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“I’m nervous!”
Changbin rolls his eyes when Jisung squeaks out those two words at the same time as he shakes his hands in a fit of nervous energy. He watches his lover fidget and pace for a few moments longer before he decides enough is enough.
“Why?”
Jisung’s gaze immediately comes back to him, incredulous eyes boring into his before there’s a scoff of disbelief.
“Are you serious right now, Changbin?”
The use of his full name indicates Jisung isn’t very pleased with him, but he still shrugs, brow furrowing in slight confusion. “You weren’t ever nervous with me,” he says, tone even in a way that just means he doesn’t want to insult Jisung but he simply doesn’t understand. “So I don’t get why you’re nervous now.”
“Stars!” Jisung stalks over to him, putting his hands on each side of Changbin’s face, which he’s long come to learn means his lover is going to tell him something very important that he needs to pay special attention to. His features relax into a reassuring smile automatically as he looks into his lover’s eyes.
“Listen to me really well right now, beloved,” Jisung starts seriously and he can’t help the way his smile forms at those words. “Don’t smile like that, it’s distracting!” His lover instantly scolds, so he tries his best to keep an even face. “Listen to me. I was extremely nervous with you as well, I just never showed it in front of you because that would be embarrassing! If you ask Seungmin, though, you’ll know how bad it really was. But don’t ask him! It’s still embarrassing!”
Changbin can’t help it; he laughs. Not many things bring such genuine laughter to his lips, but Jisung has done it often enough, even more so ever since they regained their chance at a life together. He’s been feeling much lighter ever since then in general, actually. That’s not just Jisung’s doing, of course, but for a big part it is.
“You worry too much, stardust,” he says, fondly, as he puts his hands on Jisung’s waist and tugs him closer until they’re standing toe to toe and all it would take to close the last of the distance between them is a very slight movement. “There is nothing to be nervous about. He’ll accept. You know he will.”
The tension seeps out of Jisung’s shoulders, his lover slumping into his hold, arms wrapping around his frame as Jisung nuzzles his skin. “I just want it to be perfect,” he whines into Changbin’s collarbone, and that is perhaps what endears him more than anything.
“It’s you,” he says calmly, matter-of-factly, because there is really no other explanation necessary. “It’ll be perfect just like that.”
“Ugh,” Jisung decides, with feeling. Then he slaps Changbin’s shoulder and straightens up again. “You’re no help!” And yet the next moment he drops a kiss to Changbin’s lips before running a hand through his hair. “At least tell me where we should do it.”
He takes his moment to actually think about that. A smile pulls up the corners of his mouth again unbidden when he remembers the first time he’d realised this moment was going to exist, if only in an unnamed future back then.
“Freya-21,” he says with great intent. His lover gazes up at him in clear surprise. “That’s where you first kiss-”
He’s broken off by a hand pressed to his mouth, quickly muffling the rest of his words. “I know! Don’t remind me!” His lover hisses, cheeks colouring dark with the rush of either embarrassment or excitement, Changbin isn’t sure right now. Possibly it’s both. “It’s not like I’m not thinking of it all the time even now, so many moonfalls later.”
“I know,” he easily agrees, “you also speak of it all the time even now. At least whenever it’s just the two of us.” His lover’s face darkens further and then a hand swats at his shoulder.
“You stop talking right this instant or I am telling your lover that you’re misbehaving!”
He's smiling again, he realises. Always ever smiling. His people would no longer even recognise him as one of their own were he to go back now. "Go talk to Jeongin then if you think I'm useless and misbehaving."
Jisung makes a face, but does lean in for another kiss before he turns away. "I'll see you for dinner. Don't have lunch with him or you'll reveal everything, you're such a bad liar!"
He laughs, swats his lover's hip while he's still in reach. "I can't help that I'm a triber down to my bones. It's what you love about me anyway."
His lover makes a noise that's supposed to be derisive, but the smile he looks back with is warm and loving.
"It really is," is what he says right before he slips out the door.
Just a scant two turnings ago, Seungmin had asked Changbin to join him in a meeting with some inhabitant planet officials. Jisung was assigned as their official translator, while Chan simply tagged along to not have to stay behind alone as the trip spanned several rotations.
Freya-21 was the chosen planet for them to meet, a neutral mid-planet with a peaceful people and the most beautiful scenery. The perfect downtime getaway planet for most of the rich core. So that's exactly what the three of them had decided to make of the visit, prolonging their stay with several more rotations.
It had been a good decision, the rich fauna and flora reminding Chan of Polaris, the peaceful Freyan lifestyle taking all of them away from the hectic bustle of their life on Spectre and as members of Star-H. It had given them some time to unwind, relax and just spend time together.
Jisung and Chan had conspired to make him spend a full rotation with each of them separately, after which he'd demanded to get to spend a rotation with the both of them together. That had been the best one, in his opinion, all of them enjoying the warmth of the four suns, the ocean breeze and the peace that came with Freya's easygoing people. He had little complaints about the beach sand getting in all of their things despite Jisung’s loud complaints, feeling more at home like that than he would’ve otherwise, really.
But the highlight of their little stay on Freya only happened later that night, when they were all back at the cabin they’d decided to rent for their time on the planet. Changbin had been in bed by then, with Chan curled up by his side. With the fourth sun having set, all the light had disappeared, no moon nor stars brightening their night. Jisung had stayed in the shower the longest, trying to wash all of the sand off of himself, and so he was the last to come stumbling into the room and bed as well.
“Ugh,” Changbin had heard him say, clearly more than ready to flop down in bed and get ready to sleep. Flop down he had, indeed, and then he’d apparently reached out to pull him into their usual goodnight kiss. Except despite his enhanced Viceran senses, Jisung had gotten the two other men mixed up, because Changbin only heard an aborted noise and then a prolonged silence.
“Uh,” Chan had then said, speechless in a way Changbin hadn’t known him to be since he’d asked his lover for a binding ceremony. “Um… Bin’s on- On the other side.”
“I gathered that,” Jisung had replied, voice a little higher than usual with embarrassed tension, and then the bed had moved as Jisung got out again, fleeing around it and crawling back in on the other side, straight into Changbin’s arms. The kiss he’d been given had been a quick peck to his lips, and then Jisung had buried away against his chest, his lover’s cheeks flaming hot to Changbin’s touch.
Behind him, Chan had put a gentle hand on his back, and then brushed a kiss to his hair before pressing a smiling face into the back of his neck. Chan’s hand had settled on his side, just above his hip, and then a slightly awkward silence had fallen over the three of them.
Until Jisung squeaked out a quick goodnight wish, which had Chan relaxing completely against his back as he returned it, and had Changbin smiling in amusement as he placed another kiss in his lover’s hair.
He's bent over a particularly difficult flight plan with Seungmin when Chan finds him, his lover walking into the room like he belongs there. He doesn't look up for a while longer, as they're close to figuring it out, but when a hand settles in between his tense shoulders, he knows who it is straight away. He also relaxes straight away as well.
"Am I interrupting?" Chan asks, voice soft and gentle like it always is. Seungmin looks up first and so he does as well, meeting Chan's inquiring gaze with a soft smile. He brings up a hand and Chan easily takes it.
"Not if you know how to fix this flight plan for us. We've tried to find a good route but every single one we can come up with brings the ship past the lower darkzone region somehow and we've been losing too much cargo there lately."
Seungmin's concerned frown eases a little when Chan glances down at the map, seemingly trusting his lover's opinion. But then everyone trusts Chan. It's hard not to when he only ever says things he means and makes promises he keeps.
Introducing him to their friends had not been a very stressful affair because Jisung had been convinced they'd all love him, and a convinced Jisung is hard not to believe.
He'd been right, too. Everyone had taken one look at Chan and accepted him in their midst as the 'hot space man Changbin bagged on their trip’. Then it had taken all of two rotations for Chan to befriend Jeongin, the most reserved of their group, who had proceeded to claim him the best thing that ever happened to Star-H within a single moonfall.
From there, it hadn't been very hard at all to include him in the rest of their lives. He seemed to adapt easily to the others in a way that reminded Changbin often enough of how he was a Polar, capable of moulding himself to anyone he met, and yet he always retained that which makes him his lover. His starlight.
"You should send it this way round," Chan suggests, moving his fingers over the screen and mapping out a path on the other side of the darkzone. "It's much shorter."
"But still too long for the freighter we're sending to make it through without a refuel," Seungmin contradicts, his mouth slightly pinched at the knowledge. That's what they both continued to stumble into as well when they were trying to find better routes.
Chan, however, just taps a finger on the screen, somewhere three-fourths of the way through the vast open space. "Polaris resides around here right now. You could get your ship to stop over there. They'd have to bring the extra fuel in tanks but in return they'd not have to bring as many provisions because they can restock those on Polaris."
Seungmin glances at him before looking up at Chan. "That'd be allowed?" He asks. "I thought Polaris was supposed to be secret and hard to find?"
Chan smiles. Shrugs. "It is for those who covet its secrets, not for those stranded in space without anywhere to go. Also not for those involved with the Polars."
His lover's gaze comes down to him again, an amused smile playing around Chan’s lips. He can't help but return it.
"Oh, so we're involved with Polars now? Good to know." Seungmin huffs out a laugh, shaking his head a little. All Changbin can do is hold his lover's hand and smile at his friend, appreciating the easy interaction between them.
"I came to see if you were free for lunch, love," Chan asks after a moment. He briefly pauses, only old desert reflexes making him quick to shake his head quite nonchalantly.
"Sorry starlight, Seungmin and I still have a few more of these to go through. I think Minho's free right now, though, if you'd like some company. Jisung's off with Jeongin so he probably won't be free either."
His lover nods, then leans down to press a kiss onto his temple, the hand on his back pressing in a little closer for just a moment. He tilts his head out of habit more than anything, but it's still just as satisfying as the first time when it earns him a kiss to his lips instead, and a slightly softer smile from his lover.
"I'll see you tonight then," Chan hums, before walking back out of the room.
It takes him a moment to turn his head back to face his friend, who's looking at him with a raised eyebrow. He widens his own eyes in return, and then huffs. "What?"
"It's still strange to see you with him," Seungmin admits, causing him to frown instantly. "No, like, you look good together, and I can tell he's good for you. He mellows you down more than Jisung ever could, but…" Seungmin shrugs. "I honestly never thought I'd see you go soft for anyone other than Sung, so sometimes it still takes me by surprise."
He’s not entirely sure what he’s supposed to respond to something like that, so in the end he just hums and returns his full attention to the flight plan in front of them. “Well,” he says, “if they can stop over on Polaris, we don’t really have to think about this anymore, do we? Pass it on to Jeongin once Jisung is done with him and let him figure out how much fuel they should store for their trip and how.”
Seungmin nods his head in acceptance of the order, draws out the flightplan on the map and then swipes this particular issue to the side. It’s saved into their system automatically, and yet another one of the company’s flights appears on the screen instead.
“Oh, this one,” Seungmin immediately says, and sifts through his papers for the next problem. Changbin leans a bit more forward, ready to help in whatever way he can.
It had taken Jisung several moonfalls to bring the incident up again.
Chan had asked him about it the first moment alone that they managed to get back on Spectre right after their trip, inquiring whether everything was alright and if he should try and talk to Jisung about it. He’d wisely told his lover to leave it be until Jisung brought it up himself, though he also made sure to let Chan know he did nothing wrong and not to feel bad about it.
Unfamiliar with Jisung not facing a situation that bothered him head on, the prolonged silence on the topic had made Changbin assume it had been a temporary mishap easily left in the past. Jisung was quick to get over his embarrassment, after all, not treating Chan any differently than usual, and so they soon considered it to be a thing of the past.
Nothing turned out to be less true, though, when Jisung had made use of one of the days where Chan was out with Minho and Felix to spill his heart out to him as they lay comfortably cuddled up on their couch.
“Beloved,” he’d started, so serious that Changbin had instantly paid full attention to him. “I’m- I- I think I like Chan.”
He hadn't understood yet then, the true meaning of the confession, and so he'd breathed out a small smile. "I'd hope so," he'd said, lifting a hand to run it through his lover's hair. "Or else you telling me so often that you think he's good for me probably means something entirely different from what I thought it did."
His words at least managed to cause Jisung to huff out a short laugh, disbelief and love warring on his features before he shook his head. “No, he is good for you, in exactly the way you think I meant it. And he’s good for Star-H, too. He’s really good with people in general. He’s also good with me. I’m saying I like him. I’m saying I accidentally kissed him and now I’ve not stopped thinking about how I wouldn’t mind doing that again, but on purpose.”
That had stopped him short for a brief moment, looking down at his lover with no little surprise. “Oh,” he’d said. “I thought that was a thing of the past. Has it been bothering you all this time?”
Jisung had shaken his head. “I wouldn’t call it bothering,” he’d admitted surprisingly shyly. “I mean; the memory’s embarrassing, sure, but… Beloved, I really want to kiss him again. Like ‘I can’t stop thinking about it whenever I don’t have anything else to focus on and the recurring embarrassment thinking about that night makes me cringe every time and yet I still can’t stop thinking about it’ want to kiss him again.”
“Huh,” Changbin had replied, an entirely new path unfolding in front of his mind’s eye as he thought of a future in which Jisung kissed Chan again. Wanted to, apparently. “You should, then.”
Jisung’s groan had been loud and disbelieving. “Stars, Changbin, at least try and help me with this!”
“I am trying! He didn’t seem to mind you kissing him last time so if you want to do it again, I think you should. Maybe ask for permission first this time, but…” He’d trailed off, shrugging once. “What’s the issue?”
Jisung had looked up at him then, biting his cheek as he clearly considered it, eyes scanning Changbin’s face. It had only lasted a few moments. Moments in which Jisung had thought over every possible consequence of following his lover’s advice.
“You’re right,” he’d said then. “What’s the issue? It’s just Chan, he’ll understand if nothing else.”
And that had been that.
Jisung barely returns in time for dinner that evening, Jeongin slipping inside the compound right behind him and promptly sagging in relief when he spots Changbin.
“Oh thank the stars! If I have to listen to him doubt every little thing for one more second I’m going to murder him! Please take your lover off my hands and deal with him yourself!”
Jeongin unceremoniously shoves Jisung towards him, who’s sputtering in shocked offence, eyes wide and a single hand coming up to point after the logistics manager, though he doesn’t manage to utter a single actual word. When Jisung’s gaze returns to him, the shock seems to finally leave him.
“Did you hear that? Isn’t it time for you to fire him? I think he’s really outlived his time at this company,” Jisung exclaims.
Changbin merely breathes out a chuckle at his lover’s claims and draws him into his arms lightly. “Unless you’d like to take over all of the work he does, I don’t think it’s a very good idea. Seungmin is probably piling three weeks worth of flight capacity calculations on his desk as we speak.”
“Nevermind,” Jisung mutters, moving to stand a bit closer to him still. “I guess he can keep working for us for a bit longer. Just a little while, though.”
He hums all seriously, nodding his head and not making a single one of the sarcastic comments that he’s no doubt learned from the many years spent working closely together with Seungmin. Jisung peers up at him suspiciously for a moment but then sighs and relaxes into his hold.
“I swear I love you so much,” his lover tells him with a sigh, before leaning up and pressing a kiss to his lips. “You’re perfect, do you know that? Absolutely perfect. There’s only one person as perfect as you and speaking of which; do you happen to know where he is right now?”
“He went out for lunch with Minho, I haven’t seen him since. They’ll probably be back any moment-” The rest of his words are cut off by the door opening once again, Minho pushing inside with three bags draped over his shoulders with Chan following close behind, clearly having tried - and failed - to get their friend to let him carry something as well and now worriedly trailing behind him to make sure nothing falls.
Minho is more than capable, of course, so all of the bags are fine. The second he’s inside the compound he clicks his tongue and looks up at the command panel. “Hey, Star-H, inform Felix of my return, will you?” He calls out. “Really loudly, please.” It takes all of two seconds for an alarm to start ringing in the distance, quickly followed by Felix’s loud cursing and calls for Minho’s murder - threats that only serve to make Minho cackle out a laugh, really.
“This is the perfect time to make ourselves scarce,” Jisung decides just about when the command system finally stops ringing the alarm in Felix’s room and there’s a thundering of footsteps as the pilot goes stampeding down the hallway to come and find Minho. Changbin easily lets his lover take him by the hand and drag him out, though he makes sure to reach for Chan’s hand in passing and pull him along as well, so he doesn’t misunderstand their intentions to take him along.
“Where are we going?” Chan asks in his voice that always seems to be gentle, and Changbin turns a gentle smile on him but shrugs, just as clueless in this as his lover is.
“Jisung has plans,” he decides to reveal. “We follow his lead.”
And it’s normal for Chan to smile warmly when comments like that are made, to just accept things with a nod of his head, but it’s a testimony to how much he loves Jisung at this point that his expression softens down into something incredibly fond and his gaze clings to the back of Jisung’s head for a few long moments.
“Alright,” Chan eventually seems to remember to say then, and Changbin breathes out another smile, squeezing his lover’s hand. It's so clear to him how much his lovers cherish each other despite them never really speaking of it, and so he has absolutely no worries about how the night might go
“Stardust,” he ventures lightly. “Care to enlighten us on where you’re dragging us off to?”
Jisung glances back briefly, entirely preoccupied, but then his gaze seems to catch on Chan and he comes to a very abrupt stop. “Chan!” He immediately exclaims and promptly backtracks the three steps necessary to catapult himself into Chan’s arms, though both of them keep their hold on Changbin’s hands as well while they embrace. “Channie. I’ve missed you. How was this rotation? Was it a good one?”
“Worthy of leaving Polaris for,” Chan agrees smoothly, his smile warm and fond as he lifts his free hand to run his fingers through Jisung’s hair. Changbin huffs out another smile at this familiar interaction between both his lovers, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of it all. As if Chan has ever regretted leaving his planet. And yet Jisung beams him a wide, relieved grin every single time.
“Good. That’s good. Very good. We’re going out for dinner. You’re hungry, right? Are you hungry, Channie?” Jisung turns extremely wide and hopeful eyes on Chan that Changbin is sure his lover won’t be able to reply to with anything other than an affirmative, because Chan can’t bear to disappoint Jisung in any way. And indeed, Chan’s smile widens and he nods, causing Jisung’s wide beam to grow even brighter.
“My stars,” Changbin decides to speak up then, “can we continue moving? I’ve had a long day and I’m actually starving.”
His words cause both his lovers to look at him, Chan’s features shifting into worry, Jisung’s expression turning constipated.
“Yes,” his lover agrees after a single beat. “Yes. Dinner. Let’s go.”
And then off they are again, Jisung dragging Changbin along by his hand, who has no choice but to pull Chan along as well since there’s no way in the universe he’s going to let go of his lover’s hand. He does share a look with him, though, and smirks lightly before shaking his head in exasperation. Chan’s only response is to smile again, and then to squeeze his hand with no little fondness.
"Jisungie, where are we going?" Chan asks after a moment, and the way Jisung promptly preens because of the sweet nickname is just too adorable. Changbin laughs. Chan regards him with some reprimand, though he's smiling. Jisung pouts at him obnoxiously. He loves them both so much his chest expands with it, and so he doesn't try to keep it in.
"I love you both so much," he says, blunt and straight to the point. A Kadrant triber down to his very bones, no matter how far removed he is from his home planet in both time and space. "So much I can barely fathom it myself." He brings both their hands up so he can press his lips to each of their knuckles in turn. "My shining stars."
That, it seems, is enough to shut both of them up entirely for a moment or two. Jisung is the first to recover, turning to look at Chan. "Does he also randomly surprise you by saying the most outrageously romantic things at a time when you're out in public so the only thing you can do about it is just love him really hard and try to telepathically communicate that to him because you can't hardly jump him out on the street?" His lover asks his other lover, and when Chan nods the both of them share a knowing smile like he's not even there at all. Like they're sharing a secret that is the amount of their love for him and he could never understand.
He doesn't, not really, but stars, does he love them so much in return.
After yet another handful of moonfalls, Jisung still hadn’t talked to Chan about any of it. A fact that only came to his attention when more than a turning after their trip to Freya, Chan hesitantly inquired if perhaps he’d done something wrong to Jisung because he seemed to be more reserved around him. Changbin had said honestly that he’d not heard Jisung say any such thing, but had promised to talk to his lover about it.
And so that’s how he’d sat down with Jisung over lunch and asked him about it, which had caused Jisung to get incredibly flustered before admitting Chan had done nothing wrong but he was just having a hard time seeing him and not kissing him on the spot.
“Really?” Had been Changbin’s reaction, his expression instantly breaking with a smile. “Why haven’t you talked to him yet, stardust?”
“Because…” Jisung’s gaze had moved away, then returned to him slowly. “He’s your lover.”
He’d definitely not known how to respond to that, except to just look at his lover for several long moments in silence. “I don’t see the issue,” was what he’d eventually gone with. “You’re the one who told me it was alright to love him as well, do you think I’d deny you the same pleasure?”
Jisung had shaken his head briefly, then pressed his lips together as he mulled over his next words. At Changbin's prolonged silence - giving his lover the chance to gather his thoughts - Jisung had eventually sighed.
"We are fine with this, that doesn't mean Chan is. He might have accepted me being your lover as well because I already was, there's no guarantee that he'd want me in any other way."
"Hm," Changbin agreed softly. "That's why you talk about it. Are you scared? Chan won't hurt you, stardust."
"No, I know. But maybe he'll try so hard not to hurt me that he'll agree to something he doesn't necessarily want himself, just doesn't not want either."
Changbin had looked at his lover for a few silent moments again, before his lips twitched in distaste. "You think there is anything but full honesty between me and him?" He inquires, feeling in some way offended. Jisung's eyes had widened in what looked like surprise, and then he'd at least had the decency to look properly guilty for the implications.
"No," he'd sighed out, defeated yet seeming relieved as well. "No, there wouldn't be, would there, beloved?" His smile had bloomed slowly then, like he was finally realising something important. "Kadrant tribers, honest to the very core. Polars, truthful to their dying breath."
Jisung shook his head then, as if he couldn't quite believe himself either. "You'd think Vicerans would know to catch up," he'd said, and Changbin had shown him a fond smile.
"It's not your fault," that part had been serious, the rest of it clearly a joke. "You're part Seburan, who knows what else it messed up in you."
"Hey!" Jisung had complained, laughing, just before he'd piled some extra meat on Changbin's plate. "Eat up, you brute triber," he'd said, but what Changbin had understood was I love you. His reply had been a brief smile and a casual bite of the offered food..
I love you too.
The place they go to have dinner at is a nondescript little establishment in Spectre-35's main city, nothing too fancy or well-known. It's not too far from the compound, but he knows Jisung picked it because it's the first place they went to together, and it's also the first place Changbin took the both of them to get dinner when they returned from Polaris with Chan.
They sit down at a table, Changbin on one side and his lovers on each side of him, facing each other. They usually mix it up randomly, but tonight these seats are deliberate, giving Jisung an opportunity to look at Chan directly when they talk.
Dinner passes by with the usual ease, each of them recounting their rotation in funny anecdotes or lingering worries. Everything goes smoothly, or so he thinks, until when their food is gone and they all just have a drink placed in front of them, Chan reaches for his hand.
"What's wrong, love? You're more reserved than usual. Is there something you wish to talk about?"
He can't help himself, glancing at Jisung for support on this since he's not sure what he's allowed to say. Luckily his lover seems to have gathered all his courage together, because he straightens up a little almost immediately.
"Actually, there's something I want to talk about," Jisung says. Chan's focus immediately zeroes in on him like there's nothing that could ever be more important than whatever Jisung has to say.
"Are you alright, Jisung?" Chan asks, worry furrowing his brow even more than it had before. Changbin lets him continue to hold on to his hand while he shoots his other lover a quick, encouraging smile.
"I'm fine," Jisung agrees quickly, reassuring Chan first and foremost. "Absolutely perfect, really. I just-" He shrugs, then reaches over the table for Chan's free hand, who immediately offers it up to be held, like there could never be any other reaction. Jisung smiles as their fingers touch, then more when they entangle. Then he jumps in headfirst the same way he's always done with everything else in his life as well.
"I want to have a binding ceremony. With you. Preferably as soon as possible. I want to be yours as much as I'm Bin's. I want you to be mine as much as you're his. If you want that too, of course. If- If you-"
Jisung ends on a half stutter, but there's really no reason for his nervousness because Chan's expression has bloomed like the Brizantys, showing off a myriad of emotions before it settles on a wide, warm smile. His eyes shine with happiness, though Changbin catches that hint of disbelief that comes from knowing him so well.
"Yes. Really? Yes. I want that. I'd love that, Jisungie. Just tell me when and I'll be there. Right now?"
His gaze briefly flicks around the room like somehow someone is going to jump out of the woodwork to arrange their ceremony there and then, and Changbin barely manages to keep from huffing out a laugh when Jisung gapes at Chan like this wasn't a completely expected reaction.
"Uh-" Jisung tries, glancing briefly at the rest of the establishment as well before looking back at Chan. "No, sorry, I uh, need a little bit more preparation time," he manages then. "I also wanted to ask where you'd want to do it."
He'd be chopped liver if not for the fact that both his lovers are still holding on to his hands just as tightly as they're now holding on to each other's, and just seeing that three-way connection is enough to make him feel even more than ever before that he belongs.
"Polaris," Chan says, without a single doubt. Then he backtracks a little. "If that's okay with you?" But Jisung's beaming widely, and nodding his head straight away.
"Yes. That's fine. Perfect. Great. I- I love you, by the way. I should've maybe led with that."
At those words, Chan laughs and leans over the table a little more to cup Jisung's cheek, brushing a thumb over his cheek. "I love you too, Jisung. In case it wasn't obvious yet."
"It wasn't," Jisung says.
"It was," Changbin decides to meddle.
They both turn to look at him in surprise and he briefly shrugs.
"On both sides. Very obvious. I'm glad you talked it out, though." He squeezes both their hands briefly and then lets go entirely. "However, now that you did, I'm going home. Enjoy your date."
He pushes himself up and promptly smothers any protests by raising a hand and furrowing his brow. "Both of you forced me to take the other on solo dates before as if any of us at any point minded having the other two around. This is payback for that in hopes that you'll both realise how unnecessary it is in the future. I have plans with Minho so don't bother coming home early for me, I'll be out late."
Jisung and Chan share a look, and then his stardust says: "Technically we're not in public, right?" When Chan shakes his head, amused little smile on his face, Jisung surges up and pulls him into a searing kiss. When he's let go of again, still reeling a little, Chan draws him into a much gentler one.
"See you tomorrow, love," he's told as those familiar fingers card tenderly through his hair.
"Mhm, we'll wait up for you, beloved," Jisung amends the words. "So don't come home too late, please? I want to share this night with you as well."
He pretends to sigh, but the smile he sends his lovers is warm and reassuring. "I'll be there," he promises. "Now have fun. I'll foot the bill."
With those words, he moves his chair back under the table and walks over to the counter, leaving his lovers to their date.
Two rotations was what it had taken for Jisung to finally speak to Chan about his feelings. He knows because he was there when Jisung had eventually scraped together the courage to formulate his thoughts aloud. They'd returned home after a long rotation of working, Chan fixing them all a warm drink while Jisung and Changbin had washed the rotation's filth off their bodies.
That night when they'd all gotten ready for bed and Changbin had crawled in alongside Chan, Jisung had flicked off the light before joining them. Yet rather than slip in on Changbin's side, he'd paused at the foot end of the bed.
"Chan?" He'd asked, receiving a soft hum from the Polar. "Channie?" He'd then tried, which had prompted a heavy silence, Chan's form tensing against Changbin's chest.
Then, tentatively: "Yes, Sungie?"
If Jisung were capable of it, Changbin is sure he would've lit up with his delight. As it was, his voice shone with it all the same, so bright with happiness at being allowed to give a nickname to the Polar as well as receiving one in return.
"Channie," he'd repeated, his wide smile audible in his voice. Chan's frame had relaxed in Changbin's arms, relief seemingly heavy in both of his lovers. "Can I… Can I kiss you goodnight, Channie?"
Changbin had been able to feel the surprise rushing through his lover's frame, before there'd been an exhale that had been full of both happy excitement and tense expectation. "Yes," Chan had breathed out next, to which Jisung had promptly rushed to his side of the bed to put his words into action.
It'd been nothing too fancy, probably a more chaste kiss than their accidental liplock on Freya-21, but one with clear intention this time, and therefore no doubt all the more meaningful. Jisung hadn't stayed there, though, rather he'd come back around to Changbin's side of the bed, where they'd shared their own goodnight kiss before settling in to sleep.
It hadn't changed everything straight away, sunlight seemingly chasing away both of his lovers’ courage, but they'd exchanged plenty of shy smiles in the time following it. And after several handfuls of rotations of that and the occasional nickname spoken, Changbin had witnessed their third kiss one evening as the three of them were lazily lounging on their couch, Jisung leaning over him quite daringly to kiss a surprised but very willing Chan.
He's already completely ready for bed by the time his two lovers return home from their date. Granted; his plans with Minho were grabbing a drink together before the Zurian left on his cargo trip so he wasn't gone long at all, but it makes it extra worth it when he sees his lovers come stumbling into the living room all giggly, holding hands and their sides pressed as closely together as possible.
"Beloved!" Jisung exclaims happily upon seeing him, and whatever joy they'd been filled with before only doubles as they come hurrying over to him. There's nothing in the universe that could stop him from smiling as they flop down on each side of him and immediately wrap him up in their hugs, nuzzling his cheek (Chan) and his neck (Jisung).
"I feel very loved right now," he says with a little smile, and Jisung promptly lifts his head to beam him a wide grin.
"Good!" His lover exclaims.
"You are," Chan agrees, smiling warmly at them both. "You both are."
"So are you two!" Jisung immediately makes sure to say and Changbin finds himself laughing, pulling his arms free so he can wrap them around each of his lovers' frames. He kisses both of their heads, then pats their lower backs.
"Go wash up, my stars. I believe my lover wanted to share this night with me and I don't want to disappoint him."
Everything, literally everything is worth the way Jisung's eyes sparkle after he says those words, the pure love shining from his lover's expression and the absolute love with which he leans in and presses a kiss to his cheek.
"Thank you, beloved," Jisung tells him with a soft smile, before pushing up from the couch to go wash and get ready for bed. Chan lingers a little longer, his lover's head resting on his shoulder.
"Did you know?" He's asked, when Jisung is sure to be out of earshot. He breathes out a small smile and moves his hand to rest it on the back of his lover's hair.
"Starlight, there was no way for me not to know. He's been buzzing with it for almost a turning."
Chan's eyes grow endearingly wide in surprise and then he's levelled with a searching look. "Truly?" His lover asks. He softens down even more as he smiles, moving both hands to take hold of his lover's face.
"Truly, starlight. He's thought about this plenty. You know he'd never ask you on a whim. He's serious about this. About you. Did you not know how giddy you made him every time you called him by a nickname?"
Chan's gaze softens, his cheeks dusted with a layer of rosiness, but his eyes, too, are shining. “He is the one who makes me giddy with them. When you allowed me to come with you, it was something I could only hope would be my privilege at some point.”
At that, Changbin pauses, surprised for the first time in a long time by something Chan tells him. “Then already?” He asks softly, brushing a thumb over his lover’s cheek. “But you did not know him yet then.”
It is Chan’s turn to smile, to lift a hand and run his thumb briefly over Changbin’s lower lip before settling his hand on the side of his neck. “Oh, but I did, love.” Chan’s eyes are full of honesty. He doesn’t think Polars would ever lie outright. “I knew him through you. Through your words, through your feelings, through every glimpse of him you gave me. It was impossible not to love him, knowing him as I did through the lens of your love.”
He’s kissed, then, gentle and soft. Chan’s hand squeezes his nape and then his lover is moving to get up. “I’ll go wash up as well, make sure your lover doesn’t slip and fall in his enthusiasm to get back to us.”
Changbin can only smile, watching his lover go. “Soon he’ll be your lover too,” he says, only to have Chan glance back at him with eyes that say more than words ever could.
Oh, he can’t wait.
One particularly ordinary moment some moonfalls before, Jisung had requested some time alone with Changbin to talk about something personal. Though clearly worried and slightly concerned about being left out, Chan had more than easily agreed to the request and gone over to spend some time with Felix at the Star-H compound so Jisung could speak to Changbin in complete privacy at their home.
He’d thought it strange that his lover would want to tell him something Chan wasn’t allowed to know, but that feeling hadn’t lasted long at all. Mainly because at almost the same moment the door of their house had closed behind Chan, Jisung had grabbed hold of Changbin’s hands and squeezed them tightly.
“Beloved,” he’d said, voice so tight and serious that Changbin had instantly been worried down to his very core that perhaps the disease had returned faster than expected. Jisung had erased all of those worries in the blink of an eye by continuing straight away, though. “I want to- I want to have a binding ceremony with Chan. I want things to be official. I want to call you both by something outrageously cheesy and possessive so that everyone will always know you both belong to me and I belong to you.”
Those soft, slender hands had squeezed his even more tightly before letting go to settle on Jisung’s very own face, rubbing it almost like he couldn’t quite believe it all himself.
“I physically need to see our wrists tied together. I need to know this is not a dream that could end any moment.” He’d sighed deeply, squished his own cheeks together and looked at Changbin with a wide, almost feverish gaze.
“Beloved, I feel like I am going insane with it. With this love I feel. For him. For you. For this thing we share. I feel like there is a fire burning me from the inside out but as much as it’s consuming me it’s also building me back up. Is this how you felt as well?”
Changbin hadn’t been able to keep from smiling, reaching for his lover’s hands himself now to draw them away from his face and hold them tenderly in his own. “I don’t think I’ve ever quite felt anything as intensely as you do, stardust, but I do understand what you mean and yes, I feel very similarly for you both. If you want a binding ceremony with Chan then you should ask him.”
Jisung’s eyes had searched his almost desperately, the grip on his hands tightening again. “Yeah? You think so? You’d be okay with it if I would?”
“Of course, stardust. In fact nothing would make me happier than to see you both together, to know that you make each other as happy as you both make me.”
Jisung had smiled brightly, though then schooled his expression to hum. “For that Chan would first have to accept, though,” he’d said, clearly cautious about hoping too much. There were no such qualms in Changbin’s mind.
“If you ask, stardust, he will most certainly accept.”
Jisung had looked at him doubtfully for only a moment longer, before his tense stance had relaxed and he’d nodded his head once in acceptance.
“Can we just cuddle for a bit while I bounce some ideas off you?” He’d asked, and Changbin had smiled even as he already guided his lover along to their couch, ready to hear any and every thought Jisung might have about a possible binding ceremony with Chan.
Just like he’s always been trusted to do, it takes Seungmin but a single moonfall to arrange everything. He works together closely with Jisung and Chan to make sure all of their wishes are catered to, and then they’re all getting on a ship to head to Polaris. Chan’s original wish to have the entire ceremony within a time pocket had been eventually decided against because it would reveal too much about the Polar’s abilities to their friends, but they’d still planned a small part of it to take place within one, just for the three of them and any possible other Polars to witness.
So that’s how Changbin eventually finds himself standing with his bare feet in Polaris’ dark earth again, only a handful of turnings since he left it with his two lovers by his side. In front of him, said lovers are facing each other, their wrists tied together neatly by a string of neatly woven wilderbun hair. Their fingers are tangled, their eyes never straying from each other. There is no desert sand painted on their faces, because they aren’t Kadrant tribers, but Jisung is wearing a mantle of Viceran design and both of them have a witherfowl feather neatly woven into their hair.
Behind his lovers, their friends are gathered to watch and bear witness to their union, overseen by none other than Changbin himself, who has tied their wrists and now speaks the ceremonial words of binding. Then his lovers each speak the Viceran words of loyalty and trust, followed by the Polar vow of truth and honesty.
Once those ancient words are spoken, Chan gently moves them around until Jisung rests in his arms, standing with his back against Chan’s chest, Chan’s chin resting on his shoulder. Like that, unnoticed to all of their friends, they slip into a time pocket and Changbin steps closer to put his hand over those of his lovers. They smile at him briefly at the touch, but then their focus is fully on each other again, as it should be.
“Treasure,” Jisung says, looking back into Chan’s eyes, a smile on his face that exudes happiness. “That which is most precious and valuable, which is kept carefully and always admired. That which sparks desire, adoration and peace.”
Changbin’s smile grows at his lover’s words, similarly to how Chan’s entire expression lights up with them, though his lover is composed enough to be able to still speak himself right after.
“Joy,” he names Jisung moments later, his eyes never leaving his new lover’s face either, the two of them caught in their own little bubble. “That which brightens the darkest times and gentles the toughest struggles. That which allows people to push through until the end. That which brings laughter, ease and hope.”
The time pocket releases them, the noise of Polaris and their friends reaching them again, but Chan and Jisung don’t notice it at all, lost in each other’s gaze as they are, smiling so brightly at each other that there is nothing else to do but smile along with them.
“I love you,” Chan tells Jisung in the softest of breaths, and Jisung absolutely shines with it before he whispers it back. In all honesty, Changbin barely remembers to speak the ceremonial words to conclude the ceremony, only reminded of them when Chan glances up at him briefly. When he speaks them aloud right after, the ceremony officially ends with the locking of his lovers’ lips and the loud roaring of approval from their friends beyond.
He doesn’t think Chan and Jisung notice any of it at all, really, and he can’t blame them, for he remembers well how he was exactly the same.
After a full turning of festivities, their friends travel back to Spectre-35 to return to their daily lives. The three of them decide to spend another day on Polaris, visiting familiar places and spending time with a few familiar faces. The witherfowl is also more than happy to click its beak at them in protest for their prolonged absence, but they make it up with endless pets and snacks.
They spend some time with a few of the other Polars - there's plenty of them by now - in order to hear about the changes to Chan's home planet. It's a relaxing time throughout which his two lovers adorably never stop holding hands. By the time the light of the nearest sun disappears again, though, they're back on their ship and ready to fly off.
Freya-21 is their next destination upon Jisung's request. Minho and Jeongin arranged a cabin for them there for a prolonged stay of two handfuls of rotations. Stepping inside is so reminiscent of the last time they were here that Changbin's already smiling before they're full well inside, turning to his lovers as they enter as well.
"Now that we're here," he says, pulling his bag a little better over his shoulder. "Starlight, stardust, my stars." That gets him both of his lovers' full attention. "I just want to make sure you both get ample alone time with each other, so I'll go and find a place to stay in the city for the night. Then you two can-"
He's unable to finish his sentence, Jisung dropping his bag and immediately launching a smothering attack while Chan calmly closes the cabin's front door behind himself, locks it and then stays standing in front of it like a guarding statue, his expression unimpressed.
"Shut up," Jisung's meanwhile telling him, trying to smother his entire face with two hands while he's laughing happily, a smirk on his lover's face as well. "It's fine. We get it. It's ridiculous to think you wouldn't mind either of us being near when you're with the other. Message received and understood! Shut up!"
"Are you sure?" He manages to ask into the limited space of his lover's palm. "Because Chan still looks a little uncmhm-"
Jisung's lips are what smother his next words this time, and then Chan's bright laughter suddenly fills the silence it leaves. The next moment he's wrapped up tightly in his lover's arms, picked up from the ground seemingly effortlessly. It disrupts the kiss, but he can't really complain when Jisung is beaming at him and Chan is carrying him.
"Don't be ridiculous," his starlight declares with a tight-lipped, clearly amused smile. "We're not letting you out of our sight. You're the reason we're together at all, don't you know?"
"You're the reason for a lot of things," Jisung easily agrees from where he's walking along to wherever Chan is carrying him. The bedroom, it turns out, where he's deposited gently but firmly onto the bed, his bag taken from his shoulder and placed to the side of the room with the other two bags.
"Love," Chan says when he returns, and then smiles so widely and warmly when he adds: "Joy." There's a pause as they both drink in the sound of it before Chan continues. "I want to hold you both in my arms tonight. Being home again showed me how much my planet has improved, how many more of us there are now. It feels like things were finally set right again. This would not have been possible without your love."
The words are enough to nip any further teasing in the bud, Changbin moving further up onto the bed while Jisung beams a smile at his lover.
"Channie," he says then, beaming, almost glowing with the happiness and love he exudes, really. "Treasure." That only serves to make Chan, who's sitting down on the bed as well by now, soften down with so much love as well. "I'm going to grab your face like I did last time we were here and kiss you goodnight, but this time it's going to be you I planned to do it to all along."
That, it seems, is a perfect plan of action to his lover, who pulls Changbin into his side with one arm, pressing a kiss onto his cheek, and then reaches one arm out to Jisung as well.
When their lover crawls onto the bed and right into their waiting arms next, reaching for Chan's face to kiss him with great intention, it really does feel like everything's finally set right.