thing,” Dahae giggled as she began to bandage his wound, her small hands working gently at it.

“I know I don’t say it often, but I’m so thankful to have you in my life.”

With a small smile, Dahae leaned forward and pressed a tender kiss to his brow slit. “And I’m thankful for you.”

“I just hate putting you in danger with such adventures as this,” he sighed regretfully as she finished bandaging his arm.

Dahae met his eyes, cupped his face, and whispered, “There’s going to be danger with each adventure. If I hadn’t gone with you after that bar fight, I think my life wouldn’t be as exciting as it is now.”

Hongjoong leaned into her touch. “But what happens if I can’t protect you, or I...I lose you? Or something happens to me?”

“Then we’ll know that our adventures were spent together in love.”

Before they could share a kiss, they were both jerked by a force of gravity, causing them to bonk heads. Next, the lights went out, leaving them in near pitch darkness.

“Are you okay?” Hongjoong asked as he massaged his forehead.

“Yeah,” Dahae nodded as she went to go find the emergency flashlight. “What just happened?”

“I’m not sure.”

The captain didn’t hesitate to exit the medical wing to see the potential issue. Some parts of the ship still had electricity; but he knew something was wrong the moment he saw the worried look on Yunho’s face.

“One of the engines has stopped working,” he alerted frantically as he fumbled through his tool belt. “I have to go see what’s happened.”

“Hurry!” the captain ordered as he dashed to the deck.

The emergency alarm went off, alerting the crew to be prepared if the ship was going to crash if the engine couldn’t get fixed. Red lights flash, a color Hongjoong never wanted to see in an emergency context. Taeran and Phoebe rushed to the engine room to help Yunho, and Mingi was frantically checking his flight calculations to determine how to properly land in case the ship fell.

“Captain,” Yunho radioed in, “I’ve found the damage, and it can be fixed. Two wires were loose. However, it’s a bit of an arm’s reach.”

“Well, you’re tall,” Hongjoong retorted as he grabbed on to one of the safety bars. “Can’t you reach it?”

“The girls and I are trying, but we’ll work as quickly as we can.”

“Do what you can. I have faith in you three.”

The radio was switched off as Dahae rushed over to Hongjoong. Soon, the rest of the crew was rushing up the stairs to hold onto something as the force of gravity was shifting. Mingi was using all of his strength to keep the ship steady, but Jongho was quick to his aid to help him out. The HALA itself started to lower towards the earth and began to tip sideways as supplies on deck were sliding to the other end. The two men at the wheel were straining to keep everyone from a falling fate, causing the ship to begin to spin.

Some of the crew were starting to panic as shouts of cries and whimpers erupted. The captain himself almost felt like crying, but tried his best to comfort Dahae, who was now sobbing into his shoulder.

“MINGI, PULL!” Jongho screamed over the strong winds.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK I’M DOING?!” the taller man shouted back.

The captain looked up to see what could be done to slow down the spinning, and he noticed that one of the sails wasn’t open. Immediately, he jumped up and waved for Seonghwa and Yeosang to follow him, all three of them fighting gravity to get to the sail box.

The HALA was starting to rock a little as Dahae screamed, “HURRY!” She held onto the railing so tightly that her knuckles were turning white as cotton linen. San was doing his best to shield his wife and the baby within her; and Dinah, Wooyoung, and Grace-Anne slid over to huddle with Dahae. Mingi and Jongho were both red as beets and equally running out of energy just trying to keep the ship steady.

The blaring alarm seemed to pound in Hongjoong’s head as he bearcrawled to the post. He wasn’t about to go out with his crewmates like this. Heating the love of his life scream in panic pierced his heart so much that it gave him a boost of adrenaline. Hongjoong lunged at his target; his first mate, and his quartermaster reached the sail post. Together, they ripped open the metallic built-in box, and punched in the emergency sail code.

At that moment, the ship slowed its spinning and came to a stop just before they could crash into some forestry. The sails dropped, and they began to ascend into the clouds again.

Hongjoong, Seonghwa, and Yeosang all sighed in relief as the center of gravity steadied.

“Are you okay, captain?” Yeosang asked. “You look pale.”

“I’ll be okay,” Hongjoong promised as he looked back towards his crew. “Is everyone alright?”

The three women that were huddled slowly stood and smoothed each other’s hair and clothing out, but with a nod they reassured the captain they were unharmed. Wooyoung was trying to regain his balance, as he was prone to get dizzy easily; and Mingi and Jongho were catching their breaths. San, on the other hand, was still holding his wife and whispering something to her. Celestia was sobbing hysterically.

“This can’t happen!” she sobbed. “This can’t happen!”

Dahae and Yeosang rushed over to her to see what had happened, and San, a concerned expression on his winded face explained that Celestia thought that she was about to go into labor from the whole fiasco. She panicked at the thought of being whipped around would harm the child developing within her.

“Let’s get her to the medical wing,” Dahae suggested.

San didn’t hesitate to scoop his crying wife into his arms, shushing her and attempting to calm her as he carried her.

Hongjoong turning his radio back on. “Yunho, what’s happened?”

“We got the engine fixed with a little teamwork. Phoebe got on my shoulders to reach the wire, and Taeran kept us all steady.”

“Good job, guys. Take a rest.”

-

Heartbeats.

Loud and clear.

“She’s okay,” Dahae smiled comfortingly.

The doppler picked up Baby Choi’s heartbeat, and it was beating at the pace it was supposed to.

“Thank you,” Celestia sniffed, her head leaning against her husband’s chest. San kissed her head, his way of telling her he was always there to protect her.

“Again, sorry that you had to go through all of that,” the medic nervously chuckled as she helped Celestia up and handed her a tissue to dry her eyes.

“It’s not your fault.”

“None of us knew that was going to happen,” San chimed in.

“Well, you two better go ahead and rest. We should be in Egypt by tonight.”

Once the bride and groom were out of the room, Dahae huffed back into her chair. First her fiancé nearly gets his arm eaten by worms, then the ship starts falling from the sky causing major panic over the crew, not to mention the inside of the ship needing to go through a major clean-up. Dahae loved going on these adventures, but this one was getting more and more tedious and dangerous.

Her fingers massaged the massive headache from the stress of it all. Another heavy sigh escaped her mouth.

“Only the second stop,” she groaned, “and it gets worse as we go.”

“Tell me about it,” Yeosang agreed as he sweeped up broken syringes. “What’s next? Someone breaks their arm from a sarcophagus falling over?”

“Don’t jinx it.”

She knew it was only a joke, but Dahae didn’t have any energy left to laugh.

“Hey, how about I clean up here?” Yeosang offered.

“Are you sure?” His fellow medic raised an eyebrow.

“You and Hongjoong have both looked exhausted since the ship came back to normal. Go rest.”

Dahae could see the dark circles under Yeosang’s eyes. He was just as tired, but he was willing to take up for others when he could. That was the thing Dahae admired most about her friend: he put others first. Especially now that he had Phoebe in his life, he had dedicated helping her with her grandfather’s medical bills. She was a match for him as she was  willing to help him pay to go back to medical school if he ever decided to.

“Alright,” Dahae agreed as she rose from her seat. “Have a good night.”

-

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