Expectations: Unseen Possibilities Part Two
Title: Expectations
Adventure Four: Unseen Possibilities Part 2 of 2
Author: Aquariuslover
Pairings: Yunjae, KyuWook, General
Rating: R
Genre: Crossover, Science Fiction, Humor, Adventure
Beta: Unicornsinger
A/N: This journal is now friend locked, and it will probably stay that way for awhile. I am sick of seeing my stories posted all over live journal, and worse. Its friend locked due to the actions of Sayda3 and her multiple aliases. I have always accepted all friends in the past, but now I am being very cautious with new accounts.
Thanks to Amy and my favorite Unicorn for all their help and support! Also thanks to everybody who takes the time to comment!
Summary: Ensign Junsu and Commander Yoochun find themselves in an impossible situation. Yunho and Jaejoong find themselves at odds with each other. Ryeowook struggles to find a way of dealing with Kyuhyun and Sungmin.
Prior Adventures
“This shows that you are a normal humanoid male,” Ryeowook said, pointing to the scanners above Jaejoong’s head.
Jaejoong was lying down on an exam table in a private room in sickbay away from Heechul’s prying eyes and ears. Jaejoong looked up at Ryeowook skeptically. “So there is no difference between me and the rest of the men on this ship? I highly doubt that.”
“I didn’t say that…exactly. Your brain has very subtle differences, and you have some secretion glands…in interesting places,” Ryeowook said, intrigued, as he studied the monitors. “Your cerebral cortex is thicker; it’s seven millimeters easily.”
“So, there isn’t anything on there too suspicious?”
Ryeowook looked away from the scanners and then looked at Jaejoong. “Would I know? Are these scanners even capable of detecting anything suspicious? Do I see a baby? No, I don’t.”
Jaejoong scrunched up his face in obvious dislike and spat at the doctor, “A baby? Of course there isn’t a baby.”
“Then what are we searching for? I was all prepared to see that you had sprouted a uterus and a vagina, because I doubt even you can shoot a baby out your ass.”
“Eww…no, I would have to change form. I wanted you to check and see if my metabolism had increased,” Jaejoong said, cringing, as he sat up on the side of the exam table. Having a baby out of his rectum; he’d never heard of anything so stupid. Humans were quite delusional at times.
“Oh, what do you mean change form? I thought you were not a shape shifter?” Ryeowook said quickly, focusing on the word change.
Jaejoong, who still looked disgusted at Dr. Cho’s earlier comment, explained, “Before I can become pregnant with Changmin, I will have to change back into my Joong form-”
“That of a hermaphrodite,” Ryeowook finished with a smile, as it all fell into place.
Jaejoong nodded his head. “Exactly, when I kept finding myself so annoyed with Yunho…I thought maybe I was getting ready to change.”
Ryeowook’s intelligent eyes zoomed in on Jaejoong. “Why would Yunho be annoying to you during the change? I mean, if you are changing so you can ready yourself to become pregnant…..wouldn’t your mate be the opposite of annoying if you are going through some kind of an estrous cycle?”
“Believe me, Joong’s are highly unpredictable while they are going through the change. Once a Joong has completed the change…well then, it’s a completely different story.”
Ryeowook looked back at the scans and shook his head. “I see nothing on here that indicates that your body is preparing for any kind of change.”
Jaejoong sighed. “So, I am just annoyed with the love of my life.”
“You should probably get used to it,” Ryeowook warned. “The love of my life leaves me in a constant state of annoyance.”
“No, I was unfair with him about Changmin. He doesn’t understand why I don’t want to spend time with Changmin. He has no clue that I am actually trying to protect Changmin. Yunho loves us both…and he wants desperately for us to love each other, too,” Jaejoong said with a far-off look on his face.
“That will come in time…of course, you will be in deep trouble by then,” Ryeowook pointed out. “I am telling you, Jae, the excuse ‘I did it for your own good’ isn’t going to carry any weight with them. Yunho demands loyalty, and Changmin…well, he won’t be hugging you and calling you mommy anytime soon.”
“I know it won’t be easy. They will both feel so betrayed…but I can’t risk it,” Jaejoong said as he pushed off the exam table and stood up. “Yunho is about one minute away from asking the computer for my location.”
“Well, you best be leaving if you don’t want him wondering why you are in sickbay.”
“Yes, I better,” Jaejoong said as he headed toward the door.
Ryeowook folded his arms and asked the retreating man, “Can’t you just manipulate his mind? You tend to be excellent at it.”
Jaejoong flinched at the accusation, turning back around to face the doctor. “I won’t do that to him…not anymore.”
“Really? Never again?” Ryeowook asked in voice showing his extreme doubt at the truthfulness of Jaejoong’s words.
“I would only do it to protect him or Changmin,” Jaejoong conceded.
Ryeowook gave Jaejoong a sympathetic look. “I hope all this doesn’t backfire on you someday.”
Jaejoong turned back around, unable to look at Ryeowook, and whispered, “If it hasn’t already.”
***************
“I’m so stupid,” Junsu groaned as he sat on the floor and leaned against the wall. “So stupid.”
“You are not stupid,” Commander Yoochun answered half-heartedly as he looked around the lab in frustration. He couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t even open the door.
“Yes, I am,” Junsu insisted.
“Stop whining,” Commander Yoochun ordered. “If you were stupid, you would have never made it through the academy, and you wouldn’t be allowed to fly the ship. Star Fleet doesn’t let stupid people steer starships.”
Junsu’s eyes followed Commander Yoochun as he walked around the lab. “I love flying…it’s just human stuff I’m stupid at.”
“What do you mean by that? Everybody loves you…likes you…well, they tolerate you at the least,” Yoochun responded without turning around to face Junsu.
“I shouldn’t have come to the lab tonight,” Junsu confessed.
“I agree with you there. If you had stayed the heck out of here, I wouldn’t be stuck out of phase with everything. I would be in engineering checking over my engines. I just installed the new dilithium crystals, and although the grade seems high…I still have to watch them carefully,” Commander Yoochun groaned. He leaned against the wall opposite of Junsu.
“I’m sorry.”
“You should be…tapping on machinery you are unfamiliar with,” Yoochun grumbled in agreement.
Junsu’s feelings of remorse vanished. “If you hadn’t grabbed me, I wouldn’t have jerked away so quickly and gotten dizzy…and ended up falling. Can you just say stop it next time?”
“I did tell you to stop it.”
“You didn’t give me time to stop before you grabbed me. Forgive me if I am a little skittish of you grabbing me!” Junsu said, raising his voice at the commander, clenching his fists.
Commander Yoochun opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. He looked away from Junsu and collected himself before he calmly asked, “Why didn’t you turn around and leave when you saw that Changmin wasn’t here?”
“Duh, because I’m stupid!”
“Oh, so this is why you are stupid.” Commander Yoochun sighed, finally understanding, and then he questioned, “Was there a reason why you were being stupid?”
Junsu closed his eyes, refusing to look at the cool and collected Commander. “I hate it when people are mad at me. It’s like physical torture for me. I’ve always been this way. So even if you’re a big, old jerk who can’t keep his hands - ” Junsu paused, realizing he was talking to a commanding officer. “No offense, Commander.”
“None taken…continue.”
“I should be glad you are avoiding me, but I kept thinking you were mad at me. Why would you be mad at me? If anybody should be mad, it should be me."
Yoochun’s eyes widened, and he fought down a chuckle. “So, because I haven’t groped you in the past five weeks, I must be mad at you.”
Junsu opened his eyes and looked at the commander and meekly asked, “Aren’t you?”
“No, I’m not. I am just avoiding you out of-” Commander Yoochun never finished his sentence, because the door to the lab swooshed open, distracting him.
“We got to get a dayshift job,” a young blond ensign said as he entered the lab.
A second taller ensign with dark hair followed him into the lab. “Yeah, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”
“Hey, is that it?” the blond ensign asked his friend as they both walked up to the machine that Junsu had fallen on.
Junsu, who had gotten up when they entered the room, looked at the circular, metallic machine he had knocked over, and it didn’t look like it had taken a tumble. Junsu looked at Commander Yoochun, “Can’t they tell it was moved?”
“No,” Commander Yoochun said, shaking his head in disappointment.
Junsu felt panic setting in. “Who would know?”
“In this galaxy? Changmin, of course, would know. I don’t even think Ensign Choi would know. Now, Lieutenant Choi would know, but some bastard is probably using her as a sex slave on some third rate planet. The captain might notice…especially since he was just in here earlier,” Yoochun informed Junsu.
“Don’t touch it!” the darker-headed ensign screamed to the blond-headed one. “Lieutenant Jung will kill you.”
“I’m not an idiot; I am not going to touch it. I just wanted to look at it,” the blond ensign explained.
“We need to get out of this room. Perhaps Jae’s telepathic powers might be of a help to us,” Commander Yoochun said, walking toward the door.
“That’s a great idea!” Junsu hurried to him, regretting it instantly as his head started spinning.
Commander Yoochun reached out a hand and grabbed Junsu’s arm, steadying him. “I do have a few good ideas.”
“I think I’ve heard that before,” Junsu told him, fighting the instinctive urge to pull away from the man’s touch.
“As soon as those two open the door, we have to move, or we will be trapped again,” Yoochun told Junsu as he watched the younger man fight off his dizziness and his desire to free himself of Yoochun’s grasp.
“Okay,” Junsu agreed.
“Well, I am leaving, before Lieutenant Jung walks in here and catches us,” the blond ensign told the dark-haired ensign as he headed toward the door.
“I am more afraid of Commander Yoochun catching us.”
The blond ensign snickered as he walked through the door. “I am not pretty enough to have to worry about Commander Yoochun.”
“Plus, you have no ass,” the other ensign groused as he headed out the door. Yoochun dragged Junsu along with him through the door with the young, dark-haired ensign, unbeknownst to him.
The door to the lab whooshed shut, and Commander Yoochun stood outside it and stared at the two ensigns who hurriedly departed. “I have never so much as laid one hand on either one of those two boys.”
“Your reputation precedes you,” Junsu couldn’t help but point out.
Commander Yoochun turned around and glared at the man he was still holding on to. “You know, if I let go of you right now, you’d fall on that wonderful ass of yours.”
“Hence, the reason I haven’t jerked away from you,” Junsu said with a little bite of his own.
Yoochun’s eyes widened and he smiled as he started walking down the corridor, pulling Junsu with him. “I admit that I am little more hands on than most…” Yoochun trailed off as Junsu snorted. “But I’m not like some sexual predator.”
“What!”
Commander Yoochun inhaled a deep breath and admitted, “Okay, I might have preyed a little on you.”
“A little!” Junsu repeated in disbelief.
“And yet, you still stayed in that lab...because you thought I was mad at you,” Yoochun pointed out as they reached the elevator.
“I told you, I’m stupid!”
“Or maybe you like me pinching your ass?” Yoochun suggested, while arching his eyebrows at Junsu as he waited for somebody to come and get in the elevator. The lab was not on the same floor as the captain’s quarters.
“I most certainly do not! I do not! Take that back! I do not,” Junsu yelled, his voice going up several octaves.
Commander Yoochun gave him a smarmy smile. “I think you protest too much.”
“I do not! What? I hate you always pinching me! It’s freaking assault! The captain can’t throw you in the brig, though, because you keep the ship running! I don’t like it! I hate it!” Junsu continued to screech in indignation.
“Junsu, you are an innocent…a virgin. Maybe you don’t know what you like.”
Junsu jerked away from Yoochun and fell against the wall, lowering himself to the floor as dizziness and embarrassment overtook him. He was so shell-shocked at Commander Yoochun’s words, he couldn’t even breathe.
“Hey, breathe,” Commander Yoochun ordered as he kneeled down in front of the red- faced Junsu. “Junsu, just breath,” Yoochun ordered again as he gently patted Junsu’s cheek.
Junsu turned his cheek away from Commander Yoochun’s touch and inhaled a deep breath. “How did you…know….did Eunhyuk tell you…is it like a joke…who all knows? The vampire should have just finished me off.”
“Don’t you say that,” Yoochun ordered in a firm voice, resisting the urge to reach out and touch the ensign.
“I’m so stupid,” Junsu cried, full of self-hatred. He hated his life, and he hated the dizziness that wouldn’t leave him alone. How could this man, of all men, know of his inexperience?
“Nobody told me. I’ve just been watching you for a long time…and I just guessed,” Commander Yoochun explained, trying to calm the ensign. “I shouldn’t have said what I said.”
“What time?” Junsu asked, refusing to look at the commander.
“I should not have insinuated that you liked it. I know you don’t…maybe I didn’t always know how much, but now I do. I am not mad at you, Junsu; I am ashamed of myself. You almost died…and that would have been my fault,” Yoochun explained in tone of voice so soft that it was totally foreign to Junsu’s ears.
“Your fault?”
“You wanted to swim that day….but when you saw me, you turned around and followed Changmin into that castle,” Commander Yoochun explained gently.
“Oh,” Junsu said, with the truth dawning on him.
“Yeah, so even if Jae hadn’t given me the riot act for all the wrongs I had committed against you…I guess it’s time for me to behave myself.”
“Jae?”
“I guess when you were on the planet…hurt…he peered into your mind. It wasn’t a very flattering picture of me.”
Junsu slowly looked back at Yoochun guiltily; he could only imagine what Jaejoong had told him. “I was really sick of you that day.”
Commander Yoochun nodded his head. “I know. I am not mad at you, Junsu. I am just ashamed of myself and how I treated you. I am not naturally good…there has always been something darker in me. I think I tend to gravitate toward goodness to fight against it. You and Yunho have a similar goodness in you, so maybe that explains my lifetime friendship with him…and my attraction to you.”
Junsu’s eyes lit up with an idea and asked eagerly, “Did you ever pinch the captain’s ass?”
“No, I was never attracted to Yunho in that way. Plus, if I ever pinched his ass, he would have kicked mine,” Yoochun said with a smile.
Junsu gave him a small smile back. “Now, Jae would just splatter your brains.”
“Yeah, I am pretty sure Jae isn’t the sharing type.” Yoochun laughed and looked down the corridor as a person walking toward the elevator caught his attention.
“That’s Sungmin!” Junsu said, full of excitement, after following Yoochun’s gaze. “Maybe he is coming to sickbay to see me.”
“Hopefully,” Yoochun replied. Sickbay and the captain’s quarters were on the same level.
Junsu slowly got up, finally learning his lesson when it came to position changes. “If we do get to the captain’s quarters, do you think Jae will be able to sense us through the walls?”
Yoochun gave Junsu a doubtful look as he scratched his chin. “I don’t even know if he will be able to sense us at all. We are out of sync with him, also.”
Junsu let out a sigh as Sungmin reached the elevator, and to both Junsu and Yoochun’s relief, he ordered the elevator to take him to the level that the captain’s quarters were on.
“Does he look-”
“Nervous, yeah he does,” Yoochun finished as they watched Sungmin fidget as the elevator took them to the much sought after floor.
Junsu and Yoochun followed a very anxious-looking Sungmin down the hall. “If I am not in sickbay, he will no doubt look for me, or at least ask where I am. Dr. Cho only gave me permission to visit the lab…he will go all overprotective doctor the minute he notices I’m not in sickbay.”
Yoochun nodded his head. “We might have lucked out.”
They approached sickbay just when Jaejoong was exiting out the doors. Jaejoong stopped and gave Sungmin a critical look, then turned and walked down the corridor toward the quarters he shared with Yunho.
“What do we do?” Junsu asked as Sungmin headed into sickbay, and Jaejoong went down the corridor.
“We follow Jae…we know Ryeowook and Sungmin won’t be able to sense us,” Yoochun answered, following Jaejoong.
Junsu followed Yoochun and added, “Plus, he gave Sungmin an odd look. Do you think he sensed us?”
“Maybe…but then again, I don’t think he is a big fan of Sungmin's,” Yoochun answered honestly. “He seems to be a big fan of true love, and whatever relationship Sungmin and Kyuhyun had…I don’t think it qualified in his book. I am pretty sure he doesn’t…didn’t approve.”
“Who did? It was just as mess. They were both too good to be caught in such a filthy mess.”
“Sometimes good men do stupid shit,” Yoochun said, knowing the truth of his statement all too well.
*****************
Jaejoong walked into the quarters he shared with Yunho with determination. He knew he has been too hard on his lover, and he knew it was time for some honesty. He shook his head at their predicament. They had the ability to speak telepathically with each other and yet they were having communication problems.
“I was five seconds away from coming to look for you,” Jaejoong heard Yunho say from inside the bedroom.
“I know that; that’s why I have appeared,” Jaejoong answered as he walked into their bedroom. “Work?” Jaejoong asked as he immediately noticed that Yunho was wearing silk green pajamas and holding a computer pad in front of him, studying it intently.
“Work, and you haven’t exactly been in the mood,” Yunho answered without looking up.
Jaejoong walked toward the dressing chamber and got in and ordered blue silk pajamas that matched Yunho’s green ones. “No, I haven’t been.” He wondered if Ryeowook had missed something. The technology of the Expectations was very advanced, but Joong physiology was a mystery to the best of science. He still felt incredible moody…almost as if he was itching to start a fight with Yunho.
“Not tired of blue yet?” Yunho asked looking up as Jaejoong stepped out of the dressing chamber.
Jaejoong, who had been wearing his blue uniform all day, shook his head. “I miss blue. My eyes used to be blue.”
“I remember.”
“It’s really regretful that you have a thing for dull brown eyes,” Jaejoong grumbled, sitting on the side of the bed, looking away from Yunho.
Yunho frowned at the other man’s back. “Changing a person’s eye color is simple. Do as you please with them…they are your eyes, after all.”
“So you agree that they are dull?”
“No, I don’t agree. They can be full of love…or disdain. Your eyes could never be dull, no matter what color they are.”
Jaejoong swallowed guilty and turned to face Yunho. “Never disdain…not for you.” The urge to fight vanished as he allowed himself to feel Yunho’s presence.
“Liar.”
“Yunho, I am just…moody. Joongs get moody. We might look human, but we are not,” Jaejoong explained. “You are just going to have to bear with me ‘til this mood passes.”
“Humans get moody also. Why are you in a mood?”
“I need you to stop forcing Changmin on me. He doesn’t like it, and neither do I,” Jaejoong told Yunho as he slid up in bed to sit beside his mate.
Yunho’s eyes hardened as Jaejoong positioned himself beside him on the bed. “Fine.”
Jaejoong could feel Yunho’s disapproval wash over him. “Thank you, and there is another thing that has been annoying me of late.”
“Please continue to list all my faults; it’s very humbling,” Yunho told him in a cutting voice full of unpleasantness.
“Now who is moody?” Jaejoong asked as he reached down, and swatted Yunho’s thigh. “Would you rather I not tell you?”
Yunho folded his arms. “Tell me already.”
Jaejoong eyes were glued to Yunho, who refused to look back at him. “I will not be provoked into a fight with you.”
“What are we doing then?”
“We are communicating.”
“Aloud.”
“Yes, aloud. I don’t want to have this discussion telepathically…it’s too easy to get distracted when we use the bond,” Jaejoong explained as he reached down and grabbed Yunho’s hand and squeezed it.
Yunho did not squeeze back.
“I think you were about to list why I was so annoying of late,” Yunho told him, not even attempting to reign in his irritation.
“I am not your counselor.”
Yunho turned to face Jaejoong, surprised. “I thought we had agreed that you would assume that role.”
“We did.”
“So you changed your mind, and you’re angry I didn’t magically know?” Yunho asked, shocked. Yunho pulled his hand away for Jaejoong and waved it. “Unlike you, I can’t read your every thought. I can only read what you allow me to know.”
“No, that’s not it,” Jaejoong quickly added as he reached for the waving hand. “I don’t mind being the ship’s councilor, but that’s not all I am.”
Yunho paused long enough for Jaejoong to grab his waving hand. “Huh?”
“Yunho!” Jaejoong exclaimed completely exasperated. “I am your lover…your bondmate. I believe your planet has a saying, ‘for as long as we both shall live,’ and that perfectly describes what we are to each other. When you introduce me as merely a member of your crew…your ship’s counselor, it’s insulting.”
Yunho’s mouth dropped open as he stared at his mate, speechless. Realization dawned on Yunho, as he realized that Jaejoong’s mood had only gotten worse since they had visited the planet Trysor.
“I am a Joong….our bond is highly sought after, and half the time even on this ship…you downplay our bond. You love me, but you never seem to tell anybody that. It’s very insulting!”
Yunho closed his mouth shut and continued to study the man beside him, before asking drily, “Would you like me to have it announced overhead?”
“Maybe in the morning; it’s a little late for that now,” Jaejoong told him, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth still clinging to Yunho hand.
Yunho moved his arm and brought Jaejoong’s hand up to his head and slapped it against his own forehead. “I will never openly introduce you as my mate, my lover, or my bondmate on missions. It would be like painting a red bull’s-eye on you. If you don’t believe me, read my mind.”
Jaejoong winced as the truth of Yunho’s words hit him. “You would give me permission?”
Yunho released Jaejoong’s hand in a huff. He then slid down in bed and turned to his side, facing away from Jaejoong. “If that’s what you require.”
“I don’t,” Jaejoong whispered, suddenly feeling extremely guilty. “I’m very sorry.”
“Go to bed.” Yunho told Jaejoong telepathically as he ordered aloud, “lights out.”
“Not with you mad at me,” Jaejoong pleaded mentally as the lights went out at Yunho’s command.
“Only you can go to bed angry?”
“No, I wasn’t angry…I was just a little annoyed. I was stupid,” Jaejoong told him as he moved down beside Yunho, wrapping his arms around his lover.
“Just go to bed.”
“No, I’m sorry. I wanted to blame it on my biology…but Ryeowook ruled that out…although I still suspect it,” Jaejoong admitted. “I haven’t been entirely truthful with you.”
Yunho turned around in bed ‘til he was on his other side, facing Jaejoong with a very concerned face. “Lights on.”
“Joongs sometimes change back into their original Joong form. It’s a very unsettling experience…most don’t do it ‘til they are…older than I am. I had Ryeowook check me, but he says he didn’t notice anything too unusual,” Jaejoong explained as he reached for Yunho’s hand and squeezed it.
Yunho squeezed Jaejoong’s hand back this time, causing his mate to smile. “Would he know…I thought your physiology could fool the most advanced medical equipment?”
“It can, but changing back to the Joong form requires a great deal of energy, and I am almost certain the Expectations machinery could have detected an increase in my metabolism…but it might not have if the change was incomplete.”
“Not a complete change?”
“My body might just be testing the waters…I just can’t understand why I would be annoyed with you…when I love you so much; there has to be an explanation,” Jaejoong told Yunho mentally as he shifted closer to him.
Yunho smiled. “Maybe you are just crazy.”
“Yunho.”
“I mean really…you insecure? That’s simple ridiculous,” Yunho informed Jaejoong as he brought up their clasped hand to his heart.
Jaejoong smile back at him. “Ridiculous.”
“Although I must admit, seeing you in your original form again might be interesting…well, minus the blood and gore.”
“The blonde girl you thought you saved from the Zusaders, but I never was the girl you thought I was.” Jaejoong’s eyes were twinkling with new life.
Yunho pushed Jaejoong onto his back and slid over ‘til he was hovering over him. “You were dainty, and you had the loveliest blue eyes.”
“I won’t be quite so dainty the next time…when I do change again, it won’t be the same as the last time you saw me. This form that I am in now will dominate.”
“I would love you in any form,” Yunho looked down at his willing lover. He had sorely missed this aspect of their relationship.
“And I you,” Jaejoong reached up and pulled Yunho down to his waiting lips.
***************************
“Ryeowook, we need to talk,” Sungmin’s voice had Ryeowook coming to a dead stop. Ryeowook had been on his way to check on Junsu, but he turned around and faced the man he had once called best friend.
“We really don’t.”
“Yes, we do. We can talk in your office privately, or we can talk out here and let Heechul overhear every word. It’s up to you,” Sungmin said firmly, not backing down.
Ryeowook glared and hissed, “Well, why not. It’s not like I have any say about what goes on in sickbay. I’m only the Chief Medical Officer.” Ryeowook walked past Sungmin toward his office. Neither said anything ‘til the doors of Ryeowook’s office shut behind them. “Well, out with it.”
Sungmin watched as Ryeowook took a seat behind his desk. His glare had not softened. “It was never my intention to hurt you.”
“Oh, well then, everything is alright now. I am glad that’s settled. Feel free to leave…now,” Ryeowook said dismissively, unmoved by Sungmin’s words.
Sungmin exhaled and continued, “I thought you were dead. If I had-”
“Known you were alive, it would never have happened. Yes, I’m familiar with this excuse,” Ryeowook said, finishing Sungmin’s sentence.
Sungmin stepped closer to the desk. “It’s not an excuse; it’s the truth.”
“Did you two rehearse your excuses? I’m curious.”
“Don’t be like this. You know we didn’t. It isn’t an excuse; it’s the truth. It would never have happened if we had not thought you were dead.”
Ryeowook stood back up, and his voice hitched as he reminded Sungmin, “When you were dying, you told me he was yours…that I took him away from you. You must have been so happy when I was out of the way.”
“No,” Sungmin pleaded, his voice full anguish. “I don’t know why I would have said that. He was never mine. Even when you were gone, he was never mine.”
Ryeowook tilted his head down, unable to look at his old friend. “You said a lot of things when you thought you were dying,” Ryeowook admitted, unable to forget the other things Sungmin had said, “You said he needed you.”
“I was delusional with fever. If I ever said he needed me, that was just wishful thinking…because it isn’t true. It was never true,” Sungmin explained, the regret easily heard in his voice. “He needed something, and maybe I fooled myself into thinking it was me…but the only thing he really needed was for you to come back to him.”
Ryeowook lifted his head and stared at Sungmin. Sungmin, who had always been such a good friend to him…he had missed him, but the hurt was so fresh. “You played the role of my best friend for years, while at the same time you were in love with my husband. You have been lying to me from the minute our friendship began.”
Sungmin closed his eyes as the truth of Ryeowook’s words hit him like bullets to the chest. “I know…but I never did anything about it. I never acted on those feelings, and I was your friend. I was a good friend to you.”
“I can’t wrap my head around the idea that you have been in love with him since the academy.”
“Actually, from before the academy…the first time I met him at the entrance exams,” Sungmin corrected, not wanting there to be any more lies between them.
Ryeowook’s eyes widened. “Then why didn’t you-”
“He was a humongous jerk back then. He used people all the time. I had no desire to be just another notch on his belt,” Sungmin explained. “I had some self-respect then.”
Ryeowook couldn’t argue with that. Kyuhyun had been a huge jerk and a male whore when he had first met him at the academy. “Well, too bad you seemed to have lost that honorable quality over time.”
Sungmin bit back the initial response that arose in the back of his throat at Ryeowook’s insult. “Yes, it is.”
“Eight days! It took you eight days to get in bed with my husband!”
“And that was eight days after you were assumed dead.” Sungmin saw the look of rage on Ryeowook’s face. “If you had not been assumed dead, he would never have come knocking at my door. He might have been a slut before you, but once he was yours, he was only yours.”
“But once I was gone, it was a return of the good old days!” Ryeowook flung back at Sungmin, his voice rising.
Sungmin just shook his head. “He was broken. He’s, like, weird when it comes to sex…I still don’t understand it…because it isn’t normal, but it was not a return of good times. The man who pushed me back onto that bed and took me…eight days after you were assumed dead, was not happy and was not enjoying his freedom.”
Ryeowook sank back in his chair as Sungmin’s words sunk in. “Yes, weird…but are you here to defend him?”
“No, I am here to see if I can save our friendship. I miss our friendship,” Sungmin told him truthfully as he stepped closer to the desk. “Our friendship was no lie. I wasn’t pretending to be your friend. I always was your friend; maybe I should have been truthful with my feelings from the start…but-”
“But what?”
“Maybe even though he was huge jerk to you back then…maybe I, who always watched him a little too closely, sensed something else behind his behavior with you,” Sungmin confessed. “I didn’t want you or anybody else to know how I felt. The only person I ever confided in was Eunhyuk.”
Ryeowook rubbed the palm of his hands against his eyes. “For all those years?”
“Yes, at first because he was a jerk, and then, because you two were falling in love. Your love changed you both so much, and I couldn’t help but be touched by it,” Sungmin said softly. “I know it sounds impossible, but I was happy for you, even if I was saddened for my lost chance.”
Ryeowook looked up at Sungmin with watery eyes. “Loving him…is so irritating. Half the time, I want to slap him, and the other half, I just want to hold him. I can understand you loving him, and now I can even understand why you never told me, but Sungmin even if I know rationally…in my heart… it’s such a hard thing to forgive.”
Sungmin nodded his head eagerly, his own eyes filling with tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. He cursed himself; he had cried enough. He was the Security Chief of this ship; he needed to act like it. “I know it is. I allowed him to use me…I was a fool. You are right; I lost all my self-respect, but I want to be better now. I know forgiveness is hard…but I am willing to do whatever I can do…to make it easier for you.”
Ryeowook squeezed his eyes closed. “Just go for now…I promise to try.”
Relief flooded Sungmin’s face. “Okay, I am just going to go see Junsu…if that’s alright.”
Ryeowook cleared his throat. “That’s fine. When you are done, I will check him over. He’s doing really well.”
“He is.” Sungmin wanted to say something about him having a wonderful doctor, but decided not to push his luck and walked out of the office, on his way to Junsu.
Ryeowook leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. He tried to master his unraveling emotions, as the anger that had been his permanent companion of late, started dissipating as those old familiar emotions of love and friendship resurfaced. He was already forgiving Sungmin…and it came so easily. Why was it so easy to forgive Sungmin, and yet, to think of doing the same with Kyuhyun was unthinkable? They had forgone mourning him for…he wouldn’t think that. He couldn’t think like that. Thinking like that only hurt him. It weakened him. He was tired of being angry…it exhausted him.
A tap on the door disturbed Ryeowook from his inner reflections. “Ryeowook, where is Junsu? Is he back in his quarters?” Sungmin asked as he peered through the door to Ryeowook’s office.
Ryeowook got up instantly. “I told him he could visit Changmin in the lab, but I didn’t say he could stay this long.” Ryeowook hit his insignia annoyed, “Ensign Junsu, you are to get your cute little butt back in sickbay now.”
“Changmin will no doubt be grateful,” Sungmin said with a chuckle. Junsu and Changmin had an interesting friendship, considering how effortlessly Junsu could irritate Changmin without even trying.
“Junsu?” Ryeowook said in a voice full of warning when Junsu did not answer him. “Junsu, you still suffer from severe kinetosis. Answer me now. I am not amused.”
Sungmin stopped chuckling and hit his insignia. “Changmin, is Ensign Junsu with you?”
“I was asleep, so…no,” came Changmin’s annoyed response.
“Computer, where is the location of Ensign Kim Junsu,” Ryeowook demanded of the computer, as his worry for his patient increased tenfold.
“Ensign Kim Junsu is not aboard the ship,” the computer answered.
**************************
“He has to be double-jointed,” Yoochun proclaimed in awe as he stared at the bed wide- eyed.
Junsu shrieked loudly, forgetting once again to move slowly as he bolted from the bedroom to escape the happenings occurring on the bed. “We can’t be watching this! It’s the captain!”
Yoochun winced as he heard Junsu hit the floor outside the bedroom. “You are kinda stupid,” Yoochun mumbled as he headed toward the ensign who had fallen again after moving too fast.
Jaejoong, who had switched positions with Yunho, much to Yunho’s immense enjoyment, looked up as Junsu ran from the room.
“Don’t stop…we just started,” Yunho started to complain as he felt Jaejoong’s attention shift, but his thought was interrupted when the room was drenched in a yellow light.
“Yellow Alert,” the computer announced overhead, causing Yunho to slide out from under Jaejoong at record speed as he reached for his insignia that instantly went off.
“Captain, Ensign Junsu is missing. The computer cannot detect him on the ship,” Lieutenant Yesung’s voice instantly announced.
“Can’t detect him?” Yunho asked, already in the dressing chamber, changing into his uniform.
“No, Doctor Cho is unable to locate him,” Yesung announced.
“How is it possible for him to be off the ship? We are in warp. He couldn’t have beamed off,” Yunho asked as he stepped out of the dressing chamber, completely confused.
Jaejoong was sitting on the side of the bed, looking confused as well. Jaejoong watched as Yunho drilled Lieutenant Yesung for information. “I think I felt him.”
“What?” Yunho asked, stopping his conversation with Yesung to stare at Jaejoong.
Jaejoong looked extremely uncomfortable. “It was very faint.”
“When?”
“Just before the yellow light filled the room,” Jaejoong answered. “It was very faint…like a ghost.”
Yunho paled considerably, and stuttered his reply, “A ghost…a ghost. Are you saying Junsu is dead?”
“I’m not dead, Captain,” Junsu told the captain who couldn’t hear him. Yoochun and Junsu had made it back in the bedroom after hearing the yellow alert.
“I don’t think he’s dead,” Jaejoong replied, looking extremely unsure. “It felt different from anything I have felt before.”
Yunho looked around the room. “Do you feel him now?”
Jaejoong, who was still sitting on the side of the bed, shook his head no.
“He no doubt heard your high pitched shriek of fear at your virgin eyes being assaulted,” Yoochun pointed out from beside Junsu.
“My complete horror you mean! I am not a pervert like you,” Junsu snapped back at Yoochun, who he was clinging to after the other man had helped him off the floor again.
“Enjoying sex doesn’t make you a pervert! I was just admiring his mobility. That isn’t exactly a normal-”
Yoochun stopped as Changmin’s voice filled the room. “Captain, meet me in the science lab where I saw you earlier. It was Ensign Junsu’s last recorded location.”
“I’m on my way,” Yunho said as he headed out of the bedroom. Jaejoong got up and followed behind him, along with Junsu and Yoochun.
**********************
Yunho flew into the lab with Jaejoong right behind him. “Lieutenant, what have you discovered?”
Changmin who was standing between Ryeowook and Sungmin turned to face his father. “Computer playback the recording from 2127 hours,” Changmin ordered as a screen on the wall came to life. It showed Junsu tapping on the device, which caused Yoochun to reach out and grab him. It then showed Junsu jerking away, losing his balance and falling on to the device, and then a blinding light encompassing the room. After the bright light cleared, it showed a room empty of Junsu and Yoochun.
Jaejoong’s mouth dropped open, and Yunho’s eyes enlarged as he asked, “Yoochun, too…tell me they are just invisible.”
“They are just invisible,” Changmin assured his father; he moved toward the device and knelt down and opened a compartment on the device. “It will take me approximately nineteen hours to correct the damage and shift them back into our space-time.”
“Will they be…okay?” Dr. Cho asked.
Changmin did not look up from the device. “Their mobility is limited. They can not initiate action. They were the only objects touching the device, so they were the only objects that shifted.”
Sungmin looked confused. “What does that mean exactly? Are they in any danger?”
“No,” Changmin said, looking up to meet Sungmin’s gaze. “They can move freely down our hallways, they can sit at on our furniture, but they cannot move anything. They cannot initiate change in our space time. They can touch each other, but if they were to touch us…we would feel nothing.”
“Poor Junsu,” Jaejoong mumbled from his place next to Yunho.
“So, they can’t drink or eat?” Ryeowook, always the doctor, asked, focusing on their physical well beings.
Changmin shook his head. “No, they cannot. Perhaps I should focus on working to get them back, and not answering fifty questions.”
“Lieutenant,” Yunho warned Changmin softly, and then he turned to Jaejoong and asked, “You said you felt Junsu’s presence?”
“I highly doubt that,” Changmin said, full of disbelief, as he continued working on the device.
Yunho gave Changmin a disapproving look, before focusing on Jaejoong. “Jae, what do you think?”
Jaejoong gave Changmin a long-suffering look and then returned his attention back to Yunho. “I am sure of it. I only felt one wave of…what felt like embarrassment.”
“When did you feel it?” Ryeowook asked, walking up next to Jaejoong.
“In the bedroom earlier, before the yellow alert sounded…perhaps they were trying to contact us?” Jaejoong reasoned.
“That makes sense. I mean, who better to seek out if you are invisible…than a telepath?” Sungmin agreed.
Yunho digested that information and gave Jaejoong an uncomfortable look. “Weren’t we about to-”
“Yes.”
“Do you think they-”
“Yes.”
Yunho cringed. “I wouldn’t normally-”
“I know you are not going to ask me to manipulate the memories of the members of your crew…why, that would be unethical. An invasion of their privacy.”
Yunho frowned at Jaejoong, who just smiled back at him. “No, I would not.”
“Liar.”
“Where the hell is Kyuhyun? It was a yellow alert,” Yunho demanded, noticing the absence of his second in command, and wanting to end his mental discussion with Jaejoong.
Jaejoong and Ryeowook shared a concerned look. “Umm….he’s sleeping…he needed to rest,” Ryeowook fumbled the words out, quickly covering for Jaejoong.
Yunho stared at Ryeowook, sensing he was lying. “Doctor, I know you wouldn’t sedate an officer on this ship…just to make things easier on yourself? I know Commander Cho has been insistent on reuniting with you…but to sedate him in order to avoid his-”
“Captain, I would never,” Ryeowook exclaimed, interrupting the captain. “I didn’t drug him…he’s just in a heavy sleep.”
Yunho eyed Ryeowook suspiciously. “He just slept through a yellow alert? Funny how he has never done that before.”
“Can you all have this rather boring and tedious discussion outside of the lab?” Changmin asked, not looking up from his work.
“I was just leaving,” Sungmin said as he breezed past Yunho, who was still eyeing Dr. Cho, full of suspicion.
Jaejoong walked up and wrapped an arm around Yunho’s waist. “I swear he didn’t drug him. Your commander really is just sleeping,” Jaejoong told Yunho as he kissed him on the cheek.
“Okay,” Yunho relented, turning toward the lab doors, shifting his eyes back and forth between Jaejoong and Ryeowook.
“Jae, I forgot to say, I love your pajamas,” Ryeowook quickly said, hoping to change the subject.
“I know I should have changed into my uniform, but they are just so pretty,” Jaejoong beamed as he ran his hands up and down his silk pajama top.
“Why do I have the feeling that something is up between the two of you?” Yunho questioned them, full of distrust.
“Suspicious nature?” Ryeowook answered before walking off in the opposite direction. He wanted free of Yunho and his questions as quickly as possible.
“I know what was up between the two of us before we were so rudely interrupted,” Jaejoong told Yunho as his hand slid down and caressed Yunho’s ass as they walked back to their quarters.
“If you think I am going to have sex with you….when members of my crew could be getting a free peepshow, you are insane.”
Jaejoong stopped in his tracks. “But…it’s going to be nineteen hours.”
Yunho smirked. “I guess somebody shouldn’t have been so moody the last couple of days and nights.”
“Yunho!”
Yunho paused. “Actually come to think of it, I think I will just go and check the bridge. It’s good to keep Yesung on his toes.”
“I wasn’t moody on purpose!”
Yunho, who had started walking in the opposite direction toward the elevator, turned around and smiled. “Oh, well, I am totally being this way on purpose…just so you know.”
Jaejoong folded his arms, pouted out his cheeks, and glared at the retreating Yunho’s back.
“Don’t pout, Jae, you know I love you!” Yunho yelled back at him, full of mischief, as he passed two crewmen in the corridor.
Jaejoong watched as the crewmen, who had overheard the captains proclamation of love, grinned, and Jaejoong’s pout disappeared, with a huge smile replacing it.
**************
“It could be worse,” Yoochun said over Changmin’s shoulder, where he was watching the Science Officer work diligently.
Junsu, who was sitting on the floor, leaning up against the wall, looked up at Yoochun. “How so?”
“It could have been Changmin stuck with you.”
“How would that be worse?”
Yoochun turned away from Changmin and walked over and leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor to sit beside Junsu. “I am not really sure how he’s going to manage to get us back in nineteen hours. It would have taken me seventy two hours at least.”
“Death by dehydration,” Junsu uttered back to him, not turning to look at him.
Yoochun reached out and patted Junsu’s arm, causing the other man to turn and look at him. “You wouldn’t die…you would just have to think of clever ways to drink your own urine.”
Junsu pushed Yoochun’s hand way. “That’s disgusting.”
Yoochun tried not to leer at Junsu. “That’s why I said it could be worse.”
Junsu shot Yoochun a quick glance and admitted. “I guess it hasn’t been too awful…being stuck with you. Not as bad as I would have imagined.”
“I have been on my very best behavior,” Yoochun told him as he watched Junsu bend his legs and hug his knees.
“Mostly.” Junsu had to admit.
“I’ve been an angel.”
“You’ve been okay.”
“Not, once have I grabbed at that glorious ass of yours,” Yoochun said as he licked his lips, making sure Junsu saw.
Junsu blushed. “Please don’t ruin whatever progress we’ve made by going there.”
“But Junsu, I would hate for you to think I’m mad at you,” Yoochun explained, smiling from head to toe.
“Stop it! I don’t think you are mad at me…and I won’t think it in the future either.”
Yoochun shrugged. “Maybe I will just give it a squeeze once a week, so you don’t feel insecure.”
“I won’t feel insecure! I will feel like you are a decent human being who isn’t a perverted creep,” Junsu said, alarmed at the hungry look in Yoochun’s eyes.
“Perverted creep? Really Junsu…you wound me.”
“I don’t want you pinching me, or groping me once a week, or ever! I don’t like it. I thought we were…kin..da friends now?” Junsu asked, stuttering at the end. What was he saying? Commander Yoochun was not his friend; he was his commanding officer who liked to sexually harass him.
Yoochun stood back up and stretched his arms out over his head. He smiled down at Junsu. “Once a month then…for our friendship’s sake.”
Junsu groaned, and Commander Yoochun chuckled as he walked back to stand behind Changmin, so he could watch his progress.
Adventure Four: Unseen Possibilities Part 2 of 2
Author: Aquariuslover
Pairings: Yunjae, KyuWook, General
Rating: R
Genre: Crossover, Science Fiction, Humor, Adventure
Beta: Unicornsinger
A/N: This journal is now friend locked, and it will probably stay that way for awhile. I am sick of seeing my stories posted all over live journal, and worse. Its friend locked due to the actions of Sayda3 and her multiple aliases. I have always accepted all friends in the past, but now I am being very cautious with new accounts.
Thanks to Amy and my favorite Unicorn for all their help and support! Also thanks to everybody who takes the time to comment!
Summary: Ensign Junsu and Commander Yoochun find themselves in an impossible situation. Yunho and Jaejoong find themselves at odds with each other. Ryeowook struggles to find a way of dealing with Kyuhyun and Sungmin.
Prior Adventures
“This shows that you are a normal humanoid male,” Ryeowook said, pointing to the scanners above Jaejoong’s head.
Jaejoong was lying down on an exam table in a private room in sickbay away from Heechul’s prying eyes and ears. Jaejoong looked up at Ryeowook skeptically. “So there is no difference between me and the rest of the men on this ship? I highly doubt that.”
“I didn’t say that…exactly. Your brain has very subtle differences, and you have some secretion glands…in interesting places,” Ryeowook said, intrigued, as he studied the monitors. “Your cerebral cortex is thicker; it’s seven millimeters easily.”
“So, there isn’t anything on there too suspicious?”
Ryeowook looked away from the scanners and then looked at Jaejoong. “Would I know? Are these scanners even capable of detecting anything suspicious? Do I see a baby? No, I don’t.”
Jaejoong scrunched up his face in obvious dislike and spat at the doctor, “A baby? Of course there isn’t a baby.”
“Then what are we searching for? I was all prepared to see that you had sprouted a uterus and a vagina, because I doubt even you can shoot a baby out your ass.”
“Eww…no, I would have to change form. I wanted you to check and see if my metabolism had increased,” Jaejoong said, cringing, as he sat up on the side of the exam table. Having a baby out of his rectum; he’d never heard of anything so stupid. Humans were quite delusional at times.
“Oh, what do you mean change form? I thought you were not a shape shifter?” Ryeowook said quickly, focusing on the word change.
Jaejoong, who still looked disgusted at Dr. Cho’s earlier comment, explained, “Before I can become pregnant with Changmin, I will have to change back into my Joong form-”
“That of a hermaphrodite,” Ryeowook finished with a smile, as it all fell into place.
Jaejoong nodded his head. “Exactly, when I kept finding myself so annoyed with Yunho…I thought maybe I was getting ready to change.”
Ryeowook’s intelligent eyes zoomed in on Jaejoong. “Why would Yunho be annoying to you during the change? I mean, if you are changing so you can ready yourself to become pregnant…..wouldn’t your mate be the opposite of annoying if you are going through some kind of an estrous cycle?”
“Believe me, Joong’s are highly unpredictable while they are going through the change. Once a Joong has completed the change…well then, it’s a completely different story.”
Ryeowook looked back at the scans and shook his head. “I see nothing on here that indicates that your body is preparing for any kind of change.”
Jaejoong sighed. “So, I am just annoyed with the love of my life.”
“You should probably get used to it,” Ryeowook warned. “The love of my life leaves me in a constant state of annoyance.”
“No, I was unfair with him about Changmin. He doesn’t understand why I don’t want to spend time with Changmin. He has no clue that I am actually trying to protect Changmin. Yunho loves us both…and he wants desperately for us to love each other, too,” Jaejoong said with a far-off look on his face.
“That will come in time…of course, you will be in deep trouble by then,” Ryeowook pointed out. “I am telling you, Jae, the excuse ‘I did it for your own good’ isn’t going to carry any weight with them. Yunho demands loyalty, and Changmin…well, he won’t be hugging you and calling you mommy anytime soon.”
“I know it won’t be easy. They will both feel so betrayed…but I can’t risk it,” Jaejoong said as he pushed off the exam table and stood up. “Yunho is about one minute away from asking the computer for my location.”
“Well, you best be leaving if you don’t want him wondering why you are in sickbay.”
“Yes, I better,” Jaejoong said as he headed toward the door.
Ryeowook folded his arms and asked the retreating man, “Can’t you just manipulate his mind? You tend to be excellent at it.”
Jaejoong flinched at the accusation, turning back around to face the doctor. “I won’t do that to him…not anymore.”
“Really? Never again?” Ryeowook asked in voice showing his extreme doubt at the truthfulness of Jaejoong’s words.
“I would only do it to protect him or Changmin,” Jaejoong conceded.
Ryeowook gave Jaejoong a sympathetic look. “I hope all this doesn’t backfire on you someday.”
Jaejoong turned back around, unable to look at Ryeowook, and whispered, “If it hasn’t already.”
***************
“I’m so stupid,” Junsu groaned as he sat on the floor and leaned against the wall. “So stupid.”
“You are not stupid,” Commander Yoochun answered half-heartedly as he looked around the lab in frustration. He couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t even open the door.
“Yes, I am,” Junsu insisted.
“Stop whining,” Commander Yoochun ordered. “If you were stupid, you would have never made it through the academy, and you wouldn’t be allowed to fly the ship. Star Fleet doesn’t let stupid people steer starships.”
Junsu’s eyes followed Commander Yoochun as he walked around the lab. “I love flying…it’s just human stuff I’m stupid at.”
“What do you mean by that? Everybody loves you…likes you…well, they tolerate you at the least,” Yoochun responded without turning around to face Junsu.
“I shouldn’t have come to the lab tonight,” Junsu confessed.
“I agree with you there. If you had stayed the heck out of here, I wouldn’t be stuck out of phase with everything. I would be in engineering checking over my engines. I just installed the new dilithium crystals, and although the grade seems high…I still have to watch them carefully,” Commander Yoochun groaned. He leaned against the wall opposite of Junsu.
“I’m sorry.”
“You should be…tapping on machinery you are unfamiliar with,” Yoochun grumbled in agreement.
Junsu’s feelings of remorse vanished. “If you hadn’t grabbed me, I wouldn’t have jerked away so quickly and gotten dizzy…and ended up falling. Can you just say stop it next time?”
“I did tell you to stop it.”
“You didn’t give me time to stop before you grabbed me. Forgive me if I am a little skittish of you grabbing me!” Junsu said, raising his voice at the commander, clenching his fists.
Commander Yoochun opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. He looked away from Junsu and collected himself before he calmly asked, “Why didn’t you turn around and leave when you saw that Changmin wasn’t here?”
“Duh, because I’m stupid!”
“Oh, so this is why you are stupid.” Commander Yoochun sighed, finally understanding, and then he questioned, “Was there a reason why you were being stupid?”
Junsu closed his eyes, refusing to look at the cool and collected Commander. “I hate it when people are mad at me. It’s like physical torture for me. I’ve always been this way. So even if you’re a big, old jerk who can’t keep his hands - ” Junsu paused, realizing he was talking to a commanding officer. “No offense, Commander.”
“None taken…continue.”
“I should be glad you are avoiding me, but I kept thinking you were mad at me. Why would you be mad at me? If anybody should be mad, it should be me."
Yoochun’s eyes widened, and he fought down a chuckle. “So, because I haven’t groped you in the past five weeks, I must be mad at you.”
Junsu opened his eyes and looked at the commander and meekly asked, “Aren’t you?”
“No, I’m not. I am just avoiding you out of-” Commander Yoochun never finished his sentence, because the door to the lab swooshed open, distracting him.
“We got to get a dayshift job,” a young blond ensign said as he entered the lab.
A second taller ensign with dark hair followed him into the lab. “Yeah, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”
“Hey, is that it?” the blond ensign asked his friend as they both walked up to the machine that Junsu had fallen on.
Junsu, who had gotten up when they entered the room, looked at the circular, metallic machine he had knocked over, and it didn’t look like it had taken a tumble. Junsu looked at Commander Yoochun, “Can’t they tell it was moved?”
“No,” Commander Yoochun said, shaking his head in disappointment.
Junsu felt panic setting in. “Who would know?”
“In this galaxy? Changmin, of course, would know. I don’t even think Ensign Choi would know. Now, Lieutenant Choi would know, but some bastard is probably using her as a sex slave on some third rate planet. The captain might notice…especially since he was just in here earlier,” Yoochun informed Junsu.
“Don’t touch it!” the darker-headed ensign screamed to the blond-headed one. “Lieutenant Jung will kill you.”
“I’m not an idiot; I am not going to touch it. I just wanted to look at it,” the blond ensign explained.
“We need to get out of this room. Perhaps Jae’s telepathic powers might be of a help to us,” Commander Yoochun said, walking toward the door.
“That’s a great idea!” Junsu hurried to him, regretting it instantly as his head started spinning.
Commander Yoochun reached out a hand and grabbed Junsu’s arm, steadying him. “I do have a few good ideas.”
“I think I’ve heard that before,” Junsu told him, fighting the instinctive urge to pull away from the man’s touch.
“As soon as those two open the door, we have to move, or we will be trapped again,” Yoochun told Junsu as he watched the younger man fight off his dizziness and his desire to free himself of Yoochun’s grasp.
“Okay,” Junsu agreed.
“Well, I am leaving, before Lieutenant Jung walks in here and catches us,” the blond ensign told the dark-haired ensign as he headed toward the door.
“I am more afraid of Commander Yoochun catching us.”
The blond ensign snickered as he walked through the door. “I am not pretty enough to have to worry about Commander Yoochun.”
“Plus, you have no ass,” the other ensign groused as he headed out the door. Yoochun dragged Junsu along with him through the door with the young, dark-haired ensign, unbeknownst to him.
The door to the lab whooshed shut, and Commander Yoochun stood outside it and stared at the two ensigns who hurriedly departed. “I have never so much as laid one hand on either one of those two boys.”
“Your reputation precedes you,” Junsu couldn’t help but point out.
Commander Yoochun turned around and glared at the man he was still holding on to. “You know, if I let go of you right now, you’d fall on that wonderful ass of yours.”
“Hence, the reason I haven’t jerked away from you,” Junsu said with a little bite of his own.
Yoochun’s eyes widened and he smiled as he started walking down the corridor, pulling Junsu with him. “I admit that I am little more hands on than most…” Yoochun trailed off as Junsu snorted. “But I’m not like some sexual predator.”
“What!”
Commander Yoochun inhaled a deep breath and admitted, “Okay, I might have preyed a little on you.”
“A little!” Junsu repeated in disbelief.
“And yet, you still stayed in that lab...because you thought I was mad at you,” Yoochun pointed out as they reached the elevator.
“I told you, I’m stupid!”
“Or maybe you like me pinching your ass?” Yoochun suggested, while arching his eyebrows at Junsu as he waited for somebody to come and get in the elevator. The lab was not on the same floor as the captain’s quarters.
“I most certainly do not! I do not! Take that back! I do not,” Junsu yelled, his voice going up several octaves.
Commander Yoochun gave him a smarmy smile. “I think you protest too much.”
“I do not! What? I hate you always pinching me! It’s freaking assault! The captain can’t throw you in the brig, though, because you keep the ship running! I don’t like it! I hate it!” Junsu continued to screech in indignation.
“Junsu, you are an innocent…a virgin. Maybe you don’t know what you like.”
Junsu jerked away from Yoochun and fell against the wall, lowering himself to the floor as dizziness and embarrassment overtook him. He was so shell-shocked at Commander Yoochun’s words, he couldn’t even breathe.
“Hey, breathe,” Commander Yoochun ordered as he kneeled down in front of the red- faced Junsu. “Junsu, just breath,” Yoochun ordered again as he gently patted Junsu’s cheek.
Junsu turned his cheek away from Commander Yoochun’s touch and inhaled a deep breath. “How did you…know….did Eunhyuk tell you…is it like a joke…who all knows? The vampire should have just finished me off.”
“Don’t you say that,” Yoochun ordered in a firm voice, resisting the urge to reach out and touch the ensign.
“I’m so stupid,” Junsu cried, full of self-hatred. He hated his life, and he hated the dizziness that wouldn’t leave him alone. How could this man, of all men, know of his inexperience?
“Nobody told me. I’ve just been watching you for a long time…and I just guessed,” Commander Yoochun explained, trying to calm the ensign. “I shouldn’t have said what I said.”
“What time?” Junsu asked, refusing to look at the commander.
“I should not have insinuated that you liked it. I know you don’t…maybe I didn’t always know how much, but now I do. I am not mad at you, Junsu; I am ashamed of myself. You almost died…and that would have been my fault,” Yoochun explained in tone of voice so soft that it was totally foreign to Junsu’s ears.
“Your fault?”
“You wanted to swim that day….but when you saw me, you turned around and followed Changmin into that castle,” Commander Yoochun explained gently.
“Oh,” Junsu said, with the truth dawning on him.
“Yeah, so even if Jae hadn’t given me the riot act for all the wrongs I had committed against you…I guess it’s time for me to behave myself.”
“Jae?”
“I guess when you were on the planet…hurt…he peered into your mind. It wasn’t a very flattering picture of me.”
Junsu slowly looked back at Yoochun guiltily; he could only imagine what Jaejoong had told him. “I was really sick of you that day.”
Commander Yoochun nodded his head. “I know. I am not mad at you, Junsu. I am just ashamed of myself and how I treated you. I am not naturally good…there has always been something darker in me. I think I tend to gravitate toward goodness to fight against it. You and Yunho have a similar goodness in you, so maybe that explains my lifetime friendship with him…and my attraction to you.”
Junsu’s eyes lit up with an idea and asked eagerly, “Did you ever pinch the captain’s ass?”
“No, I was never attracted to Yunho in that way. Plus, if I ever pinched his ass, he would have kicked mine,” Yoochun said with a smile.
Junsu gave him a small smile back. “Now, Jae would just splatter your brains.”
“Yeah, I am pretty sure Jae isn’t the sharing type.” Yoochun laughed and looked down the corridor as a person walking toward the elevator caught his attention.
“That’s Sungmin!” Junsu said, full of excitement, after following Yoochun’s gaze. “Maybe he is coming to sickbay to see me.”
“Hopefully,” Yoochun replied. Sickbay and the captain’s quarters were on the same level.
Junsu slowly got up, finally learning his lesson when it came to position changes. “If we do get to the captain’s quarters, do you think Jae will be able to sense us through the walls?”
Yoochun gave Junsu a doubtful look as he scratched his chin. “I don’t even know if he will be able to sense us at all. We are out of sync with him, also.”
Junsu let out a sigh as Sungmin reached the elevator, and to both Junsu and Yoochun’s relief, he ordered the elevator to take him to the level that the captain’s quarters were on.
“Does he look-”
“Nervous, yeah he does,” Yoochun finished as they watched Sungmin fidget as the elevator took them to the much sought after floor.
Junsu and Yoochun followed a very anxious-looking Sungmin down the hall. “If I am not in sickbay, he will no doubt look for me, or at least ask where I am. Dr. Cho only gave me permission to visit the lab…he will go all overprotective doctor the minute he notices I’m not in sickbay.”
Yoochun nodded his head. “We might have lucked out.”
They approached sickbay just when Jaejoong was exiting out the doors. Jaejoong stopped and gave Sungmin a critical look, then turned and walked down the corridor toward the quarters he shared with Yunho.
“What do we do?” Junsu asked as Sungmin headed into sickbay, and Jaejoong went down the corridor.
“We follow Jae…we know Ryeowook and Sungmin won’t be able to sense us,” Yoochun answered, following Jaejoong.
Junsu followed Yoochun and added, “Plus, he gave Sungmin an odd look. Do you think he sensed us?”
“Maybe…but then again, I don’t think he is a big fan of Sungmin's,” Yoochun answered honestly. “He seems to be a big fan of true love, and whatever relationship Sungmin and Kyuhyun had…I don’t think it qualified in his book. I am pretty sure he doesn’t…didn’t approve.”
“Who did? It was just as mess. They were both too good to be caught in such a filthy mess.”
“Sometimes good men do stupid shit,” Yoochun said, knowing the truth of his statement all too well.
*****************
Jaejoong walked into the quarters he shared with Yunho with determination. He knew he has been too hard on his lover, and he knew it was time for some honesty. He shook his head at their predicament. They had the ability to speak telepathically with each other and yet they were having communication problems.
“I was five seconds away from coming to look for you,” Jaejoong heard Yunho say from inside the bedroom.
“I know that; that’s why I have appeared,” Jaejoong answered as he walked into their bedroom. “Work?” Jaejoong asked as he immediately noticed that Yunho was wearing silk green pajamas and holding a computer pad in front of him, studying it intently.
“Work, and you haven’t exactly been in the mood,” Yunho answered without looking up.
Jaejoong walked toward the dressing chamber and got in and ordered blue silk pajamas that matched Yunho’s green ones. “No, I haven’t been.” He wondered if Ryeowook had missed something. The technology of the Expectations was very advanced, but Joong physiology was a mystery to the best of science. He still felt incredible moody…almost as if he was itching to start a fight with Yunho.
“Not tired of blue yet?” Yunho asked looking up as Jaejoong stepped out of the dressing chamber.
Jaejoong, who had been wearing his blue uniform all day, shook his head. “I miss blue. My eyes used to be blue.”
“I remember.”
“It’s really regretful that you have a thing for dull brown eyes,” Jaejoong grumbled, sitting on the side of the bed, looking away from Yunho.
Yunho frowned at the other man’s back. “Changing a person’s eye color is simple. Do as you please with them…they are your eyes, after all.”
“So you agree that they are dull?”
“No, I don’t agree. They can be full of love…or disdain. Your eyes could never be dull, no matter what color they are.”
Jaejoong swallowed guilty and turned to face Yunho. “Never disdain…not for you.” The urge to fight vanished as he allowed himself to feel Yunho’s presence.
“Liar.”
“Yunho, I am just…moody. Joongs get moody. We might look human, but we are not,” Jaejoong explained. “You are just going to have to bear with me ‘til this mood passes.”
“Humans get moody also. Why are you in a mood?”
“I need you to stop forcing Changmin on me. He doesn’t like it, and neither do I,” Jaejoong told Yunho as he slid up in bed to sit beside his mate.
Yunho’s eyes hardened as Jaejoong positioned himself beside him on the bed. “Fine.”
Jaejoong could feel Yunho’s disapproval wash over him. “Thank you, and there is another thing that has been annoying me of late.”
“Please continue to list all my faults; it’s very humbling,” Yunho told him in a cutting voice full of unpleasantness.
“Now who is moody?” Jaejoong asked as he reached down, and swatted Yunho’s thigh. “Would you rather I not tell you?”
Yunho folded his arms. “Tell me already.”
Jaejoong eyes were glued to Yunho, who refused to look back at him. “I will not be provoked into a fight with you.”
“What are we doing then?”
“We are communicating.”
“Aloud.”
“Yes, aloud. I don’t want to have this discussion telepathically…it’s too easy to get distracted when we use the bond,” Jaejoong explained as he reached down and grabbed Yunho’s hand and squeezed it.
Yunho did not squeeze back.
“I think you were about to list why I was so annoying of late,” Yunho told him, not even attempting to reign in his irritation.
“I am not your counselor.”
Yunho turned to face Jaejoong, surprised. “I thought we had agreed that you would assume that role.”
“We did.”
“So you changed your mind, and you’re angry I didn’t magically know?” Yunho asked, shocked. Yunho pulled his hand away for Jaejoong and waved it. “Unlike you, I can’t read your every thought. I can only read what you allow me to know.”
“No, that’s not it,” Jaejoong quickly added as he reached for the waving hand. “I don’t mind being the ship’s councilor, but that’s not all I am.”
Yunho paused long enough for Jaejoong to grab his waving hand. “Huh?”
“Yunho!” Jaejoong exclaimed completely exasperated. “I am your lover…your bondmate. I believe your planet has a saying, ‘for as long as we both shall live,’ and that perfectly describes what we are to each other. When you introduce me as merely a member of your crew…your ship’s counselor, it’s insulting.”
Yunho’s mouth dropped open as he stared at his mate, speechless. Realization dawned on Yunho, as he realized that Jaejoong’s mood had only gotten worse since they had visited the planet Trysor.
“I am a Joong….our bond is highly sought after, and half the time even on this ship…you downplay our bond. You love me, but you never seem to tell anybody that. It’s very insulting!”
Yunho closed his mouth shut and continued to study the man beside him, before asking drily, “Would you like me to have it announced overhead?”
“Maybe in the morning; it’s a little late for that now,” Jaejoong told him, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth still clinging to Yunho hand.
Yunho moved his arm and brought Jaejoong’s hand up to his head and slapped it against his own forehead. “I will never openly introduce you as my mate, my lover, or my bondmate on missions. It would be like painting a red bull’s-eye on you. If you don’t believe me, read my mind.”
Jaejoong winced as the truth of Yunho’s words hit him. “You would give me permission?”
Yunho released Jaejoong’s hand in a huff. He then slid down in bed and turned to his side, facing away from Jaejoong. “If that’s what you require.”
“I don’t,” Jaejoong whispered, suddenly feeling extremely guilty. “I’m very sorry.”
“Go to bed.” Yunho told Jaejoong telepathically as he ordered aloud, “lights out.”
“Not with you mad at me,” Jaejoong pleaded mentally as the lights went out at Yunho’s command.
“Only you can go to bed angry?”
“No, I wasn’t angry…I was just a little annoyed. I was stupid,” Jaejoong told him as he moved down beside Yunho, wrapping his arms around his lover.
“Just go to bed.”
“No, I’m sorry. I wanted to blame it on my biology…but Ryeowook ruled that out…although I still suspect it,” Jaejoong admitted. “I haven’t been entirely truthful with you.”
Yunho turned around in bed ‘til he was on his other side, facing Jaejoong with a very concerned face. “Lights on.”
“Joongs sometimes change back into their original Joong form. It’s a very unsettling experience…most don’t do it ‘til they are…older than I am. I had Ryeowook check me, but he says he didn’t notice anything too unusual,” Jaejoong explained as he reached for Yunho’s hand and squeezed it.
Yunho squeezed Jaejoong’s hand back this time, causing his mate to smile. “Would he know…I thought your physiology could fool the most advanced medical equipment?”
“It can, but changing back to the Joong form requires a great deal of energy, and I am almost certain the Expectations machinery could have detected an increase in my metabolism…but it might not have if the change was incomplete.”
“Not a complete change?”
“My body might just be testing the waters…I just can’t understand why I would be annoyed with you…when I love you so much; there has to be an explanation,” Jaejoong told Yunho mentally as he shifted closer to him.
Yunho smiled. “Maybe you are just crazy.”
“Yunho.”
“I mean really…you insecure? That’s simple ridiculous,” Yunho informed Jaejoong as he brought up their clasped hand to his heart.
Jaejoong smile back at him. “Ridiculous.”
“Although I must admit, seeing you in your original form again might be interesting…well, minus the blood and gore.”
“The blonde girl you thought you saved from the Zusaders, but I never was the girl you thought I was.” Jaejoong’s eyes were twinkling with new life.
Yunho pushed Jaejoong onto his back and slid over ‘til he was hovering over him. “You were dainty, and you had the loveliest blue eyes.”
“I won’t be quite so dainty the next time…when I do change again, it won’t be the same as the last time you saw me. This form that I am in now will dominate.”
“I would love you in any form,” Yunho looked down at his willing lover. He had sorely missed this aspect of their relationship.
“And I you,” Jaejoong reached up and pulled Yunho down to his waiting lips.
***************************
“Ryeowook, we need to talk,” Sungmin’s voice had Ryeowook coming to a dead stop. Ryeowook had been on his way to check on Junsu, but he turned around and faced the man he had once called best friend.
“We really don’t.”
“Yes, we do. We can talk in your office privately, or we can talk out here and let Heechul overhear every word. It’s up to you,” Sungmin said firmly, not backing down.
Ryeowook glared and hissed, “Well, why not. It’s not like I have any say about what goes on in sickbay. I’m only the Chief Medical Officer.” Ryeowook walked past Sungmin toward his office. Neither said anything ‘til the doors of Ryeowook’s office shut behind them. “Well, out with it.”
Sungmin watched as Ryeowook took a seat behind his desk. His glare had not softened. “It was never my intention to hurt you.”
“Oh, well then, everything is alright now. I am glad that’s settled. Feel free to leave…now,” Ryeowook said dismissively, unmoved by Sungmin’s words.
Sungmin exhaled and continued, “I thought you were dead. If I had-”
“Known you were alive, it would never have happened. Yes, I’m familiar with this excuse,” Ryeowook said, finishing Sungmin’s sentence.
Sungmin stepped closer to the desk. “It’s not an excuse; it’s the truth.”
“Did you two rehearse your excuses? I’m curious.”
“Don’t be like this. You know we didn’t. It isn’t an excuse; it’s the truth. It would never have happened if we had not thought you were dead.”
Ryeowook stood back up, and his voice hitched as he reminded Sungmin, “When you were dying, you told me he was yours…that I took him away from you. You must have been so happy when I was out of the way.”
“No,” Sungmin pleaded, his voice full anguish. “I don’t know why I would have said that. He was never mine. Even when you were gone, he was never mine.”
Ryeowook tilted his head down, unable to look at his old friend. “You said a lot of things when you thought you were dying,” Ryeowook admitted, unable to forget the other things Sungmin had said, “You said he needed you.”
“I was delusional with fever. If I ever said he needed me, that was just wishful thinking…because it isn’t true. It was never true,” Sungmin explained, the regret easily heard in his voice. “He needed something, and maybe I fooled myself into thinking it was me…but the only thing he really needed was for you to come back to him.”
Ryeowook lifted his head and stared at Sungmin. Sungmin, who had always been such a good friend to him…he had missed him, but the hurt was so fresh. “You played the role of my best friend for years, while at the same time you were in love with my husband. You have been lying to me from the minute our friendship began.”
Sungmin closed his eyes as the truth of Ryeowook’s words hit him like bullets to the chest. “I know…but I never did anything about it. I never acted on those feelings, and I was your friend. I was a good friend to you.”
“I can’t wrap my head around the idea that you have been in love with him since the academy.”
“Actually, from before the academy…the first time I met him at the entrance exams,” Sungmin corrected, not wanting there to be any more lies between them.
Ryeowook’s eyes widened. “Then why didn’t you-”
“He was a humongous jerk back then. He used people all the time. I had no desire to be just another notch on his belt,” Sungmin explained. “I had some self-respect then.”
Ryeowook couldn’t argue with that. Kyuhyun had been a huge jerk and a male whore when he had first met him at the academy. “Well, too bad you seemed to have lost that honorable quality over time.”
Sungmin bit back the initial response that arose in the back of his throat at Ryeowook’s insult. “Yes, it is.”
“Eight days! It took you eight days to get in bed with my husband!”
“And that was eight days after you were assumed dead.” Sungmin saw the look of rage on Ryeowook’s face. “If you had not been assumed dead, he would never have come knocking at my door. He might have been a slut before you, but once he was yours, he was only yours.”
“But once I was gone, it was a return of the good old days!” Ryeowook flung back at Sungmin, his voice rising.
Sungmin just shook his head. “He was broken. He’s, like, weird when it comes to sex…I still don’t understand it…because it isn’t normal, but it was not a return of good times. The man who pushed me back onto that bed and took me…eight days after you were assumed dead, was not happy and was not enjoying his freedom.”
Ryeowook sank back in his chair as Sungmin’s words sunk in. “Yes, weird…but are you here to defend him?”
“No, I am here to see if I can save our friendship. I miss our friendship,” Sungmin told him truthfully as he stepped closer to the desk. “Our friendship was no lie. I wasn’t pretending to be your friend. I always was your friend; maybe I should have been truthful with my feelings from the start…but-”
“But what?”
“Maybe even though he was huge jerk to you back then…maybe I, who always watched him a little too closely, sensed something else behind his behavior with you,” Sungmin confessed. “I didn’t want you or anybody else to know how I felt. The only person I ever confided in was Eunhyuk.”
Ryeowook rubbed the palm of his hands against his eyes. “For all those years?”
“Yes, at first because he was a jerk, and then, because you two were falling in love. Your love changed you both so much, and I couldn’t help but be touched by it,” Sungmin said softly. “I know it sounds impossible, but I was happy for you, even if I was saddened for my lost chance.”
Ryeowook looked up at Sungmin with watery eyes. “Loving him…is so irritating. Half the time, I want to slap him, and the other half, I just want to hold him. I can understand you loving him, and now I can even understand why you never told me, but Sungmin even if I know rationally…in my heart… it’s such a hard thing to forgive.”
Sungmin nodded his head eagerly, his own eyes filling with tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. He cursed himself; he had cried enough. He was the Security Chief of this ship; he needed to act like it. “I know it is. I allowed him to use me…I was a fool. You are right; I lost all my self-respect, but I want to be better now. I know forgiveness is hard…but I am willing to do whatever I can do…to make it easier for you.”
Ryeowook squeezed his eyes closed. “Just go for now…I promise to try.”
Relief flooded Sungmin’s face. “Okay, I am just going to go see Junsu…if that’s alright.”
Ryeowook cleared his throat. “That’s fine. When you are done, I will check him over. He’s doing really well.”
“He is.” Sungmin wanted to say something about him having a wonderful doctor, but decided not to push his luck and walked out of the office, on his way to Junsu.
Ryeowook leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. He tried to master his unraveling emotions, as the anger that had been his permanent companion of late, started dissipating as those old familiar emotions of love and friendship resurfaced. He was already forgiving Sungmin…and it came so easily. Why was it so easy to forgive Sungmin, and yet, to think of doing the same with Kyuhyun was unthinkable? They had forgone mourning him for…he wouldn’t think that. He couldn’t think like that. Thinking like that only hurt him. It weakened him. He was tired of being angry…it exhausted him.
A tap on the door disturbed Ryeowook from his inner reflections. “Ryeowook, where is Junsu? Is he back in his quarters?” Sungmin asked as he peered through the door to Ryeowook’s office.
Ryeowook got up instantly. “I told him he could visit Changmin in the lab, but I didn’t say he could stay this long.” Ryeowook hit his insignia annoyed, “Ensign Junsu, you are to get your cute little butt back in sickbay now.”
“Changmin will no doubt be grateful,” Sungmin said with a chuckle. Junsu and Changmin had an interesting friendship, considering how effortlessly Junsu could irritate Changmin without even trying.
“Junsu?” Ryeowook said in a voice full of warning when Junsu did not answer him. “Junsu, you still suffer from severe kinetosis. Answer me now. I am not amused.”
Sungmin stopped chuckling and hit his insignia. “Changmin, is Ensign Junsu with you?”
“I was asleep, so…no,” came Changmin’s annoyed response.
“Computer, where is the location of Ensign Kim Junsu,” Ryeowook demanded of the computer, as his worry for his patient increased tenfold.
“Ensign Kim Junsu is not aboard the ship,” the computer answered.
**************************
“He has to be double-jointed,” Yoochun proclaimed in awe as he stared at the bed wide- eyed.
Junsu shrieked loudly, forgetting once again to move slowly as he bolted from the bedroom to escape the happenings occurring on the bed. “We can’t be watching this! It’s the captain!”
Yoochun winced as he heard Junsu hit the floor outside the bedroom. “You are kinda stupid,” Yoochun mumbled as he headed toward the ensign who had fallen again after moving too fast.
Jaejoong, who had switched positions with Yunho, much to Yunho’s immense enjoyment, looked up as Junsu ran from the room.
“Don’t stop…we just started,” Yunho started to complain as he felt Jaejoong’s attention shift, but his thought was interrupted when the room was drenched in a yellow light.
“Yellow Alert,” the computer announced overhead, causing Yunho to slide out from under Jaejoong at record speed as he reached for his insignia that instantly went off.
“Captain, Ensign Junsu is missing. The computer cannot detect him on the ship,” Lieutenant Yesung’s voice instantly announced.
“Can’t detect him?” Yunho asked, already in the dressing chamber, changing into his uniform.
“No, Doctor Cho is unable to locate him,” Yesung announced.
“How is it possible for him to be off the ship? We are in warp. He couldn’t have beamed off,” Yunho asked as he stepped out of the dressing chamber, completely confused.
Jaejoong was sitting on the side of the bed, looking confused as well. Jaejoong watched as Yunho drilled Lieutenant Yesung for information. “I think I felt him.”
“What?” Yunho asked, stopping his conversation with Yesung to stare at Jaejoong.
Jaejoong looked extremely uncomfortable. “It was very faint.”
“When?”
“Just before the yellow light filled the room,” Jaejoong answered. “It was very faint…like a ghost.”
Yunho paled considerably, and stuttered his reply, “A ghost…a ghost. Are you saying Junsu is dead?”
“I’m not dead, Captain,” Junsu told the captain who couldn’t hear him. Yoochun and Junsu had made it back in the bedroom after hearing the yellow alert.
“I don’t think he’s dead,” Jaejoong replied, looking extremely unsure. “It felt different from anything I have felt before.”
Yunho looked around the room. “Do you feel him now?”
Jaejoong, who was still sitting on the side of the bed, shook his head no.
“He no doubt heard your high pitched shriek of fear at your virgin eyes being assaulted,” Yoochun pointed out from beside Junsu.
“My complete horror you mean! I am not a pervert like you,” Junsu snapped back at Yoochun, who he was clinging to after the other man had helped him off the floor again.
“Enjoying sex doesn’t make you a pervert! I was just admiring his mobility. That isn’t exactly a normal-”
Yoochun stopped as Changmin’s voice filled the room. “Captain, meet me in the science lab where I saw you earlier. It was Ensign Junsu’s last recorded location.”
“I’m on my way,” Yunho said as he headed out of the bedroom. Jaejoong got up and followed behind him, along with Junsu and Yoochun.
**********************
Yunho flew into the lab with Jaejoong right behind him. “Lieutenant, what have you discovered?”
Changmin who was standing between Ryeowook and Sungmin turned to face his father. “Computer playback the recording from 2127 hours,” Changmin ordered as a screen on the wall came to life. It showed Junsu tapping on the device, which caused Yoochun to reach out and grab him. It then showed Junsu jerking away, losing his balance and falling on to the device, and then a blinding light encompassing the room. After the bright light cleared, it showed a room empty of Junsu and Yoochun.
Jaejoong’s mouth dropped open, and Yunho’s eyes enlarged as he asked, “Yoochun, too…tell me they are just invisible.”
“They are just invisible,” Changmin assured his father; he moved toward the device and knelt down and opened a compartment on the device. “It will take me approximately nineteen hours to correct the damage and shift them back into our space-time.”
“Will they be…okay?” Dr. Cho asked.
Changmin did not look up from the device. “Their mobility is limited. They can not initiate action. They were the only objects touching the device, so they were the only objects that shifted.”
Sungmin looked confused. “What does that mean exactly? Are they in any danger?”
“No,” Changmin said, looking up to meet Sungmin’s gaze. “They can move freely down our hallways, they can sit at on our furniture, but they cannot move anything. They cannot initiate change in our space time. They can touch each other, but if they were to touch us…we would feel nothing.”
“Poor Junsu,” Jaejoong mumbled from his place next to Yunho.
“So, they can’t drink or eat?” Ryeowook, always the doctor, asked, focusing on their physical well beings.
Changmin shook his head. “No, they cannot. Perhaps I should focus on working to get them back, and not answering fifty questions.”
“Lieutenant,” Yunho warned Changmin softly, and then he turned to Jaejoong and asked, “You said you felt Junsu’s presence?”
“I highly doubt that,” Changmin said, full of disbelief, as he continued working on the device.
Yunho gave Changmin a disapproving look, before focusing on Jaejoong. “Jae, what do you think?”
Jaejoong gave Changmin a long-suffering look and then returned his attention back to Yunho. “I am sure of it. I only felt one wave of…what felt like embarrassment.”
“When did you feel it?” Ryeowook asked, walking up next to Jaejoong.
“In the bedroom earlier, before the yellow alert sounded…perhaps they were trying to contact us?” Jaejoong reasoned.
“That makes sense. I mean, who better to seek out if you are invisible…than a telepath?” Sungmin agreed.
Yunho digested that information and gave Jaejoong an uncomfortable look. “Weren’t we about to-”
“Yes.”
“Do you think they-”
“Yes.”
Yunho cringed. “I wouldn’t normally-”
“I know you are not going to ask me to manipulate the memories of the members of your crew…why, that would be unethical. An invasion of their privacy.”
Yunho frowned at Jaejoong, who just smiled back at him. “No, I would not.”
“Liar.”
“Where the hell is Kyuhyun? It was a yellow alert,” Yunho demanded, noticing the absence of his second in command, and wanting to end his mental discussion with Jaejoong.
Jaejoong and Ryeowook shared a concerned look. “Umm….he’s sleeping…he needed to rest,” Ryeowook fumbled the words out, quickly covering for Jaejoong.
Yunho stared at Ryeowook, sensing he was lying. “Doctor, I know you wouldn’t sedate an officer on this ship…just to make things easier on yourself? I know Commander Cho has been insistent on reuniting with you…but to sedate him in order to avoid his-”
“Captain, I would never,” Ryeowook exclaimed, interrupting the captain. “I didn’t drug him…he’s just in a heavy sleep.”
Yunho eyed Ryeowook suspiciously. “He just slept through a yellow alert? Funny how he has never done that before.”
“Can you all have this rather boring and tedious discussion outside of the lab?” Changmin asked, not looking up from his work.
“I was just leaving,” Sungmin said as he breezed past Yunho, who was still eyeing Dr. Cho, full of suspicion.
Jaejoong walked up and wrapped an arm around Yunho’s waist. “I swear he didn’t drug him. Your commander really is just sleeping,” Jaejoong told Yunho as he kissed him on the cheek.
“Okay,” Yunho relented, turning toward the lab doors, shifting his eyes back and forth between Jaejoong and Ryeowook.
“Jae, I forgot to say, I love your pajamas,” Ryeowook quickly said, hoping to change the subject.
“I know I should have changed into my uniform, but they are just so pretty,” Jaejoong beamed as he ran his hands up and down his silk pajama top.
“Why do I have the feeling that something is up between the two of you?” Yunho questioned them, full of distrust.
“Suspicious nature?” Ryeowook answered before walking off in the opposite direction. He wanted free of Yunho and his questions as quickly as possible.
“I know what was up between the two of us before we were so rudely interrupted,” Jaejoong told Yunho as his hand slid down and caressed Yunho’s ass as they walked back to their quarters.
“If you think I am going to have sex with you….when members of my crew could be getting a free peepshow, you are insane.”
Jaejoong stopped in his tracks. “But…it’s going to be nineteen hours.”
Yunho smirked. “I guess somebody shouldn’t have been so moody the last couple of days and nights.”
“Yunho!”
Yunho paused. “Actually come to think of it, I think I will just go and check the bridge. It’s good to keep Yesung on his toes.”
“I wasn’t moody on purpose!”
Yunho, who had started walking in the opposite direction toward the elevator, turned around and smiled. “Oh, well, I am totally being this way on purpose…just so you know.”
Jaejoong folded his arms, pouted out his cheeks, and glared at the retreating Yunho’s back.
“Don’t pout, Jae, you know I love you!” Yunho yelled back at him, full of mischief, as he passed two crewmen in the corridor.
Jaejoong watched as the crewmen, who had overheard the captains proclamation of love, grinned, and Jaejoong’s pout disappeared, with a huge smile replacing it.
**************
“It could be worse,” Yoochun said over Changmin’s shoulder, where he was watching the Science Officer work diligently.
Junsu, who was sitting on the floor, leaning up against the wall, looked up at Yoochun. “How so?”
“It could have been Changmin stuck with you.”
“How would that be worse?”
Yoochun turned away from Changmin and walked over and leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor to sit beside Junsu. “I am not really sure how he’s going to manage to get us back in nineteen hours. It would have taken me seventy two hours at least.”
“Death by dehydration,” Junsu uttered back to him, not turning to look at him.
Yoochun reached out and patted Junsu’s arm, causing the other man to turn and look at him. “You wouldn’t die…you would just have to think of clever ways to drink your own urine.”
Junsu pushed Yoochun’s hand way. “That’s disgusting.”
Yoochun tried not to leer at Junsu. “That’s why I said it could be worse.”
Junsu shot Yoochun a quick glance and admitted. “I guess it hasn’t been too awful…being stuck with you. Not as bad as I would have imagined.”
“I have been on my very best behavior,” Yoochun told him as he watched Junsu bend his legs and hug his knees.
“Mostly.” Junsu had to admit.
“I’ve been an angel.”
“You’ve been okay.”
“Not, once have I grabbed at that glorious ass of yours,” Yoochun said as he licked his lips, making sure Junsu saw.
Junsu blushed. “Please don’t ruin whatever progress we’ve made by going there.”
“But Junsu, I would hate for you to think I’m mad at you,” Yoochun explained, smiling from head to toe.
“Stop it! I don’t think you are mad at me…and I won’t think it in the future either.”
Yoochun shrugged. “Maybe I will just give it a squeeze once a week, so you don’t feel insecure.”
“I won’t feel insecure! I will feel like you are a decent human being who isn’t a perverted creep,” Junsu said, alarmed at the hungry look in Yoochun’s eyes.
“Perverted creep? Really Junsu…you wound me.”
“I don’t want you pinching me, or groping me once a week, or ever! I don’t like it. I thought we were…kin..da friends now?” Junsu asked, stuttering at the end. What was he saying? Commander Yoochun was not his friend; he was his commanding officer who liked to sexually harass him.
Yoochun stood back up and stretched his arms out over his head. He smiled down at Junsu. “Once a month then…for our friendship’s sake.”
Junsu groaned, and Commander Yoochun chuckled as he walked back to stand behind Changmin, so he could watch his progress.