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Namjoon sighs, sinks further into the captain’s chair, looks up at Yoongi.
“Engine’s fucked.”
Yoongi, perched on the armrest right next to him, also sighs.
“That’s the third time this year,” he finally says. “I feel so bad for him.”
It’s night—everyone else is asleep, or at least staying quiet in their quarters. Outside, the repair drones and shuttles continue zipping between the orbital docks and the planet below.
The repairs they needed were minor, but the ship is never left unscathed when a star fragment leaves. The fragments form bonds with the ship as well as each other—that’s how they move faster than light—and breaking the bonds causes things to, well, break.
But they’re not worried about the ship breaking.
“Have you talked to Hoseok?” Namjoon asks.
Yoongi sighs. “He doesn’t trust his own judgment anymore. Wants us to pick out a new partner for him. I’m worried.”
Namjoon reaches an arm back instinctively, letting it loop around the small of Yoongi’s back, hand resting on his waist.
“I don’t think it’s a bad idea to at least pick out some options for him. We can go to the star archives tomorrow, just us, and find some potential partners for him,” Namjoon says.
“At least we know what he looks for,” Yoongi says. “We’ve watched him pick new partners twice this year. But we really can’t do more than that. He has to come down for the first meeting.”
“Then you make him come. You’re the engineer,” Namjoon mutters.
Yoongi snorts at that, patting Namjoon’s knee before he hops down. “Come on. I know you haven’t eaten anything yet.”
***
When Taehyung sees him for the first time, he thinks I have to get on that ship. Well, first he thinks I’m in love with him.
He hopes Hoseok likes him, at least a little. He wonders if Hoseok believes in love at first sight.
He really hopes Hoseok likes him.
The ship’s captain and engineer are back, flanking the star fragment like nervous parents. They even look a little like they could be his parents. He has the captain’s dimples, the engineer’s perfect little nose.
Taehyung’s never had a meeting with a potential partner chaperoned like this. He’s also never gotten a request from someone other than a star fragment. The two humans explained, when they picked him two days ago, that Hoseok has had a string of bad partners. Sort of. The captain had used phrases like ‘compatibility problems’ and ‘unfortunate circumstances’ like it wasn’t anyone’s fault.
But Taehyung looks at Hoseok and thinks what fool would let him go? He sees Hoseok, sees the hint of tightness in his friendly smile, the tiny spark of light in his eyes as he spots Taehyung, he thinks—
Well, he thinks he’s not going to be another unfortunate circumstance for Hoseok.
Hoseok sits down in front of him, shakes his hand, and makes light and easy small talk. It’s a process Taehyung is familiar with. It doesn’t really matter what they talk about—the point is to be in close contact for long enough to get a feel for each other’s auras.
It lasts longer than usual. Probably, Taehyung thinks, because Hoseok doesn’t trust his intuition now. But Taehyung knew instantly.
He wonders if Hoseok was a supernova before he fragmented. He’s beautiful, almost blindingly so, and Taehyung feels like he barely has a moment to catch him before his chance is over.
But Hoseok’s smile has started to loosen up, heart-shaped and sweet, and Taehyung feels hopeful.
The first trip is always rough, no matter how well suited the star fragments are. It’s an adjustment period, as the fragments start forming links with each other and the ship’s engine.
Every ship that’s powered by stars needs more than one, and most ships need three or five. But Taehyung’s new ship is small, needing more speed than cargo space as it transports specialty medical equipment between planets. So it only takes two fragments, positioned on opposite ends of the ship.
Taehyung ignores the slight turbulence, the flickering of the lights as his latent fusion weaves into the ship’s systems. He focuses instead on the bond, tethering him to Hoseok. He can almost see it, like a glowing arc of dust, scattered light particles, all the way to Hoseok in the front of the ship.
Although it doesn’t go through the ship so much as over it. Like this, with their true forms intertwined with the ship, they can extend all the way past the ship’s hull to envelop it, twin stars holding this little ship between them as they glide through the dark.
It would be perfect, if Hoseok would just let him in all the way.
The connection they have is more than enough to move the ship without difficulty, and Hoseok is very good at guiding his movement and energy. But it’s not quite what Taehyung longs for. There’s a connection between stars that’s only possible once they reach this fragmented state. It’s something like the bond of a multi-star system, but it feels more intense, with the way fragmenting changes their consciousness.
And it’s not necessary, but Taehyung selfishly craves that deep closeness. He wants to be linked to Hoseok by more than just engine bonds. Like some terrifying and unstoppable force of nature. Like gravity, or love.
***
Namjoon smiles as Yoongi plops himself down directly in his lap, where he sits in the captain’s chair.
No one else is up, the ship moving quietly through the night. And Yoongi’s stress must finally be waning for him to relax his full weight across Namjoon’s thighs like this.
“I like Taehyung,” he says. “He’s a good one.”
Namjoon likes Taehyung too, but it reassures him to hear it from Yoongi. He’s never trusted anyone’s opinion more than he trusts Yoongi’s, not even his own. “They seem to be doing well after two weeks. Do you think it’ll last this time?”
Yoongi nods, looking out at the star-splattered blackness in front of them. “Hoseok is brighter these days. I think it might last with Taehyung. I’m really hopeful this time,” he finally says.
***
It’s curious, Taehyung thinks. The way everything feels when he disconnects from the ship, both quieter and louder.
Quieter because the bond has faded back to dormant and he’s once again all alone in his head. But the subtle depths of his star senses have been exchanged for his bright and trembling human ones, and everything is louder, closer, without the hush of space to separate things.
Closer, but farther apart.
Taehyung misses the bond-feeling with Hoseok as soon as it’s gone, every time. He wishes it would linger—he wishes Hoseok wished it would linger. But he can feel Hoseok let it go the moment the ship docks, every time.
Farther apart, but closer.
Because Hoseok is already coming through the door to the rear engine room (Taehyung is still amazed by how fast he can walk through the ship) and he’s carrying a plate of those little savory cookies Taehyung loves and smiling, genuinely happy.
Because once their link is gone, Hoseok is more comfortable with him. He gets closer, shares more of himself.
And Taehyung wishes Hoseok felt the same ease when they’re in their star forms. But if Hoseok is at least willing to give him a human level of closeness, brushing Taehyung’s messy hair off his forehead while praising his efforts this trip—if Hoseok will give him that much, then Taehyung will take it.
Taehyung finds Yoongi in the cafeteria, while looking for a midmorning snack. Which is unusual—Yoongi is generally either perched on the armrest of the captain’s chair, more like a second captain than an engineer honestly, or he’s impossible to find.
Most of his work is quiet, unobtrusive, and his presence is mostly noticeable in what he leaves behind—repaired hinges, replaced lights, pieces of fresh fruit left out in front of everyone’s doors, with little smiley face stickers on them. He’s hard to find, but somehow the most dependable person on the ship, always where he needs to be.
Taehyung finds him fascinating, and warm. Hopes he can stay long enough to be close to Yoongi like Hoseok is.
Yoongi tells him he wants that too. Says that he thinks Taehyung might be exactly what they need.
He explains, over the eggs and rice he found for Taehyung to eat, that Hoseok has a hard time with fragment bonding because he didn’t come from a multi-star system. He was alone, which already makes him a little unusual amongst star fragments.
And Taehyung understands, after that, why Hoseok always feels closer in human form. Before Taehyung fragmented, he was in a trinary system. He’s always been tied to other stars. But Hoseok’s first connections came afterwards, tied to his new human consciousness.
Yoongi says he meant it, when he said it wasn’t anyone’s fault that the bonds haven’t been working. But Hoseok is part of their crew and they’re not giving up on him. They will find someone who can connect with him, however he needs.
And when Yoongi leaves, he says he hopes that someone is Taehyung.
Taehyung wonders, at some point later, if the connection Hoseok needs is one that’s less intense than the one Taehyung feels.
And Taehyung—always a little too direct—asks Hoseok.
Well, what he says is, “I think I like you too much.”
Hoseok takes a very long drink from his tea, not looking in Taehyung’s direction. “…No?”
“No it’s not too much? How much I like you?” Taehyung asks. Then he frowns. “But you never let me in all the way, when we’re linked.”
“Ah, but you don’t—It’s different.”
It’s odd seeing Hoseok lost for words even in his more comfortable form. “How is it different?” Taehyung presses.
“I never got used to the star bonds I guess—it doesn’t feel the same for me. And what I do feel is…”
He doesn’t finish, and Taehyung waits quietly for Hoseok to find the words.
“I like you like a crush,” Hoseok finally admits. “A human crush. Like the captain likes Yoongi. Not like how stars bond with each other.”
And Taehyung can’t help it, he starts laughing. “If I sit in your lap, do I get to kiss you? Will you let me in when we’re like this?”
“You want to kiss me?”
“I want everything,” Taehyung says. “It doesn’t have to be like a fragment bond. I want to love you. I do love you.”
“Are you sure?”
Taehyung smiles. “I’m sure I love you too much. If you don’t mind the way I feel, then I don’t mind being closer to you like this than we are as stars.”
Hoseok reaches up to brush the hair out of Taehyung’s face, his own kind of closeness. “Were you ever a supernova?” he asks, smiling. “You’re very intense. I like you.”
Taehyung loves this feeling, the intangible stretch as he reaches back out to the vastness all around them, once again sensing the universe on a familiar scale.
He lets himself feel towards Hoseok, gently nudging the other star fragment. Not pushing to be let in, just feeling the link.
He always wants to be close to Hoseok like this, but the closeness is different now. The closeness is letting Hoseok feel his presence, and knowing that when Hoseok drops the link, Taehyung will feel his presence in another way.
He doesn’t worry about if Hoseok will ever let their star-bond deepen, because Hoseok tells him he loves him now. And Taehyung is happy being loved.
***
Namjoon looks up to see Yoongi leaning over the back of his chair, chin resting against the top.
“I think the engine is finally fixed for good,” he says.
“Yeah?” Namjoon smiles up at him.
Yoongi snorts. “Yeah. Taehyung told me they were going to try human dating. Like us.”
Namjoon laughs, even though he knows Yoongi can tell it’s his nervous laugh. “Maybe, um… Maybe we should also try human dating. You know, if—”
Yoongi leans around, so he can give Namjoon a quick peck square on the lips. “Maybe we should,” he says, exasperated but fond smile on his face.