Archive of Our Own ^beta

Day 0

“Wake me up,” are the first words Taehyung says under his breath as soon as his eyes land on the Nhoka Spaceship. 

It’s big. Scratch that, it’s huge. Taehyung already knows he will lose himself in it so many times before starting to learn how to navigate it. It’s the biggest ship he has ever seen, and living on Klaxe means he sees one at least once a day, but never that big. 

“It will seem smaller once inside,” the Intermediary between the Government and the Nhoka, Kim Namjoon, says, maybe he’s smiling, but Taehyung’s eyes are too focused on the ship to check. “Besides, Jimin will be with you during our working-time for the first few weeks, like the Special Fleet Chief said, he’s going to help you with protocol and stuff,” he adds.

Taehyung nods, he will worry about protocol and stuff later, he’s too busy studying each detail about the Nhoka. Its exterior is grey, and Taehyung’s sure that when necessary it can activate the Disguise Pattern, its central body is oval-shaped and it’s connected to two flat tails, propulsion reactors by their sides. 

“What about the rest of the group?” Taehyung asks, it’s very far, but he thinks he can see someone from the big glass that’s at the front of the vehicle, probably the Control Room. 

“Oh, the crew,” Namjoon corrects him, “I think they’re going to be here soon, but our Captain’s busy with an emergency board meeting, you’ll meet him later.”

Taehyung nods again, he has heard so much about the Nhoka as a ship, everyone knows its name, literally. Yet, the crew and its Captain are unknown, Taehyung doesn’t even know how many they are. From what the Special Fleet Chief said, the crew is relatively a new one and maybe it’s why no one knows them. After all, it’s always the name of the ship that becomes famous, never its crew. 

“Want to take a look around inside?” Namjoon asks, and Taehyung almost wants to laugh at the question, is he serious?

“Yes!” he exclaims, already walking towards the lateral hangar. His foot has just been placed on its floor when someone comes running from inside towards them. 

He completely ignores Taehyung, as if he’s not even there. “Namjoon!” the man almost shouts, he’s small, but he looks quite angry and ready to explode, “What did I tell you?!” 

The other’s hand flies to the back of his head, rubbing it slowly, “Hyung,” he says, almost whispers, as to calm him, but the other doesn’t relent. 

Taehyung tries to make himself look as small as possible, even disappear if he could, just to save Namjoon from the embarrassment. 

“I told you so many times,” the man seethes, getting closer to Namjoon and stabbing his finger into the other’s chest multiple times, “you are prohibited from entering the Remote Control Room, you know what happened the last time! You’re such a mess!”

“Hyung, it was—”

“You’re so smart and yet, you can’t understand what prohibited from entering means?” the other cuts him off, hands flying around in weird gestures. Taehyung seals his lips in order not to laugh.

“No, I know, but—”

“No buts, you can’t enter. End of the discussion,” the man doesn’t let Namjoon finish again, and then, once he has sent Taehyung a glance, he turns his back to them and runs inside just as quick as he came.

Namjoon chuckles, his face’s flushed red, Taehyung kind of feels sorry for him. 

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he apologises, a shy smile on his lips that makes dimples appear on his cheeks. “Yoongi hyung is our Mechanic Chief and gets very stressed when we are on land because he has to check everything is okay before taking off.”

“It’s fine,” Taehyung whispers, finally following the other inside the ship. “Is he the only Mechanic?”

“Officially yes, our crew’s not big, we are only six— seven with you now, but we all know how to do other things too. Our Captain pretty much knows how to do everything, he was a kind of Medic, too.”

“Why’s that?” Taehyung asks, it’s not like there aren’t Doctors wanting to join the Special Fleet. Taehyung has always wanted to become a Doctor, yet at the same time, since he was a kid he dreamt about travelling and exploring the other Galaxies, meeting other Kins, so joining the Special Fleet as a Doctor was the only way to do both.

“I shouldn’t say this,” Namjoon answers, looking around himself as if they’re not the only ones walking the ship halls, as if there are ears that shouldn’t listen ready to catch all of his words, “but the Special Fleet doesn’t recruit each person who sends an application, and lately they’ve become even more strict resulting in crews with less members than normal.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that,” Taehyung says, and before he can voice out his concerns, the other speaks again.

“I think you were able to join us because we really needed a Doctor, even if our Captain was slightly against it, we couldn’t keep going without one.”

Namjoon seems lost in his thoughts after that, so Taehyung doesn’t disturb him, even if he wants to ask so many questions. Maybe he can ask them to the person Namjoon mentioned before, Jimin.

Namjoon was right, once inside, the Nhoka seems smaller, but at the same time it feels like walking through a maze. For each five steps, there are side halls on both sides, leading to who knows where. Taehyung doesn’t know where they’re going, only that they’re still on the ground floor and from what he could see, there are elevators that go up until the fifth floor.

“On the ground floor there’s not much, only storage rooms for each kind of things we could need and some empty rooms,” Namjoon tells him once they’re waiting for an elevator. “Everything that doesn’t concern work is on the fourth floor, bedrooms, kitchen and all that, meanwhile the MR or Medical Room is on the second, it’s nothing much, but since we didn’t have a real Doctor until now having all the devices for no one to use was a waste,” Namjoon giggles. “However if before leaving you think something important is missing, just ask and we’ll have it sent to us, and even later, so as soon as we land somewhere for supplies we will be able to get it.”

“Is it okay if we go now?” Taehyung asks, a bit anxious, he doesn’t want to get off on the wrong foot, and making sure nothing important is missing is the Doctor’s job, he wants the crew to like and befriend him.

“Oh, yes, we’re going there,” Namjoon says with a nod, “Jimin’s waiting for us, he will show you around.”

As soon as the elevator doors open, they’re met by Jimin, Taehyung supposes. He doesn’t know why, but the person in front of him isn’t what he was expecting. Jimin’s shorter than him, but he’s not small, the sleeveless shirt he’s wearing show muscled arms and Taehyung bets he’s really strong too. His blond hair is a bit on the longer side, some strands are tied back messily, some falling on the side of his face.

“Hello!” he exclaims, waving his hand, “I’m Park Jimin, officially I organise our missions and make sure everything goes smoothly, but I do many other things too.”

Taehyung smiles, getting out of the elevator after waving to Namjoon, “I’m Kim Taehyung, your new Doctor, I guess.”

Jimin smiles back at him, “Nice to meet you.”

“You too.”

“I’m sure Namjoon didn’t tell you everything, so if you have questions, even ones that may be silly, just ask them away, okay?”

Taehyung nods, yet, he doesn’t start asking all the questions swirling in his head. He’s not shy, but at the same time, he feels overwhelmed and he still can’t believe where he is.

Then Jimin starts walking, and Taehyung follows him by his side, looking around himself, the second floor is exactly like the ground one. 

“On the second floor besides the MR, there’s Seokjin hyung’s office, he’s in charge of negotiation with other Planets to give us permission to land and to get the supplies we need, without him we’d starve to death,” Jimin starts explaining, pointing to a room with the door open, the lights are off inside so he can’t see anything. 

“There’s also Yoongi hyung’s personal room, our Mechanic Chief, he has one on the fourth floor like everyone else, but on his free time he practically lives here. He likes to make music and other stuff,” he says then, pointing to another room with a passcode tab on its side, “it has a passcode to enter, but everyone knows it.”

Besides the Captain, Namjoon, Yoongi, Jimin and the new person Jimin just named, Seokjin, there is another one left. 

“Namjoon said you are six.” 

“Oh, yes! There’s Hoseok, too, he’s our Navigator, we would lose ourselves in black holes without him,” Jimin chuckles. Taehyung likes him already. 

“To be honest even if we have official roles, we do other things to help each other,” the other keeps explaining, “Yoongi hyung’s also our second pilot, and sometimes when the Captain’s busy, Seokjin hyung takes his place as the second in command. It’s a bit messy because our crew has few members, but I’m glad now we have you as a Doctor.”

“How did you do before without one?” Taehyung asks, curious. Since the moment Namjoon said the Captain was their Medic, he kept wondering how they could manage without a real expert during long missions. 

“Luckily, we never got seriously injured, but our last mission didn’t go as planned and we realised we really needed a Doctor.”

Now, Taehyung wonders what happened, but he doesn’t ask about it. Jimin would’ve told him if he wanted to.

“This is the MR,” Jimin says then, stopping in front of a door and opening it by pressing a button on the side, “probably Namjoon already told you, but we don’t have all the devices a Doctor could need, so let one of us know, and we’ll provide you with whatever you need.”

Taehyung looks around himself, the room’s bigger than he expected, three beds are on the far end, open curtains around them, and by each bed there’s an IV stand and a monitor for the heartbeat. There’s a table in the center of the room with so many things on it that Taehyung’s not even able to understand what is what.

“In the next room there are other devices, you can check it out later and make a list, I think we need some meds and all that kind of stuff,” Jimin tells him, trying to clean the table as best as he can, but it looks even messier than before. 

Taehyung nods, he’ll check as soon as possible and make sure there is each essential thing.

“We come back to Klaxe when the Captain has to attend meetings with Special Fleet High Members or if we don’t have any missions,” the other says, even if Taehyung didn’t ask about it. He’s glad Jimin’s telling him things without him having to ask each time. 

“What about the missions? What do you do usually?”

“Our ship is made for Combat, Rescue or Capture missions, but we only do Rescue and sometimes Capture. Rebels are becoming really good at hiding,” Jimin explains, taking a seat at the end of a bed. 

Taehyung nods, he knew about different kinds of ships, but no one outside of the Special Fleet really knows how they work. 

“What about the others?”

“The rest of the crew is on land, so if you want to go through things here, we can, or I can show you around, you pick,” Jimin tells him, a kind smile on his lips. He looks like a person Taehyung can rely on, someone he can trust.

He will have a lot of time to look around once they take off, meanwhile the time on land is restricted, “I prefer doing it now, if you don’t mind,” he replies.

Jimin nods and out of nowhere he produces a tablet, “I’ll write whatever you say here and then I’ll send it to Seokjin hyung to get them.”

“Alright, thank you,” Taehyung says, smiling, if the rest of the crew is just like Jimin, he’s sure he will love working on the Nhoka with its crew.

•

After hours of checking what’s missing and a deserved break, Taehyung and Jimin decide to keep going with the tour of the Nhoka. 

“The third floor is mostly all Yoongi hyung’s territory, all the technical and mechanic stuff are there, so I don’t think you will ever set foot on it,” Jimin explains, pressing on the fourth floor button of the elevator, “though, you’re free to go whenever you want, but if Yoongi hyung tells you not to, then it’s better to listen to him.”

Taehyung’s sure he will do that, he doesn’t want to get scolded by the Mechanic like it happened to Namjoon. Besides, he’s a Doctor, he doesn’t even know how those things work.

Once the elevator door opens and they step out, the first thing Taehyung notices is that the halls of the fourth floor are exactly the same as the other floors, but with less side halls.

“On this floor there are our bedrooms, each person has one and a personal bathroom, you’ll get the one at the end of the hall in front of the Captain’s room, but he rarely sleeps there, he’s always on the fifth floor in his office.”

Jeon Jeongguk. Taehyung knows the Captain’s name only because the Special Fleet Chief told him. Both Namjoon and Jimin have referred to him only as Captain, meanwhile they used first names for the rest of the crew. It’s weird, but maybe the Captain’s much older than them.

They both walk towards the end of the hall, on the sides there are multiple doors, until they get to its end, where the last two doors are.

“This is your room, everything you sent is already inside, you just have to unpack,” Jimin tells him, opening the door with a card, “and this is the card to open it, ours are without because you can easily lose it, but you can do whatever you want,” he adds, giving Taehyung the card.

“Thank you,” he whispers, tucking it in his pocket.

The bedroom is not big, but it’s not like he was expecting a royal one. There’s a bed in the center, a nightstand and a table on the side, near a door that must be the bathroom.

“I know it’s not much—” 

”It’s perfect,” Taehyung stops the other before he can finish. He doesn’t care about his bedroom, he just needs a bed and somewhere he can shower himself. He didn’t apply to get a fancy bedroom, he did it to be able to fulfill his dreams, and they certainly don’t include a king-sized bed and a hot tub. 

His things are placed at the foot of the bed, left to unpack for another time, he didn’t bring everything he owns, just the essentials. Taehyung is sure he won’t have much free time, especially if the crew has lesser members than normal and everyone does whatever they can to help. 

“However, if there’s something important you need you can always ask Seokjin and he’ll put it in the orders to make,” Jimin tells him, “of course, not always it is possible to get things, it depends where we are.”

Taehyung really can’t wait for the moment they’ll take off and start traveling throughout outer space.

While Jimin is explaining how their lunch time works— they don’t have a cook, but sometimes Yoongi or Seokjin cook for everyone, when it doesn’t happen each person cooks for themselves— a robotic voice speaks.

“Kim Seokjin and Jung Hoseok have returned to the Nhoka.”

“Oh! I forgot about this,” Jimin chuckles, “it’s an AI, we use it to communicate when we’re in different floors or rooms, you can ask it whatever you want, its name is Nhok—”

“What can I help you with?” the voice says.

“Nothing, Nhok, I was just explaining our Doctor how it works,” Jimin answers, “you just have to say its name and it will reply, it also announces who enters the ship when we’re on land.”

“Okay,” Taehyung says, it’s the first time he hears an AI speaking, not even his university had it.

“Since they’re here, we can go meet them!”

•

Seokjin and Hoseok are young too, and Taehyung can’t even say he’s surprised. They greet him warmly, just like Jimin and Namjoon did.

“I’m so glad we have a Doctor now, I’ve never trusted Jeonggukkie,” Seokjin says, a chuckle leaving his lips. He’s so handsome that Taehyung can’t believe he’s only a Special Fleet member and not a model or an actor.

“Hyung,” Jimin pouts, “don’t say that, Taehyung will think the Captain is an incompetent.”

“Oh, no,” Taehyung says, shaking his head, “I won’t think that, of course if he’s not a trained Doctor, it’s difficult to deal with medical stuff.”

Seokjin laughs, “I really like him, I just hope Jeongguk won’t Expel him once we leave,” he says with a smile on his lips.

“Expel me?” he asks, facing Jimin. It’s the first time he hears that and it doesn’t exactly sound like something good.

“He’s kidding, he won’t ever do that,” Jimin tries to reassure him, patting his back. Yet, Taehyung doesn’t feel reassured, not really.

“It means he will fly you from the ship while it’s travelling,” Seokjin tells him with a smile on his lips. At the words, Taehyung freezes on the spot. He didn’t think it was that bad.

“Hyung!” Hoseok exclaims, he both looks shocked and amused, though his radiant smile is gone from his face, “Jeonggukkie would never do that!”

Taehyung thinks his face is as pale as a sheet, he wouldn’t do that, right? Even if Namjoon said the Captain was against the idea of a Doctor joining the crew, he wouldn’t Expel him, it must be illegal for sure. It’s murder.

“Don’t worry, Taehyung, Hoseok’s right, the Captain would never do something like that,” Jimin keeps reassuring him, a kind smile on his lips that makes him believe the other would never lie about this.

Taehyung nods, but the doubt the Captain won’t like him lingers in the back of his head.

“Talking about him, where is he?” Jimin asks then, turned towards the other two.

“He’s still busy with the meeting, I think we won’t leave until tomorrow at least,” Seokjin says, a holographic tab opened from the bracelet on his wrist, “I already told Yoongi, so he can take a break, and Namjoon’s in contact with the Central Executive about some new laws, but I don’t think they concern our kind of missions. He’ll let us know later anyway.”

Taehyung’s brain feels already too full with Seokjin’s words, he’s sure he won’t be able to follow all that protocol and stuff Namjoon and Jimin talked about. He doesn’t know much about how everything works, after being recruited, he followed a one-month class organised by the Special Fleet about general knowledge, since each crew has its way of doing things and it’s their job to make sure new members learn ship duties and protocol based on the missions they do.

With those classes they just made sure to drill into his head that he was working for the Government, which means he can’t talk freely about what he hears or sees, but Taehyung already knew that, he didn’t need classes to understand that the details of the missions are kept a secret between the crews and the Government. It’s no wonder everyone knows the Special Fleet fights Rebels all around Space, but no one knows how they operate, if they did, then Rebels would know too, and it would be even more difficult catching them.

As a Doctor, he shouldn’t be involved in the missions as much as the others are, but if the crew lacks members and there’s something he can do that doesn’t involve medical things, he’ll gladly do it. The Nhoka crew will become a sort of family for sure, travelling together throughout Space for long periods of time will surely make Taehyung grow attached to the rest of the crew.

“Taehyung,” Seokjin calls him, interrupting his train of thoughts, “I know at first everything can seem too much to handle, we’ve all gone through this, so for every doubt or question you have, just talk to one of us even if some may appear not willing to help you, I assure you it’s not true, they’ll help you with whatever.”

“Thank you,” he answers, “I’m really glad I’ve found a crew with members as kind as you.”

“We’re like a family, of course we’ll make sure our new member feels protected and safe with us so he can consider us a family too,” Hoseok says, surprising him. He doesn’t know what he was expecting when they contacted him and told him he was recruited as a Doctor for a crew, maybe he expected the crew to keep a work-based relationship, or to feel always like a stranger into a crew that already knew each other, though he would’ve never imagined to hear those words on the first day, just as soon as he met them.

“Space can be a spectacular place, but at the same time, it can also be pretty lonely, far away from everything. All you have on the ship is work and the other members, it’s natural you start to consider them a family,” Jimin tells him, while almost a sad glint sparkles into his eyes. 

Until now, Taehyung has never considered Space a lonely place, but he’s never travelled throughout it, he can’t know how it feels once around yourself you can only see meteors and bright stars.

•

After talking for another bit, the others all had something to do, they asked if he wanted to keep them company, but since his things are still packed, he kindly declined and went back to his new bedroom.

He quickly unpacks and organises everything, and once done he sits on the bed looking around himself. From the small window he can see a part of the Spaceship Communal’s parking, there’s people going back and forth, but he can’t see what they’re doing. The parking roof is closed, but when he arrived there it was open to let a ship fly out.

Taehyung sighs, a new part of his life is starting, maybe he’s not completely ready for what he’ll face, but he’s excited. Jimin made him think with his words, he has always thought about wanting to explore and find out about new things, but he never stopped and thought what he would’ve lost to get that.

“Nhok?” he whispers, he has never talked to an AI, he’s not really sure how it works.

“Yes? How can I help you?” the AI replies as soon as Taehyung says its name.

“If I ask you something, will you tell the rest of the crew I did?” he asks, unsure, he should’ve asked Jimin to explain him more in the details how it works.

“Of course not, Doctor Kim, I’m only obliged to refer to Captain Jeon when something said may compromise the crew or the mission,” Nhok answers, and it’s so weird, it seems like the ceiling is talking.

“Oh, okay,” Taehyung says, amazed, it can even recognise his voice, “how many days lasted the last mission?”

“Four hundred and twenty-six days.”

It’s more than a year. “Was it the longest ever?”

“Yes, it was.”

“Where did they go?” 

“The Nhoka travelled to another Galaxy.”

“Another Galaxy?” Taehyung asks, surprised.

“Yes, Doctor Kim.”

“Which one?”

“Information not available.”

Taehyung looks up, confused, even if he knows he won’t find anything on the ceiling. “Why?”

“The last mission is top-secret.”

“Why is that?” He doesn’t think Nhok will tell him something more about the mission, but he can try, he just hopes the AI won’t think his questions are compromising. It wouldn’t be the best for him if Nhoka lets the Captain know he could be a threat.

“Something different than planned happened,” Nhok says, voice void of any emotion. It doesn’t have a gender, it could be both a man or a woman, or neither, and its tone is always the same, no matter what it’s saying.

“Oh, okay,” Taehyung says, even if he tries to formulate the question in a different way, he’s sure he won’t bypass the system. “Thank you for telling me.”

“Doctor Kim, you don’t have to thank me, I’m not a person. I was created for this.”

Oh. It’s right, but it doesn’t mean he will be ungrateful and just ask whatever he wants without even thanking it. Or maybe he shouldn’t, it’s just an AI programmed to have a voice and answer to his questions, like it said, it’s not a person. 

“Is the Captain back?” Taehyung then asks, it hasn’t announced it, but maybe the other came back while he was asking the questions.

“No, the Captain is not back yet,” Nhok answers.

Taehyung looks outside the window, the people are still there, going back and forth, maybe one of them is the Captain.

“Why is your name Nhok?” It’s not a Klaxen word, and neither of the other languages he knows.

“It comes from the name of the ship, it’s a foreign language, the one used on Triknep, Nhoka means far away and Nhok is just Nhoka without the last letter.”

“Triknep?”

“It’s a Planet from another Galaxy called Sebiok-C,” Nhok explains. Taehyung has never heard the name of that Galaxy, and he wonders if he will ever travel to it.

“How does the ship travel to other Galaxies?”

“Through Government Portals created in our Galaxy, they’re situated in specific places of Wavil 7, by going through them the ship gets to the Galaxy the portal is linked with.”

“How many portals are there in ours?” Taehyung’s beyond amazed, he really can’t wait to see all of that with his eyes. He just hopes his first mission will be outside of Wavil 7.

“Fifty-four.”

Travelling throughout Wavil 7 is permitted only for a valid reason, but travelling to other Galaxies is not permitted to the population. No one knows how many Galaxies there are out there, if theirs is the only Universe. Taehyung wishes he could know all that, that he could see each Galaxy known, travel through intergalactic space and see a flaming star from up close. He wants to see so many things he wouldn’t even know where to start.

“How many has the Nhoka been to?”

“Only one.” The one of the last mission.

Sooner or later, Taehyung will find out about what happened during their last mission and why they decided they need a real Doctor in the crew.

“Will you tell the Captain about my questions?”

“Information not available.”

Even if he can’t be sure, Taehyung feels like Nhok doesn’t consider him compromised. Or at least, he hopes.

•

It’s late. He doesn’t need to check the clock to know, the ship’s dead silent and he can’t sleep. Maybe it’s the bed, still too unfamiliar under his back or maybe it’s the low thrum he can hear through the walls. He still hasn’t understood where the thrum comes from or what’s causing it, it can’t be the reactors because they are currently off. The darkness unsettles him, he tried to lift the blind of the small window by the bedside, but the light coming through makes shadows appear in the room, even if it’s probably all in his head. 

The silence is broken by a low cough outside of his room, and Taehyung sits up on the bed, covers pooling on his lap. Then he hears someone whispering, almost inaudible, maybe they’re cursing, he’s not sure. He wants to check and see who it is, but at the same time, he doesn’t want to. 

It’s when he hears another cough, exactly in front of his room that he gets up and goes to the door, slowly unlocking it. He peeks from the small opening, but the hall is almost coated in darkness, besides the light coming from the small windows in the hallway. 

“Who is it?” he asks, voice a whisper, maybe he just imagined it, or he was already dreaming, but it felt too real. 

All of a sudden the lights turn on and he’s faced with a man Taehyung hasn’t ever seen. 

“Who are you?”

Taehyung tries to close the door as much as he can until he’s peeking outside with just one eye, but the man pushes it to open it more with a hand covered by a black glove. “So?” he asks, voice annoyed.

Taehyung looks around the hall, no one is there, and then he looks at the other, who has his eyes on him, a deep frown on his face. Even if he wants to shut the door in the other’s face, he can’t, his hand is still holding it open.

“Kim Taehyung, the Doctor,” he answers, “and you?”

“Ah,” the man says, almost like a sigh, “the Doctor.”

Maybe he’s drunk. “Are you drunk?”

“What?” the man splutters, glancing around himself, as if he can’t believe Taehyung’s talking to him and what he just asked. He doesn’t look that much drunk anymore now. Taehyung should’ve remained in bed. Who cares if there are killers or intruders, or if the ship’s haunted.

“I said—”

“I heard what you said, and no, I’m not drunk,” the other answers, he sounds even more annoyed than before. “I’m the Captain.”

Well. He’s fucked. 

He can feel his whole face getting as red as humanly possible, he just ruined his only chance of starting off on the right foot with the Captain. 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he almost shouts, but then he remembers the others are sleeping and recovers on the last second, “I didn’t know.”

“Of course,” the Captain says, even his face looks annoyed, not only his voice. Taehyung wants to disappear and forget what just happened, start everything again with the Captain as if they never met.

He’s relatively young, Taehyung was expecting a mid-aged man, but he should’ve known he was wrong, considering the rest of the crew is young too. His hair is a bit messy and curly on its end, and he wears earrings, specifically hoops, Taehyung notices. Objectively, he’s a good-looking man, he can’t deny it, but his attitude surely tends on the poor side. 

“I’m going to bed,” Taehyung says, only because he wants to cut the conversation short and he’s sure if they keep talking nothing good will come out of it, “have a good night, Captain.”

“You too, Doctor,” the other replies back, moving his hand away from the door. Yes, he’s definitely pissed.

Once Taehyung closes the door, back leaning against it, he scoffs, “Doctor,” he mimics the Captain under his breath, he didn’t even welcome him like a good Captain would do.

•

Day 1

The morning after Taehyung hopes he won’t see the Captain ever again, but it’s an empty wish because as soon as he enters the kitchen, the Captain is sat at the table, eating a half burnt toast. Gross.

“Good morning,” he says only because he’s a polite person, even if the other isn’t. 

The Captain looks up at him and his expression changes from relaxed to sour. “Good morning, Doctor,” he replies, voice full of displeasure.

Taehyung walks towards the stove, he tries to ignore the other’s eyes on him trying to burn a hole through his head with all the strength he has. If he pretends the other’s not in the same room, then he may disappear for real. 

On the counter there are some eggs, so wanting to eat and leave as soon as possible, he finds a pan inside the cupboard and fries them. If he could, he’d eat directly from the pan, his back to the Captain, but he won’t give him the satisfaction to make him think he’s uncomfortable in his presence, so he finds a plate, the chopsticks, and takes a seat just in front of the other. Of course, he didn’t disappear.

Neither of them speaks, the Captain keeps eating his toast and Taehyung his eggs. It’s awkward, but Taehyung won’t let the other think he can scare him so easily.

After he’s done, he takes all the dishes to the sink, but before he can turn the tap on, the other speaks again.

“There is a dishwasher by the oven,” he says, almost in a polite tone, “Doctor,” then he adds, making Taehyung rethink about his politeness. Taehyung rolls his eyes.

He wonders if he’s older than him, Taehyung can’t tell for sure, but he seems younger than twenty-five years old.

“How old are you, Captain?” he asks, using the same tone the other uses.

The Captain chuckles, “I think it’s none of your business.”

“Okay,” he says, calmly, and then, “Nhok, how old is the Captain?” he asks, turning around with a grin on his face.

“Nhok, don’t—”

“Twenty-three years old.”

Taehyung grins even more, “I’m twenty-five,” he says, and after putting the dishes away, he leaves with something that feels like victory in his chest, even if it’s just age.

•

“All members are awaited on the fifth floor, Meeting Room,” Nhok announces while Taehyung’s brushing his teeth, so he quickly finishes and after making sure he’s presentable enough, he gets out of his room. He still hasn’t been to the fifth floor, so he hopes it won’t take him long to find the Meeting Room, he doesn’t want the Captain to despise him even more because he is the last one to get there.

Waiting for the elevator and lost into his thoughts, he doesn’t realise someone stops by his side.

“Hello,” they say, startling him, and once he turns to face them, he finds Yoongi, the Mechanic Chief.

“Hello,” he replies, a bit shy, after briefly meeting him for the first time on the hangar, Taehyung hasn’t seen him again.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” the Mechanic says, voice low, looking up at the floor numbers that appear on the elevator, “I was really stressed and didn’t greet you properly.”

“It’s fine,” he reassures him, he really doesn’t mind, the other seemed actually busy and stressed, he is sure he didn’t even realise who Taehyung was.

“Probably you already know, but I’m Min Yoongi, Mechanic Chief and Second Pilot,” he tells him, “nice to meet you, Doctor.” His smile doesn’t show his teeth, and even if it’s only a slight curve of his lips it feels warm, welcoming.

“You can call me Taehyung,” he says, even if the way the other says Doctor is completely different from how the Captain says it, it lacks the displeasure. “Nice to meet you, too.”

“And you can call me Yoongi,” the other says back, entering the elevator and waiting for him to do so before pressing the fifth floor button.

“Are we going to have a meeting?” Taehyung asks, curious.

“Yeah, we usually do before leaving for a mission to talk about its details and all,” Yoongi answers, looking at him through the elevator mirror.

Yoongi’s shorter than him, smaller, but his presence, the way he carries himself compensates for his height, just like with Jimin. His hair is black, a bit messy and parted in the center, and unlike the others, he doesn’t wear any jewelry. 

It’s when he moves a bit of his bangs away that Taehyung notices he has a scar on his face. It goes from above his eyebrow to the middle of his cheek, but his right eye seems fine, not affected by the injury. It’s a scar caused by a blade, too neat for just an accident, it’s obvious who caused it was trying to injure him badly or maybe even trying to kill him. Taehyung bites his tongue to stop himself from asking how he got it.

“I’m glad we have a Doctor,” Yoongi then says once they’re out of the elevator, scar out of Taehyung’s sight, and after his words, Taehyung wonders why they all seem to be relieved he is there. Everyone besides the Captain, of course.

Taehyung nods, “I’m happy to be here, too” says, he’s not lying, a grumpy Captain won’t change the way he feels about joining the Nhoka. He doesn’t regret it, not even in the slightest, he has worked too hard to be where he is to let a person who doesn’t know him at all change his mind.

They’re the first ones to arrive to the Meeting Room, Taehyung chooses the chair as far as possible from the one at the head of the table, where he guesses the Captain will sit, and since Yoongi doesn’t say anything even after he has seen where he sat, he remains there.

After few minutes everyone arrives, to Taehyung’s surprise, the Captain is the last one to get to the room. He has changed his clothes since that morning, he’s wearing a black t-shirt tucked inside black cargo pants, how colorful. 

It’s then that Taehyung realises the other’s right arm is completely covered in tattoos, from his fingers and hand to almost the side of his neck. He can clearly see a flower with something written under it, a snake around his forearm going up, some lines wrap around his wrist, on each of his knuckles there’s a letter forming the word lost, a crown on his index finger and plus signs between them. Taehyung has always loved tattoos, and them on objectively handsome men look even better, he can’t deny the tattoos make the other even more attractive.

His eyes glance up at the Captain’s face, who’s already looking at him, he hasn’t greeted anyone yet, and, “That’s where I sit,” is the first thing he says.

Taehyung wants to laugh, maybe scream too, someone really wants the Captain to hate him and actually Expel him the moment the ship will take off.

“Oh, I didn’t know,” Taehyung replies, if the Captain thinks he’s intimidated by a mere look, then he has to work harder on it. Taehyung swears he hears someone chuckling, maybe Seokjin, but he doesn’t want to move his eyes away from the other’s.

“Right,” the Captain whispers, and then, contrary from what Taehyung was expecting, he walks towards the head of the table and sits there. 

As soon as the Captain sits down, the air clears and everyone seems suddenly too serious.

“Yesterday I had a meeting with the High Members,” the Captain starts speaking, eyes down on the tablet placed on the table. 

“The High Members are the ones in charge of the Special Fleet,” Jimin explains under his breath sat by his right side, to which Taehyung just nods. He has met them once.

“We’ll do a Rescue mission,” the Captain keeps talking, “a Klaxen Ambassador was captured in Shukron, the planet’s still not identified, but since it will take twelve days to get to it, they’ll tell us later where he exactly is. A crew’s researching his whereabouts.”

“Another Galaxy?” Hoseok asks, voice worried, “after what happened?”

“He’s right,” Yoongi speaks, he sounds and looks calm, but it could be just a façade, “it’s too soon to travel to another Galaxy.”

Namjoon in front of him nods, restless, fingers tapping nervously on the table. Seokjin by his side looks ready to argue, but before someone else can, the Captain speaks again.

“We have to do it, we can’t decline missions, you know the way it works.”

The air got tense after the Captain announced the mission, but with his last word, Taehyung can feel the electricity in it.

“After what happened during a mission in another Galaxy they shouldn’t send us so soon to another,” Jimin talks back, fists closed tight, Taehyung can see the tremor travel from them to the rest of his arms. He knows they’re talking about their last mission and the reason why they recruited him, he just wishes he knew all the details and understood why they don’t like the idea of operating in a different Galaxy.

“I’m not happy about it either, but it’s our job, we can’t decline missions because of personal matters,” the Captain says, a stern look on his face that actually could scare him if he were in Jimin’s place. Taehyung hopes they won’t start fighting.

“Oh,” Jimin scoffs, his fist hits the table and in the silence of the room, their breath held, the noise sounds louder than ever, “then, since Taehyung is here now, we can all get injured.”

“Jimin—”

“No, he became a member of the crew the moment he stepped inside the Nhoka, he deserves to know,” Jimin cuts the other off, a finger pointed towards Taehyung. 

“Only officially,” the Captain corrects him, a brief glance sent to his way, as if he’s challenging him to say something about the matter. “He doesn’t need to know.” 

“Fuck you, Jeongguk, you’re so insufferable,” Jimin seethes, and then he gets up and leaves, door slammed behind his back. Taehyung wants to follow him, maybe thank him for trying to convince the Captain to consider him a member of their crew, yet, he remains still, his body feels paralyzed.

After few seconds of silence, the Captain speaks again, “Well, I guess we’re done here, if there’s something else, Nhok will let you know,” he says, back to his composure, and after that he leaves too. 

Only then Taehyung realises the other’s slightly limping on his right leg and if he were another member of the crew, he’d tell him he could check it and give him some meds for the pain, but since it’s the Captain, Taehyung is sure the other would prefer limping for the rest of his life rather than having Taehyung take care of it.

•

The Medical Room comforts him, maybe because it reminds him of the endless hours spent learning the correct way to apply stitches, to get a bone back in its place or to get accustomed to the sight of organs without feeling his stomach turn upside down. Even if the room is full of unpacked boxes, it still brings him back to the first days of his first year, to the excitement he felt running through his veins, not making him sleep properly even when he was dead tired.

It’s been only a year since he graduated from med school, and yet, it seems like more than that has passed. The hospital internship felt like it lasted ten years and the month he attended the Special Fleet class felt even longer, time stretched on itself again and again, making it seem like the day he would’ve put foot on a spaceship would never arrived.

When a knock resonates in the room, “Come in,” Taehyung calls out, straightening himself from where he was organising meds based on its purpose into a cabinet.

“Hey,” Jimin opens the door, hair tightly tied back not to cover his eyes, “am I bothering you?”

Taehyung shakes his head, “I was just organising stuff,” he says, he will have a lot of time to unpack and replace everything.

Jimin nods, he doesn’t move from the doorway, he looks sheepish, arms crossed on his chest.

“What’s the matter?” Taehyung asks, he already has an idea about what Jimin wants to talk about, but he can’t be completely sure.

Jimin shrugs his shoulders, fully entering the room, “I only wanted to say Jeongguk doesn’t hate you, even if it looks like he does, something happened and he became wary of everyone he doesn’t know,” he tells him under his breath, maybe he fears Nhok will refer his words to the Captain, Taehyung still hasn’t understood how the AI exactly works.

“Well,” Taehyung chuckles, “we can’t say he likes me either.” He’s not only imagining it, he’s sure everyone can see the Captain’s not the most welcoming person on the ship, probably he’s not even trying to be, which makes Taehyung wonder if he hates people just because he is that kind of person or if he hates him for a specific reason, even if before the prior day they didn’t even know of each other’s existence.

“Yeah,” Jimin whispers, looking discouraged, “I guess he won’t wake up tomorrow and suddenly think you’re the best person ever, he’s not like that.”

Taehyung snorts, “Of course he won’t, I believe he never will.”

Jimin sighs, fumbling with an empty small box on the table, “He’s so stubborn and serious about all this stuff.”

“Of course he is, Jimin, he’s the Captain, he can’t slack off.”

“He acts like he wants to Expel you and you take his side?!” Jimin’s outraged, Taehyung can see it from his face, eyes wide and lips almost parting.

“I’m not taking his side,” Taehyung replies back, or is he?

“You are,” Jimin protests, hands placed on his hips, “you should want to break one of his bones, you know, since you’re a doctor you surely know how to do it and then make him beg for putting it back.”

“That’s a bit too detailed,” Taehyung says, he puts bones back in their place, not the contrary, he’s not a torturer, “are you sure that’s not what you want to do?”

“You can’t imagine how many times I’ve dreamt about it,” Jimin answers, and they both end up laughing.

“Can I ask you something?” Taehyung says then, after they’ve calmed down, to which Jimin nods, a kind smile on his lips.

“I— I was wondering about your last mission—”

“Taehyung,” Jimin cuts him off, smile gone, a hand flying to his cheek to rub it, “I’m sorry, but I can’t speak about it.”

“Nhok told me it was the only time you went to another Galaxy,” Taehyung tries to insist, even if deep down he knows Jimin won’t reveal anything. “I saw the Captain limping—”

“I’m really sorry,” the other sighs, “I can’t say anything. It’s not my place, even if I wish I could.”

Taehyung believes him, it doesn’t matter that they’ve known each other only for a day, he feels like he can trust Jimin, and if he’s saying he can’t, then he won’t push. 

He nods, maybe one day the Captain will consider him worthy of knowing, or maybe not, only imagination left to his own head and all the scenarios it can come up, always feeling a stranger in a crew that should be like a family.

•

Eavesdropping is bad, Taehyung’s aware, and yet, he can’t stop himself from not doing it. They said his name and he’s too weak to turn around and leave, he wants to know why they’re talking about him. 

“Namjoonie said he graduated with full marks and that he did an internship, he must be pretty good,” someone says, maybe Yoongi, but he’s not entirely sure. They’re a bit far from where he is, they must be in another side hall.

“It doesn’t matter,” the Captain answers, of course he doesn’t care, “did you notice the way he looks at us when we’re not looking? Or the way he looks at every detail of the ship?”

“I’m sure he’s just trying to learn how the ship’s structured,” the other person tries to defend him, and Taehyung’s glad they’re not taking the Captain’s side, that they don’t believe what he’s saying. “He’s not a threat, Jeongguk.”

The Captain laughs, but it sounds off, angry. “Don’t come to me when he screws us up in the future.”

“He won’t, he is just a Doctor,” the other says, voice lower. Taehyung’s now sure it’s Yoongi.

“That’s exactly what he— they want us to believe,” the Captain argues back, and then he hears him walk away, or it was Yoongi walking away, Taehyung can’t see them.

Taehyung hasn’t done anything wrong, they barely know him and even if he can understand the wariness of having someone you don’t know sleep in the next room or eat at the same table, he’s not a criminal, he doesn’t deserve to be considered a threat. He can accept the coldness, that someone doesn’t like him, so if the Captain wants to treat him like a stranger, at least he shouldn’t disrespect him like that, talking about him as if he were a risk to their safety.

Like Yoongi said, he’s just a Doctor, maybe he doesn’t know everything about how a spaceship and its crew work, but he has been trying to learn since the day he got the news he was recruited. Taehyung just needs some time to get accustomed to the ship and its structure, it’s the reason why he always tries to study each of its details, besides, he also wants to learn how to navigate it without relying on the others or Nhok.

He’s not even hungry anymore, so he walks back to his bedroom.

“Nhok, how long until we leave?” he asks, sitting on the bed. Last time he checked, it was thirty minutes.

“Six minutes and fifty-one seconds,” Nhok replies.

“How long will we stay away?”

“Information not available,” it answers, “Can I help you with something else, Doctor Kim?”

“Why does the Captain hate me so much?”

“Information not available.”

Of course, how could an AI know? 

•

There’s a room on the fifth floor, Taehyung doesn’t know its name, he found it by mistake after the meeting with the rest of the crew, and it probably became his favourite one the moment he stepped inside. One of the four walls is entirely made of glass, allowing to clearly see what’s in front of the ship.

Taehyung has dreamt so much about travelling through Space that he never stopped and thought about the moments before taking off, the way he would’ve felt and what he would’ve seen.

The first thing he hears is the reactors turning on, it’s loud, louder than he expected and he can see the flames by the far end of the glass, then, it’s like the slow thrum he kept hearing through the walls has suddenly spread everywhere, under his feet, in the air, until he can feel his legs slightly shake too.

And after few seconds, it happens. The ship raises, at first slowly, it almost seems like it’s still on the ground, and when everything he sees outside seems like it’s sliding down, he realises they’re in the air, ready to leave Klaxe.

“The Nhoka will be out of the atmosphere in five,” Nhok announces.

The ship starts to raise faster.

“Four.”

It’s so fast that he can barely distinguish what he’s seeing. 

“Three.”

Taehyung holds his breath.

“Two.”

His instinct tell him to close his eyes, but he can’t do that, he wants to see.

“One.”

Maybe he should’ve taken a seat and fasten a seatbelt because once the ship’s out of the atmosphere, there’s a sort of push from the upside that makes it shake on itself, making Taehyung lose his balance.

“We successfully left the atmosphere of Klaxe,” Nhok says, “and now we are in outer space.”

Outer space. Taehyung can’t believe it, even if it’s in front of his eyes. 

He can see Klaxe, its light blue planetary rings, it seems so big from there, even if it’s one of the smallest planets of their Galaxy. He’s not on Klaxe anymore, and soon, he won’t be in Wavil 7 anymore, he’ll be in Shukron, where it’s said the stars are brighter than usual and where the planets all have natural satellites in their orbits that can even be seen in the sky.

•

Day 3

Time feels different in space, sometimes seconds become hours and other times hours become seconds. Light and darkness don’t exactly mean day and night in space, if it’s night and they pass by a bright star then the whole ship’s lightened up by it. 

Space’s beautiful, Taehyung’s amazed by it, even if it’s been only three days of travelling to get to the Portal, but at the same time, he kind of understands why Jimin said space is lonely too. Everyone seems and actually is busy, each one of them has something important to do, while Taehyung feels like he’s wasting his time, looking at it pass through a window that reflects him among stars. No one needs his help as a Doctor, and besides that, Taehyung’s sure he couldn’t help in any other way. Jimin’s busy with the Captain to organise the mission, so he’s rarely with him even if he should’ve helped him with ship protocol. Taehyung can’t blame him, making sure everything goes smoothly is more important than helping him understand how the ships and its crew work, he’s only the Doctor, after all he’s just needed if someone is hurt.

Taehyung has found company in Nhok, which is something he didn’t think would’ve happened. He asks the AI trivial things, which Planet they just passed by, what’s the temperature outside or how many days it takes to get to a certain galaxy. Nhok became a comfort, something that fills the silence of the ship and of space.

Just like the other nights, Taehyung can’t sleep, he still doesn’t know what exactly prevents him from falling asleep. It’s not the bed and neither the thrum in the walls, which has become a sort of a lull, probably it’s just his thoughts, the uncertainty of what will happen to them, to him.

From the window of his bedroom he can’t see much, so if he can’t sleep and the silence of the bedroom feels too oppressive, he likes to go to the Glass Room and admire the Space from there. 

He doesn’t know how much time passes, but once he feels like his mind is too tired and he’d fall asleep back in his room, he decides to return to it.

“You should stop snooping around,” a voice says, coming from his back after Taehyung has just closed the door of the room. He slowly turns around and finds the Captain standing in the middle of the hallway. 

Taehyung’s tempted to turn back and walk away, he’s so close to do it, yet, he doesn’t. The Captain already doesn’t like him much, if he does that, he’d just give him another reason to hate him. 

“I’m just trying to learn to move through the ship,” he lies, he’d never tell the other he can’t sleep, “I don’t want to lose myself in it.”

The Captain scoffs, “Even if you do, there’s always Nhok,” he says, walking closer to where Taehyung is.

“I don’t want to rely on it forever,” Taehyung replies back, arms crossed in front of his chest, trying to remain calm. 

“Sure.”

Taehyung takes a deep breath, he wants to scream, rip his hair out, maybe even cry out of frustration, but he doesn’t do any of those, he just looks at the other, waiting. Once he realises the Captain won’t say anything and at the same time, he won’t leave, Taehyung speaks again. 

“Why do you hate me so much?”

“I don’t,” the Captain denies, shaking his head, and it almost makes Taehyung roll his eyes. “Why do you think that?”

Taehyung laughs, unbelievable, “I have eyes and ears,” he answers.

The Captain laughs too and Taehyung can recognise when it’s a mocking laughter. If the other weren’t packed with muscles, maybe Taehyung would even consider punching him, but, he has eyes, he’d never be able to land a punch on the other. 

“Even if you’re the Doctor of the crew, it doesn’t mean I have to like you,” he tells him, serious, “you don’t know anything about protocols, ship duties and how to help outside of medical things, so why should I like you?”

“You’re not even trying to like me,” Taehyung argues back, maybe he should scream, so the other will think he’s crazy and will have an actual reason not to like him. “And I’m sorry if I don’t know anything, if I was too busy studying to become a Doctor to learn other things, but opposite to you, I’m really trying,” he says, voice louder, even if they’re close, and then, he just turns around and walks away for real. He should’ve done it as soon as he saw who it was, trying to change the other’s mind about himself is like talking to a firm and tall wall.

•

Day 5

Each hour passing, Taehyung realises how much Jimin’s words were right.

Space is lonely, silent and beautiful. It’s endless and Taehyung’s afraid of losing himself in it.

He wonders if he will be able to not let the loneliness consume him. The others are strangers, even if they talk to him, have lunch together and help him with anything, it’s too soon. He also wonders how much time will pass before he will feel like a real member of the crew, and not just the Doctor, waiting for an injury to take care of.

•

Day 7

“Taehyung!” someone screams from the hall where the MR is, maybe Jimin, but he’s not sure. He runs to the door, but the person on the other side is faster at opening it. Jimin looks at him for a moment and then he turns to the side of the hall, “Don’t move!” he screams at someone.

“What happened?” Taehyung asks, concerned, he tries to lean over the doorway to see who Jimin is talking to, but the other prevents him from doing it.

“Jeongguk!” Jimin screams again, making him flinch, “you have to let Taehyung check your leg.”

“I’m fine,” the Captain’s voice comes from somewhere in the hall.

“No, you’re not, you keep limping,” Jimin protests, he moves from the doorway and walks towards the other, and Taehyung finally can see him.

Jimin’s right, he’s limping, even worse than the morning he noticed it, it seems like the other’s trying to lean as less as possible on his right leg, making him limp very badly, as if the leg weighed a ton.

“I’m fucking fine,” the Captain raises his voice, he’s trying to walk away, but considering his conditions, he’s not fast. Taehyung doesn’t say anything, even if he should tell him not to strain the leg more than it already is, but he just watches the situation unfold from the door, waiting.

A sound between a scream and the other’s name leaves Jimin’s lips before he sprints into a run to reach the Captain, stopping him by his arm.

“Jimin,” he says, not even turning around, “let go.”

“No,” Jimin replies back, holding his bicep even tighter, “I will only after you let Taehyung check it out.”

The Captain sighs, and Taehyung does too in his head, as a Doctor it’s his duty to check the other’s leg, but as Kim Taehyung for once he takes the Captain’s side in not wanting it to happen.

The other two keep looking at each other, not saying anything. It almost seems like they’re talking through their eyes, maybe they are.

And then, “Okay, fine,” the Captain gives up, turning around to walk to the MR, a small part of Taehyung really hoped to not hear those words.

“It will be quick,” he informs him while guiding him to a bed. Surely, Taehyung doesn’t hate the other as much as the other hates him, yet, if he can’t avoid him, then he’ll make sure their interactions are shorter than ever.

“It better be,” the Captain comments, to which Jimin laughs.

“You have to take your pants off,” Taehyung tells him, and luckily, he does it without complaints.

Taehyung doesn’t know what he expected to see, maybe a scar or two, but he certainly wasn’t expecting what he’s seeing. There is a scar, a huge one, going from the middle of the thigh to the back of the calf, dividing the knee into two equal parts. It’s healed, but it looks like the stitches were applied by a butcher, making the scar more prominent than usual.

“Yeah,” the Captain laughs, void of amusement, “it surely doesn’t look fancy.”

Taehyung gulps, it really doesn’t. It’s the first time he sees something like that, “How long ago did you get hurt?” he asks, even if the scar’s healed, in some points the flesh around it still looks raw.

“Eight months ago,” the other answers, leaning his back against the pillows.

“How?”

“What do you think?” the Captain scoffs, arms crossed on his chest.

“Jeongguk, it’s no time—”

“Blade wound,” Taehyung cuts Jimin off, he knew what caused it as soon as he saw it, he just needed a confirmation.

The Captain nods, and only then, Taehyung realises that since the moment he took his pants off, the other has avoided looking at it. 

“Do you know how deep it was?” he keeps asking, and hopes the Captain won’t throw him out of the room.

“No, but I guess it was pretty deep.”

“I can’t be sure by just looking at the scar,” Taehyung starts talking, moving the leg to study it, “but considering you’re still limping after eight months, it lacerated the muscles and they didn’t heal correctly, maybe because the internal stitches weren’t applied in the right way. Did you have a fever the month after the injury?”

“Yeah,” the Captain answers, eyes still away from the scar.

Taehyung touches the scar lightly, without putting any pressure on it, waiting for a reaction, but when it doesn’t come, he keeps touching. Only when he presses his fingers down on the muscles of his thigh, the other groans in pain.

“I think the muscles are contracted, so it’s why it hurts, besides some medications, you have to exercise them, let them go back to its normal state, and also not trying to put your weight on the other leg when you walk, try to balance it on both,” Taehyung tells him. It’s been too long since he got injured, the other should’ve sought medical help sooner, Taehyung doesn’t even know if the limping will ever go away.

“How do I do that?” the Captain asks, sat up on the bed, legs swinging by the side.

“I can show you when you have time and help with the exercises.”

Taehyung’s aware he’ll say he won’t, that he prefers limping forever rather than having Taehyung help him.

It takes some moments for the other to answer, but then, “Okay,” he just whispers, and for the first few seconds, Taehyung doesn’t even register it, already convinced it won’t ever happen.

“What?” he asks, surprised, looking up at him with eyes wide. The other’s face doesn’t show any feelings, he seems always so serious and composed, Taehyung hasn’t seen him smile once yet.

“I said okay,” the Captain repeats, louder, almost pissed.

Jimin, behind him, laughs again, and Taehyung wants to tell him off, or maybe laugh with him.

Taehyung nods, and then he goes to the cabinet to take the painkillers and other meds from the other, “You have to take one of both twice a day,” he explains.

“Thanks,” the Captain says, and again, Taehyung can’t believe what he’s hearing, did someone reprogram the other’s brain and now he’s fine with him being on the Nhoka? Or is he a droid? Maybe it’s an identical droid.

“You’re welcome,” he replies, “let me know when you want to go through the exercises.”

“Is the evening alright? After dinner,” the Captain suggests, getting up from the bed.

Taehyung notices the way he tries not to flinch as soon as he places his foot on the floor, but he doesn’t comment on it, he’ll have time to fix all the wrong things he does.

“Yeah,” he says, “I’ll be here.”

The Captain nods, and then he walks out, fingers wrapped tightly around the meds.

Once the other’s out of the room, door closed behind his back, Jimin sighs. “I’m glad he finally let someone check it out, he was so stubborn about it and always said it would pass soon.”

“I doubt it would without medical help,” Taehyung tells him, and then, curious, “this is why the Special Fleet recruited me, right?” he asks.

“Right,” the other replies, but he doesn’t say more about the matter, and Taehyung has learnt not to pry, he’s aware he won’t get any answer. At least now he knows the last mission happened eight months ago and that it led to the Captain’s injury, he just needs to wait to find out about the rest.

“Who applied the stitches?” he asks then, if they didn’t have a Doctor and they were far from Wavil 7, it was probably someone in the Galaxy where the mission happened.

“A Matrox,” Jimin says, looking almost ashamed, “she was the best option we had.”

Taehyung can’t believe it. “A Matrox?! He could’ve risked his leg!”

“We knew, but at least she knew how to apply them, kinda.”

“Jimin, Matrox don’t know how to, they produce illegal mechanical limbs, it’s different from actual flesh,” Taehyung doesn’t want to believe they let a Matrox near the Captain’s injury. She totally could’ve ruined it even more than it was.

Jimin sighs again, “Yeah, right, but it was that or let him bleed out until we got to Klaxe, or I don’t know, lose his leg maybe?”

“Jimin,” he whispers, almost as if he’s afraid someone else will hear his words, “what happened?”

“I can’t tell you, Taehyung,” Jimin shakes his head, looking everywhere but at him. Taehyung waits, and waits, until Jimin looks at him again and with a nod he starts speaking.

“It’s— It didn’t go as planned, far from it,” he says, words whispered, “while jumping through the Portal to go back to Wavil 7, we were attacked by Rebels. They caused a malfunction and Section 3 of the ship was blown up, Jeongguk was in Section 4 and some of its part were affected, a piece of metal cut through his leg. As soon as we jumped back to Wavil 7, we landed on the nearest Planet, and it was Matroxine, it’s a desolate land and the Government doesn’t have any installation there, but we were able to find the Matrox.”

It’s not everything, but it’s more than what Taehyung was expecting to hear.

“I shouldn’t talk about this to anyone, neither of us can, so pretend you don’t know anything,” Jimin warns him, face serious as ever, every trace of softness gone from it.

“Of course,” Taehyung says, and with a nod, Jimin leaves.

In the silence, the words keep replaying in his head. It didn’t go as planned, far from it. Taehyung’s sure what happened is worse than anything he could ever think of.

•

It’s awkward. It really is. Taehyung wonders if he’ll get attacked as soon as he speaks or if the other’s going to completely ignore what he’ll say. He should explain the Captain how to exercise his leg, but he’s just pretending to be busy with the tablet in his hands so as to not to face him and start the exercises.

“Doctor,” the other calls him, and Taehyung grimaces, it’s time, he can’t escape.

“Yeah, sorry, I was checking something,” lies, he was just scrolling through a list of the meds stored on the first floor.

The Captain doesn’t say anything, he’s not stupid, he can see he’s lying.

Taehyung walks to the side of the bed where the Captain’s waiting, “We’ll start with stretching,” he tells him, a hand wrapping around the ankle and the other on the knee, “if the pain is too unbearable, tell me and we’ll take a break.”

It’s the first time Taehyung does something like this, he studied it, practised it too, but it was always with a person who didn’t hate him and didn’t want to Expel him.

As soon as he brings the leg up, a hand flies on his and a groan leaves the other’s mouth.

“I’m sorry,” he apologises, even if it’s not his fault, “but the pain won’t go away unless we do this.”

The other nods, his jaw clenched, Taehyung can’t even imagine how painful it must be. Only thinking about a piece of metal cutting through his leg sends shivers down his back, bearing the pain for eight months seems something he would never be able to do. He doesn’t understand why the other was so stubborn not to let someone check his leg, how he just lived with the constant pain.

The Captain moves his hand away, and for the next minutes Taehyung pretends not to hear the groans and all the sounds coming from the other caused by the pain.

“If you want, you can put some ice on before going to bed to soothe the sting,” he suggests, shifting the leg to the side, usually he’d talk to patients to distract them, but Taehyung doesn’t think the other would be happy to hear him talking.

“Did you start with the pills?” he asks anyway, he’s nervous, he can’t remain in silence and let his mind wander, not when he can feel the other’s eyes constantly on him.

“Yeah,” the Captain answers, short, Taehyung’s not sure his distracting ways will work.

“If in some days the pain hasn’t subsided, let me know so I’ll give you something stronger,” he keeps saying while in his head he’s screaming at himself to shut up, but he can’t, the silence makes his skin hitch.

“Okay,” he agrees, and Taehyung asks himself if someday he’ll hear him say more than only a few words to him.

Once done, Taehyung explains how to balance his weight on both legs, and after he’s sure the other’s got it, “It’s enough for tonight,” he says, taking the tablet back from the table.

“I’ll plan a schedule and send it to you, so you can do the exercises even alone following it,” he tells him, “but I think until we get to Shukron, it’d be better if we keep doing this kind of stretching.”

“Fine, thanks,” the Captain says, already dressed up and ready to leave.

“See you tomorrow,” he dismisses him, to which the other answers with a nod and then, he’s gone.

Taehyung sighs. It went better than he expected, at least no one was Expelled.

•

Day 8

Even if Taehyung has already done it the day prior, it’s still awkward. He’d be willing to pay if he could switch the Captain with another member of the crew. Yet, he feels sorry for the other, for what he had to go through, surely getting his leg mangled like that must have had consequences, not only physically, but mentally too, the fact he doesn’t look at the scar isn’t just a coincidence.

In all the months Taehyung has worked as intern at the Civil Hospital he has never seen a scar so big and healed so badly, if the wound was as deep as he thinks, he’s sure he would’ve thought the only solution was amputating it. He can’t even wrap his mind around the fact a Matrox was able to stitch it up with just minor complications.

“Does it feel a bit better than yesterday?” Taehyung asks, fingers pressed softly down on his thigh to try to relax the muscle.

“Kinda”, the Captain answers, he looks at ease, calmer than the previous evening, “the area near the scar hurts more than the rest.”

“That’s normal,” Taehyung tells him, moving his hands to the lower part of the leg, he can feel the contracted muscles under his fingers, nerves pulled tight. Maybe the other got so used to the pain that he doesn’t realise anymore how much it actually hurts, as if with time passing, his mind tricked him into thinking it dulled.

Taehyung wants to ask him more, to know more, but the Captain is the last person who would answer his questions, not even in a million years, so he restricts himself from doing it, from asking what the last mission was about or why he didn’t let a Government Doctor check his leg as soon as the Nhoka landed on Klaxe. It’s probably something he’ll never know, but he shouldn’t even know the few things he’s aware of thanks to Jimin, so maybe, some small part inside his chest can hold onto hope.

•

Day 9

“Doctor,” the Captain says, and for the first time his voice doesn’t hold any disdain. Taehyung looks up at him, hands still on his leg, “Do you think the limping will go away?”

“I don’t know, you’ve waited too much before seeking for medical help,” Taehyung answers honestly, he can’t lie about it, not when there’s a possibility the limping won’t ever go away. “If it doesn’t, we’ll have to do a full scan of the leg and see if it’s something else provoking it.” If Taehyung had known sooner about what happened, before they left Klaxe, he would’ve requested a CT scan, if he only had known missions could get that dangerous.

“We don’t have something like that, right?” the Captain asks, and Taehyung shakes his head.

“It’s high technology, only the Government can provide it,” Taehyung adds, going back to massage the thigh, from the way the other reacts to his touch every time Taehyung’s focused on it, he’s sure that part is the most painful one.

The Captain doesn’t say anything more, he just looks up at the ceiling, and Taehyung doesn’t try to talk, he’s less nervous than the first day, he almost, almost, got used to the silence. 

After some minutes of silence and a handful of sighs from the Captain, “Thank you,” he whispers, voice so low Taehyung’s not even sure he actually understood what he said.

“W-What?”

“Thank you,” he says, louder, eyes still looking up at the ceiling.

Taehyung wasn’t expecting those words, of course he wasn’t, how could he when the Captain doesn’t even try to hide the way he feels about him?

“It’s my job,” he just replies back, and then, “you’re welcome,” he adds, only because he’s a polite person.

“Even if it is, you weren’t obliged to do it,” the Captain says, almost as if he wants to make Taehyung change his mind, “after what I’ve said... I don’t deserve it.”

Taehyung wonders if it’s his way of apologising, and if so, he’s failing miserably. Maybe it’s the first time he apologises, the other doesn’t seem like a person who would apologise even if he did something wrong. Or maybe he would, Taehyung doesn’t know him at all.

“It doesn’t matter, I wouldn’t let someone suffer only because they don’t like me, I’m not that cruel.”

The Captain doesn’t say anything, and neither does Taehyung, but the silence doesn’t make him uncomfortable.

•

Day 11

“The Planet’s called Naathurus 9,” Hoseok tells them, “it’s a No One’s Planet, the Government doesn’t have any ally base, we’ll be on our own.”

Yoongi, sat by Hoseok’s side, snorts, “When aren’t we,” he comments, then he looks at Taehyung and, “it’s good to rely on the Government, but it’s better to always have a Plan B for everything, better not to trust it completely,” adds.

Taehyung doesn't exactly understand what Yoongi means, they work for the Government, why shouldn’t they trust it?

“Yoongi!” Hoseok exclaims, giving the other a look Taehyung can’t figure out. “Don’t listen to him, he just doesn’t like them much.”

“Why?” Taehyung asks, even more confused than he was seconds before.

Though, before Hoseok or Yoongi can answer, Namjoon enters the kitchen, where Taehyung and the other two have been for the last hour.

“What are you talking about?” he asks, pouring himself a glass of iced coffee.

“Nothing specific,” Hoseok tells him, “just talking about Naathurus 9.” Yoongi seems ready to snort again, but with a nudge Hoseok stops him.

They don’t talk while Namjoon’s there, and once he’s out and probably already in his room or in the elevator, “Namjoonie doesn’t like when we shit-talk about the Government, he thinks the ship’s bugged,” Yoongi explains, “but it’s not, I made sure of it,” he adds with a sly smirk.

It’s confusing, they’re the Special Fleet, created to stop Rebels who don’t follow the Government rules, and yet, Yoongi seems proud of the fact the Government can’t know what happens on the ship, that they can’t control it.

“Should I know something I don’t?” Taehyung asks, he’s starting to think not everything is like it seems.

“No.”

“Yes.”

They both speak at the same time, and Taehyung, even if he can’t be sure, believes Yoongi more than he believes Hoseok.

“No,” Hoseok says again, serious, “there’s nothing you should know about, Yoongi hyung speaks too much.”

“I don’t,” Yoongi replies back, and yet, he doesn’t add anything else.

“We should go back to work,” Hoseok suggests. Taehyung doesn’t point it out, but he knows it’s a way to stop him from prying further. 

While walking to the MR, Taehyung can’t stop thinking about the way Yoongi was so keen on not trusting the Government, almost speaking like Rebels do. He can’t be a Rebel, if he is, he wouldn’t be a Special Fleet member.

•

Day 12

Naathurus 9 is everything Taehyung was expecting and more. 

He’s lying down on his bed when Nhok announces they’ve entered its atmosphere and Taehyung runs to the Glass Room. 

Green. It’s the first thing he sees, there’s green everywhere his eyes go, it all seems covered in forests. In the silence of the room, Taehyung can almost hear the sound of birds chirping, small animals running on the soil, leaves moved by them, water dripping. If he closes his eyes, he can imagine himself there, among those tall trees, breathing fresh air. 

Taehyung doesn’t know much about the Planet, when Hoseok mentioned it, it was the first time he heard about it. There are so many Planets and Galaxies that it’s impossible to know all of them. 

As the Nokha slowly lowers down, Taehyung’s able to see more. He can see the sea in the distance, sun setting over it and coloring it hues of orange and yellow. The sun’s different from the one in Wavil 7, it seems bigger and by its right side there’s a small astronomical object, maybe a small moon or another star. And after seeing it, Taehyung realises it’s not the only one, up in the sky he can see many of them scattered all around, different colours and dimensions.

“Landing estimated in 1 minute and 28 seconds,” Nhok announces.

Taehyung keeps his eyes glued to everything that’s out of the glass, colourful birds flying by the Nhoka’s side, small towns built on higher parts and green covering everything else.

“We’ll get off the Nhoka tomorrow morning,” the Captain announces through the speakers as soon as the engine has been turned off. Taehyung sighs at the words, he would’ve liked breathing a bit of fresh air before going to sleep.

•

Day 13

The population of Naathurus 9 is different from the one of Klaxe. They all have eyes, a nose and a mouth, but sometimes, the eyes have different shapes, almost animalesque, of unique colors, their ears are pointed or without lobes, and they have dots or lines made of raised skin on their faces and arms, some around their necks too, almost looking like necklaces. Some also have flowers, plants or animals tattooed on their skin.

Taehyung doesn’t know where to look at, whether at the street vendors or at what they’re selling at their stands. There are objects he has never seen, and all of the vendors are trying to sell them to him. They speak a language he doesn’t know, Naathi, Seokjin said, but Taehyung understands what they’re saying anyway. They want him to buy as many things as possible from their stands, maybe it’s because they can clearly see him and Seokjin are not from Naathurus 9.

The market’s filled with thousands of voices, screams, laughters, colours and lights, and Taehyung loves everything about it. This is exactly what he had in mind, what he wanted to experience when he decided to apply as a Doctor for the Special Fleet.

The Captain, Jimin and Hoseok left the ship that morning with them too, but for a different reason. Taehyung and Seokjin are in the centre of Urus City, the capital of the Planet, meanwhile the other three are in its hidden alleyways, trying to find as many information as they can to find out where the Ambassador is kept. Taehyung hopes nothing will happen, they’re in a city they don’t know, no matter how many hours Hoseok spent studying its streets, he will never know it like it’s known by his inhabitants.

“Look at that,” Seokjin says, voice amazed, pointing at something with his finger, “I’ve never seen something like that. It reflects every colour.”

Taehyung glances where Seokjin’s pointing at, but he can’t see anything that could’ve caught the other’s attention. “What?” he asks, curious.

Seokjin gets closer to the stand, but he doesn’t take anything from it, “Don’t you see it?” he asks back with a finger pointed to nothing. Taehyung can’t see anything, only the wooden surface of the stall.

“Only some people can’t see it,” a voice says, and it’s weird hearing words he understands in a sea of foreign ones.

Taehyung glances up, the woman behind the stall looks back at him, her eyes are purple, cat-like, a white vertical line marks the skin of her forehead. Her hair is buzzed and her head is completely covered by tattooed lilac flowers. “If you can’t see that, it means your intentions are pure,” she explains with a smile, “it’s been a while since I’ve seen someone like you.”

“What about people who can see it?” Seokjin asks, taking it into his hand, but to Taehyung it looks like his fingers are wrapped around thin air.

“It doesn’t exactly mean their intentions aren’t pure,” the woman just says, her eyes almost sparkle with the light reflected by the other stones on the stand.

“You should buy it,” Seokjin tells him, “so you’ll know when your intentions aren’t pure anymore.”

Taehyung shakes his head, a stone can’t decide if what he’s doing is right or wrong, he’ll know by himself if his intentions and actions aren’t pure anymore.

•

Day 14

Taehyung knows something’s wrong when Nhok lets him know he’ll leave the ship with Jimin and the Captain in fifteen minutes.

He has his answer when, “Someone promised to tell us something about the Ambassador,” the Captain tells him as soon as they meet on the hangar, “but he won’t speak if we don’t bring a Doctor.”

Taehyung nods, if he can be of any help to find the Ambassador, he won’t back out.

The streets they walk are different from the ones of the prior day, darker and narrower. At some point someone sprawled on the ground tries to grab his leg or maybe his foot, but Jimin blocks him, ushering him to walk faster. Taehyung keeps looking back at the man even after they passed him, he has never seen something like that in Klaxe.

It’s obvious they’re not in the best part of the city and the other two are aware of it because they’re making sure no one is following them, looking behind their backs every moment. If Rebels know they are there, and Taehyung’s sure they do, it would be easy ambushing them.

“It’s here,” the Captain whispers at some point, once Taehyung has lost count about how many times they turned into a new street. The door they stop in front of seems like it will fall off as soon as someone moves it, it’s scratched in more than one point and its bottom is worn, as if it’s been slowly eaten by rats. 

“Are you sure?” Jimin asks, looking around himself before trying to see through the window by the side of the door, but it’s too dirty.

“Yeah,” the Captain answers, voice low, “their symbol,” then he adds, pointing at a symbol painted on the door that Taehyung didn’t notice earlier. It’s a square with a circle inside, but it’s imperfect, not closed. Everyone knows that symbol, even kids, it’s the Rebels’ symbol.

Deep down, after they ventured into those streets, Taehyung already knew what they were getting themselves into.

The Captain knocks twice on the door, and even if it’s not surprising, it’s still scary that the first thing he sees after the door’s opened isn’t a person, but a gun, pointed directly at the Captain.

“Sekohei,” the Captain says and the gun’s lowered down, replaced by a man, a black scarf covers all parts of his face, leaving only his eyes uncovered, his head’s shaved and only after a few seconds, Taehyung realises he’s looking into the eyes of a Rebel.

Once inside, the man locks the door with multiples padlocks, but they don’t look efficient, considering even a kick could throw the door down. Jimin stops by the door, near the window, both looking outside and inside.

“He’s our Doctor,” the Captain tells the man, “he’ll do whatever you ask, and then you’ll talk.”

The man nods, walking inside a room on the left, Taehyung looks at the other, and “I’ll wait here,” he says under his breath, nodding to the room. Taehyung was hoping for him to be in the room too, but maybe it’s better if he stays there. He just hopes they will go back to the Nhoka soon and without anyone getting hurt or worse.

Once in the room, the first thing Taehyung notices is a bed, and then a small girl lying on it. She’s sleeping, but she looks to be in pain, face contorted and sheets held tight in her tiny fists.

Taehyung doesn’t need to hear from the man about what happened, he can see it clearly with his eyes. Her arm is bandaged, but the cloth is coloured a deep red, almost brown.

“How long did it pass?” he asks the man, which Taehyung guesses is her father.

“One week.”

Taehyung sighs, he doesn’t have anything, he can dress the wound as best as he can with what’s there, but he’d prefer having his things.

He checks her forehead, the skin’s burning. “Her wound got infected and it provoked a fever, is she taking something?” he asks, even if he can already imagine the answer.

“No.”

“I don’t have anything with me to give her, everything’s on our ship, if you want we can bring her—”

“No,” the man shuts him off before he can say more, “she stays here.”

Taehyung knows he can’t win, “I’ll talk to the Captain and see if there’s a way to let you have meds for her.”

The man nods, “Thank you.”

“I can change her bandages if you want, see how bad it is,” Taehyung offers, it’s the only thing he can do at this point.

After the man nods again, Taehyung kneels by the bed and slowly, he takes the dirty bandage off. First comes the smell, as if something’s rotten, and then, he sees it. He was expecting worse, but what he sees isn’t good either. The cut’s so infected that pus formed all around the open flesh, and even if it doesn’t seem much deep, it’s really long, taking almost the whole upper arm.

Carefully, Taehyung washes the area with a cloth and the water on the nightstand, and once it’s clean enough, he wraps a new bandage around it. There’s no cream or ointment on the nightstand, and Taehyung doesn’t even ask, if they had some, it would be there. 

Once out of the room, Taehyung walks to the Captain, “There’s a girl with an infected cut and fever,” he whispers to him, “she needs meds, but they’re on the Nhoka.”

The Captain nods, and then he turns to the man. “We’ll give you the drugs, send someone to our ship in two hours.”

“Thank you.”

“What do you know about the Ambassador?”

Only then after the Captain’s words, Taehyung realises the man, a Rebel, is betraying his own comrades.

“He joined us, he’s not with the Government anymore, he says he’s a Rebel now,” the man tells them, but his eyes are on the Captain. Taehyung can’t see the other’s face, yet he’s sure he’s not happy about the news.

“He’s currently in Urus City, but his location is kept hidden,” the man adds, “and even if it weren’t, I think he wouldn’t go back with you.”

The Captain doesn’t say anything, and Taehyung looks back at Jimin, he has a straight face, making it impossible to understand what he’s thinking about.

“This is everything I know, if there will be more, I’ll let you know in some way.”

“Okay,” the Captain says. Taehyung watches him turning around to look at Jimin, a question in his eyes.

“All clear.”

Once they leave, Taehyung keeps wondering if in a situation like that, he would’ve done what the Rebel did, giving information to his enemy to save someone he cares about.

•

Day 16

“You almost don’t limp anymore,” Taehyung comments, “who doesn’t know you got hurt, I’m sure doesn’t even realise you limp.”

The Captain turns around, door of his bedroom left open. Taehyung can’t see much because the other’s standing in his way, but the room seems tidy, too tidy, almost not-lived in, as if the Captain didn’t even bother to make it his own. Taehyung doesn’t have much either, but he decorated it with the things he brought in order to not to make it look so cold.

“Oh, um, yeah,” the other says, glancing down, “I’m doing what you told me.”

Taehyung nods, he can tell, he’s even able to rest his weight on the injured leg.

“Thank you.”

Taehyung blinks up at him, caught off guard, “You already thanked me,” he whispers. He’s not complaining, but it feels too surreal to be thanked twice by the other.

The Captain sighs, yet he doesn’t look annoyed, or bothered, almost as if he really wants Taehyung to understand he’s grateful for what he did. Maybe for the first time ever, the Captain looks real, a person with feelings. For once, the high walls he puts in front of himself when he’s around Taehyung are down, showing his true self.

He doesn’t say anything, and neither does Taehyung, they just look at each other, standing in the middle of the hallway.

And then, “I have to go,” the other breaks the silence, closing the door behind his back and walking away. Taehyung follows him with his eyes until the other disappears into a side hallway.

•

Day 17

Even if Nhoka didn’t land far away from Urus City, they’re in the middle of a field, near a small forest, if Taehyung pays enough attention and the spaceship is dead silent, during the night he can hear the forest coming to life.

Since the day they landed, instead of going to the Glass Room when he can’t sleep, Taehyung gets off the Nhoka and wanders nearby. Besides the small forest, the high green grass and a sky full of bright stars there isn’t much else, but it’s enough to calm him.

That night, the stars are even brighter than usual, lighting up the whole field. Taehyung walks, and walks, fingers gently brushing against the grass, caressing him back when a soft wind blows.

It’s so quiet that he can even hear the sound the grass does when it slides through his fingers, he can hear his own heartbeat.

Naathurus 9 is an Earth Planet, even if there’s also the sea. For the first time he is on a Four Elements Planet, Klaxe is a Technology one, completely changed by humankind. If Taehyung could’ve chosen where to live, he would’ve surely chosen a Four Elements Planet without thinking about it twice.

In the silence of the night, the sound of light steps is so loud that Taehyung can hear them even if they’re distant. He turns around, he’s not close to the spaceship, but he can still recognise the Captain at the end of its hangar.

“Why are you there?” the other asks, though his voice is void of any malice. Taehyung hears only curiosity in his words. 

Taehyung shrugs his shoulders, and then starts walking back towards the Nhoka.

The Captain doesn’t move, the grass almost reaches his waist. He looks tired, eyes almost closed, as if his eyelids weighed a ton. 

“I couldn’t sleep,” he replies once he’s in front of the other, fingers wet by cold dew.

“Me neither,” the Captain whispers, and after, he sits down on the last part of the hangar. Taehyung doesn’t wait for him to tell him something, he just sits by the other’s side, legs almost brushing against each other.

The silence keeps them company, eyes focused on what there’s in front of them. Taehyung doesn’t even want to talk, doesn’t feel like he has to, he doesn’t want to break the calmness that has created around them.

After it feels like hours have passed, the Captain slowly gets up and walks back inside the Nhoka, steps light on the metal of the hangar. 

Taehyung doesn’t spare him a glance, not because he’s mad the Captain left without saying a word, but because there’s no need to speak or to look at each other.

Something has changed, that much Taehyung can tell, but he still doesn’t know what.

•

Day 19

“How were you recruited?” the Captain asks, they’re both in the kitchen, plates empty in front of them. 

“I sent an application as a Doctor almost one year ago, just some months after I started my internship,” Taehyung answers, even if the question seems coming out of nowhere. “I didn’t get any news from them for almost the whole time I was doing the internship, they contacted me three months ago, and then I started the one month-class.” 

The Captain nods, pensive. Taehyung wonders why he’s asking that, if it’s just curiousity or more. 

“They do classes now?”

“Yeah, but they’re not very helpful, they don’t teach how to actually work on the ship, and since I was a Doctor they just insisted on the fact I have to keep everything I see and hear to myself.”

The other sighs, he looks almost disappointed. Of what, Taehyung doesn’t know.

Since the evenings passed together in the MR, the other doesn’t seem to hate him as much as he did during the first days, maybe because in a way Taehyung contributed to lessen the pain in his leg, or maybe because he understood he’s not a threat, like he said to Yoongi. He’d like to know why, but he’s not brave enough to ask, not when if he said something wrong, the Captain could go back to despising him. Though, it still feels a bit weird that they can have a normal conversation without the other trying to show how much he doesn’t like him.

“The Rebel contacted me,” the Captain then says, getting up and placing his plate in the dishwasher. 

“Did he tell you how the girl is?” Taehyung asks, a bit worried. It’s been five days since the day they went to his house, and since then, they didn’t get any news.

“He said she’s getting better thanks to the meds, her fever’s gone,” the other tells him, turning around, leaned against the kitchen counter. “Tomorrow, me, you, Jimin and Hoseok will go to the City, he said he has something more to tell us.”

Taehyung doesn’t ask why they need him to be there, maybe the Rebel wants him to check on the girl first, making sure she’s actually healing, and only after he’ll talk.

“Okay,” he agrees, he doesn’t mind, even if he knows it’s not completely safe to roam around the city when Rebels are in it too.

“See you tomorrow,” the Captain says, “goodnight,” and then, after Taehyung wished him a good night too, he leaves with a nod and his hands in his pockets. 

From where he’s sat Taehyung can see the hallway, and he can see the other walk to his bedroom. He’s not limping, but his shoulders are pulled down, as if something really heavy were on them.

Taehyung doesn’t know a lot of things about the Nhoka and its crew, but he’s sure they’ve gone through too much, more than what they could’ve handled, and yet, they endured everything that came at them anyway, even what they didn’t deserve. It shows on their faces and bodies when they think no one’s looking at them, and the Captain seems like he’s carrying the heaviest weight, pulling him down more to the ground each day and making him have difficulty sleeping.

He hears him during the night, even if the other tries to be as silent as possible, most of the time Taehyung’s not sleeping either, so he hears him leaving the room or coming back to it at hours where they both should be already deep asleep. Taehyung wishes he could help him in some way, but there’s nothing he can do and it pains him. It doesn’t matter that they had a rough start, the other’s still a person with feelings and he surely doesn’t deserve what happened to him.

•

Day 20

Taehyung doesn’t know what’s happening. Everything around him is a blur, sounds too mixed to distinguish them. He can hear his name being shouted again and again, but he doesn’t know who it is, where it’s coming from. 

He’s shaking and his feet feel glued to the ground.

“What are you doing?! Run!” someone screams at him, and when he turns his head to the side, he realises the person shouting his name for the whole time was the Captain. Yet, he remains there, still, watching. 

Chaos. 

Chaos is what he sees and hears. He sees red, blood, grey, smoke, black, guns. He hears pain and desperation in the screams. The market around him is gone, the stands are all destroyed and people are running in every direction.

By his side, the Captain’s holding a gun in each of his hands. He lost his jacket somewhere, and Taehyung notices that around one of his thighs, there’s another gun strapped to it, which moments after finishes in his hands.

“Shoot whoever tries to shoot at you!” he screams at him, but Taehyung doesn’t know how to use a gun. It feels too heavy in his hands, pulling him down. They’re all trying to defend themselves, Jimin has a rifle in his arms, and Hoseok has two guns like the Captain, meanwhile Taehyung remains still, afraid. The other’s trying to shield him with his own body, shooting whoever comes their way, but bullets come from each direction.

“Taehyung!” Jimin shouts, and then, he’s bringing him down on the ground, just few seconds before a hail of bullets hits the air where his head was.

Jimin pulls him up, hand tight around his wrist and starts running, probably towards the Nhoka. We’ll be safe there, he tells himself, but he’s not sure they will get to it in time, not when as soon as his foot lifts from the ground, a bullet hits it. Maybe the next will actually hit him. He doesn’t see where they’re going, if it’s in the direction the Nhoka is, he just runs, following where Jimin goes.

Hoseok’s running too, just a few steps ahead of them, and at the same time, he’s trying to say something through his intercom bracelet. “Under attack!” he screams, breath so laboured Taehyung’s afraid his lungs aren’t working like they should, too filled with smoke and dust. “Get the Nhoka ready!” he keeps screaming at his wrist, arm stretched behind his back and shooting without even looking.

Sounds come from his bracelet, but it sounds like there’s not enough connection and it’s just playing words without any logic. It’s Yoongi for sure, but he’s not saying anything, only gibberish.

“Fuck!” Hoseok screams, and then he stops, turns around and starts shooting at whoever’s behind their back. “Run!” he shouts at them, and while they pass by his side, Taehyung sees fear in his eyes, sees a silent farewell.

Jimin doesn’t let him slow down, he keeps his hold tight on his wrist and just runs, as fast as he can, pulling Taehyung with him. His legs feel too heavy, even heavier than the unused gun in his hand. At some point he thinks about throwing it away to feel lighter and run faster, but he doesn’t do it because it could be their last hope when each bullet of the others’ weapons will be gone.

Taehyung doesn’t know where the Captain is, maybe he’s running behind them or maybe he’s still trying to hold their ground, to let them escape. There’s too much noise and besides the gunshots, he can only hear their feet stomping on the ground and their shortness of breath. No matter how much he tries to breathe, it seems like each time he inhales, only smoke and dust end up in his lungs.

The Nhoka seems too far away, he can see its shape, but second after second, it remains too distant, almost as if the more they run, the more the distance between them and the ship grows.

A scream sounds louder than everything, and on instinct, Taehyung turns his head, even if Jimin’s pulling him forward. 

Hoseok’s kneeled on the ground, still shooting, Taehyung can see blood underneath him, he’s too far to see where it’s coming from, but it’s his. The Captain is almost near him, and as soon as he reaches him, he stops and helps him get up, wrapping an arm around the other’s waist and helping him run. It’s his leg, the Captain is almost dragging him, and even if Taehyung prays for them to get to the Nhoka without getting even more hurt, somewhere in his heart he knows he has to accept the fact that it’s inevitable.

“Run!” Taehyung screams at them, even if they’re probably too far away to hear him. They have to run, even if their bodies hurt, he’ll take care of them, he’ll make sure they won’t feel any pain once they’re on the Nhoka. He feels tears pricking his eyes, but he can’t cry, he can’t stop and take a breath, he can only run.

The Nhoka’s slowly getting closer, Taehyung can hear its engines on, ready to take off. Even if they couldn’t hear what Yoongi said, at least he heard Hoseok through the intercom bracelet.

Taehyung looks again behind his back, the other two are still running, even slower than them, yet the Rebels are getting closer. From there it looks like they’re just a step behind Hoseok and the Captain.

As soon as they get on the hangar, Jimin unlocks a pad by the side and takes a sniper rifle out of it, “At my order let Yoongi know we can take off, Nhok!” he screams, and then he gets on the floor, rifle ready to use.

Taehyung watches from the side, not knowing what to do. The other two are close, but the Rebels are too, and even if Jimin’s shooting at them, it’s one against too many. 

“Nhok, shields ready!” Jimin orders, “Activate Combat Mode!”

Even from where he is, Taehyung can see Hoseok is badly hurt, he was shot more than once for sure, and the Captain is dragging him completely. “Hoseok’s hurt,” he tells Jimin, he can hear the panic in his own voice.

“Jeongguk’s too,” Jimin says before shooting the Rebel closest to the others, he falls on the ground, but none of his comrades stop to help him. 

Taehyung can’t see where the Captain’s hurt, only once there’s less than ten meters dividing them, he sees it. Besides the limping, Taehyung can’t even imagine how much his leg’s hurting, his arm’s soaked in blood.

“You’re almost here!” Jimin screams behind the rifle, trying to take out as many Rebels as possible. 

They’re going to pass out soon, if they stop, they’re dead.

The last meters feel slowed down, they’re almost there, but it seems like they’re taking too long, and then, “Nhok, take off!” Jimin screams once the two are on the Nhoka, hitting a big red button with the side of his fist.

The silence that follows once the hangar’s closed makes his ears ring.

“You’re okay,” Jimin says, kneeling down to support Hoseok, “you’re safe,” he reassures him, but Hoseok seems more passed out than awake.

“He was shot at his leg,” the Captain informs him, but Taehyung feels paralysed, not ready to respond to the situation. There’s too much blood, it’s dirtying the floor of the hangar, going from grey to red and Hoseok looks too pale, chest almost unmoving.

“Taehyung!” Jimin screams at him and his name is like a slap to his face, “We need your help now!”

Those words are enough to make him snap out of it, “Let’s bring him to the MR,” he tells the other two before they all run towards the elevator, Hoseok dragged by Jimin and the Captain.

As soon as they’re inside the MR and Hoseok’s on the bed, Taehyung starts working on his leg. He cuts his pants, the blood dirtied his whole leg, but he can clearly see the wound. 

“I need to operate,” he tells the other two, there isn’t a breakthrough wound on the other side of his leg, so the bullets are still inside. Hoseok’s passed out, but he still gives him shots of anesthetic and places an oxygen mask on his face, and after quickly getting everything ready, he starts working on his leg. 

He can see that there are two bullets, and luckily, they didn’t break at the impact and didn’t touch anything important. He can sense Jimin and the Captain watching from the other side of the bed, “The bullets didn’t sever anything important, he’ll just need to rest until the wound heals,” he explains to reassure them.

Who would’ve ever thought that only after twenty days of joining a Special Fleet ship as a Doctor, he would’ve ended up operating to extract bullets from a member’s leg after running from almost certain death.

It’s still midday and Taehyung already wants to go to sleep and wake up after a week.

•

He doesn’t end up sleeping for an entire week, so far from it. That evening after taking a shower and eating something, he goes back to the MR to check on Hoseok, but once he gets to the second floor of the ship, Hoseok’s not the only one he finds in the room.

The Captain is there too. He doesn’t turn his head to check who it is when Taehyung closes the door behind his back, he just remains seated on the chair near the bed.

“He’s still sleeping,” the Captain whispers, voice so low Taehyung barely hears him. 

Taehyung doesn’t say anything while checking the other’s vitals, after all, there isn’t much to say. What can he say when they were almost certain they wouldn’t have come back alive to the Nhoka?

The silence, though, feels oppressive, permeated with the fear they felt. Taehyung wants to close his eyes and forget everything, the screams, the gunshots, people falling on the ground and not getting up, the way he felt like he couldn’t breathe anymore, but if he really closes his eyes, everything just keeps replaying over and over behind his eyelids, so he keeps them wide open, scared of closing them.

Then, when he glances at the other, he notices his arm’s still soaked in blood. “You’re hurt,” he says under his breath. He was too worried about Hoseok and completely forgot about the Captain. 

The other looks down at his arm, as if he just realised it too, “No, it’s nothing,” he answers.

“Let me help you, Captain,” Taehyung fights back, already getting what he needs to take care of the wound.

Among all the things the other could’ve said, “You can call me Jeongguk,” is the one Taehyung didn’t expect at all. He ignores the words, focused on the other’s arm. The cut isn’t deep, probably it was just a bullet grazing the skin, but it still needs some stitches.

“I’m sorry,” Jeongguk speaks, and the words feel foreign to his ears. Almost like the language they speak on Naathurus 9. 

“For what?” Taehyung says, looking up at the other for a brief moment, “I’m not the one hurt.”

“Not for that.”

“Then for what.”

“For the way I acted,” Jeongguk replies, and then, he doesn’t say anything else. Taehyung wishes the other could just speak, voice everything he wants to say. It might be scary, Taehyung knows apologising is never easy, but he’s willing to listen, he’s ready to forgive him. He can’t be sure, but if he were the other, maybe he would’ve done the same.

“You mean for being an asshole,” Taehyung blurts out, and weirdly, Jeongguk agrees. “Yeah, for that.”

“It’s fine.” Maybe it isn’t, but he’s not a resentful person, and maybe the fact he presses the gauze down on the wound more than necessary is done on purpose. Jeongguk hisses, tattooed fingers grip his shirt for a moment, Taehyung looks down at them and then, he lifts the gauze from the wound. 

“You got the worst Captain ever.”

Taehyung chuckles, “I’m sure I met people worse than you who didn’t like me much,” he reassures him, even if he should tell him that maybe he kinda is the worst, or not? Though, the other’s the first Captain he has ever met, besides from some assumptions, he doesn’t really know how Captains should be. After what happened, he deserves to be reassured. Jeongguk protected him and Taehyung won’t ever forget it.

“It’s not that,” Jeongguk disagrees, a hand placed on his own to stop him from dabbing the wound. Taehyung looks up at him this time, and waits. The eyes he learnt to know are different, they’re not cold and for once they reflect something, maybe fear, or sorrow, Taehyung hasn’t learnt how to read them because he never had the chance. 

“Because of me, you’re in danger now,” he adds, looking to the side, where Hoseok is. 

Taehyung sighs, back to dab the wound. “It’s not your fault if Rebels attacked us.” Jeongguk can’t take the blame, he wasn’t the one who tried to kill them, who shot Hoseok. 

The other sighs, and after he doesn’t speak anymore, head lowered, looking almost resigned. Taehyung’s sure Jeongguk thinks it’s his fault and nothing will change his mind.

“You saved me,” he whispers, voice almost shaken, “you saved me.”

Even if it won’t happen in a matter of days, Taehyung still wishes the weight on the other’s shoulders would disappear.

•

Day 21

Jeongguk calls a meeting through Nhok as soon as the sun’s rising on the Nhoka and the desert. Yoongi reassured them no one would find them there, he doesn’t know how the other can be sure of it, but Taehyung trusts him. 

Taehyung’s already awake when Nhok announces it, he hasn’t slept in twenty-four hours or maybe more.

Before going to the Meeting Room, he goes to check on Hoseok, and only after making sure everything’s alright, he leaves. 

Yoongi’s already in the room when Taehyung gets there, looking up at the ceiling. 

“Hey,” Taehyung says under his breath, not expecting an answer, the other doesn’t even seem aware of his surroundings, lost who knows where in his own head. Yet, Yoongi moves his eyes away from the ceiling to direct them at him, “Good morning,” he replies back, a twisted smile on his lips, Taehyung doesn’t have the strength to figure out what it could mean and why Yoongi seems almost happy, too relaxed.

After few minutes, everyone’s there and just by looking at their faces, Taehyung’s sure he’s not the only one who hasn’t slept at all.

“Everyone wants us dead.” It’s the first thing Jeongguk says. “Government and Rebels.”

“What do you mean?” Taehyung speaks after no one has, as if they already know what the other means, or maybe they don’t, after what happened the day prior, he’s not able to think rationally anymore.

“The High Members want me dead and the Rebels want to kill a Special Fleet crew,” Jeongguk answers, but Taehyung has a hard time understanding. Why would the High Members want the Captain of a Special Fleet crew dead?

“There are Rebels and there are bastards,” Yoongi speaks, looking deadly serious, the scar on his face stands out more than usual. “Those who attacked you were bastards.”

“They were Rebels, I saw their symbol,” Taehyung tells him, of this, he’s sure. He saw the square with the imperfect circle on their clothes, painted on their weapons. They were Rebels.

“No,” Yoongi disagrees, shaking his head, “I would’ve known if they were Rebels, they were bastards working for the Government.”

Taehyung can’t believe what the other’s saying. If he did, it means he’s working for someone who, instead of protecting them, wants them dead. 

“Taehyung,” Jeongguk says, drawing his attention, if it were another situation he would’ve noticed the others’ expression at Jeongguk saying his name, but he doesn’t. “The Government system and its members are corrupted, I found out about it during our last mission through an ex-member who faked his own death to escape them, and since then, they’re trying to eliminate me and the crew. I still don’t know how they found out that I know, but they have ears everywhere so I’m not surprised.”

Jeongguk’s words feel like a bucket of cold water hitting his face, all of a sudden, without him even imagining it could happen. Everyone trusts the Government, it makes things work in the right way, makes sure everything’s like it should be, protects its people, and yet at the same time, it almost killed them. Hoseok was going to sacrifice himself to let them escape from them. The Government would’ve killed him.

“I’m a Rebel,” Yoongi says, and the bucket transforms into a waterfall. Maybe he managed to fall asleep and it’s all a dream. 

“You what?!” Jimin screams, getting up from the chair, fingers spread on the table, eyes wide. At least he’s not the only one who doesn’t know everything.

“Yeah, I’m an undercover Rebel,” he confirms, voice calm, as if they haven’t understood it already the first time. 

Jeongguk’s the only one who doesn’t react to the other’s words, Namjoon and Seokjin seem too shocked to even speak.

“You knew,” Jimin whispers, looking at Jeongguk, who just nods.

“And Hoseok, we come from the same Planet,” Yoongi adds, looking down on his hands for a brief moment, a sigh escapes his lips. “I told Jeongguk after our last mission and he decided to help me.”

Jimin seems ready to scream again and maybe rip his hair out, but Jeongguk stops him before he can do one of the two, or both. “I was planning to talk to you about this, but there was never a right time and I had to be sure about the Government only wanting me dead or all of us. I got my answer yesterday.”

“So we don’t have a choice,” Namjoon speaks for the first time since they sat down, he’s worried, Taehyung can see it in his eyes. “Die or become Rebels.”

“I’m sorry,” Jeongguk apologises, “I should’ve been a better Captain and—”

“It’s not your fault, Jeonggukkie,” Seokjin stops him, reaching a hand towards the other’s and placing his on it, maybe as a sort of consolation. “You’re a good Captain and person, you kept carrying this burden all alone to protect us, but now it’s time you lean on us, let us help you.”

Jeongguk doesn’t say anything, head lowered, but he brings his free hand to his face. Taehyung can’t see his face, yet the shake of his shoulders is enough to let him understand the other’s crying.

There are many things Taehyung still doesn’t know, maybe at this point, he won’t ever know them, but it doesn’t matter anymore. 

He has started to understand why the others talked about the crew as a second family. Even if some things are kept hidden, he can’t turn his back on them, not when Hoseok and Jeongguk were ready to die to let Taehyung run away. Not when they kept protecting him because he was the only one who couldn’t do it by himself, they didn’t even think for a brief moment not to, they didn’t leave him there and make time for themselves to run away, and Taehyung has to do the same. If he can’t protect them, then he’ll make sure not to let them die, patching them up as many times as necessary to let them live for a long time. 

•

“I couldn’t fucking wait anymore,” Yoongi says, a sick smile on his lips, and then, they all watch him enter some codes on the panel in front of him. 

A sound comes from the speakers in the Control Room, as if something’s shutting down. Taehyung guesses it’s the Nhoka system being disabled from all the connections to the Government, making their location disappear off the maps, or at least it’s what he understood from when Yoongi was talking about it.

“We’re Rebels,” he says, panel completely dark. Taehyung would have expected some screams, maybe clapping, but all he hears is a sigh coming from Jeongguk, almost relieved.

Taehyung wonders if now, he would be able to see that stone. If his intentions would still be pure.

•

Day 22

As usual, he couldn’t sleep, even if he’s dead tired and feels like he will pass out at any time, Taehyung doesn’t want to take something to help him sleep, he’s afraid he will sleep too much then, he’s afraid of what he’ll dream and that he won’t be able to wake up. He’s a Rebel now, they all are, and he’s worried. 

He sighs, Jeongguk sat on the floor by his side remains silent. He was already there when Taehyung got to the Glass Room, he hasn’t asked, but he’s sure they’re there for the same reason. Since he found out about the room, it’s the first time he’s not alone, yet, it doesn’t bother him.

“I’m sorry,” Jeongguk whispers then, words not foreign to his ears anymore. He’s almost getting used to hear them.

“You’re apologising too much, where’s the person I met the first time I got here,” Taehyung replies back, eyes on the glass. The desert outside seems endless, a black sea that doesn’t reflect lights.

Jeongguk takes a deep breath, he’s looking outside too, Taehyung can see him through the glass. “That person wasn’t the real me.” 

Taehyung already understood that, it was just a façade.

“I was aware of the Government knowing I found out about their corrupted ways and that they were trying to eliminate me,” Jeongguk starts, voice louder, even if they’re side by side and Taehyung would hear him anyway, “I thought you were their spy, it was weird that finally they let a Doctor join our crew, Namjoon made a request for one so many times, but it got accepted only after I found out, you can guess why I was against it.”

Since the day they met, Taehyung has always wanted to believe the other’s behaviour had a meaning, that there was a reason why he despised him that much, but he could never understand what it was. Now, it all makes sense. Jeongguk never hated him because he was him, if someone’s else would’ve been in Taehyung’s place the other would’ve acted the same way, Jeongguk was like that because he wanted to protect himself and the others.

“I understand now,” he says, glad he knows, “but you thought too highly of me, I don’t think I could ever be a good spy.” He can lie, but he’s not sure he’d be able to create another persona completely different from himself.

Jeongguk takes some time to reply, and then, “Thinking about it now, yeah, you can’t even shoot,” he tells him, snorting.

“Excuse me,” Taehyung can’t believe what he’s hearing, is Jeongguk joking around? His ears are deceiving him for sure. “I am a Doctor, not a soldier.”

Jeongguk laughs, carefree, “You’re right,” says, Taehyung sees him nod through the reflection, a smile on his lips.

After a while, “Are you okay?” Taehyung asks, even if in his heart he knows the other isn’t. No one on the ship can say that they’re fine, far from that, not after what happened. The day before, everything was going smoothly and the day after, they risked their lives and who was on the Nhoka risked to lose them.

“I don’t know, but I think I will be, Taehyung.” Besides the time during the meeting, it’s the first time Jeongguk’s calling him by his name, the tone he used to say Doctor is gone from his voice. Though, during the days before the attack, even if the other still called him Doctor, the hatred was already gone.

“I’m not leaving the crew,” he tells him just to make sure the other knows. Even if it’s only been three weeks since his first day on the Nhoka to Taehyung they felt like months. Many things happened, his life changed completely and yet, it’s still three weeks and Taehyung’s still the newest member of the crew, the one they know less and maybe, the one who could be more likely to leave them. “It’s never too late to learn how to shoot or fight.”

“I’ll teach you,” Jeongguk tells him, a smile on his lips that almost looks hopeful, for what, Taehyung doesn’t know.

“It’s a promise,” he says, and once the other nods, he shifts his focus outside, not on the other’s reflection anymore.

The desert looks peaceful, everything’s still and the stars shine bright in the sky. For the first time ever, Taehyung thinks it doesn’t feel lonely, not like it used to be. Maybe space isn’t lonely if there’s someone by his side.

•

Day 23

This time, for the crew meeting they gather in the MR. Hoseok’s awake and he wants to participate. 

“So,” Namjoon speaks, sat on the chair by Hoseok’s side, “where will we go? We can’t stay here for much longer, the Government knows Naathurus 9 is our last location.”

Hoseok sits up on the bed, back leaned against the pillows, Taehyung wants to tell him not to move much, but he refrains himself from doing so. 

“Yoongi,” Hoseok only calls the other, and then it seems like they’re communicating through their eyes. Yoongi must have visited him in the past days because Hoseok looks like he knows that they know the truth about the other. And once Yoongi nods, Hoseok speaks, but this time to all of them. 

“Our Galaxy, Aratare,” he says, clicking on his bracelet, from which a recreation of a Galaxy comes out, “mine and Yoongi’s, we can go to our Planet, Ara 189.” He points to a small yellow planet in the Galaxy, and then he zooms on it.

“Our Planet was the only one with an ally base, but the Rebels destroyed it. Aratare’s planets are all No One’s, we’ll be safe there, I have contacts on Ara 189,” Yoongi explains, and the more Taehyung thinks about it, the more he can see that it was all under his nose, he just chose to ignore it. 

“It will be hard for the Government to reach us there,” Hoseok tells them, he’s the Navigator, of course he’s the one in the room who would know that the best. “The only Portal that travels from Wavil 7 to Aratare is near a black hole and it’s very dangerous, it’s supposed to be shut down, so they won’t use that one. The only Galaxy they can travel through to get to ours is Reku-G and its Portal is the farthest from Klaxe, it will take around forty days for them to get to Aratare.”

“How many days will it take for us instead?” Jeongguk asks, eyes on the Galaxy projected by the bracelet. 

“There isn’t a Portal for Aratare here on Shukron, but the shortest way should be going first to Edom’os and then from there to Aratare,” Hoseok answers, it’s the first time Taehyung hears about these Galaxies. “It should take first around ten days and then another four or five, though I don’t know these Galaxies well so it could be more, or maybe less.”

Jeongguk nods, “If you think it’s the best and shortest way, then I’m fine with it.”

“Then it’s decided,” Yoongi speaks, “I’ll let Ara 189 know we’re coming.”

•

Day 24

“You’re not from Klaxe, right?”

After the day they were attacked, Jeongguk started to limp again. Taehyung can’t blame him, the strain on his leg was too much and because of it, the pain came back.

At his words, Jeongguk looks up from his leg, now he looks at the scar, Taehyung noticed it but he didn’t say anything about it, it seems the other has started to accept what happened.

“No, I’m from Verkas,” he answers, and Taehyung stops moving his hands to look back at him. He already imagined Jeongguk wasn’t from Klaxe, but he thought he still was from Wavil 7.

“Verkas?” he has never heard of it, though, he’s not surprised anymore, there are many more Galaxies and Planets than he thought.

“It’s in Vukyn,” the other says, but Taehyung shakes his head, he doesn’t know it.

“Tell me about it,” he whispers with a smile, fingers going back to massage the other’s leg. 

“It’s a small Galaxy and far away from Wavil 7, to get to it you have to travel through seven portals,” Jeongguk starts speaking, eyes up on the ceiling. His body’s there in the MR, but Taehyung’s sure his mind is in Vukyn. “Verkas is a Water Planet, more than half is covered by the sea and it’s never cold.”

Taehyung wishes he could go there someday. “When was the last time you went back?”

Jeongguk takes some time to reply, and after a sigh, “Five years ago,” he answers, “Vukyn was an ally, but because of the distance, the Government forgot about it.”

He can see the pain in the other’s eyes, now he knows them better, and the other doesn’t hide his feelings anymore. 

“Why did you join the Special Fleet?”

“I didn’t join it, they recruited me,” Jeongguk replies, looking at him again, “it’s not like I had a choice,” he chuckles, but Taehyung knows he’s not amused.

If the Government recruits a person in the Special Fleet, they’re almost obliged to accept it, Taehyung didn’t know that, it was Jimin who told him. If he only had known all the things he knows now about the Government, about their corrupted system, Taehyung would’ve never joined the Special Fleet, maybe he would’ve become a Rebel from the beginning. His life on Klaxe has been a complete lie, controlled by a sick system that almost killed him.

•

Day 25

A knock resonates in the room and then, a “Hey,” comes from the open door. “You’re still here?”

Taehyung was about to leave one hour ago, but then he found other things to do and didn’t notice how late it already was.

Jeongguk doesn’t enter, it’s not the first time it happens, he always waits for Taehyung to tell him to come in, as if he doesn’t want to impose himself.

“Enter,” Taehyung tells him, placing the tablet he was using on the table and turning fully around to face the other. “Do you need help with something?”

Since the night of the attack, besides calling him by his name, something else changed, but Taehyung still can’t pinpoint what.

“No… I—” he starts speaking, but then he stops, a hand ruffling the back of his hair. Only then Taehyung notices it’s gotten longer, almost reaching his mouth. “I was passing by and saw the light on.”

Taehyung looks around himself, the room looks clean enough, besides some things left here and there, it’s finally tidy. “Yeah, I was tidying around,” he replies back, a small smile on his lips. He doesn’t feel anxious when there’s only him and the other in the room anymore. 

Jeongguk moves some bangs away from his eyes, tucking them behind his ear, but some moments after they’re back in its place. 

“I can cut it for you, if you want,” Taehyung suggests, pointing at the hair, he used to cut his own bangs when he was younger so it mustn’t be that different. 

“I’d be glad,” Jeongguk says under his breath, almost looking embarrassed. 

Taehyung nods, “Let’s go to my bedroom.”

•

After Taehyung’s done and all the hair has been swept from the floor, they both sit on his bed, side by side, knees almost touching. 

It’s not awkward, yet at the same time, Taehyung wants to fill the silence, wants to talk to the other and recover all the wasted days not doing so. 

“It’s weird,” he speaks, letting his thoughts out, “Among all the things that I expected to happen, this wasn’t one.”

“You mean cutting my hair?” Jeongguk asks, a lopsided smile on his face.

Taehyung chuckles, index finger tracing imaginary lines on his own palm, “No,” he answers, “I meant everything that happened since we landed on Naathurus 9.”

“Me too,” Jeongguk says, stretching his legs, he’s not wearing shoes or socks, and the pants he’s wearing leave his ankles bare, showing his tattoos there. There’s something written on each of his ankle, but it’s so small that Taehyung can’t even read it. 

With each day passing, Taehyung discovers new tattoos on the other’s body, he’s not completely sure, but while cutting his hair he thinks he saw something underneath it, on the back of his head. 

“Are you afraid?” Jeongguk then asks, looking up at him with the most sincere expression Taehyung has ever seen on him. 

He shakes his head, “No, I trust you,” he says, “and Yoongi, Hoseok and the rest of the crew.”

It’s true. He has felt fear while he ran towards the Nhoka, gunshots resonating in his ears, or when he saw Hoseok almost passed out. He can’t deny it, but now he’s not scared anymore. He trusts them, he knows they all will do their best to keep the whole crew alive. 

“I was scared for you,” Jeongguk reveals, “when we were attacked, I kept having this flash of you lying on the ground, unresponsive and no matter how many times I tried to ignore it, it always came back. It kept haunting me even during the night.”

Taehyung doesn’t know what to say. Even if he had a gun in his hand, he felt unarmed, he didn’t know how to use it, so it made him an easy target. 

“It didn’t happen,” he tries to reassure the other. Yes, it didn’t happen, but no one will guarantee them it won’t happen in the future. Or maybe the roles will be switched, Jeongguk lying on the ground and Taehyung watching, unable to do something. 

He’s not thinking clearly when he moves his hand on the other’s knee. He’s tired, he’s not sleeping well and maybe he needs some comfort. 

Jeongguk doesn’t move, he looks down to his hand and then, surprising Taehyung, he takes it into his. The other’s hand is warm, soft, but rough at some parts. His fingers interlace with his, and Taehyung feels comforted, not alone in something he can’t even wrap his head around.

They don’t say anything, and this time, Taehyung doesn’t feel the urge to speak. 

“Can I kiss you?” Jeongguk asks all of a sudden, silence broken even if the question was whispered, and after, they’re so close that he can feel the other’s breath on his lips. Taehyung nods, left without words. 

The kiss is unexpected, when he proposed to cut his hair he could’ve never imagined that they would’ve ended up kissing. Taehyung doesn’t know exactly what he feels for the other, but the kiss feels right, not forced. Somewhere, his chest feels warm, comforting.

Jeongguk’s lips are soft against his, fingers brush against his cheek, gently. He can’t believe it’s happening, yet at the same time, he doesn’t want it to not be true. The kiss is just a touch of lips, almost too innocent, but it still makes him feel too much. He can hear his heart quickly beat in his ears and his skin tingles where Jeongguk’s touching it.

Once they stop and Taehyung opens his eyes, the first thing he sees is Jeongguk’s flushed cheeks, surely matching his own. In the other’s eyes he sees a galaxy, bright stars sparkling, just like the one he always sees outside the Glass Room.

Taehyung smiles, happy, and Jeongguk copies him, bashful. It’s the first time he sees the other smile like that.

•

Day 27

It’s been two days since they kissed, and Taehyung still can’t believe it happened. Since then, they still haven’t talked about it, though, each time their eyes meet, shy matching smiles appear on their faces. Sometimes, Jeongguk even averts his eyes, looking at everywhere but Taehyung. 

Each time their eyes interlock, Taehyung can feel his heart beat faster, chest feeling warm. Maybe it’s not love yet, it’s still too soon and they barely know each other, but there’s something, a small spark that’ll grow each day passing.

“Taehyung,” someone calls him from his back. Taehyung thought no one was on the fourth floor when he got there from the MR, but he was wrong.

He turns around, a small smile already on his lips. “Hey, Jeongguk,” he says, meanwhile the other walks towards him.

Since the kiss, it’s the first time they’re alone. His heart misses a beat, or four.

“Did you eat?” Jeongguk asks once they’re close, Taehyung nods, meeting the other’s eyes. The walls Taehyung used to see in them are long gone, feelings not hidden by them anymore.

“You?” he asks back, and once the other nods too, “let’s go somewhere,” he proposes, even if they’re on the Nhoka.

“There’s something I want to show you,” Jeongguk says, a corner of his lips lifted, and then, surprising Taehyung, he takes his hand, warm fingers wrapped around each other.

•

After they landed on Naathurus 9, Taehyung hasn’t had much time to keep exploring the Nhoka floors, even less after the attack. The fifth floor hasn’t as many rooms as the first or second, but there are some doors Taehyung has never opened. Jeongguk takes him to one of those.

“It doesn’t have a name,” he speaks once they’re in front of it, “and it’s nothing much, but I like to come here if for a bit I want to forget I’m in Space.”

When Jeongguk presses the button to open the door, Taehyung’s met by green and light blue. The floor is covered by short grass, meanwhile the walls are similar to the sky. The light’s brighter than the one in the hallway, almost as if they’re under the sun.

“We were supposed to grow things here, but it takes too much effort and time,” Jeongguk explains, walking towards the only tree in the room. Taehyung follows him, fingers still interlaced.

They sit near the tree, its thick foliage covering them from the bright light.

“It almost looks like a real garden,” Taehyung says under his breath. Jeongguk was right, he could easily forget they’re in Space.

“Listen—”

“Jeongguk—”

They both speak at the same time, facing each other. Taehyung chuckles, Jeongguk too, and then, “You first,” he tells him.

Taehyung lowers his hand on the grass, it’s soft and a bit wet.

“A lot happened lately,” he starts, he can’t say he’s not worried about the future, but he knows he’s not alone, that whatever will happen, they all will be together to overcome it. “I don’t know what will happen, though, I want to keep going forward, I don’t want the fear to stop me.”

At his words, Jeongguk gently brushes his thumb on his skin, just once, and Taehyung doesn’t need him to speak to understand. 

I am here.

“I can’t say I was expecting this, not after our start,” he keeps saying, making both giggle, “but no matter what, I want us to be happy.”

Taehyung feels his shoulders drop, even if it’s just a little, he feels lighter, not as worried as he thought he was.

Jeongguk takes some time to reply, and Taehyung waits, in that room, it seems like they have all the time in the world, or space.

“I don’t know what will happen either,” Jeongguk says, voice low, “but I will try as hard as I can for us to be happy, I won’t stop until we are truly happy.”

Taehyung smiles, and then, he squeezes Jeongguk’s hand. 

I am here too.

•

Day 30

A date in Space.

Among all the things that could have happened in Space, a date with Jeongguk is certainly one Taehyung wasn’t expecting to happen.

On the first floor, there are many rooms that Taehyung has never seen, mostly the empty ones, but there’s one that makes his eyes water.

As soon as Jeongguk opens its door, Taehyung can’t believe what his eyes are seeing. It’s different from the Glass Room, there Taehyung can only see what’s outside, sometimes it’s all pitch black and it seems like he’s looking at a black hole.

Constellation Room, Jeongguk called it, and here, they are surrounded by Space. The floor, the walls, the ceiling are completely covered by stars, constellations, meteors, and the best part about it is that they move. It looks like they’re in the middle of Space. Taehyung’s beyond amazed, he didn’t think a Constellation Room could be on the Nhoka.

“Hoseok and Yoongi have been working on this for months,” Jeongguk tells him, a hand on the small of his back to guide him towards the table at the center of the room. Taehyung already knows, no matter what will happen, the date will beat all the ones he has had in the past.

A date in the middle of a Galaxy.

Taehyung looks down to his feet, he’s walking on starlights. “It’s beautiful,” he says under his breath, too mesmerized by his surroundings to speak. He can even hear the sound of Space, similar to white noise.

Even after they sit, Taehyung can’t stop looking around himself, the light emanated by the stars creates the perfect atmosphere for a date, romantic and intimate.

He glances at the other, and only then, he realises Jeongguk’s looking at him, stars reflected into his eyes, sparkling. Taehyung feels his heart beat faster in his chest and his cheeks feel too warm.

“What?” he asks, voice still a whisper, afraid that if he spoke louder, the magical atmosphere would dissolve.

Jeongguk shakes his head, a soft smile on his lips directed at him that makes Taehyung blush even more.

“Even if we’re surrounded by stars, you’re still the most beautiful one,” he says with a gentle voice, and at first, Taehyung doesn’t even register the words. Once he does, he can’t believe the other said that. His heart beats even faster, too loud in his ears. 

No one ever told him something like that. In a room that resembles a Galaxy, Jeongguk’s only looking at him.

Taehyung smiles, eyes lowered down, almost shy. “Thank you.” He wants to tell Jeongguk the stars are way prettier than him, but he doesn’t, he just keeps smiling to himself, tucking the other’s words near his heart.

Jeongguk softly takes his hand into his, both placed on the table. Taehyung glances at them, they’re different, Jeongguk’s inked one and his tan one, not inked, but they match someway, interlocked together.

It’s their first date, Taehyung doesn’t know if there will be others, if they will end up together, but the more he gets to know Jeongguk, the real Jeongguk, the more he hopes they will.

•

Day 38  

It takes a flutter of eyelashes to travel from a Galaxy to another through a portal, and yet, when they enter the Portal that links Edom’os to Aratare it seems as if it’s taking forever. 

Taehyung holds his breath, eyes glued on the glass of the Control Room. Even if he doesn’t see the others, he’s sure their eyes are on the glass too, waiting for the moment they’ll be in Aratare. 

Even if Taehyung already saw the Galaxy projected by Hoseok’s bracelet, when they exit the Portal it feels like it’s the first time he’s seeing it. They must be in a boundary position because he can see many planets from there, they are small and really close to each other. There isn’t a central sun and the planets don’t have its own, instead, there are many stars, Taehyung has never seen so many.

From somewhere behind him, he hears someone sigh, and he doesn’t need to turn around to know it’s Yoongi. Taehyung wonders how long it passed since the last time he was in his native Galaxy. Hoseok, too. At this point, he can’t even be sure the others all are from Wavil 7, a Galaxy Taehyung doesn’t even know could be their native one.

“Coordinates for Ara 189 configured,” Nhok informs them, and then the ship speeds up, directed to the planets in front of them.

Taehyung glances behind his back. Yoongi and Hoseok, sat side by side, are smiling at each other, and Taehyung can’t even imagine what they’re feeling. And for once, Jeongguk seems relaxed, almost content, his head rested against the chair, eyes closed.

Even after Yoongi and Hoseok leave the Control Room to get ready to get off the ship once they land, Taehyung remains there, Jeongguk too. Taehyung gets up, walking to the Captain’s station, and takes a seat on the chair by the other’s side, the one that should be the Second Pilot’s.

“We’re here,” he whispers, looking first at the glass, planets getting closer with each second passing, and after, he directs his gaze at the other.

Jeongguk opens his eyes, takes a deep breath and then, “Would you like to start it all again but as Rebels?” he asks, turning his head to look at him.

Taehyung laughs, expecting everything but not what the other asked. “Fine, but you don’t get to be an asshole this time, I could shoot you,” he jokes, taking the other’s hand into his. With his fingers, he traces the tattoos on the skin, almost feeling the ink under his fingertips.

The other turns his hand, wrapping his fingers around his, he lifts their hands, “I promise,” he says, voice a whisper, lips brushing against his skin, almost as if it were a secret known only by the two of them.

•

Day 171

Life on Ara 189 isn’t bad. He misses space, but the sky during the night is so clear that he can see everything even from there and it almost feels like being back on the Nhoka in the Glass Room. Yoongi helped him build a small room with a glass ceiling on the terrace of their house, and when he can’t fall asleep, he likes to go there to stargaze, just like he did on the Nhoka. 

It’s a quiet planet, a Water Planet. The weather condition is interesting, Taehyung still doesn’t understand why there’s never any wind and people there don’t know what the howling of the wind is. When it rains they have to stay indoors because it looks like the sky’s falling down and there are a lot of lightning storms since the core of the planet acts like a magnet. Despite it all, it’s a clean planet, the air is fresh and the water is clear, not like on Klaxe, where the air was so polluted that some days they had to wear masks.

He doesn’t regret his choice, not when he feels like he found the last missing piece of the puzzle in the crew, the Nhokans, how the Rebels on Ara 189 called them when they arrived and now every Rebel knows them under that name.

It’s been almost five months since they’ve arrived in Aratare. The Government did try to look for them, Rebels from other Galaxies let them know, but they still haven’t come to theirs, and even if they did, Taehyung’s sure they’d be able to defeat them.

There are 267 planets in Aratare, all called Ara followed by a number to distinguish them, and even if some are uninhabited, the rest are occupied by Rebels. Everyone in Aratare is a Rebel. 

Taehyung’s a Rebel. He was the Doctor of a Special Fleet and now, he’s a Rebel Doctor. 

Sometimes he wakes up and for some brief moments he thinks he’s back on the Nhoka, in his small bedroom, but then he realises someone’s holding him and when he turns around, he’s faced with Jeongguk. It still feels weird, if someone would’ve told him when he joined the crew that in five months he would’ve woken up everyday with Jeongguk by his side, he would’ve never believed them, not even in the slightest, and yet, it’s the truth. 

Jeongguk’s sleeping by his side, low snores coming from him and once in a while, he makes incomprehensible sounds. Taehyung smiles, gently moving his bangs away from his face. It became long again, but this time the other decided to let it grow because he likes tying it up. Taehyung can’t really complain. 

A particularly strong thunder makes the window shake, and wakes the other up too. 

“Storm?” he asks, deep voice a whisper. 

Taehyung looks at him, one eye is open, but the other still isn’t, as if he’s still holding onto sleep. They both know he won’t fall asleep anymore and yet, the other keeps doing it almost every morning. 

“And raining,” Taehyung answers. It’s why he’s still in bed, even if he got up, he can’t get out of their home, so he can allow himself the luxury to stay in bed more than usual. 

“Mh-mh,” Jeongguk murmurs, shoving his face directly into the pillow, and then he mumbles something Taehyung doesn’t catch. 

“What?” he says, going back to run his fingers through the other’s hair. Jeongguk seems like melting under his fingers, and maybe, he will go back to sleep for real.

“Jeongguk, don’t go back to sleep,” Taehyung tells him after few minutes, “you already slept in.”

The other replies with a grunt into the pillow that makes Taehyung chuckle. 

“Not sleepin’,” he mumbles, head turned to the side, facing him. His eyes are both opened, but every few seconds he closes them for an instant.

He snorts, “Yeah, sure.”

Jeongguk grunts again, he opens his eyes wide, not letting them close anymore. “I’m awake.”

Taehyung laughs, ruffling his hair, then he gets closer to Jeongguk’s face. They’re both on their sides, elbows and knees brushing against each other’s. Even if the rain hits the window again and again and thunders almost make the earth shake, it’s peaceful. Taehyung wouldn’t dream of being in any other place.

Jeongguk’s so close that he can feel their lips brushing, he’d just need to move the slightest and they’d kiss. Yet, they both remain still, looking at each other, even if maybe their eyes are crossed a bit in doing so.

He didn’t think Rebels could be happy, not when the Government tries everyday to get rid of them, but Taehyung is one now and he’s happier than when he was a Klaxen citizen.

Jeongguk smiles at him, takes his hand into his and brings it to his lips, kissing his fingers. 

In this moment, Taehyung’s happy. He wishes time would stop.