Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Venusians know how to party.

Since strolling in after six, the music has only gotten louder and the Venusians more festive. If they had the propensity to be rowdy, they probably would be right about now, but these people can hold their liquor shockingly well. Must be their tall frames, Hongjoong thinks to himself.

He’d taken a spot on the wall awhile ago, warming San’s place when the siren eventually skipped off onto the dance floor. Good for him, the captain had thought. He can’t blame the guy for being a bit on edge. New living situation, new friends, and now a new place with more new people. It’s a lot of new. He seems okay now, Joong muses, idly watching him and Wooyoung dance in the distance with a bunch of Venusians.

Hongjoong is surprised that the Venusians would even associate with lowdown, undignified types like themselves, but he’s starting to think maybe he’s got the whole Venusian culture framed wrong. It’s not that they’re not hoity toity - they are. But they seem somehow nicer. Of course, it could just be the party or the alcohol or the wedding festivities spurning their welcoming attitude. After all, this is a planet that usually requires some flavor of bureaucratic papers to enter.

The captain glances down at his own glass of Venusian wine. It’s good, sinfully good. On a typical evening, he’d probably have downed six glasses already. The stuff almost tastes like juice - it’s that dangerous. However, ever since coming in and losing people, he’s been anxious. Hongjoong has found through real life experience that nerves don’t make for the best mixer for alcohol, and he prefers to forgo frantic, drunken attacks of anxiety that occasionally seize a person when they’re jittery and have had too much. Consequently, he’s basically stone cold sober which makes the entire affair just a little bit duller than it should be.

Jongho is probably off in some corner, breaking apples and flirting. Strangely enough, even though he’s the youngest, Hongjoong trusts him the most. He just doesn’t seem the type to do something incredibly stupid and detrimental to their cause. Wooyoung, on the other hand, would definitely do something stupid, but luckily he’s busy dancing. And then there’s Yunho the (quite literally) missing piece of the ATEEZ puzzle. He’s nowhere to be found and it’s been about three hours, give or take.

That’s got Hongjoong worried.

He’s scanned the crowd time after time. Occasionally a head of brown curls will rouse his attention, but it turns out to just be some server or Venusian. Venusians are tall, but so is Yunho. Joong thought by this time he would’ve surfaced. He’d even checked the pretty little pop-up commodes they’d erected for the public. He’d gone in multiple times, checking all the stalls and even enduring the humiliation of calling out his name.

Nothing.

Yunho is a humecanis. There’s a lot of them, but not across the universe. As far as your average person is concerned, he’s a rarity. People on Venus seem to love shit like that, and they seem to love throwing their money around even more. Worst case scenarios have been creeping their way through Hongjoong’s head for the past hour, and his heart continues to sink more and more.

Someone could have snatched him away to sell him. What if some Venusian baron knocked him out and snatched him away to be kept as a pet? Or maybe some fancy but entirely unhinged scientist smuggled Yunho away to use him for experiments? Yunho’s a trusting guy, and though his senses are good, there are drugs even he can’t detect. What if someone slipped something into his drink? The possibilities are endless and, in Hongjoong’s head, horrible.

The captain decides he can’t live like this anymore, and he charges forward determinedly to grab two of the dancing idiots he claims as his crew. Loud bass pounds, and Hongjoong rubs up against more people than he’d like as he crosses the throng of dancing Venusians. All the while, Hongjoong’s head whips around in search of his friend. It’s a pity, because he’s pretty sure in different circumstances, he’d be enjoying himself a ton.

“Hey!” Hongjoong shouts just so he can be heard over the pounding bass.

Wooyoung turns to see Hongjoong (now sandwiched between San and some tall Venusian girl), “Captain! Get in here!” He beams, beckoning Hongjoong into the too-close cluster of people.

“We need to find Yunho!” Joong hollers, ignoring the invitation. He’s way too sober to have someone’s junk pressing up on him (or to press his junk on some other random).

“What?” Wooyoung’s brows knit together.

“We need to find Yunho! I’m worried about him!”

“Where’s Yunho?!” San loudly enters the conversation.

“I don’t know,” Hongjoong huffs. “We need to find him!”

“Why do we need to find him?”

Joong squeezes the bridge of his nose, “I’m worried about him!”

“Why?” Wooyoung asks. “He’s not a child!”

“Yeah, but we’re-” Hongjoong glances at the people around them. There’s too many people to talk openly (or, well, yell openly). “I just wanna make sure everyone’s alright! Can you please help me look?”

San and Wooyoung exchange looks before shrugging in concession. They whisper whatever sweet, sorrowful goodbyes their drunk minds can come up with to their new friends. After a prolonged farewell, Hongjoong manages to pull the two aside, away from the core of the commotion. The trio find a relatively quiet spot toward the fanciful, arching entrance of the ballroom to talk.

“What if he’s getting laid?” Wooyoung posits first. His cheeks and ears are flushed, and the slight slur in his speech says “I’m drunk but I can handle my liquor - but I’m definitely drunk”.

“But where would he lay down?” San asks innocently, eyebrows quirking at Wooyoung’s statement.

“No- No- Not laying down. He’s getting laid- Y’see, it’s a very human expression about when-”

“He’s been gone for, like, three hours? More than three hours now,” Hongjoong cuts Wooyoung off. Not today, Wooyoung. He can wreck San’s cute naivety another time - but not today. Especially when there’s way more important stuff at hand.

“Well good for him,” Wooyoung snickers. San still looks completely lost (good, Hongjoong thinks).

“Ignore him,” Hongjoong says pointedly to the siren. “Actually- In general, life advice. Just ignore him.”

“Wh- Rude,” Wooyoung pouts.

Hongjoong concludes that Wooyoung is helpful as a pair of eyes and nothing more. He turns to San, hoping the siren is in a better place mentally.

“Okay, you- Any ideas? Are you sure Yunho didn’t- didn’t say anything?”

San shrugs, “He ran toward the food. If we’re gonna try to find him, why not retrace his steps and start there?”

Finally, a decent, logical idea! They just need to snag Jongho and the captain’s parentesque paranoia will nearly be calmed.

“Good idea, San,” Hongjoong praises the other exaggeratedly, eyes on Wooyoung.

Wooyoung just chuckles, “He is so smart.” He reaches out to squeeze the siren’s cheek giddily. Okay, so maybe he’s not as lucid as Joong had originally thought. Before he has to endure more akward pseudo third-wheeling, the captain starts walking toward one of the long tables heaped with food.

“Come on, let’s start over there,” He commands. The two follow obediently, Wooyoung muttering something to San that Hongjoong can’t hear (and probably wouldn’t want to).

Abruptly, something prompts Hongjoong to halt. San narrowly avoids him, but Wooyoung body checks him in a full-on collision.

He gripes, “Hey- Wh-”

“Uh-oh,” Hongjoong murmurs. Worry stabs him square in the chest at the things he sees dancing around in his peripheral vision. Both left and right, tall, uniformed blurs casually stride toward them. Said blurs carry rifles longer than Hongjoong from head to toe, and they seem to be muttering into something, communicating.

“Follow me,” The captain says coolly. Instead of the direct, open route to the nearby table, he leads the other two into the crowd again.

“Huh- What is it?” Wooyoung asks.

“We’re being watched,” San catches on lightning quick. Good. His senses are keen and, apparently, his tolerance high. Maybe it has something to do with that martial arts siren warrior stuff he’d talked about before. Whatever it is, Joong is thankful to have him as an ally.

“Huh?” The younger human grunts dumbly.

“They’re at our two and nine,” Hongjoong ignores Wooyoung. He’s a poor, lost soul. “Just keep it cool. We could be jumpy for nothing.”

The trio walk back into the crowd, navigating the outer edges carefully. They weave through jubilantly chattering Venusians who are none the wiser that they’ve been drinking and dancing among fugitives. Hongjoong has a feeling that the discovery wouldn’t go over well, and he’s not eager to confirm his suspicion.

“His majesty’s still not here?” “Where’s he gone off to-?” “I miss Prince Mingi.” “-gauche! He wouldn’t have some tawdry affair just days before-” “-e’s probably hiding.” “We know he doesn’t want to be king…” “Is he alright?” “I bet he’s fallen asleep-”

Hongjoong gnaws on his lower lip, borderline abusing it to vent his anxiety. The prince is gone. Yunho is gone. It doesn’t matter who did what, when or where - Hongjoong has a really, really awful feeling about this. If anyone finds out that something happened to the prince, who’s going to get blamed? The low-status foreigner with zero alibi, that’s who.

“They still looking at us or was I being too paranoid?” Hongjoong asks San.

The siren leans in, his voice downtrodden, “We’ve got another one on our six now.”

Fuck.

Okay, Joong urges himself, keep it cool.

“This way,” He leads them to the left - toward their ten. His hope that the guard isn’t watching them slowly go up in flames. In his peripherals, Hongjoong catches the sight of the guard politely asking Venusian attendees to please excuse them as the shuffle through.

Fuck.

“Wait, we’re being followed by the guard?” Wooyoung, ever the fast one, asks.

“No,” Hongjoong replies with gritted teeth. “This is just a misunderstanding. They must be looking for his majesty.” He fakes - just in case someone’s overhearing.

“Captain,” San says hushedly (well, as hushedly as he can with music blaring), “Another one. At our three.”

“So what you’re telling me is that we’re surrounded?”

“That… May be so, yes.”

“Okay, that’s- that’s fine. It’s not, but, I mean-” Hongjoong’s temples ache from dehydration, loud music, and how hard he’s thinking right now. “I- We need to just play it cool. Can’t let on that anything’s wrong or off. We are just normal people. Normal performers just- normally partying. On Venus.”

“Whoa, is that one of the royal guards?” Wooyoung blubbers. Hongjoong follows the drunk’s vague gesturing to see that one of the guards is making a bee line toward them. He’s maybe a dozen paces away if that.

“Come on this way,” Hongjoong grabs Wooyoung by the wrist and drags him forward (he doesn’t trust him to keep up). He leads them away from the guard closing in on them but doesn’t make it far. Wooyoung bumps into his side when he stops suddenly.

“U-Uh-” The captain stutters. He almost collided with the person in front of them. A Neith royal guard bars their path imposingly, hands poisedly holding their signature huge rifle. Next to him stands an indignant looking woman - clearly not Venusian. Also clearly pissed.

“Ex-Excuse me-” Hongjoong tries.

“ITZY, huh?” The guard growls.

The captain’s wide eyes dart between the guard and the indignant young woman next to him. She’s dressed flamboyantly. He didn’t think much of it before, but it occurs to him that her dress could be likened to a costume. A stage costume. For a performance. Done by performers. Entertainers, as the atmospheric patrol had put it.

“Captain, who’s she?” Wooyoung asks dumbly, pointing to the pissed off performer.

“You three are going to need to come with us- along with the rest of your crew,” The guard ignores Wooyoung, pointedly making the demand to Hongjoong.

Another day.

Another planet.

Another brush-in with the authorities and another questioning.

Why is this becoming routine for them?

“I think this is just a big misunderstanding,” Hongjoong holds his hands up defensively. “There was a misspelling.”

“Bullshit!” The woman next to the guard says. She jabs a finger in the captain’s direction, indignation painted plainly on her face, “You made life a living hell. They thought we were imposters when we were coming in!”

“Wait- Who are you?” Wooyoung blurts out. If the royal guard wasn’t so fixed on doing it, Joong would kill Wooyoung himself.

“ I’m a part of ITZY,” The girl seethes. “Imagine how interesting it was when we heard a bunch of dudes used our name - even calling themselves ATEEZ - to get in.” She grimaces.

Realization dawns on Wooyoung in stunted phases,“Wh- Oh… Oh. Oh .”

“Yeah,” She responds. “Oh.”

“Captain,” The drunk leans over so close that Hongjoong can feel his hot breath on his ear. Weirdo. “It appears we’ve been had.”

“ Thank you , Wooyoung,” Hongjoong responds sarcastically.

“You’re welcome,” Apparently, the sarcasm had gone completely over Woo’s head.

“Please,” The royal guard says firmly, “Come with us quietly so as to not be impolite to the other guests.”

Hongjoong looks San in the eye. The two share something - a nonverbal exchange, an understanding. They both come to a consensus that boils down to one, simple thing: fuck that. Like hell is he going to get taken in and questioned again. If what he’s heard about Venus is right, getting taken in means they’re fucked - royally fucked, even. Neither of them are interested in what lies down that road. Joong and San nod, then Hongjoong glances at Wooyoung. He’s… Wooyoung. Though his wit is dulled, Joong figures he ought to be lucid enough to understand the three letter word “run”.

Coming to that executive decision, Hongjoong turns to the guard and replies, “See the thing about us ATEEZ fellas… We’re not very polite.” The guard looks absolutely galled to hear this new information, but Hongjoong doesn’t give him a chance to respond. Nice things about Venusians being so tall is that they happen to be at an ideal gut-kicking height for the petite captain. Hongjoong swiftly kicks in front of him, and his foot lands squarely between the man’s stomach and groin.

“Run!” He commands. “Let’s split up and head toward the ship! San- Take Wooyoung!”

“What about the others?” San asks, snatching the loopy human’s wrist.

“Jongho can take care of himself- we’ll find Yunho ASAP. Let’s just not get killed right now!”

“Yes, sir!” San responds compliantly.

With that, they fork off into different directions. It doesn’t take long for the other guards to notice, and soon the ATEEZ crew is engaged in a mad dash. The majority of the partiers are still none the wiser, but a few start to take notice.

“Wh-” “What’s going on?” “Oh my god- Do you think they’ve taken the prince?!” “Who are you-” “Stop him!” “Wh-” “Watch where you’re going!”

Venusians chatter left and right as Hongjoong deftly weaves through them. He knows for a fact Jongho is somewhere in the vicinity. His goal is to reach the kid first. When the four of them are at least safe-ish, then they can hunt down Yunho. The plan is loosey goosey, but it’s gonna have to work. It’s not like he’d been given time to strategize and, so far, his thrown together plans haven’t resulted in imminent death. Joong prays his record stays like that.

Guards rush in Hongjoong’s direction, and he freezes. His brain reels thinking of ways to outwit them, outmaneuver. He stays like that, petrified and panicked as they guards come rushing… Straight past him.

“Ahh-!” “Get him!” “Step aside!” “We’re gonna need backup.” “What is that thing?” “Oh my word-” “Ah-!”

An eruption of screams and commotion ahead of Hongjoong catches his attention. His head snaps in the direction that his not-pursuers are heading. The crowd in that direction thins rapidly, and he sees exactly the source.

“Thank god for Choi Jongho,” Joong mutters to himself. He sprints toward the kid who successfully shoves off two royal guards. Hongjoong’s relieved that there’s a crowd. He feels bad that they’re getting caught up in all of this, but it means the guard isn’t opening fire.

“Thwaack!” Jongho’s fist collides with a soldier’s face, sending him crumbling to his feet.

“Captain-!” Jongho gasps when he finally catches sight of Hongjoong. “What’s going on?”

“We need to get back to the ship. Now!” Hongjoong answers.

Jongho has the audacity to pout, “But I was having fun-” That thought’s cut off by a guard lunging toward him. The youngest elbows the guard roughly in the gut, making a sickly noise leave their throat before they collapse.

“And I am so sorry,” Hongjoong huffs exasperatedly. “But we have to go.”

“Where’s Yunho?”

“We’ll- We can figure that out,” Hongjoong winces. In truth, he hasn’t quite gotten to that part of the plan. A sinking sensation forms a pit in his stomach, the possibility that Yunho isn’t okay is way too real to him.

“Think we can send him a message or something?”

“What? Wait- That’s a good idea,” Hongjoong scrambles over to Jongho, standing against him back to back.. Less to be helpful and more for his own protection. It’s not that he doesn’t want to help - he just knows that Jongho is really fine without his flimsy strength to assist.

“There they are!” “Get them!” “Do we have visuals on the other two imposters?” More guards dash toward them.

“Any ideas on how to do that?” Hongjoong asks as he ducks a rifle swinging toward him. No wonder they’re so big, he thinks. They’re used as melee and ranged weapons. While that little nugget of knowledge is ever so enlightening, it doesn’t really help, and Joong shakes the distraction out of his head.

“There has to be some big network here!” Jongho says. “The guards are communicating-” He kicks a nearby guard in the stomach. “-If we can somehow get like a global message. Like- A security alert.”

Hongjoong ducks to the side, narrowly missing a fist coming for his face, “So one of these guys should have something like that- right?” He grabs the guard’s forearm and holds them in place. His leg extends into a forceful kick, getting them right in the gut. They fall surprisingly easily, and Hongjoong wonders if they’re just not used actually using the training they surely get.

“That’s my guess,” Jongho says.

People have definitely taken notice at this point, and a ring of gawkers forms around the skirmish. It must be perversely fascinating to Venusians. After all, their society is all about order and manners. A genuine fight breaking out? At a gala held in the prince’s honor of all places? No doubt Venusians will have some proposed alterations to their visitation policies after this. Yet, at the same time, Hongjoong can’t help but get the impression they’re wildly entertained. He notices people leaning over to one another, whispering fervently. Some are straight up panicking too, some are screaming, and some are laughing.

Figures.

It’s all a big fucking spectacle to them. At the end of the day, they get to go back to their fancy beds in their pretty houses, safe and sound and completely unbothered. This’ll be a funny, scandalous story to them tomorrow. Maybe it’ll be some sensational headline in a Neith tabloid. Will they be blamed for disgracing the royal family or something?

Who gives a rat’s ass.

Unlike the people of Neith, Hongjoong is fighting for his life. Not just his life either, but those of his crew, too.

“Got one!” Jongho hollers.

Hongjoong blinks confusedly at him until he sees what Jongho is holding up. It looks like some type of communicator bracelet.

“Give it here,” Joong commands. Jongho is happy to toss the thing over to his senior as another two guards barrel toward them.

Hongjoong snatches the shiny bracelet out of the air. He scoffs in disbelief at the thing. It’s a gold cup-chain encrusted with what are probably diamonds or some equally shiny, needlessly expensive stone. In the middle is a bulbous, glassy looking node. He taps the orb, and with a flash of light, a panel projects above the thing. The letters on the projection read:

“☠︎♏︎♓︎⧫︎♒︎ ♍︎□︎❍︎❍︎◆︎■︎♓︎♍︎♋︎⧫︎♓︎□︎■︎ ■︎♏︎⧫︎⬥︎□︎❒︎🙵 📫︎ ⬧︎♏︎♍︎◆︎❒︎♏︎ ●︎♓︎■︎♏︎”

“You’ve gotta be shitting me,” Hongjoong breathes out exasperatedly. “Jongho, we’re gonna need a minute.”

“I- What?” Jongho hollers. He lunges forward to shove a guard out of the way. Seriously, where do these people keep coming from?

“This might take some, uh, trial and error,” Hongjoong bites his lower lip nervously.

Jongho groans and rolls his eyes exaggeratedly, “I’ll cover you. D’you think you can run and do- uh, that at the same time?”

“Uh- Probably?”

“Fine, let’s go,” Jongho takes point and trots toward the massive archway of the entry foyer. He loops an arm protectively around Hongjoong’s shoulders as they skitter off, a wake of shouting guards on their tail.

“Thank you, baby angel,” The captain coos jokingly.

“Where are the others?”

“Out, hopefully,” Hongjoong replies.

Deliberately timed footsteps thunder down the intersection of Omikron and Fifteen. The Neith royal guard had quickly gotten preoccupied, so San had managed to drag Wooyoung out of the castle with relative ease. A few poor waiters and a couple of buffet tables were upended in the process, but aside from that things had gone without incident. Unfortunately, their grace period reached its expiration. The guard in the palace alerted their fellow officers on the street - at least, that’s what San assumed.

He’d yanked Wooyoung to hide in a narrow alley in the meanwhile. When he’d decided to board ATEEZ, he had anticipated excitement. Not this much excitement, though. His heart patters in his chest busily, and his mind is in a thousand places as he tries to calculate their next move. It’s exciting and engaging and would maybe even be fun - if their lives weren’t in danger.

“We clear?” Wooyoung whispers groggily. Once he’d gotten a concrete grasp of reality, he seemed to sober up considerably. Though his mind seems much sharper, his body is still laggard.

“Let’s give it a minute,” San responds hushedly. The two press themselves up against one of the buildings, waiting quietly in the shadows. Even halfway to the ship, the faintest thrumming of music can be heard in the alleyway. It feels so, so far away, though, and in spite of everything, the siren feels a bit relieved. He can go back to the ship, back to comfort - or at least the closest facsimile of it that he can cling to at the moment.

“What happened in there?” Wooyoung asks all of a sudden.

San narrows his eyes at the human, “What do you mean? We got caught. We’re running.”

“I… I’m not talking about that,” Wooyoung says quietly.

“Wha-?”

“I mean earlier, San. You disappeared on me.”

The siren frowns, and an unpleasant sensation gnaws at his stomach, “I needed a break.”

“Are you mad at me?”

“What?”

“You seemed kinda- Iunno- Upset.”

“Is really now the time?” San hisses.

“W-well we had a moment and it was kinda on my mind.”

“If it was really on your mind you could’ve asked earlier,” Bitterness broils in the siren’s guts.

“Well I-”

“You were preoccupied, I know. I-” San lets out a huff of air. It’s immensely shameful that his alcohol-fueled moping session garnered attention. He is a siren - strong, honorable, capable, and captivating . His state of being oughtn’t hinge so crucially on a single person’s attention. Wooyoung is kind and funny and friendly - no need to lavish any praise or meaning more profound than that. “I’m just unfamiliar with all of this. It’s a bit new to me, so I needed to collect my nerves.” He spits out the statement in hopes that it quells the other’s sudden concern.

“I know. I’m sorry,” Wooyoung sounds deflated. So maybe he’s not as sober as San thought.

He squints at the other’s face. It’s dark in the alley, but he can make out the downturned lips, the depressed look in his eyes. For some reason, that makes him even more irritated. If Wooyoung knew - or even thought - San was feeling overwhelmed, why wouldn’t he say something? Reach out? Ask if he was okay, if he was feeling comfortable? Why would he just… Keep doing what he’s doing and essentially ignore the siren?

“It’s fine,” San lies. In his head, the logical side of him insists it should be fine. However, the passion simmering in his chest tells him otherwise: it’s not fine. The two sides go back and forth. One urges him that the venomous feeling inside of him is valid. The other informs him of how absolutely childish it is to harbor such possessiveness over a mere hume. The conflict raging in the siren’s head is a nauseating inconvenience, and he does his best to stuff it deep down. Now is not the time.

“I think the coast is clear,” He says with a sigh.

“Uh- Okay,” Wooyoung peeks his head out from the shady alley. “What’re we gonna do when we get back to the ship? Wait for everyone?”

“That’s what the captain said. Let’s go,” The siren nods toward the main street. They’re lucky. Save for the guard, the streets are basically deserted. All of the nightlife has, apparently been distilled and concentrated into the palace’s ballroom vicinity.

“D’you think the captain found the others?”

“Guess we’ll find out soon enough,” The siren replies, darting for cover under the archway of a nearby stoop.

“-yes! Honestly, I was knocked out, like, the whole time!” Yunho rolls around on Prince Mingi’s bed, insides lurching from just recounting the entire Ubureru saga. The entire thing transpired over a day, but it felt like a week.

“Wh- How can you not remember what it feels like to be drowned?” The prince lets out a laugh of disbelief.

The two had lapsed into comfortable conversation. Most of it consisted of Yunho telling his thrilling life story. He hadn’t intended to do that, but the prince kept asking. And, well, if Prince Mingi asks anything, who is Yunho to deny him?

Turns out, he wasn’t without his fair share of stories, either. For a guy who claims his life is boring, Prince Mingi’s managed to snake his way into some precarious stuff. (Though, of course, he’s done nothing nearly as illegal as Yunho.)

Yunho gave his majesty a sort of abridged overview of how he’d gotten to Venus in the first place. He says that they borrowed a Coalition ship and that some people were disgruntled with the delivery job they’d done. Maybe Prince Mingi filled in holes himself, or maybe he took Yunho’s words at face value. Maybe he didn’t care enough to question it at all. Whatever brewed in that pretty head of his, it didn’t prompt his majesty to ask too many questions. For that, Yunho is grateful.

Prince Mingi, in exchange, told Yunho about the time he’d used every single sheet he could inconspicuously snatch to make a rope and escape his room once. He talked about how, one time, he’d snuck a few bottles of wine into his room when he was younger. He got so drunk that his parents told their diplomatic guests that he’d fallen ill when, in reality, he just couldn’t walk or talk without slurring. Another time: his majesty once fell asleep in a sauna and was gone so long that the king and queen sent out a search party.

Saunas and spas are his favorite, Yunho learned, and he can’t stand bugs. He likes poetry and dancing which his parents find frivolous, and consequently he has one of his butlers buy him poetry books on the down low. Prince Mingi is a tall individual with broad shoulders, but his physicality is that of someone Hongjoong’s size. His mouth is huge, and he opens it wide when he laughs which seems to be often - almost as often as he swears. Or, well, thinks about swearing. He doesn’t do it in front of people.

“I’m serious, I don’t,” Yunho insists. He’d rolled around a few times, but the two have basically occupied the same positions for - well, Yunho’s not sure how long. They’re comfortably sprawled out on the massive, plush mattress, only sitting up when they want to speak emphatically. “I mean- Maybe my brain blocked out the memory?”

“Trauma does that sometimes,” The prince remarks. “And it does sound pretty traumatic.”

“Yeah, I dunno. Okay- I remember it one time, but… Like my chest hurt from trying to hold my breath. And I was, like, super panicked- I was surprised, too. I mean- these people gave me no warning.”

“The sirens… Hm,” Prince Mingi nods. Apparently Venusians knew of them - not much, but enough to stay away. Seems like everyone was in on it but ATEEZ’s crew. Woops.

“Yeah, I was freaking out and- and taken by surprise. It hurt, but then I like- I breathed in and… Well it got dark.” Yunho shrugs, ruffling the silky brocade duvet beneath him.

“That’s intense.”

“I dunno. I blacked out pretty quick, but apparently the others weren’t so lucky,” Yunho frowns. “I got smacked awake a bit later and everyone was gone. Except- well, except for a nice siren. We made a new friend- his name is San.”

“San?”

“Yup. San- it means mountain, apparently. Anyways, so Hongjoong told me that San cut some sort of deal with their douchey chief guy.”

“Hongjoong- your captain?”

“Yeah.”

“Ah-ha! I’m remembering.”

“You really are,” Yunho grins. He’s honestly surprised. It crashes over him occasionally like far spread out cracks of thunder. He’s not just having boy talk with some random citizen - he’s loafing around with his majesty , Prince Song Mingi of Neith. This guy’s got  all kinds of royal shit to deal with, but he’s still making an effort to engage in conversation with a lowlife. Yunho doesn’t even know how to feel. Flattered? Fetishized? Blessed? Everything he possibly could feel seems to be tossing around in his stomach like clothes on the spin cycle. The feelings keep him from ever feeling secure or settled down. As relaxed as the atmosphere is, there’s still some perpetual nagging sensation prodding at his guts and chest.

“So- Wait, what was the deal?” Prince Mingi asks.

“I dunno, I guess- well, San convinced the guy to give us our lives.”

“Right- Well, that makes sense.”

“Yeah, but we took him with us. San was exiled to land, and my captain welcomed him onto our ship. He’s one of us now.”

“Damn,” The prince cracks a smile and god is that intoxicating. Yunho isn’t sure he’ll tire of seeing it in its many incarnations. Sometimes, he sort of half-grin in a lopsided way. When he’s really humored, though, then his entire face illuminates, and it’s maybe the prettiest thing Yunho’s ever seen. “Your captain seems like a pretty cool guy.”

“Cooler than me?” Yunho pouts dramatically.

“Wh- Of course not,” The prince reaches out to ruffle Yunho’s hair. Given that he’d been petting the canis earlier, the brief touch isn’t really peculiar or out of place. “Still… Do you think he’d take on a Venusian prince?”

Yunho’s nose wrinkles, “Oh god- no- I mean- he’d take anyone in who’s nice. Hell, he even took in the not-so-nice Petty Officer- I mean, uh-” The prisoner. That’s one thing he’d tactfully omitted from his storytelling. At least up to this point. Yunho just treads forward, like he hadn’t totally slipped up. “You don’t wanna ride with us, trust me.” He laughs it off.

“It seems pretty damn exciting, though. You get to see lots of exciting places.”

Ah, yes. Waste planets. Space colonies. Jail cells. Tropical islands with evil merpeople. Exciting.

“Okay, pack your stuff,” Yunho jokes. “We’ll leave tomorrow morning, have us a fun adventure.”

Prince Mingi laughs sheepishly and moves a hand to cover his face, “God- I wish.”

“Do you, though? Do you really? Some of our, uh, altercations are pretty deadly.”

“But you live to tell the tale!”

“Yeah- up to this point! Who knows when our next near-death planet expulsion is gonna be?”

“You’d protect me, right?”

“What?! No- You protect me ,” Yunho responds.

“Nuh-uh,” The prince’s face lights up as he laughs and shakes his head. “No way. I’m not brave like you. I’d be in the corner crying my eyes out somewhere.”

“A coward? Okay- You nearly climbed down- what did you say, five? Six stories? Just to sneak out of your room.”

“That’s not brave that’s stupid.”

“Trust me, in my experience, those two are basically the same thing.”

“Well, you are the expert. I’ll take your word for it on account of the fact that I know jack shit about being brave.”

“Oh come on.”

“No- I’m serious I’m a-” Prince Mingi’s tone lowers slightly. It’s subtle, but the canis’s keen ears pick up on it. The subtle dejection in his voice, the way his eyes flit away. “I’m a total coward.”

Yunho frowns. He doesn’t like seeing the prince deride himself like that. Yunho doesn’t know his life story, doesn’t know his most inner thoughts or his day to day. All he knows of Prince Song Mingi is the man in front of him, and that man doesn’t seem particularly cowardly to him. Jittery around bugs? Very. A coward? No.

“I don’t think you’re a coward,” Yunho states like his opinion is doctrine.

“Well, we haven’t been acquainted for long. Trust me, I seriously could never do the things you’ve done.”

“Like what? Almost getting killed? Freelancing?”

That pulls a chuckle out of the prince, “You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t.”

“I could never, ever just- jump into danger or explore some uncharted planet. If the world started caving under my feet, I’d be too scared to even try running, and if I was trapped underground, I probably would never climb out.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know myself.”

“I think… You could surprise yourself,” Yunho says seriously. “I mean- I surprise myself every day. So does the captain. Situations like that, they kinda bring something out of you.”

“Mm-mm,” Prince Mingi shakes his head. “Nope. Not me.”

“ Yes . Yes you. I believe you can be brave.”

“What makes you believe that? Is it because I’m tall? I swear, being tall makes people assume all types of things about you-”

“No, it’s not that,” Yunho chuckles. “It’s just that… You know there’s something else about humecanis’s I didn’t tell you.”

“Hm? What did you hold out on me for?”

“Well, it’s not exactly concrete science, but sort of a… Working theory slash wives’ tale.”

The prince quirks an eyebrow curiously.

Yunho elaborates, “They say that humecanis’s keen senses stretch beyond just smelling and hearing. We’re also genuine empaths. We can read the room better than anyone else, know how a person’s feeling even if they don’t show it. We can sense things that others can’t- like if a person’s intentions are good and bad. Or if something bad is about to happen.”

“Really?” Prince Mingi props himself up on his elbow, very interested. “Have you ever done that before? Been able to sense things like that?”

Yunho shrugs, “I haven’t done anything crazy like predict a storm- there’s been stories like that. But…” He trails off and gazes at the prince next to him. Yunho had never genuinely tried to sense a person’s character - usually it comes to him in “vibes”, really. He gets good vibes or bad vibes. Someone makes him feel at ease or sets his teeth on edge. His majesty is definitely the former, there’s no doubt about that.

“There’s a fierceness in you, Prince Song Mingi,” Yunho says sounding more sagely than he’d intended to. He feels sheepish afterwards, like he’d been trying too hard.

“You’re just saying that,” The prince protests.

“No, I’m not! I’m serious,” Yunho, who’d been on his back, rolls onto his side and props himself up on his elbow. Mirroring his majesty, he can look him in the eye better, and he reiterates his point. “Prince Mingi, you say you’re a coward like it’s some life sentence, but you have it in you to be bold.”

The prince presses his lips together. He doesn’t say anything for a few moments - just stares at Yunho with questions brewing behind his eyes.

“You think so?” He finally asks, his voice hushed like he’s speaking in secrets.

“I know so- and I’m not saying that to be, like, corny or nice, either.”

Prince Mingi’s eyes cast down. His lashes fan out prettily on top of his carved cheekbones, and Yunho can’t help but take a second to drool over the detail. Another spell of silence ensues. There seems to be an uncertainty hanging in the air. Yunho can’t quite place it, though. His majesty looks like he’s thinking about something - wrestling even.

“You think I can do something bold?” The prince’s voice comes out as a whisper. It’s weird, strained somehow, and his eyes are still fixed somewhere under Yunho’s own.

“I told you, I know you ca-” The canis doesn’t finish that thought. Thinking abruptly leaves his brain- the building- no, the planet. There are no thoughts anymore. They’ve gone. Instead there’s just surging, rushing blood swelling in all the wrong places entirely too quickly. Why?

Because Prince Mingi decided to take Yunho’s earlobe between his free thumb and forefinger.

That’s all. Not because of anything genuinely stimulating - just a single touch. In his defense, the canis tells himself that it’s the surprise that really got him - the suddenness of it all and the strangeness leading up to it.

Yunho almost feels like he’s been smacked in the face. That’s the best way to describe the prickling of heat on his cheeks. Breathing. That’s a thing. That’s a good thing to do - he tells himself. He reminds himself to breathe because, for an instant, he’d completely forgotten. His eyes follow the prince’s gaze and he realizes that Prince Mingi isn’t looking somewhere indiscriminate but at his… Lips?

No, that can’t be right.

Am I dead? The canis wonders. That is the only viable possibility for what is transpiring. Death and deliverance to… Heaven? Hell?

“It’s so cute,” Prince Mingi coos hushedly, “The way your tail wags.”

Yunho jolts at that. He didn’t even notice his tail was wagging - stupid, treacherous bastard. He might as well wear a sign that says “I LOVE PETS FROM PRINCE SONG MINGI” - that’d be less embarrassing. What is there to even say to that? “Thank you”? “I think it’s cute how you breathe and exist”? “Please adopt me as a palace pet”?

A thickness drapes itself over the two, and Yunho feels increasingly hot. Sweat makes his secondhand Venusian number cling to him uncomfortably, and he wishes he could throw it off. Not that he’s thinking about Prince Mingi taking it off or anything. Because he’s not.

Yunho attempts to diffuse some of the tension,“Your majesty…” His voice sort of fizzles out. He really didn’t have a plan as to what to say. Honestly, he hoped that the words would come out effortlessly, just implant themselves in his head. They didn’t, and instead he trails off and stares at the other’s eyelashes again.

“You seem to like getting pet around your ears,” The prince says in a quiet voice. “I wonder what other spots make your tail wag like that…”

Is that… Is he being dirty?

Is that a dirty thing?

It definitely sounds like a dirty thing. How can it not be taken that way?

Maybe it’s not dirty without context. But, given that Prince Mingi is caressing his earlobe and staring at his lips, Yunho thinks it’s safe to read between the lines here. Even fantasizing about Prince Mingi saying something like that to him makes Yunho’s head spin. Dizzying heat washes over him in a wave, roasting his brain and blurring his vision. Suddenly, his heartbeat is the loudest thing in the room. He almost doesn’t register the other’s fingers walking their way over to his lips.

Is this real life?

Entirely too many questions pop up in Yunho’s head. He’s incapable of answering any of them, too busy trying not to succumb to the heat baking him inside and out. The prince gently presses against the corner of Yunho’s upper lip, exposing his canines again.

In spite of everything, a nagging voice manages to penetrate the canis’s bleary, lustful thoughts. It sounds kinda like Hongjoong and shouts a stark, truthful reminder:

This is Prince Mingi of Neith.

The prince whose wedding brought everyone there in the first place. The prince who Yunho has zero business even being in the same room with. The one would realistically throw Yunho under the bus if a scandal breaks out. That prince. He is betrothed and you’re probably some premarital-panic distraction coping mechanism.

Yunho’s initial reaction to all of these facts, to this voice of logic in his head, is that he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care at all. He knows that there is no future for him and Prince Song Mingi, but he’s happy to pretend just for a little bit.

That conviction rapidly disintegrates, though. The word “betrothal” burns into his brain.

Fuck, Yunho had almost forgotten, this guy’s getting married. What is he doing with someone who’s engaged? Yunho’s never, ever wanted to be a homewrecker. How could he get in between two people and live with himself? Still, his body’s reactions are hard to counteract. The prince swipes a thumb over Yunho’s lips and licks his own.

Fuck.

Why is it so hard to be a decent person?

Prince Mingi speaks again - his voice low like a growl,“Yunho, this probably sounds impulsive, but…”

No, Yunho pleads internally, don’t say that! No matter what the prince says after those words, it can’t be good! He pleads with himself, too, urging him to do, well, something.

He wants to stop it. Needs to- for his wellbeing and the health of the Prince’s upcoming marriage. Shouldn’t he be with his betrothed?

Quick, Yunho, think! He tells himself.

Think.

Think.

Ignore Prince Mingi’s proximity, and definitely ignore his sinfully gorgeous lips. Don’t think about his mouth and what great things he can probably do with it - think of a way to stop this!

Think.

Think.

Think.

“Does your wife like dogs?!” Yunho word vomits a tad too loudly.

Good one, Yunho thinks to himself, you really nailed it.

Prince Mingi freezes. The entire room seems to freeze over with him, and Yunho practically shivers from the chill. Whatever spell of intimacy had cast itself over the two is gone, effectively lifted by Yunho’s tactless exclamation. His majesty swallows, blinking a few times confusedly. The smolder on his face is replaced with his more typical, wide-eyed cute expression.

“U-Um,” The prince sounds sheepish, like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Yunho considers that maybe even he wasn’t in his right mind at the moment. A new wave of heat crashes over the canis, but this time it’s embarrassment. Judging by the prince’s hesitance, the sensation is mutual.

Prince Mingi clears his throat awkwardly before answering, “I- um, I don’t know. I’ve never met her.”

“How can you not know that ab- wait what?!” Yunho rapidly transitions from shame to absolute and utter shock. His eyes blow wide open and his jaw drops incredulousy, “You- You haven’t- No-”

Prince Mingi frowns slighty and nods, “I haven’t met her yet.”

“But- but- but-” Royalty is confusing. That’s the takeaway the canis is getting from this entire experience. Royalty is very, very confusing. “How can you marry a person you haven’t even met?”

His majesty sighs, “It doesn’t matter if we’ve met or not. What’s important is that it’ll strengthen our alliance with Amalthea and guarantee the stability of the line.”

“Wh- Wh- Wh- I only understood like half of those words,” Yunho stutters.

“It’s a political marriage,” The prince clarifies. “We’re doing it so both of our countries are stronger. It’s what our parents wanted.”

Yunho is devastated upon digesting the news. All of those fairy tales he’d read as a kid? Lies . Lies! He feels utterly betrayed by the authors of the aforementioned works, but more than that he feels his heart ache for Prince Mingi.

“That’s ridiculous!” The canis says, reinvigorated and impassioned.

“That’s my life,” The prince shrugs.

“Your life is going to be spent in the company of a total stranger?”

“I mean- obviously we’ll get to know each other after the fact,” Prince Mingi tries to put out a consolation - though Yunho isn’t sure why. It’s not his life that’s getting decided for him at age twenty.

“After you’re married? So the first time you’re gonna see her is on the altar?”

“That’s tradition.”

“That’s bullshit!” Yunho exclaims impulsively. “What if she’s ugly?”

Prince Mingi doesn’t take offense - thank god. Instead, he snorts.

“She’s not ugly. I’ve seen pictures of her,” The prince replies. “Apparently, I’ve met her, too. When we were kids, I guess.”

“Wh- Bu-” A flurry of emotions toils in Yunho’s chest.

He’s upset for the sake of the prince who’s forced into a loveless, arranged marriage. He’s shocked that his majesty is taking it so well, so readily. Most of all: he’s pissed at himself for not letting the guy make a move. If he’d known there wasn’t actually a relationship at stake, things would’ve played out a lot differently!

“You seem a bit worked up, are you okay?” Prince Mingi asks, authentic concern on his face.

Yunho sits up, “Are you okay?”

“I-” His majesty hesitates for a second before continuing. He sits upright, too, and looks Yunho in the eye. “I’m Prince Song Mingi of Neith. And when I get married, that’s gonna change to King Song Mingi. That’s what matters. I’ll learn how to be okay.”

The humecanis deflates, his shoulders sagging and his lips turning down at the edges, “That’s not an answer.”

“Yunho, you seem concerned,” The prince’s tone changes. It’s no longer honest, casual, and vulnerible. It, too, has frozen over, switched out for the more formal tone he’d taken when they’d just met hours ago. “You really shouldn’t be. I promise, it’s not as big a deal as you think. My betrothed and I will be partners and companions.”

“What about lovers?” Yunho asks. “Will you be able to cry on her shoulder when you’re sad? Or swear in front of her?”

“Yunho-”

“I’m serious, I just-” Yunho takes a second to breathe and calm down. He shouldn’t care this much. It’s not his life or his choice. Why does it matter? (A passing thought tells him that if he’d just let the guy bang him like he probably would’ve, he wouldn’t be so worked up now.) “You said this is what your parents wanted, but what about you?”

“I… I want what’s best for my country,” Prince Mingi replies, and he seems honest in doing so - ever the dutiful prince.

“What about for you?”

“That’s selfish.”

“I didn’t ask if it was selfish,” Yunho says insistently. “Just- Just have the audacity to fantasize for one second, okay? If you didn’t have your parents or a fancy country to run, what would you want?”

The prince presses his lips together and looks down at his lap. He clenches and unclenches his fists in the sheets beneath him. When he finally musters up the nerve to answer, his voice is quiet again, weak and vulnerible. Open.

“Well, of course I’d want to marry for passion. Doesn’t- doesn’t everyone? I mean- a lot of marriages on Venus are doctored, but I read stories and see plays and movies. It’s not always easy- like, in some of those plays lots of people die. Lots. But-” He sighs wistfully. “-god I’d love to be able to marry someone I really loved. Like- wake up next to them all happy and stuff.”

“What did your parents say when you told them this?”

The prince freezes for a second, “I- I would never tell them that. Are you kidding me?”

“Wh- No. Why wouldn’t you tell them that? What did you say when they told you about your betrothal?”

“Uh, I dunno. Probably ‘yes, sir’ and maybe ‘I’m honored’ or something.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I- I told you,” The prince lets out a wry, humorless chuckle, “I’m a coward.”

Yunho frowns,“Mingi…”

Before he can get shot for forgetting to address the man by his title, a shrill ringing sounds out from Prince Mingi’s wrist.

“Briiiing-! Briiing-!”

“Wh-” “What the…?” Both prince and pauper jump at the same time, eyes wide and hearts pounding from the sudden startle.

“Wh- What is that?” Yunho asks, covering his ears.

The prince furrows his brows at his wrist and slides back his sleeve, revealing a fanciful bracelet of some kind. It’s shiny and encrusted with jewels, but one gem sticks out from the others. Yunho narrows his eyes at the thing, a glassy bulb of sorts that flashes with red light.

“Briiiiing-! Briiiiing-!” “💧︎♏︎♍︎◆︎❒︎♓︎⧫︎⍓︎ ♋︎●︎♏︎❒︎⧫︎-!” A robotic voice chirps in Venusian.

His majesty taps the glassy orb dubiously, and a crackling noise comes from the little node.

“Shshhshs- Crack- crack-”

“-ait-! Wait I think I got it!” A voice finally comes through.

An eerily familiar voice.

“Uh- What is that?” Yunho asks again, his heart sinking. For some reason, he has a feeling that something bad is happening. Either that, or someone trying to get ahold of Prince Mingi sounds a lot like his captain.

“This?” His majesty lifts his wrist. “Just a communicator bracelet. It’s only linked up to a few secure Venusian networks, though. I- I don’t know why someone would be speaking in Galactic tongue.”

“Ahem-” The staticy voice coming from the device clears its throat. “Jeong Yunho, if you can hear this, this is your captain speaking!”

Oh, no.

Hongjoong continues, “Some, uh, something came u- Whoa-!” “Thud-!” “-something’s come up and you need to meet us at the ship, like, now!”

It takes a few seconds for the prince to catch on. When he does, his eyebrows raise, and he narrows his eyes at Yunho.

“Wait- He said- ‘your captain’... Jeong Yunho…” The prince thinks out loud. “Is that- Is he talking to you. Is this your captain?”

As if sensing his inquiry, another voice crops up on the audio feed:

“Hongjoong- Hurry up, will you? We’re almost to the docking lot-”

Oh, good. Jongho is with him, too.

“But- How do we know if Yunho heard me?”

“I can hear you!” Yunho yanks the prince’s wrist thoughtlessly and speaks into the orb. When he realizes what he’d done, he sheepishly releases his grip and gives the noble an apologetic look.

“Yunho,” The prince asks, “What did you and your crew do?”

“Nothing! At least- Not that I know of.”

“-m gonna say it one more time,” Hongjoong’s voice comes over the feed. “Yunho they know we got on the planet illegally! Meet us at the docking lot so we can get the hell out of here- before they block the barrier! ...Please.”

Panic petrifies Yunho. He’s pretty sure he’s turned to stone, actually. Because he can’t move or even breathe, really. That’s it. His bubble: popped. His brief fantasy about banging a hot prince: dead. His life: over.

He’s busted. Prince Mingi knows the truth, and his crew’s about to get on the ship and fly off without him because he’s probably gonna get skewered on one of those giant rifles the guard carries around.

Yunho waits.

He waits and waits and waits an agonizingly long time. What’s it gonna be? Prince Mingi doesn’t seem violent, per se, but Yunho could see the prince smacking him. Maybe he’ll punch him instead. A kick seems far-fetched, but not terribly outrageous, either. He continually waits, and with each passing second, a part of him dies.

When? He begs the question. When will his fate be decided.

The canis, tired of wallowing in dread, braves a look at the prince’s face. What’s he gonna see, he wonders? Disdain? Condescension? Or pure, unadulterated fury?

What he isn’t prepared for is a smile.

Oh god, Yunho laments. The prince is gonna kick his ass, and he’s gonna smile while doing it.

“Uh- So, um, what’s gonna happen now?” Yunho slowly starts shrinking away from the other.

“What do you think is going to happen?” The prince asks, smirking.

Great. An ambiguous question type answer. That’s helpful.

“U-Um, you’re gonna call the guards? And they will kindly escort me off the premises?” Yunho squeaks out.

Prince Mingi breaks out into loud, mirthful laughter. It’s high and howling, and it makes Yunho’s ears ring. The prince is so humored he grabs his gut and even falls back onto the bed. Is he some sort of sadist? Yunho wonders.

“I’m sorry, but, um- Is- Is that funny?” Yunho bites his lip worriedly.

His majesty sits up again and wipes a tear from his eye, “I’m sorry I- I thought it’d be funny, but I feel kinda bad. I- No, god- I’m not gonna tell on you.”

“You- What? Wait… Seriously?” The canis waits for the rug to get pulled out from under him. Things have been way too good for way too long. It’s gotta happen any second now.

“I knew you snuck in the second you told me your name.”

“My- My name?”

“Well, your group’s name. ATEEZ?”

“U-Uh, yeah? What about it?”

The prince grins, “I personally approved all of the entertainment booked for the festivals and gala. It’s one of the few things about this wedding I got control over.”

“Oh,” Yunho feels dumb. “But- Wait- if that’s true, why didn’t you say anything?”

The prince shrugs, “I don’t care. Lots of people sneak onto this planet. People usually don’t cause problems. Plus, you’re cute.”

Yunho flushes and opts not to acknowledge the cute comment, “Sorry for deceiving you.”

The prince unclasps his bracelet and taps the glass node again. A projected screen pops up, and his majesty taps a few things before handing it over to Yunho.

“Here,” He says, “Tell your friends you’re okay.”

“Huh-?” Yunho eyes the bracelet curiously.

“Just press the- this one,” Mingi points to a yellow icon beneath a line of Venusian text. “Let them know where you are.”

“But… But why are you helping me? You’re like- aiding and abetting my escape. As a prince.”

Prince Mingi shrugs, “I’m about to get tied down for the rest of my life. Might as well live on the edge a bit while I still can.”

Yunho gives the prince a grateful smile and taps the icon he’d been instructed to. Shockingly, a clicking noise sounds, and Hongjoong’s voice comes through the node again.

“-hat? What’s it doing? What did this do?”

“Hongjoong?” Yunho asks.

“Wh- That sounds like Yunho- is that Yunho? Yunho is that you?!” The captain’s voice blares loudly from the speaker, and Yunho cringes.

“Yes, it’s me, captain.”

“...Prove it.”

“What?”

“Prove that it’s really Jeong Yunho.”

“Wh- Do you really have time for that if you’re on the run?!” Yunho groans exasperatedly.

“Prove it!”

Yunho rolls his eyes, “Fine. When you were in middle school, you used to write self-insert fanfiction. You accidentally handed one of these in as your final paper for lit-”

“ Okay -! Okay! That’s enough! I believe you!” (“Hold up, you wrote what ?” Jongho titters in the background.) “Where the fuck have you been?!”

“I-”

“Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you?”

“Well, I-”

“Three fucking hours-” (“It’s been closer to four,” Jongho interjects.) “-four fucking hours! Close to four fucking hours , that’s how long.”

“I’m-”

“Where the fuck have you been?! This better be fucking good. Don’t tell me you stowed away to the kitchen you fucking fatass!”

“I’ve been fucking the prince !” Yunho shouts before Hongjoong can cut him off again.

Those words hang in the air for a bit before Yunho realizes what he said.

“I’ve been with the fucking prince !” He corrects, praying that Prince Mingi didn’t take offense. Luckily, his majesty seems more amused than anything. At least, that’s what the silent grasping of the sides and face scrunched with held back laughter indicates.

“Yunho,” Hongjoong’s voice sounds level which is in no way reassuring to Yunho. Quite the opposite - Joong’s voice levelling off is a bad sign. He’s the type who becomes terrifyingly zen when he’s super, super pissed. “Yunho when you say prince… Do you mean the Prince of Neith? That prince?”

“U-Uh-?” Yunho glances over in search of help. Prince Mingi’s curled up on the bed again, hand clamped over his red face. “Yes?”

“...Yunho? Yunho- what did you do?”

“We talked-”

“ Yunho -”

“He’s never seen a humecanis before, he was curious.”

“Yunho-!” Hongjoong sounds like he’s ready to reach through the little glass orb and strangle his pilot.

“What?”

“Yunho- I- I don’t know where to begin-”

Jongho’s voice cuts off the captain, “-Why does this keep happening?! Okay- next planet, I get dibs on banging someone hot while the rest of you get your asses whooped by law enforcement.”

“How about nobody bangs anyone, and we don’t get chased by law enforcement?” Yunho posits. “Is that an option?

“No!” “No!” The two on the other side of the line holler.

“Wait-“ Hongjoong redacts. “I mean yes! I mean- No sex! Stop talking about sex!”

“You’re the one that brought it up. You know I’m in the presence of a prince,” Yunho snarks. “This is very inappropriate talk to be having in his presence.”

“What are you- Where the fuck are you?!”

Yunho glances around at Prince Mingi’s massive room. He can easily fit the apartment he grew up in inside. Maybe three of them, actually. Behind the bed, a tall, prettiful arch opens up into the outdoors. Mingi can just barely make out stars specking the night sky behyond the balcony.

“I’m in the prince’s room,” Yunho says matter-of-factly.

A load groaning sound muffles the line, making crackly static come out. Yunho makes out quiet chatter.

“Talk to him- talk to him- because if I do, I’m going to kill him-“ Hongjoong mutters to Jongho, apparently done with their conversation.

“Uh- Well,” Jongho coughs awkwardly. “I guess the captain gave the phone thing to me. So, do you know where the prince’s room is?”

“Uhh,” Yunho looks around again. No, he doesn’t. Not really. It’s… Somewhere with a balcony. “Hold up, let me see- your majesty?” He turns to Mingi.

“Hm?”

“Your majesty where, um, where are we?”

“East wing, sixth story,” Prince Mingi answers, sitting up again.

“Did you hear that?” Yunho asks. “East wing, sixth story. “It’s really pretty! Huge room- like, huge, and there’s a balcony, and the bed is a circle- you know what, why don’t I just head to the ship-“

“No!” “No.” The two on the other side shout. Yunho winces from the loudness of it.

“Fuck- We don’t have time for this,” Hongjoong (apparently) snatches the communicator back. “Don’t suppose your BFF the prince can call the guard off.”

“He’s about to be king, I’m not gonna put him in a position like that! Do you know how sketchy that is? His peoplewould never trust him- hell he could get in trouble.”

“Well I am so sorry his majesty might be put in a sticky situation on our account,” Hongjoong replies, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Thank you,” Yunho willfully ignores the sarcasm. Prince Mingi has been an absolute gem, he’s not going to take advantage of him.  

“Ugh- Fuck-!” The captain curses, and a few loud noises filter through the node’s hidden speaker. Shouts, thuds, and thwacks - it sounds like trouble. Yunho frowns.

“I can call off the guard,” His majesty offers. He gives Yunho a reassuring squeeze on the knee. The seriousness must just now be dawning on him, because before he’d been cackling like a hyena.

“The guard doesn’t… They don’t shoot on sight- right?”

“Not unless it’s confirmed their target is armed and dangerous. The big guns are just for show, really.”

“I knew it,” Yunho mutters to himself. He flashes Mingi an assuring grin, “Don’t worry. They might seem a bit colorful, but my crew’s capable. They’ll be fine.”

“This is not fine!” Jongho’s shouting comes through the speaker.

“Fuck-“ Hongjoong takes hold of the node again. “Okay, um- you said you were on a balcony, right?”

“I’m not on the balcony, I’m in a room with-“

“Get on the balcony.”

Yunho blinks confusedly for a second, “What?”

“Get on the fucking balcony. We’ll pick you up.”

“Are you serious?”

“Do I sound like I’m fucking joking- oh, hey. Wooyoung and San made it in one piece,” Hongjoong gets sidetracked. Apparently by their roguish and siren friend.

“You really want me to go onto the balcony?”

“Yes, Yunho,” Hongjoong sounds exasperated. “I do. So we can pick your ass up, get off of this planet, and leave before they vaporize us.”

“O-Okay, I-“

“East wing, sixth story, right?”

“Uh-“

“Just be out there and, like, wave a bit or something, okay?

“B-“

“We’ll be there in a sec. Bye- fuck!”

The line cuts off there. Yunho frowns.

“Let me show you to the balcony,” Prince Mingi says. In spite of the chaos reigning on the ground, in his little corner of Neith, everything feels quieter. His majesty ushers Yunho off of the bed and leads him to the balcony.

Yunho’s jaw drops, and from it so does a hushed, “Whoa…”

The balcony matches everything else - intricately carved railing, gorgeous, pearlescent tiling. That’s not what Yunho’s looking at, though. His eyes are immediately drawn up above to the night sky. It’s weird. One would think after so much time spent in space, the night sky would lose its charms. However, for some reason nothing quite trumps the infinitesimal feeling of smallness a person gets from their vantage on a planet’s surface.

Every sky has its own color and quirks. On Venus, its tone skews more deep violet than blue. The stars burn and flicker in all colors - bright, blazing whites to subdued gold hues. Their moon looks like a waning crescent. Yunho doesn’t remember seeing a moon - maybe it’s simulated for aesthetics. It doesn’t make much of a difference. Even if it is just there to look pretty, it definitely accomplishes its job.

Something about the night sky is so inviting, and knowing that his view will soon be blocked by ATEEZ makes Yunho appreciate it even more. It’s like standing out and observing the calm before the storm. He wonders how many times Prince Mingi’s looked out at those stars.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” The prince says hushedly next to Yunho. The two had taken spots leaning against the railing, both of their gazes drawn upward and outward. “I-I suppose it’s not very exciting to you, though. I mean you’ve been there.” There’s a tone of awe in his majesty’s voice of which Yunho feels very undeserving.

“It doesn’t get old, though,” Yunho replies. “Looking at the stars like this, I mean. Something about seeing them from a planet is sorta magical… Makes me feel like a kid again.” Briefly, a memory plays through his head. A time that feels like a hundred years ago. He and Hongjoong snuck up to the roof of their building during nighttime - they did that a lot, those two. Hongjoong told Yunho stories and talk about how one day they’d leave their crappy planet and sail among the stars.

Yunho smiles to himself.

They did. They’d done exactly what they’d set out to do. It turned out to be a lot less romantic than the storybooks said it would be, but they can genuinely say they’re free. They did it.

“Me too,” The prince agrees, a wistful smile spreading across his lips. “A lot changes, but… The stars stay the same. Sometimes I’d sleep out here without telling anyone.”

Yunho chuckles at the idea of little Prince Mingi dragging a pillow and blanket out to sleep on the cold, hard balcony floor. Sounds like something Yunho would’ve done. Thinking about it, he’s surprised he didn’t ever try and camp out on the rooftop.

It’s funny to think about, how the two share similarities. It’s not their upbringing, obviously. It seems like something deeper than that. The two think alike. They’re both forthright and open-minded. It’s soothing in a strange way for Yunho, to know that a person like him could make it as a prince. If they knew each other as kids, they probably would’ve been menaces. He laughs inwardly at the thought.

The two lapse into a comfortable silence considering the stars before them. Yunho briefly wonders what’s on Prince Mingi’s mind, but he doesn’t ask. Something’s nice about the quiet.

“What’s it like up there?” His majesty asks after a few minutes, breaking the silence.

“Hm? Oh- In space?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s kind of like… Being in a desert. A lot of it looks the same. There’s so many stars. A lot of times, I don’t pay it much mind, but sometimes it’s nice to look out. It feels endless. That can be kinda scary sometimes, but it’s cool,too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” The canis nods. “When you’ve got a ship, it feels like there’s nowhere you can’t go and nothing you can’t do. There’s so many colonized planets out there, but there’s so many uncharted ones, too. Some are really isolated and some are super busy. It’s cool to think that you can just… Go wherever.”

“Wow. I can’t imagine,” His majesty sighs.

Suddenly, the veil of serenity that had surrounded them gets pulled aside. Low, rumbling noises echo in the distance, and their attention is turned from the sky above to the sky in the distance. Though they can’t see anything clearly, a few flashes of light strobe over the horizon.

“Boom.” “Boom.” “Skree-!” “ Boom-!” “Bang-bang.” The sounds are muffled and distant, but Yunho’s got a decent idea of what’s coming at them.

“What’s that?” Prince Mingi asks, stepping toward the sounds on the other side of the balcony.

“I think…” Yunho frowns. “I think they’re coming?”

“Who’s coming?” Prince Mingi looks confounded.

Without warning, three compact cruiser-looking ships whiz by, “Whiiiiii-IIIIII- WHIIII- WHIII-!” They cut the air, loud whistles sounding out in their wake.

Prince Mingi’s eyes blow wide open, “Are those- Those are law enforcement cruisers.”

“If that’s the case, then my friends are definitely close.”

“O-Oh. Right.”

“Pew-pew!” “Boom!” “Bang-bang!” “Zhoooom-!”

The sounds come closer, and Yunho can make out the hull of ATEEZ scarcely in the darkness.

“Wheeeeeee-oooooooo-! Wheeeeee-oooooo-!” Loud sirens start blaring from the police cruisers, and little beacons spin atop the angular little ships.

“Your majesty,” Yunho turns to the prince, concern making his face and tail fall, “You should go inside.”

“What?”

“I don’t want you to get hurt or caught in the crossfire.”

“No,” The prince defiantly shakes his head. “They won’t hurt me, and- and I’d like to see you off.”

“Your majesty...“ It’s weird. They’ve just met. A few hours ago, Prince Mingi was nothing but a pretty picture on a screen. Now he’s someone that Yunho thinks he could be friends with. Maybe in some alternate universe, at least.

Unfortunately, in this universe, his friends are barrelling toward him in a giant combat freighter, getting shot at by half the Neith royal guard. Funny how that works.

“ATEEZ-!” The a voice on a loudspeaker booms across the night sky. Must be one of the cruisers. “You are under arrest for entry into Venus under false identities! Stand down, now!”

“Prince, you really should go in,” Yunho urges the other. He doesn’t want to see the other hurt when things get ugly (which seems like an inevitability at this point). Part of him feels embarrassed, too. Like Prince Mingi’s opinion of him will plummet when the reality of just how much of a fuckup he really is comes to light.

Half a dozen tiny cruisers surround ATEEZ, light beacons spinning. The bulky freighter proceeds, uncaring. The squerical force field surrounding the ship absorbs the little lasers coming toward it with ease.

“Is that a Rattlesnake?” The Prince’s jaw drops.

“Uh- Yeah, that might be the model of the ship,” Yunho remarks distractedly. He’s a tad preoccupied by said Rattlesnake heading straight toward them. It’s not three kilometers away and will be at the balcony in seconds, probably. Yunho hopes they don't overshoot it. Or shoot it shoot it.

“Screeeeeeeeee-“ A shrill, high-pitched squeak makes Yunho wince. It sounds like a ship’s loudspeaker, but for being so far away, this one’s deafening. “-s this thing working? Whoa- I think I found it? Ha-! I told you we have a loudspeaker, too!”

The voice sounds suspiciously like Jung Wooyoung.

“Attention, Neith guard!”

That voice is Jung Wooyoung.

“ You surrender!” Wooyoung exclaims as if in triumph before breaking out into high pitched, squeaky giggling seconds later. He must’ve gotten pretty drunk. A few sounds muffle through ATEEZ’s apparent loudspeaker “Scree- Click- bap-bap- click-“ “Give that-“ “No-“ “Bap-“

“Jeong Yunho!” Hongjoong’s voice thunders out into the Neith night air. God forbid anyone had gone to sleep. They’re probably awake now. “I’m guessing you can hear this- get your ass on that balcony. We’re lowering the loading dock. You’ll have to a jum-“

“Pew-pew-pew!” A few cruisers venture shooting at the ship. ATEEZ absorbs the shots without a hitch.

“-hey, rude ! I’m trying to talk here!” Joong chastises the guard forces - as if it’s his place. “Yunho, we’re coming in.” “Click.”

“Wh- Already?” The prince asks.

“I- Your majesty, you really should go inside,” Yunho frowns. With ATEEZ so close, the current situation starts really sinking in. It feels too fast, too soon. He wants to encourage the prince about his upcoming nuptials and tell him it’s gonna be okay. Part of him wants to convince the guy to stand up to his parents, to at least put off the marriage until he’s maybe explored the galaxy a bit. Prince Mingi is kind and funny, and he deserves to feel like he’s lived a full life before settling down. Ideally, he shouldn’t feel obligated to settle down at all. He ought to marry for affection and love.

The high whistle of jet propulsors crescendos as ATEEZ makes a hasty arrival. Soon, it’s hard to hear, the sound of the engine cutting air drowning out almost anything else.

“Yunho-!” The call comes from the loudspeaker first, and the canis’s head whips around to see ATEEZ’s ramp steadily descending with a loud, whirring buzz. As the ramp lowers, Yunho makes out San and Jongho in the cargo bay. Jongho, the more fortitudinous of the two, carefully steps down as the thing reaches full extension.

“Come on!” Jongho’s voice is surprisingly loud and clear over the sound of the engine. The Neith guard persistently circle the ship, barking out demands on their own loudspeakers. Light flashes left and right in the canis’s peripherals as their little lasers trying to make a dent in ATEEZ’s shields. but it’s all background noise to Yunho know.

Yunho turns to the prince, shoulders sagging and lips turned into a fake smile,“That’s my ride.”

Prince Mingi looks crushed. Yunho swears he’s not embellishing that. The prince’s expression almost looks like a pained grimace, and slick wetness glosses over his eyes.

“Yunho-“ His majesty reaches out and takes Yunho’s hands impulsively.

Yunho’s heart rate skyrockets, but he tries to stamp the excitement down. It’s time to leave.

“Good luck with everything,” Yunho tells the other, melancholy filling him to the brim.

“I can call off the guards. They can- they will understand-“

“No. I’m not putting you in that position. I mean- We just met, right? Don’t stick your neck out for me,” The words pain Yunho. It’s a bitter, stinging sensation, and it eats away at the inside of his chest.

Prince Mingi squeezes Yunho’s hands tighter, “I- I- This just feels really sudden.”

“It kinda is,” Yunho lets out a wry laugh, “But… I’m gonna be fine. And so are you. Things are gonna be great.” He forces another grin.

The prince frowns, and his gaze drops low, “Your tail isn’t wagging.”

Yunho glances over his shoulder. His majesty is right. His tail hangs limply between his legs. He hadn’t even noticed. Once again, it betrays him. There’s something poetic in it - the thing that had drawn the prince to him in the first place signals his true feelings about their goodbye.

“Yunho, what the hell?!” Jongho’s voice cuts through everything yet again. Seriously, one would think he’s the siren. The kid creeps lower on the loading ramp, “Let’s go. C’mon, take my hand!”

Yunho hesitantly pulls his hands out of the prince’s grip. A fat lump wads up in his throat, and he tries his hardest to swallow it down. His heart is screaming at him: “Don’t go! Don’t leave him! At least not without a kiss, a confession, something!” - but how stupid is that? What’s Prince Mingi gonna do? Call off his wedding so he can marry the literal nobody and they can skip off into the sunset?

No.

Prince Mingi is standing right where he belongs, and once Yunho steps onto that platform, so will he.

It was fun for awhile, living in that fantasyland where a prince and a kid who’d gotten smuggled onto a backwater Earth could be friends. Maybe even more in Yunho’s wildest dreams. But none of that matters anymore because Prince Mingi’s getting married, and Yunho’s ship is getting shot at.

“Goodbye, Prince Mingi,” Yunho says. He turns on his heel rapidly. Don’t look back, he tells himself. Don’t look back.

He doesn’t.

He doesn’t look back when he climbs onto the glittery gold railing of the balcony, and he doesn’t when he takes hold of Jongho’s outreached hand.

It isn’t until he’s squared up on the unstable ramp that Yunho dares look over his shoulder. Jongho and San are already disappearing back into ATEEZ’s cargo bay, but Yunho can’t take his eyes off of the prince.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Jongho yells.

“Yunho, we need to go!” San adds.

His majesty had rushed to the railing. His eyes are wide and almost… Twinkley? He stares at Yunho - at ATEEZ - in wonderment. Words seem to stand at the precipice of his tongue, but they don’t pass his lips.

“Yunho, come on!” Jongho urges the canis again.

Yunho walks backwards, facing his prince as he slowly makes his way in. Once he gets in and that ramp closes, he’ll never see Prince Song Mingi again. That shouldn’t make him so sad.

“The shields won’t last forever!” San hollers.

ATEEZ jostles slightly, and Yunho almost loses his footing. Apparently, whoever’s driving has lost their patience (or is about to). ATEEZ gently starts its ascent. It’s sluggish really, probably with the intention of convincing Yunho to get the hell inside already. Still, the canis is able to keep his footing on the moving ship, and he stubbornly stays in place.

“Yunho- We’re leaving!” “Dude, you’re gonna fall off!”

They’re still so, so close to that balcony, and Prince Mingi is leaning so far forward, he’s practically on top of the railing. For a second, Yunho thinks if he just stretches out ever so carefully, he can reach the other.

The world around him smudges and smears. The only thing in focus is Song Mingi.

Just let him go, a voice urges him. Is it a real one or one in his head? He doesn’t know.

Just let him go.

Prince Mingi says something, but Yunho doesn’t understand it. ATEEZ joggles again. The distance between the two grows from centimeters into one meter. In seconds, it’ll be two. They need to go- not need to, they are going. Their ship is moving, and at this rate Yunho’s going to roll off of the ramp and come crashing six stories down.

So, why can’t Yunho move?

The prince says something again, and this time Yunho actually understands it.

“Wait-!” Prince Mingi yells. Before Yunho can deliver his last (for real, truly last) goodbye, his majesty moves.

There’s one foot on the railing, then another. Then, he leaps. His long, muscular legs stretch to the max, and he reaches out toward the humecanis. For a second - just one second - he looks like an angel in flight. Flickering lights outline his elongated silhouette like a halo, twinkling off of his lustrous suit. The fabric lifts like he’s hovering and, for that single second that stretches on to feel like a lifetime, the prince looks like he really is flying.

Until he doesn’t.

Reality snaps back into place along with the ever present truth that is gravity.

Panic wrenches Yunho’s heart, and before he even thinks to do it, his body’s already pushing off of the ramp, after the prince. Yunho manages to catch Prince Mingi’s wrist, and he almost feels relieved. The assurance surges through him like a bolt of lightning. There’s the flicker of the bolt, the knowledge that he’s got the prince. Then the dark aftermath, the realization that now they’re both going down. Thoughts fail to gain traction in the canis’s mind. It’s sort of a flaming mess, all the circuitry shorted out by impulse.

Is this it? Yunho wonders.

Is this how it ends?

He feels like there ought to be more existential dread. Or maybe some sort of knowing zen should fall over him. He’s not really sure. Except, instead of profound feelings of doneness, Yunho just feels fucking terrified. In a matter of seconds, their guts are going to decorate the manicured hedges below. There’ll be headlines about the tragic death of Prince Song Mingi just days before his wedding, and there’ll be one hell of a warrant out for the monsters who caused it.

One hell of a way to go.

“Are you insane?!” San’s voice tugs Yunho back to reality - and his strong grip tugs him back toward the loading ramp. Yunho’s descent stops with a jerk, and he tightens his hand around Prince Mingi’s wrist.

“Wh- San?” Yunho gapes, glancing over his shoulder to see the siren gritting his teeth in an attempt to pull him back onboard.

“Seriously what’s- what’s wrong with you?!” He turns to someone over his shoulder, “I’m slipping!” The siren grits his teeth, and his face scrunches with exertion. As he’d said, they start slowly sliding downward.

“A-are you okay?” Yunho asks the prince dazedly. Prince Mingi looks up at the canis, stunned. He seems incapable of speech at the moment. His chest heaves with rapid breath, and his eyes are blown wide open in sheer terror. “Don’t worry, we’ve got you-” Yunho twists his neck to look at San again, “-r-right?”

San’s brows knit together, and he seems about ready to spit a hundred curses at Yunho. He chooses not to say them (or, at the very, least he saves them).  Instead he digs his heels in and ventures a step back. Yunho feels the two of them get pulled up just a smidgeon. They might just survive this yet.

The canis checks on his majesty who’s gaze seems trained on the ground below. It appears they have officially started a spectacle. Laser bolts collide with ATEEZ’s outer shields, and the guard bellow threats on their loudspeakers. On the ground below, a crowd has gathered. People yell, point, and gasp, bemoaning the apparent capture of their prince.

“Pew-pew-!” “Unhand Prince Mingi this instant!” “Zzz-zzt!” “If harm should come to Prince Song Mingi of Neith, we will have no choice but to use lethality!” “Pew-pew-pew-!”

Prince Mingi’s grip on Yunho’s wrist starts to slacken, and sweat makes his palm slick and clammy. His head almost limply dips down toward the ground.

“Wh- Whoa, whoa, whoa- Hey- Ming- I mean- Prince Mingi!” Yunho yells at him. His body jerks down another notch - San is still slipping. Fuck. “Your majesty stay with me!”

The prince dazedly regards Yunho. Yunho can tell immediately, the fright has set in. All his adrenaline is drained, and he’s realized just exactly what kind of situation he’s in.

Just as the prince’s head starts venturing down again, Yunho shouts at him.

“No- No, no, don’t look at the ground, just look at me, okay? I’ve got you,” Yunho tightens his grip until it’s almost bruising - just to emphasize the point. Like hell is he letting go. The prince nods blearily, and his hold tightens ever so slightly. “That’s right- just- my face, ignore all of the-” lasers, guns, shouting, people preemptively mourning, swearing, the shaking of the ship “-everything. Just- just look at me, okay? Look at the puppy.”

Prince Mingi nods again, a little bit of life returning to his eyes. Yunho - in spite of how horrifying the entire situation is - cracks a smile in hopes that it’ll lend the other some comfort. Without words, he wills the other to believe: “Everything is alright because we’ve got you. Because I’ve got you.”

Force yanks Yunho (and Prince Mingi) up with a jerk. Then another and another until they rise toward the ramp at a steady, trudging pace. A minute later, Yunho feels the metal grating of the loading ramp press up against his back. His hold on the prince’s wrist remains steadfast. He keeps it as he slowly scoots onto the ramp, and he doesn’t let go even when his majesty’s on his hands and knees, safe on the loading ramp.

It isn’t until - in lieu of a lot of beration - the loading ramp finally closes that Yunho thinks to let go. The sounds of lasers and disgruntled citizens go almost mute once they’re finally encased in the layers of protective armor covering ATEEZ.

The adrenaline that’d been driving Yunho to keep sane and steady starts to feter out. It leaves him feeling wobbly, and he hardly understands the barrage coming at him.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” “Are you trying to get yourself killed?!” “Y-your highness…” “Was it that good-?” “Are you okay?” “Did you get hurt.” “Guys-” “Next time, I’m not bailing your ass out-!”

Yunho looks at Prince Mingi. His majesty looks okay.

Good.

That’s what matters.

“That’s enough!” An authoritative voice rises above the best, followed by the sound of metal clanging beneath boots. The captain has arrived. All eyes turn to him, and everything goes quiet.

Hongjoong heaves an exasperated sigh, “Okay. Okay… Is everyone alright? Is anybody hurt?”

The throng in the room - San, Jongho, Yunho and, of course, Prince Mingi - all exchange looks. They assess one another until coming to the conclusion that everyone is, in fact, okay.

“Good,” Hongjoong says. With that out of the way, he can stop being worried and start yelling at them. He’s about ready to do just that until his eyes dart to the royalty on board, Prince Mingi. A sheepishness comes over the captain, and he takes a second to choose more polite, constructive words. “That was very dangerous. You’re lucky Yunho’s a good man. You could’ve gotten seriously hurt. And you-” He speaks pointedly to the canis, “-you…” His lips press together momentarily. “We can talk later.”

Oh god. That’s never good.

“Your majesty,” Hongjoong talks as he finishes descending the steps, “ I’m Captain Kim Hongjoong, and I see you’ve met Yunho, my pilot. I apologize for any sort of inconvenience we’ve caused you. I promise you we had no ill intentions coming onto this planet, and we did not want to make a spectacle in leaving.” Well put, diplomatic, and cooly delivered to the prince. Yunho’s proud of him.

Prince Mingi (who appears to have collected his wits shockingly fast) flashes a small, genial smile, “I know.” He says. “Actually I- I apologize I haven’t introduced myself. Prince Song Mingi of Neith,” He regards the others in the room.

San and Jongho huddle close together as if scared of the man. San’s expression is one of utter shock, whereas Jongho’s is more awe.

The prince doesn’t take offense to this and fills in the blanks, “You must be Choi San?” His pupils shift to the gills on his neck. “The siren.”

“Y-Yes,” San replies dubiously. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, your majesty.”

Prince Mingi turns his attention to Jongho, “You’re strong, so you must be Choi Jongho.” He smiles. “I literally owe you my life. Thank you. I- I owe all of you my life, actually. It should be me apologizing to you.”

“All water under the bridge,” Hongjoong says, urgency in his tone. “Now- We’ll happily drop you back onto the balcony, but, um it might not be safe unless we can somehow get the guard to cease fire-”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary,” Prince Mingi says, “I don’t intend on going back.”

A needle dropping could be heard in the aftermath of that bomb. The pause that ensues isn’t pregnant - it’s overdue. Yunho hears the words, but they still haven’t fully processed by the time the captain manages to blubber out some type of response.

“I- I- Um- Uh- I’m sorry- I- Is there a misunderstanding here?” He turns to Yunho, like he knows the answer. Or, more likely, like he blames Yunho for whatever the hell is going on. Yunho returns the indignant look with a little shrug.

“Nice ship you’ve got here. How’d you get your hands on a Rattlesnake, anyways?” Prince Mingi ignores the question and starts walking forward, toward the stairs.

“Uh, we stole it,” Hongjoong says. Yunho feels a jolt of pain hearing that. He’d most certainly glossed over that detail upon recounting his thrilling tales to the prince.

Prince Mingi’s brows furrow, and he gives Hongjoong a long, hard look. The entire rest of the crew freezes. Between all of them, a single question hangs in the air, unspoken:

Are we fucked now ?

They’d skated by so long, this might be it. The final straw. One word from the Venusian prince, and they’re done for. After reaching whatever conclusion he’d come to, the prince shrugs. He shrugs. He doesn’t so much as gasp or guffaw or even look down his nose at them. He shrugs.

“Yunho told me you take all types in. I’ll pull my weight, rest assured.”

With that, Song Mingi - crown prince of Neith, betrothed to the princess of Amalthea and set to be coronated at his marital ceremony - walks up the steps of ATEEZ’s cargo bay like he belongs there. Like he knows where the hell he’s even going.

The rest of the crew stands utterly paralyzed for a couple of minutes. Nobody moves. Not a single one. They just stay there, gaping statues, all completely baffled as to what the hell just happened. Why the hell is a prince on their ship? And why does he want to stay?

“Uh- Captain-?” Wooyoung’s voice on the intercom reanimates the living-stunned.

“Uh- Wh-wha-?” Hongjoong replies.

“Our shields are starting to dip low. Can I, like, move?”

“Uh…” The syllable stretches out dumbly as Hongjoong remembers how to think. “Yeah. Get us out of their vicinity.”

“They’re gonna chase us. For some reason, they think we have the price,” Wooyoung responds.

“Uh- Yeah, ‘bout that… Y’know what. We’ll talk later. Get us the fuck out and do a short jump. Just enough to get them off our tail. They won’t be able to track us.”

“Yes, sir.” “Click.”

“We’ll talk about this later,” The captain mutters quietly. He nods, as if something new’s come to him, but he just repeats himself louder, “We’ll talk about this later.”

He scuttles up the steps quickly without another word. Without even yelling at Yunho. Odds are, he’s trying to find where the hell the prince has wandered off to. The shock gradually dissipates, and San unlatches from Jongho.

“I think I need to lie down for awhile,” The siren says. That’s fair. This is a lot for him. Yunho’s not sure how life was on his home planet, but no doubt there’s intense culture shock happening now. And probably regular shock. San likely hadn’t expected to get chased off another planet in such a spectacular fashion.

“Uh- We should probably all rest,” Yunho agrees with the other’s sentiment. He turns to say something to Jongho, but the kid’s just staring at him, mouth wide open. “J-Jongho? You okay buddy?”

Jongho shakes his head, stupefied, “How good are you in bed?”

Yunho rolls his eyes, and heat floods to his face, “Wh- What the fuck are you talking about?” He decides to follow San upstairs.

“Dude some Venusian prince just risked everything- after a few hours with you.”

“It’s- it’s not like that-”

“You’ve got to tell me your secrets.”

“Aren’t you, like, twelve?” Yunho jabs.

“Fuck off. I’m not done growing yet.”

“I think you are.”

“Hey, I’m big where it counts.”

“Ew- Why are you so nasty-?!”

“I’m not the one who’s got princes jumping off of buildings for…”

The two go back and forth as they venture up the stairs. Yunho’s head spins. Everything happened way too fast, and now that the brakes have been pressed, he labors to reel it all in.

Kim Hongjoong pinches the bridge of his nose. Aching pain knocks at his temples. It’s not from drinking too much or dehydration from dancing too much. Oh no, it’s nothing as fun as that. It’s stress. It is definitely stress. He feels the toll his nerves are taking on him throughout his entire body. Never mind how sore his limbs are after booking it from the palace or the bruises and welts he’s probably got from hand to hand combat. None of that compares to the semi-permanent ache in his chest from anxiousness. Or the fucking headache.

None of that is helped by Prince Song Mingi of Neith, either.

As he’d anticipated, the Neith royal guard had taken pursuit when they left the atmosphere. Their shields got dropped down to a dangerously low twenty percent. Again . The fuckers just can’t seem to get a break. Wooyoung got them to jump and, thankfully, that was the end of the chase. Joong’s pretty sure they’ll get vaporized if they enter Venusian space again, and all of their allies - plus the GC - are probably on extra high alert.

All because one stubborn motherfucker refuses to get off of his damn ship.

“What part of this isn’t clear?” Jongho tries again. Hongjoong had called a meeting after everything had somewhat settled down. Now six of them sit in the living room floor in a circle. “We do crimes!” Jongho says, like that’s their job.

“Now hold on just a second-” Joong protests. “Let’s not- that’s- we happen to maybe do somethings that are… Extralegal.”

“Illegal,” Jongho says snappily. “They’re illegal-”

“What I’m saying is we don’t try to do crimes. We just… Don’t agree with the Coalition’s philosophies is all,” Hongjoong says.

Jongho gives him an annoyed look. It’s probably warranted considering the point of this meeting is to convince his majesty to get the fuck off of their boat. Joong regrets his decision to protect their (read: his) pride. He probably should drive the crime point more. Get Prince Mingi home. Take at least one of many bullseyes off of their back.

“I told you, I don’t care,” Prince Mingi responds firmly. Joong doesn’t know what the fuck Yunho told this guy, but he wishes the canis would un tell it. Whatever happened during their short tryst apparently resulted in Prince Mingi getting it in his head that ATEEZ is the place to be. Too bad Yunho is the opposite of helpful - said canis is too busy drooling over him from across the circle.

“Your majesty, you have a- a whole kingdom relying on you,” Wooyoung tries the guilt route. It’s a good call. Hongjoong wishes he’d thought if it earlier - as opposed to the self-deprecation route of telling the prince how bad they are. In spite of how much of a scaredy-cat his majesty describes himself as, the danger angle did nothing, either. The shit kept saying “I’m confident I’ll be okay” and making eyes at Yunho. Not only is that gross , but it’s also counterproductive.

“My brother can take the throne,” The prince throws out nonchalantly. It occurs to Hongjoong that his lack of caring is seriously irresponsible. However, given that he’s based his life’s direction around a folktale Compass, he quickly digresses from his judgment.

“And you’re really, truly okay with this?” Hongjoong asks, looking the other hard in the eye. “You know this isn’t a cruise ship, right? We don’t have the luxuries that your castle does. You’re not gonna get served- hell, the food’s not even that good. We’re not gonna tolerate any royal temper tantrums, either.”

“I understand,” Prince Mingi says and, to his credit, he sounds completely serious. The gaze he returns to Hongjoong is unwavering and almost dire.

Hongjoong, in spite of his pride and reasonable sense of self-importance, shrinks a bit beneath the weight of the other’s gaze. Perhaps that’s the nobility jumping out. It’s jarring, how Prince Mingi turns a switch and goes from being a thorn in the captain’s side to a formidable presence, someone whose determination is almost palpable.

His majesty even takes it further, adding, “I don’t want any special treatment, either. On this ship - and across the universe - I’m nobody’s prince or superior. Call me Mingi.”

“Mingi,” Hongjoong tests the word on his tongue. The name is short and cute, and it rolls off the tongue easily. He likes that a great deal more than “Prince Mingi”. The captain nods, “Okay, Mingi. Well, given your circumstances, you’re free to get off this ship at any time, okay? Just say the word, we’ll find some outpost- somewhere you can safely contact your people where we won’t get our asses blown up. ‘Cause they’ll probably vaporize us on sight of we enter Venusian space.”

“That’s the third planet we’ve been banned from,” Jongho pouts.

“Is not!” Wooyoung corrects him, “It’s the second. KQ is a colony, not a planet.”

The prince ignores them,“I won’t need it, but okay. I appreciate the option. I’ll keep it in mind.”

Wooyoung squints incredulously, “What makes you so sure?”

Prince Mingi- no, just Mingi- glances at him, “I go back home, I get married to a stranger. I don’t wanna marry a stranger. And I don’t wanna live my entire life in one country, on one planet.”

“Well, when you put it like that…” Wooyoung mumbles.

Hongjoong heaves a sigh, “Welcome to ATEEZ, Song Mingi.” He says.

Mingi beams victoriously. He knows he’s won. His stubbornness is too strong for them. They’d tried appealing from various different angles, but nothing worked. And so, somehow, some fucking way, ATEEZ indoctrinates it's newest member of the crew. A fucking Venusian prince.

It’s not that Hongjoong has anything against the guy personally. He just supposes that, being honest, Mingi’s gonna have to do a lot to impress him. He’s seen those high society types on the junk planets before. The ones who occasionally foray into the fringes of society for quick amusement before going back to their safe, clean, fancy homes.

He also feels protective of Yunho, his best friend, the only person he could trust for a long, long time. Even now, Yunho’s his closest confidant. The others are creeping their way in slowly, but Yunho is still it. Hongjoong doesn’t like to be a downer, and it’s not like he wants to be disingenuous to Yunho’s merits, either. Things just don’t add up from his perspective. ATEEZ isn’t some playground, and Yunho’s not a toy. And if Hongjoong gets an inkling that Mingi thinks of his ship and crew that way, even the slightest hint of it, he’s not sure what he’ll do.

“We ought to have a ceremony for this,” Yunho jokes with a lopsided grin. He looks happy. Exhausted but happy. They all probably are. “Wait- Captain- get the polish-!”

“Hm?” Hongjoong comes back to the present. His gaze follows Yunho’s pointed finger to see a bottle of black nail polish he’d left on the side table earlier.

Yunho sticks up his pinky, “He’s officially ATEEZ. We have to signify it somehow.”

“We do?” Hongjoong’s words are negative, but he grabs the bottle obligingly regardless.

“Yup! Mingi, give him your hand!”

Yunho looks ecstatic. He looks beyond ecstastic. He’s glowing. All because of what? The prince, that’s what. Hongjoong purses his lips. He scoots forward and uncaps the bottle cautiously. As he takes Mingi’s hand in his own, he swallows down his reservations, his bad experiences, and his own personal judgments. Because they’re just that: his. They are his prejudices, not Yunho’s. As affable as his humecanis friend is, Yunho’s never been a bad judge of character.

On the contrary, Yunho’s an amazing judge of character. He calls it how he sees it, and he usually sees people as they are (save for a few occasions in which he’s over-enthusiastic). This may be one of those times. Perhaps he’s just smitten, too blinded by affection and want to really see who Prince Mingi really is.

Or maybe he’s not.

And maybe Hongjoong should have a bit of faith in his best friend’s judge of character.

Okay, Song Mingi can get a chance - Hongjoong thinks to himself as he carefully positions the wet brush above Mingi’s pinky.

“Bum- bum-bum-bum-bummm-” The others hum out of sync as Joong swipes the black pigment over the Venusian’s pinky nail.

“And done!” Hongjoong exclaims triumphantly when the other’s fingernail is covered. Dramatic applause follows, along with too-loud congratulations and cheers.

“I didn’t get a ceremony like this,” San faux-pouts.

“Wh- Yeah, where’s my ceremony?” Jongho asks.

Hongjoong rolls his eyes and chuckles, “Okay, fine. Bring ‘em in, all of you. We’re doing this tonight. The official ATEEZ initiation ceremony.” The rest of the crew (including Yunho, who already has a painted pinky) reaches their hands forward. An entirely too enthused commotion breaks out as they playfully vy for the spot most front-and-center to their benevolent nail painting captain.

They’re idiots, Hongjoong thinks.

But now, they’re his idiots.

“...and finally, the bridge,” Hongjoong says to Mingi.

After the newly minted initiation ceremony, half of the crew dispersed. San went to take a bath, and the other two went to their bedrooms. Joong and Yunho linked up to give Mingi a tour and get him a room. The bridge is their last stop, and the captain gestures grandly to the space.

“Whoa,” Mingi gasps and immediately walks toward the window. A little smile crosses his lips, and he leans over the pilot’s console to get as close to the glass as possible.

“You’ve never been in space, your maje- er- Mingi?” Hongjoong asks.

Mingi shakes his head wordlessly.

The captain heaves a sigh. After almost an hour, he finally feels himself coming down from the peak anxiety that’d had its hold over him for hours. There’s something gratifying about watching someone’s first impression of space. Something that doesn’t quite get old. In spite of the fortitude he’s shown and his impressive stature, Mingi has an innocence about him, too. He’s going to have a lot of those moments, those firsts. Hongjoong isn’t mad about being there for him.

He catches Yunho out of the corner of his eye. Yunho plays it cool, his arms are crossed and he doesn’t say much. But his tail’s swaying side to side.

These two are gonna be trouble, Hongjoong thinks.

Hell. Gonna be? These two are trouble. He’ll have to keep an eye on them.

“Whoa,” Mingi turns around, and he crosses over to the middle of the bridge - to the Compass. “This is… Fascinating.” He reaches out toward it. “Can- can I touch it?”

Joong grins. Whenever someone talks about his Compass, he gets all giddy inside.

“Did Yunho tell you about this thing?”

Mingi shakes his head.

“Yunho,” Joong playfully chastises the other. “You told him all the crimes we’ve committed but not about this?”

“Hm?” Yunho jerks slightly, like he’d been shaken awake.

“Oh god- go to bed, pupper,” Hongjoong tells the canis.

Yunho protests, “No, ‘m fine.”

“You were about to fall asleep standing up,” Joong softly kicks Yunho on the leg. “Go bed.” Yunho shakes his head. “That’s an order from your captain,” Hongjoong tells him. “Maybe I want some alone time with the prince, too, huh?”

Mingi chuckles at that. Yunho heaves a sigh and grumbles a bit but eventually complies. His tail swishes behind him lackadaisically as he lumbers down the steps toward his room.

“You can touch it, by the way,” Hongjoong tells the Venusian when Yunho’s made it down the steps without passing out halfway through the trip.

Mingi beams and, damn, okay, Hongjoong can see a little bit of why Yunho’s so infatuated. Mingi’s eyes squint up, and his entire face blossoms into a big, massive smile. He’d seemed so flawless up on that screen in the plaza. But, looking closer, Joong notices little stuff. His two front teeth are slightly misaligned, and there’s faint scarring on his cheeks from… Acne? Who knew Venusians got acne. Hongjoong certainly doesn’t recall seeing any on the planet. Of course, thinking back on it, they probably all wear lots of makeup. Weirdly enough, those flaws just make Song Mingi more charming than ever. The guy’s full of contradictions. He’s naive but mischievous. He’s cute but imposing, regal yet somehow gawky and ditzy. Maybe Song Mingi didn’t fit the princely mold as well as he seemed. Was that the real reason he jumped - because he felt like he didn’t fit what a Venusian noble should be? Or did he jump because his character is that of someone who isn’t your typical noble?

Hongjoong is resigned in the fact that he may never get the answer to that question. It’s sort of a chicken and egg thing, really. All in all, it matters naught, because Mingi’s there anyways. Assuming the guy’s true to his word, that’s where he’ll stay for a long, long time.

“Where did you find this?” Mingi asks, hunched over the Compass. His breath fogs the glass as he squints at the innards of the globe.

“It, uh, it was under a lot of junk,” Hongjoong answers.

“And you knew it went on the navigation console?”

“Uh- Well, yes. It’s a Compass.”

Mingi stands up, eyebrows raised, “You called it a Compass.”

“Of course I did. That’s… That’s what it is. Why? You got another name for it?”

“No,” The Venusian shakes his head, grinning, “I just- I think it’s cool. We came from different planets, but to us it’s exactly the same thing. Kinda makes it more real, don’t you think?”

“Um- I think you’re losing me a bit.”

“This- the- the Compass,” The (former) prince looks thrilled. “It’s- It’s just like in this story I used to read as a kid. It was about an adventurer named Mads. He hunted for this fabled Treasure, and in the end he recorded its location in a special, magic-slash-technological map. The illustration looked just like this.”

“Whoa,” Hongjoong feels his heart skip a beat. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. Ever heard of it?”

“Uh, yes!” The captain lights up. “I was obsessed with it during childhood. I- I- even into adulthood. I…” He looks at the beautiful, brassy compass. Even with its unstable, flickering projection and illegible carvings, the device is gorgeous to him. “I never stopped believing. But, wait- what did you say the adventurer’s name was?”

“Uh, Mads, why?”

“In my version it was always Dex.”

“Huh,” Mingi nods. “Well, it was told one way on Venus, but I’ve heard that there’s lots of different versions of the story.”

“Yeah, for sure, but now I’m curious… Tell me what you heard growing up.”

Mingi leans against the nearby wall and nods, “Oh, good idea. Let’s compare notes.”

“Yeah,” Hongjoong’s liking this guy more and more already.

“Well, on Venus, the story starts with a bright young person named Mads. They grew up on some desolate, old colony. A dusty place. I think they called it Maars…”

Yunho rolls around uncomfortably in his bed. He’s tired, but can’t sleep. His mind hasn’t settled from his day. God. Day. A single day. How can so much happen in such a short period of time? It’s like the powers that be decide to offset the days of lazing around in space with super compact days full of everything. He’d felt happiness, humiliation, anger, fear, and affection all in that short period of time. Of course, now when it’s time to finally sleep, in spite of how ragged out he feels, he can’t. Figures.

The canis heaves a sigh and runs his hand through his hair for the umpteenth time. It’s okay. Kind of. He stretches out again, letting his long limbs touch the edges of the built-in bed unit. Nothing’s quite comfortable. Excitement still dances just beneath his skin. It’s like he’s waiting for something on a cellular level. Like something had been built up, but he’d never gotten a resolution.

Letting out a dissatisfied puff of air, Yunho rolls over onto his back. His fingers graze his abdomen. They ghost over it at first, then he flattens his palm against it and rubs in round strokes. It’s… There. He certainly gets the basic sensation of a hand on a stomach. His hand on his stomach.

“Stupid,” He breathes out for only himself to hear. He knew his effort was an optimistic one at best, but part of him had hoped that, well, doing it himself would have the same effect. Unsurprisingly, it does not.

No matter how hard he tried, where he tried to scratch or rub, it never felt as nice as Song Mingi’s hands did. Embarrassment hollows out a pit in Yunho, making him wish he could burrow into his bed. Like that’d somehow help.

Shame almost suffocates him when the thought passes his mind: he wants to get pet again.

The words strung together in his mind are so excruciating, the canis actually flails around in his bed, devastated.

“Knock. Knock.”

Yunho freezes.

“Knock. Knock.”

“U-Um, Yunho?” Speak of the devil. “Are you still up?” Mingi asks timidly from the other side of the door.

Yunho scrambles up, slamming the on button for his bed lamp, “Y-yeah, come in.” He turns to the little control console - a tiny PC built into the wall of bis bed nook - and punches the security code. The door slides open with a soft “shiff” noise, and a tall figure darkens the entryway. “You can come in,” He says again.

Song Mingi pads in, sheepish as ever, and the door automatically shuts behind him, “S-Sorry if I disturbed you.”

“I wasn’t asleep anyways,” Yunho shrugs. Pet me, he thinks. “What is it?”

“I just, um… I just wanted to thank you. I wish I knew how, really.”

“Huh? Thank me for what?”

“For- for everything, but, mostly for saving my life.”

“Well, of course I saved your life. What was I gonna do? Watch you go splat on the ground? I mean- seriously what were you thinking?!”

A coy smile falls onto the Venusian’s lips, “I was thinking… ‘be bold, be brave’.” He waggles his eyebrows at the canis.

“Wh- I said you could be brave, yes. Not stupid.”

“I believe you’re also the person who said they’re basically the same thing.”

“I- Wh-” Yunho pouts. He got checkmated. “Wellk, don’t go jumping off any high balconies again, okay? I can’t promise I’ll be around next time.”

“But if you are, you’ll save me again?” The Venusian grins impishly.

“There are easier ways to get my attention if that’s what you want,” Yunho quips.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Mingi says. He turns on his heel to exit the room but abruptly halts. When he looks at Yunho again, he looks sheepish, and he wrings his hands together, “Actually there is… One more thing.”

“What is it?”

“The, uh, well- I really hate to impose on you, to be honest.”

“Mingi, you’re not imposing on me, I promise. Now- what is it?”

“Well, you see, uh, given the impulsive nature of my arrival on this ship, I don’t have much to my name.”

“Right, of course. Do you- d’you need something?”

Mingi presses his lips together and nods, “It’s really just- just- actually nevermind. I can- I’m just going to-”

“Mingi,” Yunho cuts him off. “Don’t hesitate, just ask. What do you need?”

“W-Well, I, um, all I have are the clothes on my back, but a tailored Venusian suit isn’t exactly comfortable to sleep in,” Mingi frowns. “Given that you’re easily the closest to me in size, the captain proposed I- I ask you to- to borrow something to sleep in. I understand that you all have limited means as well, and if this is an imposition-”

“What? That’s it?”

“Uh- Well, yes.”

Yunho chuckles. Mingi had made it sound like such a big deal. So what, he needs pajamas? The guy’s right, nobody on ATEEZ has much to spare, but lucky for Mingi, Yunho had gone shopping just earlier that day. He’d gotten some comfy stuff after sticking his ass out for a child. Sparing one or two items isn’t a big deal.

“Here,” Yunho throws his blanket off and swings his legs over the edge of the bed. He opens one of the built-in cabinets next to his bed nook and fishes around a little bit. His fingertips find soft fabric, and out he pulls a pair of shorts. They looked pretty comfy, and Yunho intended them to be an alternate pair for sleeping. It’s hardly an inconvenience. The canis holds them out in offering, and the prince hesitantly takes them.

He sizes them up, holding them up to himself, then shrugs. Yunho shuts his wardrobe, and another yawn takes over his entire body.

“Thank you,” Mingi says. Yunho just nods, his eyes squeezed shut and body stretching out yet again.

“Don’t worry about returning them,” Yunho slurs through his yawn. He rubs his eyes, “Next time we stop somewhere with cash, we can get you some stuff. You can see how the common folk shop.”

“Sounds fun,” The Venusian chuckles.

When he’s rubbed his eyes enough, Yunho blinks them open slowly. The world comes into focus bit by bit. When Yunho finally sees what’s in front of him, his heart jumps into his throat, and his mouth falls ajar.

“I’ve only heard stories about shops and bazaars on other planets,” Mingi says thumbs hooking beneath the waistline of his tailored pants. His pristinely fitted, very expensive jacket and shirt are already in a rumpled pile on the floor. The Venusian’s bare torso practically glows in the dark. Maybe it’s his skin’s natural luminescence, or maybe that’s just Yunho’s imagination embellishing on the glorious, lean, muscular body on display.

“Uh-” That’s all Yunho can do. Stutter out a single, stupid syllable. Song Mingi will be his cause of death at this rate. If his ass doesn’t get killed on suspicion of abducting the crown prince, it’ll be from some weird heart attack caused by being confronted with such unparalleled beauty.

“Hm?” Mingi pauses, quirking an eyebrow at Yunho while one of his legs is already out of his pants.

Mayday. Mayday.

Seeing the pillar of pure muscle bare in the flesh almost makes Yunho faint.

“You- you don’t have to change now-!” The delayed reaction comes, and Yunho hides his eyes behind his hand.

“Huh? Oh- I don’t mind,” Mingi says reassuringly. In truth, Yunho doesn’t mind, either. That’s the problem. The Venusian, apparently not getting it, elaborates, “I spent two years in a military camp as a trainee- all men of the Song family do it. Spent time in the barracks with no privacy whatsoever, so don’t worry about me.”

Yunho hears the sound of more fabric shifting around, and he dares not take a peek.

Mingi chuckles, “It’s okay. I know I haven’t lived a life like some of you have, but, I’m not a delicate flower, either. I can take a little bit of rough.”

“Uh-huh,” Yunho nods from behind his hand.

“Yunho, why are you covering your eyes?”

“To- To protect your modesty,” And myself - he thinks.

“But I just told you-”

“Did you need anything else?” Yunho doesn’t want to sound like he’s rushing the other, but he’s starting to get hot under the collar.

“Uh- No. No, I’m fine.”

“Okay, well, I’m glad I could help.”

“You look silly talking to me with your hand up like that,” Mingi snickers.

Yunho’s about to fire back with something, but a hand wraps around his wrist and gingerly guides it down. The flustered canis comes face to face with the barely-dressed Venusian who looks more amused than anything. At least one of them is. Yunho feels like he’s dying.

“Good night, Yunho,” Mingi says, his voice dropping into something husky. Maybe it’s the sleepiness, Yunho muses.

“Good- good night, Mingi,” Yunho chokes out his response, straining to keep his eyes above the neck.

The Venusian smiles fondly before turning around. He bends over to grab his clothes off the floor, and Yunho mentally kicks himself for sneaking a look. He wrests his eyes away from the other’s backside after a few seconds, instead focusing them in his lap.

It’s a nice lap. A great one, actually. Yes. Much better than the tall, handsome prince standing half-naked in the middle of the room. Yup. Much better than that.

“Hey, Yunho,” Mingi says once he’s standing in the doorway.

“Hm?” Yunho reflexively glances at the other. Big mistake. Mingi’s entire backside is bathed in low lamplight. The yellowy light accents the peaks of his carved figure while shadows dip into the valleys, painting a gorgeous picture of his statuesque features.

“Your tail’s wagging,” The Venusian says.

“Shiff.” The door shuts behind him, leaving Yunho in a room that all of a sudden feels suffocating and hot.

The canis twists his neck to check over his shoulder and, yeah, his tail’s wagging. Probably has been this whole time. The treacherous bastard. White hot, molten embarrassing pours over Yunho slowly, cooking him from inside out.

Yunho rolls over onto his bed again and smothers his face in his pillow, screaming.

He’s a humecanis - a rare, often parahiatic race - on a mission to find the missing pieces of the Compass, in hopes of tracking down the legendary, fabled Treasure. He’s on the run from the Galactic Coalition and the Neith royal guard. Also the sirens of Ubureru are on high alert, and there’s a good chance that they’ll kill him (or any of his friends) should they step foot too close to their planet again. Now, on top of that, he needs to somehow not combust every time he sees his crush. That’d be all swell and dandy if his crush didn’t have a room just a short walk across the common area to the opposite hall. Also if his crush didn’t decide to undress in front of him. And tease him. Basically, life has given the humecanis so, so much more than he bargained for.

And, Yunho’s got a funny feeling that he’s in for so, so much more.