Chapter Text

The landing is smooth, a graceful touchdown onto the grey-red surface of Keiter 03. Jungkook puts the engine in standby and watches the dust float by outside the windows. He waits for the dust to settle a bit - not fully, he doesn't want to give himself the chance to think too much - before he pops the top hatch, standing on the back of the pilot's seat and peering out.

"Are you sure... is this the right place?"

c0-0K1 whistles from the back, a sound that says >>of course this is the right place, stupid, we intentionally parked in a secluded area.<<

Secluded isn’t exactly the right word. Desolate, maybe. It's cold, rocky flatland as far as the eye can see, here and there dotted with lichen-covered boulders and low, unhealthy-looking shrubbery. He should have thought to put on his goggles, because a strong wind blows dust at his face.

He crouches back into the small body of the ship and pulls up a map. It's just as planned - they've landed a few khelters away from the cliffside caves where the target was last detected. "I guess we've got some walking to do."

>>no, you will be doing the walking. i will be staying here to guard the ship.<<

"Right, right." He pats down his belt and pockets, checking for his lightsaber and his comlink. Having turned off the ship's main power and fished his protective eyewear out of the storage compartment, he shimmies out of the hatch, closes it, and climbs to the ground.

"I'll see you soon, okay?" He stands on tiptoe to pat K1's chipped-pink, metallic side. The droid does not respond.

He looks up at the planet's sun, trying to gauge the angle he has to take to stay on course, his goggles blocking out the harshness of the light. Navigation secured, he starts off, dry, ground-clinging vines crunching rhythmically underfoot.

He doesn't know what to expect when he arrives at Min Yoongi's cave hiding place. All he's heard is the rumor – emphasis on rumor, because while it was presented to him as fact, there didn’t seem to be any evidence – that Jedi Master Min is 'trying to join the Sith after defecting to the dark side.' For the sake of justice, he supposes he ought to assume Yoongi is innocent; but for the purposes of his own safety, he has to proceed with a healthy dose of caution. He doesn't know whether Yoongi is expecting him, or anything about his odds of beating the other in a one-on-one fight, or even if Yoongi is alone or has backup.

He’s been tracking down Yoongi's location for over a week. Interviews with ship ticket vendors, star station attendants, locals of the towns closest to this location, and others who had met Yoongi on his journey painted a favorable picture: he was polite, he showed up on time, he paid what was due, and the like. But Jungkook had to reconcile all that with the possibility of that their memories had been altered, and the wealth of aliases Yoongi had used on the way, and the circuitous, intentionally confusing route itself. This traveler had not wanted to be followed.

Despite his lengthy investigation, there's a lot he doesn't know and can't reasonably find out. But he's walking into the situation regardless, because it's his duty as a Jedi Knight to combat the dark side (or the possibility thereof) no matter what. He's going to try his best today. And if his best isn't good enough? Well, he doesn't want to consider it. But if he dies, at least it's in the line of duty. At least he'll have died for a purpose.

No – enough of that morbid line of thought. Councilman Hamidou wouldn't have sent him on this mission if he didn't think Jungkook was equipped for it. If he's going to fight a Sith then he's going to win.

He arrives, suddenly, at a cliffside, the rocky face rising not-so-tall above his head and casting a short shadow. Yoongi's hideout should be set somewhere in this rocky wall. He squints up at the sun once more before deciding to try going left.

He walks along the cliffside, several times approaching what he thinks is an opening in the rock, but is really just shadow, or discoloration. But then, he arrives at an arched entrance with a well-worn path into a cave system.

He stops and peers in, taking off his goggles, but the stark difference in illumination doesn't allow him to make anything out. Somebody could be standing in there, watching and waiting for him, and he wouldn't know.

But, then, that's not what he thinks is happening. It's creepy, but he's not quite catching 'ambush' vibes from this place.

He takes a step into the cave. A gust of wind hits his back and he hears a sort of twinkling sound ahead, like wind chimes. He focuses on the sound, which intermittently continues as he walks into the cave, following the path insofar as he can tell the one gravelly surface from the other.

His eyes adjust to the dimness until he can make out the path continuing in front of him, curving a bit until it ends at a paneled door set into the cave wall. A homely, well-worn mat lies in front of the door - he stops in front of it and determines that the writing on it isn't in a language he knows.

The chimes he heard are hanging from hooks on either side of the door.

Well. He supposes he should go in.

He has to suppress the urge to knock politely - that would be against the point. He'd been expecting the need to force his way in but tries the doorknob first and finds it unlocked.

The room he enters is dark. A coat rack next to the door holds a grey cloak and a single umbrella, and an abstract-pattern quilt hangs on the wall in front of him.

Jungkook doesn't profess to be a student of the dark side, but this does not feel like a Sith aesthetic. It feels like he's entered the wrong house, if anything. But who else would make a home in this remote cliffside?

He'd better continue on. If it is a mistake, and Yoongi isn't here, he'll apologize to the homeowners and move on, no harm done.

The next room is a sort of sitting room, looking exceptionally cozy with plenty of upholstered chairs and sofas, a large clock, and a tall shelf stuffed with books and periodicals. It's not a volume of stuff Yoongi could have reasonably accumulated during his brief period of exile, not unless he'd been preparing this place for a long time. The Sith explanation would be that he'd stolen this home from someone else.

The next room is a kitchen. It's bright, cheerfully lit, and obviously recently used. His feeling of anticipation builds at the dirty dishes in the sink and the steam rising from the kettle on the just-turned-off stove.

He thinks Yoongi knows he's here.

The kitchen presents him with options: two doors and a separate hallway branch out from it. He extends some feely-feely, pathfinding force energy in each direction to try to determine which way to go.

The hallway is devoid of apparent energy - no one is back there, or they're shielding themselves, somehow. He doesn't know if that's a thing Sith can do. Anyway, he braces himself and pulls open the middle door.

It's a pantry. Of course his force-sense would pull him towards the room full of food.

He shuts the pantry and, hand on his tool belt, swallowing down the uncertainty and fear that’s rising through his gut, opens the other door.

He finds a small room, dim light fixture hanging above a big, round table. And sitting at that table, staring at Jungkook, is Yoongi.

It’s go time.

"Min Yoongi, right?" he asks, because it does look like the same man the Councilman's aide had shown him images of back on Coruscant, but he wants to be absolutely sure.

"You're speaking to him," Yoongi responds.

Jungkook pulls his lightsaber out of its holster, holding it at the ready. "I'm here to bring you to justice."

"Oh, are you?" Yoongi leans forward, eyebrow raised in challenge. "And whose justice are you carrying out? Did they tell you what crime I'm supposed to be executed for?"

“I’ve been told you defected to the Sith. I want to assess whether or not that’s true and take action accordingly."

"The Sith? Is that the best they can come up with these days?” Tell me, Jedi -" He looks at Jungkook expectantly.

"Jeon Jungkook," Jungkook says honestly, but suspicious of Yoongi's intentions.

"Jedi Jeon, do I seem like a member of the Sith Order to you? Am I radiating dark energies?"

Jungkook doesn't respond, because a non-answer is answer enough.

"I thought so." Yoongi smirks. "I really can't believe he sent somebody with a brain to do his dirty work."

"Who do you think sent me?"

"Councilman Hamidou definitely wants me dead. There could be others, but I was expecting him to send someone. Am I right?"

"Yeah."

"Sit down." The chair across from Yoongi pulls itself away from the table invitingly. "Let me tell you about what's really happening."

Jungkook makes his decision with a deliberately clear mind and holds onto it firmly, checking and re-checking for signs of Yoongi's interference. (If Yoongi can sway his mind undetectably, he's already as good as dead.) Luckily, he doesn't feel any mind-trickery going on. He tries to hold his feeling of relief at bay, because while he suspects he’s in the clear, he has to keep considering the possibility that Yoongi is manipulating him.

"How about this," Jungkook offers. "I'll hear you out. But if there's any sign of dishonesty, manipulation, or funny business, I won't hesitate to fight you. Okay?"

"Okay." Yoongi smiles as Jungkook sits down. "That’s fair enough. And I'm more than ready for a good, old-fashioned scuffle if that's what you decide." There's something confident in his grin that makes Jungkook think Yoongi might be underestimating him slightly. It would probably be a close, tricky fight nonetheless. Yoongi is a bit older, has a few years of experience over him, but Jungkook is well-practiced and well-prepared.

"I was making tea before you arrived," Yoongi says, beckoning the kettle from the stove with an outstretched hand. "Would you like some? I understand if you don't want to trust me, but I'd be a bad host if I didn't offer."

"I'll pass. Thank you."

"Suit yourself." The kettle tips itself to pour into a mug, which Yoongi grabs out of the air and holds with both hands. "So, Jedi Jungkook, where are you from?"

Jungkook frowns. "I just agreed to hear you out, not to talk about myself."

"It's important for my narrative. I need to know how much you'd already be familiar with."

"So you know what lies to tell me?"

Yoongi squints. "You're really making this more difficult -"

"G'aav'aar'oon," Jungkook says. "I live at the fortress on G'aav'aar'oon."

"Thank you," Yoongi sighs. "So the esteemed Councilman likely chose you for his mission because he expected you not to have knowledge of the messy political situation on Coruscant at the moment. Was he right to think so?"

Jungkook nods.

"I know the Council tries to keep its internal drama quiet, so it makes sense. You wouldn't know, then, that the Grand Master is planning on stepping down soon. That’s where all this drama really originates."

"She is?"

"She is. And that creates two big opportunities." Yoongi lifts a hand from his mug to gesture. "First, there's a vacancy on the Council to fill. Second, and related to the first, the Council needs to elect its new head."

"The Council does all that stuff internally, I thought. So why would it make you into a target?"

"Obviously there's an existing set of alliance networks within the Council, but that doesn't mean the next leader is set in stone," Yoongi continues, ignoring the question in favor of his narrative. "There's a lot of bargaining going on right now between maybe three or four main factions that support different Councilpeople. One big, obvious way for a faction to show their influence is to get their favored candidate elected to fill the empty Council seat. You can probably imagine how messy this all is."

Yoongi pauses to take a cautious sip of his tea, then a less careful gulp when he finds that it's cooled down enough.

"Makes sense so far?"

"I'm following."

"Councilman Hamidou is probably the top contender right now, and the most likely to get his candidate elected."

"His candidate is Jedi Master Namjoon?" Jungkook asks quietly, heart rate building again.

Yoongi tilts his head. "Yeah. Do you know him?"

"Um, no, I've never met him in person. But I follow his work. I mean, I read his writings," Jungkook says, trying to answer without letting his borderline weird devotion to his favorite Jedi scholar shine through too much, and failing.

"That's cute," Yoongi muses. "He'd appreciate that."

Jungkook gulps. "I assume you know him?"

"Namjoon?" Yoongi smiles slightly and looks down into his mug. "Yeah. We were close enough that we had to act like we weren't friends in front of other people. Of course my mentor was, well, not an advocate for Hamidou on the Council."

"So that’s why Hamidou is spreading rumors about you?"

"Correct. He doesn’t like me. And he sees any Jedi master in Namjoon's age group as Namjoon's competition. Do you know about Kim Seokjin?”

Jungkook racks his brain. “Maybe?”

“Young Jedi Master killed by space pirates? Did you hear about that?”

“Right, just a few weeks ago. That’s where I’ve heard the name.”

“That was Hamidou,” Yoongi says gravely. “He hired mercenaries to go after him and attack him while he was traveling and make it look like a coincidence. Because Seokjin was Namjoon's biggest competition to get elected to the Council.”

“But…” Jungkook stammers. “If Hamidou really did that, for Namjoon's sake, then does Namjoon…?”

“He’s not in on it. He doesn’t even believe it happened.” Yoongi rests the mug onto the table, letting go of it to hold onto his own arms instead, digging in hard with his thumbs. It looks like it hurts; Yoongi seems genuinely hurt and it makes Jungkook feel tense, uncomfortable about the way he’d barged into this seemingly personal situation, accusation and lightsaber in hand. “We argued about it. He didn’t believe his mentor was capable of such a thing, and he didn’t understand why I felt like my life was now in danger. So, since Namjoon wasn’t behind me, I, you know. I had to leave.”

“Oh,” Jungkook whispers. His mind races. He can see it and he can feel it, empathetically: Namjoon would have felt forced to choose between two of the people he trusted and valued most, and it made sense that he’d side against believing Yoongi , whose claims challenged his long-held worldview. But from Yoongi's  perspective, it would have seemed like Namjoon was siding with the evil establishment without concern over whether Yoongi lived or died.

Jungkook doesn’t know if he believes Yoongi's claims about Hamidou’s nefarious deeds. But at this point, he’s willing to trust that Yoongi believes what he says. That he’s telling his version of the truth. So he understands why no compromise with Namjoon had been possible – why he’d been forced to run away.

“Thank you for telling me all of this,” Jungkook says after a brief silence. “I’m not going to fight you. I’ve made up my mind.”

Yoongi clears his throat. “So you believe me?”

“Um, I respect your authenticity, but I’d want to see some evidence before I’m convinced a Council member is going around and murdering people.”

Yoongi sighs. “I understand.”

“It must be hard, though. To not be believed about something like that.”

“Yeah.” Yoongi smiles a bit, more of a grimace, still not making much eye contact even as Jungkook watches him intently from across the table. “I’ve only been out here for a couple weeks – maybe not even that – but it’s quite… isolating.”

“Well, is there anything I could do for you before I go back to Coruscant?” Jungkook asks, thinking of the super-isolated nature of Yoongi's home. “Are there supplies I could pick up for you? Or do you need anything fixed? I’m a decent mechanic…”

“Ah, that’s very kind of you. I don’t need anything like that.” Yoongi waves his hand. “I can walk into town every once in a while to stock up on things I need.”

Jungkook nods, standing, chair pushing back from the table. He returns his lightsaber to its holster, where it belongs. “In that case, I’d better get going.”

Yoongi looks up at him, eyebrows pinched. “Just like that? You haven’t even been here half an hour.”

Jungkook blinks. “I mean… I’ve fulfilled the purpose of my mission, so…”

“Do you want to stay for lunch?” Yoongi asks. “Surely you have a long journey ahead of you. I can’t just let a fellow Jedi go back hungry.”

In all likelihood, Yoongi isn’t going to poison him. In all likelihood, Yoongi is lonely.

Jungkook should stay.

“Sure,” he replies, smiling. “If you insist.”

“Good!” Yoongi claps his hands together as he stands. “Cooking is one of the most interesting things for me to do around here. I was planning on making stew today.” He shimmies around towards Jungkook and the door to the kitchen, navigating the tight space between the table and the wall. “I’ve found that Keiter has quite a few very good local vegetables. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

Yoongi passes Jungkook to pad into the kitchen. Jungkook didn’t notice before, when they were sitting down, but Yoongi is physically a bit small. As Yoongi lauds his favorite vegetables in his warm, calm, melodic purr of a voice, Jungkook is amused at how frightened of him he’d felt only a little while ago.

Yoongi's mug floats into the kitchen behind him, and the kettle turns itself over to top it off with some warmer tea. Jungkook hovers in the doorway, watching Yoongi rummage through the cold storage for the vegetables he’s been talking about.

“What can I do to help?” Jungkook asks, because he’s not going to stand here uselessly the whole time.

“First thing you can do is go back to the foyer and take off those shoes.” Yoongi glances accusingly down at Jungkook's feet. “Don’t they have any manners on G’aav’aar’oon? You’re tracking cave into my house.”

“Ah, sorry.” Jungkook bends down to unlace his boots. “Also, Yoongi, I regret to have to tell you this, but your house is cave.”

“Maybe so.” Yoongi dumps his cold ingredients onto the countertop. Jungkook shuffles past, carrying his heavy boots back through the sitting room and the foyer, dumping them at the front door.

“How did you get this place, anyway?” Jungkook asks, based on his previous curiosity. “There’s a lot of stuff here and I imagine you didn’t bring it all with you.”

Yoongi is in the process of washing a round, purple thing. “You’re right about that,” he says. He shakes the vegetable back and forth to get the extra water off, then steps to the side of the washbasin, where he’s laid out a cutting board. “Rinse the rest of these for me, please. As for the cave, I actually bought it from a family in the nearest town. It had been sitting empty since their grandmother died a few years ago. All of her stuff is still here.”

Jungkook stands in front of the basin, washing his hands before starting on the many-shaped-and-colored foods laid out on his left, passing them to Yoongi on his right as he finishes with them. “I like it. It feels homey.”

“I agree. It’s a bit too big for one person only, but it’s a nice place, especially given the location.” Yoongi gives his full attention to the knife he’s chopping with as he talks.

“I guess not that many people want to live all the way out here.”

“It really was a stroke of luck that I found myself in that little town. Or,” Yoongi scoffs, “Maybe it was the force.”

“It could have been!”

“But if you were able to track me down, that might be a sign that I should leave for someplace even more remote.”

“Mm. Because you think when I go back, Hamidou will send someone else?” Yoongi hums in agreement. “Then, I could act like I really did kill you, if you want…”

“That’s a possible strategy,” Yoongi lays aside the chopped vegetables and takes a stockpot out of a lower cupboard to begin preparing the broth. “It’s up to you. I don’t want to ask you to lie to Hamidou’s face, because that’s a risk. And.” He looks up at Jungkook, a frown on his face. “I would ask that, if Namjoon is in the room when you’re reporting, that you don’t pretend I’m dead.”

Jungkook nods. “Okay.” And Yoongi turns back to the stockpot.

It’s hard for Jungkook to conceptualize the type of friendship Yoongi and Namjoon seem to have. Jungkook has many acquaintances on G’aav’aar’oon. Some are people he’s known and worked with for a long time. He’s comfortable coexisting with them. He knows they’d mourn him if he died, but if push came to shove, he wouldn’t be worried about their feelings if he was forced to fake his death.

So, he’s never experienced anything like what Yoongi and Namjoon had. He wants to. But he hasn’t.

“If you move,” Jungkook reasons, working it out as he says it, thinking about what Yoongi just asked him, “you risk becoming unfindable to the people who you want to be able to find you.”

Yoongi pauses mid-motion for a second before continuing on. “I know,” he says in a low voice. “That’s why I’m not actually going anywhere, even if it’s dangerous.”

“You’ll stay here?”

“Mhm.”

“Well, anyway,” Jungkook says, feeling a bit awkward after a few moments of silence. “What should I do now?”

“Go back to G’aav’aar’oon, watch your back, keep your head down,” Yoongi lists.

Jungkook chuckles. “Sure, but I was talking about the soup.”

“Ah, the soup, the soup.” Yoongi backs away from the stovetop, holding a long wooden spoon out above the steaming pot. “You can stir this while I add stuff.”

They trade places. Jungkook stirs, and Yoongi rummages through more cupboards.

“You know, I’ve never been to G’aav’aar’oon,” Yoongi says. “What’s it like?”

“Hm. Well, it’s an asteroid. It’s cold, and nothing grows there naturally, but they’ve done some work around the fortress area to make the conditions more habitable.”

“Sounds lovely.”

“It’s not all bad. You can see some cool minerals and rock formations there. And we’ve got greenhouses in the fortress grounds, so it’s not like I never see a plant.”

“So you work at the fortress?”

“Yeah. There’s not that much to do, since there’s no war, but we have to keep the fortifications up to date and decide what new technologies to adopt. So everything’s ready to go if it’s needed.”

Yoongi looks skeptical. “And do you enjoy this line of work?”

Jungkook shrugs. “I mean. No. I’m not that passionate about it. But it's what my mentor does, and I’ve adapted to it over the past years. Having all the extra space around lets me explore a lot of messy hobbies, too. I’ve been able to rebuild a couple of little flyers and spacecraft – “

Yoongi's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “Really? You can do that?”

“Yeah! I had a lot of time to teach myself stuff. I came here today in my own recycled starfighter.”

“Ah, that’s good. It’s good to be able to do things you enjoy…” He trails off, seeming wistful, staring at the pot which Jungkook has been diligently stirring as Yoongi adds the rest of the ingredients. “You can stop stirring. We’ll just leave it for a bit.”

Yoongi gives him a tour of the rest of the cave as they wait for the stew to simmer to Yoongi's liking. He points out various interesting architectural elements and the ways the old grandmother had made innovative use of space in the home. He introduces Jungkook to a little long, wooly creature of a species native to the cave system. Its name is Holly – it took a liking to Yoongi after he arrived and insisted on living with him.

Every quirk of Yoongi's that he notices makes him like Yoongi even more: Yoongi's adorable tooth-and-gummy smile when Holly scampers up Jungkook's side to coil around his arm; the intensity of Yoongi's focus when he’s pointing out design elements of his cave home, like it’s the most serious thing in the world; the way Yoongi will automatically bring his fingers up to his mouth pensively as he talks about something. He wants to do his part fix this mess so Yoongi can go back to Coruscant, repair his broken friendship, and live his normal life. It frustrates him that Yoongi is stuck here living in fear, when he as much as anyone else deserves to be happy.

The stew is lovely. He feeds Holly little bites here and there and scratches its little head, and the creature, appreciative, sticks to him until it’s time for him to go.

Because, soon enough, he does have to leave. Yoongi accompanies him back to his ship, although they walk together quietly, facing into the wind. Luckily, Jungkook's sense of direction serves them well, and the blurry suggestion of the little vessel comes into view.

The wind blows a chirping noise in their direction, and Jungkook breaks out into a grin and sets a faster pace. “K1!” he shouts into the distance. “I’m back! Did you miss me?”

>>i thought you’d had the audacity to leave me to sit here and rust,<< comes the faint reply.

“Is that your droid? What does it say?” Yoongi asks, jogging to keep up on his slightly shorter legs.

“They say they did miss me, in their own way.”

“Did you reconstruct your droid, too?” They slow to a halt in front of the plane.

“Nah, not really. K1 was like this when I found them. Isn’t that right, buddy?” He jumps up to pat the top of K1’s pink dome.

>>they say you can’t improve upon perfection.<<

“Exactly.”

“Jungkook.” Yoongi sticks out a gloved hand. “I wish we could have met under better circumstances, but I appreciated your company today nevertheless.”

Jungkook grabs Yoongi's hand in both of his own, giving it a little shake. “I’m sorry for trying to kill you earlier. I’m glad I didn’t. Thank you for being so kind to me after I broke into your home.”

“It was my pleasure.” Yoongi retracts his hand. “Have a good flight, and stay safe out there.”

Jungkook jumps onto the first rung of the ladder, grabbing the top one with one hand. “You too, okay? Please be careful.”

“The force is with me,” Yoongi says. Jungkook climbs up to the top hatch, perching and looking down one last time. “And it’s with you, too.”

Jungkook smiles as he lets himself down into the cockpit, closing the top hatch behind him. He starts the engine before shedding his goggles and other outergear, watching Yoongi jogging away from the vehicle, avoiding the clouds of dust that’ll get kicked up when the thrusters ignite. One last look at Yoongi's small, receding form and he lifts off, rising above the uniform landscape into a low-altitude cloud cover.

Chapter Text

“Chart a course for the nearest city,” Jungkook says. “We’ll refuel now so we don’t have to stop on the way back to G’aav’aar’oon tomorrow.”

K1 chirps in the affirmative, and the new route comes up on the display. Jungkook sighs as he adjusts the bearings. Usually, his favorite place to be is behind the controls of his ship, but he can’t relax with all the ideas and possibilities running through his head.

>>what happened back there?<< K1 asks, sensing something amiss with their human. >>i thought we were supposed to kill the sith min yoongi, but you left him in a friendly way.<<

“He’s not a Sith,” Jungkook explains, watching the route and the sky ahead. “He’s good. I didn’t catch a single hint of dark-sidedness from him at all. He told me about this conspiracy theory he has about the Council, and that he left Coruscant because he thought he was on some sort of political kill list.”

>>if he managed to brainwash you, i’m going to dump you out of the plane.<<

“I appreciate it, but that won’t be necessary.” Another sigh. “I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about what he said. Because, he clearly believed everything he told me…”

>>why would you believe some guy hiding from his own people in the middle of a remote tundra?<<

“Because he’s a close friend of Namjoon. Or, he was, at least. It sounds like they had a disagreement over the issue.”

>>i pity master namjoon if that’s true, but i don’t think it adds anything to the legitimacy of master yoongi’s theories.<<

“And,” Jungkook continues, “there’s something fishy about the way Councilman Hamidou assumed Yoongi joined the Sith with no evidence besides the fact that he left.”

>>it may have been an unfortunate mistake, but that is the story behind most jedi who run off, isn’t it?<<

“You have a point,” Jungkook admits. “But I don’t think he should have led me to expect some sort of battle to the death with a confirmed Sith supporter. If I hadn’t been as careful, well…” He trails off into thought as they near the outskirts of the city. The ground below becomes greener and more cultivated. Quaint family homes and storefronts flash by. “It kind of feels like Hamidou wanted me to get rid of Yoongi no matter what.”

>>you should be careful. you don’t have any evidence against councilman hamidou either.<<

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Jungkook pulls up to the first aerial refueling station that appears, turning the engine off after the building’s robotic arms lock the vehicle supports in place. A little special-purpose droid pops out of a doorway and scurries over to find and open the fuel hatch in the back. “I appreciate your advice, K1. We’ll go straight back to G’aav’aar’oon tomorrow, and then we won’t have to worry about this stuff anymore.”

Jungkook absentmindedly watches the fuel meter tick upwards. He knows going home is what Yoongi told him to do, and he knows the whole matter isn’t any of his business, but it feels a bit like he’s running away from the situation. He doesn’t like that feeling.

He pays and, refueling accomplished, does a quick radar scan of the ships and satellites in orbit to avoid running into anything when he leaves the atmosphere soon after. Once they’re out of the range of orbit, he speeds away from the planet, wanting for safety’s sake to clear out of the local solar system before entering light speed. This part of the journey is a bit tedious, so he sits back and picks up a 3D combination puzzle to give his hands something to fiddle with.

He sits in starry quiet for a few moments, trying to focus on his puzzle and not worry about what could be waiting for him back on Coruscant. K1 chirps at him, though, before they’re even halfway out of the system.

>>there are two funny looking ships coming in our direction.<<

Jungkook sits up and looks at the data feed from his scanners. “Huh? They weren’t there a minute ago.”

>>they seem to have been using the sun to hide from view.<<

“That’s so strange… I don’t know why they would do that, unless…” He’s trying to get an ID on either of the two anonymous-looking ships, but the info in their official broadcasts isn’t matching up with any ship in his database. They’re definitely up to no good.

>>they are coming right for us!!<< K1 squeals, and Jungkook can feel the vibration of the droid stomping back and forth in agitation.

“Calm down, buddy, we’ll handle this,” Jungkook reassures them. K1 is a good astromech, and a very intelligent droid, but they’re painfully averse to danger. Their previous owners got rid of them because of it, but Jungkook doesn’t mind. Circumstances like this are rare for the two of them, and when those situations do arise, he just has to be a bit more patient. “Prime all thrusters for evasive maneuvers. Get ready to enter light speed.”

He grabs behind his seat for the helmet that came integrated with the combat system of the original starfighter. When he renovated the ship, he got rid of most of the built-in firepower, leaving one external gun just strong enough to blast through asteroid-type rock that might get in his way. Even though the targeting system is mostly useless, he’s found the helmet to be good for visualizing his adversaries’ positions and firing ranges when escaping hostile spacecraft – not that it’s something he has to do very often.

Jungkook jams the helmet over his head and the green targeting grid blinks to life in front of his eyes. >>thrusters are go! come on, they’re almost in range!!<< He maxes out the acceleration, but the other ships – they’re small, the size of his own, but heavily armed – have been going faster for longer and are still gaining on him.

The closest one fires, confirming their intention to attack. Jungkook blocks out the panicked whirring sounds of K1. He opts for the old evasive tactic of weaving back and forth, trying not to allow their targeting systems enough time to lock onto him. The two ships continue their barrage anyway. In just a few seconds they’ll be going fast enough that the hyperdrive can kick in and get them out of here – he has to buy them time until then.

“Six seconds,” he calls back to K1 through gritted teeth. “Check – shit –“

A blast misses way too close for comfort, and he doesn’t finish the command, but K1 squawks the information he was looking for: >>coordinates good! coordinates good! coordinates good!<<

“Three. Two. One,” he counts, and punches the hyperdrive motivator.

The computer does the rest of the work. It’s a relatively short journey; they’re in and out of hyperspace in about twenty minutes, during which time Jungkook sits frozen, gripping the controls and sweating. As careful as he was when modifying this ship, he’s not arrogant enough to have full confidence in his work, and every time he uses his hyperdrive he expects something to go terribly wrong, like the engine blowing itself up or the route calculated by the computer dragging them into a black hole.

Nothing goes wrong. They slow to a cool glide with the Coruscant System in full view through the front windows. Jungkook tears the combat helmet off his head.

“Stars, I’m going to be sick,” he groans. His stomach has never gotten used to the hyperspace jumps.

>>i can’t believe you almost got us killed, buckethead!<< K1 chirps frantically. Jungkook shoves down both his nausea and his urge to argue with the droid on that point.

“I’m sorry, buddy. You did really well back there. Saw those ships coming at us just in time.” He rubs his face with the back of his hand, trying not to consider what would have happened if he had been traveling by himself, or if K1 wasn’t so paranoid.

K1 changes the subject. >>i don’t understand what those people wanted from us.<<

“Me neither. Parts, maybe?”

He sighs and redirects their course to an orbit around Coruscant. From that point, he locates the landing bay associated with Jedi headquarters. He has to show some extra paperwork to be allowed inside with his non-Jedi-issued vessel, but he’s familiar with the process and soon enough, he’s bidding goodbye to K1, who’s staying in the bay with some other droids while he goes up to report to Hamidou’s office.

He gets some funny looks from the people in the elevator, and a few more curious squints when he requests the floor for Council offices. He looks at himself in the reflective surface of the elevator doors and notices that, yeah, after the windy tundra and the space battle, he does look disheveled. It’s a cool disheveled, though, he thinks. The type to make people wonder what he’s been up to.

The halls of the Council office level are pristine. There are few windows, and none of the noise from the city outside seeps in. He’s been to Hamidou’s offices once before, when an aide sat him down in a conference room to give him his ‘mission details’ – so he navigates with confidence, stopping in front of a receptionist droid.

“Hi,” he says. “I’m here to see Councilman Hamidou, please.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No. I was running an errand for him. He wasn’t sure when to expect me, but he is expecting me.”

“Please give your name here.” A mechanical keypad slides out of a panel in the droid’s front. “I’ll be with you in a moment.”

Jungkook bends down to type in his information. As soon as he enters his name, the droid perks up a bit.

“Sir, Councilman Hamidou has requested to see you as soon as possible. Please wait a minute while I alert him.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

Jungkook stands idling in front of the silent droid for a few moments – no more than a minute – before it speaks up again. “This way, please. The Councilman will see you now.”

He trails after the droid down another blindingly white hallway, into the depths of the office. Arriving at Hamidou’s door, he stands to the side to let two well-dressed people leave. They shoot him slightly sour glances, making him wonder if Hamidou had kicked them out in order to meet with him immediately.

He enters the room. A wall of windows greets him on the far side, but his attention is drawn more to the people – Councilman Hamidou standing between the window and the desk, and Jedi Master Kim Namjoon himself, standing next to the door. Both of them seem tense and unhappy – Jungkook wonders if that might be for very different reasons. Or maybe he's projecting. After all, he doesn’t really know these people.

The receptionist droid scurries away. Namjoon steps behind his field of view – Jungkook hears him close the door and lock it with a tell-tale beep.

“I’ve completed the mission, sir,” Jungkook says, inclining his head in a little respectful bow.

Namjoon walks over to stand to the side of the desk, arms folded over his chest protectively, as if bracing himself for bad news he thinks is coming. Jungkook tries not to look at him.

“I’m impressed,” Hamidou says. “Then I take it Min is dead?”

“No, sir, he’s alive," Jungkook says, watching Namjoon's posture deflate slightly out of the corner of his eye. Hamidou doesn’t seem to notice. “I determined that he wasn’t in the process of joining the dark side. He isn’t a threat.”

“I didn’t send you off to the far corners of the galaxy to assess the threat, Mr. Jeon.” Hamidou is clearly disappointed. “It seems like you let him manipulate you.”

“Sir, your aide never showed me any evidence against Min other than hearsay. I didn’t find any evidence, either, so I wasn’t comfortable taking any further steps. I came back to report what I found, and tomorrow I’m flying back to G’aav’aar’oon.”

“’Not comfortable taking any further steps,’ is that so?” Hamidou repeats, a little mockingly. “Then why do you look like you fought him, saw you were losing, and ran away?”

Jungkook scoffs at the dishonorable suggestion. “My ship got attacked on the way back. I just barely managed to escape.”

Hamidou leans forward, clasping the back of the chair in front of him. “You aren’t lying, are you? I’d hate to find out you’re being dishonest.”

Jungkook can feel something poking around in his mind, an irresistible, hissing command to ‘confess, confess!’ “I’m telling the truth!” he blurts, half-unwillingly. “Sir, I’m not stupid enough to come in here and lie!”

He slaps a hand over his mouth after Hamidou stops compelling him to speak. Namjoon glances back and forth between them, expression coolly neutral.

Hamidou seems satisfied with Jungkook's outburst. “Very well. In that case, before you go back tomorrow, please send me the details of the ship that attacked you and I’ll file a report on your behalf.”

“Hold on, that’s not – that’s incorrect protocol,” Namjoon interjects, speaking for the first time, but Jungkook already knows that voice, perhaps too well, from various broadcasts and audio documents. “He has to file it himself.”

“I’m just trying to make his life a little easier, Namjoon,” Hamidou says, then turns back to Jungkook. “Okay? You’re dismissed.”

“All right. Thank you, sir.” Jungkook doesn’t exactly care what is and isn’t correct report filing protocol. He just wants to get out of this office. He takes the few steps to the door without looking too spooked, then all but slams the door behind him once he’s out.

Down the hall, into the elevator, then on autopilot to the guest rooms where visiting Jedi are housed, mindlessly registering himself for the same room he occupied last time, and navigating to it, and throwing himself down on the small bed face-first.

What the fuck was that? How had that just happened? Even if Hamidou is corrupt and all that, how does he think he can get away with turning mind tricks on his fellow Jedi without consequences? That’s so wrong, so against the rules. Jungkook recalls back to the feeling of his brain being played with and shudders, grabbing the single pillow at the head of the bed and hugging it to his chest. He’s been trained from a young age to detect that feeling, to resent it and to fight it – every Jedi has, so why did Hamidou bother to do it? Was he showing off his power? Did he really have such a high opinion of his own impunity? Jungkook is inclined to believe that everything Yoongi said about Hamidou might be true.

He ends up falling asleep like that, and he wakes up tired and disoriented and hungry. He trudges back down to the hangar to check on K1 and grab his duffle bag from the ship, and then he cleans himself up, wolfs down a quick meal in a dark corner of the commissary, and passes out again in his room.

Chapter Text

He awakes blearily to a loud, repetitive noise, jolting to full alertness when he realizes someone’s knocking on his door. He sits up, frowning, listening, staring at the sliver of light from the hallway. He can’t help but wonder whether this person means him harm, whether he should prepare to defend himself.

“Hello?” he says, sliding out of bed, feeling around the inside of his bag for his lightsaber. It's funny, how safe he used to feel in Jedi headquarters before yesterday, compared to how uneasy he feels now.

“It’s Namjoon!” comes the voice from outside. “I need to talk to you.”

“Oh - okay. Just a second.” Namjoon is one person he thinks probably won’t try to kill him, but he’s still nervous at the prospect of speaking to him one-on-one. Exhaling, he nudges his stuff to the side and pats around the wall for the control panel, squinting and rubbing his eyes when he turns on the lights.

The door slides open and reveals Namjoon, who steps into the room and slams the button to close the door again.

Jungkook stares up at him. Namjoon is tall, he realizes. His robes are long and plain, some dark brown color, and he’s got the long strap of a small bag slung over one shoulder. He’s wearing glasses and a part of his hair is sticking up and it’s cute.

“Hi,” Namjoon says after a few weird seconds have passed. “I’m really sorry about all of this.”

“Oh!” Jungkook rushes to reject his apology, whatever it’s about. “It’s really fine – “

“It’s not. I think you’re in danger, actually.” Namjoon pushes his bangs away from his forehead, making them stick up more. “I came here to warn you.”

“Mm, what kind of danger?” Jungkook, once again, recalls the incident at Hamidou’s office. If Namjoon has just now had some sort of personal realization and come to terms with the truth about the Councilman, maybe he’s overreacting to Jungkook's situation. “It’s Hamidou, right?”

“Yeah. I – I can’t be sure of the extent of it. I just overheard him talking about possibly arresting you.”

That’s new. Jungkook frowns and snatches his duffel bag from the floor. “Arresting me for what?” He starts chucking his stuff into the bag more haphazardly than he’d like, feeling Namjoon's gaze following him.

“I don’t know. He can make up whatever he wants, and everyone will believe him.”

“So, you’re saying I should leave before he has a chance to get me? Just like – “ He doesn’t finish the sentence. Maybe he shouldn’t have brought it up.

“Like Yoongi. I know. He told you quite a lot, didn’t he?”

Jungkook hoists the full bag onto the bed to zip it closed. “He had to convince me he wasn’t Sith.” He shrugs, straightening back up. “And then he wouldn’t let me leave without feeding me soup.”

Namjoon's expression softens. “Yeah, that sounds just like him. Not that he would – I’m not saying he’d cook for just anybody, though. Which brings me to my next point.” He clasps his hands together and exhales. “I’ve been thinking about this and I have an offer for you. Feel free to turn it down.”

Jungkook nods.

“Now that I’ve finally realized that Yoongi was right all along, I can’t sit here any longer. I need to go join him. But I don’t know where he is, and I can’t fly. So here’s what I was thinking.” Namjoon shifts from foot to foot, and it’s like he shifts out of some of his nervousness and into a more professional, persuasive mode. “We can go there, join Yoongi, together. We’ll work on fixing things so you and Yoongi can come back, and - “ he counts off the arguments on his fingers – “we might be safer as a group if the Councilman sends more assassination missions, no matter who he chooses to target.”

“It’s really… is it that severe? I can’t just go back to G’aav’aar’oon quietly?”

Namjoon shakes his head. “He won’t be satisfied with that. You know too much.”

Jungkook worries his lower lip between his teeth and looks down at the bag on the mattress. Flying Namjoon to Yoongi's hiding slot is a no-brainer; of course he’s going to help reunite the two best friends. And after that? Hamidou wants to arrest him. He won’t be safe if he goes home. And where else could he go? There could be some awkwardness, if he tags along with the two Jedi Masters, since he’s a relative stranger to them, but: “I’ll do it. I want to help in any way I can.”

Namjoon looks relieved, and he smiles. “Good, I’m glad. Thank you. Not just for this, but, you know…”

“Are you, uh, ready to leave?” Jungkook asks, dodging the gratitude, pointing at the bag Namjoon's carrying.

“Oh, yeah. Are you?”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

Namjoon opens the door, then steps aside to let Jungkook lead the way to the hangar. There’s barely anyone out and about on this floor; they make it swiftly to the elevator bay.

“What if we get stopped on the way out?” Jungkook wonders. “Or what if they don’t let us out of the hangar?”

“I wouldn’t worry. As long as he isn’t there, I should be able to talk them into letting us through.”

“Mm. Okay.”

The hallways in the parking area are busy. Jungkook weaves through the traffic of droids and mechanics performing after-hours work on the Order’s vast fleet of ships and transport vehicles, and Namjoon follows along cautiously, clutching his bag to his chest.

It gets less crowded once they veer off into the area for privately owned vehicles. Most of these ships belong to visiting officials, experts, and other wealthy people; they’re sleek, comfortable, multi-person craft and between them somewhere on the far side and near the back is his own humble flyer. He stalks down the center gangway, peering this way and that, until he spots it to his right.

“We’re over there,” he says, gesturing. “The one next to the pink droid”

“The little one?”

“Yeah.” Jungkook races down the steel-frame stairs to ship level, making sure to look both ways before dashing across the vacant taxiway, Namjoon crossing safely alongside. “It’ll probably be a tight fit. I mean, it will be uncomfortable, but the journey’s not very long. I hope that’s okay.”

“I mean – yeah, I guess. It’s the best option, isn’t it?”

>>jungkookie!<< c00-K1 squeals when they walk into earshot. >>there were people here just twenty minutes ago and i saw them do something; look back here!<< They spin around 180 degrees, and Jungkook follows them to the tail of the ship, scrutinizing.

“This is K1. They say there were people here tampering with the ship,” Jungkook translates for Namjoon.

“Well, that’s not good.”

“How long were they here, buddy?”

>>just a minute or two.<<

“Then they couldn’t have done too much.” It’s easy to identify what’s out of place, once he sees it. A little black box has been attached to the underside of the hull, sneakily out of the way.

He points it out to K1. “What do you think? Tracker?” He always talks to the droid when debugging the ship, both for the supplemental technical knowledge and the logical process of sounding out the problem aloud.

>>probably.<<

“It’s blinking. So - “

>>the ship’s not supplying it any power.<<

“Battery powered. Think it’ll keep transmitting when I pull it off?”

>>dunno.<<

“Then let’s leave it for now. Remind me to take it off before we go, though.”

>>yeah.<<

He straightens up and offers Namjoon what he hopes is a reassuring look. “It shouldn’t be a problem,” he says, inputting the combination to unlock the little storage compartment in the ship’s underside. “We’ll be long gone before they realize their tracker isn’t tracking us.”

“Great.”

Since there’s usually enough room in the cockpit for both him and his possessions, the storage compartment is stocked with stuff he doesn’t tend to use. There are some spare parts down here, and some unopened emergency supplies: tarpaulin, a not inexpensive atmospheric water generator, rations. Some of this will have to go.

He climbs up to the top hatch, trying to be graceful because Namjoon is watching. Opening the hatch, he grimaces at the sight of all the stuff he has shoved behind the seat. He jumps down and starts rummaging; a few things, like the helmet that goes with the targeting system, should stay; he refuses to part with the woven blanket he was gifted by a G’aav’aar’oonian nun, so he drapes it over the seat; he begins gathering the plentiful snacks in his arms to remove.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Yeah.” Jungkook peers out, seeing Namjoon approach closer, and dangles a couple of containers of snacks down the side. “Will you put these on the ground somewhere?”

He continues to pass stuff to Namjoon until the space behind the seat is cleared out. “All of that can be thrown away,” he calls. “I’m going to make some more adjustments, so it’ll be a few minutes.”

“Okay.” Out of the window Jungkook glimpses Namjoon retreating with a heaping armful of extraneous items; he then redirects his attention to the seating situation. He’s previously considered, in a theoretical sense, how he could fit two people in here and do it relatively safely, so he does have a plan, and hopefully it will work. He finds the right wrench among the tools he keeps immediately handy under the seat, then uses the wrench to unbolt the seat from where it’s affixed to the sliding track on the floor. He pushes the seat back to the maximum position from the conn, bolts it back down, and tests the sturdiness with a vigorous back-and-forth shake.

Satisfied with the quality of his work, he tosses the deep blue blanket over one shoulder and climbs back down to ground level. He’s finished pulling out about half of the contents of the storage compartment when Namjoon returns, now empty-handed.

“What can I do now?” he asks.

“I’m going to put our bags in here, if that’s okay?” Jungkook holds out a hand for Namjoon's satchel, which Namjoon gives him. “And then I need you to, uh, climb up and buckle yourself in. And I’ll be there in a second.”

Namjoon eyes the rungs leading up to the top hatch appraisingly, as if gauging the feasibility of Jungkook's instructions. “Okay, I’ll try.”

Jungkook turns back to the storage, watching Namjoon safely ascend out of the corner of his eye. A few moments after he disappears into the cockpit, his voice issues from above. “Jungkook? There’s only one seat.”

“Yeah,” Jungkook calls. “It’s yours.” He shoves his bag in next to the other stuff. He’ll be mortified if Namjoon rejects the seating arrangement he has planned. It will honestly be uncomfortable either way, but the degree to which Namjoon plays along is going to really determine the level of terrible.

“But there’s only one safety belt,” Namjoon points out.

“Um, yeah. I was thinking you could just hold onto me if we run into a rough patch? Unless you don’t want to…”

Namjoon's head pops out of the top and casts a frowning gaze downward. “I don’t want you to compromise your safety on my behalf. I’m the one hitching a ride on your ship.”

>>should i tell master namjoon that he’s your hero and you would die for him?<< K1 chirps brightly.

Jungkook knocks the droid’s side with his foot. “They say it should be safe for normal flying conditions,” he says, “and I agree.”

Namjoon glances once between Jungkook and K1 before nodding. “Okay. I trust you.” Jungkook nods back, and Namjoon's head disappears once again down the hatch.

“I’ll take out the tracker,” Jungkook mutters to K1. “You load yourself up. We’ll get out of here before they realize something’s wrong.”

>>ideally,<< K1 adds. They scoot off under the ship, and Jungkook walks around to the back, bending over to grip the little freeloading black box, feeling around the sides and front for any release mechanism, and not finding one. No option but to rip it off – so that’s what he does, wincing when he hears the cheap material cracking under his fingers. The damage isn’t that bad, but he scowls when he sees that the adhesive mechanism was some kind of staple that left little holes in the ship’s hull.

Those bastards. It’s one thing to try to track his location, but the disregard for his property somehow seems like the more offensive slight.

Oh, well. The damage is just cosmetic, and he can fix it later. He puts the tracker on the floor, checks the seal on the storage compartment one last time, and climbs up to the top hatch.

Namjoon looks up at him and waves with a little smile. “Do you think I’ve connected it right?” he asks. Namjoon has, it seems, belted himself in pretty well, and he’s squished himself back in the seat to give Jungkook ample room, which Jungkook appreciates. He jumps down into the cockpit carefully to avoid stepping on Namjoon or his clothes, and he leans down facing Namjoon to give the strap above his shoulder a quick tug.

“It looks perfect,” he says, reaching back up on tiptoe to pull the top hatch closed and seal it. “We’re good to go, now.” At that point, he can’t avoid it any longer – he sits, perching lightly on the edge of the seat, not touching even any part of Namjoon's robes; knees pressing into the front console, uncomfortable but tolerable.

“Okay, scoot back a little.” Namjoon tugs on the back of his shirt. “I’m supposed to be keeping you from flying around.”

“Right. Sorry.” Jungkook obediently slides back, not too much, until he feels Namjoon's  arms slip around his torso. He doesn’t look down. He barely even breathes.

>>are you sure this is the safer way?<< K1 taunts. Ignoring them, Jungkook turns on the main power, starting the engine.

Ding!

>>there’s an urgent message from master typhe,<< K1 says, and Jungkook sighs, because of course he would get a message from his mentor-slash-boss at the exact moment he didn’t have the time or brain power to deal with it.

“Computer, read it aloud, please?” Jungkook asks, pulling out of the parking spot.

“Jungkook,” the central computer reads out, “Please tell me why a bounty hunter showed up at the front office today looking for your ship. What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into? -Typhe.”

The computer goes silent. Jungkook frowns ahead at the slowly approaching end of the taxiway.

“A… bounty hunter?” Namjoon says. “Looking for this ship?”

“Um. I guess? I don’t know why she would lie about that.”

Namjoon's arms tighten around his waist. “Didn’t you say your ship was attacked on the way here?”

Jungkook inhales sharply. He’d almost forgotten about that, having focused on the distressing meeting with Hamidou. “But who would have…”

“Hamidou would have,” Namjoon says, angry, close to Jungkook's ear. “I swear he seemed surprised that you returned, but I explained it away as anything else. I think he wanted you to first kill Yoongi, and then have your own accidental, mysterious death. But you didn’t do either, which is kind of amazing.”

“Oh,” Jungkook says, face heading up at the complimentary words.

>>if we leave like this, we’ll be dead in minutes!<< K1 interjects. >>i’m not flying in a ship that’s being hunted down!<<

“K1 is right,” Jungkook says, and he brings the ship to a stop before the intersection at the end of the hall. “It’s not safe to fly in this.”

“We don’t have any other ship, though, right?”

“Yeah. We either fly in this, and risk being blown out of the sky, or we stay and I get arrested, which is… less risky.”

“I still don’t like that. There’ll be consequences for all of us if we stay, and maybe even for Yoongi, too. Is there any way to disguise the ship’s identity?”

“There are things we can do,” Jungkook muses. “It’s impossible to know whether it would be enough, though.”

>>if you’re talking about tampering with the ship id, it’s also illegal.<<

“Yeah. Changing the ID to a number you don’t have registered is illegal, and it’s usually not even possible, but since we built our own transmitter… we could do it.”

“I feel like forgery is a pretty inconsequential crime compared to what we’re escaping from. And if we change that, what else could identify us?”

Jungkook racks his brain. “Shape? Engine signature? Mass? Mass is already going to be a bit different.”

“I don’t want to pressure you into an unwise decision,” Namjoon says, placing a hand on Jungkook's shoulder. “But I think we should make the illegal switch and take our chances. It sounds like that could be enough.”

“No, you’re right. I agree.” Jungkook already has the ship moving again, turning towards the exit of the hangar. “K1, as soon as we leave headquarters, I want you to override the ID transmitter with a random unregistered number. Is that okay with you?”

>>i’ll do it. just don’t get us killed.<<

At the checkpoint to leave the hangar, Jungkook presents his documents and they’re allowed to leave without issue. As soon as they’re out, K1 switches their identification information, and Jungkook navigates through the crowded suborbital skies of Coruscant trying to draw as little attention to their ship as possible. Namjoon's arms stay wrapped securely around his midsection throughout, something that he eventually manages to ignore, although he does feel the need to constantly narrate everything he’s doing in order to prevent an awkward silence. Finally leaving Coruscant’s busy atmosphere, they navigate to the closest safe light speed departure point, calculate the coordinates, and make the jump.

Jungkook massages his forehead with the back of his hand. The post-jump disorientation is particularly bad, probably because his hyperdrive has to carry more mass than usual.

“Are you okay?” Namjoon asks, overly gently, and Jungkook straightens up.

“Yeah. I’m good. Just a bit nauseous.”

“You said we’d be in light speed for twenty minutes, right?”

Jungkook nods. “Mhm.”

Now that there’s nothing happening but waiting it isn’t possible to keep up a steady stream of narration anymore. Jungkook doesn’t know what to do besides sit still, grip the controls, and wait. But Namjoon only allows this to continue for a few moments.

“You know, if Yoongi were here, he would tell you to relax. Especially if you feel unwell.” Namjoon says, and he tries to tug Jungkook backwards to show what he means. “You’re so tense.”

Jungkook gives in, figuring that it’s fine to give up whatever keeping-respectful-distance game he’s been playing if it’s on the other’s initiative. He slouches back, half against Namjoon's chest and arm, half against the frame of the ship. It does help, a bit, with the nausea. He focuses on that and allows himself to feel comfortable.

“How is he living, there?” Namjoon asks, his chest vibrating. “Yoongi, I mean. On that planet.”

“Yeah. Actually, he seemed to be doing really well. He has a house – “

“A house?”

“Yeah, in this cave system, in the middle of this… tundra, I guess? It’s remote, but he has some way of going to the nearest town to pick up things he needs.”

“That’s good…”

“He already knows which local vegetables are his favorites,” Jungkook continues. “He befriended one of the cave creatures, too.”

“So you’d say he’s settling in… pretty enthusiastically?”

Jungkook got the sense that it would be a bad thing, if Yoongi were to move on too easily. “There just aren’t that many things to do out there,” he points out.

“Ah, that’s true. I’m glad, if he’s doing well. He should be doing well.” A pause. “One thing that really concerns me is the fact that you were able to track him down in the first place. But that’s something we can think about more after we arrive. Right?”

Jungkook doesn’t respond, figuring the question is rhetorical, but Namjoon nudges him and repeats himself: “Right? Is there an immediate danger of them tracking Yoongi's location in the next few days or so? Or are we okay for now?”

“No, you’re right. It took me a couple weeks to find him, and that’s when the leads were fresher, and my wayfinding force-sense is, um, pretty helpful.” He mentions his affinity a little bashfully, not wanting to come across like he’s bragging, but still providing the information that might be useful.

>>wow, you’re so cool and impressive,<< K1 mocks.

“We’re about halfway there,” Jungkook points out, as if that’s what K1 had said. “I’m sorry if this is kind of boring.”

“Oh, no, this journey has been the opposite of boring. But I have to ask, how do you usually pass the time in hyperspace?” Namjoon asks. “If you’re not getting bounty-hunted and arrested and tracked down by evil forces.”

>>tell him about how you space out the whole time and just look out the window.<<

“I just fiddle with stuff.” Jungkook chooses to omit his most boring habits. “The computer has some rudimentary games on it, and I also have some physical puzzle-type things.” He extracts himself from his comfortable position, bending over to fish out the 3D combination puzzle he didn’t pack into the lower storage. “Have you ever tried one of these?”

“I haven’t.” Namjoon reaches for it, so Jungkook turns it over to him, and he examines it from all its multicolored sides.

“It’s a low-tech way to spend the time,” Jungkook explains, turning so he’s basically sitting sideways across the front of the seat. “You’re supposed to, like, get the same colors onto the same sides.”

Namjoon gives the puzzle some cursory twists. “I assume there’s a method to it?”

“I think there is, yeah. I haven’t taken the time to study it yet, though…” The only time he’s ever solved the thing was once when he was well and truly zoned out, not paying attention to what he was doing with his hands, and the force must have decided to grant him a small victory that day, because he’d finished it before he’d realized what he was doing.

Namjoon continues to fiddle with the puzzle, unsuccessfully, until K1 says they’re about to leave hyperspace. At that point, the puzzle is discarded so Namjoon can once again hold Jungkook securely in place. The complete the jump, and Jungkook forces down his nausea in order to do a meticulous sensor sweep of the surrounding area for any ships that even remotely match the ones that attacked the previous day. It’s tense, and for the most part silent, Jungkook only speaking to exchange remarks with K1 on the sensor readings.

Before he knows it, though, they’ve entered the orbital range of Keiter 03, and they’re still in once piece. While it’s still possible that enemies could be lurking, Jungkook feels that he should be able to let his guard down a little, especially since ever-vigilant K1 will still be keeping watch.

However, having made it this far, no longer preoccupied with dodging arrest and avoiding getting blown to bits, certain other considerations come to mind, things he probably should have asked about before, but hadn’t thought to.

“Will you guys really be comfortable with me staying with you?” Jungkook wonders aloud.

“Why wouldn’t we be?”

“It feels like… you and Yoongi might want to be extra cautious about who to trust in this situation. Is it really smart to choose to live with a stranger?”

“How would you not be trustworthy? I appreciate your concern, but I’m not sure what the risk is,” Namjoon reasons. “On a micro-level, yes, if more people are involved there’s a greater possibility of one of us making a mistake that puts us in danger, but I think that consideration is outweighed by the potential benefits. And on a macro-level, do I think you’re going to, what, dramatically betray us to the authorities or something?” Jungkook feels more than he hears Namjoon laugh. “I guess that’s a possibility? I’d like to think it wouldn’t happen.”

Namjoon's reasoning makes sense, and it reassures Jungkook somewhat. “But do you think Yoongi will feel the same way? I don’t want to make him uncomfortable either.”

“Well, I can’t speak for him, but I like to think I know him very well. Unless I’ve managed to get a totally inaccurate impression of your interactions with him, I don’t expect that he’ll have a problem. But, of course, you can bring it up with him if you really want.” Namjoon pauses for a second. “You don’t have some hesitation about staying with us, do you? I know I kind of pressured you into coming with me –“

“No, no!” Jungkook breaks in to reassure him. “You really didn’t. And I don’t. Um, have any hesitations, I mean.” It’s an oversimplification, because of course he’s concerned about such a big change happening to his life so suddenly, but he wouldn’t call it a lie.

“Okay. Let me know if anything comes up, though. It’s better to get these things out in the open and solved early on before they build into real problems, you know?”

Jungkook hums in agreement, and they lapse once again into quietness, Jungkook focusing his attention on navigating through the atmosphere of Keiter 03. This section of the flight isn’t as easy as just traveling to Yoongi's coordinates, though; out of an abundance of caution, Jungkook and K1 do their best to hide the ship from any local tracking, (illegally) turning off their identification transmitter and choosing the route that is experiencing the weirdest weather patterns.

It doesn’t take too long, though, before they’re slowly flying over the cliffside in which Yoongi's cave is embedded, hovering to a halt above the exact location. Jungkook is considering how to land the ship in the shadow of the cliff so it’s invisible to overhead-passing craft when Namjoon gasps, as if surprised.

“What? What happened?” Jungkook demands, fearing the worst.

“It’s Yoongi – his presence, I can feel it,” Namjoon explains, voice soft. “It’s so strong here.”

And here Jungkook had been thinking Namjoon had spotted Yoongi's  dead body or something. “Oh, that’s good. His home is just through this opening.” He brings the ship to a halt right in front of the mouth of the cave, quickly turning off the engine and opening the top hatch. He has a feeling that Namjoon would prefer to see his friend as soon as possible.

“I can get our bags and bring them in,” he offers as he lifts himself out of the hatch. “If you want to go on ahead.”

Namjoon barely acknowledges what he said, scrambling out of the ship as soon as the way is clear, almost falling down the ladder in his haste to get down. Jungkook chuckles and opens up the bottom storage hatch, hearing Namjoon's crunching footsteps travel into the cave.

The next thing he hears is the opening of a door, the twinkling of wind chimes, and a hoarse cry of “Joon!?” that definitely comes from Yoongi. If Namjoon sensed his friend’s presence, Yoongi must have done the same, and the thought of it is strangely heartwarming. Jungkook smiles to himself and slings both bags, Namjoon's and his own, over his shoulder and re-closes the hatch.

“Yoongi! I’m here,” Namjoon replies. “I’m sorry it took me so long.”

As he carries the bag to the mouth of the cave, Jungkook thinks that all the trouble and danger of the last day and a half must have been worth it to bring Namjoon and Yoongi back together. And then he freezes.

Because, standing in the middle of the cavern, silhouette starkly outlined by the light falling from the open doorway, Yoongi has his hands pressed to both sides of Namjoon's face, pulling him down and kissing him.

Chapter Text

Jungkook takes one step back, and then another, and another, until, with a bang, he runs into K1.

“There’s someone else here, isn’t there?” he hears Yoongi say.

“I met Jungkook. We flew here together.”

With a bit of effort, Jungkook pushes what he just saw into the back corner of his mind, temporarily, just so he can get through these next few conversations. He takes Namjoon’s remark as his cue to reveal himself, walking back the way he’d just retreated from, fixing on a friendly smile.

“Hey, Yoongi,” he says. “Long time, no see, right?”

Yoongi's cheeks are pink, his smile wide. “Jungkook! I’m so glad to see you in one piece.” Yoongi runs forward and Jungkook suddenly has an armful of small Jedi, Yoongi hugging him tightly. “Thank you for bringing this idiot with you.”

Jungkook reciprocates the hug, but quickly lets go. “Really, he was the one who brought me along. I’m the one who should be grateful.” He forces out a laugh that feels awkward, too awkward, and Yoongi turns around.

“In, everyone, come in!” Yoongi rushes back to Namjoon, grabbing his hand and pulling him into the threshold. Jungkook follows behind, his nausea returning, and he’s not thinking about it so he doesn’t know why he feels sick to his stomach, but he does and he thinks it’s not going to get better while he stays in the same room as these two.

Yoongi leads them (although K1 stays in the foyer) into the kitchen. “I want to hear everything that happened,” he says, and reaches for Namjoon's bag, Jungkook letting him take it. But when he moves to take Jungkook's bag, too, he shakes his head.

“Actually, I’m really… tired. And I’m not feeling too well, um.” Jungkook glances back and forth between them, Namjoon sitting and Yoongi standing, both wearing identically concerned expressions. Great, now he’s worried them.

“You should go back into one of the bedrooms and rest,” Yoongi says, indicating the hallway branching off from the kitchen. “The two rooms at the end are free. Are you hungry? I can – “

“No, no, I’m fine!” Jungkook steps sideways towards the hall. “I just – need to sleep off the hyperspace – for a bit. Thank you!”

Jungkook turns and all but runs down the hallway, Yoongi shouting after him – “Let me know if you need anything!” – which he hears as he randomly chooses the door on the left and dashes into it, exhaling once it’s shut behind him.

It’s dim, but a little lamp flickers on in the corner as he walks in. He doesn’t really bother to take in the details of the room – he got a bit of that during Yoongi's tour not long ago -  just sees enough to shrug his bag and his outer layer onto a chair near the door before sitting on the bed.

Yoongi and Namjoon are not friends. He thought that they were friends – best friends – but they’re actually more than friends. And is there anything wrong with that? Jedi doctrine prohibits romantic “attachment” to others, but does Jungkook agree with that? No, of course not. The fact that he’s been told to swear off interpersonal relationships – reject the possibility of any kind of love besides impersonal, universal charity – at a very young age does bother him, even though he doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. He wants to fall in love, to love others, to have people to call his – so, no, it would be wrong for him to resent that Yoongi and Namjoon have achieved that for themselves.

That isn’t the reason he feels like this, then.

Feels like this. How does he feel? He grabs a decorative pillow from the head of the bed and hugs it to his chest, hanging his head. He’s surprised – that’s easy enough to identify. He’s been suddenly confronted by something unexpected. But there is more to it than just shock. It’s more like… he feels anxious. That’s where the nausea is coming from. And it’s also… guilt?

It’s like this – he was already worried about living with two Jedi Masters who are also best friends, afraid of being the third guy who was just in the way, making the situation awkward and not contributing anything. Namjoon had managed to assuage those fears on the way to the planet. But now, he sees that not only were his concerns well-founded, but it’s also worse than he originally thought. He’s not just another guy they have to socialize with now – he feels like he’s getting in the way of their perfect reunion. Like his presence is corrupting the beautiful fairytale that is Yoongi and Namjoon.

At least he got to be the one who made their reunion possible. But as soon as he recalls his journey to Keiter 03 with Namjoon, he falls onto his back, hit with another overwhelming wave of guilt. Oh, stars, his behavior had been inexcusable. How had he thought it was okay for them to sit so… closely together, like that? How could he have dared to entertain his little, childish infatuation with Namjoon in those moments, when Namjoon was doing him a favor, just trying to help him escape an unfair arrest?

Jungkook groans. He doesn’t deserve to stay here, does he? And yet Yoongi and Namjoon are too kind to ever kick him out. He’ll have to take matters into his own hands. It’s still possible to leave. He can’t go back to Coruscant, and he can’t go back to G’aav’aar’oon, but that’s okay… he can change the registration of his ship… stock up on fuel and supplies… get out into the emptiness of open space… settle down somewhere in the less civilized part of the galaxy…

But that can be figured out later. He drifts into an uneasy sleep imagining his future life in the Outer Rim.

Sometime later he wakes up thirsty and disoriented. He grabs the last set of clean clothes out of his bag before stumbling down the hall to the washroom to freshen up a bit. He then wanders to the kitchen. He’s resigned himself to running into the other two there, but the sound of laughter wafts into the hall from under the door to Yoongi's bedroom – probably Namjoon's too now – and he’s relieved he won’t have to face them just yet, although he appreciates that they sound happy from the other room.

All he means to do in the kitchen is refill his container of filtered water, but he’s confronted with a plate of food on the table and a note next to it. ‘Kook – ‘ it reads, ‘we saved this for you. Please eat!’ The kindness isn’t surprising. Being thought of and cared for is a warm feeling and he tries not to get too swept away by it – after all, he’s not planning on staying here for much longer.

He takes the plate back to his room in order to mope some more by himself. The room he chose is a large one, brightly decorated in yellows and blues to compensate for the lack of natural light. He turns on the lights and settles down in the little sitting area opposite the door, consisting of an antique-looking wicker sofa and chairs – white with blue cushions – and a matching, low, glass-topped table.

Yoongi's made some kind of delicious vegetable curry over what must be a local grain, and he feels better after eating. Less pessimistic. Fleeing to the Outer Rim isn’t going to be miserable at all! Surely he’ll meet a lot of kind and interesting people. His Jedi training will let him survive and his mechanical skills will earn him money… yeah! It’s going to be great.

He also takes the time to apply for a new registration for his ship. Since there seems to be a bounty on his head specifically, and there’s no time to set up some kind of identity-concealing shell organization, he lists K1 as the legal owner and the garage at Jedi Headquarters on Coruscant as their permanent address. From what he’s heard, registrations for mundane, personal-use ships are usually granted without question as long as the owner’s identity is real and the fee is paid.

He spends more time figuring out how to route his application and payment through a local Coruscant network than he spends filling out the form itself, but he gets it done quickly enough that he’s actually kind of proud of himself. He only has a few seconds for self-congratulation, though, before there’s a knock on his door.

“Hi?”

“Hey, Kook, it’s me,” Yoongi calls. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah.”

The door opens, and Yoongi steps inside, glancing at the bed before noticing Jungkook sitting by the table and smiling. “You’re awake,” Yoongi notes.

“Mm. I rested and felt a lot better.” It’s true; now that he’s worked through his feelings and come up with a plan of action, most of his guilty-anxious nausea has dissipated.

Instead of joining Jungkook on the couch, Yoongi opts to perch on the edge of the table, facing him diagonally. “I’m glad to hear that.”

“Thank you for the meal,” Jungkook continues, seeing Yoongi notice the empty plate. “It was really good. And, I was just – “ Jungkook gestures at the panel of his comlink still displaying a message about a completed transaction. “I was applying for a new registration for my ship.”

“Yeah, I just heard about the trouble you ran into after you left,” Yoongi says. “I’m sorry about that… I know what Hamidou is like, so I shouldn’t have let you go without checking around forums where bounties are posted, at least.”

“Oh, no, it’s not your fault! Neither of us had any way of knowing, suspecting… And we got through it anyway, so, no harm done.” Jungkook smiles. “And now we’ll know to do that next time.”

“Right.” After a small pause, Yoongi's smile fades, and a little frown appears on his forehead. “Well, I came to check how you were doing, but there was something else I wanted to talk to you about, too. Well, we wanted to. But. We’ve never done this before, and it’s kind of… difficult.”

Maybe, Jungkook considers, they aren’t so overly kind that they wouldn’t kick him out. It would probably make leaving cleaner and easier, though, so he ought to brace himself for what’s coming and be grateful.

“I haven’t been totally transparent with you regarding the nature of Namjoon's and my relationship.” Yoongi's eye contact falters. “We’re not just friends. We’re actually together – I mean, romantically. Together.”

Jungkook still isn’t sure where this is going. “Oh,” is all he can manage to say.

Yoongi looks back up at him, wide-eyed, frightened almost. “I’m really sorry for withholding this from you!” he says quickly. “I know it’s not what you signed up for, but we really hope it’s not a dealbreaker and that you can overlook it and continue working with us, and –“

“No, no! Yoongi – “ Jungkook grabs the hands of the other Jedi in his own, interrupting the painful, unnecessary self-denunciation. “I don’t think it’s a dealbreaker or anything like that! I think it’s kind of beautiful, actually.”

“You do?” Yoongi tilts his head to the side a little, and Jungkook responds with a vigorous nod.

“I don’t have any problem with it.”

“Ah, well.” Yoongi's posture is visibly relaxing, and finally he smiles and pushes his fingers through his hair, removing them from Jungkook's grip. “We were afraid you might go back and turn us in.”

“Oh, stars, no!” Jungkook exclaims, jumping in his seat. “I would never!”

“You seemed to want Hamidou to face justice for betraying the values of the Order, so we just thought there was a possibility – “

“Hamidou had people killed! That’s what I’m more concerned about,” Jungkook says. “I don’t always… how do I say it? I don’t think the teachings of the Order are infallible.”

“That’s good to hear,” Yoongi says, twisting around to look back at the doorway, where Namjoon is standing, peeking in at the conversation. Namjoon waves, and Jungkook blushes a little, wondering how long he’s been there. “Because neither do we.”

If Yoongi isn’t going to kick him out – which, don’t get him wrong, is a relief – then these comfortable feelings of camaraderie are just going to make his life more difficult later.

“Again, I’m sorry for not telling you this sooner. But, anyway,” Yoongi continues, bringing his hands decisively down on his knees, “I’m glad we got that sorted out. There’s more we have to talk about, but it’s pretty late, so Joon and I were just about to get some sleep.” Jungkook nods, watching Yoongi stand and shuffle out from the seating area. “You’re welcome to all the stuff in the house, of course. This is a distinguished ancient Jedi Commune, after all.”

“Right. Of course. And, thank you,” Jungkook says. “For telling me, and… yeah.”

“Yeah.” Namjoon tosses his arms around Yoongi's shoulders from behind once the shorter Jedi reaches the door. “See you in the morning!”

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

Eight hours later, the three of them have settled in the living room between the kitchen and foyer, Jungkook and Namjoon occupying opposite ends of the low couch against the wall, Yoongi in an overstuffed armchair across from them. Jungkook has Holly lying across his lap, and he’s absently scratching behind its little ears. Yoongi and Namjoon have just woken up and have their hands wrapped around hot tea in mismatched mugs – Namjoon's, plain blue with a rectangular handle; Yoongi's, reading ‘Best Grandma Ever’ in Galactic Basic. Jungkook, too, slept for a few more hours, but he also washed the dishes, did his laundry, told K1 about his plans, and re-parked the ship until he was satisfied with its level of concealment, getting out his emergency tarpaulin and rigging it from the cliff face to the ground as a sort of wall to protect the ship from both the weather and prying eyes seeking glints of metal or glass.

“The most pressing issue right now is to avoid being found.” Opening the discussion, Yoongi levitates his mug towards a side table and down on a ceramic coaster next to a stack of tattered detective novels. “Let’s assess the level of risk and then develop a plan of action if one is necessary.”

“I agree,” Namjoon says. “We should go through all the possible ways we could be tracked down. We talked about this a little on the way here, but Jungkook said it took him several weeks to track down your original route, right?”

“Right,” Jungkook confirms. “For every stop you made along the way, I had to ask around for anybody who had seen you and hadn’t been mind-tricked to forget, and then piece together the clues to figure out which ship you had taken to your next destination. It was pretty difficult.”

“But not impossible,” Yoongi says.

“Not impossible. And I… I didn’t really think I had to cover my tracks when I was trying to find you. It would probably be easier for them to reconstruct my route, trying to find you, than to reconstruct yours like I did. It would still be difficult…”

“How long?” Namjoon's frowning. “How long do you think it would take a team of investigators?”

“Ah… a week, at least?”

“I think we’ll have to do something about that,” Yoongi says. “Before a week passes we should break that chain of remembrance in at least one location.”

“What do you mean by that, exactly?” Jungkook asks, although he’s embarrassed that he doesn’t immediately understand. “’Break the chain of remembrance?’”

“We have to descend on one or two particular space stations and make everyone forget we were ever there. ‘We’ probably means you and Joon, since I’m a more publicly wanted person at this point.”

“Oh, okay.” It’s a common Jedi tactic but the thought of performing mind tricks on someone is surprisingly uncomfortable. Especially after his visit with Hamidou yesterday. (Yesterday? Two days ago? He’s lost track.) “I understand.”

“That sounds doable if we pick out a smaller station,” Namjoon says. “And we should also hit the most local station, too.”

“I think the new registration for the ship will be granted in the next two or three days. We should wait for that before we go, since we won’t be allowed to dock at a space station without legitimate identification.” So, as he says it he calculates that he has to stay at least until then – for transportation’s sake. “And, related to that. The guys who attacked me on the way out of the Keiter system.” Jungkook glances back and forth between the other two, Namjoon staring seriously at his tea, Yoongi wearing a cute but intimidating frown of concentration. “They’re the ones who have the best idea of where we are, and I don’t really know what we can do about it.”

“Yeah.” Yoongi rests his cheek against his palm, leaning against the armrest. “That’s pretty concerning.”

“We didn’t leave any traces when we left Coruscant together, right?” Namjoon asks, and Jungkook nods in confirmation.

“Since we just came here directly through hyperspace, yeah.”

“That’s something,” Yoongi says. “And you’re right that there’s not much we can do about the bounty hunter situation. But, if we’re thinking from the hunter’s perspective, I mean, hypothetically…” Yoongi stretches out his hands in front of him, flexing his fingers. “I think they’re incentivized to keep the information to themselves. They don’t want anyone else collecting their bounty, right?”

“In that case, we’ll have to be on the lookout for both Jedi Council minions and random guys with blasters?”

Yoongi smirks teasingly at Namjoon's comment. “What, you don’t think we can take on some random guys with blasters?”

“I don’t really want to find out, Yoongi…”

“If it helps, I think they only have information specifically about the ship,” Jungkook points out. “We might get attacked on our way into our out of the star system, but I don’t think they’re going to be able to find us all the way out here.”

“Okay then.” Yoongi picks up his mug by hand and raises it in the direction of the sofa. “We’ll wait for the new registration to come in, and then you two can visit a space station or two to perform some memory wipes, being extra careful of bounty hunters coming and going. Sounds like a plan.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Namjoon echoes. Jungkook hums his agreement.

Chapter Text

For the next two days they stick to that plan, waiting around for the new registration. Jungkook sticks to his own, personal plan as well: to be as unobtrusive as possible. He doesn’t want to seem like he’s avoiding Namjoon and Yoongi because he doesn’t enjoy their company or something like that, so he says he has work to do in order to prepare the ship for the re-registration and the journey ahead.

Since he has to somehow spend the whole day in and around the ship for his excuse to hold up, he uses the opportunity to totally revamp the seating arrangement in the cockpit. He still feels terrifically guilty about the way he’d made Namjoon fly with him last time, so this is his chance to put that to rights, or rather to not compound that shame even further.

By the time the new identification is granted on the morning of the third day, Jungkook has successfully transformed the comfortable one-seater cockpit into a half-as-comfortable two-person vehicle, half of the original pilot’s seat sawed off and reallocated to the second person’s spot on the floor. With the help of a sewing machine he found in a closet and the previous homeowner’s old clothes, Jungkook also managed to reupholster the seat cushions and hang his essential tools from the ceiling in colorfully patterned pouches. All in all, he thinks, it’s a job well done.

“You’ve been pretty busy, haven’t you?” Namjoon remarks as he drops down into the body of the ship, midmorning of the day the registration arrives. “If I made you uncomfortable in some way the last time we flew…”

“It’s for safety!” Jungkook interrupts. “If we get into trouble it’ll be way safer like this. So, yeah. I hope it’s not too uncomfortable.”

>>i won’t point out how you could have added extra seatbelts to the previous setup if safety was the main objective,<< K1 graciously adds. >>because that would just be embarrassing.<<

“Yeah, buddy, greatly appreciated.” Jungkook smacks K1’s pink dome twice before hopping in after Namjoon.

“I like the colors.” Namjoon's attention is divided between the buckles he’s fastening and the new additions to the space. “Did you already have all these fabrics?”

“Nah.” Jungkook closes the hatch, buckles up, and starts the engine. “I found these in the house. I’m pretty sure they’re all grandma pajamas.”

“Grandma had good taste. I love these prints.”

They lift off. Now that they’ve clearly articulated and evaluated their various risks, the paranoid impulse to take overly many precautionary steps has lessened. So there’s no flying circuitously through storm clouds this time – Jungkook immediately heads for the upper atmosphere. Still, it’s quiet and a bit tense while they fly through the Keiter solar system, still expecting to be attacked at any second despite the new ID they’re broadcasting. Jungkook knows it’s pathetic but he misses the awkward comfort of Namjoon's arms acting as his seatbelt.

Namjoon picks up the conversation again once they’ve entered hyperspace. “Is this what you’ve been up to for the last two days? This rearrangement stuff?”

“Well, basically. The safety stuff was done by the first day so the second day I got carried away by the fabric stuff.” Jungkook slumps in his chair, fighting off the hyperjump nausea. “Um, what have you been up to? I hope the wait hasn’t been too boring.”

“No, actually, I’ve found some pretty interesting ways to pass the time. I’ve been going through the library left behind by the previous owner,” Namjoon says, voice animated as if this is a particularly interesting topic. “There’s a mix of books and films in both Basic and in Ketoran, which is the language spoken on Keiter 02, the first planet in the Keiter system to be inhabited. I was pleasantly surprised to find two editions of the same novel, one in each language. So, I’ve been looking at them side by side trying to see if I can figure out any Ketoran sentences.”

Jungkook listens and lets Namjoon's voice wash over him, a situation eerily reminiscent of other hyperspace trips where he’s played Namjoon's audio documents in the background. Now the experience is interactive. “What’s it about?”

“It’s historical fiction set during the terraforming of Keiter 03. That’s another aspect of the collection that’s very interesting to me: there are a lot of local interest works on the shelves. Just by using the materials in that house you could get a fairly good picture of the history of the star system.”

Jungkook is silent, and Namjoon continues after a moment. “I’m not saying that I’m fully content just sitting in the living room all day trying to teach myself Ketoran, though, you know? It’s just the best way I’ve come up with to pass the time, like someone else might throw themselves into Keiter’s vegetable culture, and another person might start reupholstering all of their personal property.”

Jungkook chuckles. “That’s true.”

“I just can’t help but think we could all benefit from, well, hanging out and talking,” Namjoon says. “Not all the time, but every day at least.”

“Maybe.”

“I guess I’m saying that if you felt inclined to come and socialize with us, then I would welcome it,” Namjoon concludes. “You don’t have to disappear all the time if you don’t want to.”

Jungkook files that invitation away to analyze later and, for now, deflects, noting that there was a lot of stuff he needed to work on. Namjoon goes back to talking about what he’s learned of Keiter system history, and before long they’ve arrived at the target location, Yendina Station.

Yendina is the smallest of the intermediate space stations along Yoongi's route from Coruscant to Keiter 03, and that makes it the easiest link in the chain to sever. They’ll go in and by the time they leave there should be no trace Yoongi or Jungkook were ever there: no one should remember them, and there should be no records for Jungkook's ship in the arrivals data.

Namjoon accepted Jungkook's aversion to performing mind tricks without question – for which he’s extremely grateful; he’s not sure whether he wants to talk about why he feels this way yet – so Namjoon's taken that task upon himself, and Jungkook, meanwhile, is to lead them around and do the computer work.

They dock without problem, leaving K1 behind with the ship. Yendina Station has only a few dozen docks, most of them empty. A sweep through the front offices and antiquated public amenities takes about two hours. They make a good team. The force leads Jungkook to the next, for lack of a better word, victim; Namjoon quietly convinces them they’ve never seen the two Jedi in question; and the process repeats. After that, a quick detour into the back offices of the station, where Namjoon convinces the aides to let them into the data system, Jungkook deletes an arrival and a departure entry from several weeks ago, and they get out without a trace.

At Keiter Station, they do the whole thing all over again. Because the station is larger, and because they’re both getting tired, their sweep is less thorough. Jungkook tries to remember and target specific individuals he interviewed about Yoongi's location, but it still takes another two hours to get through it all.

More than once, Jungkook finds himself wishing he was back ‘home’ at Yoongi's cave and has to correct himself. It’s just his current base of operations, and probably not for much longer. That’s all it is. That’s all.

They don’t talk much either on the way back to the Keiter system or flying from Keiter Station to Keiter 03. Even without some kind of semi-traumatic event associated with meddling in the minds of others, the scale of what they’ve done, the number of people who they’ve made to forget things, is by itself enough to warrant serious contemplation. Jungkook is unsettled just from witnessing it; Namjoon's role, that of reaching in and taking things out, was the far more intimate one. Currently, as they soar over the Ketoran tundra, Namjoon's spaced out, looking into the wall of the ship, and doesn’t seem to notice Jungkook turning around to glance at him a couple times.

“Um, Namjoon?”

Namjoon blinks and looks up at him.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Mm, mhm, yeah,” Namjoon answers. “There’s just a lot to think about.”

Jungkook turns his attention back to the sky.

“I really hope…” Namjoon starts, pausing. “I really hope you don’t think any less of me.”

“What?” Jungkook glances back again. “Why would I…”

“I don’t know? I just have this feeling of… wrongness. I figured you might feel it too.”

“I do,” Jungkook admits. “But I don’t think it’s your fault.”

“Sure, but at the same time, my impression – forgive me for jumping to conclusions – was that you have some moral-conscientious objection to mind tricks, and in that case – “

“Oh.” Jungkook blushes in embarrassment, trying to stay focused on flying. “Not really. My thinking on that is shaped more by, um, your work than by anything else.”

“Ah, that’s right! I forgot that Yoongi said you were already familiar with my writing. That’s so strange,” Namjoon muses. “That you know all my opinions already even though we’ve just met.”

“It is.”

“But I bet we can find some way to use it to our advantage, right?”

“Yeah, probably,” he agrees, although it’s difficult to tell what exactly Namjoon means by that. Jungkook spots the cliffside to the right and veers that way. “We’re almost there, by the way.”

“Thank the stars. I’m famished.”

Jungkook watches the dashboard’s latitude reading tick down to the number he has memorized at three decimal point precision, hovering and landing once he reaches the right spot. He hops out first, Namjoon following and K1 dropping down from his perch after the top hatch is closed. The tarpaulin Jungkook used to cover up the ship is still here – not that it would have run away – and covered in a layer of red dust.

“You can go ahead,” Jungkook says, but Namjoon protests.

“I’ll help you cover it back up. I’m tall.”

Jungkook smiles. “That’s true. Okay, grab that end, and I’ll get this one…”

Covering the ship is quicker work with Namjoon's  help. With that sorted, they trek over to the cave mouth. Yoongi doesn’t rush out to greet them this time, but the wind chimes by the entrance jingle cheerfully at their appearance.

Opening the door, they’re hit by a wave of aroma. “Holy swamp rats, Yoons, it smells amazing in here,” Namjoon calls, taking off his shoes and outer robe.

“I’m glad to see you, too,” Yoongi says teasingly, weaving through the living room to reach them. He’s dressed casually, in clothes he must have scavenged from the full closets of the house, his hair pushed back with a thick headband. “Did everything go smoothly?”

“Yeah. Would you say so?” Namjoon looks over at Jungkook for confirmation.

“Yep, no problems.”

“Good.” Yoongi snakes one arm around Jungkook's waist, holding Namjoon with his other arm and gathering them into a hug. Caught off guard, Jungkook fails to reciprocate, but the other two don’t seem particularly fazed. “I was worried,” Yoongi admits, releasing the returnees. “And I distracted myself by cooking a lot, so hurry along and wash your hands so you can eat.”

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“A toast,” Yoongi proposes, lifting one of the three glasses of Ketoran whiskey he’s just poured. “To the success of the… Anti-Hamidou Committee. The Keiter Three Jedi Conclave.”

Jungkook reaches across the square kitchen table for one of the glasses, passing Namjoon the other one, pushing aside mostly empty plates of baked muja fruit and roast brawballo.

“The Investigative Troika on Violations of Jedi Law,” Namjoon chimes in. “An Expository Triumvirate on the High Council, if you will.”

Jungkook looks up to find both of them looking at him expectantly. “Yes!” he rushes to contribute. “Cheers!”

“Cheers!” The reply comes in amused unison, followed by the clink of glasses above the middle of the table.

Jungkook stares down the glass in his hand for a second before taking an exploratory sip, trying not to make a face. Alcohol is heavily discouraged on G’aav’aar’oon in order to maintain ‘battle readiness,’ so it’s definitely not a taste he’s used to.

“’Exposing the High Council.’ I like that mission statement,” Yoongi says. “It puts the onus on us to bring the facts to light, but not to take justice into our own hands. Since we’re such a small group, that would be dangerously close to perpetuating the tyrannical activities we’re trying to stop. Not that I’m saying we have to avoid getting into a fight. We’ll do whatever’s necessary.”

Jungkook nods in agreement. That sounds right. Hamidou has tried to kill him and Yoongi both, but he’d still feel more comfortable leaving the man’s final punishment to someone else.

“So how do we do that?” Namjoon challenges.

“My vision,” Yoongi muses, whiskey levitating next to him, “has been of going back to Coruscant to confront him with the facts in some public setting.”

“Then we take all the credit for it and it makes the Council look terrible.”

“The Council could stand to get a little blow to their reputation, if you ask me.”

“Um,” Jungkook says. “It makes the Council look bad?”

“Either the Council knew about… his activities and didn’t stop him, or they don’t know what’s going on under their own nose,” Namjoon explains, quickly moving along to his next point. “Additionally, I’m afraid of us looking like we want to gain something from the situation. Since some of us were close to the Council from the beginning, it might look like a struggle just for political prestige. Am I right in thinking that’s a legitimate concern?”

“You’re not wrong, but some of us were also personally attacked and threatened by him, and that makes us look better,” Yoongi counters. “I think it all depends on what we do after the fact. If you or I immediately started going after a vacant Council position, that would be a red flag that we had used the situation for our own gain. If we don’t do that, we’re probably in the clear.”

“After everything we’ve been going through, I’m not sure I want that anymore,” Namjoon mutters, sipping his drink, reminding Jungkook once again of the distance between the ascendant star of Namjoon's career and his own background.

“For the record, I don’t want that for you either – not that my opinion, you know…”

“But there’s a lot of work that can be done from that position,” Namjoon continues. “It’s hard to let go of the possibility.”

“It’s not forever. You can think about it again in twenty years.”

“And wouldn’t that be a renunciation of responsibility? Pointing out a systemic problem and then leaving others to do the job of reform.”

“There are other avenues to helping reform the Council than being one of its members,” Yoongi points out. “But I suppose it’s up to us to individually weigh the pros and cons of paths forward after this is finished.”

Yeah. Like Jungkook would have a multitude of choices. He could go back to G’aav’aar’oon or attempt to make a living on his own, outside the Order. The decision he made would not impact many people other than himself. He wouldn’t be ‘weighing the pros and cons’ of accepting a position on the Jedi Council, if he correctly understands what Namjoon and Yoongi are talking about right now. He’s a bit out of his depth.

“Okay, I agree,” Namjoon says. “It’s out of the purview of our mission, which is to reveal the truth in a way that forces the greatest positive political change. Right?”

“Right. So, circling back to what I was saying about confrontation. I’m not saying we shouldn’t do work behind the scenes as well. It puts us in a stronger position if we form agreements with certain reliable individuals before taking action.”

Jungkook stops listening as Yoongi starts listing bureaucrats and officials he might want to talk to, Namjoon nodding along and sipping his drink and adding more names Jungkook doesn’t recognize. He’s really not needed here, is he? He doesn’t have friends in high places or political strings to pull in one way or another. He just has a droid, a starship, some more half-finished personal projects, his training, and a thankless job on a miserable asteroid. Sure, he’s useful to the two Jedi Masters in front of him inasmuch as he’s a pilot with a ship, but they could easily hire a replacement from a local agency or taxi service.

“I think we’re boring Kook to death.”

Yoongi's voice snaps Jungkook out of his train of thought, and he starts shaking his head in protest. “No, really – “

“We got lost in the technical details.” Yoongi is pouring a splash more whiskey into his and Namjoon's mostly empty glasses. “You don’t have to pretend it’s interesting.”

“Hey, I think it’s interesting,” Namjoon objects, face looking a little warm.

“It’s your job to find it interesting.” Yoongi pushes in his chair. “Let’s go to the other room.”

They resettle in the living room, Yoongi sitting on the couch and Namjoon attaching himself to Yoongi's side and leaning on his shoulder. Jungkook takes the chair next to the sofa, angled perpendicular to it.

“Let’s talk about something fun,” Yoongi declares. “We should get to know each other better.”

“Yes, bonding! That’s good.” Namjoon snuggles deeper into the couch cushions, and Jungkook can’t help but smile at how cute the two are next to each other.

“I’m kind of curious about how you guys originally met,” Jungkook says, happy that he’s thought of a topic that’s relevant to both equally.

“Oh, that’s a good question. You have to answer, though, because I don’t remember,” Namjoon says.

“He was just four or five,” Yoongi explains, smile wide. “I was six. We were in different youngling clans at the Temple, but he got separated from his group. I helped him find his way back. And then, we just happened to keep running into each other.”

“I feel like I’ve known him forever,” Namjoon adds. “By the time we were both Padawans I knew him just as well as the clanmates I studied with for ten years.”

“Wow, I’m impressed. I never really met anyone outside of my youngling clan when I was at the Temple,” Jungkook says.

“It was hard sometimes to meet up,” Yoongi acknowledges. “But we found a way.”

“And when we became padawans and were apprenticed to masters who moved in the same circles, it became much easier,” Namjoon says.

“Did that just happen by chance?”

“In a way, it was,” Yoongi says. “We wanted to end up in the same place, but we didn’t have any way to control the result, especially since we were getting apprenticed in the same year.”

“The force wanted us to stay together,” Namjoon remarks.

“Maybe.” Yoongi raises his eyebrows to convey his skepticism. “But then wouldn’t all padawans get assignments that work well for them?”

“Jungkook.” Namjoon wiggles into a more upright position on the couch. “Who were you apprenticed to?”

“Master Typhe.” Their faces don’t show any recognition. “She’s second in command at the fortress on G’aav’aar’oon.” Still nothing. “She’s Bothan? A meter and a half tall? A long beard?”

“Oh! Yes, I think I know who you’re talking about,” Namjoon says. “I’ve been in a few meetings with her. I think I tried to make small talk with her, but she wouldn’t reciprocate.”

“Yeah, that sounds like her. She hates ‘idle chatter.’” Jungkook makes air quotes. “Her interpretation of the Jedi Code is extremely strict.” Yoongi hums sympathetically. “I’m not sure the force guided us together, because we never really got along. I would always want to be doing things and learning things and meeting people and going places, but she would only ever tell me why I wasn’t allowed to. Maybe the force was challenging both of us on purpose.”

“’The force acts in mysterious ways,’” Yoongi intones, imitating the Grand Master’s operatic voice.

Namjoon laughs and leans back into the couch, Yoongi's arm immediately wrapping around his shoulders. “You’re so cute,” he says. “Do you remember when you did that voice and she was standing right behind you and heard the whole thing?”

Yoongi clears his throat. “'Master Min, your caricature impresses me. Please continue to work on it.’ Yeah, I just about died.”

“I did too! I was trying so hard not to break character. And you could tell from across the room!”

“It was funny. And embarrassing, and scary –“ Yoongi shifts so Jungkook can’t see his face anymore.

“We get ourselves into a lot of those situations, don’t we?”

“In and out of them, yes, all the time.”

“We need to do less of that.” A little pout appears on Namjoon's face. “We need more of what normal people have.”

“We’re in the wrong line of work, darling.”

Yoongi and Namjoon, turning bit by bit to face each other, seem to be in a world of their own. Their world doesn’t include Jungkook but Jungkook is sitting here next to them, awkward, unnecessary, completely sober, and with no obvious way to gracefully extricate himself.

Just get it over with. The pain and discomfort will only increase the longer he waits. Jungkook shoots to his feet and announces, “I’m going to bed. Would you like me to do the dishes first?”

“Oh, um.” Yoongi looks up, caught off guard. “No need.”

“Okay. Thanks for dinner! Good night!” He smiles his way across the room and into the kitchen, bolting down the hall to the sanctuary of his room, waiting for the door to be safely closed before catching his breath.

He tosses himself onto the neatly made bed and can’t help but recall the first night at the cave, the similar emotional overload and shameful retreat. But his behavior then made more sense than now. Has anything particularly new happened? Anything shocking? No. What’s wrong with him?

He doesn’t know why he feels hurt. Darling, his mind echoes, Yoongi's voice coming from all corners of the room, darling, darling, gentle words meeting Namjoon's soft gaze. It’s dangerous, whatever it is. It’s a reminder that if he plans on leaving he needs to do it soon, for his own sake.

He’s not going to be missed. As a technical asset, he’s easily replaceable. As a person, he knows Namjoon and Yoongi are putting in an honest effort to befriend him, but they haven’t gotten close enough yet that he’ll distress them too much when he leaves.

These truths are just as painful as they are convenient. He doesn’t want to be in the way. He doesn’t want to leave. He wants to provide something uniquely useful to their group. And he likes the attention Namjoon and Yoongi have been giving him, whether it’s out of politeness or genuine interest, the way they act like they want to talk to him, learn about him, spend time with him.

Jungkook blinks tears out of his eyes, trying to force the selfish distress he’s feeling somewhere far away. His training has taught him a lot about self-restraint and discipline. He can tear himself away from these small social luxuries and survive.

He can move on.

He shuts his eyes. He doesn’t want to think about this anymore, but the thought lingers.

I don’t want to go.

Would it really be so bad if I stayed?

Chapter Text

“Yoongi, can I ask you to be honest with me?” Jungkook is leaning over the sink, scrubbing at the skillet they used to scramble eggs earlier that morning. “Brutally honest?”

Yoongi lifts one eyebrow and leans back against the counter. “You can, yes.”

Jungkook sighs and repeats the wording of the question he wants to ask in his mind before saying it aloud. “Do you think it’s good that I am here, or do you think it would be better if I left?”

“Okay…” Yoongi pauses, frowning, as if gathering his thoughts. “To be ‘brutally honest,’ no, I don’t think it would be better if you left, and I’m really concerned that you felt a need to ask about it.”

This is the answer Jungkook was anticipating and, he has to admit, hoping for.

“I thought Joon managed to convince you that we want you here,” Yoongi continues. “But if that’s not, let’s say, getting through to you, then consider this. If you left and got caught, the information you have could result in my death. Right?”

“Oh.” He hadn’t considered that.

“But I really don’t want you sitting here thinking you’re some kind of information hostage. It’s not like that. You are a full member of this team. Do you get what I’m saying?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry for asking – “

“No,” Yoongi interrupts. “I want to hear what’s going on in your head. Don’t apologize.”

Yoongi pats him on the shoulder, and the conversation is over. Jungkook's sense of relief – he doesn’t want to leave, and they don’t want him to leave, so he won’t leave – is matched by a feeling of regret. Yoongi's argument was something he should have been able to think of himself. The last thing he wants is for the other two – because Yoongi surely would repeat the contents of the conversation to Namjoon – to worry about him or think that they ought to change their behavior for his sake.

What’s done is done, though. For the next few days, when he isn’t eating, sleeping, doing household work, or listening to long and intricate discussions of how to prepare for a confrontation with Hamidou on Coruscant, Jungkook slips outside. He no longer has the pretense of performing much needed repairs on his ship, but he escapes to it anyway, spending the day in the cockpit, doing exercises on the dusty ground under the shelter of the tarp to keep up his strength, or exploring around the cliffside nearby, although there’s not much to be found besides spindly beetles and unusual rock formations.

All the time he spends away from Namjoon and Yoongi builds up his mental fortifications for when he does need to see them, because he’s resolved not to get overwhelmed and run away from their interactions again. Now that he’s not planning on leaving anymore, now that every interaction isn’t overshadowed by a sense of impending loss, being in their presence hurts a lot less, but from time to time one or both of them will do something – an offhand bit of praise thrown his way, the use of a nickname or a joke with a significance he doesn’t understand, a meal left for him at the end of the day, a kiss quickly exchanged at the other side of the room when they think he isn’t looking – that sparks a painful, inexplicable feeling of longing.

Well – the longing isn’t really inexplicable. He’s self-aware enough to know that he wants and pines after and might be jealous of interpersonal companionship, closeness, intimacy, whatever word one might want to put on it. He just doesn’t know, and isn’t able to explain, why it should start aching now when he’s building better relationships than he ever has before.

Yoongi hands him a pre-peeled little citrus fruit, explaining by pointing out that ‘your fingernails are short,’ and Jungkook wants to explode. Namjoon gently places Holly in his lap after he stops to sit in the living room because ‘I’ve noticed they like sitting with you’ and Jungkook wants to curl into a ball like a Geonosian archgrub and roll away.

The pain has to come from somewhere. Maybe it’s that these interactions heighten his desire for closeness more than they increase the closeness itself. Because it’s always these small things, inconsequential things that happen without really changing the relationship between him and them but that endear him more and more, that eat away at the removed admiration he feels for them and turn it into concrete fondness.

He tries to take what Yoongi said to heart. He tries to believe that his presence is wanted and what he’s contributing is more than just a safety precaution, that the desire for friendship is mutual. His insecurities can’t help but come out sometimes to propose alternate ways of looking at the situation, though. Sure, he spends a minimum of time with Yoongi and Namjoon already, but what if they want to devote all their attention to each other? Yes, he tries to give as many kind words and actions back to Yoongi and Namjoon as he receives from them, but is it really fair if these interactions surely mean a lot more to him, for whom warm interpersonal experiences are totally new, than to them?

So. Hiding away at his ship is a convenient way to avoid his inability to reconcile everything he’s feeling. After a short period of aimless moping, he's settled on a difficult project, adding extra translation functionality to K1, to keep himself busy. Currently, the only way K1 would be able to speak to Namjoon or Yoongi and be understood – which might be important in an emergency – would be to pass a file of binary droidspeak to the ship’s computer and have the computer translate it to Basic and read it aloud. K1’s voicebox is sophisticated enough to be able to approximate the sounds of words in Basic, but Jungkook is going to have to teach them how to translate the written phonemes of Basic into mechanically produced noises.

It’s interesting work, and it’s something Jungkook can get lost in for hours at a time. He can forget his social worries – especially since Namjoon and Yoongi never visit him while he’s out here.

Correction: for several days, they leave him alone. Jungkook is sitting in the cockpit, writing a program on the main computer, when he’s startled by a series of thudding sounds on the side of the ship with rungs leading to the top hatch. Jungkook looks up in time to see Yoongi's face appear, peeking down from above.

“Hi,” Jungkook says.

“Hi, Kook. I’m coming down.”

“Okay, just give me a second.” Jungkook quickly saves his work and scrambles out of the pilot’s seat, crouching to the side and patting the cushioned part Yoongi can safely jump onto. Understanding the gesture, Yoongi lands safely, settling into the chair and twisting to look around.

“Welcome,” Jungkook says. “Is there any particular reason for your visit today?”

“I’ve been holding myself back for a week.” Yoongi pats the control yoke sticking out in front of him like he’s afraid something will happen if he adjusts it. “Ever since you arrived I’ve wanted to come out here and see what you’re up to, and today I finally broke.”

Jungkook frowns - Yoongi should already know what he’s up to. All members of the household are highly interested in each other’s activities, and Yoongi in particular has been asking about Jungkook's progress with his project once or twice a day. “I’m still working on the same thing as this morning.”

“Okay, so I guess I know what you’re doing, but I want to see how you do it. Really, I’m curious.” He meets Jungkook's gaze. “I’m envious of your technical knowledge.”

Jungkook tilts head. “Really?”

“Really. I always wanted to study mechanical things, but I was never allowed. After I became a padawan, everything was politics, politics, politics. I didn’t even get introductory physics.”

“Oh, you didn’t?” In training for his job at the fortress on G’aav’aar’oon, Jungkook sat through endless dry lectures on mechanics and computing which, while boring, ultimately formed the foundation of his future self-directed learning. “I wasn’t a very good student myself, so if you’re looking for a tutor, it would be better to listen to a real instructor.”

“I just want to look, if that’s okay?”

Maybe he’s projecting his recent feelings, Jungkook empathizes with the uncertainty in Yoongi's voice. “You could watch me work, if you want. If I narrate what I’m doing, and you ask questions about it, I think you could learn a lot!”

“You’d be willing to do that?”

“Yeah, of course! You could stop by any time I’m out here working! It might be a little cramped in here, but still, I think it could be fun.” He shrugs. “We could start now, if you want. I’m just doing computer stuff, though, so it’s not that interesting.”

“I’ll stick around for a bit,” Yoongi says, sliding out of the seat to squish himself into the area behind it, trading places with Jungkook, who settles in front of the console to pick up where he left off.

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‘A bit’ translates to a little over an hour. He makes good progress even while taking time to explain what he’s developing and its significance to the overall project. Yoongi is an excellent listener, understanding easily and asking patient questions when he doesn’t. Whether or not Yoongi has an ulterior motive, whether or not he would be here if he weren’t trying to further Jungkook's social comfort and feelings of usefulness, there’s no way his interest isn’t genuine. It’s so incredibly gratifying to look back and catch Yoongi's attentive, encouraging gaze. It’s like this is the kind of mutually beneficial exchange his insecurities have been hoping for.

Once his work is at a good stopping point, Yoongi pulls him away to help with making dinner, something Jungkook has enjoyed in the past but which has fallen to the wayside because of his regimen of avoidance.

“What if we do this every night from now on?” Yoongi proposes, chopping an onion. “I could use the help; it makes everything go faster.”

“I’d be willing to, but are you sure you don’t want to alternate your assistants?”

“Namjoon requires more supervision in a kitchen situation than is ideal… I’d really prefer you as a helper.”

Jungkook feels warmth flood from his head to his toes and he suppresses a too-wide smile.

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Jungkook's string of personal victories continues later that night, gathered with the others around the home computer in Namjoon and Yoongi's room. Waiting for Yoongi to navigate to the online marketplace where ships can be hired for covert transportation, he tries not to peer around at the mess – not that the room is dirty, but its contents are in a state of disarray, bed unmade, drawers half open, clothes Jungkook cleaned and folded earlier this week lying about. He’s not going to criticize, but his own room has been lived in a bit more neatly.

“Okay, I’m on the main page,” Yoongi says, scooting his rolling chair back from the desk a little so the others can see. “There are thousands of listings, but we can refine them with all these options. Date of availability, price range…” He looks up at the other two. “How should we do this?”

Jungkook glances between Namjoon and Yoongi before answering. “We could narrow it down by size first. Is that one of the options?” That’s why they’re on this marketplace anyway – Jungkook's ship is too small to carry all three of them.

“I’ve got mass, cargo space… here it is. Number of passengers?” Yoongi selects the option for ‘3-5.’

“Did that narrow it down?” Namjoon asks.

Yoongi shakes his head. “There are still a few thousand.”

“Are there options for stealth factors? Like, cloaking? Anti-tracking measures? We really don’t want to be found,” Jungkook says.

“I agree that stealth is a priority, but I’m no expert.” Yoongi scoots his chair even farther from the screen. “Will you see if they have what we’re looking for?”

“Oh, mhm.” Jungkook steps up to the computer, trying to focus on the text on the screen and not on how gratifying it feels for his particular know-how to be required and acknowledged, how gratifying it feels to be seen, especially by them.

He selects all the acceptable levels of cloaking tech from the ‘defenses’ tab, explaining his choices to the others so they raise objections if they want. They don’t, though, so he continues scanning down the list.

“’Level of Secrecy’…” Jungkook reads aloud. “Um, there are three options. ‘One, by the book, that’s probably not good. Two, everything is aliased and off-database; three, identification changes every mission.’ What do you think?” He looks up at Namjoon. “I think level two is like what we did in order to get here from Coruscant. It should be fine, in my opinion.”

“All right,” Namjoon assents. “Two or three, but not one.”

“And then, we should consider the possibility that we do get found and attacked on the way,” Yoongi says. “It needs to have some defensive capabilities.”

“Yeah.” Jungkook finds the section labeled ‘armament.’ The range of weapons capabilities is huge, so they agree to choose some middling options – they’re not in the market for a starfighter, just a vessel that can stand up for itself. And after they input a range of acceptable availability dates, they’ve narrowed it down to ten listings.

“Nice.” Namjoon's head hovers over his right shoulder. “Sort by price?”

Jungkook scrolls by a few ships that are out of their price range – he’s been living communally since infancy, so he doesn’t really have a good grasp of what constitutes ‘expensive,’ but he knows their budget is capped by the funds Yoongi took with him when he fled. “Oh, this is interesting. ‘The Tannie,’” he reads. “’Crew of two plus ship’s advanced AI. Carries up to eight passengers, level three secrecy, in operation for five years, recently celebrated its hundredth successful mission.”

“That sounds promising. Are there any other good listings?”

Jungkook scans the rest of the entries. As the price decreases the quality does too, and the last listings even appear to be spam. “That one looks the best to me, but you should look too.”

He steps back as the others press forward, reading for themselves. “Yeah,” Yoongi says after a minute of silence. “There are some others on here that would be good secondary options, but we can reach out to this crew first.”

“Agreed. It’s unanimous. I guess I’ll go ahead and send them a message explaining what we’re looking for.”

Jungkook nods at Namjoon's suggestion. Namjoon begins to type.

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Early the next afternoon, Jungkook is in his room folding freshly washed towels when he’s interrupted by Namjoon knocking on the open doorframe. “Are you busy? Can I come in for a minute?”

“Yeah, come in!” Jungkook gathers the laundry onto one corner of the bedspread, Namjoon joining him to sit on the edge of the mattress.

“I don’t want to sound… dramatic,” Namjoon begins, taking his time to speak. “But did you know that Coruscant is covering up my disappearance?”

“Oh. They’re pretending it didn’t happen?”

“Yeah. Probably only a few people know I’m actually gone.”

“Mm.” Jungkook isn’t sure what he can say to that. Surely Namjoon didn’t come in here just to commiserate; Jungkook doesn’t really feel worthy to provide emotional support, especially when Namjoon has a boyfriend in the other room who’s much more highly qualified.

“And that means,” Namjoon continues, “Jedi around the galaxy who read or listen to my work are expecting my next document.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Jungkook tries to recall what day it is, bouncing his knee. “It was supposed to come out two days ago, right?”

“Yeah. At the time we left, I had something written, but I hadn’t recorded the audio version. Basically, I was wondering if you wanted to help me figure out how to record and upload something.”

“Yeah, I’d love to!” He really would be glad to participate in the production of something he’s enjoyed from afar for a long time. But he also visualizes the conversation Yoongi and Namjoon must have had last night. He’ll open up to us if he feels like he’s helping. He’s glad to hang out if he thinks he’s being useful. It’s not that he feels like he’s being manipulated, though. He counts himself a willing participant in the quest for socialization. He just wishes he didn’t still have to jump through these hoops in order to feel comfortable.

“Do you think we have the equipment to do it? The computer that came with the house doesn’t have a microphone.”

“K1 can record stuff, actually. So, I think we’ll be good!” Jungkook jumps to his feet. “Should we get started now?”

“Ah, well, I’m not quite ready yet, actually.” Sheepish, Jungkook sits back down. “I know I said I had something pre-written, but… Having this platform is a really good opportunity to reach a lot of people with my opinion, and I think I want to use that opportunity to help our cause somehow.” Namjoon sighs and falls back onto the bed, looking at the ceiling.

Jungkook twists around to look at him. “That makes sense. You can set the tone somehow or introduce some of the themes involved in the case against Hamidou.”

“Yeah. I feel a little overwhelmed, though, because there are a lot of ways I could go about it.”

Jungkook nods, also ‘a little overwhelmed,’ but by the full brunt of Namjoon's attention trained on him rather than option paralysis.

“I was wondering if you had any ideas. Not – no pressure, of course, but especially since you’re a listener, you know what I usually talk about.”

“Would it be too un-subtle to talk about what the role of a Council member should be? Like, in terms of ethics and responsibilities? To highlight the contrast when the truth eventually comes out?”

“That’s pretty much what I want to do, but it is pretty, like you said, un-subtle.”

“What if you approach the topic from, like, a historical angle?” Jungkook folds his legs up on the bed so he can face Namjoon more comfortably. “You could even stretch it across several weeks and focus on the nature of the Council in different historical periods.”

“I’ve done series before,” Namjoon muses. “It wouldn’t look that out of place if I suddenly took up this topic. And the kind of research this would entail… It would help if I had a strong grasp on these topics as I prepare to form and defend an argument against… yeah.” Namjoon sits up. “Can I keep bouncing ideas off you while I plan this?”

“Yeah, that sounds great!”

How starstruck would his two-weeks-ago self have been, seeing where he is now, Kim Namjoon seeking out his opinions, hanging out with in Kim Namjoon's bedroom while the Jedi Master researches sources on the home computer, recording Kim Namjoon's audio documents using his droid and sitting across the table from him? Being somebody Namjoon trusts? Becoming one of Namjoon's friends?

He’s feels like he’s beginning to understand the contours of the relationship he can have with Yoongi and Namjoon. Yes, it’s overwhelming to have the attention of people he admires, and somewhat off putting to be treated by them as an equal. Yes, it’s unusual for people he knows to be in romantic relationships with each other. He will have to adapt to these things – and he can adapt, and he is adapting.

While he’s ashamed that his behavior made Namjoon and Yoongi's outreach efforts necessary in the first place, at least they’re working. Over just a couple days of working with Namjoon and Yoongi on their respective projects – writing, cooking, and programming side by side with them – he’s felt comfortable sitting in the living room in the evenings, browsing the bookshelves there while the other two are sitting with their own finds; adding his voice into their conversations at meals or otherwise; gathering around the round dining room table with them to try to figure out one of the house’s Ketoran board games.

It feels good. He’s a little alarmed, actually, at his heart’s eagerness to jump headfirst into his new friendships. He doesn’t know how much fondness and attachment is ‘normal’ to feel after just a while of knowing someone; he has no reference to compare with, but he thinks he might be exceeding that amount.

At least it feels so much better now than at the beginning of the week.

It’s still imperfect.

Chapter Text

They’re crowded around the kitchen table, late at night, notepad in front of Namjoon and a pen in his hand, and Jungkook is getting angry.

They’re discussing a list Namjoon has drawn up of officials in high places they want to reach out to before confronting Hamidou on Coruscant. Jungkook has barely heard of any of these people. He doesn’t know which of them are advantageous to have on their side, he doesn’t know what arguments will appeal to these individuals, and he thinks it should be obvious that this is the case.

But they keep asking him for his opinion. “Kook, what do you think?” for every entry on the list. And honestly, he’s stopped listening by now. He’s just stewing.

“Kook?” Yoongi's voice. “What do you think?”

“I don’t get why – “ Jungkook cuts himself off, biting his lip. He doesn’t want to come off rudely. “I’m really sorry if I somehow gave you the impression that I know anything about this.”

Yoongi raises an eyebrow at him. “Maybe you should give yourself more credit. You can have a valid insight even without a lot of background information.”

“But I obviously haven’t come up with anything helpful to say yet. And, I will speak up if and when I do, so all I’m saying is you don’t have to waste time asking for my opinion.” He takes a breath, briefly letting himself be proud of the way he’s vocalized and phrased his complaint.

But Namjoon looks at him skeptically. “Are you sure you’ll say something?”

Jungkook frowns, startled. “Yes, I – “

“I don’t mean to put you on the spot.” Namjoon exchanges a glance with Yoongi. “But I’m concerned because you’ve been sitting here for five minutes, getting more and more distressed over, I assume, what you just told us, and not saying anything…”

Jungkook winces. Was he that obvious? “That’s different. Asking you to change your behavior or do something differently for my sake… that’s not my place. I’d be more confident if I was vouching for a technical opinion,” he explains.

“What do you mean, ‘it’s not your place’?” Yoongi cuts in sharply from across the table. “If we’re doing something that makes you uncomfortable, it’s important for you to tell us.”

Jungkook looks down, away from Yoongi's confused, concerned expression. “I just did, though, didn’t I? I’m working on it. But it’s difficult because I don’t want to be ungrateful and ask for more after you’ve already been kind enough to have me stay and involve me in stuff.”

“Is that what this is about?” Yoongi reaches across the table and gently puts his hand on Jungkook's arm, making him look back up. “I thought I might have convinced you that we want you here.”

He retracts his arm, shaking Yoongi's hand off. “You did. Otherwise I would have left. Do we have to keep talking about this? I’m sorry for bringing it up - “

“We’re not changing the subject,” Namjoon says. “I want to understand what makes you feel like you’re imposing on us somehow.”

Jungkook stands, pushing his chair back from the table, not sure if his intention is to make a point or prepare to escape. “I don’t really get what there is to not understand.” It comes out more harshly than he intends, so he breathes and covers his face in his hands - it’s not his intention to share his ugly anger and vulnerability with them. “Not only are you guys cool and smart and generous and important, but you’re also in love or whatever, and I’m just in the way.”

He hears Namjoon's pen land on the table and chair legs skidding back on the floor. “Jungkook.” Namjoon's voice. “I’m flattered that you think so highly of us, but I wish you would assess yourself more fairly. You’re just as ‘important’ as we are, and you’re smart, generous, and one of the coolest people we’ve ever met.” A bit stunned, Jungkook passively allows Namjoon to take his wrists and guide his hands away from his face. “Look at me. Am I telling the truth?”

Even though it scares him, he desperately wants it to be true. He looks up and searches Namjoon's face, reads his energy and intentions, which come through loud and clear. He nods, once, a small motion that draws a similarly small smile to Namjoon's face.

“I also think it’s important to point out that us being ‘Jedi Masters’ is meaningless and arbitrary,” Yoongi says from where he’s still seated at the table. “Especially since our whole purpose is to air the establishment’s bullshit, and that title is just a political tool, not a designation of worth.”

“Yeah, that’s a good point,” Namjoon says, serious once again. “And let me refute your last concern, too. It’s true that Yoongi and I have a romantic relationship. I won’t even attempt to demystify that, since I know our upbringing and indoctrination makes it seem like some spooky, incomprehensible phenomenon.”

Jungkook chews at his bottom lip and looks down. Namjoon is right – merely discussing the topic feels uncomfortable and taboo.

“But in my mind – and I speak for both of us – it isn’t really that big of a deal. Or, it shouldn’t be. Just because I love Yoongi, that doesn’t mean it defines me as a person or that I’m done meeting and forming relationships with people forever. I really think friendship, platonic love, is just as valuable as romantic love. I may love Yoongi in one particular way, but I already love you, too.”

“You put that very elegantly,” Yoongi says, but the sounds reach Jungkook's ears without him comprehending the meaning. His head feels empty, like that phrase is the only thing in it, I already love you too, the words bouncing around his otherwise vacant skull, I love you too, I love you, I love you.

“Oh, Kookie… did I say the wrong thing? I didn’t…”

Only then does Jungkook realize he’s crying. “No, I’m just.” He sniffs. “Ov-overwhelmed.”

“Aww.” Yoongi stands, joining them on the other side of the table. “It’s okay to be overwhelmed. Really. We’ve got you.”

When Namjoon brings his arms to hover hesitantly around Jungkook's shoulders, Jungkook dives into the embrace, hugging Namjoon tightly around his middle and burrowing his face into Namjoon's shoulder. The arms around Jungkook squeeze tighter, too, and he feels Yoongi's hand gently come to rest on the small of his back.

Although he’s getting Namjoon's shirt wet with his tears, his gut feeling is that this is right. Here, here is the right place. He doesn’t have the wherewithal to make himself feel guilty about the usual nonsense. He’s overwhelmed and he’s relieved and he’s also kind of sad and for now he just wants to keep basking in this new warmth. Listening to those new words, which are already starting to float through his head more slowly, more peacefully. I love you.

Yoongi brings his hand up to comb through Jungkook's hair, a shiver zipping down his spine at the new sensation. Somehow, it helps, centering him back in the reality of the kitchen inside the home in the cave under the dry flatland on Keiter 03. He takes a deep breath. Starts to calm down.

“Are you okay?” Yoongi murmurs.

“Yes.” It comes out muffled. Namjoon hums in acknowledgement, the vibrations traveling through Jungkook's chest in a way that reminds him of when they flew together the first time.

“I think we’re done planning for today,” Yoongi says. “How about we sit on the couch and watch a Ketoran nature documentary?”

“Okay.” Even though that means he’ll have to move from this spot.

“Joon, will you pick out one that looks good?” Yoongi reaches around to take one of Jungkook's hands, disentangling him from Namjoon and pulling him into the living room. Namjoon dutifully scans the titles of the discs stacked next to the holoprojector, even though it doesn’t really matter what he chooses, and Yoongi settles onto the couch, pulling Jungkook down to sit close beside him. After putting the disc into the projector, Namjoon comes to sit on Jungkook's other side.

It’s nice. He doesn’t think too hard, just rests his head on Namjoon's shoulder and holds Yoongi's hand and allows himself to feel warm. He gazes at the bioluminescent ocean life flitting across the projector screen and lets the calming narration he doesn’t understand wash over him and lull him gently to sleep.

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

He wakes up with no concept of how much time has passed. The holoprojector is still on, playing empty static against the far wall. After he sits up, he sees that Namjoon, whom he was just leaning against, is fast asleep, his glasses smushed between his face and the couch cushion. Yoongi, however, is gone.

The wall clock says it’s already early morning. Although his position on the sofa is very comfortable, not having washed up before falling asleep is making him feel a bit grimy. That, combined with a need for space to collect his thoughts after everything that happened, is enough to get him moving towards the back of the house.

The door to Namjoon and Yoongi's bedroom is open, and the light is on. Jungkook tries to sneak by quietly, but Yoongi must sense him when he passes by.

“Wait, Kookie – “ Jungkook stops and turns to see Yoongi's head poking into the hallway. “How are you feeling? Are you all right? I know that was probably a lot…”

“Yeah,” Jungkook agrees. “You could say that. I’m okay, though.” They stand and blink at each other for a few seconds. “Are you? Doing okay, I mean.”

“Ah, yeah.” Yoongi steps further into the hallway, hand on the doorframe. “I just wanted to make sure you understood… that anything Namjoon said, yesterday, he said for both of us.”

“Really?” Maybe he means that he stands behind the logical arguments Namjoon made against Jungkook's insecurities. He kind of hopes, though, that Yoongi is referring to – that.

Yoongi chuckles. “Yes, really.”

The feelings from last night flash through his mind again, and he feels his face heating up. Impulsively, he rushes forward to wrap Yoongi up in a hug. “Thank you. I’ll try to be better… from now on.”

“Ah, you’re cute.” Having reciprocated the hug, Yoongi pulls away slightly, grabs the sides of Jungkook's head, and plants a small kiss at the top of his forehead. “Just remember not to be too hard on yourself.”

Maybe he feels embarrassed, because Yoongi flees back into his room. Jungkook, meanwhile, stays rooted in place for a few seconds, head still bowed, the feeling of Yoongi's lips lingering near his hairline.

As he washes up and prepares for the day, he makes an effort to confront his thoughts honestly. Last night’s events were a revelation. He believed it when Yoongi said his less dramatic life experiences don’t make him any less valuable. He believed it when Namjoon said his emerging friendship with them doesn’t detract from their older, deeper relationship.

Finally, he can say with confidence that he is one third of this three-person team, not an accidental half-participant tacked onto the end. It’s definitely a weight lifted off his shoulders.

But he also can’t deny that something about all this feels… off. If he were to put a finger on it, he’d say it’s the sheer speed at which his closeness to the others is developing. He’s thrown himself into an ocean of unfamiliar feelings with heavy weights in his hands to speed the descent. Shouldn’t he be more careful about this?

At this time in his life, he wants to break away from the restrictive Jedi Code and experience some of the things he’s never been permitted to explore. But he cannot do that at the expense of others. Yoongi and Namjoon are overly generous, and his fondness for them is already overwhelming, and if he crosses some difficult-to-determine line between ‘friend and ally’ and ‘too intimate,’ they may not stop him.

Just as he was doing before, during that period of avoidance, he’ll have to use his understanding of the relationship the others want with him to set certain behavioral boundaries for himself. That means, he thinks, last night’s interactions can be used as the extremal point. Hugs are really nice. Talking about personal problems and feelings is okay, too. His gut tells him holding hands and sitting smushed together on the sofa and falling asleep together verge into dangerous territory.

What about this morning? This morning. He closes his eyes and lowers his comb onto the counter. Yoongi called him cute. It’s not like he can stop Yoongi from giving him compliments, but he can control the way he accepts them; he’ll work on that. Yoongi also kissed his forehead. That – that is a problem. As platonic as the tender gesture was… as he continues to think about it… the wanting runs away from his grasp. He imagines, in quick bursts of light and color, Yoongi doing it again, Yoongi peppering little kisses across his face, across his mouth, Yoongi kissing him like he’d kissed Namjoon that time in the cave when they’d first arrived. Fuck!

He squashes his face against the cool stone of the countertop. Whatever just happened cannot happen again. Stars, he’s a Jedi, out of all the things to be in the galaxy, with years and years of mental training under his belt. He should be able to keep himself from thinking selfish things that could only harm him and the people he cares for.

He levitates the comb a few centimeters, glaring at it out of the corner of his eye, just to prove to himself that he hasn’t totally lost it. After all, if he can stop gravity from pulling an object towards the center of the planet, then is there any reason he wouldn’t be able to stop his own stupid infatuation?

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

The rest of the morning is something akin to torture. Avoidance is no longer an option – not that he wants to avoid them, really, although it’s the simplest solution to his problems – so he collects himself and ventures back out after a few hours of alone time.

He ends up helping Yoongi make lunch while Namjoon bustles around them, coming up with a list of supplies they’ll need in order to make it through the next one or two weeks before the hired ship arrives to take them away. Initially, being around them like this is a test of his will, and it takes extreme mental gymnastics to not engage with his new fantasy: not to think about kissing Yoongi, and not to think about kissing Namjoon, either, because yes, that’s also a problem. And oh, when Namjoon approaches Yoongi with a question about groceries, putting a hand on the small of his back and calling him ‘honey,’ the wave of longing that washes over the third-man-in-the-kitchen is horrific. Eventually, though, he finds that he’s able to shake it off, relax, and center his thoughts around the present moment.

He volunteers himself for the afternoon supply run, and after a little debate they decide it’s fine if he goes alone. That’s how he ends up at the small local grocery-slash-general store, in nondescript civilian clothes and goggles and a hat, a nice old Ketoran man handing him two big grey-paper sacks of purchased items. Before he left, Namjoon taught him some basic phrases; he doesn’t know whether a poorly pronounced ‘thank you, goodbye’ is more suspicion-worthy than silence, but it’s certainly more polite, so Jungkook echoes the man’s farewell back at him as he walks out the door.

Yoongi and Namjoon were concerned about his unwillingness to resort to Jedi mind tricks if the occasion arose while in town, but his visit has gone very smoothly thus far. He’s barely been in town for an hour, and he’s already pretty much done – he just needs to check the pharmacy for what he wasn’t able to find at his previous stop. But before that, he’s dropping off these bags.

Walking back to the light-craft airfield, he gets passed by just a few ground vehicles and even fewer pedestrians. It’s quiet in town; he suspects the children must be at school, the adults at work. The more agricultural items for sale in the back of the grocery have Jungkook suspecting they do a lot of avian and reptile farming. Not that it really matters. But he supposes Namjoon's predilection for learning about local culture has rubbed off on him.

Only a half-dozen vehicles are parked at the airfield, all clustered in the corner closest to the main street, his own ship among them. Fine red dust, kicked up by every arrival and departure, covers all surfaces, and he grimaces at the thought of cleaning it out of every corner and groove later. Oh, well.

Leaving one of the sacks on the ground, he climbs up and undoes the top hatch with one hand, dropping the first bag onto what he’s mentally dubbed ‘Namjoon's seat.’ (He shoves the thought of Namjoon out of his mind.) Ordinarily, he’d levitate the second one up to him, but he’s not risking being identified just to save a few seconds of effort, so he goes down and gets it and brings it back up, too.

Securing the hatch, he says goodbye to K1 again and trudges back to the main street, heading in the direction of the pharmacy – at least, what was the direction of the pharmacy back whenever the map they found at the cave was published. Although, stars, it’s not as if the town is big. He’ll search the whole thing for the dish soap Yoongi wants, if it comes down to that.

A strong, sudden gust of wind blows across the road. Momentarily blinded in his protective goggles, he tugs off his hat and covers his whole face with it. His hair is going to be incredibly grimy by the end of this trip, but at least he won’t have dust up his nose. A small tradeoff.

Once he feels that the wind has died down, he puts his hat back on and, much to his chagrin, sees a red-haired, humanoid person standing just a couple of meters down the sidewalk, looking straight at him, smile disconcertingly wide.

“Hi!” the guy says, the smallest hint of an accent in his Basic pronunciation. “Aren’t you one of the three Jedi who ran away from Coruscant?”

“Huh?” Jungkook says, almost choking on the sound, fighting to keep ahold of himself and not panic, to respond as he’s been trained to. “Me? What Jedi?”

“I should introduce myself. I’m Jung Hoseok, an investigative reporter for the Keiter 03 Gazette, covering this district. I’ve got my eye on everything that happens around here, and I would love to interview you. Would you be willing to answer a few questions?” Hoseok cocks his head questioningly, cheerful smile still plastered on his face as if this weren’t a very high stakes situation.

“You’re mistaken,” Jungkook says, brusque. “I’m not a Jedi, and I’m not interested in answering your questions.”

“Aww, that’s a shame…” Motions exaggerated, Hoseok squints up at the sky and strokes his chin. “I guess I’ll have to publish my article without hearing your side of the story.”

Oh, stars and planets. They can’t get found out like this. Jungkook stares at the journalist posing ridiculously in front of him and imagines the potential fallout. “Surely you understand why you can’t do that,” he says. “What if your imaginary fugitive Jedi really are hidden away somewhere around here? You don’t know what they’re hiding from; exposing them could put their lives in danger. Or maybe you just succeed in pissing them off, and then you’ve made enemies of one or more Jedi, which I don’t think is a position you necessarily want to be in.”

“Well-reasoned. I’m not actually going to publish anything,” Hoseok concedes, and he leans forward. “But don’t you want to know how I know?”

That’s a good point.

“If you satisfy my curiosity, I’ll tell you everything you want to know,” Hoseok continues. “Please? I’m not going to say a word to anybody. It’s just that nothing interesting ever happens around here.”

Despite the coercive methods, Jungkook's gut and force-sense are telling him that the reporter’s intentions are good. And even though he would really prefer not to divulge any sensitive information to this stranger, he is going to need to find out how the guy knows who he is. “Fine,” he finally says. “We can talk.”

“Oh, good.” Tension visibly leaves Hoseok's stance. “I really didn’t think that was going to work. Sorry for being so pushy. I figured you’d make me forget you existed and move on…”

“It’s your lucky day, I guess.” ‘Being pushy’ is such a ridiculous understatement that Jungkook smiles, tickled. “Where do you want to talk?”

“You were on your way into town, right?” Hoseok turns around to glance at the stretch of empty road behind him. “We could head to my office. Or, if you’re more comfortable talking in a public place, there’s the diner…”

Going to Hoseok's office would be much better for his own privacy, but Hoseok might prefer a public space, for safety’s sake. So Jungkook opts out. “I’m headed to the pharmacy right now. Let’s go wherever’s nearest.”

Hoseok points a thumb backwards and to the side. “My office is actually in that building there. Follow me?”

That explains how the journalist had been able to appear on the sidewalk so suddenly and out of nowhere. Jungkook nods his assent, and Hoseok turns and starts towards the building – a single-story, stucco architecture with a slanted roof and covered in the same all-consuming red dust. The sight reminds Jungkook to shake the dust off of his outer layer before entering.

As they step inside, and Hoseok turns on the lights in the entryway, Jungkook finds himself in a much more personalized, lived-in space than he expected. Hoseok slips out of his purple-and-blue shoes, leaving them in a little row of other well-maintained, fashionable footwear by the wall. The limited part of the space he can see feels fresh and bright, immaculately clean despite the dust outside.

Jungkook stuffs his hat into his shopping bag, pushes his goggles up to the top of his head, and bends to start untying his boots – that’s one element of his wardrobe that wasn’t borrowed from grandma’s closets at the cave – but Hoseok stops him with a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s ok,” he says. “We’re just going in my office here.” He points to the first entrance on the left, just a few steps down the hall from where they are now.

“Is this… your home?” He spots a kitchen down the hall as they enter Hoseok's office. It’s a small, square room, well lit by large windows on two of the walls, the half-closed slatted blinds letting in weak little horizontal strips of sunlight. Framed prints and figurines leave little pops of color around the room. The L-shaped desk is uncluttered, a computer module in the middle and a stack of printed documents sitting in a tray.

“Yeah. I live here and I work here.” Hoseok shrugs. “But ‘let’s go to my house’ sounds less professional than ‘let’s meet at the office,’ right? Anyway, do you want coffee?”

Honestly, he doesn’t like coffee, but he also doesn’t want to seem ungrateful or make a fuss. “Sure.”

“Okay! Wait right here. Sit down and make yourself comfortable.” He glides back into the hallway, disappearing. A clean-laundry smell wafts by with him.

Jungkook decides to take the advice and make himself comfortable. He pulls the chair out from under the near side of the desk and, hanging his shopping bag off the back and sitting, he can’t help but notice the stark difference between the padding of this chair and the extremes of uncushioned and lumpy-soft he’s gotten accustomed to back at the cave.

Hoseok returns in a few moments, and he places two mugs - not identical, but matching – onto the desk. Jungkook accepts his with a smile, taking off one of his gloves to cradle the warm ceramic in his hand.

“So,” Hoseok begins, settling in on the other side of the desk. “I never did learn exactly who you are…”

“You know I’m one of the three runaway Jedi. Isn’t that enough?”

“Maybe, but that’s not very friendly.” A pout appears on Hoseok's face. “But if you won’t tell me, I’ll figure it out myself. Let’s see… The fact that you’re out here running errands suggests to me the position of a trusted subordinate. Somebody younger or lower on the hierarchy. You’re Jeon Jungkook, aren’t you?”

“Hm!”

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

“Well, it’s not like I’m running errands as their padawan or something,” Jungkook protests. “It’s just that I can fly and they can’t.”

“Oh, okay, I see. You guys do live pretty far away, don’t you…” Hoseok muses, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Do we? How do you know about where we live?”

“The reason I know where you live is the same as the reason I know who you are, actually.” He pauses and makes a serious expression as if to raise the level of suspense.

“Okay… I’d love to know what that is,” Jungkook prompts.

“How did it happen… picture this: I had been in another city for a week, covering the regional elections with my colleague,” Hoseok says. “Then, I returned home and the next day I went around doing my usual business, collecting the local gossip in search of a new story. I was very interested to hear that the old cave property had finally sold, especially since it had been on the market for quite a while. So then I wondered – “ He makes an exaggerated, pondering expression. “Who would come into town and buy that property?”

“Ah.” Jungkook is starting to see where this story is going.

“You can imagine how shocked I was when nobody could tell me anything about the person who bought the house! The previous owner remembered selling it, and that the buyer was someone unfamiliar, but – “ Hoseok shrugs. “That was it!”

Of course. Yoongi might have mind-tricked anybody in the village, but he couldn’t have gotten to somebody who wasn’t there at the time. So this inquisitive journalist slipped through the cracks. “So then what did you do?”

“From what I remember, I didn’t do anything. I figured this owner didn’t want to be bothered, so I let the story sit in the back of my mind for the time being. But I have to acknowledge that if I did go out to the cave to investigate, I probably wouldn’t remember. Right?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” The notion of being forced to forget something you did is… something that makes Jungkook very uncomfortable. And he is even more uncomfortable with the idea of Yoongi doing that to somebody, even with extenuating circumstances. But – “I don’t think it happened, though. I haven’t heard about it.”

“I guess I’ll take your word for it. Anyway – I was just sitting there with the thought that something fishy was going on with the new owner. It was just a few days later that my colleagues were discussing the disappearance of a second Jedi from Coruscant, and possibly a third, although that third disappearance was being covered up for some reason.” Hoseok taps the side of his head. “It made me remember the news of the first disappearance, and so I looked into the timeline. It all added up, especially the mysterious collective amnesia part.”

“So, what you’re saying is you were able to deduce that we were here,” Jungkook reasons, “not because of some mistake where we accidentally revealed our identities to people, but because you had information about a specific property in town and happened to be away on a certain day.”

“Yep! And because I want to find out all the local news.”

“That’s a huge relief,” Jungkook says. “I would ask that you please not tell anyone about this – at least not for a while. A few weeks, really…”

“Why not?” Hoseok challenges, pushing for information like Jungkook expected. “And what happens in a few weeks?”

Hoseok was honest with him, so he wants to be honest in return, especially since Hoseok already knows so much. “Staying hidden is essential for our safety right now. Someone powerful on Coruscant is trying to kill us – well, most of us – for political reasons. In a few weeks we’ll be ready to travel back and present our case against them.”

Hoseok leans back in his seat, eyebrows raised. “Ughhhhhhh,” he groans. “That’s so cool. I’ll respect your wishes and say nothing about it, but – I can’t help but wish I could report on a story like that. It would be my big break!”

It’s not exactly the reaction Jungkook expected, but as long as Hoseok is planning on, as he put it, ‘respecting his wishes,’ it’s good news. “Your big break? I feel like it’s kind of dangerous, though…”

“This might surprise you, but local journalism can be dangerous, too, even though this star system is extremely boring in the grand scheme of things,” Hoseok points out. “I had to leave behind my life on Keiter 01 because a couple different crime syndicates wanted me dead. I understand that messing with Jedi might create more powerful enemies, but at least Jedi are supposed to be keeping up the appearance of civil behavior. If I had the chance,” he concludes, “I would transfer to Coruscant in a hyperspace-millisecond.”

“Really?” Jungkook chuckles. “After I found out what was going on there, I never wanted to set foot on that planet ever again.”

“Are you from Coruscant, originally?”

Taken away from his family and trained from infancy, Jungkook doesn’t have any idea where he’s ‘originally’ from. “I spent my early years there, yeah. I never really got to know the city, though. Nowadays I live on an asteroid.”

“So you wouldn’t know of any job openings at Coruscant news agencies, then.” Jungkook shakes his head. “Well, it was worth a shot. The other two Jedi are from Coruscant, though, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, they are.”

“What is that like? Living with them, I mean? If they’re both Jedi Masters and from the same city, I feel like that must be difficult…”

“If it’s been difficult at all, it’s been because of me, and my ingrained hierarchical thinking. The others, they’ve been amazing. They’re the best people I’ve ever met.” It’s difficult to defend Namjoon and Yoongi without thinking too hard about them. “They made me part of the team even though I’m not necessarily as, I don’t know… experienced as they are…”

He drops off into a mumble at the end, realizing that he might be sharing more information than is strictly necessary, and he looks up to see Hoseok smiling at him. “Your face is red; are you sure you’re telling the truth? It’s okay if you want to share your woes. I’ve already whined and complained to you about not wanting to live here, so it would only be fair.”

“No, it’s not like – it’s not like I’m sitting on gripes against my supervisors or something. Honestly, they’re too nice to me, and it’s… disorienting. I’m just not used to it? And it’s been hard to know how to act.”

“Too nice!?” Hoseok repeats incredulously, and laughs. “You’re a lucky guy if your big issue is people being too nice to you. Well, I guess that’s not your big issue…” And Hoseok starts laughing again.

The journalist is right. He’s so incredibly lucky. If only he could get the rest of his brain to realize it and believe it. Maybe then he’d stop thinking about and wanting things he can't have.

He doesn't stay much longer at Hoseok's office. He’s given all the information he’s comfortable giving – maybe more, actually – and received all the information he needs to know. And, yeah, it was nice having a friendly conversation with a new person, but he really didn’t intend to be in town for so long, and he still has another errand to run…

When he leaves, Hoseok points him in the direction of the pharmacy, and he’s quickly able to find what he needs there, hurrying back to his ship and K1, who is obviously concerned over his long absence even if they try to disguise it under their snarky comments.

It’s when he’s flying over the cliffside somewhere near the cave that he notices Yoongi and Namjoon are worried about him, too. The realization that he can sense their energy in the force – it’s unexpected, it’s overwhelming, and it knocks the breath out of him. There’s something satisfying, maybe comforting, about being able to pick out their spiritual signatures from among the rest of the environment’s energies, but at the same time, it does feel rather intrusive, this level of attunement to his relatively new friends’ emotions.

Maybe the link isn’t just one-way, though. The other two are waiting for him at the cave entrance when he comes in, their worry already having been transformed into relief before he even touches down. “You see?” Namjoon says to Yoongi after they’ve greeted Jungkook and ascertained that he’s still in one piece. “I told you we’d know if something happened to him.”

It is mutual, then. He locks onto this fact greedily, this cosmic proof of how much they care for him.

(Wasn’t it just this morning he was promising himself not to get too greedy? To set boundaries and to stick to them?

Although he would argue that he is abiding by this morning’s resolutions, by letter if not by spirit. Gathered in the living room, as he narrates his encounter with Hoseok back at the town, he avoids those so-called ‘dangerous activities’: he doesn’t sit too close to them on the sofa, instead perching on the coffee table right in front of them; and he doesn’t hold anybody’s hand, either, although Yoongi does try to initiate. Luckily playing with his fingers and tracing lines on his palm doesn’t count as holding his hand, so Jungkook passes that particular test.)

(Who is he kidding? Everything he’s doing is adding fuel to his longing, at the same time selfish and self-destructive. He can see the end coming – it’s obvious that eventually, one day, he’s going to overstep what they’re comfortable with, or he’s going to raise his hopes too high; and then what?

He can’t afford to lose what he’s gained.)

Chapter Text

“Jungkookie.”

Jungkook looks up from where he’s sitting cross-legged on his bed, working on K1’s programming, to see Yoongi standing in the open doorway.

“Yeah?”

“There’s only a week left until we leave,” Yoongi says.

“Yes…” This is something they’ve been discussing a lot lately.

“So I think we ought to practice our fighting skills,” Yoongi concludes. “That way we’ll be confident that we aren’t rusty or out of practice.”

“Okay. I agree.” Practicing a bit will probably give him a confidence boost. It’s a good idea. “When? Now?”

“If now is okay with you, then yeah. No reason to put it off.” Yoongi takes a step backwards. “Let’s meet at the cave. I’ll fetch Joon.”

When he says ‘the cave,’ Yoongi means the area just outside the house, but inside the opening in the cliff wall. Jungkook sees the rationale: it’s a flat-ish, open space, but not one that’s exposed to the outside and whatever prying eyes might be flying above. Jungkook dutifully saves his work, straps his tool belt with the light saber attachment around his waist, and heads outside, passing K1 in the foyer but not the others, who are talking in their room.

Even with the afternoon light coming in from outside, it’s still dark in the cave – maybe a bit too dark to be safe – so he turns the light on in the foyer and leaves the door open.

“Kookie, hi.” Namjoon approaches, Yoongi following behind. “What are we up to? Are you fixing something?”

“Oh, um.” Jungkook assumes he’s referring to the utility belt, which is a bit confusing, because doesn’t he –

“Yeah, in a way.” Yoongi cuts in, continuing to usher the three of them out the door. “Fixing an oversight, maybe.”

“An oversight?” Namjoon sounds dubious, but he allows himself to be shuttled along anyway. “You think we’ve overlooked something?”

“Given that we’re leaving in a week, and given what our confrontation might ultimately involve…” They pause midway down the worn path, Jungkook and Namjoon turning to face Yoongi as he continues to speak. “And I know that it might not be the most pleasant prospect, but we need to train at least a little bit.” With that said, Yoongi reveals from the folds of his outer robes two lightsabers, offering one of them to Namjoon, holding the other one at his side.

Namjoon makes no move to take the weapon from Yoongi's hand, but he does stare at it.

“But we aren’t…” Namjoon says slowly, searchingly. “We aren’t going to be provoking violence there.”

Jungkook can feel Namjoon's discomfort in the air; he knows Yoongi can feel it too, and he’s confused, and kind of alarmed, because it doesn’t seem like they’re all on the same page.

“Joonie. Hamidou has already tried to kill me, and he tried to kill Kook too.” Yoongi says it gently, but Namjoon grimaces at Hamidou’s name anyway. “We need to be prepared to protect ourselves and defend each other.”

“Tried to kill you secretly,” Namjoon counters. “We’ll be in public. Jedi don’t fight each other publicly.”

“It might be okay for them to do so if we’re resisting arrest. Joon, you’re being unreasonable. I know you want to help prevent us from getting arrested.”

“You’re being – “ Namjoon's glance flickers to Jungkook and then back to Yoongi. “You’re being manipulative,” he hisses. “What makes you think – Why wouldn’t we be able to – “

He breaks off with a huff, turning and walking back towards the house; and as he goes, he summons what Jungkook supposes is his own lightsaber from Yoongi's still outstretched hand, catching it before he disappears into the living room.

Staring at the door through which Namjoon vanished, Yoongi twice opens and closes his mouth, as if he’s thought better of what he was about to say. They hear a door opening and closing somewhere inside, and Yoongi takes that as his cue to rush in as well.

Jungkook follows more slowly, carefully as if he were told not to make a sound, unsure of his place and his role in this situation. He follows Namjoon and Yoongi's trail past the kitchen and into the hall, finding that they aren’t in their own room, but in the one across from Jungkook's, down at the end. He doesn’t want to overhear their private conversation, but he does want to stay nearby in case there’s a way he can be helpful, so he hovers around the near side of his room, taking off his tool belt and rearranging things here and there as he waits, uneasily, for some sort of sign from the next room.

He really doesn’t know what to think, besides that he obviously doesn’t have all the information needed to understand. And he is not going to engage in self-pity over not being privy to 100% of the couple’s secrets, because that would be unreasonable.

Yoongi comes out of the room alone, closing the door behind him, expression serious, meeting Jungkook's gaze. Jungkook rushes over to him.

“Is he okay?” he asks, whispering.

“Yes… He’s been working through some things, but then I ended up, ah, pushing him too hard. I’m really sorry about this. I didn’t mean to drag you into it.” Yoongi stares at the floor while he speaks, looking back up again after he’s done.

Jungkook glosses over the apology, not feeling that he’s in any place to accept or reject it when he doesn’t even know what’s happening. “Is there something I can do to help?”

“Well…” He and Yoongi both look at the closed door to the third bedroom. “He would probably appreciate someone to talk to who isn’t me. It’s up to you.”

“Mm.” Jungkook nods, trying to put himself in Namjoon's shoes.

“Don’t feel obligated,” Yoongi continues. “It’s not your mess to clean up.”

Jungkook nods again, and Yoongi backs away down the hall, leaving him alone to decide his course of action. It’s not a difficult decision. If Namjoon doesn’t want company, he can turn Jungkook away; but if he does, the best way to find out is to ask.

He knocks on the door.

“Come in.” He thinks Namjoon knows it’s him. He opens the door, stepping in and closing it behind him.

This room is a bit smaller than the other two, and Jungkook has only ever spent time in it to look through the wardrobe and closet. Even though the overhead lamp is on, it’s rather poorly lit, the glass light fixture casting the room in an orange hue. The walls are a salmon pink, the furnishings done up in pink and dark green. Namjoon's lightsaber has been cast aside at the edge of the plush, green carpet, and Namjoon himself sits perched at the edge of the striped-floral bed.

“Hi, Joon,” Jungkook says, and Namjoon pats the space next to him on the bed.

“Hi.”

“Um…” Jungkook starts, walking over and sitting where Namjoon indicated. “Are you doing okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. I guess.” Namjoon rearranges himself, folding up his legs. “I just need some time to, hmm… let go of my delusional way of thinking.”

It’s like he says it intentionally harshly and self-critically, and Jungkook lets out an unintentional little noise of protest. “I don’t think you’re delusional! And I’m really sorry if I helped to make you feel – "

“Oh, no, love, you did nothing wrong, okay?”

“Ah, right, okay,” Jungkook manages, words coming out a little mangled, still very sensitive to terms of endearment even though he’s been hearing them a lot recently. Namjoon chooses that moment to flop backwards onto the bed with a long, dramatic sigh, so if Jungkook is blushing, at least no one will see.

Namjoon huffs and tugs on the back of Jungkook's shirt - “Come down here.” – and Jungkook obediently sinks into the horizontal position.

They gaze at the ceiling for a minute. “I hate being mad at Yoongi,” Namjoon mutters, voice gaining strength as he continues. “For so long, we only had each other, and so… when I was upset, it wasn’t like I could go to anyone else. I’m not supposed to get upset. I’m a Jedi. Jedi are supposed to be… lonely bastards, I guess.” He raises himself up on one elbow to frown down at Jungkook. “It must be so lonely. Were you very lonely?”

“I think so,” Jungkook answers honestly. “But I never noticed it.”

“Hmm.” Namjoon seems to consider his answer for a moment before lying back down. “There’s a blessing and a curse involved in… expanding your horizons. Opening yourself up to a different way of life. The Code is the way it is for a reason, that I know.” Namjoon shifts to lie partially on his side, facing Jungkook, one hand tucked under his head. “I envy him,” he states, leaving the ‘him’ ambiguous, although Jungkook thinks Yoongi is the man in question. “Is that bad, or is it natural? He was able to turn his back on everything so easily. Even before he discovered the breaches of conduct that were going on, I think he stopped believing in the infallibility of our thought and teachings… very early.”

Jungkook nods at the ceiling, although he has to wonder who Namjoon means in referring to ‘our’ thought, whether Namjoon is still picturing himself as one with the ranks of Jedi thinkers and leaders. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

“On the other hand, there was me,” Namjoon continues. “Even if I didn’t always live by the book, I devoted years of my life to theory. The Order and its internal politics were always, for me, forces guiding me towards capital-t truth. Especially certain people who, I thought, were further along on that path… It’s hard to let go of all that.”

“Yeah,” he says, acknowledgement more than agreement. ‘Certain people’ must include Hamidou, Jungkook thinks. Namjoon has consistently been averse to saying the man’s name.

“What about you? You learned about the problems with the Council almost at the same time as I did. How are you dealing with the… paradigm shift?”

He almost wishes Namjoon hadn’t asked, because he doesn’t have a relatable response. “I’ve probably dealt with it more easily than I should have. I’ve always found it easier to focus on individual people than on… administrative structures, or the system as a whole. And it’s not as if I had great confidence in the first place, or as if the people I know are the ones involved in committing crimes.”

“That’s another reason Yoongi's had it so easy,” Namjoon muses. “Anyway. I’m going to shut up now and keep reflecting – “

“Oh, would you like me to leave?” Jungkook turns and raises himself on one arm, starting to get up but waiting for confirmation.

“No! Unless you want to leave, of course.” But Namjoon really does look like he wants Jungkook to stay.

Jungkook smiles reassuringly. “Okay, I’ll stay then.”

Namjoon takes hold of Jungkook's free hand, squeezes it once, and lets go. Jungkook lies back down, folding his hands over his chest and staring up at the ceiling again. It’s so quiet; if he listens closely he can hear Namjoon's breathing and the sound of the ventilation system coming to life as Yoongi does something in the kitchen.

Despite the worry he felt earlier, now that he understands more of what’s going on, he’s not all that concerned. It seems reasonable to him that Namjoon would still feel attached to his previous normal life, and it also seems reasonable that Yoongi would be disturbed by that attachment. He doesn’t have any doubt that they’ll work through it – and they don’t seem to doubt that, either. It’s just the timing that’s the issue.

Namjoon sighs, the first sound he’s made in a while, and turns onto his side, facing away from Jungkook. “I would have loved to help uncover abuses of power if it were anyone else. How can I go against him?”

It sounds like he’s talking to himself, but Jungkook hums sympathetically. Hearing him, Namjoon suddenly sits up and turns around.

“Struggling with this does not make me a bad person,” he states, definitive but maybe still wanting confirmation, so Jungkook nods.

“That’s right. Especially as long as you keep thinking about it and working on it… and it’ll become easier, over time.”

On impulse, Jungkook reaches out with his arms, and Namjoon accepts the silent invitation, maneuvering to lie partly across Jungkook's chest, face half in his shoulder and half squished into the bunched-up bedspread. Jungkook wraps his arms around Namjoon's shoulders and rests his chin on the top of the other’s head.

With this proximity, the grief and sadness he’s sensing from Namjoon combined with the tenderness and sympathy he’s already feeling is enough to bring tears to his eyes, a wetness which he stubbornly blinks away. He hopes Namjoon doesn’t notice; and if he does, he doesn’t say anything.

Despite the underlying melancholy, when Namjoon sighs and Jungkook can feel some of the tension melting off of him, he has to admit that some part of this is really nice. The dichotomy in it – that this steps far outside of the boundaries he’s committed to, and yet it feels right and permissible because it’s done unselfishly – isn’t too difficult to reconcile. Especially given that he’s in this situation not to come between Yoongi and Namjoon, but for both of their sakes.

He notices that Namjoon is falling asleep, but doesn’t register that he is as well until he’s pulled out of dozing by gentle fingers pushing through the hair on his forehead.

“Hey there, sleepyhead.”

It’s Yoongi. Namjoon is still draped around him, an unmoving weight.

“Mmh,” Jungkook replies.

“Are you hungry? It’s past dinner time, and I stress-baked a Balarian pie.”

He is hungry, actually. And it smells amazing. But he also doesn’t want to leave Namjoon in case he isn’t expecting to wake up alone.

Yoongi notices his indecision. “I’d let him sleep a bit longer. He’ll be fine if you want to get up.” His gaze rests on Namjoon for a few more moments.

“How – “ Jungkook looks up at Yoongi, trying to get his point across without making too much noise.

Yoongi reaches up to take a pillow from the head of the bed, and he motions Jungkook forward, taking Namjoon's arm with his free hand so Jungkook can slide away.

“Huh?”

“Hi there.” They’ve woken up Namjoon, but Yoongi doesn’t seem concerned. He just tucks the pillow under Namjoon's torso where Jungkook used to be, gently rearranging him. “Are you tired? You can go back to sleep.”

Namjoon squishes his face further into the pillow. “Okay,” he mumbles, the noises barely audible. “Love you.”

Maybe Jungkook shouldn’t be here. This feels like the sort of thing he isn’t entitled to witness. But Yoongi turns to look at him with a smile. “I think you did really well,” he says. “Let’s go.”

It feels so good to hear that. ‘I think you did really well.’ I trusted you with my most important person, and you didn’t disappoint me, and I’ll keep trusting you.

In the kitchen, Yoongi makes an immediate beeline for the stove, upon which sits the source of the delightful smells filling the rest of the house. “The salted Balarian fish you found at the store were calling to me. ‘Yoongi! Forget your troubles! Spend two hours making us into a complicated dinner!’” Yoongi gives his fish impersonation an endearingly high-pitched voice.

Jungkook joins him by the stove, where Yoongi already has some plates and a knife sitting at the ready. “And did it work?” he asks. “Did you forget your troubles?”

“No,” Yoongi scoffs. “It would be irresponsible of me to forget the problems I arguably caused myself.”

“Mm.” What else can he say to a statement like that? Yoongi hands him a plate with pie on it, which he accepts and takes over to the kitchen table.

Yoongi joins him there, emptyhanded. “You’re not eating?”

Yoongi shakes his head. “I’m not hungry. I figured I’d join Namjoon when he wakes up.”

“Ah.” Jungkook is hungry, so there’s no point in waiting. He takes the first bite, making sure to include fish, vegetables, and flaky crust for the holistic experience of Yoongi's work. “Wow, this is really good.”

Yoongi probably anticipated the compliment, but he still smiles bashfully. “Thanks.”

They sit in silence for a bit, Yoongi looking at his hands and tapping his fingers on the table, Jungkook continuing to eat even though it feels a bit awkward. Eventually, though, after Yoongi fails to concretely bring up the uncomfortable topic of what happened earlier, Jungkook feels like he has no choice but to do so.

“So, um.” Maybe it’s not his place to ask, but he does want to understand. “What did you think was going to happen?”

“What do you mean?” The way he says it makes Jungkook think Yoongi does know what he’s talking about but wants to get a better read on Jungkook's own understanding or his feelings about it.

“When you… you clearly understood that Namjoon was in denial about, I guess, the level of hostility he should expect from people he’s accustomed to trusting and working with; and you decided the way to combat that denial was to…” Jungkook doesn’t want to sound too harsh or accusatory, so he considers his options, tilting his head to the side. “To surprise him and hope he would just accept it? And maybe he’d accept it because I was standing there waiting with the expectation that there was no issue…? I don’t know. I’m a little confused, I guess. What did you expect would happen?”

“Well, for context, I’ve been trying to talk to him about this for a while now,” Yoongi says with a sigh. “It’s his attachment to our previous life versus this fear I have of one of us getting seriously hurt, or even killed, in an avoidable way.” Jungkook nods – he can sympathize with both sides of that coin, although really the latter more so than the former. “That being said, I’m really sorry for putting you on the spot and in the middle of us like that. I recognize that must have been uncomfortable and not a position you wanted to be in.”

“Yeah… it was uncomfortable, and concerning, but at the same time, I guess I would rather be uncomfortable and become aware of a potential problem than remain fully ignorant about it, especially if it’s something that could affect all of us down the line. And maybe…” He knows Yoongi is receptive to his criticism, but he’s still going to put it delicately. “Maybe you didn’t go about it in the best way, but I totally agree with your concerns. And I think, based on the conversation I had with him, you might actually have managed to convince him?”

“That would be a relief, but what makes you think so?” Now that Jungkook has expressed de facto forgiveness for the incident Yoongi incited, he seems a bit more relaxed; he rests his elbow on the table, holding his chin in his hand.

“Um.” It’s probably okay to tell him this, right? “He called himself delusional? Although I told him he wasn’t. He didn’t seem defensive, just… sad. More like he was mourning the past than trying to hold onto it.”

“Mmm.” Yoongi gazes down the hallway. Jungkook takes that as his cue to keep eating.

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

Two days later, they’re back in the cave-clearing outside the house – everyone present willingly this time.

“If I can prove to you that I’m no worse a fighter than I was a year ago,” Namjoon proposes, “will you be satisfied?”

“That would help,” Yoongi admits, pointedly withholding the promise of ‘satisfaction.’ “If you can do that for me, I won’t pressure you for anything more.”

That exchange had taken place yesterday. But then, the atmospheric water generator broke down, and fixing it took the rest of the day, so only now are they out here, Yoongi and Namjoon facing each other from different sides of the cavern, Jungkook tucked against the wall, out of the way of the action.

“You should attack me first,” Namjoon calls. “I’m going to be on the defensive in this scenario. We can see how long I hold out.”

“That’s fair,” Yoongi says, and as soon as the words leave his mouth he’s launching himself into the air, blue lightsaber drawn, crossing more than half the distance between himself and Namjoon in that one leap. Namjoon immediately draws his lightsaber as well (his is yellowish-green, a somewhat unusual selection, but one he’d explained with historical context in an issue of his audio documents) and then there’s the first, telltale crackling sound indicating plasma-to-plasma contact.

He knows the sound well, of course. There may not have been a war, but on G’aav’aar’oon he used to practice combat with Master Typhe all the time – his fighting skills were probably the one area of his training where he lived up to her expectations.

One more hit follows the first, then another, and another. Namjoon clearly stays on the defensive, countering Yoongi's blows, stepping this way and that to get some distance from him. Jungkook can’t tell if this is Yoongi's real fighting style or an imitation of what he thinks they’ll be up against, but either way, it’s very aggressive. And with that taken into consideration, Namjoon actually does quite well. It’s only after several long minutes of intense action that Yoongi finally disarms his opponent, taking Namjoon's lightsaber away from him.

Once it’s clear that the ordeal has ended, Namjoon doubles over, breathing hard. “There,” he pants. “Is that enough, professor?”

“Yes, Namjoon.” Yoongi passes the disengaged lightsaber back to its owner. “You passed. You can leave.”

“Awesome.” He straightens back up again, wiping his face on his sleeve. “Well, have fun, guys. Don’t injure yourselves.”

“We’ll be good.” Yoongi sits down on the cave floor, ignoring the dust, directing his attention to Jungkook. “Won’t we?”

“Oh!” It’s like he has to remind himself that he’s here and existing in spacetime. “Yes, don’t worry.”

“All right.” Namjoon makes his way out.

Jungkook strolls into the middle of the clearing, hands in his pockets.

“You have to give me a few minutes.”

“Sure,” Jungkook replies. Yoongi does look a bit tired, hair messy, arms tossed around his knees as he sits on the ground. Jungkook scuffs his boots in the dust, watching little piles form before stepping on them. “He did pretty well, right?”

Yoongi shrugs. “As well as he usually does. That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop worrying about him.”

“Right.” He wouldn’t have expected anything different.

“Well, I guess we can get started.” Yoongi stands and brushes dust off of his robes. Jungkook stretches out his limbs a bit, casually since he stretched earlier, eager to get started.

They take up positions on opposite sides of the cave, just as Yoongi and Namjoon did earlier. They engage their lightsabers, Yoongi first, then Jungkook, his a few shades more teal than Yoongi's pure blue beam.

Yoongi looks intimidating like this, strong blue light illuminating half of his body while casting the other part into shadow. It’s thrilling somehow, seeing him like this; on the one hand, he presents a challenge for Jungkook to rise to, and on the other, there’s the knowledge that this formidable person cares for him, wants to protect him, and is motivated by that desire…

“And?” Yoongi calls. “Are you just going to stand there all day?”

“Are you?”

Yoongi, once again, targets the center, and Jungkook dashes forward, attempting to attack from the left. The goal is to disarm each other; maybe it’s not the exact scenario they’ll face in the real world, but to try for anything more would be unsafe. Yoongi deflects him easily, and Jungkook sidesteps his next two attacks before spotting an opening for his next offensive.

Yoongi raises up his hand, fingers outstretched, and the downward swing of Jungkook's arm just – it stops. His arm stops in midair and it’s not moving but he’s telling it to move, it’s just not obeying his brain anymore.

All the confidence, all the fight rushes out of him then, like water spilling from an upturned glass. His lightsaber disengages almost of its own accord, falling to the ground, and he feels himself falling, too, stumbling over some rock or something – he doesn’t know because mentally he isn’t even really there. He’s remembering, and he remembers it so distinctly, that terrible feeling of fighting for control of his own brain, of Hamidou reaching inside and rummaging around – confess! confess!

It’s absurd. He shouldn’t be thinking about this. Yoongi just blocked his arm in space, a basic levitation trick he’s well-accustomed to… but for some reason, it felt like…

“What the fuck was that?” His trance is broken by Namjoon's voice, and he opens his eyes to see Yoongi standing somewhat above him, frozen with his hand up like before, a frightened look on his face. Namjoon's house slippers crunch over the rocks as he rushes over to them.

“Um,” Yoongi says, voice strained. “That didn’t feel… good.”

Right. Because they can sense his strong emotions over the force. Jungkook pushes himself up to more of a sitting position – he broke his fall with his arm, thank the stars, they can’t afford a concussion right now. “I’m sorry, guys –“ he starts, but then Namjoon arrives and crouches down next to him, grabbing his shoulder and cutting him off.

“Don’t say you’re sorry and don’t tell us not to worry, please. Just tell us what happened.”

“Ah, it’s silly, though…” The embarrassment is setting in, and he searches around for words to brush off the incident. “I guess I just wasn’t expecting… or I forgot… maybe it’s better to say I remembered…”

“I’m confused.” Yoongi reaches towards them a bit, but seems to stop himself. “Are you hurt? Did I hurt you?”

“No!” Jungkook exclaims. “Stars, no, it wasn’t you.”

“Then what happened? I’m not understanding,” Namjoon says, and Jungkook feels a bit like a wiggling insect pinned under the full brunt of their concerned attention.

“I don’t really – “

“Jungkook. Didn’t you tell me we should all be made aware of the problems that could impact the group mission, or something to that effect?”

The reminder from Yoongi stings a little, especially with the use of his full name, but – he’s right. It would be hypocritical and maybe even dangerous to withhold this from them.

“I know. I’m sorry.” Namjoon's hand squeezes his shoulder, reminding him of what he’d been told about apologizing. “I mean – I’ll try to describe what happened.” He takes a deep breath, drawing his knees closer to his torso to maybe feel less vulnerable. “So, when you, like, held my arm in place, I was really strongly reminded, for some reason, of – something else that happened. Kind of recently. Um, when I was in Hamidou’s office? And he was trying to use mind tricks to get information from me, which was just really… uncomfortable. So I guess when I remembered that, I was so surprised that I kind of… lost track of where I was?”

“You’re telling me,” Namjoon says slowly, his hand heavy on Jungkook's shoulder, “that Hamidou used mind tricks on you?”

Jungkook nods, not looking at him, but feeling the protective anger and betrayal coming off him in thick waves. “That fucking bastard – “

“Joon,” Yoongi cautions – against what, Jungkook doesn’t know, but anyway it doesn’t seem to work.

“You don’t get it,” Namjoon continues. “I was in the room when that happened, and I didn’t even realize. How many other times – “

“Namjoon!” Yoongi repeats. “Calm down. Please. You’re not helping.”

Namjoon huffs but doesn’t object, sitting down fully and moving his hand to rub up and down Jungkook's back. Jungkook isn’t sure what reactions he expected from them, but right now he feels just as relieved as he does scrutinized.

“I’m really sorry to hear that happened,” Yoongi says. “It’s… it’s terrible that Hamidou would think that was something he could get away with, but it’s not. It’s a serious breach of the Jedi Code.”

“Oh, stars, Kookie!” Seeming to realize something, Namjoon jumps up again, hovering over Jungkook. “We’ve been doing these things to civilians this whole time, with you right next to us – we’ve probably been making you so uncomfortable!”

“Ah, no, that’s not…” Jungkook looks between Yoongi standing in front of him and Namjoon tightly gripping his arm. “Those were necessities, though, and it would be unreasonable for me to get, I dunno, upset by that, I think.”

“That’s right.” Yoongi crosses his arms over his chest. “Kook has every right to abstain from doing these things, but we have to acknowledge the realities of the situation.” Because of Namjoon's very (but understandably) emotional response, Yoongi has basically been forced into taking the clearheaded standpoint, and Jungkook can’t be annoyed at his bringing forward somewhat harsh truths.

“We are going to pick a fight with Hamidou,” Yoongi continues. “We’re all going to have to see him again. So, we have to acknowledge and prepare for the possibility that he might… not play by the rules. He could do this again, to you or to any of us. Right?”

“Yeah, I realize that.” He leans further into Namjoon's touch, feeling a bit like he’s being chastised, although he knows that’s really not Yoongi's intention. “And – I guess that’s why it’s really good we did this today. I didn’t realize how much it was going to… affect me.”

Yoongi nods. “Exactly.”

“I – ugh.” Namjoon trails off with a harsh sigh. “I hate that this is all we can do. I wish there were better ways we could protect each other.”

“The best we can do is prepare conscientiously for what might be coming.” Yoongi holds Jungkook's eye contact, and he wonders what Yoongi might be thinking. He remembers what Yoongi said, a few days ago, about how he’s been dealing with a fear ‘of one of us getting seriously hurt, or even killed, in an avoidable way.’

He pictures Hamidou in his mind’s eye. What if – Hamidou wouldn’t be able to control his actions, right? Hamidou isn’t powerful enough to… to make a puppet out of him? To turn a three-vs-one fight into two-vs-two… Jungkook shivers. That’s ridiculous. But now that thought is in his brain forever, isn’t it?

He gently tugs his arm out of Namjoon's grip. “Okay. I want to try again.” He hears Namjoon's inhale next to him.

“Are you sure?” Yoongi asks. “We could take a break, if you want.”

“No, I want to go again. I’m ready.”

“All right.” Yoongi nods. “If that’s what you want.”

“But don’t do that again,” Namjoon says, standing and taking a step back. “I think you took two years off my lifespan, earlier.”

Jungkook turns and attempts to give Namjoon a reassuring smile, but he thinks it might come off as more of a grimace – a grimace which Namjoon returns before withdrawing.

Jungkook turns back to Yoongi as he stands up. “You can’t hold back on me because of this.”

It’s now Yoongi's turn to put on a grimacing smile. “I can’t promise anything. You really spooked me… It could be a while before I’m comfortable again.”

“All right.” Jungkook picks up his lightsaber.

And that’s just how it happens: for the first few minutes of the game, Yoongi is unwilling to attack or even really defend himself at all, sticking to evasive tactics. Jungkook has to gather all his willpower to get himself to provoke a stronger response from him, knowing the kind of discomfort he’s asking to be subjected to.

Jungkook attacks more aggressively, and Yoongi has to start defending himself; but it’s not until Jungkook almost has the other trapped next to the cave wall that Yoongi uses his telekinetic capabilities again.

And immediately, Jungkook is super uncomfortable. So much so that he can’t really tell where his discomfort ends and Yoongi's begins. And he knows there’s nothing he can do about that visceral response, that physical reaction to a physically felt memory. The difference, though, is that he expects it this time. He understands what feelings are coming his way and, in true Jedi fashion, squashes them down – they’re still felt, that’s fine for now, but he’s not acting on them this time. He focuses on what’s in front of him, rejecting the Councilman’s face which presents itself in his imagination to picture the force energy keeping him in place and manifest a way to pass through it.

By doing this he manages to release himself from Yoongi's force-grip, and even though those few moments of struggle are sufficient for Yoongi to squeeze back into the main clearing, Jungkook feels proud of himself nonetheless.

And those positive feelings carry him through the next few minutes, compounding themselves when he wards off Hamidou’s specter again, and again. It’s satisfying despite the discomfort that comes with it.

He still ends up losing. Even faster than Jungkook's does, Yoongi's confidence grows as they proceed, and he attacks more fiercely, deploys more advanced tactics. And maybe on a different occasion Jungkook might have been able to disarm this formidable opponent (he’s not arrogant enough to think they’re quite evenly matched) but today is just not that day. It happens like so: he goes to jump over a rock, and Yoongi sends a force impulse at his feet, knocking him off balance; then, instead of being able to stabilize himself, he has to lean back to avoid the arc of Yoongi's lightsaber, and he ends up falling onto the dusty ground.

In Jungkook's humble opinion, there’s a strange intimacy inherent to the end of a fight, contained in the moments where one party comprehends their defeat and the other, their victory. Maybe Jungkook could have recovered somehow and continued, but before he gets up, he happens to meet Yoongi's gaze, and oh – after that moment, the matter is out of his hands. Because Yoongi is radiant – hair sticking to his forehead, breathing heavy but totally controlled, certain of his victory and obviously pleased with it.

Yoongi reaches down to knock Jungkook's lightsaber out of his loose grip. It retracts itself as it falls away, and Yoongi stows his own safely away in his robes.

“You did well.” Yoongi takes Jungkook's hand, helping him back to his feet. “I’m impressed.”

If you say something like that again I’m going to kiss you, Jungkook thinks, which is – ridiculous, obviously not true, he’d never do that, and he really needs to stop letting himself have those ideas.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh! Yeah.” Jungkook comes back to reality. Yoongi is still holding his hand. “That was… pretty good. I’ll win next time.”

“Yeah, sure, you can try,” Yoongi teases, and he summons Jungkook's lightsaber for the other to grab out of the air. “Let’s go inside.”

Yoongi still doesn’t let go of his hand, and Jungkook lets himself get pulled along into the house. Namjoon is there, sitting in one of the armchairs, open book in his lap, but Jungkook has a hunch he’s waiting for them because he jumps up when they walk in.

“Kookie! You’re still in one piece.” He rushes over and takes Jungkook's face in both of his hands, turning it this way and that as if it’s going to help him get a read on Jungkook's psychological state.

Jungkook can’t know for certain what emotions the others are sensing from him, but he’s picking up tremendous amounts of tenderness, concern, and love from them and there is no way they aren’t feeling the intensity with which he reciprocates that.

He doesn’t know if he wants to laugh or if he wants to cry.

He knows it’s wrong. He knows it’s selfish for him to feel like this. But what can he do?

Chapter Text

The last few days on Keiter 03 are a slow torture.

And not just for Jungkook. And not just for the reasons he might have been agonizing over previously. In fact, his personal feelings, while still undoubtedly a big issue he’s dealing with, are now perhaps among the least of his problems.

Because Namjoon and Yoongi are worried. All the time. Their anxiety doesn’t go away. It’s become a part of the natural cave environment at this point. It’s seeped into the rocks and the air outside that gets turned into the water they drink and –

Et cetera, et cetera. The point is – their powerful energy has turned sour with their constant worry over what’s going to happen.

Jungkook's own reasoning on the mission goes like this: Yoongi is too skilled to get himself killed, Namjoon has too large a reputation to get targeted, and if he himself were to die it would be for a good cause and he ought to be satisfied with that.

But this rationalization can only get him so far. It isn’t enough to prevent the miserable gloominess of the others from affecting him, not by a long shot. He can’t help but feel what they feel. Even if their force connection wasn’t as strong as it is, he bets he’d still get pulled into their emotional orbit, just by the way they’re acting, by things he notices.

He notices the way Yoongi has started to devote his entire energy into the work he’s doing, blocking out his surroundings, keeping himself busy, chasing a mental escape with frenetic activity. He does this with cooking and organizing around the house, but also with making preparations for the journey, grasping at all the control over the situation he can get.

He notices, on the other hand, how Namjoon is processing his concerns in a completely different way, one more aligned with Jedi tradition. Meditation, introspection, analysis, whatever one wants to call it – Namjoon will sit in one spot for the greater part of an hour and stare off into space with a crease between his eyebrows.

He notices that they’re seeking comfort in togetherness, too, when he walks into the kitchen to see them clinging to each other like their life depends on it. And he expects them to jump away from each other after they sense his presence, since they’re usually not that touchy when he’s around, but they don’t.

“Mm, Jungkookie,” Namjoon says, raising his head a little. “We’re feeling a little apprehensive. Will you come over here?”

What is he going to do - say no?

Namjoon lifts one arm up to let him into the hug. Yoongi seems to be the ‘we’ who’s feeling ‘apprehensive’; he stays wrapped around Namjoon, although he leans into Jungkook a bit after he attaches himself on the side.

It makes him feel so warm, a bit mushy, a kind of tenderness he would usually try to push away; but now, he grasps at it and tries to push it outward, to replace the negative energy with something good, to envelop them in a cocoon of safe.

It hurts to see them hurt. He doesn’t know how successfully he is becoming another source of comfort for them, an emotional rock to rely on, but he has to try.

In those few days before the departure, he’s careful not to change his own behavior too much besides adapting to theirs, in whatever form that may take. He sits at the kitchen table and listens to Yoongi tell stories about the past or ramble on for hours about topics Jungkook really knows nothing about. He’ll work on something while Namjoon quietly exists in his space, leaving the occasional out of context comment for Jungkook to respond to reassuringly. And he becomes a bit freer with physical affection, because it’s silly to restrict himself when he wouldn’t be the one getting the greater part of the benefit.

That’s how he finds himself sitting on the sofa, about a day before they’re scheduled to leave, a film playing quietly on the holo-projector and Namjoon's head resting on a pillow on Jungkook's lap. Namjoon's been quiet for a while, not paying attention to the documentary, which Jungkook is watching fairly intently for lack of anything else to do.

“I was just thinking,” Namjoon says, and he shifts to look up at Jungkook. “The recording I made public yesterday, it perfectly wrapped up the narrative of the way the Council has changed over time, right?”

Jungkook nods. He heard the installment when he helped Namjoon record it.

“But I don’t know if I want that to be the last piece of work I ever publish,” Namjoon continues. “You know, if something happens to me… I’m not sure I want that as my final statement. I want to be remembered for my contributions, not for this… Hamidou stuff.”

“Oh,” Jungkook says, voice a bit strained, because he really wishes Namjoon didn’t feel like he has to make contingency plans for his own death. “Okay, I think that’s totally reasonable. What do you want to do?”

“I’ve got a topic in mind which I feel that I ought to cover, but I’ve always been reluctant to do it. It could destroy my career… my reputation. So I really wouldn’t want it out there, if I were to survive.”

“If you wanted to go ahead and record it, we can set it up to get uploaded some time in the future, so if you decide you don’t want it to go out, you can stop it,” Jungkook points out. “What would the topic be?”

“Love.” Namjoon looks away at the holo-projector. “Jedi and love.”

“Oh, Namjoon!” Jungkook exclaims. “I know I would really love to hear what you have to say about that – I think you should do it! Record it, at least, right? Imagine, hundreds of years in the future, the Council using your recording as one of the foundational works for a huge shift in the Code!”

Namjoon raises his eyebrows, smiling. “That’s optimistic thinking.”

“It could happen, though! Even if it doesn’t, though, your thoughts are still important and ought to be out there in the world!” Jungkook realizes how impassioned he sounds, and shrugs. “At least, that’s what I think.”

“All right, you’ve persuaded me. I’m going to record it. But – ” Namjoon sits up and grabs his glasses from where they’re resting on the coffee table. “I’m going to do it by myself. And I don’t think there’s any need to mention what I’m doing to Yoongi, unless he asks… he doesn’t like that I’m thinking realistically about what happens if I don’t make it. He told me recording some final message was overly morbid.”

That checks out. Yoongi is still very sensitive to fatalistic topics. “When do you want to record? I was going to practice with him sometime today, so I could keep him busy for a bit with that if you’d like.”

“I think that would work well, actually. I might end up needing more time, but I could get started, at least.” Namjoon smiles. “And then, would you help me set it up so it only publishes if I’m dead?”

Jungkook figures Namjoon could probably figure it out himself without much trouble, but as always it feels kind of nice to be asked, anyway. “Yeah, we can do that.”

“I guess I’ll begin now, then. Sequester myself away in the dining room.” Namjoon has been the only one who gets any real use out of the room off of the kitchen with the big round table, using it as a kind of office space, working by himself or making recordings in there.

“All right.” With the plan solidified, Jungkook stands up from the couch, powers off the holo-projector, and walks off in the direction of the bedrooms to look for Yoongi.

Yoongi has put himself in charge of packing for the trip. There’s very little they need to bring, and technically it’s already finished, but he hasn’t stopped obsessing over it. Jungkook finds him in the unused third bedroom, rifling through the closet for probably the fourth time this week.

“Hey, Kookie,” he calls, not looking up but sensing who just walked in.

“Hi,” Jungkook says. “I wanted to see if you were interested in practicing soon. But if you’re busy – “

“No, no, I’m not busy. Let’s do it.” He emerges from the closet, hair sticking up in all directions, and the usual ‘oh, cute’ flashes through Jungkook's thoughts. “But weren’t you going to watch that holo-film?”

“We did. It wasn’t that interesting, though, so we turned it off. I already told him what we were planning on doing, and he decided to work on something else.”

“All right, perfect. Let’s go.”

Each day for the last few days, they’ve carved out time for at least one practice duel, usually two or three. It’s become another one of the ways Yoongi calms his anxiety and exerts control. Jungkook doesn’t just go along with it for Yoongi's sake, though. He finds satisfaction in the competitive exercise of fighting in and of itself, and he understands why practicing is a good idea, and, on top of that, he likes the little glimpses he gets into Yoongi's inner workings: the way he makes decisions, how he studies his opponent, the way his risk tolerance changes when he’s about to win or lose.

Not that Yoongi loses frequently. Jungkook can count his own victories on one hand, although he’s hoping to change that. He’s going to win today.

And Yoongi notices that conviction. “Someone’s energetic today,” he remarks as he jumps back to avoid Jungkook's attack. “Why is that?”

“Uhh, let’s say…” Banter during a fight isn’t his strong suit, but it’s not going to trip him up this time. “Proximity to danger?”

“’Proximity to danger’, huh?” Yoongi's out of breath, but he keeps on a devious smile as he lightly mocks Jungkook's comment. “So I’m not dangerous enough on my own for you to go all out, huh?”

“Apparently you – " He pauses to throw off Yoongi's telekinesis, which is something he’s actually become quite accustomed to and proficient at over the past few days. " - don’t. You’ll have to try harder.”

“All right, next time I’ll show up with – ah!”

Jungkook's backed him into a protruding rock without him noticing, and he stumbles, tripping and falling backwards. Jungkook reaches out with a hand to make sure he doesn’t hit the ground too hard, levitating him softly to the gravel. “You should pay more attention to your surroundings, maybe.”

Yoongi huffs. “Fine. Let’s go again. This time I won’t say anything.”

Jungkook offers him a hand to get up, but he ignores it, jumping up to his feet and brushing off his robes casually. Jungkook backs up a few meters, and once again, they begin.

Yoongi has a great capacity for concentration, when he’s in the right mood and puts his mind to it. Jungkook's impressed by it, yes, and he’s a bit jealous of it, yes, but most of all, he just likes (somewhat guiltily) to observe Yoongi when he’s in that zoned-in state, dazzling in his competence, radiant with force energy, beautiful in – well, end of thought. He’s beautiful like this.

Jungkook loses the match.

He wonders if Yoongi can feel it too, the tension when Yoongi knocks Jungkook's lightsaber out of his hand, casting it across the clearing, and Jungkook realizes he’s cornered and he can’t get it back. When they dwell in the long pause that follows and Yoongi just stares at him with an unusual intensity before breaking out of the spell of the moment.

“Again?” Yoongi asks.

“Yeah. Tiebreaker.” He’s too tired to say very much, but he does want a third try, wants to see if he can pull off a win twice in one day.

The third match turns into the longest. He starts on the defensive, content to evade for a while and let Yoongi tire himself out more, while slowly ramping up his attacks. And ultimately, his greater physical stamina is what allows him to win.

He remembers to be patient, waits it out, and eventually does get his opening – not disarming Yoongi, he doesn’t get that opportunity, but driving the other’s lightsaber down into the rocky ground and wrestling Yoongi's other hand down to his side so he can’t use it for telekinesis. It takes a minute or so of struggle for Yoongi to be convinced he’s not going to be able to break free; but finally, he retracts his lightsaber.

Jungkook basks in tired satisfaction, and Yoongi doesn’t seem too disappointed, either, even after he realizes his defeat.

“You’re amazing,” Yoongi says, smiling slightly as he looks up at Jungkook. “Stars, Kook, you’re... can I kiss you?”

Fuck.

This wasn’t – !

Fuck, this wasn’t supposed to happen.

He’s failed, failed spectacularly before they even really began. Ruined everything. What’s the point of restoring Yoongi's reputation, what the point of Namjoon and Yoongi going back to live their lives together on Coruscant if he, some Jedi nobody, has come between them? Has ripped apart their fairytale coexistence? Has unintentionally led them down some… twisted path of disloyalty?

Maybe, maybe, there’s a way he can still fix this. Maybe the situation isn’t so far gone that they can’t… cast him out, reaffirm their commitment to each other, and look back on this ordeal as just another stepping stone on their journey. Just another obstacle.

Galaxies, it hurts to think of himself like that, but he’ll do whatever it takes. And the first step is going to be taking accountability.

His five senses are all static fuzz, so he doesn’t know whether he audibly calls for him, but every cell in his body screams for Namjoon to come running; and whatever he does works, because he feels a third distraught presence join the sour atmosphere of the cave clearing.

“Baby, what happened?”

Fuck, Namjoon shouldn’t be calling him that. And he shouldn’t – Jungkook rips himself away from Namjoon's hands as the other approaches and tries to comfort him.

I’m sorry. That’s the one tangible thought running through his head, maybe also coming out of his mouth, and it’s on loop: I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. That, and the thought that maybe he’s actually dying right now. He’s not, he knows he’s not, but he feels like maybe he is.

“Please, can you tell me what happened?” Namjoon asks again, not trying to touch him this time.

“Yoongi – “ he starts, then finds he can’t bring himself to say it, then realizes how leaving it at that makes it sound like Yoongi badly hurt him somehow. Already, he can feel Namjoon's anger mixing with his confusion, and he knows it isn’t directed at him, like it ought to be. “No! No, not – it was me, I’m sorry, Joon, I’m sorry!”

“Kookie, look at me.”

He opens his eyes. Namjoon is standing off to the side. Yoongi hasn’t moved from where he was a minute ago, his face ashen, mouth slightly agape.

“You need to breathe, okay?” Namjoon reaches out towards him again, and Jungkook stumbles backwards to avoid him, not missing the hurt expression that flashes across the other’s face. “Do you want to… go outside and get some air?”

Maybe it’s the cowardly thing to do, but he really, really wants to get out of this enclosed space.

“Go ahead and do that,” Namjoon instructs him. “I promise, no one’s mad at you. Would you like someone to come with you?”

They should be mad at him, though. He shakes his head – he would prefer if no one were there to witness the humiliation that’s going to be the remainder of his emotional breakdown – and staggers as fast as he can out of the mouth of the cave, into the dim post-sunset light of the evening. He pauses as soon as he’s out of sight, leaning against the cliffside, trying like Namjoon told him to catch his breath.

“You… Yoongi! If you just did exactly what we agreed not to do - !” Namjoon's voice, after a pause.

No, no, no. Jungkook doubles over, struggling to keep himself from vomiting. He’s lightheaded; there’s a ringing in his ears that keeps him from hearing any more of that conversation as he drags himself farther away from the cave, and maybe that’s a good thing. He can’t handle them being mad at each other. Especially if it’s because of him.

He drops himself onto the dusty ground, still trying to catch his breath. Pathetic, pathetic, he wasn’t able to explain himself or what happened and now Namjoon is going find out and he’s going to think it’s all Yoongi's fault and they’re not going to be able to trust each other anymore and they’ll grow more distant and then they’ll start hating each other and it’s all because of him!!

The first sob squeezes itself out of his chest as more of a strangled whine, a pathetic, unintentional noise. But once he’s started, it’s difficult to stop. He falls over to lie on his side, ignoring the dust getting all over, bunching the long layer of his robes into a bundle in front of his face that he can cry into.

He loses track of time like that, lying there in the dust, thinking about nothing, just feeling – both sorry for himself and incredibly upset at that same person. The night settles down, gets darker, colder, less windy; but he doesn’t notice the changes in the environment until the crunching sound of footsteps outside of the cave breaks him out of his emotional trance. He takes a deep, shuddering breath - curls himself around his bundled robes, pressing them hard against his chest, bracing himself for the coming end to his isolation - before re-immersing himself in reality, sighing and sitting upright.

His head hurts, a dull pain he only notices after sitting up. He glances over to see both Namjoon and Yoongi approaching, then looks back down at his knees. Their energies are… tense. He’s not sensing anger from Namjoon anymore, nor is he picking up disappointment, which surprises him a little.

“Hey.” Namjoon stops and sits down next to him against the cliffside, not too close, but within arm’s reach. (He remembers, with a pang of longing, Namjoon's head on his lap not even two hours ago.) Yoongi seems more hesitant to come closer, standing uncomfortably behind Namjoon for a moment before the other prompts him to join them. He settles down across from the other two, facing them to form a sort of triangle. Jungkook watches all this out of the corner of his eye.

“We’re going to talk about some things,” Namjoon continues. “I know none of us probably want to talk about it, but now we have to, especially because we’re supposed to leave tomorrow and we can’t keep this… unresolved.”

Jungkook nods in acknowledgement, head still down.

“This is a three-way conversation, and that means we really need you to listen to us and trust that we mean what we say. You need to be willing to accept that your idea of what’s going on in our heads is not actually true. The same is true on our end. And we’ll continue until we’ve cleared up all of our misunderstandings. Okay?”

“Okay,” Jungkook whispers. ‘Misunderstandings.’ Is that what Namjoon thinks this all is? Is that really all it comes down to?

“I’d like to say something first, if that’s all right.” Yoongi finally speaks and Jungkook looks up, catching the determined look in his eye and humming for him to continue.

“I’m so – I’m so sorry,” he starts, and – that’s exactly what Jungkook doesn’t deserve to hear. Namjoon does, that’s certain. Not him. He makes a little noise of protest, starting to form some rebuttal, but he’s silenced by Namjoon's hand landing heavily on his shoulder.

“Please, let me apologize.” Yoongi speaks quickly, letting it all rush out of him, and Jungkook listens as he’s been instructed to. “I got carried away and in that moment, when I asked you that question, I totally failed to realize the situation I was putting you in, and how bad it would look from your perspective. That was the absolute most wrong way to go about it, and… yeah. I’m sorry, I’m ashamed at my thoughtlessness, and that’s what I wanted to say.”

He looks at Jungkook as if expecting a response, but Jungkook just feels his incoherent panic returning as Yoongi's words, ‘that was the absolute most wrong way to go about it,’ spin around in his head. He’s fixated on and horrified by the implication that there would be some correct way to go about it, to make romantic advances outside his established relationship.

“Kookie?” Namjoon asks, removing his hand from Jungkook's shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“I just feel so guilty about this!” he blurts out. “You shouldn’t apologize to me, you should apologize to him!” He hides his face in his hands; he doesn’t want to see or be seen by them. “I’m the one causing problems, so leave me out of it, get rid of me, throw me out! Just don’t hold it against each other – please, you can’t break up because of me! I couldn’t…” I’ll hate myself forever, I can’t handle that, please.

“Honey, you don’t have to worry. We aren’t going to break up.” Namjoon's hand finds itself on Jungkook's back again, a reassuring touch. Surely what he’s hearing is too good to be true. “The only reason I was mad at Yoongi was because he acted carelessly and ended up hurting you. No – ” He cuts in before Jungkook, lifting his head up, can protest. “I’m not interested in arguing that particular point. Frankly, you thought he was trying to cheat on me, and that was really… distressing?”

Jungkook nods, briefly glancing between the two of them, a little confused. What else was he supposed to think?

“We had already, the two of us, talked about how we weren’t going to do that. How that would be the worst possible way to go about it, like Yoongi said – “

“I’m confused.” Jungkook frowns as he keeps staring at them, searching for the meaning they seem to be dancing around. “You guys keep saying that, but I don’t get what you’re trying to do… I think I’m missing something?”

Yoongi and Namjoon exchange a long glance like they’re deciding who gets to answer that question; ultimately, it’s Namjoon who continues. “Well, there’s something we wanted to tell you. Or, ask you? But we wanted to do it in the right way, and definitely wanted to wait until after the whole Hamidou thing was over, because your reaction to the question… I don’t know, I guess we’re afraid of what your answer will be.”

“Whatever it is, please, just ask me,” Jungkook says, still searching Namjoon's face. “This is unbearable.”

“The thing is, we’ve only known each other for a handful weeks, even if it feels like it’s been a lot longer than that,” Namjoon says, and it’s not helping Jungkook's desperate need to figure out what in the galaxy he’s getting at. “So the question may not actually be answerable. Or, I don’t want you to feel pressured to give a definitive answer, because of that. And, because, well, we’re Jedi, technically, and that might create an ethical dilemma that I don’t really want to be the cause of, but – ”

“Joon, it’s okay.” It’s like Namjoon's hesitant rambling has given Yoongi the nerve to speak up. “What we’ve been struggling to say is, um, it’s not just me? Both Namjoon and I really like you, a lot, and in a not totally platonic way. We’ve talked about it a lot, and we wanted to know if you’d be interested in dating us – both of us. All three of us, in a relationship. That’s what we’re proposing.”

Yoongi's face is red by the end of his confession, his eyes shyly flickering between Jungkook and the ground. Jungkook stares at him, mouth slightly agape, trying to process what’s just been said. Both Namjoon and I really like you, a lot. “We’ll respect whatever decision you make, but don’t agree just for our sakes, and please don’t reject us just because you think we’d be better off without you,” Namjoon is saying, but to Jungkook's mind it’s background noise, in one ear and out the other. “It’s okay to give no answer…” We wanted to know if you’d be interested in dating us. "And if you’re only interested in one of us, well, we should probably talk about that more, but that’s okay, too, don’t get me wrong.” All three of us, in a relationship. It feels like all the cells in his body are lighting up, one by one, vibrating from his chest out to his fingertips.

“Kookie?” Yoongi prompts. “What do you think?”

“I…” He’s still working it out, resisting that something in him that’s saying it’s not true, they’re tricking you to make fun of you before they make you leave; and that even more insidious something that says they’re doing this out of charity, they pity you, and you don’t deserve to entangle yourself any more in their lives than you already have. “I never even considered that… that was a possibility,” he muses. It must have been there, at the back of his mind, a hope he didn’t allow himself to entertain.

“And?” Yoongi presses.

“And despite that, when you said it…” All three of us, in a relationship. He feels his hands trembling in his lap. “I immediately knew that was what I wanted. I want that so badly, it hurts. The answer is yes.”

Yoongi's expression and his energy brighten up immediately in relief and joy, but Namjoon asks, “Yes to… both of us?”

“Please, yes, I like both of you so much, I – ”

“Jungkookie!” Namjoon squeals, “I’m so happy, you have no idea.”

“Yes I do, silly, I’m happy too!” Jungkook says with a laugh, and he throws himself at Namjoon, wrapping one arm around him and burying his face in Namjoon's shoulder; his other arm reaches towards Yoongi to bring him in as well, and Yoongi obliges, humming and melding himself onto the side even though the position must be uncomfortable.

Jungkook feels fingers in his hair that he thinks must belong to Yoongi, running up and down his scalp in a way that makes him want to melt. “Stars, I’m tired,” he mumbles, and Namjoon coos and kisses the side of his forehead.

“You’ve been through a lot tonight, haven’t you?” he says.

“My head hurts,” Jungkook admits. “I think I dehydrated myself.”

“Oh, we can’t have that,” Yoongi says, and he attempts to pull away, but Namjoon stops him.

“I’ll be right back. You two stay here.” Namjoon gets up and scampers back into the cave, disappearing. Jungkook and Yoongi shift back to smile at each other, amused.

“He’s cute,” Yoongi says, and Jungkook giggles because he agrees, he’s allowed to agree with that, he’s allowed to feel the same way. Yoongi takes Jungkook's  hand and, looking down at it, fiddles with his fingers. “I really am sorry, by the way. You might not want to hear it, but I still feel like I need to say it.”

“Mm, well, you’re forgiven. Now that I know… if our positions had been flipped…” He feels himself blushing, although it’s become so dark it might not be visible. “Well, even as it was, I struggled sometimes not to say or do something… rash, like that. I understand.”

“Really?” Yoongi intertwines Jungkook's hand with one of his and turns it this way and that, looking at the way their fingers lace together. “For how long?”

“Um…” Jungkook thinks back to that night he ended up airing his insecurities, when they comforted him and he woke up the next day thinking of them… differently. “About a week, I guess, although it feels like so much longer. And – oh.” He pauses in surprise when Yoongi brings his hand up and starts pressing light kisses across his knuckles. “And before that, I wasn’t really able to pinpoint what I was feeling.”

“Guys!” They hear Namjoon's voice and turn to see him rushing out of the cave, arms full. “Look, there aren’t any clouds tonight. We can see the stars!”

Jungkook watches Yoongi release his hand and look up, watches him smile in something like awe and sees the stars reflected in his wide eyes. He’s beautiful.

“Here, love.” Namjoon's hand appears in front of his face, holding an uncapped thermos. “Drink this.”

“Thank you.” Jungkook takes it from him and sips, the cool water immediately making him feel a bit less groggy. Namjoon walks a bit farther away from the cliffside and spreads an old blanket out across the dusty ground, Jungkook repressing the thought of how difficult it might be to wash later.

“I was hoping we’d get a clear night like this,” Namjoon explains. “I’ve been studying Ketoran stars and constellations, so I think I should be able to point them out.”

Oh, yes, Jungkook loves hearing Namjoon talk about his interests. He quickly stands, screws the cap back onto the thermos, and rushes over to position himself where Namjoon wants him, which is on his back in the center of the blanket. Namjoon settles on his left, and Yoongi on his right, a warm presence on either side, and Jungkook knows there is no other place in the entire galaxy he’d rather be.

“Wow,” Yoongi says, again taking Jungkook's hand in his. On the other side, Jungkook's arm is looped around Namjoon's elbow. “There are so many…”

“The brightest ones are Keiter One and Two. Right in front of us – do you see them?”

“Yeah,” Yoongi breathes. Jungkook just smiles.

Jungkook is used to the stars. In the thin atmosphere of G’aav’aar’oon, they’re visible sometimes even during the day; and besides that, he spends a lot of time flying among them. Coruscant, on the other hand, that unsleeping planetary metropolis, lives too brightly to enjoy full access to the skies above.

Experiencing this with them is what makes it something new and precious. And he feels giddy thinking about how many new and precious things might lie in store for the three of them.

That doesn’t change the fact that they’re leaving here tomorrow. It just means he has that much more to lose.

Chapter Text

Their ride is late.

It’s been almost a full day since the time The Tannie specified that they were going to arrive and pick them up. Jungkook sits in a folding chair, out on the tundra outside the cave, keeping close watch on the pale early-morning skies. It’s cloudy, a uniform sheet of grey over the sky. What if the ship crashed in a freak weather incident? What if the crew perished on their last mission? What if they’d been intercepted by Hamidou, who could be rifling through their brains for location information this very second, could even be on his way here?

He’s been revisiting these concerns ever since yesterday morning, when they gathered up their luggage and sat by the front door for three hours, piled together on the couch, quietly waiting; his concerns stayed with him when they decided to stop waiting all together and just set a rotating watch instead (although it turned into communal waiting again when the other two gravitated to the on-duty one, not sure what do to with themselves otherwise), and early yesterday evening as he tried to fall asleep and get a reasonable amount of rest before he replaced Yoongi on watch at 3 a.m.

So now he’s out here, still thinking about all that, but also about how Yoongi and Namjoon trust him enough to have him keep watch by himself, potentially represent their group once the transport arrives, and deal with whatever problems might arise. It’s gratifying, being treated like an equal in this way. There are a lot of new, gratifying things going on in his life as of the last day and a half.

Well, ‘gratifying’ doesn’t really begin to cover it. He feels that he’s entered a whole new chapter of his life, a chapter he’s so happy has started even though he knows it’ll bring its own share of both joys and difficulties. New opportunities for his insecurities to come after him, new sources of happiness, new reasons to worry. Already, he’s experienced this.

Recalling the events of last night (or two nights ago, now that it’s morning?) fills him with both incredible warmth and a healthy dose of anxiety. They ended up looking at the stars peacefully for almost an hour, but then,

Yoongi lets go of his hand and raises himself up on one arm. Jungkook and Namjoon look up at him, inquisitive, but his attention is fixed on Jungkook only, leaning towards him, pouting slightly, eyebrows furrowed.

“What’s wrong?” Namjoon asks.

“Nothing’s wrong, I just want – I don’t want to come across as too forward, or revisit this too soon and make you uncomfortable, but I have to say that…” His gaze lingers on Jungkook's face. “I still really want to kiss you. Can I?”

Ah.

That’s what Jungkook wants, too, isn’t it? So then why does he suddenly feel so afraid? Why does he feel cold water trickling down his spine and why does he imagine making a fool of himself, being mocked, being a disappointment? What if they change their minds?

“Baby, ‘no’ is a perfectly acceptable answer,” Namjoon says, lifting himself up as well, making Jungkook feel small and scrutinized in a way that’s probably unintentional. “But let’s talk about what’s going through your head.”

“It’s not that I wouldn’t like that,” he tries to explain, flustered by the pet name and the attention on him, fighting the urge to look away or close his eyes. “I would! But… there are already a lot of new things that I’m kind of struggling to process right now.”

“That makes perfect sense,” Yoongi says, his smile small and encouraging. “Sorry for putting you on the spot.”

“Mm.” Jungkook lifts up his arms and looks at Yoongi with wide, round eyes. “Hug,” he demands.

Yoongi chuckles, but complies, coming down to meld his torso against the side of Jungkook's chest and throwing his arms around him. It’s so nice, but he seeks out Namjoon's face, afraid that he’s going to feel left out.

Namjoon's gaze, however, is fond and unperturbed. “You two are so cute,” he murmurs, briefly reaching out to touch, caressing the back of Yoongi's head and then the side of Jungkook's face. “We should really go inside and get some rest, though.”

“No,” Yoongi whines, voice muffled in Jungkook's clothes. “I’m comfy.”

“But we’re all dusty,” Jungkook points out.

“Ugh, fine.” Yoongi acquiesces and rolls away, Jungkook missing the warmth immediately as he gets up to help Namjoon gather the blanket from the ground.

Yoongi and Namjoon go to clean up first, using the washroom together to save time. Maybe someday Jungkook will share that level of comfort with them. It’s a nice thought, but he doesn’t dwell on it. Stars, he’s exhausted. He almost falls asleep waiting for them to be done, then almost falls asleep in the shower, and spaces out while he’s supposed to be patting his hair dry.

To his surprise, he finds Yoongi waiting in the hallway, spinning to look at him when he opens the door. He’s pouting, and it’s so cute. “Kookie, we missed you,” he says, grabbing hold of Jungkook's hand as soon as it’s in range. “I’m not done cuddling yet.”

“Mm, okay.” That sounds very nice. He sleepily lets himself be pulled across the hallway, but suddenly becomes alert when he realizes where Yoongi is taking him.

It’s surreal, walking into Yoongi and Namjoon's shared bedroom with the thought that there might be a little space for himself to belong here, too. Namjoon, sitting against a pillow with his legs hidden under the bedspread, looks up from the packing list he’s double checking, smiling (why is he so handsome?) at the pair in the doorway and patting the empty area next to him. So that’s where he settles in, Namjoon quietly double checking that he’s okay with sleeping in here, Yoongi telekinetically turning off the rest of the lights in the house.

He’s asleep instantly.

He remembers, fondly, how he’d woken up in the middle of the night, surrounded by warmth on all sides (maybe too much warmth, but that was fine), Namjoon's light snoring to his right, Yoongi sprawled across his left side, and the small weight of Holly coiled by his feet. How did he become so lucky?

He’s so lost in his recollection that he’s totally caught off guard by the sudden emergence of a sleek silver spacecraft from the low cloud cover. He jumps up from his seat and stares in amazement as it parks itself impressively quickly and gracefully, barely kicking up any dust at all, which is good for Jungkook because it’s only thirty or so meters away.

The Tannie is here.

A ramp unfurls elegantly from the ship’s side. Jungkook collects himself, makes sure his robes and hair are in place, remembers what he has to do. He’ll greet the Tannie’s crew, invite them to come inside if they want, offer them tea, wake up the others if they haven’t already sensed the ship’s arrival, and then gather K1 and their luggage to board the ship.

A panel slides away at the top of the ramp, revealing an opening from which a lone figure emerges. They glide towards Jungkook, who pastes on a nice expression to hide his confusion. There are supposed to be two crewmembers – not that he’s insulted that only one has come out – but this person is also, for some reason, decked out in full Jedi robes. Is this the crew’s idea of a joke?

The person doesn’t stop at the end of the ramp, striding forward confidently until they’re standing just a few meters away from Jungkook.

“Good morning!” Jungkook says. “I’m – ”

“Is Kim Namjoon here?” they ask, interrupting. Somehow, Jungkook expected someone a little more… friendly.

“Um, yes, he’s inside.” Jungkook replies honestly. “Why do you ask? Would you like to speak with him specifically?”

“Yes, I want to ‘speak with him.’ I’m here to settle a score with him.”

Maybe this isn’t a member of the Tannie’s crew, after all. “’Settle a score’? What could he have possibly done to you?”

The person scans the surroundings, seeming to notice the opening of the cave. “That’s none of your business. Just know that he has to pay. I’m going to find him.” And they start walking in that direction.

Jungkook strides over to stand in their path. He can’t let them in if they mean Namjoon any harm. “No, you aren’t. I want to know what you want to talk to him about.”

Their hand takes something out of the folds of their robes. It’s a lightsaber. “Get out of my way,” they command, and they sound so convincing that Jungkook almost does it.

He flicks his head once, to clear it. This individual is very powerful. “No. You’ll have to go through me, first.” Keeping his eyes locked on the person’s face, he unhooks his own lightsaber from his tool belt so they know he means business.

“I can’t believe he’s gathered lackeys to do his bidding unquestioningly. Jedi lackeys, no less.” They engage their lightsaber, the green beam pointing down towards the dust.

Jungkook reciprocates, to show he means business. “I’ve tried questioning you. You haven’t answered me.”

“Would you believe me, then, if I said Namjoon, out of jealousy, tried to have me killed?”

Jungkook tilts his head to the side, trying to work out how this guy could have come to that conclusion. “No, I wouldn’t.”

“Exactly,” the Jedi scoffs, and they take a step forward.

“Seokjin? Is that you?” Focusing so intently on the mysterious combatant, Jungkook totally failed to notice Yoongi emerging from the house.

The Jedi – Kim Seokjin? Isn’t Seokjin dead? But if Yoongi says that’s who it is, then maybe – lets his lightsaber retract, gazing over Jungkook's shoulder. “Min Yoongi? What are you doing here?”

“I can’t believe you’re alive!” Yoongi rushes up to stand by Jungkook's  side. “We thought Hamidou got you. He tried to kill me, too, and he tried to kill Jungkook here.” He pats Jungkook's shoulder to demonstrate who he’s talking about. “And Namjoon's here, too, working with us to bring Hamidou to justice. Otherwise, Joon doesn’t have anything to do with it.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah, we’re sure.”

“Oh, well then!” Seokjin's face breaks into a charming smile. He bows, politely, in Jungkook's direction. “In that case I’d like to apologize for the way we met. I’m sorry for threatening you and calling you an unquestioning lackey.”

“Thank you. It’s an honor to meet you,” Jungkook replies, a little intimidated by the prestigious Jedi Master apologizing to him.

“I think we have a common goal,” Seokjin says. “I hope we can work together on this.”

“I agree. There should be plenty of room to collaborate on this,” Yoongi says. “We should talk about it some more.”

“Hey!” A shout rings out from the direction of the ship. Jungkook looks over to see someone’s head poking out of the entrance hatch. “Are you going to have an epic duel, or what?”

Seokjin turns around. “No duel today! Sorry!”

Two more guys exit the ship and amble down the gangway. These are the crewmembers Jungkook has been expecting to show up.

One is taller than the other, but both are equally handsome and impressively well dressed, blasters attached inconspicuously to their outfits. They come over to stand next to the three Jedi, making a sort of circle.

“Hi,” the shorter one says, reaching out to shake first Yoongi's hand, and then Jungkook's. “I’m Jimin, and this is Taehyung.”

“Hi,” Taehyung adds, shaking their hands as well.

“I’m Yoongi.”

“And I’m Jungkook. It’s nice to meet you.”

“I see you’ve already met Seokjin here.” Jimin glances towards the third Jedi. “I’m really sorry that we’re a day late.”

“They took an unplanned detour to pick me up,” Seokjin explains. “So really, it’s my fault.”

“But we’re here now!” Taehyung points out.

“That you are. Would you like to come inside? We need to get our other passenger, Namjoon, and our droid before we leave.” Yoongi gestures back towards the cave opening.

The two crewmembers communicate something to one another with a glance. “Yeah, sure,” Jimin answers.

“All right, let’s go.” Yoongi starts to lead them back towards the cave, but Jungkook notices him navigating so Seokjin is walking next to him. “How did you know to come here?”

“You might not believe me,” Seokjin mutters, barely audible to Jungkook. “But I had a vision.”

Jungkook believes it, easily. He doesn’t get visions himself, but the nature of connection to the force is such that sometimes he just knows things he has no business knowing. Yoongi seems a bit more skeptical, though. “All right, if you say so. I just want to know whether we ought to worry about the integrity of our secret base.” He gestures ironically around at the cave they’re walking into.

“No, I haven’t managed to breach your security through non-mystical means. You don’t have anything to worry about – not that I know of.”

Jungkook slides over to Yoongi's side once they make it into the living room. “I’m going to get Joon,” he says, and Yoongi nods in acknowledgement, allowing him to slip into the hallway.

He doesn’t know how Namjoon is still asleep, but he’s managed to doze through both Yoongi leaving and the three visitors coming in. Jungkook walks up to the side of the bed and allows himself just a moment to look and to admire before taking Namjoon's arm and jostling it.

“Good morning,” he gently sing-songs after he notices Namjoon moving a little. “The ship is here. And you’ll never guess who they brought with them!”

“Hmm?” Namjoon rolls over to look at him, rubbing his eyes and reaching towards the nightstand for his glasses, which Jungkook nudges into his hand. “They’re here?”

“And they brought Kim Seokjin with them,” Jungkook adds. “Because apparently he’s alive.”

“Oh, what?!” Namjoon shoots up from the bed, almost falling over, grabbing into Jungkook's shoulders to steady himself. “He is?”

Jungkook suppresses a laugh. “Yeah. I can gather up our stuff if you want to go talk to him.”

“Yes, yes, that would be amazing.” Namjoon hops around the room, picking up his clothes, jamming his feet into his socks. He pauses, takes Jungkook's face in his hands, and plants a kiss on the top of his head. “Thank you,” he says, and then dashes out into the hallway.

Jungkook smiles to himself as he walks around the room, gathering up their things. He trusts the others to discuss the details of the plan with the new arrivals, and he really appreciates that they don’t rope him into these discussions just for the sake of including him when really he doesn’t have anything specific to contribute.

Yoongi and Namjoon's bags slung over his shoulders, he stops by his room to pick up his own bag as well. The last time he saw K1 was in here, but they’ve gone somewhere else; if he strains his ears he can actually hear the droid’s chirping in the living room (his project to teach K1 how to speak having kind of fallen by the wayside recently, remaining unfinished). Interesting.

He lugs the bags into the main area, passing the Jedi huddled in a triangle shape in the kitchen, stopping short when he sees Jimin and Taehyung seemingly in a conversation with K1 next to the armchairs.

“We got the thrusters replaced at the same time we got our last hyperdrive,” Jimin is saying, K1 making appreciative noises in response. “But there hasn’t been as much development in that technology, so.”

“They’re still state of the art,” Taehyung finishes.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

>>i would love to take a look, if it’s not a guarded secret of yours,<< K1 says in droid-speak. >>i’m sure my human companion would appreciate that as well.<<

“Hey, Jungkook,” Taehyung says, noticing him standing there watching them. “We were just discussing ship specs.”

“Oh,” Jungkook replies. “That’s cool. Yeah, like they said, of course I’d be interested in checking out your setup.” He probably shouldn’t be surprised that the two pilots can understand his droid, given it’s a common skill in that profession. But, to be fair, in all the time he’s been acquainted with K1 - in other words, in the past couple years – he can honestly count on one hand the number of droid-understanding humans they’ve encountered together.

“Is that your guys’ luggage?” Jimin asks. Jungkook nods. “We might as well load it up now.”

“All right,” Jungkook agrees. “Lead the way.”

The crewmembers, K1, and Jungkook weave through the living room and head out of the cave. >>how did you two learn droid?<< K1 asks, Jungkook silently thanking him because it’s something he wants to know but wasn’t going to bring up for fear of prying or coming off rudely.

“Well, we understood some from the environment we grew up in. But we studied it intensely only after we got hired to Tannie,” Jimin says.

Jimin’s wording seems confusingly intentional. “Hired? But isn’t the ship yours?”

“That’s a pretty common misconception,” Taehyung jumps in to explain. “Tannie’s not ours, or anyone else’s. It belongs to itself.”

“Yeah. Long story short, Tannie started life as an artificial intelligence program on a computer in a university lab somewhere, and it decided it would rather travel the galaxy, so it ordered a ship to be built as a sort of vehicle for those experiences – "

“Like a body,” Taehyung inserts.

“Like a body,” Jimin continues. “And, yeah. It hires organic lifeforms to take care of the business side of things, but it’s struggled to retain good employees because I guess some people don’t want their ship to be their boss, which is a shame.”

“It’s been flying for a few decades, and we’ve been with it now for, what, seven years? Six?”

“About seven,” Jimin confirms. “We’re its longest crew, now. I like to think we’ve become its friends.”

They’ve reached the beginning of the gangway, and Jungkook is about to step onto the metal surface when he senses something odd. He spins around to stare at the cliffside, but for a few seconds, nothing out of the ordinary presents itself. But then, all of a sudden, the sound of a repulsorlift engine accompanies a speeder skidding to an attempted stop at the cliff’s edge just above the cave. The unfortunate driver struggles with the vehicle but isn’t able to stop it from tipping over the side of the cliff. The driver shrieks as they fall, although it isn’t a particularly far drop and the speeder rights itself with its repulsors to cushion the impact.

Before the craft’s descent finishes with a metallic groan and the sound of something breaking, Jungkook is shedding the three bags into the ground at the foot of the gangplank and taking off towards the site of the accident. >>be careful!<< K1 says, but Jungkook knows the driver isn’t some enemy who means them harm. His intuition tells him that it’s Hoseok, the journalist from the nearest town, and the suspicion is confirmed once he gets close enough to make out Hoseok's face.

“Are you okay?” he calls, and Hoseok responds with nervous laughter.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I think. Sorry about that.” Hoseok looks around at his speeder, which seems to be in one piece. “The greatest damage is to my ego. And I’ll have to get this back up there somehow.” He points to the vehicle and the top of the cliff in turn.

“Jungkook? What’s going on?” Yoongi, Namjoon, and Seokjin have emerged from the cave, and they join Jungkook gathered next to the speeder. Jungkook gives Hoseok a hand to clamber off. Even though he’s looking a bit ruffled, at least Hoseok's sneakers are still pristine.

“Guys, this is Jung Hoseok.” Namjoon and Yoongi's faces light up in with recognition. “He’s an investigative reporter for the Keiter Three Gazette,” he adds, mostly for Seokjin's sake. “Do I have that right?”

“Yes, that’s exactly right.” Hoseok bows politely to the group of Jedi. “It’s a pleasure to meet you gentlemen. Although, I have to admit…” He eyes Seokjin. “I thought you were dead.”

“I don’t blame you. Everyone thought I was dead,” Seokjin responds.

“And what brings you out to this specific section of wilderness on this specific early morning?” Yoongi questions, ignoring the greeting.

“I’m not going to pretend it’s a coincidence, if that’s what you’re concerned about,” Hoseok says. “I have a special alert set up for low-altitude air traffic around this area. So when I got an alert about…” He checks his watch. “Twenty minutes ago, I rushed out of bed and over here as fast as I could so I could make you an exciting proposition!” He wiggles his fingers as a fanfare for the last part of his sentence.

Based on the discussion they had at the journalist’s office a while ago, Jungkook thinks he knows what the goal of Hoseok's suggestion is going to be – the man desperately wants a pretext to travel to Coruscant. But he’s curious to see just how Hoseok will go about it.

“I don’t know much about your work, but I can figure this: that your mission might benefit from some high quality, sympathetic press coverage. So here’s my offer.” Hoseok holds up one finger, commanding their full attention. “If you let me ride with you to wherever you’re going, and allow me to observe what’s going on, I’ll deliver the inside scoop and make sure your side of the story is told all around the galaxy.” He clasps his hands together, smiling. “It’s a win-win deal, if you ask me. And I can pay my own fare, too…”

Namjoon and Yoongi exchange a glance. Jungkook gets the impression that they both want to move somewhere more private to deliberate, but Seokjin speaks up before they have the opportunity. “That’s a pretty convincing argument. You’re looking for a big break, aren’t you?”

“Sure, you could say that.”

“I think there’s room on the ship,” Seokjin continues. “And there isn’t necessarily anything to lose, for us.”

“Right. There’s a good chance we get some positive attention out of the partnership,” Namjoon says.

“And if we don’t get that,” Seokjin continues, tilting his head and regarding Hoseok with a smile, “then you’ll owe us a favor.”

Jungkook catches Yoongi's eye and nods at him. “I think we’re all in favor,” Yoongi says. “You’ll just have to negotiate your way onboard with the crew.”

Hoseok nods. “All right, I will. Thank you for agreeing.”

“Do you want us to move your speeder into the cave? So it’s out of view,” Jungkook offers.

“Sure, that would be great.” Hoseok reaches for the back compartment, opening it and pulling out a small duffel bag – he really is prepared for a journey – and then the group disperses into action. Jungkook heads into the cave to stow the bike, Yoongi following to finish locking up the house, while Seokjin and Namjoon accompany Hoseok to the ship to meet Jimin and Taehyung, who have been looking on from a distance. By the time Jungkook arrives at the Tannie, the two have agreed to take the journalist aboard for a small fee, which Hoseok immediately pays.

Jungkook stoops to pick up the bags he cast aside earlier, brushing dust off of them. And as he steps onto the metallic gangway, he grants one final glance back at the landscape which, over the course of this last almost-month, he has come to regard, just as much as any other place he’s ever stayed, as home.

Chapter Text

“Welcome, passengers.”

The gentle artificial voice emanates from seemingly all around them as the gangway rolls up and the entrance panel slides closed.

“There’s one more of you than I expected.”

“We’ve picked up a journalist. Jung Hoseok,” Jimin explains, he and Taehyung leading the passengers down a short hallway and into a wide, round multipurpose space. While the interior is sleek and clean, it feels more homey than industrial in its décor. The built-in white benches are covered in blankets and cushions of varied but tasteful colors, and he thinks the table running the length of the main bench must be real wood, and with a polished stone countertop.

“We’ll have to have a conversation later, Hoseok,” the ship says. “There are certain things I cannot allow the wider world to know.”

“Of course.” Hoseok seems flustered by the talking walls, but he’s doing his best to hide it. “Thank you for permitting me to come along.”

“It’s not far to Coruscant,” the ship replies, somewhat cryptically, then falling silent.

The crewmembers are unperturbed by the exchange. “Guys, there’s storage under all of this seating,” Taehyung says, demonstrating how to open the compartments. “You might want to put your stuff there. Or – "

“You have access to these two extra rooms as well.” Jimin points at one wall panel and pushes on another to open it, Jungkook catching a glimpse of a window inside the room, but not much else.

“So settle in and make yourselves comfortable. We’ll be just through here.” Taehyung gestures towards a wide, dark opening, and the lights flick on, revealing the cockpit – two chairs, control panels, and an array of windows and screens.

“Priming thrusters,” Tannie intones. “Prepare for takeoff.”

“Someone’s impatient,” Jimin says under his breath, but he takes his place in one of the cockpit chairs nevertheless. Taehyung joins him, and out of the passengers, Seokjin and K1 are the first to take initiative, Seokjin walking over to open a compartment in which Jungkook assumes he already has things stored, K1 rolling to position themself unobtrusively in the opening to the cockpit, behind one of the chairs, where they can spectate. That’s a good idea, actually. Jungkook establishes himself in the seat with the best view of the two crewmembers at the controls, stowing his bag underneath. Namjoon and Yoongi sit on the same bench, joining him just in time for the ship to take off – although, the motion of lifting off from the tundra is just as smooth as the landing appeared from the outside.

He peers at the control panels, on the one hand trying not to be intrusive but on the other, so curious about how they’re pulling this off. Interestingly, Jimin and Taehyung don’t appear to be interacting with the interface much at all. So that means they’re either using a pre-set takeoff sequence, or –

“It’s me piloting the ship,” Tannie confirms, its voice localized next to Jungkook's left ear. “I can tell you’re wondering about it.”

“I’m impressed,” Jungkook says quietly.

“Thank you. I’ve had many years of practice.”

They hurtle up through the atmosphere, quickly but comfortably, at speeds that speak to what must be a top-notch internal pressurization system. And he barely notices when the artificial gravity switches on – the setup is just that seamless.

Before even ten minutes have passed, they’re out of orbit, the full globe of Keiter in view through the window of the room Jungkook wanders into. It’s empty in the room besides some tall cabinets lining the inner wall, suggesting that the space can be repurposed in multiple ways.

Namjoon slips into the room, joining him at the window. “It feels foreboding, doesn’t it?” Jungkook isn’t sure what ‘it’ he’s referring to. “There’s something wrong,” Namjoon continues, his tone introspective, like he’s working out a puzzle. “We’re going to be attacked.”

“What? Are you sure?”

Namjoon gives a start, just realizing what he’s predicted. “Stars! Yes, I’m sure – we’ll be attacked here in the Keiter system!”

“How can we be attacked if there’s no one around with weapons?” Tannie’s voice rings out unexpectedly, Jungkook just about jumping out of his skin, already on edge from Namjoon's dire warning.

“When I was attacked by bounty hunters in this area they used the sun to hide from my sensors!” Jungkook blurts, and he rushes from the one room into the other, where Keiter’s sun is visible; then, realizing he shouldn’t expect to see faraway ships in the sun’s path with just his eyes, he turns around and comes back to the area next to the cockpit.

“Taehyungie, dear, would you tell me if you see anything funny in the area around the sun?” the ship is asking. “The Jedi seem to think we’re going to be ambushed.”

“Sure,” Taehyung says, and he pulls up a sensor visualization of that area, with different panels showing maps of different measurements, such as light, temperature, and reflectivity.

“Image processing isn’t my strong suit,” Tannie explains in his ear. “One of the reasons I love having humans onboard.”

“Mm.” He barely acknowledges the remark, all his attention fixed on the screen in front of Taehyung, his gaze flickering between all the instrument panels in turn, trying to see everything all at once.

“Why don’t you sit back down with your friends?” the ship suggests. “We’ll take care of everything. You’re just worrying yourself.”

He tries not to take offense at the ship speaking to him like he’s a child, because it’s right – there’s really no contribution for him to make here. Standing like this just makes it seem like he doesn’t trust the crew’s experience. It’s rude.

He returns to his seat next to Yoongi, Namjoon already having come back to Yoongi's other side. K1 remains totally still behind Jimin’s chair. Usually they’d be making a big fuss in a situation like this; maybe they’re actually talking to Tannie over the local network, or maybe now they’re less expressive because of the others nearby who can understand them, or maybe, like Jungkook, they’ve realized nothing they have to say is necessarily going to help.

“I’m seeing some weird activity,” Taehyung calls. “These specks look like they could be ships but there isn’t just one.”

“Confirmed. I’m counting four signatures.” A pause. “Five.”

“Me too.”

The realization that he can’t help is accompanied by the realization of something else he can’t do, as he catches himself about to reach for Yoongi's hand. Right – the realities of the cave are not consistent with those of the rest of the galaxy. Now that they’re away from their isolated little bubble, there are so many more considerations to take into account regarding the way they interact. A small show of too much affection could be enough to doom the whole mission to failure. Their credibility, as Jedi, depends on their conformity to Jedi teachings.

He schools his expression and folds his hands together in his lap.

“It really seems like they’re heading for us…” Jimin says.

“They are, in all likelihood. Let’s prepare for evasive action. I’ll jump as soon as it’s safe.”

Yoongi hums, deep in his chest, something Jungkook feels next to him more than he hears. Is this really all they can do to comfort each other, in range of the potentially watchful Seokjin and Hoseok?

“It’s a real motley collection. None of them are the same size… they’re all going different speeds…” Taehyung muses.

They sit there quietly, anticipating. Jungkook steals glances at the two passengers on the other side of the room. Hoseok, perched on a bench right next to the door where they came in, is clutching his bag to his chest and looks a little ill. On a different bench, Seokjin sits with his legs crossed, chin resting on his fist, lips slightly pouted, perfectly aloof and unworried. As a Jedi is supposed to be.

Jungkook does not feel perfectly aloof and unworried. Logically he knows this crew of professionals can handle the situation better than he and K1 ever could on their own, but still, his powerlessness makes him afraid.

“All five are totally different, right?” Jimin asks.

“Yeah. Well, they’re all small. Probably one or two person… but none of them are the same ship. They’re just coming in range so I can get their shapes – see?”

“Yeah. Huh.”

>>hey,<< K1 chirps suddenly. >>one of those looks like the same bounty hunter ship that attacked jungkook and me. they must have brought reinforcements this time!<<

Oh, no. Jungkook isn’t sure whether he makes a noise or his energy just sours enough for them to notice; either way, Yoongi's head swivels to look at him, concerned.

Jungkook stares at his lap. They shouldn’t be worrying about him, at least not so obviously.

“Oh, really? Do you have any info on them? Any idea what they might do?” Jimin asks.

>>no, sorry. we didn’t engage with them beyond escaping.<<

Right. Great. He got attacked by one of these guys and doesn’t even have any useful data to offer because of it. Now, they’re all getting attacked by the same bounty hunters again – the bounty hunters who are after him. The bounty is on his head. That’s why they’re being attacked –

Namjoon stands, the quiet rustling prompting Jungkook to look up at him. He gives a little smile and gestures for Jungkook to follow him, so he does; and Namjoon leads him into one of the rooms branching out from the main space, pushing on a panel to slide the door closed.

“What is it?” Jungkook asks. He doesn’t step far into the room, watching Namjoon approach the far wall with its array of windows.

On this side of the ship, the windows face only the emptiness of inter-system space, away from Keiter’s planets and suns. Away from the five ships that are probably going to try to attack them.

“If we get into an altercation,” Namjoon says, reaching for Jungkook to come closer as he speaks, “You know whatever happens isn’t your fault, right? Even though they might technically be after… that specific money?”

He joins Namjoon at the window, allowing the other to take both of his hands. “Yeah, I understand that.” He looks from the window down to their joined hands, acutely aware of the fact that even though they’ve left the other humans behind, they are very much not alone here.

“I’m guessing Seokjin also has a bounty on his head,” Namjoon continues. “Yoongi might have one too at this point… I haven’t checked that in a while.”

He notices, but doesn’t mention, the way Namjoon excludes himself from that list of individuals whom Hamidou might be trying to hunt down. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a speck of light flash by, moving away from the Tannie. The enemy beam passes the ship closely, but in the vacuum of space, no shock wave follows, no reverberating sound.

Namjoon squints out the window, the stars reflected in his glasses. “Was that…”

“We are under attack. Please hold on for evasive maneuvers.”

Under attack by five ships. If they get surrounded…

Namjoon continues staring out the window, face strained, as if waiting for the next attack to fly by. And, within a few seconds, it does – several pulse torpedoes, not all the same kind, shoot past one after the other, some missing by a wider margin than others. Namjoon's grip on his hands tightens, and Jungkook feels Namjoon's nervousness perhaps even more than his own.

“Tannie said to hold on,” Jungkook says. “So maybe we should sit down.”

He expects Namjoon to let go of him and walk towards the door, but instead he gets pulled down to the floor just under the window and finds himself somehow half in Namjoon's lap.

“You know this is going to look really bad if somebody wanders in here,” Jungkook mutters as he leans back onto Namjoon's chest.

“Hypothetically. But I’m really good at explaining things. I can definitely convince them it’s not what it looks like.”

Jungkook hums. He believes that.

Tannie’s evasive strategy, it seems, involves an intricate combination of many individual movements, little spins and readjustments in the x - y plane as they hurtle forward through the z axis. Jungkook's own method (if one could call it that) of swerving back and forth semi-unpredictably is primitive in comparison. He has no doubt that Tannie is calculating in real-time all the steps it executes based on an abundance of sensor readings that it would be impossible for a human to process so quickly – and that makes him want to trust whatever the ship is doing, even though it certainly feels chaotic. The inexperienced passenger would probably find it difficult to distinguish every sudden movement versus a direct hit from an enemy ship.

A particularly harsh jolt has Namjoon squeezing him tightly around the waist, and he feels bad that Namjoon is kind of out of reach of his arms. “Do you maybe want to… switch places?”

“No. Your weight is making me feel better.”

“Oh, okay.” So that’s one boyfriend taken care of. “And, is it okay that we’ve left Yoongi out there to experience this by himself?”

Namjoon sighs. “I don’t know. He can come in here if he wants. Anyway, we’re supposed to be holding on and not moving around…”

“Preparing for jump in one minute.”

One minute. That’s good. They can make it through one minute, no problem.

Suddenly, a bright light from the window brightens the already well-lit room, so much so that Jungkook closes his eyes against the glare. The whole ship shudders, groaning and vibrating under his legs.

For a moment, he’s afraid it’s all falling apart. But that doesn’t happen, and the reverberations subside after a few seconds.

“My apologies. Direct hit. Shields at 90%.” A direct hit, and outside their window, no less. He twists around in Namjoon's arms, trying to get a better look, and he’s just in time to see one of the bounty hunter ships outside the window, fairly far away; then, Tannie spins so it’s no longer in sight. It’s kind of amazing how it’s able to execute all these moves while also accelerating towards jump speed.

He can feel how fast Namjoon's heart is beating. Namjoon buries his whole face in Jungkook's upper back.

“Tannie,” Jungkook calls into the empty room. “You’re an amazing pilot.”

“Thank you, Jungkook.” A pause. “Initiating jump.”

They jump into hyperspace and, predictably and immediately, Jungkook's stomach revolts against him, and he feels terrible. He rolls off of Namjoon's lap, slumping down to lie on the thinly carpeted ground, Namjoon keeping a hand on his shoulder. He sees stars streak by through the window.

Only a few seconds pass before the door slides open, revealing Yoongi. Who rushes in and slams the button to shut the door again. “Are you guys okay?”

“Yeah,” Namjoon answers. “Are you, though? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to leave you out there by yourself…”

“It’s okay.” Yoongi approaches and leans over Jungkook's body briefly, out of his line of sight. In his mind’s eye he imagines Yoongi maybe kissing Namjoon's cheek. “I’m good. Seokjin and I were keeping Hoseok distracted. I guess he’s not used to flying so…” He leans back and makes erratic movements with his arms, and it makes Namjoon laugh. Jungkook just smiles, stomach still too uncomfortable to move much.

As he usually does, Yoongi takes one of Jungkook's hands. He uses the other to brush through Jungkook's hair. “You’re feeling nauseous, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, unfortunately. I’ll be better in just a moment.” But before any more overly tender words or gestures are exchanged, there’s something he needs to double check. “Hey, Tannie?”

“Yes, Jungkook?”

“You can…” He struggles with how he wants to word the question, and even then, it doesn’t come out exactly right. “You can keep our secrets, right?”

“It is difficult for me to interpret what is and is not a secret,” Tannie explains. “It is my policy that recorded memories of conversations or interactions may only be accessed by individuals who were in the same physical space. This applies to all spaces except for the cockpit. I anonymize all private data before I use it to teach my neural networks. Is that sufficient to reassure you, or would you like more information?”

“No, that’s just what I wanted to hear. Thanks.”

“I must admit, though,” Tannie continues, “That your behavior intrigues me a great deal. I can’t help but wonder whether the three of you are Jedi at all, or merely disguising yourselves as such.”

Yoongi bursts into laughter, real laughter. “You’ve really hit the nail on the head with that one. Some of us are grappling with that question, too. But we are official Jedi.” He makes air quotes around the word “official.”

Jungkook sees the irony, but can’t bring himself to laugh, sensing Namjoon's discomfort next to him, sparked by the Jedi Master’s usual aversion to questioning his identity.

“Forgive me if I ask nosy questions. I became a ship in order to explore the galaxy and the people in it, you know,” Tannie says. “Does your un-Jedi-like behavior have something to do with your need for covert travel?”

“No, it really doesn’t.” Yoongi answers for them again. “It would probably be optimal for our mission to be carried out by… perfectly orthodox Jedi, to be honest.”

“That’s fascinating. I’m pleased that individuals as interesting as yourselves decided to travel with me.”

It’s difficult to reply to that. Yoongi just hums.

“Okay.” Jungkook lifts himself up on one elbow (of course using his free arm, not disrupting Yoongi's hand-holding). “I’m feeling better. Should we go back out there?”

“Baby, you’ll just get sick again when we exit hyperspace in however many minutes,” Namjoon reminds him.

“Hoseok's going to have a lot of questions for Seokjin to answer. I think they can keep each other entertained,” Yoongi says. “I wouldn’t worry about leaving them to their own devices.”

Jungkook flops back down with a sigh.

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

Coruscant.

The passengers gather behind the cockpit to watch the planet approach. It first appears as just another grey dot amid the speckled void; and then, as they come closer, patterns of clouds reveal themselves, as does the glow of the planet-city’s vast infrastructure – the rings encircling important districts, the lines of connective trafficways. More printed circuit board than natural geography.

Jungkook thinks it’s ugly. But Hoseok is obviously thrilled to be here, excitement palpable, so he doesn’t comment.

They navigate towards the region of the city nearest to the Jedi Temple, passing an entrance checkpoint without issue. Even in this well-to-do area, the architecture is a jumbled mess, layers on layers stacked on top of each other, covered in antennae and drain pipes and traffic signs. The further down, down, down they go, the older the construction becomes, dirtier and more ramshackle. More anonymous.

Tannie brings them to the wide, red-awninged entrance to a cheap hourly-rate garage which advertises itself simply as ‘PARKING.’ The ship navigates the low-ceilinged hangar with ease. Jungkook is surprised by the kinds of ships he sees flashing by in a row outside the window, many of them equally as sleek, maintained, and well-armed as the Tannie is despite the cost and location. He wouldn’t have expected to encounter so many mercenary type transports this close to the Jedi Temple.

They slide into a parking spot near the end of the hangar, where the largest ships are congregated.

“Deactivating thrusters. Apologies for the rough journey, but welcome to Coruscant,” Tannie says. “You are welcome to come and go as you wish, but please be discreet. Remember that our services are at your disposal for another forty-six hours.”

Forty-six hours. Such a small amount of time, and yet when it’s over they’ll have already confronted Hamidou and faced whatever consequences fate might bring.

“Well, we should probably get to work. There are people Yoongi and I ought to touch base with regarding last minute details.” Namjoon says.

“You can use our encrypted network for that. Tannie will let you into it,” Taehyung remarks, still typing commands into a panel. “We’re also subscribed to an onion routing service you can use.”

“We’ve got some tables we can set up in either of the rooms,” Jimin suggests, hopping up from his seat. “Actually, I’ll just show you all the different options we have for furniture.”

A folding table and chairs are produced from the span of cabinets lining the wall of one of the empty rooms. Also in the cabinets are some beanbags, a quantity of pristine bedroll futons, and even a table for playing zinbiddle.

So, with their workstation set up, Yoongi and Namjoon hop onto the network with the help of K1 and get down to business, murmuring to each other about who they need to contact, what they need to say to whom. Jungkook hovers around them, feeding them granola bars he packed in his bag since neither of them have eaten anything yet today, bringing them strong tea from the kitchenette hidden behind a panel in the lounge, where everyone else has congregated – Hoseok working at the long countertop, seemingly writing something, and the others playing some kind of blaster game on a holoset, laughing and enjoying themselves even though Seokjin wins every single round.

A little later in the day, he finds himself out and about in the city with Seokjin and Taehyung, looking to buy food. Yes, Jungkook grew up here, in this very district, but he very rarely left the grounds of the Temple, so he’s not familiar with the tiered layout of the storefronts, the noises, the smells, the vastness. But Seokjin and Taehyung are, so he’s happy to follow them down flights of stairs, through alleyways, and across pedestrian bridges.

As they go, Jungkook and Seokjin compare their assassination attempts.

“I’ve definitely gotten into situations like that a few times,” Taehyung says, once Jungkook finishes telling his story, sidestepping a bicycle chained to the railings of the walkway. “But always in a ship that could, you know, fight back. And I think Jiminie was with me every time.”

“It’s good to have more help there,” Jungkook acknowledges. “If K1 hadn’t been looking out, I probably wouldn’t have noticed until it was too late to escape. Or, it would have been much harder.”

“That’s very fortunate. Do you think your droid is force sensitive?”

Jungkook can’t tell whether Seokjin's question is serious or a joke. “Whether it’s latent force sensitivity or just hypervigilant paranoia, it saved both of our lives.”

“Something similar happened to me,” Seokjin says, falling silent as they pass a small group of tall, masked individuals coming from the opposite direction. “I suddenly understood that something was very wrong – and I know it was the force that told me.”

“I wish I had a built-in alarm system like that…” Taehyung sighs. “This connection with the force thing sounds super useful.”

“It is,” Seokjin agrees. They come to a stop in front of a bright, glass-paneled storefront. A convenience store. “How about this place?”

In the store, they pick up a few stacks of generic prepackaged meals and sandwiches, enough that they won’t have to venture outside again until the big event. Taehyung pays for all of it, citing Tannie’s hospitality, and soon they’re back outside, bags in hand.

“So,” Jungkook picks up where they left off. “What happened?”

“It was kind of similar to what happened to you, actually,” Seokjin says. “I was on a business trip, a diplomatic thing. Nothing out of the ordinary. It was a planet that was pretty far out… I was on my way back to Coruscant with two pilots accompanying me, one I knew well and one I had just met. And, like I said, I got this sudden flash of insight that something wasn’t right.”

“Did it happen before you entered hyperspace?” Jungkook asks.

“No. We had already jumped.” Seokjin sighs. “So, I went from the cabin, where I was getting some work done, to the bridge, and discovered that the second pilot, the unfamiliar one, had killed the first, and taken control of the ship. I think she was betting on my not discovering it.”

Jungkook feels something land on his hand – an ugly little bug with spindly wings. He shakes it off and it flies toward a mud-daub nest on the side of a gutter.

“It was hard to get her to talk. She wasn’t a Jedi, but she had undergone some training in order to work for the Temple – just the sort of person I wouldn’t have expected would be compromised.” He scoffs. “Shows how much I know. Anyway, I found out that we weren’t headed for Coruscant at all, but towards the Outer Rim, towards an ambush, where she’d jettison in an escape pod and I’d get blown up along with all the evidence.”

“But you couldn’t change the course, not after you entered hyperspace,” Taehyung remarks. “So what did you do?”

“You’re right. I figured they wouldn’t destroy us before they saw the escape pod, so I got the pilot to jump somewhere else as soon as we arrived. We ended up just a few systems away, where I got the pilot to drop me off at the nearest habitable planet and forget I ever existed. I bounced around a few more systems for anonymity’s sake, and then I started to hide like my life depended on it.”

“Because it did.”

“Yes. It did.”

Seokjin's story reminds him of Yoongi's story, with some key differences. First of all, the attempt on Yoongi's life was never really made, at least not in a way that was going to succeed. But the key difference, in Jungkook's mind, is the way they lived out their exile. After the first weeks, Yoongi had the two of them at his side. Seokjin's exile, on the other hand, was in the authentic Jedi fashion – alone.

“How long did you have to hide?” Jungkook asks.

“Ahh, not very long. About two months, I think. Or was it three?”

One final staircase brings them up to the entrance of the garage. They trudge up the length of the hangar silently, Jungkook resisting the urge to peek at all the ships they pass, since Taehyung told him that was a surefire way to get into an altercation.

K1 is happy to see them, but otherwise their return is met with little fanfare. Jungkook wanders around distributing the first round of sandwiches, and everyone goes back to their business.

Even though they left Keiter 03 in the early morning, they arrived at this section of Coruscant around its noon. The day passes quickly. After Namjoon and Yoongi receive confirmation from a certain inside source that Hamidou is still planning to visit a public area of the Temple around mid-morning, everyone relaxes a little.

They spend some time talking to Hoseok, giving him information for the story he’s writing. That conversation transitions into Hoseok telling them about his adventures around the Keiter System, and then the others chime in with even more stories from various parts of the galaxy. They wait up until it’s about midnight, locally, and then part ways into different groups occupying different parts of the ship for the night.

It takes a bit of effort to put away the tables and chairs they used earlier in the day, but the way the three of them work together, barely exchanging a word – maybe it’s silly, but he feels comforted by that. They replace the other furniture with bedrolls from the closet, pristine and pale blue and smelling a little like dalsa flower. Spreading out the blankets in neat rectangles, Yoongi leans over to kiss Namjoon, and Jungkook doesn’t look away. 

Jungkook knows he has never felt as secure about his place with them as he feels now, in this moment. Maybe it’s the juxtaposition of their little group of three against the vast city. Maybe it’s the proximity to the Temple, where everything started that ended up bringing them together. Maybe, and most probably, it’s just because of the passing of time, the idea of reciprocated feelings slowly settling in.

They brush their teeth crowded three around the sink. He grins at them whenever eye contact is made in the mirror. Neither of them feels as gleeful as he does – and he doesn’t blame them, because it’s a strange time for this happiness – but the overall mood is good, vastly better than whatever atmosphere was hanging around the cave for the last half-week.

They shimmy into bed, Namjoon in the middle this time around. Jungkook is on the side next to the windows, which Tannie has darkened so minimal light from the hangar can come in.

“We have a big day tomorrow,” Namjoon remarks, pillow cushioning his back against the wall.

Yoongi is at the wall panel by the door, fiddling with the settings for the lights. They could just ask Tannie, but they don’t want to break the illusion of privacy the ship has been giving them for the past while. “That’s right,” he says. “The whole Order has a big day tomorrow. The truth has a big day tomorrow.”

Namjoon smiles fondly. “You make it sound so dramatic.”

“Sorry, sorry.” The room suddenly plunges into darkness, only the safety lights by the door remaining on, marking the way to the exit with a soft, orange glow. “I should have said, tomorrow some small-time miscreants will return to their hometown to cause a little disturbance.”

“Well, now that you’ve put it that way, I’m glad we have someone on our team who can spin the story in the opposite direction.”

Lying on his side, Jungkook watches the dim contours of Namjoon's face move as he speaks, watches Yoongi walk across the room to join them. “Somebody might interpret that as the force working in our favor,” Yoongi says. Namjoon reaches up to pull him into the expanse of blankets.

If he had to put a single word on the jumble of emotions he feels right now, wouldn’t it be… love? It’s love, right?

(There’s a sense of triumph in claiming the experience, claiming the word, reclaiming himself from what he was supposed to be.)

What if he’s mistaken? Or what if it doesn’t last? He’s asked himself that a lot, but – what if it does? Or what if it would, but what if something… happens?

What if this is the last day the three of them can all be together? If not forever, for a long time? What if everything changes?

“Kook?”

He comes back from his reverie to see both Namjoon and Yoongi peering down at him.

“What were you thinking about?” Namjoon asks; and, looking at his face, a previously unarticulated (but all too familiar) need jumps into his brain and directly out of his mouth.

“I want to kiss you,” he says, ‘you’ collective, and hopefully they’ll pick up on that. “Now.”

Namjoon keeps looking at him, eyes widening, like he’s surprised and doesn’t know what to say. Out of the corner of his eye, meanwhile, he sees Yoongi looking back and forth between him, wearing an expression of pure delight.

Namjoon's mouth opens and closes. Jungkook becomes increasingly alarmed. “Unless! Unless you don’t want to!” he rushes to add, holding up his hands.

Yoongi chuckles. “Oh, no, he does. He definitely wants to kiss you; actually, I think his exact words were – "

“Yoongi, do not finish that sentence,” Namjoon exclaims, taking Jungkook's hands and lowering them. Jungkook swallows; logically, he knows they must discuss him when he’s not around, but… that they would talk about him, in such a way… it makes him feel things. “Kookie, love, I just don’t want you to feel pressured into doing that just because we’re going into a dangerous situation tomorrow. It was only two days ago that you said no to this very same question.”

“I felt differently then. I felt more insecure. And maybe it does have something to do with tomorrow, but…” He pouts. “Please?”

“Come on, Joon, the man needs kisses. Who are we to deny him?”

Yoongi's joking tone seems to finally get Namjoon to relax. “All right, yes, you make a good point.”

There’s a second of stillness, neither Namjoon nor Jungkook taking any initiative, before Yoongi gets up from his side of the floor and crawls over to position himself adjacent to the other two. “Okay, let’s do it. But it’s late, so we’re not going to get carried away. Just one!” He holds up one finger and raises his eyebrows. “Well, two, you know what I mean. One kiss with each of us respectively. Now get closer – “

He tugs at their sleeves, and Jungkook scoots forward so that his knees bump into Namjoon's.

“Good. But, okay, wait, I want to say this.” Yoongi lifts his hand again. “First of all, you might want to lower your expectations. This is not going to be magical – or, it probably won’t be. You shouldn’t expect it to be.”

“All right…” Jungkook acknowledges, maybe too nervous to process every single word, overly aware of his palms becoming more damp the longer he sits there.

One of Yoongi's hands lands on Namjoon's shoulder. “And this goes for all of us. Don’t feel like it has to be, from a technical standpoint, ‘good.’ This is – think of this as a promise. It’s saying that, you know, we have a lot ahead of us that we’re going to experience together.”

Yoongi's other hand comes to rest on the back of Jungkook's neck, weighing heavily, and Jungkook swallows. “A promise. Okay.” It comes out as a near-whisper.

And that seems to be the end of Yoongi's little lecture. He’s guided forwards, Namjoon tilting his head and then they meet in the middle, the shallow press of Namjoon's lips on his joining the impressions of the hand behind his neck and the ones he’s holding. He registers that Namjoon's lips are dry, his eyes are closed, and he smells like toothpaste.

Yoongi is right: it’s not magical, it’s barely anything, really, but before he has time to analyze it much at all, he’s getting pulled in the other direction. Yoongi scoots up to kneel in front of where Jungkook sits, the hand on his neck moving to cup the side of his face. Jungkook scrambles to grab onto Yoongi's waist with one hand, leaving the other holding Namjoon's.

This time, he goes in too fast, and their noses bump into each other. But they recover – Yoongi kisses him and chuckles into it, then pulls back by just a couple centimeters and stays there for a second, breath ghosting over Jungkook's face and eyes staring into what feels like his soul.

Jungkook looks away, his face hot.

“I’m sure you already know,” Yoongi says, letting go of Jungkook's face and combing once through his hair. “But this is not all there is. I swear it only gets better from here – “ Namjoon snorts and swats at him, ushering him back over to the other side. “But you shouldn’t worry about that, because we’ll teach you everything. I’ll make a whole curriculum.”

“Okay, yes, but now is not the time to develop a curriculum, as fun as that sounds. Unfortunately, we need to get rest.” Namjoon plants another kiss on the back of Jungkook's hand before he releases it.

Jungkook doesn’t really want to let go. Namjoon lies down, and Jungkook follows, rolling as close as he can, grabbing onto Namjoon's arm and pressing his face into it. “Thank you,” he mutters after a pause.

“Hm?”

“Thank you,” he repeats, a little louder. “For humoring me.”

“Thank you for humoring me,” Yoongi says from the other side.

“Darlings,” Namjoon admonishes. “Let’s sleep.”

Jungkook hums and closes his eyes.

A promise, Yoongi said. That we have a lot ahead of us that we’re going to experience together. And Jungkook believes it.

Chapter Text

Flying down an upper-middle-altitude Coruscant airway, Jungkook is projecting as much this is a normal passenger vehicle energy into the near atmosphere as he can muster. He’s sitting in the backseat of a rented flying vehicle, Yoongi next to him, Namjoon in the front with Jimin, who’s driving them to one of the main public access points to the Temple. Taehyung, meanwhile, is escorting Hoseok and Seokjin to a different point of entry.

At this elevation, Coruscant is a totally different city – and this is the one Jungkook is more familiar with. There’s real sunlight, and the sky peeks through here and there between buildings. The development is less dense, and it’s less pedestrian-oriented as well, although the intermittent rooftop greenspace flashes by underneath them.

Looming over it all are the five spires and ziggurat crowning the Temple. It’s so easy to mentally envision and place himself inside the ancient chambers and meditation spaces surrounding the interior of the towers – but that’s not where they’re headed today.

Jimin dips the craft lower, losing elevation until they reenter the traffic flow driving by the East public entrance to the Temple. He keeps going past the entrance until they come to a metered passenger-craft parking spot. Jimin wouldn’t be able to use the Temple’s parking without showing some identification, so he’s going to drop them off here and then wait around in the case that he can provide a quick getaway, Taehyung doing the same on the West side.

The plaza outside the entrance is not busy, per say, but there are definitely enough people here – tourists, merchants, guards – that their presence is not necessarily going to stand out. Although, because of their anonymizing hat-and-mask outfits, it’s possible the guards, who are trained to spot Jedi and Sith antics, might flag them as suspicious.

Parking completed, Namjoon turns to nod first at Jimin, then at the backseat. He opens the door and steps out of the vehicle, Jungkook following him, Yoongi doing the same on the other side. Before they step into the plaza, Jungkook turns to give a quick pat and silent goodbye to K1, who’s come along in the craft to help with a potential fast escape but whose pink exterior is far too uniquely identifiable to come with them into the Temple.

Jungkook's earlier thoughts about the makeup of the plaza were definitely an over-analysis. Getting into the Temple is easy: as a youngling he’d been required to sign in and out at one of the private entrances, but posing as members of the general public they don’t have to go through any screening, don’t have to show any identification – they just walk in, strolling casually past the merchants and the tourists and the guards, and under the giant, intimidating arched gateways.

It’s a different and new experience, seeing this area of the Temple from the perspective of an outsider. Why does it look like all the columns and ceilings are taller than he remembers? Why can he not mentally visualize the layout of this space, how he would get from here to the parts of the building he used to live in? Is he really so disconnected?

Namjoon, at least, seems to know exactly where he’s going, navigating directly through the wide lobby towards a certain other hallway. They don’t walk too quickly, though, so as to not attract attention.

“Do you know specifically where we’re going?” Yoongi asks, the question he really means to ask being can you sense Hamidou’s location.

“Yeah.”

“That means they also know, though.” If you can sense Hamidou, can’t he sense you too?

“Maybe, maybe not.” He’s probably not looking for me intentionally.

But maybe Hamidou is paying attention. Or maybe Hamidou is powerful enough that the information, ‘Namjoon is nearby,’ will just come to him automatically. Jungkook can’t help but quickly run through these possibilities.

The hallway Namjoon wants to go down branches off to the right from the main hall. Jungkook speaks up before they pass beneath the high archway. “We have to wait. Remember?” Hoseok and Seokjin are coming in from the other side, and they need to touch base here, not to speak to each other but so the other two can follow them into the next area.

“Right,” Namjoon acknowledges, and he walks past the archway to a little area with an informational display for tourists. Yoongi and Namjoon stand over it, looking like they’re reading, obscuring their faces from the rest of the hall; and Jungkook faces out, feigning casual boredom, gaze sweeping now and then over the vast space.

It’s not either of the two humans he sees first, but instead the media-use drone Hoseok's rented with his agency’s credentials, a small bot that records and broadcasts video and is permitted to fly in public spaces for journalistic purposes. That means Hoseok has to be nearby – either that, or he’s monitoring them from above.

“Guys, are you done reading? Can we move on?” Jungkook says, knowing that they’ll understand the question as a tip-off as he intends.

“I guess.” Namjoon straightens and starts off down his intended hallway. “It’s about time, anyway.”

The blue-grey stone of the lobby gives way to a rusty red-brown. In this area, there’s less milling about and looking at things, and a greater flow of pedestrian traffic between the lobby and the public exhibit of ancient texts that’s located around the other end of the hall. If they could catch Hamidou in this area, that traffic flow could become an advantage, producing more spectators.

“He’s going to be coming this way. We have to catch him in here – it would be perfect,” Namjoon says, apparently thinking the same thing as Jungkook.

“Are you sure, though? Just because he’s nearby, that doesn’t mean…” Yoongi starts.

“No, I’m sure. I know the ways he customarily likes to come and go around here. He likes to wander through the lobby so he can, you know, see what the ordinary people are up to, and nitpick the presentation.” Hamidou should be coming from a scheduled meeting at the office of the Jedi archives – a type of meeting Namjoon has accompanied him to in the past.

Seizing an opening in the oncoming traffic, Namjoon turns sharply to the side and leads them into a stairwell. And they wait there, huddled on the landing. Yoongi, maybe without thinking, holds onto his wrist. Jungkook's eyes flicker over the surveillance cameras overhead. Aren’t they attracting more attention by standing like this? But, on the other hand, does it matter?

Namjoon turns to look at them. “Are you ready?”

Jungkook nods. “Yeah,” Yoongi answers.

Namjoon pulls down his facemask and smiles, although it’s more of a grimace. “Here we go.”

The stairwell is where they un-disguise themselves, quickly stripping themselves of their masks and cloaks to reveal the conventional Jedi clothes they have on underneath. Whether or not it’s right that they’re more likely to get believed if they look like this, that’s the truth of the matter. They pile the discarded articles on top of the public waste receptacle - to be reclaimed later if they get the chance - on the way back out of the stairwell.

Namjoon strides down the middle of the hall, the other two walking a little bit behind. They’re definitely attracting interested looks from a few of the tourists – who have, after all, come here to see Jedi and their artifacts. But a greater portion of their attention is drawn to – there he is – Councilman Hamidou.

Hamidou walks down the hall in their direction, totally at ease, mid-conversation with whoever is next to him. His powerful presence is difficult to overlook, but Jungkook tears his eyes away in order to analyze the entourage Hamidou has with him.

Jungkook recognizes the woman Hamidou is talking to as Nene Zamna, the Councilman’s Chief of Staff, someone Namjoon has described as a mix of personnel manager and secretary. Closer to him in age, she’s not a protégé, but she is a Jedi, a Hamidou loyalist, and a potential threat.

Walking together behind the first two, Jungkook sees a couple of people he thinks are aides, neither of whom are Jedi. They might be armed, though, and these are people Hamidou is more likely to think of as disposable.

And, accompanying those four, there are two guards: Knights, associated with the temple, whose loyalty to Hamidou is an unknown quantity. If Hamidou is able to turn the guards against them – and because of his rank he probably will – it might be difficult to win a fight against these people.

Maybe they wont fight, he reminds himself. Maybe Hamidou will realize that fighting other Jedi isn’t great self-advertising, and he’ll agree to hear them out, and they’ll take the case to the authorities, and it’ll be dealt with properly with a good amount of public attention…

Hamidou notices them, and he stops in his tracks. He ignores the conversation he was in the middle of, his expression schooled, blank, processing. Zamna looks around, confused, and stiffens as she registers the three Jedi who have come to a stop ten or so meters ahead.

Namjoon doesn’t act like the meeting is a surprise. “Councilman! Good morning. It’s been a while.” Amicable words, but Jungkook doesn’t hear a smile in his voice.

Hamidou, on the other hand, puts on a friendly expression – although it definitely looks ironic from Jungkook's perspective. “Good morning, Namjoon. What brings you to this particular part of the galaxy today? I thought you weren’t due to get back from your… activities… for an indeterminate amount of time.”

It seems like Hamidou is trying to conceal what Namjoon has been up to. “I -“ And he doesn’t even allow Namjoon to reply.

“Actually, we have so much to talk about that it might be best if we retired to my office.”

“Unfortunately for you, we’re going to have this conversation right here,” Yoongi says, effectively laying their intentions out on the table.

“Oh?” Hamidou grins cynically. “Is that so? And who is this, telling us what we will and won’t be doing? Zamna, would you remind me?”

“Master Min Yoongi. Wanted by Council Internal Enforcement on suspicion of Sith activities and sympathies,” Zamna begins reciting automatically. “He’s been missing for around two months, and is believed to have recruited a co-conspirator. And I believe we have here that very Knight, Jeon Jungkook – also wanted by Council Internal Enforcement for Sith activities, although he’s thought to have been manipulated or coerced by Min. Councilman…” Zamna feigns confusion, like they’ve rehearsed this. “What would these people be doing here?”

“You know, I’m not sure.” Hamidou tilts his head, looking at Yoongi directly. “But they can’t be up to anything good, unless they’re turning themselves in. Namjoon, are you at all aware of the identities of those standing next to you?”

“They’re with me,” Namjoon affirms. “And, no, even if you’ve cooked up warrants for their arrest, they aren’t criminals.” Hamidou opens his mouth to interrupt, but Namjoon presses on, speaking more loudly. “We came here together in order to expose the truth – about their innocence and about how you’ve framed them in order to cover up for your crimes.”

And, so, the storyline has been revealed. There’s no mistaking this for a friendly interaction, not anymore, and there are murmurs from the spectators who have stopped to watch what’s going on, standing back a good ways from both groups. Jungkook can feel the tension rising in the room.

“I don’t think we should be letting these two wander our premises without facing consequences,” Zamna says. “And slander ought to be added to the list of charges against them.”

“I agree. And I think this sort of thing needs to be dealt with through the proper channels. I recommend we take this conversation to the enforcement office, and we – “ He gestures around magnanimously. “ - will be happy to escort you there.”

“And we will be happy to come with you, but only after we have a short discussion and publicly state our case, right here,” Namjoon replies.

Even though it’s a reasonable request – and hopefully the onlookers will agree with that - they’re definitely pushing the limits of what Hamidou can safely allow. He knows that Namjoon, at least, is way too credible to be permitted to ‘publicly state his case.’

“I would gladly hear you out, and I will listen to whatever you have to say so we can resolve whatever miscommunications have resulted in your strange state of mind. I even wouldn’t mind doing so publicly. However, I can’t help but fear for the safety of everyone around us at the moment. Forgive me, but I don’t exactly trust these suspected Sith sympathizers to not have an alternative, dangerous goal; and that is why I must insist that we proceed directly to the nearest enforcement office.”

This – this smug bastard, thinking he has everything figured out and under control. Jungkook can’t prevent himself from speaking up. “Sir, the last time I followed your instructions and went where you asked me to go, you sent a bounty hunter to kill me.” Someone in the crowd gasps. More murmuring. “We’re not going to go somewhere private where you can silence us and cover up our story with your power and influence.”

Hamidou’s smile leaves his face. Jungkook wonders if he can sense the way the onlookers aren’t sympathizing with him. “This is ridiculous. I can’t allow this to continue. Guards, please help me escort these individuals out of the public area and to a safe location.”

The two guards who are with Hamidou step out from behind him and approach briskly. Damn, this is not going to be easy. The guards haven’t drawn their weapons, but of course they will soon, because he and Yoongi aren’t going to cooperate and it’s going to escalate. They can take on the guards, but then there’s Zamna and Hamidou and the aides, and there are other guards in the vicinity who could jump in… it’s going to be difficult. They need to keep talking now, get their story out before one of them gets hurt. But talking is hard right now, so Jungkook can’t blame himself or the others for silently watching as the guards come up to them.

“Brothers, come with us,” one guard says. “Let’s have a conversation elsewhere.”

“We already said – we aren’t going anywhere yet,” Yoongi barks. “Hamidou wants us dead.”

Jungkook stares at the other guard, who’s stopped in front of him. Their face is hidden, but it feels like they’re on high alert, like they’re assessing him seriously as a Sith threat. It’s amazing, how readily Hamidou is believed by most other Jedi.

The guard reaches out for Jungkook's arm, but he steps out of the way, avoiding it. “Please cooperate with us,” they say. “You have no reason to be afraid. It will be much better for everyone.”

Jungkook doesn’t bother replying to that. The guard again reaches for him, trying to grab him, and out of the corner of his eye he sees the other guard trying to get at Yoongi too.

Namjoon launches back into business, seemingly realizing that he’s unoccupied and the others don’t need his help. “Councilman, the first charge I’d like to present against you pertains to your responsibility for the assassination of Kim Seokjin.”

Jungkook can tell the guard in front of him is surprised by that – they hesitate for a moment, distracted, before focusing on him again. “Seriously?” Hamidou scoffs. “How low, for one to use the tragedy of a dead Jedi Master to further one’s strange agenda.”

There’s another pause, a drawn-out second in which the two guards exchange a glance, neither of them successful at bringing Yoongi and Jungkook under control. And, in unison they, pull their lightsabers out from their long outer robes, and engage them.

Well. It’s as Jungkook expected. It’s essential that it be obvious to the crowd that the guards engaged first; but after he hears Yoongi draw his lightsaber, he follows suit.

“We allege,” Namjoon continues, “That you arranged for his transport to be ambushed, either for a fee or with coercion, with the intent of having him killed. Then, we have the case of Min Yoongi.” He has to raise his voice over the humming sound of the lightsabers. The guards circle, like they’re waiting for Jungkook and Yoongi to give in, which grants them the time to close ranks, getting closer to each other and drawing slightly away from Namjoon.

“Min ran away from his position to attempt joining the Sith. The fact has been well established, and it remains, whether or not he was successful at carrying it out.”

“There is no well-established fact to it. We’ve discovered that this was a rumor that you intentionally started, with no evidence, in order to discredit him. He knew the truth about Seokjin and he feared for his own life. That’s why he left, and that’s why he was dangerous to you.”

“We’ll allow you one more opportunity to come peacefully,” one of the guards says. Jungkook says nothing.

“Irrational, paranoid feelings can lead down the path of the dark side. That’s the historical precedent,” Hamidou counters. “Just because you haven’t seen the evidence doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

It only takes a single motion, a split second, to transition from ‘peacefully resisting arrest’ (for which there may be consequences later, but that’s okay, they’ll face them when they come) and ‘actually in a fight.’

Based on this first, less than a minute of fighting, it seems like the guards’ style is, to put it simply, by the book. They’re proficient, they know what they’re doing – but they’re predictable. Jungkook notices their caution, like they’re well aware of their status as the instigators of this, like they’re trying to get Jungkook and Yoongi to give in voluntarily rather than hold out until they’re overpowered.

Basically, Jungkook's still expecting it to escalate.

“And just because evidence didn’t originally exist doesn’t mean you couldn’t have fabricated some in the interim,” Namjoon says. “I look forward to the matter being explored by an independent authority”

Jungkook can tell, more from the volume and humming energy of the space than from looking around, that they’ve attracted even more onlookers in the last minute or so. It’s not a surprise, what with the raised voices and flashing lights, but now they have to be prepared for, well, this: another Temple guard, noticing the commotion, pushes through the crowd to join the first two, not even asking any questions before jumping into the fight.

He and Yoongi can take on three guards right now with the somewhat lax way they’re fighting. Yoongi's dipping into some telekinetic techniques already, buying a few moments of time here and there by stopping the arm of one guard, or freezing the leg of another, allowing Jungkook to beat off the attack of the one that has gained the most ground. Jungkook wonders, morbidly, how many more guards they can handle like this before they’re compelled to change strategies.

Hamidou ignores Namjoon's last statement. “Zamna, will you get them to hurry up?”

“Of course.” Zamna and Hamidou both, from what Jungkook can see, come forward several meters, bringing them alarmingly closer to where Namjoon is standing, but then Zamna continues walking, skirting around the edge of the hall, passing Namjoon and coming up to the flighting group of five.

“Anyway, Yoongi wasn’t delusional to believe you were after him,” Namjoon presses on, probably registering that his time to speak freely is running out. “Like I said, you started this Sith rumor against him, and you also sent Jungkook to uncover where he was hiding and attempted to manipulate Jungkook into doing the work of killing Yoongi for you. Luckily, he refused to do so without seeing evidence.”

“Guys, what’s the issue?” Zamna, arms crossed, addresses the guards, speaking over Namjoon's testimony. “Are you going easy on them? They’re Sith; you don’t have to do that.”

One of the guards steps back from the group to reply to her. “Respectfully, sir, we don’t know that yet. Their only crime is resisting arrest.” Jungkook appreciates that this description of the situation is probably the most reasonable they could hope for.

“You also put a bounty on Jungkook and his ship, hoping to destroy the evidence of what you were doing,” Namjoon is saying. “He escaped, but when he came to Coruscant, you further disrespected him and tried to have him arrested. That’s when I discovered that you were doing and decided to join him and Yoongi in exile, where together we could pursue justice.”

“’Pursue justice,’” Hamidou parrots back mockingly. “I’m so proud of you, Namjoon, allowing yourself to get manipulated in favor of a fraudulent cause that has nothing to do with you in the first place. You’re so self-sacrificing, a real hero, isn’t that right?”

The guards are not going to get her the results Hamidou wants, so Zamna takes matters into her own hands; she jumps into the fight. And she does it aggressively, immediately slashing and stabbing like her intent is not just to inhibit but to maim. Jungkook knows he’s going to find it difficult to react to her and the guards at the same time, knows that it’s really not viable to continue like in this configuration; and Yoongi recognizes that too, muttering, “I have the guards.”

That coordination gives Jungkook the reassurance he needs to go forward with his plan, which is to break off into a separate duel against Zamna while Yoongi keeps all three guards busy - something that honestly lies outside of Jungkook's skill set.

Of course Jungkook would rather fight one Jedi than three, but Zamna really is a formidable opponent. Even though it’s probably not an ability she exercises in the course of her duties day-to-day, her years of fighting experience are apparent. And sure, Jungkook's  good too, but then there’s the difference in their goals: he wants to disarm her, maybe wait her out, whereas she’s acting like she really does mean him harm.

This is the challenge Jungkook has been expecting.

“Or maybe, it’s not like that at all,” Hamidou goes on. “You aren’t the type to get manipulated, are you? You’re not stupid.” He steps forward again. “It pains me to think this… I almost can’t believe it. But it is the only logical conclusion: that you have cleverly concocted a plot to disparage me in order to steal my position on the Council. Am I right?”

“You’re wrong.” Namjoon's reply is firm. “I have no interest in such things.”

“Is that so? Isn’t it convenient that once your plan succeeds, you can ride a wave of popularity to whatever destination you please?”

“Does a desire for justice not seem like adequate motivation to you? Maybe that signifies an underlying problem.”

“I can’t consider such a motivation when all of your accusations are underhanded lies. I can’t believe you’re throwing away everything I gave you and have given you for years for this one shot at getting what you want. I can’t believe you want to throw me away.” Hamidou brushes his cloak aside, revealing the hilt of his lightsaber underneath. “You’re making this personal. And I’m sure you understand that I have to maintain my integrity.”

When Jungkook realizes that Hamidou actually wants to fight Namjoon, the little moment of distraction that results is enough time for Zamna to land a hit that cuts into his right shoulder. Stars, that’s his sword arm, and it stings and is probably bleeding, but it suffices to re-focus him, at least partially. The other part of his brain is worrying about how Namjoon will fare against his barely-former master.

Because Namjoon has consistently struggled to separate himself from his old life. He has struggled to explicitly articulate anything negative against Hamidou, has even struggled to say the man’s name out loud. So will Namjoon be able to take this fight seriously? Should Jungkook let it be known that he’s been hurt, to motivate him? No - that would just serve as a distraction. He needs to trust that Namjoon can do this.

Namjoon might not have top-notch fighting skills but he knows Hamidou doesn’t either. And getting Hamidou to be the instigator continues to play into their hands – it’s good for the crowd to see.

The fight doesn’t get any easier. And while, yes, he’s fully present in his physical body (which is tired, which is sweating, which is in pain) it also seems to him that he can sense what else is going on in the room: Hoseok's drone flying overhead, capturing everything on camera; Yoongi already succeeding in disarming one of the three Temple guards; Namjoon defending himself from Hamidou’s wild swings.

“You do know it’s a violation of the Code to use mind tricks on other Jedi, right?” Namjoon says in a breathless rush. “What makes you think you can get away with it? We’ve all been trained to detect that sort of thing, so is it because it’s not provable in a court?” Shit, is Hamidou using mind tricks on Namjoon? That’s terrible, and would never have any chance at succeeding - why would he even try? Just to unnerve? Jungkook certainly knows how unnerving it feels to be on the receiving end. Or is he trying to provoke their ire – because in that case he’s succeeded. Jungkook is trained to control his emotions, but he’s angry.

“You’re the one accusing me of something that can’t be disproved. I am not going to TOLERATE any more of this!” Hamidou yells, something about his tone striking Jungkook with sudden terror.

He doesn’t see exactly what Hamidou does, but the next second Namjoon is pulled forward through the air and onto Hamidou’s lightsaber, impaled through his middle. Namjoon shrieks; Jungkook cries out; and everything stops, then: Zamna, the guards, the crowd all stop and watch as, with just as much fluidity and violence as he pulled him on, Hamidou casts Namjoon away, hurling him meters across the room with an incredible force blast.

There’s a cracking sound as his head collides with the polished floor.

Yoongi is the first to react, ignoring the guards who are still stopped in shock, running to where Namjoon lies unnaturally positioned against the stone tiles. Jungkook wants to follow immediately, needs to get over there and look at him and help him and protect him. But he also can’t bring Zamna with him, because she’s still a threat. But, fuck – he can’t just stay here while Namjoon is bleeding out all over the floor.

He lets out a closed-mouth grunt of panicked frustration and brings his foot up to kick Zamna’s lightsaber out of her hand. He burns a hole in his boot in the process – maybe his foot too, although he can’t feel it – but it catches her off-guard enough that it works. She reaches out her hand to summon it, but he’s quicker, catching it and casting it as far as he can in another direction. That won’t keep her busy for long, but it’s the best thing he can think to do in the moment.

“Councilman Hamidou!”

Seokjin's voice cuts through the murmur of the hall. Finally, finally. Jungkook wishes he were able to enjoy Hamidou’s comeuppance to the fullest, but his focus is totally centered on Namjoon, on Yoongi kneeling next to him, on the sickening red wetness of Yoongi's hands, and on the two guards slowly approaching.

“I bet you thought you’d seen the last of me,” Seokjin says.

Jungkook's feet carry him into guards’ path, standing between them and Namjoon, noticing that the third guard has gone over to a communications panel on the side wall. Surely, hopefully, they’ll request medical help. And hopefully whatever reinforcements are requested arrive only after Seokjin can finish telling his story – after the case against Hamidou is sealed.

“Of course I’m surprised to see you. I heard that you had died.”

“That’s right; I’ve been hiding in the Outer Rim ever since you attempted to assassinate me. But I’m not dead.”

“Stand down, man,” says a guard. “There’s no use drawing this out.”

“No! We’re not ready.” Jungkook feels frantic as he says it and he must look like a mess, too. “Don’t you understand? Give us just a little more time! We’ll go with you! But not yet, we’re not ready yet.”

“How despicable,” Hamidou is saying, “That not one, not two, but three young Jedi Masters would concoct an elaborate, foolhardy plan to divide the spoils of my discreditation! And they couldn’t even come up with a believable premise – "

“Save your speeches for court, old man.” And Jungkook hears Seokjin engage his lightsaber.

It’s Hamidou’s second duel, but only Seokjin's first; and on top of those circumstances is, based on what Jungkook has heard, Seokjin's much higher skill level. It shouldn’t take long for this to be over. Soon, is what he tells himself as the guards close in and he has to start fighting once again. Not too much longer now.

But then he sees Zamna running back towards him, lightsaber in hand, and the feeling of desperation increases. His arm hurts, his foot stings, and - fuck, he wants to cry. She has this enraged look in her eyes, and that’s bad; if she manages to incapacitate him, she might finish what Hamidou started with Namjoon, and he can’t let that happen. But he can’t ask for help either because he senses that Yoongi is doing whatever he can to keep Namjoon from dying before help can arrive –

Enough of this. Maybe he’ll have to be less careful about not hurting his opponents, but he can handle Zamna and the guards for a few minutes. The force is on his side, right?

It certainly feels like it is. Jungkook couldn’t pull this off without the force guiding him, compelling him to stand here, block there.

Soon there’s a murmuring and parting of the crowd behind him, accompanied by a beeping sound that grows louder: a bot approaching, and Jungkook recognizes it as a medical bot from the sound, thank the stars. He believes Namjoon is going to be safe in its care and hearing it approach lifts some portion of the weight of panic off his chest.

And then, another gratifying sound: Hamidou’s yell of “Fine! I surrender! Stop!”

Immediately, ever-loyal Zamna backs off, and Jungkook feels like he can breathe again. He looks back briefly and sees Yoongi helping the bot to load Namjoon onto a levitating stretcher.

The sounds of the other fight happening across the room have ceased. “Are you ready to admit what you’ve done?” Seokjin asks.

“I’m not agreeing to anything. But I have nothing left to accomplish here. All of us have heard enough of your lies.” Hamidou spits out the last word. “And I don’t believe we’re going to resolve this without either killing each other or taking the case for a proper investigation.”

“Fine. I agree.”

Jungkook doesn’t see what happens next between Seokjin and Hamidou. He trusts Seokjin to succeed at getting the case to the proper authorities now that it's public. Jungkook and Yoongi, meanwhile, take off after Namjoon and the medical bot which zip through the easily parting crowd and down the hall. Jungkook glances in turn between Namjoon – passed out, ashen, energy signature un-readable through the force, covered in blood in a way that makes Jungkook feel sick – and then Yoongi – seemingly unharmed, thank the stars, and fixated on the stretcher – when that becomes too much.

They turn a corner, entering a plain hallway in the style of the private areas of the Temple, and there’s a void in Jungkook's senses where the crowd of onlookers used to be. In the new quiet, the humming of the levitating stretcher and the beeping of the medical bot and the footsteps of the three temple guards chasing after them sound all the louder.

It seems that soon they’ll have to give themselves up, let the guards take them away – but he’ll follow where Namjoon is going as far as he can, and he feels that Yoongi is on the same page.

But the end comes sooner than he expects, as they turn another corner and come to a bank of restricted special-purpose elevators. Yoongi grabs his arm (the uninjured one, thankfully) and squeezes it as they slow to a halt, one of the elevators sliding open immediately, anticipating the bot’s arrival with its patient. And together they watch Namjoon disappear behind sliding metal doors.

Logically, he knows Namjoon should now be in good hands, receiving the care he needs, but – it feels bad, to be separated. To be unable to protect him anymore. (Although, if that were really a resource Jungkook were offering, Namjoon wouldn’t be horribly injured now, would he?)

“He’ll be fine,” Yoongi says.

Maybe they’re both trying to convince themselves. “He’ll be fine…” Jungkook repeats.

“And I think we did well. You did well.”

“Mm.”

“Hey!” Yoongi releases his arm, and they turn to see the three guards from before. “We still need to arrest you; are you ready to come with us?”

“Yes,” Yoongi answers. “Sorry for all the trouble.”

“All right.” The guard sighs in weary relief. “We’re arresting you for suspected Sith activities; if we discover the charges to be fraudulent, we can let you go, but we’ll have to hold you until then.”

“Sure. We understand.” Honestly, they were hoping to avoid getting arrested. An unrealistic expectation.

“We’ll take you to the medical section right away,” they tell Jungkook. “Master Min, do you have any injuries?”

“Mm, no, I don’t.”

“All right.” The guard brushes past them to call the same elevators that the bot took Namjoon into a minute before; one opens quickly after. The guard gets in and nods at Jungkook. “Let’s get going.”

Ah. They’ll have to separate, again. That’s unpleasant.

Jungkook obediently limps into the elevator, then turns to look back. Catching Yoongi's eye, he tries to convey this thought wordlessly as the doors close: We’ll be together again soon. We'll all be okay. We did well.

Chapter Text

The medical staff patch up Jungkook's injuries quickly and impersonally. As they bustle around him, poking and prodding and swabbing and wrapping-up, he zones out, obsessing for that half hour over the feeling of Namjoon's presence vaguely nearby, probably just a few floors or room-lengths away, a feeling that keeps slipping away from him – not in the way that something once-present fizzles out, but in the way that the mind renders a continuous faint sound inaudible for the sake of (or in spite of) the listener. Soon, though, he’s again hauled to his feet and taken away, much to his relief brought to the same blank, locked room where Yoongi is being held.

The physical proximity is hugely reassuring. But… (and how many times lately has this been the case?) it’s also limiting, unsatisfying; leaves him aware of what isn’t currently possible. They sit, together but not really, on the scuffed white bench lining three walls, not touching (mindful of being watched), barely speaking (mindful of being listened to – and Jungkook doesn’t trust himself to not say what needs to be not-said).

And it just goes on and on, for hours spent waiting in that little room – waiting for their belongings to be processed as non-dangerous by the staff, waiting to be brought something to eat, waiting long enough that the pain medication they must have given him in the medical wing starts to lose its effect, waiting increasingly uncomfortably for some undefined event. It’s not until a man walks in to tell them that their ‘friend Kim Namjoon is out of surgery and stabilized, I thought you might like to know,’ that the enchantment is suddenly and gladly broken, tension flowing through the open doorway and out of the room.

Yoongi turns to him beaming after the man leaves. “See? I said he would be okay.”

“I believed you,” Jungkook huffs. “I just wish he wasn’t so far away.”

“I know. I do too. Of course I wouldn’t rather him be locked up with us, but…” Yoongi sighs. “And obviously he’ll be fine, and it used to be like this all the time. You know what I mean?”

He does know. Keiter 03 was a total anomaly, their time spent there a weird little blip of togetherness compared to the established pattern of the rest of their lives, and the dependence on each other they seem to have developed in that period is… not unreasonable, but definitely emotionally inconvenient.

Some time that afternoon, they’re separated again, placed in individual cells disconcertingly equipped with everything one might need for an extended stay. Here Yoongi, like Namjoon, is somewhere far-off enough to be out of range of Jungkook's senses. And at first he thinks it’s going to be terrible, miserable, but after settling in and sitting for a while on the pristinely made, tiny white bed, he realizes that the total absence of both of his companions is actually preferable to the constant reminder of one of them missing and the inability to actually have a conversation with the one that isn’t missing.

It surprises him how easily, how smoothly over those couple of days he falls back into being alone. It shouldn’t surprise him, really: he’s had a lot of practice with this, and over a very long period, and all of the years of emotional training wouldn’t get un-done over a month and a half of letting himself feel things.

He tries to live through those days calmly, serenely, with composure. Letting go of the things that are out of his control. He can’t control when he’ll be able to get out of here, nor can he control the next time he’ll be able to exchange reassuring smiles with Yoongi as they pass each other accompanied by guards in the hall; so he doesn’t let the possibilities worry him.

And the time passes. Not as quickly as he’d like, but it does, and after only about three days of sitting quietly and practicing his training in emotional serenity, he finds himself in a conference room, Yoongi standing next to him in front of a wide table.

“But, there was no evidence found,” the official sitting at the head of the table is saying. “It does suggest that the charges could be fraudulent in nature, although we’re not yet ready to make a determination on that. However, even though we haven’t yet reached the final deadline for your pre-trial detention period, it doesn’t make sense to be holding you here any longer.”

“Will any additional charges be pressed against us?” Yoongi asks “Against either us or Kim Namjoon?”

“Tentatively, I would say: no. We took the question of resisting arrest into consideration, but because you clearly explained a reasonable fear of being harmed… nothing’s going to come of that.”

Jungkook thanks the stars that things seem to be going their way, finally.

All they have to do then is sign some electronic documents, attesting that they were present for the conversation that just took place, indicating that they won't take legal action for wrongful imprisonment, agreeing that they won't leave the premises of the Temple until their presence is no longer needed for the ongoing investigation into the incident; and, just like that, they’re released.

So they aren’t totally free, but really, they’re free enough for now, free enough to finally be where they need to be – which is of course with Namjoon, at his bedside in the hospital wing.

They find the right room with the help of a secretarial droid; probably unnecessary, because they could force-sense their way to their missing third easily, but no one looks at them questioningly if they’re accompanied. Jungkook pauses for just a second with his hand hovering over the door, both to memorize the room number and to double check his composure, but Yoongi brushes past him, knocking.

The door immediately slides open, revealing Namjoon propped up in the bed that takes up a good part of the small room, closed book in his hand, already looking their way with a warm smile as if he knew who was coming to see him.

A wave of relief washes through Jungkook as he runs up to Namjoon's side. Of course, he already knew Namjoon was alive and all that, but seeing it with is own eyes is so nice. He does hesitate for a second, registering that he doesn’t know exactly where he was injured and what kind of pain it’s possible for him to be in, but Namjoon opens his arms wide and they crash into his embrace from both sides. He smells different, smells like the rest of the medical wing, and he feels different, too. More bony.

“Hi,” Namjoon says, his voice vibrating in his chest. Jungkook closes his eyes. “You’re here.”

“We are, Joonie,” Yoongi replies, and Jungkook hums. “They didn’t find evidence against us, so they let us go.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Although – they really should have done it sooner.”

“They should have,” Yoongi agrees, “if only because we missed you so much.”

“You poor things, how did you manage to survive?” Namjoon teases.

With conscious effort, Jungkook opens his eyes and lifts his head, pulling away a bit. “Namjoon, have they been treating you well, here?”

“Yes, they have.” A pulse of sadness flows from Namjoon's direction, flashes behind his eyes. Jungkook tenses and pulls back further, holding onto Namjoon's wrist only, so he can look over him again, searching for what might be wrong. “They’ve taken care of me well.”

“… But?” Yoongi prompts.

“There’s a limit. To what they can do for me.” He looks past them to the end of the bed, uncomfortable.

“Joon… do you want to tell us what happened?” Yoongi asks, his voice soft despite the protective anger – his – that’s already simmering in the room. “You don’t have to do it now; we could just, you know, relax.”

Namjoon smiles a bit sardonically, as if recognizing there’s little chance of them ‘relaxing’ now that they know something’s troubling him. “No, I’ll tell you. But you have to promise not to get too upset, okay? I really don’t want to discuss this with you if you’re just going to be mad,” he says, looking at Yoongi specifically. Turning to Jungkook next, he adds, “you too.”

Jungkook nods. “Joon –" Yoongi starts, about to protest that he can’t make promises of that nature, but Namjoon cuts him off.

“I know, I know. It’s the effort that counts, or something like that.” Namjoon sighs. Jungkook grabs onto his hand, tightly, and they wait for a minute in silence for him to continue.

“It’s – Mostly, I’m okay, and recovered from everything, but. I can’t walk.” Namjoon blurts out. “For now! They told me they don’t think it’s going to be permanent, but, well, they don’t know?”

The room falls quiet, Yoongi muttering a monosyllabic “Ah,” to break the silence. Jungkook soaks up Namjoon's weariness and sadness, Yoongi's indignation and “if Hamidou isn’t locked up at this moment, I will finish the job and kill him myself” like a sponge, resonating with everything that they feel. And the third thought, the one that comes from inside his own head, saying that maybe if Jungkook had just done a slightly better job –

“And don’t you dare feel guilty about this,” Namjoon adds sternly. “I’d rather you had any other reaction than feel like this is in any way your fault.”

Funnily enough, Jungkook feels that Namjoon admonishing him not to feel guilty brings him back to more familiar and certain territory. “All right,” he agrees. For Namjoon's sake, he’ll shove those thoughts to the back of his mind. The last thing he wants is to become an extra burden Namjoon has to deal with. “I just wish that you didn’t have to go through this. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, I know. Me too.” Namjoon turns to the other side, where like a mirror Yoongi also is clutching Namjoon's hand in both of his. “And you do realize that this is part of the record against him now, right? He will face justice for everything he’s done, including this.”

“It hasn’t happened yet,” Yoongi replies, stiff. “Let’s not take it for granted.”

“Right. Of course.” Namjoon smiles fondly as Yoongi seems to finish processing and emerge from his head, distancing himself from his initial reaction.

Yoongi clears his throat. “So… what are they doing to help you?”

“Well, first of all, they’ve made it so I’m not in any pain,” Namjoon starts. “I can’t feel my legs at all, actually, which is strange, but that’s neither here nor there. They’ve told me there are… mobility assistive robotics available for me to use to get around, but I haven’t taken the initiative to go anywhere.” As Namjoon talks, Yoongi perches at the edge of the narrow bed and, since there’s not really room for a third, Jungkook sits on the one extra chair in the room. “I’ve already had one meeting with a physical therapist who works here… She drew up a very detailed, and long term regimen for my, you know, rehabilitation. But I really have to say…” He glances between the other two. “I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to. On Coruscant, I mean. After the investigation is done with us, I’d prefer to leave.”

Yoongi smiles, reassuring. “That’s not going to be a controversial request, I think. We want to get out of here, too, right?”

“Yeah,” Jungkook says, fiddling with Namjoon's fingers, relieved that he wants the same thing. “But what does that mean in terms of your, um… work?” He’s hesitant to directly ask about Order membership, obviously a sensitive topic.

“Oh, that? I’m not sure, honestly, or I’m not ready to confront it, at least.” Namjoon shrugs. “But it’ll have implications for all of us. Not just for me.”

“We’ll need to think about that,” Yoongi affirms. “But we have time. Can’t we worry about that later?”

“Sure, we can do that.” Namjoon pokes Yoongi's  cheek, prompting a fake-annoyed face. “Now I want to hear about your struggles and woes.”

And that’s how the next half-week passes: crowded into Namjoon's little hospital room together, going through an entire range of emotions, shades of joy but also stages of grief. Any time not spent there, or out getting food, or crashing in separate rooms at the end of the day (although Jungkook gets to be with K1, so he’s not totally alone), they spend participating in proceedings related to the official investigation.

Each of them undergoes questioning multiple times, always individually. The easiest interrogation, at least for Jungkook, is the one with Coruscant law enforcement, who are just interested in recording the basic facts. Then he has to talk to the team prosecuting Hamidou, a group which includes Council members, who drill him for hours searching for every last shred of evidence he has to offer, making him feel contrite when there’s something he doesn’t remember.

But he spends the most time, unfortunately, with Hamidou’s defense. They’ve decided to pursue a certain interpretation of the facts wherein Namjoon, Yoongi, and Seokjin conspired to unfairly discredit Hamidou and take advantage of the result, and wherein Jungkook was a pawn unwittingly manipulated into supporting them. Basically, they’re trying to demonstrate that he’s an impressionable idiot whose testimony can’t be trusted. It’s exhausting, the way he has to constantly be on his toes and double-check everything he says, and it makes it that much more of a relief to return to the others after it’s over.

One session in particular leaves a strong impression on him. Walking into the conference rooms where these meetings have been happening and finding Master Typhe waiting there with the adjudicator, the secretary, and Hamidou’s defense team definitely surprises and worries him at first, because if anyone should be able to see through him, it’s her.

But he finds that her witness to his character is actually very much in his favor. He sits there and tries not to grin while she attests to how she actually finds him very difficult to influence, and that no, he isn’t stupid, and that any Jedi in their right mind would try to fight against corruption in the Order if they found out about it.

As he leaves the meeting, she tells him that she brought his remaining belongings from G’aav’aar’oon and that he’s free to pick them up from her ship whenever he wants. He thinks she realizes her period of having control over his life is over, and it feels good. Freeing.

And he’s not the only one moving on. After breaking the Hamidou story, a big-name galactic news agency hires Hoseok into the staff writer post he so desperately wanted. Tannie, Jimin, and Taehyung fly off as soon as they can, in search of their next adventure. Seokjin's making waves in Coruscant’s political sphere, with many suspecting that he’ll take Hamidou’s spot on the Jedi Council when the latter is inevitably demoted. And, K1’s voicebox-installation project is finally finished, allowing them to more easily communicate with their friends and to tell all the embarrassing stories about Jungkook that he was hoping to keep secret.

Soon, Namjoon gets released from the medical wing. He acquires a robotic chair to help him move around, but they still spend the majority of their free time in his old bedroom, where they can be in each other’s company in relative privacy – although they’re always wary that they’re being surveilled.

On the one hand, all three of them are accustomed to acting like this, accustomed to conforming with Jedi-appropriate behavior as is expected of them. They’ve been doing it all their lives. But there are two aspects of this that make it, in Jungkook's opinion, more difficult than it’s ever been before. First of all, the stakes and the scrutiny have never been so concertedly high; he’s never had people intentionally out to get him before. And, second, he’s never had an alternative in mind. Yes, it’s been a recurring theme ever since they left Keiter 03, but he so desperately misses the level of comfort he had finally been able to cultivate there, the excitement and the newness of their relationship, which is a thing that’s had to grow stagnant, even regress, here on this planet.

Basically, he doesn’t think he’s cut out for this whole being-a-Jedi thing anymore.

Once again, it’s Namjoon who raises the possibility – it really has to be, given his attachment to the lifestyle, the work, the everything. It’s he who suggests it might be best for them to leave the Jedi Order.

“We don’t have to, you know, renounce the entire thing,” he says, the three of them seated around the little table in his room. “Maybe this is just me, but there are certain elements of my self which I think are inextricable from the Jedi experience and identity. What I’m suggesting is distancing ourselves from the Council and rejecting their control over us.”

“Going our own way,” Jungkook summarizes approvingly.

“I’m willing,” Yoongi says. “I want out, honestly. But you better be careful with this, or you’ll start a whole movement. People might follow you.”

Namjoon chuckles. “This is definitely not a sectarian effort. We’re dropouts, not prophets.”

“We know that. Not everyone knows that,” Yoongi points out. “There are a lot of eyes on our actions right now. Lots of room for misinterpretation.”

“It wouldn’t be the end of the world if people listened Joon's ideas,” Jungkook counters, earnest. “I think that would be good, actually.”

And it does seem like Namjoon's work is getting increased attention. They’re in the news for several days after Hamidou’s conviction, and then again after they submit formal notices of their resignation.

Hamidou gets sentenced to a lengthy imprisonment. Namjoon gets a deal with a Coruscant publisher to write at least one book, securing an advance payment they’ll be able to live on for a while as they get settled down.

They’re light and giddy as they leave Coruscant. Namjoon kisses them as soon as their hired transport lifts off, Yoongi first and then Jungkook, K1 behind them making a disgusted noise. Yoongi doesn’t let go of their hands for the entire journey.

There’s comfort and freedom to be found among the stars. That’s something Jungkook has always known, something that’s been intuitive for him.

What surprises him, then, is stepping onto the dusty tundra of Keiter 03, K1 rolling along behind, cliffs visible straight ahead, Namjoon and Yoongi by his side, and feeling suddenly like he’s come home.