Chapter Text
Nine-year-old Morro scrunched his nose as he waited impatiently for his guardian to return. He hated this place. Wu had moved them from the dojo out in the wide open countryside to this huge—and crowded, very crowded—city all because his sister-in-law apparently had a new baby boy that she needed help caring for.
What a pain.
Babies weren’t good at anything except making noise, and even that wasn’t always a helpful skill for them out on the streets. Granted, this baby wasn’t going to be out on the streets if Wu had anything to say about it. Which was why they were here.
Ugh.
He poked at a little paper crane he had made earlier before tossing it into the air. Instead of falling to the floor, a draft of wind caught it and spun it around the small room, letting it bob and weave as if it were a real bird.
He sighed as he slumped against the back of the wooden chair and watched the crane. Even when it was just him on the streets, the wind had always been his friend. It brought him secrets, steered him to safety or away from danger, and helped him find suitable shelter. The wind could not be tamed, but it could be helpful if one knew how to listen to it. It wasn’t until the old man took him in that he realized the wind listened to him in return.
The wind was comfortable. The wind was familiar in a way people weren’t. He’d promised Wu that he’d try to get along with other kids and make friends once he started attending school, but people didn’t listen like the wind listened. They didn’t care like the wind cared. They were much too noisy.
Like the baby was going to be.
The crane suddenly dropped as Morro growled in frustration and rose from his seat to open the round porthole window, letting a natural breeze fill the room. He didn’t like the wind in the city. It was salty and stale like the ocean that bordered it. Like the ocean that sat beneath the Bounty. The boy shivered at that thought and tried not to think about it.
The only reason they were currently using the old boat was because places to live apparently cost a lot more in the city than out in the country. Wu did (somehow) own a warehouse on the opposite side of the city, but it was completely empty and needed a good deep cleaning. Not a great place for a baby to live.
So here he was instead, shut inside his cabin on the Bounty, trying not to focus on the huge, wet death trap that kept the ship afloat.
He wondered how much longer it would be before Wu came back.
The breeze scooped up the little crane from the floor and deposited it back onto the desk as Morro opened the door, a growl in his stomach directing him to go raid the kitchen. His eyes warily regarded the ladder to the upper deck as he passed by it. As long as he stayed inside, he would be fine. No risk of falling into that deep dark abyss down here!
As he dug through the cabinets searching for something to snack on, the sound of footsteps creaked across the deck above him and a wave of relief washed over him. Wu was back! Finally, he didn’t have to be bored anymore!
…except he would probably have to meet the baby now.
He couldn’t decide which was worse.
With suddenly less enthusiasm than before, the boy shuffled back to the central room and waited for the inevitable. Sure enough, a few seconds later Wu descended through the trap door followed by a woman with bright orange hair and a silver headpiece.
Wait a minute…
“You look kinda familiar.”
The woman removed her headpiece as she turned to him, allowing her bangs to flop inelegantly into her eyes. She pushed the hair behind her ears and held out a hand. “Just call me Aunt Koko, please. And you must be Morro! Wu speaks fondly of you.”
Morro took her hand and gave it a firm shake, blushing slightly at the compliment. His eyes darted to the old man, who gave a small satisfied smile before nodding toward the woman again. “Starting today, Koko and Lloyd will be living with us here on the Bounty until further notice. I expect you will be gracious and hospitable to them during their stay?”
He nodded, trying to summon any and all etiquette lessons Wu had taught him. After mostly drawing a blank, he simply bowed to the woman. “I hope you like it here.” As he lifted his head, he noticed a strange bundle of green strapped to her chest that began to squirm. “Is that…”
He didn’t know how to address the baby. He wasn’t even sure he was okay with the baby being here, but here it was anyway. He watched in fascination as Koko undid a couple of buckles on the side of the bundle and the baby was released into her gentle hands. She adjusted it in her grip, allowing Morro to finally see its small, chubby face with eyes screwed tightly shut. “This is Lloyd, your baby cousin.”
As the bundle started fussing and the sound of its small voice crying filled the room, all Morro could do was stare with childlike wonder. This was his cousin? He’d never had a person belong to him before. He belonged with Wu now, but he didn’t think that really worked the other way around. But Lloyd, on the other hand…
“Can I hold him?”
Koko smiled at him as she carefully bounced the baby to try and calm it down. “Alright, but don’t feel bad if he starts screaming louder.” Wu moved over to adjust Morro’s arms to the proper position, and then the squirming bundle was placed into them. He sat there staring for several seconds, too awestruck to know what to do at first, before he carefully copied the up-and-down motion the woman had employed previously.
Slowly, its—no, his. This wasn’t just a thing anymore—cries petered out and his tiny puffy eyes opened, revealing a bright blue-green coloring that seemed like they would suck in anyone who stared into them. Their surroundings seemed to disappear as the two stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Lloyd—his Lloyd—gave him a huge baby smile and started gurgling happily.
“Looks like someone just became his new favorite person.”
Morro finally had someone he could call his own. That wonderful thought never left his mind, even long after Lloyd had been returned to his mother.
Maybe babies weren’t so useless after all.