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Junmyeon let out a breath of air as the shuttle slowly pulled up to the station. A little bit of motion sickness never hurt anyone, but the distance from Earth to Mavors was not short and he most definitely was feeling green around the gills. Hopefully, there’d be some auxilium in the medical bay to relieve the symptoms. Junmyeon couldn’t see himself getting half-way through the introductory tour without it, and puking all over the decks would not make a good first impression.
He came to Mavors with a small hesitance, mostly because he’d never left earth and he’d had to skip most of his interplanetary relation classes. The university's choice, not his. They felt such a brilliant mind couldn’t go to waste by being left to sit in classes and metaphorically pushed Junmyeon from the nest before he was anywhere near ready. Even if he was on a scholarship program, someone at the university had to see how wrong this could go.
And wrong it did—not that Junmyeon figured out in a timely manner.
It took him a few moments to let his legs adjust to gravity—yet another feeling he hadn’t been prepared for! He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was that metaphorical baby bird being pushed from the nest too soon, and tried his best to remember his mother’s words:
“One foot in front of the other, my baby. You’ll reach your destination if you just breathe, and take it one step at a time,” she said, petting his head as if he still stood to the height of her hip and had just tripped and fallen on the hard concrete ground as opposed to being sent out into space. A scary, eternal void of a vacuum.
Junmyeon couldn’t deny the beauty of it, though, he imagined he’d better appreciate it when his motion sickness had passed.
“Hello!” A tethered voice shouted in Junmyeon’s direction, where he stood at the dock with his backpack on his shoulders. Junmyeon followed the sound, seeing a lanky man running towards him.
The man stopped in front of Junmyeon, grinning broadly, and Junmyeon noticed he had a light shade of blue skin and beautiful, fiery red eyes.
“You’re Junmyeon, right?” He barraged on without waiting for Junmyeon to answer, “I’m Chanyeol, and I’ll be helping you to find your feet at the station. I look forward to working with you.”
From this first impression, Junmyeon could only describe Chanyeol as a lightning storm in space—turbulent, yet starkly bright. His pink hair stood upon his head as if he’d been electrocuted and he cradled a bundle of paper in his arms that seemed unrelated to Junmyeon and instead were just a permanent accessory of the man.
Chanyeol secured the papers with one arm, clutching them to his chest, and stuck his other hand out to Junmyeon, extending it for a handshake. Junmyeon took Chanyeol’s warm palm in his own, shaking it firm, but not too firm.
Yes, okay. Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as Junmyeon had imagined. He hadn’t embarrassed himself yet, after all.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Chanyeol.”
Their hands parted and Chanyeol nodded, satisfied.
“Wonderful! Shall we go explore the station, then?” he asked.
Junmyeon nodded, smiling in relief. At least he wouldn’t have to talk much during the tour, and Chanyeol could do it all. He seemed like the sort of guy who didn’t mind talking at length without much contribution, which suited Junmyeon to a t.
They began to walk, Chanyeol launched into explaining the beginnings of the station as if he were a tour guide, and although Junmyeon already looked up those details about Mavors, he didn’t dare stop the other man while he rattled off the information.
“Tsk,” said Junmyeon, under his breath as his foot caught itself on his untied shoelaces. He wouldn’t normally wear runners for work seeing as it was supposed to be a professional setting, but he wanted the comfort for the journey.
And he was glad he'd made the decision—aside from having to deal with his shoelaces ripping occasionally—they were a dream to travel in.
He bent down, retying the laces with nimble fingers.
For such a mundane task, however, it seemed to have garnered a shocked reaction from Chanyeol as he gasped quietly to himself. Oh shit, was Junmyeon being rude somehow? He knew he should have forced the university to give him those classes.
Junmyeon straightened up in a flash, which unfortunately made him dizzy, giving Chanyeol a weak, apologetic smile and rubbing his hands on his jacket. His cheeks burned in embarrassment. He bet the guys back home would tease him endlessly about this if he told them, good thing he won't—this bad first impression will stay between him and Chanyeol.
Chanyeol stared at him, lips parted as his ruby eyes burned holes through Junmyeon. There was something in the air that Junmyeon couldn't put his fingers on, totally indecipherable to Junmyeon, yet totally obvious to Chanyeol. They stayed suspended there for a few minutes until Chanyeol raised his eyebrows, seeking silent confirmation.
Did he want to know if they should continue the tour? Maybe it was a gesture of are you finished?
Whatever it was, it only made Junmyeon's embarrassment grow and awkwardly, he gave Chanyeol a little nod. He was still unsure of what Chanyeol wanted to confirm, but with any luck, he'd made the right assumption.
"Alright, let's continue," Chanyeol said, voice strangely tense. Junmyeon sighed, quietly to himself in relief. As soon as the tour was over, he would hopefully get some reprieve and the situation would be forgotten.
The tour did continue. Chanyeol rattled off all the information about each sector, letting Junmyeon soak it in every-so-often and taking to staring until Junmyeon nodded, letting Chanyeol know he was ready to move onto the next workstation. Chanyeol seemed more cautious now, his stares were more intense compared to the friendly gaze Junmyeon had first been acquainted with. Junmyeon couldn't fathom why.
From what Junmyeon could see, there were loads of people working at the space station—more than he'd expected—and many of them were different species of alien. It didn't bode well for Junmyeon and his poor knowledge of other species, but with any luck, he'd be able to boot up his tablet later and download some informational books that would save his ass.
Junmyeon didn't feel 100% after the travel sickness, but he was able to tamp down the worst of the nausea. Or, so he thought.
The space station was massive and noisy. Sprawling metal and machines, hissing sounds from the doors as they opened automatically for Junmyeon and Chanyeol, chattering from the others on board, and beeps a plenty. Eventually, it became a sensory overload for Junmyeon who was already fighting nausea and aches from travel sickness and fatigue.
It meant that, before they could even reach the halfway mark of the tour, Junmyeon had a moment of weakness. His knees buckled as he was hit with vertigo, black spots marking his vision.
Chanyeol's hands stabilised Junmyeon the best they could, but Junmyeon still found himself falling to the floor.
"Junmyeon? What's wrong?" Voice full to the brim with worry, Chanyeol continued mother-henning Junmyeon, taking his bag away from him and taking off his own black jacket and placing it around Junmyeon's shoulders. It was nice being fussed over like this, although it certainly didn't stop the waves of nausea washing over Junmyeon.
"I- I think I might throw up," mumbled Junmyeon, vision swimming and swimming until he felt himself slipping, and on the verge of passing out.
"O-oh! Junmyeon?!" Chanyeol exclaimed before he began shouting for help, and Junmyeon completely lost consciousness.
When Junmyeon woke again, he couldn't place where he was. On his first attempt at opening his eyes, the bright lights burned his retinas. He was forced to keep them closed until he wasn't so sensitive to the radiance of the burning bulbs, unless he wished for a blinding headache. He drifted for a while, snoozing and letting his aching muscles rest.
Eventually, though, he was woken up by heated whispers in the room, one whisper, in particular, gave him pause.
“He is my betrothed,” said Chanyeol, as if that was a completely normal thing to say when he’d only met Junmyeon an hour (or perhaps hours) ago. "I refuse to leave his bedside."
"Okay, fine! Stay! But don't stop me from doing my check-ups!" an answering whisper, angered and irritated.
Junmyeon tried to open his eyes again, groaning at the fiery light piercing his eyeballs. He couldn't tell if he was just sensitive or if these lightbulbs were made to induce blindness. Somehow, Junmyeon found the strength to sit up. Two deft hands aided him as he let out a small groan at his protesting muscles.
Finally, Junmyeon could pry his eyelids apart without hissing in distaste, and he cast his eyes to the two others in the room; Chanyeol and someone who must be his doctor judging from the standard medical clothes he wore.
“Hello,” croaked Junmyeon. His throat protested painfully, sending him into a slight coughing fit, which was only soothed by the water that was thrust into his hand.
“Junmyeon, how are you feeling?” asked the doctor, Dr Kim Xiumin judging by the tag on his uniform.
“Like, shi-” Junmyeon started before coughing again. “Terrible.”
Xiumin nodded while studying the chart in front of him. His lips were slightly downturned in a way that made Junmyeon feel like he was in for a scolding, and his intuition certainly wasn’t wrong. Chanyeol stood beside Xiumin, messy, wild hair somehow looking even messier.
"You are severely dehydrated after your travels, did you not drink anything? Or rest at all? It's a long trip from Earth to Mavors, rest is necessary." Xiumin scolded Junmyeon, before turning to Chanyeol who flinched at the vicious glare. "And you! You should have made him eat or drink something before giving a tour. I get that it's your first day giving tours, but he could have died!"
“I’m sorry,” Chanyeol said as he wilted in guilt.
Junmyeon frowned at the sight, an uncomfortable feeling curdling in his chest. “Hey, doc. Don’t take it out on him. It’s not his fault.”
“You’re both at fault. Are you really not concerned that you could have died?”
“Nah, I’ve been through worse,” replied Junmyeon, grinning at Xiumin who seemed like he wished he chose a different career. Junmyeon lay back into the bed—which wasn’t half bad, at least not as bad as the ones at University. He was ready to sleep again, but the poking from the doctor and Chanyeol’s worried stares kept him from getting more shut-eye.
Finally, with one last grumble, Xiumin left the room saying he’d be back again later to run more tests on Junmyeon.
“I’m sorry, Junmyeon. I must admit I don’t have much knowledge of human anatomy and thought you’d be fit enough for the tour when you arrived. If I’d known you were on the brink of death, then I would have brought you to your room to rest, or maybe to the eatery for nutrition, or-”
“Chanyeol.” Junmyeon leveled him with a stare, sitting up. He wished he knew where this newfound confidence had sprouted from, but perhaps being on the brink would do that to you. “It’s okay. You aren’t at fault. I probably should have mentioned I didn’t feel so hot anyway.”
“Oh, but you are.”
“I’m what?” Junmyeon blinked.
“Hot.”
Junmyeon’s mouth popped open in surprise, and a slow blush spread over his cheeks. “Thanks…” he muttered.
Chanyeol seemed unphased by his admission, as if he’d only mentioned the weather was hot, instead of saying that Junmyeon was hot, attractive, however you wanted to spin it. Oh boy, Junmyeon felt… hot all of a sudden, remembering how Chanyeol had mentioned his ‘betrothed’ earlier.
“Ah, Chanyeol?” Junmyeon cleared his throat.
“Yes, Junmyeon?”
“What did you mean by me being your betrothed?”
Chanyeol tilted his head at Junmyeon, as if confused by the question. “You are the one who proposed we court, and it usually leads to marriage, doesn’t it?”
Woah, what?
“Wait a minute, when did I propose, or say, that ?”
“When we met. After we shook hands, you knelt down in front of me, and afterwards, you gave me a nod of confirmation…” Chanyeol pursed his lips in thought for a moment, before asking, “Was I wrong to assume that?”
“Uh-” Junmyeon doesn’t know what to say for a long stretch of time. “I’m guessing they move quick where you’re from, huh?”
Chanyeol nodded, “Yes. I suppose we do compared to humans- ah. You weren’t aware of what your actions meant.”
“No, I wasn’t.”Junmyeon shook his head before he slowly explained to Chanyeol that humans often ‘date’, but not always with the intention to marry each other; they have to see if they’re a right fit first before making a lifelong commitment.
Chanyeol considered this for a long while, parsing Junmyeon’s words as if he were about to make the most important decision of his life…
Oh.
Oh.
Was he about to-?
“Let’s date, then,” Chanyeol suggested, his red eyes full with resolve as strong as an anchor.
Junmyeon ran a hand through his hair twice, tugging a little bit to check he wasn’t still knocked out and dreaming. “You want to date me ? Even after all the trouble I’ve given you today?” Why would Chanyeol want to date him when they’d only known each other for several hours? And half of those hours were Junmyeon passing out and spending time in the infirmary?
“I’ve read your articles and reports, I’ve heard that you were the head of your class,” Ah, so he wanted the advantages that came with Junmyeon. Junmyeon couldn’t say he blamed him, but he wouldn’t want to date someone just because of their brains.
“and you appear to be someone I’d like to know better,” Chanyeol finished softly.
Oh man, okay. Junmyeon couldn’t fault Chanyeol for that.
One date wouldn’t hurt, right? And if it turned out well, then Junmyeon wouldn’t be mad. He was curious about Chanyeol, enough for him to say,
“Sure. Let’s try it out.”
An expression that Junmyeon could only describe as ‘pleased’ came over Chanyeol’s face, before he launched into an explanation of how they’d continue the tour the next day.
1 Year Later
“Xiumin, you’re as bad as my mother. I told you—the mission went well. I’m fine!” Junmyeon pulled his sleeves up, and began moving his limbs in strange and weird ways that made the doctor scoff.
“Junmyeon, your readings were abnormal! Get back into the infirmary! Junmyeon- Don’t walk away!”
The doctor was usually as sweet as could be, but when you were a patient under his care, he turned into some space monster with a wicked temper. Junmyeon had grown to learn of his nature over the past year at the space station on Mavors—amongst the many other things he’d learned. Despite his initial doubts of how well this whole thing would go, he’d actually adapted pretty well. He’d made lots of friends along the way, learned tonnes of stuff he wouldn’t have ever learned back on earth, and he felt content.
Although a big part of him settling in well at the space station was because of one person. A person who, over the course of the year, he’d grown to respect. That respect had then bloomed into something more, like a nebula, it stretched far and wide and brilliantly sparkled into affection.
Xiumin elected not to follow after Junmyeon, knowing it was a lost cause to stop the man in his tracks. The mission was standard, however, it went south fairly quickly (which may or may not have been Baekhyun’s fault, but Junmyeon will only minorly tease him for it. After all, Baekhyun was the one who’d sustained the worst injuries so Junmyeon imagined he was already feeling pretty bad about it).
Junmyeon knocked and opened the door to Chanyeol’s office, frowning at the lack of Chanyeol in the room. He spent most of his time here doing work, so where was he? Junmyeon was about to turn around and head back to the infirmary when two spindly arms wrapped around his torso. He froze for a moment until the person spoke,
“Looking for me?”
Junmyeon laughed, turning around in Chanyeol’s arms. “Yes, I was,” he said before capturing Chanyeol’s lips in a kiss. He hummed into the kiss, digging his fingers into Chanyeol’s (actually Junmyeon’s) cardigan and trying to pull him even closer.
Chanyeol broke the kiss, resting his forehead on Junmyeon’s. “You should be in the infirmary.”
“Not you, too.” Junmyeon tutted. So he had a few bruises? They’d heal eventually. “It feels like I haven’t seen you in weeks, Chanyeol. Just let me kiss you again. Please?” He tried to plead, but Chanyeol was never one for biting (that was saved for other activities).
“That’s because it has been weeks. Two to be exact. You need to rest so you can heal, Junmyeon.” Chanyeol, with his delicate fingers, pushed Junmyeon’s hair back, brushing through it as he did and frowning at the bits of debris he found in it. “You also need a shower.”
Junmyeon took his forehead from Chanyeol’s and buried his face into his fiance’s shoulder. “No.”
Chanyeol laughed quietly, under his breath and into Junmyeon’s ear, sending shivers down his spine. It had been so long since he’d seen, touched, heard, hugged, kissed Chanyeol that he didn't want to let go; he’d happily stay here for eternity if time would grant him the ability to do so.
“Okay,” Chanyeol whispered. Junmyeon thought, despite Chanyeol’s insistence for Junmyeon to go to the infirmary, that Chanyeol would also like to stay like this, wrapped in each other’s arms, all reminders of the outside world non-existent. “We can stay like this for a while.”
They stayed in Chanyeol’s office while the minutes ticked by, and with each tick, Junmyeon seemed to feel like he was floating in Chanyeol’s arms. His muscles grew tired, and he closed his eyes to rest for a moment only to find himself being carried in Chanyeol’s arms when he opened them again.
“Hello, sleepy head,” Chanyeol said lowly. “It’s time we got you to the infirmary.” A low simmer of worry was there behind his eyes and Junmyeon patted his chest as if it would assuage Chanyeol’s worries.
“I’ll be fine,” mumbled Junmyeon. “Am jus’ tired.”
He closed his eyes again, and this time he opened them to the infirmary. The lights were dimmed, letting him know it was far later than it had been, and a hand clutched his. He looked down, lifting his head, to see Chanyeol asleep half-lying on his bed while sitting in the bedside chair.
Junmyeon huffed in fondness.
His love for this man was immeasurable, but Junmyeon isn’t sure he’d ever need to quantify it.
The only truth he needed to know was:
He loved Park Chanyeol.
Forever and always.