𝟏𝟕𝟕𝟐 | 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲

- ♦♦♦ -

The red was almost washed away when morning came by, the small village eerily silent. Seonghwa sat on a bench outside as he sipped on his drink, his eyes locked on Hongjoong's bare back in front of him, currently in the middle of scrubbing off any dried blood and dirt off his once cream-coloured shirt. His soft muscles rippled under the movement as he ran the clothing up and down the washboard in the tub of water. Hongjoong's upper body was quite built for his size, and Seonghwa would be lying if he did not acknowledge how he enjoyed watching the tensions and release of his skin that still had not lost its melanin glow. The rhythm of Hongjoong's hands was almost hypnotic, a steady pattern that mirrored the calm that had settled over the village after the chaos of the night before.

Seonghwa took another sip of his drink, still a little lukewarm. The warmth of it contrasted against the chill that still hung in the air from the breathing earth. He had told San and Yunho to hide the bodies wherever they could while he kept his eyes on Hongjoong, making sure he cleaned himself thoroughly. There had been no complaints about the task; it even seemed like they were thankful to be put in a position where they could leave the sight of Hongjoong.

He watched as Hongjoong finally set the shirt aside, dipping his hands into the tub to wash off the remaining grime on his fingers, his back still facing Seonghwa. The shirt hung on the edge of the tub, soaking wet. "Be this 'ere good enough?" he asked through a bitten tongue.

Seonghwa studied him for a moment, his pointed gaze drawing down his crouched form, the length of his dark-brown neck hair brushing against his shoulders when he turned his head to search for Seonghwa's answer. The grim sound of his voice changed instantly when he found the elder's sharp eyes grown to his body.

"Wring it out and let me see."

The pirate chuckled as he went on and did as told. Then he turned around, kneeling in front of Seonghwa as he showed him his shirt. Seonghwa placed down his cup and instantly saw how Hongjoong's sight flicked to the swirling blood. But he did not move upon the strong smell. Reaching out he turned the fabric into the light, studying every single thread that still was stained. He growled lowly, annoyed with how poor he was at such a simple task.

Hongjoong's fangs were peeking out from his smug smile when he looked at him again. "I suppose you cannot do any better than this," Seonghwa simply told him with a sneer. His head jerked when he felt a wet, cold hand grabbing above one of his own before those deep eyes stared into his, "Now, tell me more about yer little crew o' misfits. I be wanting to know what ye 'ave dragged me into."

Seonghwa raised an eyebrow at the touch, his eyes narrowing as Hongjoong's fingers lingered around his wrist, cold from the water. There was a moment of tension between them, the corsair's sharp gaze unyielding, even as Seonghwa resisted the urge to pull away from those hands. Hongjoong, though, seemed unfazed, his cocky smirk never faltering.

The ancient vampire allowed his gaze to soften just slightly, the lines of his face relaxing into a more neutral expression that revealed less of his thoughts. "You believe that answers come by cleaning yourself and using that... hand?" He let the words roll off his tongue with a deliberate coolness, a subtle challenge hidden beneath the calm.

Hongjoong's grin widened as he shifted, his hand still wrapped firmly around Seonghwa's wrist, "Could be more than a 'and, if ye like, Seong'wa." There was a low, teasing tone in his voice, but it was not entirely full of jest. It felt... heavy and promising, like a game that only Hongjoong had decided he wanted to do with him.

Seonghwa pulled his wrist back slowly, dislodging Hongjoong's grip, his sharp gaze never leaving the pirate's face as he scowled. "You do be having a lot of nerve to be asking me about my fledglings like that," he said, eyes perceiving Hongjoong, from the stubborn set of his jaw to the way his posture seemed to shift at the challenge. He was not sure why he felt the need to push the corsair, but something about Hongjoong's presence, his easy way of slipping under Seonghwa's skin, made the older male want to provoke him.

And yet, Hongjoong seemed to be the one provoking him more when he just shrugged, his demeanor unfazed. "Aye, I be curious. Been dragged into this here mess without much o' an introduction," he tilted his head slightly, his eyes glinting mischievously, "Yer fledglings, ye say. Be this here some sort of conspiracy ye 'ave goin' on?" Seonghwa's brow furrowed slightly at the heavy pronunciation, irritation flickering in his eyes as Hongjoong's words teased him like a thread ready to unravel something deeper. Even if Seonghwa knew he should stay composed.

He leaned forward, his posture stiffening as he kept his voice low but firm, "There is none conspiracy," Seonghwa said, almost in a growl. The words that floated carried a weight that matched the cool steel edge in his eyes. "It is more like a necessity. Our only way to survive." He didn't allow his gaze to waver, locking eyes with the pirate as he felt the unease creep up from the pit of his stomach. Seonghwa reminded himself that this man knew how to hurt them.

But the way Hongjoong's sly expression slowly faltered, turning into something more of a serious note while he still kneeled by the feet of Seonghwa. His head, tilted back, reflected that one tinge of desperation he always saw in the look of a human's eye; a need to know that they would live, and the gist of power to fight for what was theirs to live through.

"Me eye, Seong'wa," Hongjoong said lowly, a roughness to his voice, " 'ow did ye give me a new good eye?"

"I did not, Hongjoong. But I want to know who did," Seonghwa's words hung in the air, thick with unspoken tension as he watched for any flicker of emotion that might betray the pirate's carefully controlled exterior. Hongjoong's hand, which had held Seonghwa's wrist earlier, seemed to have retreated inward, his finger stretching as if to gather some semblance of composure. "You were dead by the gallows—I saw it myself how you choked on the ropes. But once I came back you were not human anymore," Seonghwa carefully placed his palm on his thigh as he leaned forward into the younger's space, "I want to know who turned you."

A deep furrow appeared between Hongjoong's brows as he looked up at Seonghwa. "Turn me? I ain't no turned soul, Seong'wa," Hongjoong said slowly, the low rumble of his voice carrying a dangerous hint. And Seonghwa took it he knew what he was asking him. "I been dead. That be the truth. An' then, I woke to the raining sky. I 'ave ne'er in me life craved blood as much as I did there."

Seonghwa's eyes narrowed. The corsair's words did not add up, and Seonghwa could feel that there was more to the story—more that Hongjoong was not sharing, hiding behind his mask of bravado.

"You are telling me you chose to come back from the dead?" Seonghwa's voice was full of disbelief, his patience thinning the more words came out from the other's mouth. There were too many inconsistencies, too many unanswered questions, and the answer did not sit right with him.

Hongjoong met his gaze squarely, no sign of hesitation or fear as he continued lying right into Seonghwa's face. "I didn't choose nothin'. But I reckon I didn't 'ave much o' a say in it either. Somethin' else made the choice fer me. An' I don't be talkin' about some friendly ghost either." His voice dropped lower, and Seonghwa felt how something more menacing slipped into the words. "That there eye, Seong'wa... it's a mark. A gift, but not from no kind soul. It be somethin' that there came at a price, a price I ain't even begun to understand yet."

Seonghwa leaned in a fraction closer until he felt a few poking ends of Hongjoong's shorter hair against his forehead, "And who made that deal for you?" the younger visibly shrunk in size, the darkness in his eyes trembling, "Who brought you back, Hongjoong? Whom else do you know of vampires with the power to raise you from death?"

His thoughts were loud like the fool he was and Seonghwa could take no more of his unfounded lies. Roughly, he shoved him back, making him tumble to the ground in sudden confusion. "Liar!" Seonghwa hissed through his aching teeth, getting up on his legs as the other pushed further away, scraping his back against the ground.

"I be not lyin', Seong'wa!"

Then Seonghwa landed his foot right on top of his naked skin, pressing the heel of his shoe down into the softness of Hongjoong's stomach, the pointed end of the leather digging into his ribcage. The pirate gasped for breath he did not even need, his hands coming around and pulling at Seonghwa's trousers' leg. The sound escaping his mouth was graveling—deep and threatening as he let his weight sink further down on the other. He sensed how his fledglings came closer, but Seonghwa's eyes were locked on Hongjoong's face as he pressed harder, feeling the pirate's body struggle beneath him. The vague streak of defiance in Hongjoong's eyes only made his grip on the control tighten.

Hissing, Seonghwa felt the burn of his eyes as he pressed the words against the other's boldness, "Tell me the truth, Hongjoong. Tell me how you knew how to kill a vampire."

The younger swallowed and Seonghwa eyed the way he fleetly let his teeth bite into his lip before he spoke up, "Truth be I did not. I thought ye been somethin' else. Ne'er in me entire thirty years o' life 'ave I e'er encountered a bein' such as yerself. But when I first laid me eyes on ye I thought ye was a creature from me 'ome— one o' them nasty beasts who lure unwary sailors beneath the waves an' devours 'em there." Hongjoong spluttered into a coughing fit when Seonghwa moved his foot, hammering it down into his throat. Finally, he wheezed out his point, "The poison I gave ye was made to kill one o' those beasts, an' not any o' yer kind. Ye be livin' now, aye?"

A moment passed while he silently perceived the way Hongjoong lay still, the corners of his mouth having paused before going all the way up. Seonghwa had heard stories of mythical creatures before but never had he encountered one, unlike this pirate, it seemed. Perhaps his seafaring was connected with a way of hunting down creatures that feasted on humanity.

Slowly, Seonghwa lifted his foot off him again but his eyes never left Hongjoong's. "You are a vampire now, Hongjoong. You have turned into the beast you tried to kill, and now, you must live with it. Always."

♦

The rest of the day, Seonghwa spent keeping an eye on the shorter male while he went back and forth the dead bodies, making sure that all of them were draining so none of the blood made a waste of spilling elsewhere than into the empty bowls, cups, and bottles they had found in the village. Only then, he sat down by a desk, pulling out his journal he had brought with him before they left his property in a hurry.

His sight moved to the limp body on top of a bunch of blankets on the floor, strangely calm after everything that had happened. But then Seonghwa reminded himself that this corsair was not any like Yunho and San had been before they were turned. Their stories were all so different.

Seonghwa dipped his quill in the ink he had found and began to write, the quiet scratch of the pen on parchment being the only sound in the room. His thoughts bleed on the paper, of all the worries and unresolved emotions he was going through, filling the blank spots on the parchment he had come to in his life.

A door creaked open behind him with the act of forethought. Seonghwa listened to the soft sound of footsteps growing closer, but the ancient vampire kept his pen moving steadily across the page, pretending to not have heard them yet.

Coolness touched up his back, an utmost gentleness caressing him through his clothes before fingertips only graced his skin as they swept his long hair away from his shoulder. Seonghwa had stalled in his writing, the silence of a sigh coming from his lips as the ink dripped onto the page in large blobs, soaking through the pages. A tender softness came in contact with his neck, but rather than worrying about what was happening, the fluttering feeling of his nerves stretching a tingly dance beneath his skin had Seonghwa lean further back into the touch, his head tilting the slightest to the side. Heat curled in him as the kisses that followed, light but persistent, felt as if wandering beyond the borders of his own body. The vampire's quill had long since fallen from his hand, forgotten on the desk as his eyes fluttered close as he let the other into his skin.

A sweet hand followed the line of his shoulder, tracing down his arm until it left to his chest, curling into the fabric there. Seonghwa's thoughts started to swirl, the words on the page forgotten as his focus narrowed to the way his fledglings suddenly were touching him this much. San pulled his chair slightly back, the move causing his senses to stir before they were filled with the younger crawling into his lap, head leaning into his chest San was still clutching with his hand. Seonghwa hummed at the gentle purr in San's throat, but as Yunho removed himself and leaned over to kiss his cheek, Seonghwa fought the urge to bite his lip while the embarrassment slowly grew in him.

"What are you two up to?" Seonghwa's voice came out low, almost a murmur, as he slowly opened his eyes to the closeness of his two fledglings. The weight of San in his lap, the softness of his hair pressed against his neck felt calming to him. Yunho's hand lightly squeezed his shoulder.

San shifted slightly, his fingers still lightly curled into Seonghwa's shirt, as if grounding himself in the touch. There was something almost innocent in the way San nestled closer as if he had not just killed off an entire village the night before. His soft eyes flickered up to meet Seonghwa's, then his smile curled into a snicker and Seonghwa instantly felt how Yunho's lips brushed the side of his face again, a touch almost too casual, but there was an undeniable tenderness in it that he could not ignore.

San's voice was soft but a playful edge attached itself to it, "Nothing at all." The smile that curled at the edges of his lips was sweetly mischievous.

Yunho's chuckle followed San's words, the sound rumbling through him as he slowly eased himself into a more relaxed position beside the older vampire. "We wanted to make sure that you were not hurt."

Seonghwa's squinted his eyes as their demeanor did not seem like the full truth. His fingers gently brushed through San's hair in a way to distract himself from the warmth spreading from his core. The sensation of Yunho's hand resting lightly on his shoulder was not helping in the slightest. "I suppose that is a valid point," he said with a hum, swallowing when Yunho's fingers brushed the side of his neck.

"Also.." San's purring voice had him concentrate on him again, "We wanted to kiss you."

With a raised brow, Seonghwa acknowledged the request with a certain hidden flusteredness, "But you already did before?"

San's grin only widened at the question and Seonghwa tilted his head slightly. Everything went by so fast that Seonghwa barely had time to comprehend what was happening before San's lips aligned with his own, "I am going to kiss you now. Will that be okay?" Seonghwa swallowed again, his throat dry, while he tried to understand why the younger vampire was asking him this when they had kissed before. "Yes..?" he whispered, still addled by what they were doing to him. But it was enough. Enough for San to close the distance and melt his lips up against Seonghwa's in such a heartwarming touch. The tenderness wrapped around his shoulders, bringing him into the center of their affection and the realisation had a flare bloom in Seonghwa's cheeks, knowing that it was discerned as such a repugnant occurrence of being with two at the same time. However, Yunho did not seem the least bothered by it, finding his own enjoyment in searching out the quivering nerves under his sensitive skin.

The moment was beautifully one of pure bliss, lasting for hours on as his fledglings kissed his lips raw, his senses so numb by the time they fell asleep that he never noticed the curious study of them in the dark.

∞