Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Han Jisung lived alone.

He was an Asterin, a species of alien that lived on the stars. At sixteen, young Asterins were supposed to choose a star and make a connection with its nucleus. They would live alone most of the time and would find a mate during an annual festival to preserve their species. Were they lonely? Yes. But did they like their style of living? Yes, very much. 

Jisung's parents met at the festival like everyone else and raised two aliens as their offspring and a cat (a strange creature that only existed on a planet called Earth). Merchants used to trade them with royal families all around the galaxy for large amounts of money until a planet called Zoorya existed, and the prices finally were more accessible to regular families. 

When Jisung's older brother moved to his star, he gifted Jisung an instrument as a goodbye gift. It was called a guitar, and he loved it almost instantly. Jisung had to get manuals and several CDs from Earth to understand how it worked, but once he played a song by himself, he realized that he had found his purpose in life. 

When it was his turn to move out from his parent's star, Jisung chose the biggest star he could find with his eyes. He connected with the nucleus almost instantly, and the surface started filling with bright flowers and tall trees. 

He started selling plants (mostly poisonous) at the intergalactic market like his parents did and kept in touch with his older brother. He refused to adopt a cat yet, because he felt he was not ready to handle another life inside his habitat. But overall, he felt happy. Jisung was so nervous during the first annual festival he attended that he almost threw up. He was only nineteen and was terrified of finding a mate. Fortunately, no one made a move on him, but it was because he left half an hour after his arrival. Asterins were shy and quiet like him, so he was not scared like with other species, but he still felt insecure among them. 

At twenty-three, he still loves being alone in his beautiful star. He created a large river and a waterfall inside the woods. He even bought some animals from Zoorya to keep him company. They were so cute with big round cheeks like his own. According to Felix, the boy who inherited the planet, these animals were called squirrels. Felix was the only other alien, aside from his family, that Jisung loved and cared for. Felix refused to leave Jisung alone until he befriended him, so Jisung had no other option but to accept him as his friend. He visited Felix almost every month and messaged him regularly. 

Han Jisung lived alone. But he felt happy that way. 

☄🪐☀

"I'm finally home!!" Jisung groans, taking off his shoes and all his clothes. He walks naked to his room and jumps into bed, prepared to rest. It was the first day of the planting season, so Jisung spent all day between dirt and seeds. He is exhausted and instantly falls asleep, expecting to wake up late in the afternoon. Instead, he opens his eyes, startled by an earthquake in the middle of the night. 

The star nucleus connected to his heart always warns him when something is wrong. He gets dressed and goes to the front door. He creates a poisonous plant immediately and waits for an attack. After some minutes of silence, he notices the smoke coming from deep inside the woods. Jisung is lazy, so he never explored that part of the star since he created it, and now, he is too scared to do so. 

Jisung uses the nearby plants to the explosion to cover the smoke until the sky is clear again. He waits for at least half an hour outside his home until he realizes it was most likely space trash that crashed into his land. He sighs in relief and decides to check it out in the morning, so he goes to bed again. 

After four hours of trying to sleep and being startled by nightmares, he decides to check what had landed in his territory to be at ease. Jisung is pouting because he wanted to rest for at least ten hours straight and was interrupted by what he hoped to be space trash. His walk to the woods is long and tedious, making him anxious. What if it was an invader? Or a space pirate? He was terrified of space pirates. But maybe it was only space trash, and he had nothing to worry about. But what about the smoke? Jisung keeps overthinking the situation until he feels his hands shaking. He should have bought a knife on the market. He could have traded a gun or-

"OH MY GOD, IT'S A SPACESHIP!" he squeaks when he is near enough to recognize the foreign object. 

Jisung starts panicking again. He is a dead alien. He is going to die alone because of a stupid space pirate, and he hasn't even adopted a new cat! He still has so much more to live! He owes Felix a coffee! He can't just die yet! He has to take Felix to the new coffee shop outside the galaxy. He also has-

A sudden thump startles him, and Jisung turns around to find another alien in front of him with a gun pointing at his head.  

"Where am I?" asks the stranger after a minute of thick silence. 

The stranger has a black mask covering his face, and his clothing seems to be of a soldier, not a space pirate, but Jisung is not so sure. A soldier would not point a gun at an innocent creature at all. Maybe he was a thief who stole that uniform, or maybe-

"I asked you a question," the stranger's voice is soft, but his tone is firm. Jisung is sure that any wrong answer will cause him trouble. 

"I'm-star... I mean, we are in..." mumbles Jisung, trembling on the spot. He is too scared to give a coherent answer to the stranger. 

"Come again?" the stranger almost pulls the trigger with that answer, annoyed by Jisung's stupidity. 

Jisung panics and immediately directs the tall trees around him to capture the stranger. The branches lengthen and surround his attacker, immobilizing him. 

"What the hell..." the stranger tries to free himself, but Jisung tightens the trees around him. He drops the gun, and Jisung takes his chance to grab it. He has no idea how to use it. Still, he points it toward the stranger. 

"Who are you?" says Jisung with a trembling voice. 

"Me? Who the hell are you? Where am I?"

 "I have the gun," states Jisung, trying to be intimidating. "I make the questions. Who are you?"

The stranger chuckles and lowers his head in pity. The mask covering his face makes Jisung catch only a blink of his eyes, deep and terrifying. 

"You don't even know how to hold it. I may be the one trapped, but you are the one trembling, sweetheart."

"Don't call me that." Jisung blushes, but the stranger is correct. He is not sure how to shoot. He has tried to pull the trigger twice, and the gun is still not doing anything! 

"Come on, sweetheart. Just tell me where I am, and then I will leave you safe and sound, yeah?"

"Or how about I use this gun to shut you up?"

"As much as I would love to choke on something, sweetheart, I only want to know what this place is. I thought this was inhabited territory until I found you." The stranger straightens his posture and winks at Jisung before continuing his speech, "But to be honest, I do like the view right now." 

Jisung feels his cheeks heat because of the flirting comment, but he takes advantage of the situation. 

"Well, since I'm not sure how this works, it would be better if I just get rid of it... don't you think?" with a mischievous smile, Jisung drops the gun and opens a hole in the star's surface to swallow it. 

"WHAT the hell!?" the stranger groans and tries to free himself of the branches covering his body. "How are you even doing that? Who are you? What are you?"

"Just an alien. Good luck getting out of there before I call the space police."

Jisung winks at him before leaving the place confidently. When Jisung is far enough to be out of the stranger's view, he sprints towards his home. He is shaking and almost pissing his pants out of fear. 

Once he arrives, he is out of breath and barely has time to take the communication device in his hands to contact the space police when a rock hits him in the wrist. He drops the object and winces in pain. 

"Don't call anyone...please." the stranger is at the entrance of his home, panting with exhaustion. The stranger probably detached himself from the branches with so much force that his uniform got turned apart. 

Jisung gulps while looking at the exposed skin. This stranger has a nice body. Part of his abs are exposed, and his muscular thighs are too. He tries to get his communication device again, but another rock hits the back of his hand. 

"Ouch. Stop doing that!" Jisung complains.

"Then stop trying to use that thing!"

"I'm trying to call the space police before you kill me!"

"I 'm-I'm not trying to kill you," his tone is softer this time, like he understands the fear in Jisung's eyes. 

"Well, I don't believe you, and I will call the space police right now!"

"Please don't!" the stranger begs, and he slowly moves his hands to remove his black mask.  

Jisung feels like the world stops when he sees the stranger's face. When he was learning to play the guitar a few years ago, he never understood love songs. Whether they were describing men or women, the descriptions never made sense to Jisung. Comparing someone to the flowers or the rain was insane. However, looking at the stranger's face now, he realized all love songs and poems must be talking about him. Jisung averts his gaze, embarrassed by his own thoughts. 

"Who...who are you?" mutters Jisung once again. 

"I just...I am trying to escape. If you call the police now, if they find me, I am dead." The stranger frowns, trying to suppress his emotions, mostly his fear. 

"Why? Are you a space pirate?"

The stranger relaxes at that. He lets a dry chuckle escape his lips before denying with his head. Jisung notices the stranger is trembling, but he is not sure if it is out of fear or if he is sick. 

"Nah. But I wish I was. I thought you would recognize me once I got rid of my mask, but I guess I was wrong. You still don't know who I am even after looking at my birthmarks." While the stranger talks, Jisung feels taken aback. Why was Jisung supposed to recognize him? 

"Wait. Have we seen each other before?" He asks incredulously. The stranger laughs at that, making Jisung blush. He has a beautiful laugh. 

"Maybe we have, sweetheart... Once upon a dream." The stranger smiles fondly at him before he trembles and almost loses his balance. 

"Are you okay?" Jisung panics, but he doesn't get closer. The stranger seems pale, and Jisung isn't sure what is wrong with him. 

"When I crashed into this land, I got surrounded by too many smells, so I don't know...maybe they were poisonous? I've never seen those plants before, so I'm not sure. But ever since, I've been feeling dizzy."

"Were the plants you saw...purple?" 

"Yeah, they were."

Before he can say anything else, the stranger collapses on the floor. Jisung runs toward him and starts searching for deep cuts, and aside from the scratches that cover his naked skin, he finds a long and deep cut on his ankle. 

"Shit..." he mumbles before running to the kitchen to start boiling water. He scrambles inside his drawers until he finds the roots his mother grows on her star.

While Jisung's parents dedicated their lives to growing medicinal plants, Jisung decided to cultivate poisonous plants. Therefore, he knows how to create antidotes for his mortal potions. However, he is not sure how long the stranger would resist. He feels guilty for not realizing the other was hurting, but in his defense, the invader pointed a gun at him. And still, he feels the moral obligation to save him. It was his fault that the stranger got intoxicated, after all. 

He prepares the antidote as quickly as possible, and gets a natural cream for the scratches and bandages for the deep cuts. The stranger is still on the floor, but he is breathing. Jisung treats the mortal cut before working on the rest of the scratches. He feels his cheeks heat from embarrassment while applying cream to the stranger's toned muscles. He also considers changing his ripped clothes, but that means looking at the stranger naked, and Jisung is not ready to see that. 

Once the remedy starts healing his skin, Jisung prepares a medical drink his mother taught him the last time she visited Jisung for a cut. Contrary to what others may think, Jisung is not immune to his poisonous plants. He drags the stranger's body outside of his house (he was helping him, but that didn't mean he trusted him yet) and lays him on the soft grass below. There is too much light outside, and Jisung feels bad letting the stranger burn under the heat waves of the nearest star, so he creates a few plants to protect the stranger's body.

Then, Jisung takes a closer look at the stranger's face. He is pretty. His silver hair is long and soft, his plump lips have a pink tone, and his front teeth stand out cutely. His sharp nose accentuates the rest of his features. He also has a few black marks on the bottom lids of his eyes. They appear to be birthmarks, just like the pretty, sparkle freckles Felix has. 

"These freckles are the signature of our clan. They glow in the dark to guide me and sparkle in the sun to make me stand out."  Felix explained to him enough to know that birthmarks represented the essence of his species, so perhaps that is what the stranger meant when he took off his mask and expected Jisung to recognize him.

Jisung analyzes the dots on his face but does not recognize his species. He enters his home again and tries to use his communication device to call Felix to ask him about the stranger's birthmarks. However, when he tries to turn on the communication device, it doesn't work.

Shit. 

 He probably broke the device when the stranger threw him a rock. Jisung sighs in frustration and decides to make his breakfast instead. He would stay home today. He is too tired to work after his hectic morning. 

☄🪐☀

  Twenty hours ago.

"Minho, please, you have to go now!"

"And leave you behind, Chan? No fucking way!" 

"They are already here. At least one of us needs to go."

"Then you get out of here. I will stay."

Chan groans in frustration but says nothing to Minho and keeps walking until they are near the spaceship. That's when he points a gun at his best friend. 

"Get on the spaceship, Minho, that's an order." Chan says with a stern voice. 

"I'm not leaving you here. You get inside, Chan."

"I told you it's an order, and I am your higher officer, so you better get inside that spaceship, or I'm going to shoot you."

"You could never do that," says Minho with a smirk. He would get Chan inside that spaceship or would die on the spot. 

"You are right. I could never shoot you." And without hesitation, Chan points the gun at himself and chuckles. 

"What the hell!? Chan, stop it!" Minho panics and gets closer to him, but Chan firmly holds the gun against his temple. 

"Get inside the spaceship now. Go to the end of the galaxy and wait for us there. Seungmin and I will catch up with you."

"No." Minho is the type of soldier who usually follows orders. But he refuses to leave his crew behind now. San got hurt, and Wooyoung was unconscious. Their mission failed, and they were retrieving, but he refused to escape first. "I will get San. He and Wooyoung can leave. I will stay with you and Seungmin."

"Hong-joong will get them out. Seungmin and I will blow everything to ashes before we leave. Our planet is doomed anyway." Chan gets his finger on the trigger while Minho holds his breath. "You go first as a distraction to attract their ships. We will see you again at the official quarters outside the galaxy. Understood?"

"No." Minho never cries. But right then, he can't help but feel his eyes water at the idea of leaving all of them behind. His teammates, his best friend, even the annoying Seungmin, he can't leave them. 

"Minho, it's not like you have an easy task to do, either. You are our best pilot. You distract the enemy's ships for us to leave safely and unnoticed. You are not abandoning the mission."

"But..." 

"Min, just go already. We will be right behind you." Chan gives him a tight and brief hug before pushing him inside the spaceship. 

"I hate you so much," Minho turns on the engine and reviews his systems, watching how Chan is still pointing the gun at himself to ensure Minho leaves. 

Once the spaceship takes off, Minho doesn't dare to look back until the enemies start following him. He shoots directly at their engines and watches them fall into the infinite space. 

2...3...5...6 He keeps counting them as they fall, until one is left. That's when the last spaceship shoots him. He makes the enemy's engine explode before his ship falls as well. He panics, but finds a little planet that seems to be inhabited. Without more time or choices, Minho heads to it at full speed. He scans the planet and doesn't find much life in it, so he lands on the deepest part of the woods. 

Before he crashes, his communication device receives a message: 

We escaped Min. I already miss you.

He smiles before his mind goes blank, surrounded by strange smells and purple plants. 

☄🪐☀

When Jisung is feeding the squirrels on his front porch that night, he hears a loud groan and a curse. The animals get scared and run away from him. Jisung returns his attention inside his house and realizes the stranger is trying to use his communication device. 

"What are you doing? Go lay down!" He states and enters his house while the stranger gives him a death glare. 

"You broke it!"

"Actually, YOU broke it when you were throwing rocks at me, you asshole."

"Doesn't matter. Do you have another one?"

"No. Now go lie down before you faint again."

"YOU DON'T HAVE ANOTHER COMMUNICATION DEVICE!?" the stranger screams again, making Jisung cover his ears in annoyance. 

"Shut up. Yeah, I don't have another one." The stranger sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose at Jisung's words. 

"I still find you pretty, sweetheart, but I'm pissed with you right now. How can you only have ONE communication device!? How am I supposed to leave your planet then?"

Jisung pouts and heads to the kitchen to give him the natural medication he prepared earlier with his mother's recipe instead of arguing.

"Well, I'm sorry! Unlike you, I don't have a lot of friends." Jisung pours the liquid into a cup and hands it to the stranger. "I don't need two communication devices!"

"What is this?"

"Poison, so you can die and leave me alone."

The stranger chuckles and takes a sip of what he assumes is medication, making disgusted faces. Once he swallows all of it, he returns the cup to Jisung. 

"It didn't taste like poison, but it did taste like shit."

"I'm not sure. I haven't tasted shit before."

The stranger laughs fondly at that, making Jisung smile against his will. They stare at each other for a while before the stranger talks again. 

"You are funny, sweetheart."

"Stop calling me that," he mumbles while heat spreads on his cheeks. 

"But how else should I call you? I don't know your name."

Jisung hesitates, but he is not scared of the stranger anymore. While he was unconscious, Jisung was afraid the invader was going to die at one point, so Jisung checked on him periodically. That's when he noticed the stranger was muttering nonsense in his sleep. He was cute, and after almost eight hours of watching the stranger unconscious, Jisung didn't fear for his life anymore.

"I'm Han. Han Jisung."

"Nice to meet you." The stranger smiles at him and bows slightly in front of him. "I'm Officer Lee Minho."

"Officer? So you are a soldier?" 

"Pretty much, yes. I fought for my planet, but not in a traditional way. Thank you for not calling the space police, by the way."

Before Jisung can answer something, Minho's stomach makes a loud noise to get their attention. Minho blushes and grabs his tummy, ashamed of its behavior. 

"Come with me, I'll make dinner."

Before getting started, Jisung gives Minho some comfy clothes to change into. That way, he can stop staring at his abs almost every second. Minho gives him another charming smile before he takes a shower and dresses in the new clothing. Jisung starts making soup of roots because he has no energy to prepare anything else. He waits for Minho to finish his bath so they can eat together. 

Jisung frowns when he realizes he is nervous about eating with him, and the problem is Minho's stupid face. If Minho was ugly, he could eat without worrying about doing something wrong, but with Minho, Jisung felt he was wrong just by being alive next to him. How can an ordinary Asterin like Jisung coexist with a beautiful being like Minho? 

"Thank you for the shower, sweetheart. And thank you for saving my life. Some poison was affecting my body, right?" Minho dries his hair with a towel and places it on the floor with his ripped uniform. 

"No worries. It was kind of my fault that you were intoxicated after all, so I would be an asshole if I didn't attempt to save your life, at least."

"You are still an asshole for breaking your communication device and for leaving us without a way of escaping, though." Jisung is about to reply when Minho winks at him and takes a spoonful of homemade soup. He tries to suppress his disgusted face, but Jisung notices it anyway. 

"I would be offended if I didn't know my food sucks. You can spit it if you want."

"No. It's not bad. It just tastes like..."

"Vomit? Well, it's that or dying of starvation."

"No, I mean it. It's not bad. It just needs salt. That's it." Minho takes another sip and moans delighted, as if he is eating his favorite food instead of a miserable soup of roots. 

"You are an idiot." But he smiles nevertheless at Minho's antics. 

Once they finish eating, Jisung decides it's time to talk while he forces Minho to apply the cream on his cuts and scratches. 

"This feels nice. Did you make the poison and the medicine yourself?" 

Jisung nods shyly and tells Minho that he grows every plant on his star. It turns out Minho doesn't know anything about Asterins. He was not aware that aliens could live on stars. 

"So this is a star, not a planet, and you can control everything here? The temperature as well?"

"Yeah. I'm connected to the star's nucleus, so I use our combined energies to create plants and trees, but I get tired if I grow too much at once. I can control the temperature as well, but not for too long. This star is dying anyway, so I cannot make it hotter than it is now."

"Wait. What do you mean it's dying?" Minho frowns at that, and then he seems to panic. "Are you dying, sweetheart?" 

Minho places his palm over his forehead, checking his temperature. Then, he measures the surface of the star as well. 

"If the surface is hotter than your forehead, are you dying?"

"No. I'm not dying yet, dumbass. Our species live on dying stars of our own will. We chose them because their heat is nice enough for us to live comfortably. We stay with them until all their energy drains and until our heart stops beating. We do not kill each other. We remain together until death because Asterins don't want any star to die alone."

"So this star will die with you, and you will die with it. That's sad and lonely." Minho seems deep in thought, processing all this information about Asterins, but he keeps asking questions. "Are you allowed to have a mate? Or do you have to remain lonely forever with the star?"

"We have a festival where we can get a mate, but I'm not a fan of it, so I usually stay at home."

Jisung wonders if Minho thinks of him as someone pathetic. He wants to believe he is not, but Minho seems the type of alien who can get hundreds of bodies in his bed, and Jisung hasn't even kissed anyone yet. But Minho nods and agrees with him immediately. 

"I know what you mean. My friends always drag me to parties that I usually leave minutes after our arrival. I prefer staying at home as well."

"What about you? What are you?" Jisung questions with a smile. 

"I'm a Noctis." Minho is very proud of his species and even points to the little dots in his eyes, but he doesn't say anything else, as if he is expecting Jisung to know everything already. 

"And...?" he asks shyly, tilting his head to the side. Was he supposed to know something about him? 

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT A NOCTIS IS!?" Minho's scream startles him, so he punches him on the shoulder.  

"Stop with the screaming! It's only you and me here. I can hear you well enough. And yeah, I don't know anything about your species, so tell me more like a normal alien." Jisung huffs while Minho stares at him in disbelief. 

"You know, this is bad for my ego. The fact that you don't know me makes me believe I'm doing my job for nothing." 

"You are proud as fuck, I see. Well, let's get ready for bed then. I don't care about you anyway." Jisung is the one offended by the stranger now. 

The Asterin stands up, and gathers the dishes to place them in the sink. He knows Minho is looking at him with a frown, but he ignores him and cleans the table. 

"I'll do the dishes," Minho offers while Jisung is closing the windows in the kitchen. 

Jisung nods his head in acknowledgment, and before he leaves, Minho's voice interrupts the silence between them.

"A Noctis is a soldier that goes from planet to planet to defend innocent creatures. We are well known across the galaxy due to the marks on our eyes. I thought you would recognize me if you saw them, but I guess I was wrong." 

Jisung stays quiet for a moment. How is he supposed to answer that? Apparently, Minho is a stupid superhero, while Jisung is a nobody surrounded by plants and loneliness. He feels pathetic and super jealous. 

"I don't care." Jisung spits harshly at him and keeps walking to his bedroom. He wonders if Minho would like to sleep inside, but they are still strangers, and Jisung is mad at him for being handsome and a superhero, so he decides Minho will stay outside. His star is hot enough to keep him warm, anyway. 

"Sweetheart, wait," Minho calls him like he wants to say something else, but Jisung has had enough of him.

"You sleep outside. We can talk about your way of leaving tomorrow. Don't do anything weird."

Jisung slams his bedroom door and strips to sleep like he always does. He hears the sink water stop running after a while, and then he hears the sound of the kitchen door closing. Jisung sighs contently and falls asleep. That night, he remembers one of his mother's bedtime stories. 

"One day, when your father and I were at one of the ice planets trying to get more information about a specific flower, some space pirates invaded us." 

His mother was good at telling stories. She made funny faces and articulated every word carefully for her offspring to stay interested in the story. Jisung's older brother gasped and held his plushie tight to his chest. 

"We were terrified. The space police were not in sight, and the pirates even punched a couple of aliens who tried to defend themselves."

"How did you escape? Did Dad fight them?" Jisung asked with his big, doe eyes and lips slightly parted in awe. His mother had to pinch his cheek at the sight. He was always so adorable.

"No, but your Dad was brave enough to hide our money to avoid being robbed. We were not going to give our goods that easily."

"What happened then?" Jisung's older brother asked with a frown. He didn't like sad stories before going to bed. 

"Then, we were saved by a handsome young alien with little dots in the bottom lid of his eyes. He was strong, defeating all the pirates and giving all the aliens their money back."

"That's so cool!" Jisung exclaimed, thinking about his parent's savior. 

"Who was that alien?" His older brother yawns, so his mother tugs him in bed, ready to let them sleep. 

"He was a Noctis, a galaxy traveler. They defend aliens in need, not expecting anything in return."

"Why do they do that?" Jisung is tugged in bed as well. His mother gives him a peck on the cheek and then turns to his older brother, giving him a peck as well. 

"I don't know. I have never asked a Noctis why they do what they do. Maybe you should ask them one day."

☄🪐☀

 Minho is angry as hell. Jisung is a resented idiot. Was Minho a pet to deserve to sleep outside? 

"Be a soldier, they say... It will be fun, they say," Minho mumbles his complaints, kicking small rocks with his left foot. "You will meet tons of cute aliens, and you will be a hero everywhere you go, they say. But no one mentioned sleeping outside in the fucking cold!"

After a while, he decides to lie down. The grass is as fluffy as a bed, and the temperature is nice enough to feel cozy, but he still feels annoyed. He deserves the treatment of a king for saving hundreds of planets, not being ignored in the middle of the night. His host is a pain in the ass. Jisung has done several things that make his blood boil in anger: he poisoned Minho, ripped his uniform, broke the only communication device available, ignored Minho's description of his species, and made Minho sleep outside. 

He is not tired after fainting and sleeping all day, so instead of listing more complaints in his head, Minho stands up and walks around. It takes him a while to return to his ship, but the natural light of the surface of Jisung's star helps him to find the correct path. He checks the status of his ship, and just as expected, everything is worse now that he can think clearly. 

"Okay..." he tries to use his communication device, but just as expected, it's damaged. "Fuck. Then what about this?"

The navigation system is not working either, so he gives up and opens the back of the ship, realizing the main engine received some damage during his last fight. Minho groans in annoyance. There are wires and broken pieces everywhere! He takes a deep breath and starts working on his ship. 

☄🪐☀

"What the hell are you doing here!?" Minho is startled by Jisung's voice, but he plays it cool and turns around with a flirty smile. 

"Good morning, sweetheart. I'm happy to see you here. Thank you for asking how my day is going. By the way, I enjoyed sleeping between dirt and a cold breeze last night, so thank you for forcing me to do it. How is your day going?"

Jisung scoffs at his rambling. He wants to punch him in the face, but instead, he answers with the same level of sarcasm. 

"Not very good, thank you for asking. An idiot is invading my star, and that makes me nervous. Can you believe he complained about me leaving him outside the house, even if we are strangers?" Jisung smiles charmingly at him while Minho scoffs. 

"Oh my, that must be awful. Are you hurt? Did he make you something horrible to force him to sleep outside?" Minho doesn't turn to face Jisung, but he is smiling, obviously trying to get under his skin. 

"Well, he hasn't hurt me physically, but it's traumatizing watching an alien land on my star and point a gun at my face, you know?"

Minho finally turns around laughing, and Jisung melts at the sight. The Noctis is extra cute when he laughs. Not only the sound of his laugh, but also his eyes became little crescents making him adorable. 

"I stand my words, sweetheart, you are funny."

"I don't care. What the hell are you doing here?"

"Playing football. I'm winning, by the way." Jisung is the one laughing against his will this time. He shakes his head and throws Minho a bunch of dried roots, snacks he makes to eat outside when he is busy. 

"Just don't die out here, and go back to my house for dinner." 

"Wait," Minho stops him when he notices Jisung is walking away. "How do I know if the plants out here are poisonous?"

"The purple ones are dangerous, the green ones are food, and the red and yellow ones are decoration." Jisung watches him intently to confirm the status of his bruises, but Minho nods and turns his back to him. "How are your cuts? Are they healing?" 

"Yeah, they are fine."

"You'll apply the cream again tonight and drink more of the natural remedy I made, so come back early."

Jisung doesn't wait for any reply and walks away. Minho blushes at the caring words. Even if he is a stranger in the star, Jisung has been so sweet to him. He healed his wounds, made him dinner, and borrowed his clothes. Additionally, he had to admit that Jisung was super cute. 

When Minho saw Jisung for the first time, he thought he was dead and that he was watching an angel. Once he realized he was still alive due to the pain of his bruises, Minho thought Jisung was the most beautiful alien he had ever seen. He was not much taller than him, but his skin was a tone darker than his. Probably for being surrounded too much by the star's heat waves, but his tanned skin made him prettier. He didn't have birthmarks on his face as Minho did, but he had two green antennas on top of his head. He also had vine tattoos on his fingers, but Minho was sure they had to be related to the star. 

Even if he despised Jisung's attitude, he had to admit that Jisung was pretty. He takes one of the snacks Jisung gave him and keeps working. He is determined to make the main system work. Minho takes a nap between the intense work of repairing the ship and walks around to clear his mind. He avoids the purple plants, as Jisung said. 

Once he can turn on one light of the ship, he decides it's time to return to the house. There is no one inside, so he heads straight to the bathroom. He chuckles when he sees a little paper note pasted on the door's surface. 

You can shower, but don't use the hot water (I have a limited amount per day). There are clean clothes inside (take the biggest ones). I will wash your dirty clothes, so leave them outside.

"Cute," he murmurs, reading the words carefully. He had been on many planets all over the galaxy, so he knew several languages and writing systems. That's how he realizes he is in sector seven, outside the commercial district. Jisung's writing is typical of that area. Now that he knows where he is, Minho feels less anxious. 

He takes a quick shower with cold water and enters the kitchen. Jisung is not home yet, so he decides to make dinner. To be honest, he almost threw up Jisung's soup last night, but his mother raised him well enough to be a nice guest. However, he is not willing to eat another nasty soup like that again. Ever. 

He checks the food supplies and recognizes enough ingredients to start making dinner. He makes a noodle soup with fresh vegetables. He avoids the farthest boxes with an "X" on top of them, realizing those probably contain poisonous plants. 

☄🪐☀

Jisung is tired. Not working on the land yesterday made him have to work double today. He needs a bath immediately. When he is close enough to the front door, he recognizes the smell of homemade food. His stomach grumbles loudly, so he enters the house salivating. It has been a while since he smelled food like that. 

"Oh, you're back. The dinner is almost ready." Minho gives him a short smile and adds more salt to the soup. 

"Are you trying to poison me?" Jisung says the first words that come to his mind and gets closer to Minho. 

"No, I'm trying to return a favor. You made dinner yesterday, and I made dinner today."

"Okay, just let me try it first."

Jisung takes a kitchen knife and makes a small cut in his forearm until there is green blood running out. Minho panics and grabs the nearest towel, but Jisung moves him away, and takes the spoon Minho was using to stir the soup to pour some on his bruise. 

"What the hell?" Minho takes the spoon away from him and turns off the stove's heat. "Where's your first kit aid? Let me clean the wound."

"You didn't poison it," Jisung interrupts him. He has a surprised expression on his face and smiles when Minho grabs the red box with medical supplies on top of the fridge.

Minho treats the cut with a pointed look and scolds him harshly. 

"I know you don't trust me, but don't hurt yourself like that ever again. If you didn't want to eat it, you only had to discard it. Besides, you can get an infection by cutting yourself like that. Stop being reckless."

Jisung scoffs at Minho's words but melts in the caring hands that clean the blood off his arm and softly tides the cut. 

"Stop smiling, you masochist. I'm serious. You could have..."

"I know, but my body is familiar with all the poisonous plants on the star. I was checking if you mistook a poisonous plant with a normal one. I practically saved our lives." Jisung smiles again and sits at the dinner table immediately. "Now, you better give me a big portion of that soup. It smells heavenly, and I'm starving!!"

"You're insane." Minho clears his throat and avoids Jisung's gaze, but the tips of his ears are red. 

He serves two bowls with noodles and hands one to Jisung, who excitedly takes the first bite. His eyes sparkle after tasting the food, and he immediately takes another bite. 

"What the hell? Are you good at cooking too? Why are you so perfect? I hate you." He munches his food, smiling to himself when he notices the face of the stranger is crimson red. Cute. 

Once they finish eating, Jisung explains to Minho where all his cooking supplies are, and he also explains the poisonous ingredients he had to avoid. Minho nods in agreement while doing the dishes. 

"So I can prepare dinner tomorrow as well?"

"You are staying tomorrow?" Asks Jisung with a surprised tone. Minho frowns and raises an eyebrow. 

"Yeah? My ship is not working."

"But I thought...I mean, you were repairing it this morning, right?"

"I know. But it is too fucked up for me to fix it in one day, and I don't have the proper tools."

"Oh." Jisung blushes at his stupidity. In his defense, he doesn't know anything about mechanical stuff. "I have some tools you can use, but I don't have any other ship you could borrow to leave. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. But I would love to see your tools if that's okay?"

Jisung nods and gets him all the stuff his father gave to him. Minho checks every tool carefully and asks permission to borrow some of them. 

"Sure, I don't use them anyway."

"Thanks. I will try to leave as soon as possible, but by any chance, do you know where I can buy a new engine?"

"To be honest, I don't. But a ship comes every month to pick me up to sell my stuff at the market. You can use that to leave."

"Great! I still need my ship, though. Would it be okay if I stay here until I repair it? Once I get a new engine, I can leave that same day."

"Sure. It's just, well, the ship came last week, so you would have to stay here for at least three more weeks."

"Can't you ask for it to come earlier?"

"I could if I had my communication device, but..."

Jisung doesn't finish his sentence. Both sigh at the heavy news. They're stuck until further notice unless Minho miraculously repairs the ship without an engine. 

"Then I will prepare dinner until the day I leave. As a payment for your hospitality. Would that be okay?"

"Wow. You hate my food that much?"

"You enjoyed my food today, so stop complaining."

"You are so ungrateful. I put my heart and soul into that root soup I gave you." Jisung tries to fake offense, but he is obviously grinning. 

"Liar. You only boiled water with roots and even forgot to put salt on it."

"I did put salt on it!"

"How much?" Minho raises an eyebrow again and smirks when Jisung opens and closes his mouth several times, trying to find the best answer. 

"Shit. I did forget the salt."

"Told you."

They look at each other in comfortable silence, smiling. The tense atmosphere faded away with all the bickering. 

As expected, Minho has to sleep outside again. He mumbles his complaints but leaves the house, nevertheless. The grass is as comfy as yesterday. Minho shouldn't be complaining, but he thinks Jisung is too prideful for his own good. 

☄🪐☀

They keep the same routine for some days. They barely talk or interact during the day, and during the night, they bicker. Minho still sleeps outside, and Jisung doesn't care. Besides food, they don't talk about anything. Minho's wounds healed completely, so they don't interact anymore. 

Not that it matters, anyway. 

☄🪐☀

One morning, Minho is startled awake by a loud thump. When he turns around, he sees Jisung carrying a heavy bag of God knows what, but he is definitely having a hard time with it. 

"Shit. Sorry to wake you up. I forgot you were here." Jisung apologizes with a short smile and keeps dragging the bag by the garden. Minho thinks he will stop there, but Jisung keeps moving it farther away. 

"What the hell?" Minho mumbles with a tired yawn and stretches his arms above his head before standing up and walking towards the Asterin. 

"Sorry if it's too early for you to wake up. I have a lot of work to do today." Jisung apologizes when Minho gets closer.

"Morning, sweetheart. What are you doing?" He asks, inspecting the bag that is almost his height, containing a lot of long metal poles. He also notices how much Jisung is sweating. 

"I forgot that we have a full moon tonight," Jisung explains, dragging the bag again. "I need to prepare the star for it. You don't have to worry about it, though. I will take care of it."

"I don't understand. Prepare the star for what?"

"Pests. Asterins don't have rivals around the galaxy, but we do have natural enemies: pests that wander during full moons. There are three moons between all our stars, so we face them several times a year. Due to the location of my star, which is farther away than the others, I only have to protect the front of it all year, but tonight..."

Jisung sighed and stopped moving to clean the sweat on his forehead. Minho patiently waits for him to recover his breath before talking again. 

"But today, you have to face three full moons and all of his pests combined," Minho says without hesitation, and Jisung nods with a satisfied smile. Minho was smart. 

"Usually, the other Asterins get rid of the pests before they reach my star because they are in front of me, but today, I need to be more careful."

None of them say anything for a while, and Jisung is ready to move again, but Minho stops him and takes hold of the bag himself.

"I can help." Minho offers without thinking. He should be repairing his ship to get out as soon as possible. He was going to be busy that day as well. He planned to fix the ship's console, which was big enough to keep him entertained for at least two days. He can't be out here losing his time. But looking at a small Jisung carrying that heavy bag himself made something in Minho's chest ache. 

"You don't have to. I can do it myself." Jisung frowns and tries to recover the bag without success. Minho is too strong for his liking, and Jisung is too proud to let him help. 

"I want to help." Minho's voice is stern and makes Jisung shiver. They don't interact with each other since Minho's wounds healed, as if that was the only thing they had in common. Listening to this demanding voice of Minho is new (kind of exciting), but Jisung doesn't want to hear it anymore. It makes him feel too much. 

"I can do it myself. Besides, you don't know what to do."

"Then show me."

For some reason, his heart is telling him to stay. Minho has good intuition, so he knows something dangerous is coming. He is a Noctis, after all. He must keep other aliens safe. Even if Han Jisung is fucking annoying, he has to help him one way or another. 

Unfortunately, Minho doesn't know that Jisung's ego is a problem sometimes. He had a lot of enemies on the galactic market; his poisons were good, but sometimes they were too expensive, and Jisung was too proud to reduce the price. For Jisung, accepting Minho's help was humiliating. He couldn't just say yes without feeling a punch in his ego. 

"No. I will be fine on my own." Jisung says once again, and Minho drops the bag unceremoniously. 

"I'm just trying to help." He clenches his jaw, obviously annoyed by Jisung's refusal. 

"I don't need help," Jisung answers, dragging the heavy bag himself again. 

"Fuck you." Minho spits the words and gets away as soon as possible. Minutes later, Jisung is not able to see him anymore. Something in his chest hurts, but he ignores it and keeps moving forward. 

☄🪐☀

Jisung was usually an asshole, but refusing Minho's help like that was rude enough to ruin his whole day. Minho made dinner as always, and he was relieved when he finished eating while Jisung was still nowhere to be seen. He went to sleep, trying to avoid Jisung for the rest of the night. After a while, he realized he couldn't sleep. Jisung's absence made him too anxious.

Minho stands up and heads toward the last place he saw Jisung that morning. He is mad at him, but Minho is still a Noctis. If something happens to that stupid alien on his watch, Chan will never forgive him. He walks until he finally finds Jisung curled up on the floor, holding a spare. He is asleep. 

"Wake up, shithead," says Minho with no care at all and kicks him softly on the butt. Jisung wakes up startled and tries to get hold of the spare with no success. 

"Fuck. What the hell are you doing here?" 

"I was checking on Mr. ~I can do everything by myself~ since it is too late already and you haven't had dinner." Jisung scoffs and stands up, holding the spare with his right hand. 

"I know it's late, and I already ate dinner." Jisung signals to the floor, where Minho sees some empty snack packages of the roots they eat when they are busy during the day. 

"Okay. Are you done with your special mission of being an asshole?"

Jisung is about to tell him to fuck off when the first creature hits the electric field. Minho startles, and Jisung takes a step forward. In any second, some of them will cross the shield. 

Minho takes a quick sight at the surface of the star. It usually has a friendly green tone all day, but due to the creatures hitting the shield, the star's surface is turning red. He also notices the position of the long metal poles he saw that morning. Jisung inserted them on the surface, making an electrified shield. Minho is about to ask him something when he notices Jisung is trembling. In no time, three weird blue creatures are running towards them. Jisung is fast enough to kill two with the spare, while Minho knocks out the third one with a kick. 

"Those are the pests?"

"Yeah. Moon creatures. They eat everything, killing complete ecosystems if you don't stop them on time."

The electrified shield is working, but Minho knows it won't stop all the creatures trying to enter the star. The surface of the star turns even redder when Jisung trembles. Minho realizes it probably changes its color based on Jisung's feelings. If green means normal/happy, red means fear. 

The next creature that enters is four times bigger than the previous ones, so Jisung tries to stop it with the spare, but it is too strong, making Jisung take a step back. He drops the spare to create a purple plant and strangles the pest.  

Five more creatures cross the shield, and Jisung has no time to recover the spare, so he keeps using the purple plants to stop them. Minho takes the spare when one of the creatures gets too close to Jisung's ankle and kills it without hesitation. Jisung looks at him with his sparkly, big eyes and mutters a  "thank you"  before the next wave of creatures attacks them. 

They spend almost an hour killing the moon creatures that enter the star with no problem when Minho notices the star is tinkling, and Jisung loses his balance. Three creatures try to jump on him, but Minho stops them in time. 

"Everything okay, sweetheart?" Minho asks with a raspy voice. He is starting to get tired. 

"I'm exhausted," Jisung mumbles, collapsing on the floor. 

And suddenly, the star's surface turns white. Minho curses and runs towards Jisung to cover him with his body. He keeps killing the creatures until they finally stop entering. He listens carefully and makes sure there are no further threats around them for at least half an hour when he finally decides they are safe. 

"Jisung!" Minho kneels and checks his vital signs carefully. He sighs in relief when everything is normal. His two hearts are beating in sync, and his breath is regular. Jisung has no bruises (Minho took care of that), but he is not answering Minho's words, which is no good.

Minho checks his surroundings once more before he carries Jisung home. He heads towards his bedroom and lays him on the bed with care. Jisung's clothing is dirty from working outside all day, so Minho takes a pair of sweatpants and a plain shirt to change him. He tries his best not to stare at Jisung's naked torso but fails miserably. Jisung is pretty. 

"Shit. Sorry for staring." He apologizes out loud even if Jisung can't hear him and completes his duty almost with his eyes closed. 

Once he finishes changing Jisung, Minho tucks him in bed and gets a rag to clean Jisung's sweaty forehead. The star's surface is still emitting a white light, but Minho can see a trail of green in it. He finally lets himself breathe normally again and walks around Jisung's bedroom. He has a lot of things from Earth, and Minho recognizes some of them, but most of Jisung's stuff is unknown to him. As expected, the alien is messy as hell. Judging from his kitchen, Minho knew Jisung was not the type of alien to clean as he should. 

Minho considers sleeping outside but refuses to abandon Jisung unconscious, so he places a chair next to Jisung's bed and checks Jisung's hands. The vine tattoos on his fingers grew and covered almost all his arms, but some marks were already fading. He remembered Jisung's words the first time they talked about his species: He gets tired if he grows many plants at once. Jisung should be fine after getting some rest, so he lets him sleep. 

☄🪐☀

The first thing Jisung notices when he opens his eyes is the star stickers on the ceiling of his room. He startles at that. He was supposed to be outside, killing the moon creatures. But he is lying on his bed. 

The second thing he notices is the warm feeling on his left hand. He looks down and startles again, watching Minho's fingers interlocked with his. The Noctis is sleeping, face sunken on the mattress, holding Jisung's hand. 

Jisung frowns at that. Using his right hand, he pinches Minho to wake him up. The Noctis moves a little and squeezes Jisung's hand with more strength.

"Ow! let go." Jisung mumbles and frees his hand off the tight grip.  

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty. How are you feeling?" Minho's raspy voice makes Jisung feel dizzy, but he thinks it is probably due to the lack of rest. 

"What are you doing here?"

"~Thank you for saving my life, Minho~" The Noctis fakes Jisung's voice, and Jisung rolls his eyes in annoyance. "You're welcome, sweetheart... Me? Oh, don't worry about me. I got some bruises, and my back hurts like hell from sleeping on the chair, but I'm fine. Thanks for asking, though."

"I didn't force you to sleep here, dumbass. You could have waited outside." Jisung is not trying to be rude. He wants to annoy Minho a little more before thanking him.

"I stayed here to make sure you woke up. Otherwise, I would have had to kiss you," says Minho, sending him a wink. Jisung blushes at that and throws him a pillow that Minho dodges easily. 

"Why would you have to kiss me, you weirdo?"

"I told you. Because you were like Sleeping Beauty."

"Who the hell is Sleeping Beauty?" 

Minho gasps dramatically and stands up, bringing his palm to his heart. Jisung laughs and smiles at him fondly. Minho is such a dork. 

"You don't know who Aurora is?"

"No, Minho, I don't."

"Aurora IS Sleeping Beauty. She is the most beautiful princess on Earth!" 

"You are in love with a princess on Earth?" Jisung raises an eyebrow, and his smile fades away at the revelation.  

"Maybe when I was a kid. But no, dumbass. I am not. You don't have to be jealous. I'm single for you." Minho winks again, and Jisung grabs another pillow but keeps it in his embrace. 

"I still don't get it."

"Aurora is a character in a movie called Sleeping Beauty. You haven't seen it, right?" Jisung denies with the head and smiles again, knowing that Minho is single. Wait. Why does that matter to him? "Let's watch the movie today. Do you have a movie projector?"

Minho forces Jisung to rest all day. He feeds the Asterin with the leftovers from last night and goes to his ship to get the movie. He usually spent most of his time in space, so he had to keep himself entertained with something. As expected, the movie files are in good condition. He repairs Jisung's movie projector and checks on the Asterin periodically. 

In the afternoon, Jisung forces the Noctis to feed the squirrels since he can't leave the bed because Minho said so, and the Noctis obeys. However, he gets attacked by them. 

"Sweetheart, your siblings hate me."

"First of all, stop calling me that. Second of all, the squirrels are not my siblings."

"Even if they are not your siblings, isn't it a little narcissistic to make creatures that look exactly like you, sweetheart?" asks Minho, ignoring the first comment while cleaning the scratches in his arms. 

"I can't create animals, only plants. I adopted the squirrels on a planet called Zoorya. They are originally from Earth, adapted to live in space."

"And how come they look exactly like you?"

"I'm not sure. But squirrels are cute, just like me." Jisung raises his eyebrows suggestively, and Minho scoffs. "Besides, there is an animal that looks like you too."

"If you are trying to insult me, that's a nice try, but you should know I don't know much about Earth like you. It's not my favorite planet. Too much violence."

"Agreed, but their animals are pretty. Humans are really creative as well. That's why we are going to watch one of their movies, right? And for the record, I was not trying to insult you. I just wanted to say there is also an animal that looks like you."

"Mhm, and how is it?" asks Minho, installing the movie projector outside the house per Jisung's request. 

"They are called cats. They have the same scary gaze as you and are mischievous, but overall, they are cute."

"I will assume that you consider me cute, then. Thanks for the compliment, sweetheart."

"Fuck you. Are you done with the projector? I'm getting bored." Jisung blushes and tries to change the subject, but Minho is giggling. He is really annoying.

"Done. Enjoy the movie, or I won't talk to you anymore."

Jisung rolls his eyes but gets immersed in the movie from the beginning. The animation is nice, but it is not like the movies Jisung is used to. However, he avoids blinking so he doesn't miss any second. 

"That's what you told me when we met!" Jisung excitedly exclaims when Phillip tells Aurora they met  once upon a dream . Minho nods and smiles fondly at him. 

When the main couple in the movie dance and sing as a duet, Jisung asks Minho to rewind the song twice. 

"Do you want to dance as well?" asks Minho teasingly, expecting to watch Jisung blush. However, the alien nods and stands up in a second.  

"Show me."

"I..." Minho's words get stuck in his mouth, but Jisung doesn't give him time to recover from the sudden turn of events and forces him to stand up as well, taking his hand. 

"Hurry up! I want to watch the rest of the movie after we dance."

Minho blushes at that, not expecting Jisung's sudden boldness, but he guides Jisung through the dance as he knows the choreography by heart. He has seen this movie thousands of times since he was a kid. 

"Dancing helps me memorize the melody of the song. It's nice that you know the choreography." Admits Jisung, watching his feet moving in sync with Minho's. 

On their third time dancing, Jisung smiles and tells Minho how much he likes the song. Minho's heart beats faster at that, and his ears turn red, but he calms himself down. Shit, Jisung is too much sometimes. How can someone be so innocent and cute? 

When Jisung gets tired, they keep playing the movie until the end. Minho chuckles when Jisung cries on the scene where the fairies make the kingdom sleep with Aurora. He also laughs when Jisung insults Maleficent for trying to kill Phillip. 

Jisung gasps when the prince kisses Aurora, and when she wakes up from the spell, Jisung almost jumps from excitement. When the movie ends, they get immersed in a deep conversation about the story. 

"I hated that bitch!" Jisung exclaims when they start talking about the characters. 

"No way! Maleficent is an icon. You cannot hate her!"

"Oh, but my favorite character was Phillip. He broke that stupid spell with one kiss."

"Not just any kiss, sweetheart. Phillip broke it with a TRUE love kiss." Minho winks at him, and Jisung creates a plant with enough force below Minho's chin to punch him. 

Jisung laughs loudly when the plant punches Minho. The Noctis groans in annoyance, uproots the plant, and caresses his chin. He frowns at Jisung, but he is smiling.

 "So, your favorite character is Aurora?" asks Jisung after his laugh falters. 

"Yeah. Aurora is so pretty! She is kind, she loves animals and has a beautiful voice. She kisses Phillip as well. I wanted to kiss Phillip the first time I watched the movie." Admits Minho with a smile, and he loves the fact that Jisung is smiling as well. 

"I get what you mean. But I would prefer to kiss Aurora."

They finally stand up and gather all their things. Minho brushes his teeth, and when he is about to go outside, he finds Jisung in the living room with a pillow in his hands. 

"You should...stay inside tonight," Jisung's voice is soft. Minho would have missed his words if he hadn't listened carefully. 

Minho was about to tease him about how he finally understood all his charms to make Jisung feel embarrassed. However, Jisung is blushing already. He is fidgeting with the pillow he is holding and can't keep direct eye contact. That makes Minho's heart melt. Jisung is cute, so Minho doesn't feel like teasing him anymore. 

"Are you sure? I got used to sleeping outside already." He is partially lying. Minho wants to sleep inside a house again but doesn't want to make Jisung uncomfortable. 

Jisung shakes his head and gets closer to Minho. The air around them suddenly becomes thicker.  

"I'm sure. Please sleep here tonight." Jisung pleads with his beautiful doe eyes, making Minho blush. "Thank you for keeping me safe yesterday, thank you for letting me rest today, and... and thank you for dancing with me."

Jisung speaks in a rush, gives Minho the pillow, and runs to his bedroom without looking back. The Noctis chuckles and gets ready to sleep on the futon near the main entrance. Before he closes his eyes, Minho notices the star's light has a soft pink tone. It reminds him of Jisung blushing. How cute.  

☄🪐☀

The next day, Minho doesn't leave Jisung's side. They clean the star and evaluate the damaged land. Jisung has to plant more seeds to minimize the impact of the lost food. Minho helps to carry the heavy stuff off the electric field and makes funny jokes to make Jisung laugh. They speak comfortably about everything, from silly things to Minho's childhood. 

"So you don't have brothers... I would have traded my older brother with you for some chocolate. Why didn't you come earlier?" jokes Jisung, making Minho laugh. 

"My bad, I should have known that. But I would rather keep you than your older brother."

"Ew." Jisung fakes disgust, trying to hide the blush on his cheeks.

"To be honest, I wanted a younger brother until I met Kim Seungmin. He made me realize I was better alone."

"Is he your best friend?"

"More than a friend, he is like the little moon pests we fought the other day. You know, annoying creatures that visit once in a while."

"How rude! But I didn't expect you to have any friends at all." Minho throws him a bottle of water while Jisung laughs. 

"I do miss someone, though," Minho speaks quietly after their laughs fade. Jisung stops what he is doing to look him in the eyes. "When the war started on my planet, my whole family escaped to the farthest sector of the galaxy. We spent most of our time on refugees, and that's when I met my best friend. Chan is..."

Minho interrupts himself, trying to suppress his emotions, like he doesn't want to be perceived as soft, but Jisung can see how important  Chan  is. 

"Chan is a pain in the ass. He forced me to join our special forces to be a soldier. Even when we lost our planet due to war, our people stayed strong and kept helping others. After me and Chan became soldiers, we met Seungmin. Since then, we always go on missions together."

"If I may ask, why didn't you want me to call the space police if you are some kind of hero?" Jisung asks to avoid the ache in his heart after watching Minho speak fondly about Chan. Was he feeling jealous? He refused to believe that. 

"I am a good alien, but I was not supposed to be in this sector." Minho clears his throat and averts his gaze. "When we lost our planet due to war, our parents gave up on it. We were sedentary anyway, so we didn't care much about having a planet or not. But Chan and I couldn't let it go, so we reunited our closest comrades and went on a secret mission to recover our planet. We tried to scare the aliens that conquered us, but they were too much to handle. Seungmin took a step forward and decided to make the planet explode. After all, our planet was used only to create weapons. There were no civilians on it."

After a few minutes of silence, Jisung finally understands everything. If the space police found Minho in his sector, they would have assumed he was responsible for the explosion. They would have tortured Minho until he revealed the names of his allies. 

"Space police don't care about justice. They did nothing when our planet was conquered or when we had to live as foreigners all over the galaxy. But the aliens that made us run away have a lot of money. They will definitely buy the entire space police to be on their side searching for the responsible for the destruction of their biggest factory of weapons."

"You really are a hero." Admits Jisung after thinking carefully about Minho's explanation. 

"I am, sweetheart. Don't you think that I deserve a reward?" Says Minho, suggestively raising his eyebrows. Jisung scoffs and throws him a damped rag. 

"You wish. I take back my compliment, you asshole."

That conversation is all it takes for Jisung's walls to crumble. He starts asking Minho more questions, clearly interested in him, making Minho's ego grow. One day, while Minho is repairing his ship, he is surprised to see Jisung in front of him with a blush on his cheeks. 

"Don't get too excited, but I need your help in the field."

Minho tries to hide his smile, but he is overjoyed, having the stubborn Jisung asking for help. They talk more during the day, stay up late watching movies, and go to see each other when they need a break from their duties. 

☄🪐☀

After days of living together like that, Jisung realizes Minho is weird. 

The Noctis complained all day about working on the land, but Minho didn't let Jisung do all the work. He complained about making dinner because Jisung's food sucks, but he prepared each meal diligently and smiled when Jisung commented it tasted divine. Minho always took a bath first. It lasted long enough to annoy Jisung, but he used cold water so that Jisung could shower with hot water. He made stupid jokes and flirty comments until Jisung blushed, but he would never make a comment that would hurt Jisung. He screamed annoyingly loud and whined like a baby, but he always stopped if Jisung got mad. Minho is weird, but Jisung likes living with him. 

"Sweetheart, pass me the salt, please." 

Like every other night, Minho made dinner while Jisung fed the squirrels in his front yard. He heard Minho loud and clear but refused to obey if he kept calling him sweetheart.

"Jisung! Pass me the SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALT!"

The squirrels ran away at the loud scream of the idiot inside the kitchen, and Jisung rolled his eyes before entering the house. 

"You were saying?" he asks to annoy the Noctis. 

"Oh, hi, sweetheart. Can you pass me the salt, please? We ran out of it yesterday, and you said you still have some left." Minho's voice is soft and charming, as if he was not screaming two seconds ago. 

"I'm not giving you anything unless you stop calling me that," Jisung crosses his arms over his chest and raises an eyebrow, waiting for a reaction. Minho sighs and denies softly with his head. 

"If you don't give me the salt in the next three seconds, this masterpiece will be ruined, you shithead. Does that sound better?" 

Jisung scoffs at that, but he instantly searches for the brand-new package of salt he kept inside one of his drawers. 

"Here it is. Anything else you need before I take a bath?"

"No, shithead. I'm fine, thank you." Minho smiles brightly at him before turning around to cut some of the potatoes on the table. 

"Yah! Stop calling me that!" Jisung complains with a pout. 

"What is your problem? You don't like me calling you sweetheart, so I call you shithead instead, and you are still complaining. What the hell do you want?" His words might sound harsh to any outsider, but Jisung knows better. Minho is smiling, and his tone is as sweet as honey. 

"I have a name, you know? Just call me Jisung," he answers with a smile and turns around to prepare his shower. 

Minho doesn't answer, but after a while, Jisung hears him scream again. 

"SWEETHEART, DINNER IS READY!!!!"

☄🪐☀

Even if Jisung lives on a star, he loves meteor showers more than anything. Knowing there was one that night, he dragged Minho to the garden and prepared hot chocolate.

"So... we are on a star waiting to see a show of little stars passing by? Isn't that cruel? Or weird? Don't you feel hurt watching them?"

"What are you even saying?" Jisung bumps his shoulder to get Minho to smile. He was tense since Jisung told him the kind of spectacle they were supposed to watch. 

"I know, but... Is this a funeral?"

"No, idiot. I invited you to watch a meteor shower because I like the view, but if you don't want to see it, you can go inside to sleep." Jisung pouts and turns his face to avoid Minho's inquiring eyes. He was trying hard to contain his emotions. If Minho decided to leave him alone, he would probably start crying. However, Minho hums in acknowledgment and lies on the grass with a smile. 

"I will stay." He murmurs while closing his eyes. Both of them wait in comfortable silence for the meteor shower to begin. 

"Why did you think I was inviting you to a funeral, by the way?"

"Maybe because you live on a star, and technically, part of you is also a star. I thought those falling stars were like your cousins saying goodbye to this life or something. Just like the squirrels in this place are your little siblings."

Jisung frowns and punches the guy in the chest with enough force to make him wince in pain. 

"Yah! I'm older than you. You should respect me more than this!" Minho complains, bumping his shoulder. 

"The squirrels are not my siblings. We don't even look alike!"

"Of course you do! You two are adorable with nice round cheeks and big doe eyes, and both hate me!"

"The squirrels don't hate you..." Jisung mumbles, feeling his face heat, knowing Minho finds him cute. "They don't like that you are too close to me, that's all. Call them overprotective."

"So your siblings are jealous... but I'm not distancing myself from you, so they will have to suck it up. And you? Do you hate me, sweetheart?" his tone is mischievous, making Jisung want to punch him in the face. 

"I hate you calling me that," he admits with a frown. Minho laughs and starts to tickle Jisung in revenge.

"I will make you love me then...Come on!! Stop frowning. You look better when you smile."

Jisung tries to make a counterattack, but he is laughing so hard he can barely move. 

"STop! sTOp! YoU'll KiLL Me." Jisung pleads for his life, listening to Minho's soft giggles. He continues to tickle him until Jisung's breathing is no longer normal.

"If I cannot call you sweetheart, shithead, or squirrel... what should I call you?"

"JISUNG!!! MY NAME IS JISUNG!" he screams when he recovers his breath. Minho smiles and ignores the topic, enjoying the silence of the night again.  

"Jisungie," Minho says out of the blue, making the other look him in the eyes. " I will call you Jisungie."

Jisung feels his heart melt at the nickname. He can't stop the smile on his face or the deep blush on his cheeks. 

"Whatever." He mumbles, avoiding Minho's look and annoying smirk. 

Right then, the meteor shower begins. Without thinking, Jisung takes Minho's hand between his and gets closer to him until they can feel each other's body heat. They are almost hugging, and Minho feels his heartbeat racing. He looks at Jisung and realizes his mistake. 

Jisung's doe eyes sparkle with joy, and he tightens his grip on Minho's hand. Minho swallows hard but can't stop looking at Jisung this close to him. 

"It's beautiful!" Jisung says in a whisper, still glancing at the sky. 

"Yeah," Minho mumbles as well. But he is not looking at the sky. He is looking directly at Jisung's features. 

Once the spectacle is over, Jisung talks about stars' life and death, their energy, combustion shit, and a lot of complicated things that Minho doesn't understand at all. But listening to Jisung talk excitedly about things he is passionate about makes Minho feel something sweet in his heart.  

At that moment, watching the sky full of falling stars, feeling the breeze hit his red cheeks, listening to Jisung's sweet voice, and drinking hot chocolate made Minho realize he had been lost all his life.

Sure, he had friends. He had a family. He had had hundreds of adventures and admirers. He was the best pilot of his unit. But right then and there, he realized he was lost. 

"What are you thinking about?" asks Jisung in a whisper, passing Minho another cup of hot chocolate after he finished rambling about the stars they have just witnessed.

"I have just realized... I am lost."

"Duh, you are here on my star and not at home."

Minho looks at him with a death glare but instantly melts at the shy smile on the other's lips.

"Am I supposed to ask why do you feel lost?"

"No. You ruined the moment. Tell me more about the fucking stars."

Jisung giggles at that. Minho was so cute when he pouted. He looked even better than the cute cats Jisung found in Zoorya the last time he visited. But he was not ready to admit that just yet.

"If I tell you I didn't know I was lost until I found you... will that be weird?" Minho asks quietly without looking at Jisung at all. 

Minho feels his chest burning with shame and with a lot of other complicated feelings. He said it out loud. Everything reduces to Jisung's reply. Would Jisung correspond to his feelings?

For a second, Jisung thinks that Minho is joking, so he is ready to tease him about it, but he changes his mind when he notices Minho's serious look. 

Jisung feels the need to say something sweet. He should say that even if the galaxy has infinite stars and aliens, they belong together. He wants to say that it was fate for them to meet each other. He should say something like that. But he is afraid of saying something wrong, so he keeps all his feelings inside his heart, ignoring them completely. 

"I...am not sure." He says at last, after several minutes of thick silence. And it seems like it was the wrong answer because Minho shakes his head and stands up without looking at him. 

"I'll be going first. Don't stay up too late." His voice is dry, but he tries to play it off with a smile. 

"I won't. R-Rest well!" As he watches Minho disappear inside his house, Jisung curses himself. He made the older upset. 

Minho didn't say:  "See you tomorrow, sweetheart,"  like always. And for some reason, that makes Jisung feel miserable. 

☄🪐☀

After that, Minho doesn't call Jisung sweetheart, not even once. He tries to speak normally and even laughs at Jisung's jokes, but something has changed. Minho seems to be absent. He makes dinner. He helps with everything Jisung asks, but he doesn't flirt anymore. 

Jisung wants to ask what's wrong. He wants to apologize, but he is not sure how. He feels he has no reason to do so, anyway. He didn't do anything wrong. He thinks Minho needs some time alone, so he lets him be. 

"Tomorrow is the day, right?" Asks Minho without looking at Jisung. 

"What happens tomorrow?"

"We go to the market for the new engine. My ship is almost ready."

Shit. Jisung forgot about that. Three weeks happened so fast. How was he supposed to apologize if Minho was leaving? It was a mistake letting Minho alone with his thoughts. He should have said something sooner. He should have-

"Thank you for the food. I'll see you tomorrow." Says Minho before Jisung can organize his thoughts. Before he knows it, the Noctis is in the bathroom washing his teeth. 

☄🪐☀

Jisung could barely sleep that night. He was already awake before the monthly ship came to get them. They remained close until they arrived at the market. They agreed to find each other by the end of the day after they ran their errands. Jisung would sell his poisons and would buy food. Minho would buy a new engine. They would be fine. 

Except Jisung was not sure about that. It was their last day together, and they had barely talked to each other. Aside from a dry good morning, Minho hadn't said anything else. 

Jiusng is not able to concentrate on anything all day. He sells his poisons at the wrong price and buys food that expires in a few days. He almost forgets to buy a new communication device, but gladly, he gets one last minute thanks to Hyunjin. He is a pirate who buys Jisung's merchandise every month, so he trades a new communication device for some lethal beverage. Before Minho arrives, Jisung decides to get one last thing. 

Jisung enters the store and greets Jeongin, the sweet alien who sells the best products from Earth. They talk for a while until Jisung fixes his eyes on the specific item he is searching for. He blushes and asks Jeongin to pack it for him. 

The ride back to his star is quiet. Minho avoids him, even when Jisung links their arms together when talking. Jisung tries to convince Minho to watch a last movie with him, but he excuses himself to repair his ship. Once the new engine is working, Minho makes their dinner as always. Neither of them talks, and Jisung keeps feeling his chest tighten at the silence between them. A loud notification from a communication device startles Jisung when Minho is doing the dishes. 

The Noctics calmly reviews the communication device he bought at the market and smiles briefly at the message he receives. Jisung frowns at that. 

"I guess It's time for me to go." He says with a stern voice and gathers the few things he has. Aside from his movies and the new communication device, Minho has nothing else to take with him. He even returned Jisung's clothes when they came from the market since Minho got new clothes for himself. 

Jisung watches him silently, not knowing what to say or do. And before he knows it, they are outside, watching the sky. Minho clears his throat and watches Jisung in the eyes for the first time that day. 

"I wanted to thank you for everything," he says, trying to fake a smile while Jisung listens. "And I wanted to apologize for being annoying. I promise I will not be a burden for you anymore."

Jisung wants to say he was not a burden. He wants to thank him as well. He wants to apologize for everything. He wants to tell him many things, but in the end, he just nods. 

"Before I go, I wanted to give you this." Minho hands him a little metallic box tied with a red ribbon. Jisung's favorite color is red. He told Minho once, and he still remembers. Why is Jisung overthinking everything now? 

Minho bows politely and starts to leave when Jisung holds him by the wrist. He turns around, and Jisung hands him a present he was hiding before, the last thing he bought at the market with Jeongin. 

"I have something for you too." Jisung mumbles without looking at him. 

"Thank you... for everything, Jisung." Those are Minho's last words before he walks away, not looking back once. 

Jisung doesn't say anything and watches from the distance how Minho's ship departs his star. He called him by his name. Since they know each other, Minho has never called him by his name. Jisung feels numb, walking to his room and sitting on his bed. When he unties his present and opens the metallic box, a soft melody fills the air. 

Minho got him a music box. 

Jisung tried buying one a year ago, but they were too expensive, and he had to bring his own melody to fill the box. Jisung was too shy to show his musical taste to a stranger, so he never got one. He listened to the melody twice until he finally recognized it. His mind filled with lyrics he would never forget.  

"I know you,

I walked with you once upon a dream

I know you,

The gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam.

Yet I know it's true

That visions are seldom all they seem

But if I know you

I know what you'll do

You'll love me at once, the way you did, once upon a dream.

Once upon a night,

I dreamed we'd be together,

in love forever.

Once upon a night,

I was wishing for a never,

A never-ending.

Once upon a night

Once upon a time

Once upon a wish

Once upon a dream."

When the melody finishes playing, Jisung breaks. 

"I know you. I walked with you once upon a dream..."

Minho came unexpectedly to his life. He remembered every little detail of Jisung's lifestyle. When he was with Minho, he always felt comfortable. It was as if they had known each other for a lifetime. If he had ever dreamt about the love of his life, it would have been someone like Minho. 

"The gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam..."

Minho's eyes sparkled when he listened to Jisung's rambling about his favorite things. He never got annoyed with him. He was always so kind. Jisung will miss those shiny eyes. 

Once upon a dream...  he met the love of his life. 

Once upon a night...  he met Minho. 

Jisung cries uncontrollably and wishes to rewind time. Knowing he has lost Minho forever makes him finally understand all his feelings.

Everything makes sense now. 

He loves Minho. 

He always did. 

But he was too scared to admit it before. 

☄🪐☀

Minho writes Chan as soon as he buys a new communication device. Minho tells him he is fine and listens to Chan's scolding for a long time. He talks with Seungmin and Hong-Joong, as well. Minho is glad all of them are fine and promises to organize a dinner for his friends as an apology for disappearing unexpectedly. Chan gives him specific coordinates to find each other the next day and avoids asking personal questions as soon as he understands Minho is hurting. Most likely, Chan will interrogate him in person. The last message he receives while doing the dishes is a short:  "I missed you so much. I can't wait to see you again."  Minho is happy to talk with Chan again. 

He tries to bury all his feelings inside his heart and avoids Jisung as much as possible. He doesn't want to cry or make the younger alien uncomfortable again. A small part of himself expects Jisung to hug him before he leaves. He hopes Jisung admits that he loves him back. That Minho wasn't a burden for him all this time, but he never does. Jisung barely talks to him, as well. 

Their goodbye is bitter, and Minho holds Jisung's present close to his heart. He refuses to cry in front of him. After all, Jisung has already rejected him. Minho can't expect him to change his mind at the last minute. 

Minho leaves the star and waits for the navigation system to calibrate Chan's coordinates. In the meantime, he opens Jisung's gift. It's a soft plushie with a strange form. It seems to be an animal Minho does not recognize. A card with Jisung's handwriting is attached to it. 

"This is a cat. It reminds me of you because it's cute. But you are cuter."

Minho almost tears at the words. Jisung was too much for his heart. The navigation system locates the coordinates, and Minho is about to leave when he notices the unusual color of Jisung's star. 

Blue. 

He had never seen that color before. Minho suppresses all his emotions and immediately returns to the star. He lands as fast as he can and sprints towards Jisung's home. 

Minho wishes with all his heart that Jisung is fine. He prays for him to be safe. He enters the house and opens his bedroom door with enough force to make the house shudder. 

And there he is, the love of his life, hugging the squirrels wrapped in a fluffy blanket. He is crying. 

They stare at each other for several minutes before Minho recovers his breath to speak again. 

"Jisung, I'm sorry. I-I saw your star before leaving, and I thought you might be in danger, so I landed again, but I will leave immediately. I am so sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt..."

Jisung doesn't let him finish before running towards him and burying his head on Minho's chest. He is crying harder now, and Minho is too scared to ask why, so we caress his back and pull him close by the waist. 

"It's okay. I'm here," encouragement words slip from Minho's lips before he can think about the consequences of his actions. Jisung is still not saying anything. 

When Jisung calms down, Minho realizes his shirt is blue from the other's tears. A funny fact that Minho discovered until that moment is that Jisung's tears have color. Well, there goes his new shirt. Not that he is complaining about consoling Jisung, though. 

A thick silence surrounds them while Minho directs Jisung to sit on the bed and wets a rag to clean his blue face from all the crying. He sits next to him and waits for Jisung to talk first. 

"I'm sorry," says Jisung with the sweetest voice he can find inside his heart. Minho shakes his head and grabs a plushie from the bed. 

"Are you okay?" he asks when he is sure Jisung won't speak again. The Asterin nods once and averts his gaze. "This one is cute." Says Minho, while lifting the plushie he took from the bed earlier, trying to break the ice between them. Jisung nods again, and the uncomfortable silence gets worse. 

Minho sighs. After all, it was a bad idea to land on Jisung's star. He stands on his feet and walks to the door, but before he can exit the bedroom, Jisung speaks again. This time, he is loud enough to startle all the squirrels who jump off the window to get outside.

"I love you!" He admits with such a conviction that makes Minho freeze on the spot. "I always did." 

Jisung stands up and finally gathers the courage to look Minho in the eyes. 

 "You were always so kind to me... You made me dinner every night because my food sucks, listened to my annoying rambling of bullshit no one cares about, danced with me out of the blue, accompanied me when I felt bored, did all the heavy work to make sure I rested well and called me sweet names until I was a blushing mess." Jisung says without stopping to take a break. "But I was confused. I'm not good with feelings, so I never thought about what I felt for you until you were gone. I love you, Minho. How could I not fall for you after all the nice things you did for me?"

Jisung is so embarrassed that he could die on the spot. He admitted all his stupid feelings like a fucking idiot. Minho is probably disgusted now. He will tell him he was only being nice, and will leave him again. Jisung is ready to apologize for his words when he feels a pair of strong arms holding him close. He melts on the tight hug and returns the gesture. 

"I love you too. How could I not love you when you are always so cute?" Minho mutters while caressing Jisung's antennas. He always wanted to do that. Fuck, he even dreamed about that. As expected, his antennas are soft and easy to caress. 

"Why did you come back? I thought I would never see you again."

"Because I knew how much you missed me. I couldn't leave knowing that you would regret not seeing my beautiful face one last time." Minho's flirty comment makes Jisung giggle. He tightens the hug before letting Minho go to look at him again. 

"I missed your flirty comments," he admits, feeling his cheeks heat. "And I missed you calling me  sweetheart  so much."

"I thought you hated it." Minho raises an eyebrow, but he is smiling. He uses his right hand to caress Jisung's soft cheek while his left hand is still around his waist. 

"I did. But it feels weird that you are saying my real name. It feels like you are scolding me."

"I can scold you if you want, HAN JISUNG."

"Idiot." 

Jisung laughs and hugs him again. He missed talking to Minho like that. He missed feeling mad and fuzzy at the same time.  

"Can I call you Jisungie, then?" Asks Minho in a whisper, even if no one else is there to hear them. 

"Yeah. Why didn't you since the meteor shower?"

"Because you rejected my confession that day." 

Minho averts his gaze while Jisung remembers the whole conversation again. Minho never confessed that night. He was being weird, as always, and then he went straight to bed. Watching Jisung's puzzled expression makes Minho giggle. He directs Jisung to sit on the bed again and shakes his head in disappointment. However, he has a big grin on his face. 

"You require a lot of work, Jisungie. I should have known you didn't understand my confession at all." 

"What are you talking about? You never said anything about love before tonight."

"I am a Noctis, remember? On my planet, we have a tradition with names. When we like someone, we do not use real names to call each other. We use pet names because they show more appreciation, and when we really love someone, we create a special nickname for them. It's weird, but calling someone by a nickname we created is like saying  I love you ."

Jisung feels like an idiot. Felix told Jisung once that he confessed his undying love to Changbin, Felix's best friend, by calling him  Binnie . After listening to his story, Jisung thought Felix was weird. He never thought it was a tradition for their species. He was a terrible friend and will apologize to Felix.

Wait. Does that mean Minho confessed his feelings when he called him  Jisungie  the first time?

Shit. 

Minho confessed his love back then, and Jisung remained silent like a total asshole!

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." He admits with a faint blush painting his cheeks. 

"It's fine. You know what it means now," Minho takes his hand and caresses his knuckles. It's funny how they never touched each other before but now can't keep their hands off each other. 

"Thank you for coming back." 

"Jisungie..."

"I love you too!" Jisung's enthusiasm startles Minho, but he laughs at his cuteness. 

"Jisungie," Minho says again while leaning in to kiss Jisung's cheek. 

"I love you too."

"Jisungie."

"Yah! Stop it." 

Jisung laughs and drags Minho to his bed, giggling when the older alien wraps his arms around his waist and buries his face on the back of his neck. 

"Jisungie."

"I love you too, Min." 

They remain in comfortable silence, listening to each other's soft breathing until they get sleepy. Minho accommodates on the bed and makes Jisung lay his head on his chest, tightening his arms around him. 

"What does pink mean?" he asks, watching the faint light entering the window. Minho knows Jisung is blushing, and perhaps he has an idea of the color's meaning, but he wants to annoy Jisung. 

"It means  fuck you . Go to sleep, Minho. I'm tired."

"So, it means horny. Got it."

Jisung shrieks in horror and punches him in the gut, trying to get away from him. Minho laughs and tries to keep him close. They wrestle for a while before they calm down and snuggle in each other's arms again. 

"It means love, idiot," Jisung admits when they are about to fall asleep. 

Minho hums, satisfied with the answer, and lets Jisung sleep. 

☄🪐☀

Minho wakes up at the loud notification of his communication device: a video call. How annoying. He answers the call knowing Chan will be a pain in the ass if he ignores him right now. 

"What the hell do you want, Chan?" he asks with a hoarse voice, slowly adjusting his eyes to the hologram of his friends with concerned gazes. 

"Minho! I'm glad to see you're fine. I was so worried about you," admits Chan with relief in his tone. "I waited for you all night yesterday because I thought something bad happened to you."

"Sorry." Minho truly feels guilty. He should have called him before. 

"See, I told you that idiot was fucking someone overnight. That's why he is not here." Says Seungming with a huff. He probably was as worried as Chan but tried to overplay it. He is such an asshole. 

"Good to see you again, Seungmin." Minho smiles at them and suddenly is enveloped by warm arms. 

"Min, go back to sleep. It's too early," mumbles Jisung while he accommodates his head on top of Minho's chest. 

The Noctis doesn't miss the surprised expressions of his friends while he caresses Jisung's antennas with a fond smile. 

"Shit. I was right." Says Seungmin on the other line, laughing at Chan's bewildered expression. 

"I'll explain everything when I see you tonight," says Minho with a grin. "Expect an extra guest, though."

He ends the call before Chan starts asking him a million questions. Minho drops his communication device and cuddles Jisung some more. 

Minho knows they need to talk about a lot of things: their lifestyles, their usual duties, their plans, their families, their dreams, and their own relationship. 

But right now, they just needed to hold each other tight. 

Responsibilities will come later.

☄🪐☀