Archive of Our Own

can’t take the sky from me

It never ceases to amaze Hoseok how swiftly times can change.

The crash landing was expected- he managed to get Kim Taehyung on the comm as they hurtled toward Bultao, their only safe-haven in the wide expanse of space. It was almost lucky, how close they were to Yoongi’s next appointment. Considering how much they’d already lost.

“Pull up, pull up, pull up!” Hoseok hisses through clenched teeth, dragging the gear back while the ship’s wheels drop out underneath them. Taehyung guided him toward a runway, and Hoseok hadn’t landed on wheels since Seokjin loaned him a replica of an Old Earth airplane, let him fly it across Kosmos while Yoongi agonized over his lack of parachute.

So, the fact that they survive the landing on his current ship’s emergency gear is a miracle.

“Jung Hoseok-ssi,” Taehyung greets him at the loading dock, to which Hoseok almost managed to pull fully up. He helps Hoseok across the threshold and onto the platform, brushes dust off his sunken shoulders. “You did well. Where’s Yoongi?”

Yoongi wouldn’t follow him off the ship. Claimed he needed time to breathe.

Taehyung seems to know exactly what that means. “That bad?”

“We lost Jungkook,” Hoseok explains, and their savior’s eyes grow round as saucers.

*

Reavers entered Alliance space, an illegal action that caused huge amounts of uproar. Coming from a Browncoat background, Hoseok didn’t want to get involved, but Yoongi’s always been more conscientious. Told him they should check it out, find innocents in need of rescue. Of course, Jungkook loved the idea, helped convince him, and soon they found themselves smuggling orphans in another war, bringing them to safer planets, trying to avoid capture from the Reavers or Hoseok’s parents, who still hunted him after all these years.

The rescue mission was brief, but just as they turned around to head for safer skies a Reaver ship caught onto them, called upon its friends, chased them through the stars. They may have helped the Alliance (if indirectly), but the Alliance had no interest in helping them, and soon they were surrounded by Reaver ships.

“This is it,” Hoseok whimpered when it was too late to escape. Jungkook paced behind him, tried using his power to push them away, but he was no use against the four ships that would capture them.

Yoongi took their hands, flinched when Jungkook pulled away. “We did something good,” he reminded Hoseok, and he was right. They couldn’t have lived with themselves if they hadn’t stepped in, hadn’t saved those people. Children, too. He was still terrified, though, of the certain torture they now faced- no, they’d find death before that happened.

He opened the glovebox underneath the captain’s seat, retrieved the gun he’d rescued from an ancient planet, re-furbished by Yoongi’s crafty hands. They saved three bullets for a moment like this, a moment where death was preferable to pain. There were too many Reaver ships. They didn’t stand a chance.

And then a tiny escape pod zoomed past the dashboard, weaved through the Reavers and distracted them. Blasters fired in every direction, but the tiny shuttle deftly evaded the fire, turned the ships away from Hoseok and Yoongi and-

“It’s Jungkook!” Hoseok realized while Yoongi howled for the boy, just a fucking teenager against creatures who would eat him alive.

Hoseok fired at the Reavers, maneuvered out from their grasp for a better vantage point, and just as it looked like they’d all get away, a rift opened in space. A wormhole with no known output.

“Get back to the ship!” Yoongi cried over their shoddy intercom, but only static responded. Jungkook never spoke, probably couldn’t, but his actions spoke volumes when he dragged the four Reaver ships with him through the portal, let them chase him instead of his hyungs.

Yoongi demanded they follow, and Hoseok tried, he really did. But… the wormhole closed before he reached it, sent a wavelength that pushed them toward Bultao’s orbit, and with their engines fried and navigational system on the fritz, they’d have to land before they could begin their search.

*

Hoseok tells that same story to Taehyung at his expensive abode, a place they’ve stayed a few times in the last year, since Yoongi’s first appointment with the man. He’s always been generous, offering them the best room in his two-hundred-story skyscraper that makes the Kims’ Kosmos home look frugal. Bultao’s a rich planet, covered in greenery and expansive mountains, but the volcanoes mean there are only so many livable spaces, so the population remains minimal.

In many ways, Hoseok feels alone, even if Yoongi’s sleeping just downstairs.

“I’ve had my contacts run a scan,” Taehyung informs Hoseok over tea, forcing him to eat some scones despite his lack of appetite. “There’s no sign of your shuttle, but it’s very possible that’s to do with distance. We’ll send out satellites, see how much farther we can look.”

“Thank you, Taehyung-ssi.”

“You still won’t let me call you hyung?” Taehyung winks, and Hoseok wishes that the brevity was welcome.

He fakes a smile. “You can call me whatever you want.”

That doesn’t seem to please his host, but he bids Hoseok goodnight and asks him to pass his best wishes along to Yoongi, then leaves for his own undoubtedly regal bedroom.

Hoseok has to take an elevator to the guest bedroom, and when the sliding doors open, he finds it empty, but for a more than king-sized bed and well-curated collection of art. Yoongi isn’t there, which could mean-

He races to the shuttle bay, where his firefly-class ship looks rusted underneath the modern lighting. It’s possible that Yoongi took another ship, that he’s using one of his many Agency-sanctioned skills to fly around himself, search for Jungkook despite the still-dangerous skies. But he wouldn’t go without telling Hoseok, he has to believe that. Yoongi would ask him to come along, hunt with him. Wouldn’t he?

Or maybe, Hoseok thinks when he finds Yoongi curled up in Jungkook’s abandoned bed, Yoongi blames him for their loss. Jungkook’s belonging are strewn across the bedroom floor, their landing so violent that the entire ship looks like a disaster. Yoongi shivers on top of the dusty covers, gray tear streaks staining his cheeks. If he were here, Jungkook would use his power to tidy up the ship, crawl into the bed next to his hyung, use a clean sleeve to wipe his face. But Jungkook isn’t here, and Hoseok doesn’t think he’s welcome, so he meanders back to Taehyung’s guest room.

*

Yoongi attends breakfast the next morning, dressed in clean black trousers and a tucked-in blouse. He’s done his hair, some make-up, looks like a Companion in a preliminary meet-and-greet. Taehyung bows to him, and Yoongi returns the gesture. They’re formal with each other, which is strange since they’ve had sex, but Hoseok reminds himself that Yoongi doesn’t know Taehyung as well as he does Namjoon. Neither of them does.

“Thank you for lending us your home, Taehyung-ah.” Yoongi addresses him as a friend, and Taehyung seems pleased with that, offers him a cold coffee with some ice.

Hoseok exhales when Yoongi sits next to him at the grandiose breakfast table, breathes again when he accepts a meal from Taehyung’s staff. But he barely glances at Hoseok, doesn’t say good morning, doesn’t press into his side like he normally does when they eat. Goosebumps form on Hoseok’s skin.

Taehyung joins them on the other side of the table. “Your ship will need further repair than I can offer it, as Bultao’s missing several important parts. I recommend we travel to Kosmos, where my not-quite cousin keeps a collection.”

Seokjin isn’t related to Taehyung like Namjoon is, adopted into the family in his teenage years and therefore not considered in political affairs. As far as Hoseok knows, no one else even refers to them as brothers, and even Yoongi says it with a wink in his eye, like he knows something about them Hoseok doesn’t. What he wouldn’t give to see that smirking face right now.

“That won’t be necessary,” Yoongi tells Taehyung. “We will purchase a suitable shuttle and be on our way. You’ve been far too generous as it is.”

“It’s genuinely nothing, hyungnim,” Taehyung insists. “Besides, I’d like to visit. It’s so rare to be amongst family. Or friends,” he adds, throwing his guests a meaningful look.

Ah, so he thinks Jungkook’s gone for good. Hoseok can’t help but wonder if he’s right.

*

“We can’t keep waiting,” Yoongi complains when they’re alone aboard their own ship, the buzz of drills echoing through the metal walls. “Kook could be anywhere; he could be in danger. We have to start looking now.”

“He’s probably too far to fly on any of the ships they have here,” Hoseok reminds Yoongi. Bultao is not exactly known for exploration. “We need to get Hope up and running.”

Hope. The name Jungkook gave their shuttle when he got a little too carried away with Seokjin’s collection of brightly-coloured paints. He graffitied the ship with happy bursts of flowers, suns, rainbows, and silently dragged Hoseok to see it. Naturally, they couldn’t keep the funky paint-job, their ship already too well-known amongst Alliance spies, but the name stuck in Hoseok’s head, became part of their everyday vocabulary.

He was going to let the kid paint the cargo bay, decorate however he wanted. It would have been so beautiful.

No. It will be beautiful, Hoseok reminds himself. He takes Yoongi’s hand, grateful when he doesn’t pull away. “We’ll find him,” he promises, and Yoongi nods, still can’t look him in the eye.

*

It’s a miserable flight, and takes two days. Yoongi skulks through Taehyung’s ship, monitoring signals and obsessing over foreign ships.

At night, they sleep together, only one guest bed available on board. Yoongi crawls in first, curls up beneath the covers with his hands clenched between his thighs. He’s shaking, and Hoseok wants more than anything to hold him, to comfort him, to tell him everything will be okay… but Yoongi doesn’t want that. Didn’t come to him for that when Jungkook disappeared, left him for their ward’s abandoned bed, alone and praying for his safe return.

Why would he want Hoseok’s hands on him now, when it’s his fault Jungkook’s lost in the first place?

*

“Hyung, welcome back,” Namjoon greets Yoongi comfortably after wrapping Hoseok in a hug. Yoongi allows him to kiss the top of his hand, bow shallowly.

They’re alone in Seokjin’s sitting room, the elder already hard at work on securing ‘only the best technicians on Kosmos to tidy up our Hope.’ Yoongi’s changed into a fluffy sweater now, his hair a little flatter from the slow journey over, and his eyes look dark from lack of sleep. Hoseok’s sure he doesn’t look much better, still dressed in the same linen button-down he’s taken on and off for days.

Offering them seats, Namjoon takes his own. “I want to offer my condolences-” he starts, and Yoongi snaps immediately,

“He’s not dead.”

“I know,” Namjoon acquiesces, ever the diplomat. “But you’re still grieving.”

Yoongi doesn’t deny him, and Hoseok feels very shut out of the silence between them. “Thanks, Joon,” he offers, eases Yoongi onto a cozy settee next to them. “We… aren’t losing confidence. Kook’s always had a knack for wormholes, he wouldn’t stray too far.” Because Jungkook has a third-eye for these things. Always seems to know when a tunnel will cultivate, where it will lead. Hell, Hoseok suspects the kid can open them himself, probably did that with the Reavers, could be on his way to Kosmos now.

Come on, Kook. Come home.

There’s a light knock as Seokjin appears at the door. “I hope you don’t mind the intrusion,” he says, as if they’re not invading his own home. “I have someone here who thinks he may be helpful.”

Stepping aside, Seokjin reveals Park Jimin, who rushes in to wrap Yoongi in a hug. “Hyung!” he cries, letting Yoongi burrow into his neck, both effortlessly close to one another after years of training with the Agency. Hoseok brushes off his jealousy. “I’m so sorry, hyung. I’m going to help you find him, I swear!”

Yoongi lifts his face from Jimin’s shoulder, eyes a little puffier than before. He’s usually better at hiding his emotions, but Hoseok’s glad to see him comfortable, here amongst their friends. “You’d better,” he mutters, and Jimin giggles.

“I think I have a lead,” he says after a quick introduction to Namjoon and a freshly-bathed Taehyung (the latter of whom stares at him like a new piece of art, ready to display in his collection). “There was a hit in sector 97-B, but I only caught onto it through the Traverse-Well… which I’m definitely not hacking,” he adds, winking at Namjoon. The politician sighs, but bites his tongue.

Hoseok straightens. “How do you know it’s him?”

“It’s definitely from his pod, or at least, the same kind of pod he used to escape.”

“He wasn’t escaping,” Yoongi corrects his long-time friend, “he was leading them away.”

“Right.” Jimin frowns. “Which means they ended up where he did. The signal was weak, but the pod still functioned, so it’s unlikely it was harmed as much as it is running out of power. Which doesn’t make sense, because-”

“-Because it’s solar powered,” Hoseok finishes. “So… he’s somewhere in the dark.”

Jimin nods. “That is, if it’s him. I could tell if I had access to the 97-B mainframe. Even better if I could send a beacon through the Traverse-Well, take a closer look. Unfortunately, that would be illegal.” He sends a stern glance in Namjoon’s direction.

Namjoon stands. “I can’t,” he states immediately. “Passage through the Traverse-Well is limited to terraforming missions exclusively. The Alliance would never allow it.”

They really wouldn’t. The Well was built by Alliance engineers, a way to fold space and connect the current world to someplace even newer. A plan for when life in their hard-earned star system became an echo of the Earth-that-was, and they would seek out a new home to ruin. Hoseok hates the idea, mostly because his parents loved it. Loved the thought of being first, of claiming power from the start of a new civilization. Didn’t recognize what they would leave behind.

“Namjoon-ah.” Yoongi’s staring up at his friend, eyes bright red and jaw slack as he stammers, “You need to let me pass.”

“You know I can’t, hyung.”

“Please.” Everyone’s gaze is averted, whole room too respectful of the Companion to watch him plead. It’s rare, to deny such a highly-regarded professional anything, but they also know how guarded the Traverse-Well is by the Alliance.

Namjoon knows more than anyone. “Even if I sneak you through, they’d find out. They’d go after you.”

“I’m willing to take that risk.”

I. Me. Yoongi’s asking as if it’s just for him, as if Hoseok isn’t just as eager to find Jungkook as he is. He tries not to pay it too much mind, doesn’t want to take it personally when Yoongi’s clearly in so much pain. But he’s not thinking straight, can’t compromise everything for what could be a dead-end mission. Jungkook’s smart. If he’s out there, he’s probably figuring out a way back. They can’t zoom in willy-nilly, end up missing each other and get arrested. That’s no good for anyone.

Yoongi keeps on crying. Seokjin nods to Taehyung, guides him out of the room. They don’t need to witness all this pain.

“I’ll give you anything, Namjoon-ah,” Yoongi offers, and Hoseok flushes out his head, tries not to think what he might mean. “You know I will.”

Always decent, Namjoon shakes his head. “It’s not about gain, hyung. It’s just dangerous. The people here trust me in a way they don’t trust the Alliance. The Well gives us some negotiating power, but the fact that we’re not operating under Alliance rule is a fucking miracle at this point. You have to understand that.”

“I do,” Yoongi insists. “They don’t need to know you let me do it. I can take all the blame. I just…” He’s crying so hard he’s shivering, skin paler than Hoseok’s ever seen. “I can’t leave him out there alone. I have to go get him, Joon-ah, please.”

There’s a moment when Namjoon hurls himself onto his knees in front of Yoongi, claps his hands tight and lets him sob. Hoseok pretends he doesn’t feel Jimin’s surmising eyes upon him, probably judging him for not stepping up himself. But there’s a growing rift between him and Yoongi, one he doesn’t think he can overcome until they’ve found Jungkook. If they find Jungkook.

He can’t think about that now.

“Okay,” Namjoon declares, kissing Yoongi’s knuckles with enough fondness to console him, calm him enough to hear it when he adds, “I’ll figure it out. There’s a cargo launch tomorrow morning, you can piggy-back on that. But you’ll need to steal a ship for your return, because… I can’t help from that end, it’s all Alliance-owned. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Yoongi’s smiling now, so small, but for the first time in days. “You’re already doing so much. Thank you, Namjoon-ah.”

Yoongi plants a kiss on Namjoon’s forehead, which he returns easily. Hoseok swells with the relief.

He gets an idea. It’s a little thing, maybe, but Yoongi’s skin is filling out with colour and his chest no longer heaves with loss. He’s happy. He should celebrate.

“I’ll leave you alone,” Hoseok says, feels his cheeks rise with a tiny grin of his own. Stands to leave. Motions for Jimin to join him.

“Where are you going?” Yoongi asks, and he turns back.

“You look like…” He gestures to Namjoon and Yoongi, but neither seems the wiser. The space between them buzzes with affection, gratefulness, excitement. He’s seen that before, in all the times they’ve visited the planet, all the times Yoongi returned to him with hickeys on his neck. “You should spend the night together,” Hoseok declares, tries to infer his lack of jealously, his pleasure for their pleasure.

Yoongi’s face glows redder than before. “Y-you think-?” he stutters, can’t finish the thought, is hyperventilating before Hoseok can move. Thank stars Jimin’s closer than he is, cradles Yoongi in his arms, strokes fingers through his hair. Namjoon backs away like he’s been struck by something, as out of place as Hoseok feels, as unwelcome there as he is.

He has no idea what he said to garner this reaction, so Hoseok stands there watching, useless in Seokjin’s sitting room as Yoongi stands and rushes out, letting only Jimin follow.

“I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you,” the former Companion tells Hoseok once Yoongi’s fast asleep (no doubt again in Jungkook’s bed on Hope). “But you’d better keep him safe out there.”

*

Namjoon meets Hoseok the next morning, offers him a tightly-packed bag of supplies to get them through their secret mission. Hoseok thanks him formally, but Namjoon won’t let him get away with it, crowds him by the guest room door.

“How is Yoongi?” he asks, as if Hoseok’s heard from him.

“I don’t know. He slept on the ship.”

“And you didn’t join him?”

Hoseok opens his mouth. Closes it. Finally says, “Was I supposed to?” and Namjoon looks at him like he’s worth pitying.

He probably is.

*

Yoongi acts like nothing’s wrong, except he acts like a stranger. Actually, it’s worse: he acts like a co-worker. Like they’ve been placed together on a mission, ready to report back in the morning.

The trip itself is nothing hard- they’ve worked through dozens of extraction missions, mostly to return with precious artifacts, occasionally to free innocent prisoners before their execution. But they’ve never done anything like this, loaded themselves aboard an Alliance ship like cargo with no escape plan once their work is done. Hell, they don’t even have a plan for their arrival in sector 97-B, an un-populated place they’ve only seen in Alliance-funded propaganda.

They manage to escape the ship in the lightweight Alliance exo-suits Seokjin happened to have in his collection. Yoongi leads the way, deftly navigating through the few employees living in 97-B’s arrival bay. planet. Stealing a shuttle is no real challenge either- Hoseok prides himself in quickly working out new navigation systems, weaseling into space without getting caught. They escape Alliance navigation just an hour after they arrive, and Namjoon packed a scanner-key in his supply kit, already programmed by Jimin to seek out Jungkook’s pod.

“There’s a planet about 400-clicks out,” Hoseok states, knows Yoongi’s barely listening, just watching the tiny flashing dot that indicates Jungkook’s signal, his probable whereabouts. The pod he stole was equipped with rations, enough to last at least a week. If he survived the Reavers, managed to hide somewhere warm enough despite its lack of light… he’ll be alive. He’ll be okay. “Looks like a dune-zone, prone to sandstorms. Lots of mountains to hide in. He’s probably there.”

“Let’s go,” Yoongi agrees, not sparing Hoseok so much as a glance.

*

Time can turn on the back of a heel, Hoseok’s mother used to quip after drinking her way through supper. He knows now it wasn’t a real saying, just a mix of Old-Old Earth phrases that blended through the centuries.

Still, it’s what he thinks of now, a dozen racers chasing him and Yoongi through the mountainous terrain. The planet scans on Jimin’s program as Palgon, sought-after new real estate that totes the promise of rich, diverse society. No doubt Hoseok’s parents will buy their way in as soon as it’s inhabitable without the help of oxygen tanks. But there’s a population here now, obvious buildings lining the side of a single river, proof that the Alliance is doing more in sector 97-B than they’ve been advertising. If they manage to escape the Alliance racers, they’ll share their findings with Namjoon, give him extra veto-power in the Alliance’s next Master Plan.

“We have to get out of their navigational range,” Yoongi tells him, as if he doesn’t know, but there isn’t time to bicker while they zoom across the mysterious planet. The Alliance racers are firing in their direction, which… is very un-Alliance-y, since usually they’re a lot more keen on interrogation than straight-up murder. Again, no time to worry about that.

Hoseok catches a sandstorm on the horizon, re-aligns their flight path in its direction. The sand should confuse the Alliance’s navigation pads, disarm their radios long enough for Hoseok to hide their shuttle in the mountains.

He’s right, and when the storm ends and he steps off the ship for air, it’s obvious this planet is not only terraformed, but ready to populate. “I don’t get it,” he pants, still shaken from their retreat. “How is it this far terraformed if the Alliance only discovered it a few years ago?”

“No idea.” Yoongi inhales, testing out the sandy air. It makes him cough, and Hoseok rubs his back before remembering they’re in a fight.

At least, he thinks they’re in a fight. “Sorry,” he mumbles.

“It’s fine, it’s-”

Blasters flare up on the side of the mountain, and suddenly rocks are falling everywhere, and Hoseok’s dragging Yoongi down a path he hopes leads them to safely, but there’s too much sand and he can barely see and fuck can somebody turn down the fucking noise and-

He recognizes the ship instantly. Hope.

It lands on a mountain flat in front of them, opening the bay door in invitation. And… it can’t be their ship, Hoseok knows that. Hope is still in repair, safe on Kosmos, and yet there’s only a moment of opportunity before the Alliance kills him and Yoongi, so he takes the leap, pulls his partner aboard with him.

They hold on tight as the ship rises back into the stars, easily evading the continuous fire from the Alliance racers. Which can’t pass through the atmosphere, so when the ship that can’t be Hope crosses into space, Hoseok knows they’re safe from at least one threat. The other… well, that’s a new mystery.

“You’ll be more comfortable in the flight cabin,” an unfamiliar voice informs them over the ship’s Intercom, low and drawling and reminiscent of Jimin’s Old Earth accent.

Hoseok steels himself, sees Yoongi do the same. They enter the cabin, where-

It’s empty. That’s to say, it’s filled with countless artifacts, plants, an empty Captain’s chair on which a tiny model airplane hangs off a piece of twine. There’s a bent-up guitar belted to a comfy-looking passenger seat. Everything’s bolted to the floor, clearly not part of the ship’s design. Someone added that later. Not to mention-

“The walls…” Yoongi marvels, rakes his eyes over rainbow graffiti, cheerful images of hearts and stars and smiling flowers. All in contrast to Yoongi, who looks like he might cry.

“Recognize it?”

A man enters the cabin behind them, and Hoseok feels Yoongi tense, feels his Agency training preparing for a fight. They turn.

“I said, do you recognize it?” Park Jimin asks his hyungs, but Yoongi doesn’t rest.

“What are you doing here, Jiminie?” he asks. Clearly suspicious, because the only reason Jimin would have followed them is to piss the Alliance off even more than necessary. Or maybe… maybe, Jimin’s been working for the Alliance this entire time. Tricked them aboard their own ship to capture them. Yoongi’s obviously thinking the same thing, is about to pounce when Jimin lifts his palm.

Says, “I know what it looks like. I know what you think, and I promise you’re wrong.”

Apparently, that’s promise enough for Yoongi, who doesn’t soften, but at least exhales. “Tell me why you’re here.”

“To rescue you, of course.”

“From?”

“The dozens of Alliance racers that just tried to kill you.”

“And you know about that how?”

Jimin smirks. “Let’s just say I’ve been here for a while. Like the décor?”

Yoongi’s jaw hardens. “How long?”

Not answering the question, Jimin guides them around the room. “The Captain’s a bit of an artist, despite my efforts. I told him he’s allowed to paint the flight cabin, but only because neither of us is ever in here.”

“Who’s flying it?” Hoseok questions, because the ship isn’t set to autopilot. They must have built a secondary dashboard, steering gear. It simply isn’t practical.

“The Captain,” Jimin huffs. “I just told you.”

Hoseok scoffs. “This is impossible. How did you beat us here? How did you have time to do all this?”

“Could be time dilation?” Yoongi suggests, and Hoseok doesn’t feel like pointing out that Namjoon would know about something like that, warn them before their trip. Unless he didn’t know, which considering the aggression of their almost-captors seems more likely by the second. And wormholes, even man-made ones like the Traverse-Well, are notorious for spitting you out later than you wanted. Earlier, on the other hand…

“When did you get here?” he asks, repeating Yoongi’s question because Jimin’s got a new scar on his cheek that he knows they both noticed, a scar that appears months past healing.

The hacker finally concedes. “About a year, last I checked,” he answers, scratching the back of his neck. “The Alliance caught on about your trip, attacked Namjoon in the media. Said he committed suicide.”

“Oh my god,” Yoongi hisses, but Jimin shakes his head.

“He’s alive. At least, he should be. The Alliance kidnapped him, and Seokjin, the day after you left. It was Taehyung who figured out they brought them here, so we fixed up your ship and followed, but… we think there’s a second Well, one that messes with time. We got here before all of you did.”

Hoseok swallows. Time is a loose thing in space, where gravity can suck you in and spit you out like magic. “Where’s Taehyung?” he asks, because who else could be their benevolent Captain?

No such luck. “Captured,” Jimin reveals. “I got away. We used your ship because it’s small, sneaky. But… it attracted some unexpected attention.”

“The Alliance knows the ship, idiot,” Yoongi chides his friend, clearly grateful he’s okay.

But Jimin smirks again. “Oh. I didn’t mean them,” he says, and steps out of the flight cabin’s doorway, where a stranger’s been waiting in the wings. He’s dressed in half a dozen layers, fabric wrapped around his face and blacked-out goggles. It’s decent gear for the sandy planet, but not particularly welcoming in the colourful flight cabin.

“I was supposed to find you,” a muffled voice escapes through the mask.

The stranger is taller than any of them, stalks into the room on heavy boots, starts unwrapping his makeshift sand-guards. When Yoongi steps toward him, Hoseok nearly grabs his arm, but they’ve been so lost with one another that he doesn’t think that kind of touching is allowed.

Yoongi’s braver than Hoseok, reaches for the stranger’s scarf, helps him unwrap it all the way until there’s nothing left but the goggles. It’s obvious what happens next. Yoongi lifts the goggles off the stranger’s face and lets out a broken sound at the sight of the Captain, who’s clearly older than they’ve ever seen him, older than an extra year on top of his mid-teens. His black hair is long enough to curl over his ears, cascade around his face. He’s grown into his Bambi eyes, dark brown and brimming with tears as he smiles down at Yoongi.

Jungkook wraps heavy-muscled arms around his hyung, but it’s Yoongi who pulls him down by the back of his head, presses kisses to his cheeks. He draws Jungkook’s face against his chest, cradles him, rubs his back. “I’m here now,” he whispers, still planting kisses in Jungkook’s hair, grasping at his shirt like he’s scared the boy- no, the man- might blow away. Hell, Hoseok’s pretty sure if he blinks the moment might be over, that they’ll still be on that sandy planet, captured and tortured to madness by the Alliance. Or worse, that they never escaped the Reavers, that this whole thing’s been a fever dream built from fear of death.

Except Hoseok’s never been afraid of dying. Not once in his life. He’s only ever feared losing those he loves, and that one still feels fresh.

He steps forward, needs to touch Jungkook, needs to prove that this really is the kid they saved from that abandoned planet, lost in the wreckage of an old Alliance training centre. “Kook?” he quivers, because for some reason he can’t force any other words out, can’t think of anything better to say.

Bless Jungkook for being braver than he is, for easing out of Yoongi’s hold and barrelling into Hoseok, nearly toppling him over with the force. “Damn,” Hoseok chuckles, uselessly brushing the tangles out of Jungkook’s hair, “Did you eat your escape pod? I think you’re bigger than it is, now.”

Jungkook laughs, chimes, “You taught me to eat better than that, hyung,” and it’s only then Hoseok realizes he’s never spoken before, that this voice is something new.

He pulls back. Doesn’t know if he should mention it.

“I know,” Jungkook affirms. “I… it’s been a long time, Hoseok-hyung. I’ve learned a lot.”

His face speaks volumes more than his words, their years apart clearly filled with hardship if Jungkook had to spend them in this sector, constantly running from Alliance ships. There’s a story here, in Jungkook’s escape, one that started with the Reavers and hasn’t ended yet.

Hoseok shares a look with Yoongi, knows he sees the same thing. “How long, baby?” Yoongi asks, and Jungkook’s cheeks turn deep maroon when he answers,

“Seven years.”

A broken sob spills from Yoongi’s lips, and he collapses back into Jungkook, wraps arms around his waist and pulls him in so close Hoseok can hardly tell their frames apart. Jungkook lets himself be held that way, leans into Yoongi’s touch, and while he’s the biggest person onboard the ship he somehow makes himself look small.

*

It could be a minute and it could be an hour, but at some point later Park Jimin leads their crew into the dining room, illustrates their plan.

“It’s a simple extraction, if this is where they are,” he explains, showing off a stolen map of 97-B’s main Palgon base, pointing out a prison hulk. “We’ve tried before, but we need an extra body inside. And then someone else would need to fly the ship, which usually Kookie could do, except-” He pauses, defers to the now-adult:

“It’s too far. I can fly Hope from the ground, but something about the Alliance mainframe shorts out my telepathy. Jimin even tried to program an auto-pilot system, but the base is total encoded. Hidden.”

Hoseok narrows his eyes, not only because Jungkook just revealed a truth about his power. Or… not power. Yoongi always called it a gift. He asks, “If you can’t see through it, how do you know they’re there?”

Jimin answers. “It’s where they took me, too. But they split us up, and I took out an Alliance guard. Downloaded a map on my way out and assumed I’d be work out how to get back in. Which was so stupid,” he berates himself, and Yoongi pats a hand on top of his.

“You did the best you could,” he coos, reassuring, and Hoseok continues to shove down his jealously.

He ignores Jungkook’s perceptive stare. “I can fly her while you get them out, but there’s no good spot to board once you get them out.”

“How did you escape the first time?” Yoongi asks, and Jimin shrugs.

“I took one of their pods, hid in the ocean for a few days. The water’s filled with mercury, so it’s hard for them to scan. It’s how they’ve cloaked their base so well.”

“And since? You’ve obviously attempted this before.”

It’s Jungkook who says, “I’ve been going in alone,” and doesn’t offer more explanation.

Yoongi’s hasn’t been so much as three inches away from Jungkook since their reunion, but obviously that isn’t close enough as he presses closer to the man, rests palms upon his cheeks. Strokes up and down his cheekbones the way he used to do when he got overwhelmed, when they introduced him to too much, tried to teach him too many normalcies at once. It’s almost hypnotic, the way his eyelids flutter and his lips fall apart, totally calm in Yoongi’s hands.

Then, he tells them, “I can… compel people. To do what I want. I can’t make it into the prison hulk because a second person needs to hold the door open, and my ability stops working from too far away. It’s literally the difference of a hundred feet,” he agonizes, and Yoongi turns his head to face him, holds him even tighter.

“You have done amazing, Kook-ah,” he proclaims, not allowing space for misinterpretation. He’s never been good at eye contact. Strangely bad, actually, considering how shameless he is in everything else. Sometimes he’ll have entire conversations with Hoseok’s nose, blushing any time he glances up and accidentally locks their eyes. It’s endearing, how embarrassed he gets. How much those looks reveal. But he’s never been like with Jungkook, opens up completely for the boy, opens up now for the man. “Hyung is so proud of you.” Yoongi kisses Jungkook’s cheek, and the young man turns to Hoseok, has a pleading look that makes him want to scream.

“Me too,” he tells Jungkook, because he clearly needs to hear it. He just wishes he could say it better, make sure Jungkook knows he really means it, knows that Hoseok isn’t scared of him, that he could never hate him for failing. “We’re so proud of you, love.”

Jungkook knows they’re hiding something. Which is funny, since they’re not. Hoseok doesn’t know where he stands with Yoongi because they haven’t talked about it, haven’t decided to keep their distance, haven’t even broken up. They’re just… apart, right now, in so many different ways. And neither one will say it.

*

The evening glides by in preparation for the morning’s mission, and when it’s time to say goodnight Jimin offers Hoseok his room.

Yoongi, of course, goes to sleep with Jungkook, and the boy sees enough not to question it. Hope only ever had two bedrooms, and it took a long time to convince Jungkook that beds were preferable to metal floors, the kid more than happy to catch a few winks of sleep in some hidden wing of the ship. But when Hoseok started sharing Yoongi’s bed, it seemed outrageous to keep a whole room empty, and soon he made the traditionally Captain’s quarters into his own sanctuary.

And now he sleeps in Yoongi’s room, the one Hoseok shared up until a few days earlier. Well, seven years for Kook. Maybe it reminded him of his hyungs, so far across the universe, so unreachable past Alliance monitoring. But then… why couldn’t he escape 97-B, with his skill for coercion? Could he not speak before a year ago, when Jimin landed in his sector? Or was he too kind to use his power, too scared of what it meant?

They’ll find out, one day. Once they’re all safe and sound. For now, Hoseok sleeps in Jimin’s bed, the former Companion holed up in the dining room, still mulling over plans.

*

Hoseok wakes before the others, finds Jimin tucked in beside him, buzzes with that familiar pang of having someone just too close. At least, someone who isn’t Yoongi. Someone he doesn’t quite trust not to-

He sits up, reminds himself that this is Jimin, that he isn’t here for that. Still, he rolls out of the bed.

Too well trained to ever lose the reflex, Jimin’s eyes wrench open. “We still have a few hours,” he says, but the pilot couldn’t go back to sleep if he tried for days.

“I’m just going to look around. Check the gear, make sure we’re in good shape for the extraction.”

Knowing eyes find Hoseok’s. “You think he hates you, right?” Jimin questions, propping himself up on one elbow.

A shrug is Hoseok’s only answer, and Jimin sighs as he falls back asleep.

Hoseok pads through Hope, running through its systems as he insisted. The ship’s in good condition, considering how little opportunity there must have been for repair in the dangerous sector. Satisfied with the tech, he allows himself to wander down the sleeping hull again, run his fingers over the walls where Jungkook’s begun a mural.

There are images he recognizes- the broken-down Alliance building, their first encounter with the Reavers, their escapes from Hoseok’s parents time and time again. Then there are new stories in the paintings, most of them snapshots of loneliness, of a young boy lost on a dark sequence of planets. And then… there’s an image of that same boy in a cell, Reavers surrounding him with weaponry, no doubt torturing him for information. For escape.

The Reavers caught him, Hoseok realizes. Caught his kid and hurt him, should have killed him, but Jungkook got away. Oh God, his poor boy, so brave in the face of such pain. So brave to save his hyungs, who would have done anything to prevent it. He should have been a better pilot, Hoseok, should have made it through the wormhole before it closed, been there to save him. No. Instead he ran away to Bultao, to Kosmos, shoved Yoongi into the arms of other men because he’s not good at taking care of anyone. He’s no good for the only family he has left.

What a waste of a person.

He peeks into the open door to where Yoongi cozies into Jungkook, wrapped tightly in his arms. His long black sleeves are pushed up on one side, revealing a series of tattoos the Reavers must have left on him, remnants from his capture. Indications of the history they missed, of his solo upbringing, his graduation into the man he is today. Jungkook grew up on his own, and he did it so well, and… maybe that’s what Yoongi needs. Someone brave. Someone willing to make sacrifices. Anyone but Hoseok, who prompted all this hardship in the first place.

*

The devil’s in the details, Hoseok’s mother used to say, and he used to think it was another misquote until he heard Yoongi say it too. Whether it’s rewiring a navigation pad, restoring an ancient painting, even sewing up a hole in someone’s shirt- there’s always another mystery, something you overlooked.

They didn’t expect the Alliance to follow their ship off Jungkook’s planet, to have followed cloaked behind them all this time. To catch them mid-approached to Palgon and lock them up with their old friends, muzzle Jungkook’s mouth shut so he can’t control them with his gift- the one they must have wired into him years ago, back at the training centre where Jimin thinks he was born.

The Alliance knew their plan all along: knew it was only a matter of time before Hoseok and Yoongi made it to 97-B, knew exactly why they’d stick around after finding Jungkook.

Basically, they’re fucked.

Namjoon’s execution is scheduled for morning, when the Alliance will fly their tragic band back through the Traverse-Well and make a statement to the masses. Seokjin too, for extra weight. Hoseok will be returned to his home planet, where he’ll be at the mercy of his parents’ wrath. Yoongi will be cut off by the Agency, reduced to what worse people call a whore, and probably get locked up for his transgressions. Jimin for his hacking. And Jungkook… Jungkook will stay with the Alliance, his torture never-ending as they continue their experiments, but he can’t outsmart them like he did the Reavers.

Split by the Alliance, Hoseok finds himself alone with Yoongi, crowded into what he can barely call a cell. Their hands are bound behind their backs, and Yoongi tried to pick the lock with his teeth, but… it’s useless. They failed. It’s over.

“I’m so sorry,” Yoongi whimpers, over and over like a compulsion, rocking back and forth in the miniscule space.

Hoseok wrestles him under his chin, holds him there with nothing but his cheek. “Shhh. We couldn’t have known. They’ve been planning this for a long time, I think. Maybe since the war.”

“But I should have noticed! I’m trained for this. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“None of us were.”

“It’s my job to take care of us,” Yoongi says, and that shakes Hoseok, catches him off-guard.

“We take care of each other. That’s always been the deal,” he adds, because… it’s true. Yoongi came aboard Hoseok’s ship to garner him legitimacy, and Hoseok returned the favour as chauffeur. That’s where they started, and then the war happened, and things got way more personal. Which they shouldn’t have, and Hoseok should have clocked that, should have let Yoongi go before it went too far.

His companion doesn’t seem to agree. “The deal? Is that all this is to you, just a friendly negotiation? Am I just a member of your crew?”

“Of course not.”

“And Jungkook?”

It takes some effort not to howl. “You have to know how much he means to me. How much both of you mean to me.”

“I do,” Yoongi assures him. “Do you?”

And that… is truly unfair. Because Hoseok’s made it obvious how much he cares for both of them, has done everything he can to show them. To accept them, just as they are, no matter the consequences. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying,” Yoongi complains, “these could be our last moments with one another, and you’re acting like it’s just another failed mission. Like we went fishing for an ancient tome and ended up with seaweed. Acting like we’re just a crew.”

“You started it.” He knows it’s immature, but Yoongi’s been so distant, so hard to read. And he’s picking a fight, so Hoseok might as well concede. “Anyway, isn’t that the truth? What do you want us to have been?”

“I don’t want us to have been, I want us to be. Together, Hoseok.”

Oh, that’s rich. “Were we ever really together?” Hoseok scowls, because their relationship has always been this unspoken, amorphous thing.

Yoongi doesn’t say a word. Hoseok’s glad the cell is too small to lean back, to see his face. He doesn’t think he could stand it on top of Yoongi’s heaving shoulders, his shivering feet vibrating against the metal floor. They’re so close, touching in so many places, but they’ve never felt so far away.

*

Hoseok’s parents arrive on Palgon, dressed in gold robes, skin painted silver to hide their wrinkles. They look like paintings, or Old-Old Earth cartoons Hoseok once retrieved for Seokjin on a USB. They made a copy for Jungkook, who loved a show about the future, how people then determined it would look. How wrong they were: the future isn’t bright and shiny. The future is just closer to the end.

“You’ll come home with us. Marry. Behave.” His mother strokes his hair, longer now than she ever allowed it in his youth. Her long, sharp nails drag against his scalp, screeching in his ears. “You’ll produce an heir.”

“Our bloodline ends with me,” Hoseok declares, because that’s what he always wanted, the Choi Dynasty a curse upon the cosmos.

His father scowls. “You’ve had your adventures, now it’s time to serve your planet.”

“My planet doesn’t want me, either.” The people hate them, hate their Dictatorship. Hoseok never saw it from the inside, but when he escaped the truth behind their rule became obvious. They’re bad people, his family, their Kingdom built on the blood, sweat, and tears of the innocents they now control. He won’t be part of it. He can’t. “Please,” he begs, “Just let me go.”

“You know we can’t do that.” He’s their only son.

How unlucky for them. “I can’t give you an heir. The process eludes me. A wife would die barren.”

“Darling,” his mother purrs, “you don’t think we know that? We know you better than anyone in all the worlds.”

“So, you know this is a dead end? You might as well just-”

“There are other methods of creating life, continuing our family line. You don’t even need to come home with us. You don’t need to be involved at all to be ever so fruitful.”

They wouldn’t. “Y-you can’t do that. You can’t take that from me. I don’t give you p-permission.”

His parents share a smirk. And… he knows they’ve won, knows there’s no solution. He’s a pawn in their game, a means to an end. They’ll steal his seed and produce their heir, raise it to be cruel like them, to wreak havoc on their planet. Or worse, they’ll raise it just like Hoseok, wonder how it turned out kind. A child would be so unhappy with them, and he… he can’t be part of it. Can’t see his own flesh and blood in that kind of pain. There must be another way.

“Fine.” He steels his jaw, wrists still tethered behind his back in the Alliance base. “I’ll… give you your heir. But,” he adds, and it’s the only way- “I’ll be the one to raise it. I’ll return home. I’ll marry. I’ll be the Prince you always wanted.”

It’s preferable, for their image. The Prince returned after his kidnap by a Companion. Ready to lead his miserable people as they venture to a new, distant planet. The happy father of their future ruler.

His father agrees easily. “You’ve come to your senses. Good boy.”

“There’s one more thing.” One non-negotiable out of many, but the only they can provide him. “You won’t turn Yoongi in to the Agency. You’ll set him free. Or I won’t give you any of it.”

They concede.

*

Hoseok is given 90-seconds to say goodbye to Yoongi before he’s forced into a pod and catapulted back through the Traverse-Well, from where he can continue as a Companion, his record scrubbed clean by un-earned credits. It’s not ideal, but at least he can survive knowing one member of his family is safe, that they can still have a life outside Alliance rule. And who knows: maybe Yoongi can come up with something, bring them together again?

“Jungkook, we have to find Jungkook!” Yoongi grabs at Hoseok’s shirt as he presses him down into the pod, forces a belt across his chest.

“The Alliance will never let him go,” he reminds his- whatever Yoongi is to him now. “I could only save you now. I’m sorry.”

“No!” Yoongi cries. “Let them do what they want to me! It doesn’t matter, I need- I need him to be safe. Need you to be safe.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You won’t.” He knows the deal that Hoseok made, knows how much it’s killing him. Knows how unhappy it will make him. But they’re out of time, and it’s the only hope Hoseok has left, so he reaches up to grasp the lid of the pod, and-

They didn’t notice it, when they were brought into the prison hulk. They were caught up in word of Namjoon’s execution, distracted by Seokjin’s attempted negotiation, devastated by the heavy blow of the guard’s baton against Jimin’s skull. Too busy fighting to hold onto Jungkook as the Alliance dragged him through a mysterious doorway. They didn’t notice, through all of it, that Taehyung… wasn’t there.

The Alliance base rumbles as Kim Taehyung returns to sector 97-B with a squadron from Bultao, an additional flock of military ships from Kosmos. Guards run through the shuttle bay, leaping into their racers and zooming to the sky. Debris falls all around them, so Hoseok pulls Yoongi from the pod and drags him through the hallways, knows they’re both headed to the same place.

There’s a wing of the Alliance base called PAX that made Jungkook shiver when Jimin pointed it out. As they race toward it, Hoseok recognizes bits of equipment from the place where they found Jungkook, recognizes signs on the walls that they found in tatters years ago. So, when they reach a door labelled THE ACADEMY, it’s easy to determine what they’ll find inside.

Jungkook is strapped down, a crown of wires on his head as the computer runs experiments. He’s been left alone, probably since dust is crumbling from the ceiling and whichever Alliance goon was torturing him must have rushed for an escape pod.

Yoongi tears the wires from his body as Hoseok picks up a receiver, scans for a familiar voice.

“Hoseok-ssi?” Taehyung guesses on the other end, a smile in his tone. “We’ve extracted Jimin and my cousins, it’s just the three of you left. Can you make it to the roof?”

It’s a small base, and a short journey, but the footsteps of Alliance guards still echo through the halls and Hoseok isn’t sure. “Kook’s unconscious, we need to wheel him to a lift.” Which means they’ll need a distraction, so… “You need to go,” he tells Yoongi, already pushing Jungkook to the door, getting ready to cause a scene. “The elevator is to the right, like in Jimin’s map. I’ll go back to the shuttle bay, grab a racer, keep them off the roof.”

“Okay,” Yoongi agrees, easily because so much is happening, and he hasn’t quite caught on. “Does Tae’s ship have a dock? How will you meet us?” Apparently Hoseok’s silence speaks volumes, because- “Absolutely not, Hoseok-ah. It’s too risky. We can make it as a unit.”

“We can’t.” Brave now, Hoseok takes Yoongi’s hand, feels compelled to have the last word even if it’s selfish. “Get back to our sector, change your names. Don’t let the Alliance find you. Fly somewhere safe, be happy. He makes you so much happier than I can.”

“You do make me happy!” Yoongi gasps.

Stepping back, Hoseok’s chest wells up with something, all the unspoken things he was supposed to tell Yoongi, in all their time together. “I wanted to make you happy, but I don’t think I was enough. You said you wanted a companion, and I was fine at that, but there’s so much more, jagiya. I can’t comfort you like they can, and I think you need that, Yoongi. You need so much more than I can give.”

“Don’t tell me what I need-!”

The ceiling’s crashing in, and there isn’t time to fight, so Hoseok swings the door open and hurls Jungkook through. Yoongi chases after the wheeling bed, and just as all three of them reach the hallway the shots start ringing through the hall, Alliance guards trying to take them down before they get away.

Hoseok runs toward the blasts, trusts that Yoongi has the wherewithal to let him go, to complete their rescue mission. He can take Jungkook home, keep him safe. Their ward is now a man, a decent one, and brave. Handsome. Maybe they can grow a little more together, grow into one another. Weave their love into something new, something Hoseok isn’t sure he ever proved to Yoongi. They’ll be okay.

He makes it to the shuttle bay, has practice stealing ships. He flies a racer outside the base and zips through the Alliance ships, turning their gaze to him instead of his family on the roof. They made it, and Yoongi’s watching the sky, and in a single blink one of Taehyung’s shuttles takes them in, returns them to the stars.

They’re safe, Hoseok thinks as Alliance weaponry destroys his racer, and he plummets into Palgon.

*

You can’t die. Not until you know what you mean to him.

Hyung. You’ve given us so much. You’ve given us this family.

Let me give you something in return…

*

The devil really is in the details, Hoseok later learns, because the Alliance might have had a plan, but the Kims had one themselves.

Bultao and Kosmos banded together in their fight against the Alliance, Seokjin’s intelligence (he’s a man of many hats) revealing the truth behind the Traverse-Well, how the Alliance planned to use it. They would steal resources from their current world, smuggle it into 97-B, and instead of inviting citizens of all planets they would run away themselves, enjoy the fresh new lands alone. The Chois would lead their new society, abandoning their people, leaving them to rot.

Not anymore. Hoseok wakes on Kosmos, just days after he left. Namjoon’s already taken back the planet, revealed the Alliance’s plan to his people, is taking measures to ensure sustainability between the old sector and the new. They can share resources, not steal them.

The Alliance bowed down quickly to Namjoon’s recommendations, knew they’d been caught in the act and couldn’t fight back further. They’ll still need to be watched, monitored, but at least agreements have been reached to ensure the current state of peace. Maybe that will change someday.

Times can change so swiftly.

Hoseok wakes on Kosmos, but he wakes in his own bed, safe aboard Hope. Blinking his eyes open, he wrenches his neck to find his hand entwined with Yoongi’s, the older man slumping in a metal chair.

There’s an arm stretched around Hoseok’s waist, squeezing him. Jungkook may be bigger now, but he still snuggles tiny against Hoseok’s back, nose pressed behind his ear because he’s always loved the smell of his shampoo. He’s all grown up, but he’s still such a kid, unruly hair tangled everywhere.

He snores, one loud bellow in the silent ship, and it’s Yoongi who stirs.

“You’re awake,” he rasps, interlocks their fingers tighter.

He could never pull away. “I’m alive.”

“Despite your best efforts, yes.” Yoongi pulls his seat closer, runs his spare hand into Hoseok’s hair, brushes it off his forehead. “I never found you particularly smart, but I really didn’t think you were that stupid, Hoseok-ah.”

“Yah…” Hoseok yawns, presses into Yoongi’s touch. Pulls back, because he’s not sure he’s allowed.

Yoongi pouts. “Don’t be rude.”

“You’re touching me.”

“I touch you all the time.”

“Not lately.”

They aren’t really looking at each other. Yoongi’s watching Hoseok’s chest like he’s willing it to rise and fall, and Hoseok’s watching their still-tethered hands, waiting for someone to pull away. Neither does.

“You did die, you know,” Yoongi tells him, frowning. “You crash landed, and we couldn’t reach your racer until the battle settled down. Seokjin-hyung dragged you out of the rubble, and you bled out right there in the sand.”

“Then how-”

“Kook saved you.” Whalien songs echo outside the ratty ship, scoring Yoongi’s revelation. “His gift- he did something, whispered something to you. Compelled you to come back.”

“From death?”

It’s unbelievable, but it’s also Jungkook, who wriggles somehow tighter against Hoseok. What a wonderful, magical boy.

“You’re so stupid, jagiya,” Yoongi bleats again, and Hoseok is about to squabble back when he continues, “How could you say we weren’t something, weren’t together?” He makes a fist in Hoseok’s hair, pulling so, so gently, just to chide him. “You are mine, Hoseok-ah. And I have always been yours. Will forever be yours.”

“But…” Hoseok blinks, unshed tears just waiting in the wings. “You didn’t come to me. You didn’t want me, after he disappeared.”

“You didn’t come to me, either.”

Ah.

Yoongi was never avoiding him. Yoongi was following his lead, like he always has, so inclined to Hoseok’s comfort that he didn’t let himself reach out first. Didn’t want to overwhelm him. “You’re stupid, too,” Hoseok bleats, and Yoongi pouts back. “We take care of each other, remember? I want to take care of you, hyung, until one day you get used to it.”

“I know. I just… I wasn’t doing well. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Hoseok assures him. “It’s me who should be sorry. I made all these assumptions instead of listening to you. Instead of just being with you, like you wanted. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

It’s so rare that Yoongi looks him in the eye that his gaze now sends a shiver down Hoseok’s spine. “I always want that,” he whispers, and he’s crawling onto the bed, folding into Hoseok’s open arms. They lay there quiet, for a minute, both holding their breath to listen while Jungkook snores. “He gets this from you.”

“I don’t snore.”

“Well, I didn’t raise him so obnoxious.”

“Neither of us raised him.” Yoongi makes a broken sound at Hoseok’s reminder. Jungkook was only theirs for- what? Two years? Almost three? They only lost him for a handful of nights while he survived seven years, grew into a man without them.

Yoongi sighs. “We missed so much. He grew up so well.”

“I thought you’d take a shine to him,” Hoseok admits, blushing shamefully. “I wanted you to. Wanted you to make each other happy.”

Smacking his chest, Yoongi scolds, “Stop deciding what makes me happy. If I wasn’t happy with you, I’d leave.”

“But you weren’t happy, and you didn’t leave.”

“Yes. I was miserable. But I was happy not to be alone.”

Companion is a funny word: it’s someone with whom to spend a lot of time. One of a pair of things intended to complement or match each other. A person with whom one travels.

Yoongi is Hoseok’s companion, but Hoseok’s also his. In every way, they complement each other. Guard each other. Know each other. Hoseok never intended to love another person, and then Yoongi fell into his lap, recued him, helped him build a better life. And Yoongi worked alone, touched down on many planets, but never landed. Never stayed put long enough to really know someone.

Jungkook sniffs, wipes his nose on Hoseok’s shoulder. “An animal,” he complains, but he twists his neck and presses a kiss to Jungkook’s temple.

Yoongi lifts up to match it, catching Hoseok’s lips along the way. “This haircut won’t do.”

“Bold of you to assume he’s had a haircut.”

“Jiminie is so shameless. He’s always liked his men a little grizzly.”

Hoseok coughs. “Pardon?”

“I hesitate to wonder what they got up to this past year.” Yoongi shudders. “But Kook seems comfortable with him, don’t you think?”

“Don’t I…? Think…?”

“You thought I’d take a shine to him, but it’s Jiminie who called dibs first.” Winking, Yoongi adds, “And Taehyungie called dibs on Jimin, but I think the three of them will get along just fine.”

He’s obviously playing on Hoseok’s modesty, trying to disturb him. Unless… “All three of them? You think so?”

Yoongi chuckles as an answer, and Hoseok presses a protective hand over Jungkook’s on his waist. He’s still their kid, after all, if a little overgrown. His legacy.

“My parents?” he asks suddenly, because the base in 97-B took a heavy blow, and even if he never cared for them, their survival puts him back in danger.

“Alive. The Choi Dynasty survives all hardship.”

“The Choi Dynasty will fall,” Hoseok says as declaration, but Yoongi doesn’t look so sure.

“Maybe it doesn’t need to fall. Maybe it rises like its sole heir, escapes Alliance rule.” Hoseok must make a face, because Yoongi explains, “Joon’s working on the Alliance, trying to build democracy within their current structure. He’s thinking of sending Seokjin to your planet for now, but of course, that would make it more difficult to see his husband.”

“Which husband?” Yoongi wiggles his eyebrows. You mean- “B-but they’re brothers!?”

“Adopted brothers. When Seokjin was nearly twenty.”

“Still!” Hoseok scoffs, and Yoongi’s laughing now, and Jungkook’s waking up, and-

This is family. This is the thing for which Hoseok’s been searching, the meaning in his life. His parents tried to limit him, to force him down, bent to their will. But like Yoongi said, he rose, and as he lays between the people he loves most in all the cosmos, he finds they haven’t landed. They keep soaring, burning lands and boiling seas, careless in their travels. Free in each other’s arms, building life on Hope.