#43 [2PM, Taecyeon/Nichkhun]
Fandom: 2PM
Title: Fly Toward A Secret Sky (I Won't Let You Fall Remix)
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: TaecKhun
Length: 5,768 words
Summary: "Hey," Khun says, calling him back. He's attempting not to smile, but trying to hide emotions is pretty useless around Taecyeon. Taecyeon knows him better than anyone. "You like me." Taecyeon raises his eyebrows. "Who doesn't?"
Warnings: Brief mentions of torture.
Notes: Thanks to M for cheerleading, B for the beta and the much-needed comma cockblock. This turned out nothing like I thought it would, but I really hope you enjoy it regardless, dear Remixee.
Remixee author: verocity
Title of work you remixed: Falling Two Hundred Feet Is Easy
Link to work you remixed: http://verocity.livejournal.com/21533.html#cutid4
1.
The first time Taecyeon goes into space, he knows it's where he's meant to be.
There are gravity simulators and other technological things he doesn't really care about keeping their ascension into the atmosphere as unnoticeable as possible, and logically Taecyeon knows he can't really be feeling anything, but the further they get from land the better he feels, the more relaxed. The more at home.
"Space, man. Space," Taecyeon breathes. He stares out of the porthole of their space taxi, hundreds and thousands and millions of stars, feeling awed and small and loving it.
Khun does not feel the same way. He has never been interested in space travel, apparently, and is only along because he likes the idea of doing something new. He might also be feeling a little travel sick. "Yeah, it's great," he gasps, gritting his teeth. They're both still in their National uniforms-they finished mandatory service last week, but after three years of training in the Miguk Colony they don't actually own any other clothes-and he's sweating into his, the grey material showing no mercy on his growing armpit stains.
"You know we're fine, right? These taxis never crash," Taecyeon assures him, punching him in the arm.
"Actually," a voice pipes up from across the way, where a passenger also in a National uniform (blue, which means he's an engineer of some sort) with curly red hair and assessing eyes is watching them idly, "these ships have the worst recorded flight history of all taxi liners. Two cruisers malfunctioned on the Hanguk-Miguk line just last week."
"Thanks," Taecyeon says, glaring, but he was speaking a Hanguk Colony dialect that Khun can only half understand, so it probably doesn't matter anyway.
Khun elbows him. "Hey, what'd he say?"
"He said..." Taecyeon eyes Khun's white-knuckled death grip on his seat belt. "He said, 'but soft, what light from yonder window breaks'."
Khun eyes him. "I don't wanna know, do I?"
"What I wanna know is," Taecyeon says, leaning forwards to catch the other National's eye, "do you already have a crew, or are you ready for me to make your day?"
He sighs. "If you must."
2.
Winning a spaceship in a poker game is easy.
Trying to fly it without a properly trained pilot is not.
3.
To be honest, Taecyeon only agrees to do a job for Seulong because he's desperate.
Their last (and only, but they're just starting up, so Taecyeon's not worried… much) lucrative job was two months ago, and while they've done a few small deliveries in between, they've also managed to pick up two new crew members and they only have enough food supplies for one standard week, at most. More if Minjun (a communications and weapon specialist-Khun thought it was a strange combination but Minjun insisted they go hand-in-hand) locks himself in his quarters to 'be creative' and forgets to eat, less if Chansung (one of Junho's friends, dependable and caring, experience with both ship management and ground operations) has a hungry day.
So it's with a heavy heart that he tries to land his ship, his beloved Tupiem, in their allotted bay at Hanguk Colony's spaceport, trying not to hit any other spacecraft as he carefully sets her down with a thump, a crash, and a disgusted sigh from Junho, all of which he ignores.
Khun pats him on the shoulder consolingly.
Taecyeon looks at him, an ingenious idea occurring to him. "Maybe you could-"
"No."
"But-"
"No. He's obnoxious to you but he flirts with me. He serenaded me last time, Taec. He stroked my hair and called me 'baby'."
Taecyeon sighs, stomping to the Tupiem's hatch. It lowers and he descends the walkway, standing face-to-face with Seulong for the first time in years. He barely even notices the noise of the spaceport, the hundreds of different lifeforms scurrying around him, to and from their ships, the constant frenzied movement. He keeps his gaze on Seulong, who's looking unbearably smug, as usual.
Taecyeon nods in greeting. Seulong grins widely. He looks like an idiot but that's never stopped him before, especially since he's exceptional at using people's preconceptions to his advantage. Which Taecyeon knows from intimate experience.
"Seulong," he says, forcing himself to hold a hand out to shake, but Seulong bypasses all of that and pulls him into a hug he never wanted, slapping him on the back, even lifting his feet up off the ground. He holds Taecyeon there-asserting his superior strength, maybe, how unsubtle-but Taecyeon doesn't bother struggling. Let Seulong play games.
After a few more moments dangling in the air Seulong finally puts him down, and Taecyeon takes a few moments to straighten out his flight suit.
"I heard you need a pilot," Seulong says, by way of greeting. Taecyeon doesn't even bother wondering how he knows-if Taecyeon's poor parking job directly in front of him hadn't been enough if a clue, Seulong has ties with Kwon, and Kwon knows everything. "A friend of mine needs a job, I could help you out, hook you up while you're here. For a small fee, of course."
"Of course." Despite himself, Taecyeon watches with interest as Seulong turns and waves to a skinny blond guy with a bitchface worse than Junho's. The guy stands beside Seulong, watching Taecyeon warily. Taecyeon thinks about trying out an encouraging smile, but then he remembers the last time he'd tried that, how long it'd taken the toddler to stop crying, and he settles for a nod. "Hey."
"This is Wooyoung," Seulong says, pushing him closer. He notices a spot of grease on Wooyoung's neck and tries to rub it off, but Wooyoung pushes him away with a scowl.
Taecyeon likes him already.
4.
"Hey Taec?" Khun says slowly, but he isn't using his 'listen to me now or we'll all die' voice yet, so Taecyeon feels like it’s pretty safe to keep ignoring him.
"Wooyoung, what about those sensors, should Junho come and fix them for you?" Taecyeon asks, spinning in his chair. It's actually a pretty comfortable chair, padded, leather, high-backed, ergonomic. He installed it himself because the last one was lumpy and kind of gross, and also it smelled. But his new seat is amazing, elevated and set further back on the bridge, just behind the workstations of his crew, so he has an overview of their work processes and he can keep track of everything that’s happening on deck. He can even catch Minjun whenever it looks like he's going to fall asleep. Waking him up with some kind of conveniently-timed alarm or jingle is one of Taecyeon's favourite pastimes.
Wooyoung shoots him a dirty look. "I'm more than capable of repairing my own equipment."
Taecyeon smiles sweetly. "Just making sure, my Wooyoung! You know how important the navigation systems are to me, nay, to all of us."
"Bite me," Wooyoung says primly, before turning back to his screens.
Taecyeon grins. Ribbing Wooyoung may be another one of his favourite activities, but even he knows when to back off. He's pretty fond of his life, at the moment, and it'd be nice to keep it. "Chansung, what about-"
"Taec!" Khun barks, and that's his 'listen to me now or we'll all die' voice, so Taecyeon swivels to face him.
"Report?"
Khun frowns down at his screen, his workstation the closest to Taecyeon's, so close that Taecyeon can see the adorable little line between his eyebrows that his frowny face always causes. "It seems... I think we're just about to get attacked? By marauders?"
Taecyeon blinks. "Huh. Maybe we should get out of here," he says.
5.
No-one’s really sure why they keep Minjun around. He’s loud and nosy and never where he’s supposed to be, and he's guaranteed to cause trouble wherever they go.
Granted, they probably shouldn't still have been in the seedy bar anyway, should have gone home with Chansung and a sleepy Junho or just stayed in the ship with Wooyoung, but Minjun insisted on staying and Minjun is very good at convincing Taecyeon to do things. Khun, at least, is sober (has been for a long time, since that speeder crash back when they were in the Jungguk Colony), but that doesn't mean anything when he has two unreasonably drunk grown men in his custody.
"Another!" Minjun cries, raising his empty shot glass high.
Khun sighs and carefully prises it out of his grip. "I think you've had enough."
"But Khunnieeeeeee," Minjun whines. He leans into Khun's body and nuzzles into his neck. "I just want to be happy, don't you want me to be happy?"
He sighs. "Of course I do."
"Thennnnnn let me drink," Minjun says, pouting, pulling out all the stops, and Taecyeon almost wants to defy Khun and supply Minjun with more himself.
Khun, a better person than Taecyeon always, remains strong. "You'll only regret it," he says firmly. "You don't really need it, do you."
It's not really a question, but Minjun nods demurely, unhappily, anyway. And then Khun makes the mistake of excusing himself to go to the bathroom, and Taecyeon watches nervously as Minjun's eyes take on a sudden evil gleam. He wonders what he's up to but only has to wait a few moments to find out, because as soon as Khun gone-
"Another!" Minjun cries. He picks the shot glass up again, but this time when he raises it up he fumbles with it, and it ends up sailing across the bar, smashing to the floor, glass shards flying everywhere, directly into the middle of a group of other patrons.
Patrons who also happen to be Beings of Extraterrestrial Descent, or whatever the politically correct term is these days. If Taecyeon could focus he could probably figure out what species they are, but no dice. They're short. They have purple-tinted skin. And they look mean. Very mean. Mean and also vengeful, if the way they're growling and cracking their (wow, really huge and gnarly) knuckles and advancing closer is any indication.
"Um," Taecyeon says.
"Uh oh," Minjun says, sing-song, before collapsing into a fit of giggles.
"We should..." Taecyeon says, edging towards the door.
The nearest Being snarls, revealing some amazingly sharp-looking teeth that kind of look like they might be dripping with something.
Taecyeon makes up his mind. He grabs Minjun and hauls him up, dragging him out of the bar and into the sticky, oppressive heat outside. It's so dark he can barely see, and Minjun is actually really heavy, damn. He swears, struggling with Minjun's limp body, fumbling and sloppy and wishing he'd been sensible about those last few Galaxy shots. He can hear the Beings getting closer, and he tries to put on an extra burst of speed. Up ahead the mouth of the alley awaits, like sunshine in a winter cycle, if he can only reach it in time to hail some help or a taxi speeder or anything. And he's nearly there, and freedom is so close, but then suddenly it's not, because a speeder screeches to a stop and blocks the exit.
Taecyeon pulls up short, barely managing not to drop Minjun. His life flashes before his eyes, because surely these are more Beings set on destroying them, surely now they have met their doom, but suddenly the passenger door is thrown open, and that's when Taecyeon registers two things: it is a taxi speeder, and that's Khun in front seat.
"Come on!" Khun shouts, flailing madly.
Taecyeon nearly cries with relief, launching forward and stuffing Minjun into the back of the speeder, climbing in after him and nearly slamming the door shut on his foot.
"Go go go," Khun urges their driver, and the speeder jolts forwards.
Taecyeon's head jerks into the back of Khun's seat but he doesn't care, he barely even feels it. "How did you-"
"Went out the back."
"Love you," he gasps, slumping over Minjun's prone body. "I love you so much Khunnie."
Khun doesn't answer.
6.
The woman doesn’t walk so much as slink onto the ship, and Taecyeon can't help but wonder what the hell they’ve signed up for-giving her safe passage to Ilbon Colony or giving her their souls.
"So," she says silkily, looking him up and down, "you’re the Captain."
"Miss Gahi." Taecyeon bows. Even though he’s technically the boss, something about her just demands respect, and it just feels right. "Welcome. If there's anything you need during your stay, please do let us know."
"Oh, I will. No problem at all."
Next to him, Khun coughs back a laugh at her blatant suggestiveness and Taecyeon elbows him in the ribs. Khun retaliates by stamping down on his toes. Taecyeon is about to figure out a way to somehow surreptitiously pinch Khun's nipple when Gahi leans in, grinning widely.
"Oh, I can see why you like each other," she says, running one blood-red fingernail down Khun's chest and winking at Taecyeon before sashaying over to Chansung. She looks him up and down before caressing his arm. "But I'll take the one who likes the way my hair reminds him of his first love."
Chansung’s eyes widen. "How did you-"
She laughs. It's a little scary. "Oh darling, just think about it for a-yes, you've got it. That's it exactly." She pats his cheek knowingly, even though he never said anything, and leads him down the corridor.
Taecyeon turns to Khun. "A telepath? Really?"
"We need the money, right?" He shrugs.
Taecyeon rolls his eyes and starts down the hall, because someone has to make an effort at maintaining order on his ship.
"Hey," Khun says, calling him back. He's attempting not to smile, but trying to hide emotions is pretty useless around Taecyeon. Taecyeon knows him better than anyone, probably even the telepath. "You like me."
Taecyeon raises his eyebrows. "Who doesn't?"
"No, I mean..." Khun takes a faltering step forward. He's not looking at Taecyeon now, gaze locked on the ground, and suddenly Taecyeon can't actually read him.
He frowns. "You okay?"
"Yeah." He nods. "Just-"
But their commlinks choose that moment to crackle to life. "Who is this woman and how does she know my nightly skincare routine?!" echoes out in stereo.
Taecyeon sighs. "We're talking about this later," he says firmly. He draws a cross over his heart with his index finger but doesn't wait for an answer before he jogs away to save Wooyoung.
7.
Chansung sucks in an unsteady breath, fingers flying over his screen. "Two fighters incoming!"
"Junho!" Taecyeon calls, trying desperately not to sound too frantic, "how’re those repairs coming?"
"We scored a direct hit to our FTL drive, I’m rigging something up but I need more time," Junho’s voice crackles over the comm from the engine room. "I’m doing my best but it’s a mess!"
"Keep us updated. Wooyoung, we need those jump coordinates asap," Khun yells.
"I’m trying to make the calculations but I’m getting a lot of interference," Wooyoung grits out. He does something, swinging his arm out, and the ship jolts sideways, nearly knocking Taecyeon off his chair, but they narrowly miss a wild laser beam so in the end it was probably for the best.
"They’re scrambling us," Chansung adds, "we need to get out of range."
"Minjun I need you on artillery, try to hold them off!" Taecyeon instructs, grateful when
Minjun switches over to his guns immediately. "Who are these guys?" He swears under his breath when the fighter he’s aiming for swings wide. "What did we ever do to them?"
"It's probably your fault," Wooyoung snaps, "we all know it."
"Hey, I don’t always-yes!" He whoops as one of the fighters explodes and they spiral through the debris, the other still directly on their tail.
The pressure on Taecyeon’s chest lessens a little, and he’s about to check back in with Junho when-
"Four, no, six, six more fighters just jumped in!" Chansung announces, and Taecyeon’s throat immediately closes up, because they went through this kind of scenario on the simulators in training, and they’ve got into a few scrapes on the Tupiem, but they’ve always been able to escape, to jump away before it got too hairy, and he doesn’t know how-
"Shit, what the hell, what do we-" Taecyeon glances wildly around the bridge, but everyone else is busy, everyone else is doing something, no-one else is freaking out, no-one else-
"Stop," Khun says-commands-in a voice Taecyeon has always found hard to ignore. So he stops. "Take a step back. Breathe. Focus. Remember our National training. It wasn’t good for much, but this? You got this, Taec." Khun reaches up, squeezes Taec’s shoulder, pulls him close, presses their foreheads together. "You got it."
Taecyeon nods slowly. "Okay," he says, and breathes, his head suddenly clear. "This is what we do."
8.
"What if I told you that I made a very big mistake?" Khun is quiet, distracted. He stares up at his bedroom wall, set to display a spectacular panorama of the sun setting over a Taeguk Colony beach. The light plays yellow and white on Khun's face, and beneath it the tension is hard to miss.
Taecyeon is pretty sure he's homesick. He decides that their next stop will be the Taeguk Colony, will be Khun's family, no matter what, but tries to keep the mood light. "Considering that the only thing I wouldn't forgive you for is if you slept with Seulong, I don't think you have anything to worry about."
The corner of Khun's lips that Taecyeon can see curls to a frown, but beyond that there's no reaction.
"You didn't... did you?" Taecyeon steps closer and the soju in his glass sloshes a little with the movement, but he refuses to indulge, too fascinated by this strange side of Khun.
Khun still doesn't answer. Every nerve in Taecyeon's body is telling him things are so wrong right now, and it almost feels like jumping out of the airlock would be painless by comparison.
"What's with you tonight?" he persists. He clinks his glass against Khun's, takes a sip. Khun doesn't move. "What happened to my lovely sunshine and rainbows Khunnie? I miss that Khunnie. That Khunnie is my favourite, my honey bun, my sugar pie." And then, because in Earth History they spent a whole unit learning all about the terrible space travel media from the 20th and 21st centuries, "He’s the Spock to my Picard, the Luke to my Han, the Adama to my-"
"Yeah, I get it," Nichkhun interrupts and Taecyeon is pleased to at least receive a reaction, even if it is one of exasperation. "I'm your friend, and you're mine."
"You wanna kiss?" Taecyeon asks. He grins and wiggles his brows, puckering his lips and making a show of leaning in-and freezes when he realises that Khun hasn't moved away and is just looking at his lips with mild interest. "Is it my breath? It's my breath, isn't it?"
"I made the mistake of falling in love with my best friend." And with that Khun leaves, leaving a very confused Taecyeon, lips still puckered for nothing.
9.
Taecyeon should know better than to try and fix a piece of technology himself, especially when he’s emotional, but the last thing he feels like doing is talking to anyone about it. Surely all the atmosphere regulator in his room needs is a little love. He squints, leans closer to the panel. It just needs a little...
His hand slips, the sharp edge of the hydrospanner lancing down to slice open the palm of his right hand.
"Shit!" he curses, shaking his hand out before wrapping a sock around it in a makeshift bandage. "Shit shit shit." He wipes the bloodied spanner on his shirt, then cradles his injured hand to his chest as he makes his way down to the med bay.
The ship is idling and quiet, darkened and powered down for the crew’s sleep cycle, but the med bay is literally the light at the end of the tunnel. Taecyeon frowns, peeking around the open door. No-one is inside. The top drawer of the supply cabinet is open, contents spread out like someone is doing inventory.
Taecyeon’s heart sinks, because it’s probably Khun. Sometimes, if he can’t sleep he’ll go and organise some part of the ship, despite the fact that it’s not his job and no-one can figure out where anything is for weeks afterwards.
Okay. Obviously Khun’s taking a break of some sort, maybe Taecyeon can get in and out before he even comes back. He hurries inside and turns on the spotlight over the sink, carefully unwrapping the sock. The bleeding has slowed but it’s a deep enough cut that he’ll probably need skin repair, which will probably be easy enough. He’s poking his tongue out in concentration, trying desperately to get a good angle with the dermal restorer (which seems impossible to do left-handed), when Khun walks in.
Taecyeon freezes.
Khun raises his eyebrows. "I didn’t know you knew how to use that."
"Can’t be that difficult, if you can use it," Taecyeon snaps, and immediately hates himself. "Sorry," he says quickly. "It just hurts."
Khun eyes him, then makes his way over slowly, probably waiting to make sure Taecyeon won’t flee. He kind of wants to, but his hand burns, and his sock is completely soaked through with blood, so he doesn’t.
Khun finally reaches him and his hands are gentle, fingertips dragging heat down his arm when he manueovres Taecyeon’s hand into the right position, holding it still with one hand as he switches the laser on with the other.
"Stop squirming," he chides. Taecyeon is grateful to have something to focus on and keeps himself steady as he watches his skin slowly heal over. "What did you do?"
"Was fixing my panel," he mutters. "The temperature was stuck."
Khun is quiet for a few moments. Then, "Why didn’t you just call Junho?"
Taecyeon shrugs. "He was sleeping."
"And what’s your excuse for not asking for my help in here?"
Because of course Khun knows what he was up to. Khun always knows. Taecyeon holds his gaze. "I thought maybe we should stay away from each other for a while."
It’s a lie, but it works. Khun’s eyes shutter. He steps back, warmth disappearing from Taecyeon’s newly-whole skin. "If that’s what you want."
It’s not, but Taecyeon doesn’t have the words to say otherwise.
10.
By the time Taecyeon finally lets himself think about it, really lets himself contemplate the extent of where things could go with Khun, it's probably too late. Because Khun is kidnapped by space pirates while they're in the Hoju Colony. As far as Taecyeon could tell, he was visiting an old friend and the fuckers grabbed him as he was leaving, sending the Tupiem an encoded ransom note over a private channel.
Chansung and Minjun are out trying to save him, but Taecyeon isn't sure any of them are coming back-they were supposed to have reported in over two standard hours ago, as is ground-ops protocol, but there's been nothing in the past four and a half hours.
It's torture for the three of them left on the ship. Junho's prowling around the bridge, poking random things at Khun's station every time he walks past, and Wooyoung's been frowning so much Taecyeon is pretty sure his face is going to set that way. None of them speak.
Finally Taecyeon gives in, throwing himself out of his chair and stalking down the hallway to Khun's room, standing at the door for a few moments before punching in the code (it's the birthday of his favourite 21st Century Earth author, like that's hard to guess) and letting himself inside. This time the sunset panorama feels like it's mocking him, so he immediately swipes at Khun's panel and switches it off, spending a few moments to flick through the other projections Khun's downloaded. He pauses on a theme called 'lava1', which is just red blobs floating through a darker red background.
Red. Red like blood.
"Shit," he mutters, and turns the projections off completely, settling on the house lights. But that's hardly better, because for something that feels so natural everywhere else on the ship, Taecyeon can't help thinking that in Khun's room it feels harsh and clinical. Nothing affiliated with Khun should ever feel like that.
He does a slow turn in the middle of the room and is drawn to Khun's bed, where a rumpled jacket sits on his bed, out of place in the otherwise criminally tidy space. He picks it up and immediately recognises it, because this is Khun's ex-National jacket. The warm one, with the hidden pocket he always keeps his grandad's old flick knife in, the one he graduated in, standing proudly next to Taecyeon in a long line of fellow teenagers, grateful the experience was finally over.
That idiot. He didn't even take his jacket.
"You're a dick," someone announces suddenly, and Taecyeon whirls to see Junho standing in the doorway, fiddling with his sleeves, the epitome of forced casual.
"I know you are but what am I," Taecyeon shoots back. Whatever, he's emotionally frayed right now, it'll do.
Junho ignores him. "You're in here, rubbing yourself all over his clothes, but you can't even tell him how you feel when he's around."
Taecyeon frowns. "Hey, I'm the Captain, you can't-"
"I can when you're being a dick," Junho points out. Taecyeon thinks that's probably not an official rule, but figures it's probably wiser not to say anything. "What is wrong with you, anyway? Why can't you just say it? What are you afraid of?"
"Everything," Taecyeon blurts. He clears his throat and drops Khun's jacket, standing straight and aiming for poise. The look on Junho's face tells him he's not succeeding, and he feels his resolve melt all at once. "Anything, I don't know. Things going badly, things going well, things not going at all. Everything."
Junho sighs. "You really are a dick, aren't you."
Taecyeon nods. He opens his mouth to add more, when Wooyoung's voice suddenly blares through his commlink, as seems to be his speciality.
"They're back, and they have Khun! They look okay, I don't know, no-one's following them so I'm gonna open the-"
Taecyeon doesn't even wait for Wooyoung to finish. He and Junho run full-pelt, meeting Wooyoung at the hatch and waiting impatiently for it to open. As soon as Taecyeon sees them, all three of them, alive and breathing and alive, his breath comes out in a rush and he feels a surge of relief. They all look terrible, but Khun is the worst, dirty and bloody and barely able to walk.
"I didn't tell them anything," Khun says weakly, as soon as they're inside and the hatch is closed. "I never told them who we are, or where you were. They got nothing." He's clutching at Chansung's shoulder, and Junho and Wooyoung start moving towards him but Taecyeon pushes past them, nudging Chansung away and propping Khun up against the wall with an arm across his chest.
"You're okay," Taecyeon breathes. He can't stop himself from cupping the back of Khun's neck with his other hand, sliding his fingertips into Khun's hair, pressing them gently into his scalp. "You are, right?"
"Mostly." Khun gives him a wobbly half-smile. "My chest is… They… And my toes, too."
"Did they-" Taecyeon starts, imagining the worst, wrenching his eyes away from Khun's to stare at his bloodied feet.
"Not that," Khun says. "Just. My toenails. A few of them."
Taecyeon feels the anger coiling in the pit of his stomach, rising slowly, almost like real steam is pouring out his ears. "I'm gonna fucking kill-"
"Can we just go? Taec? Please?"
Taecyeon looks back at him, at his dirty, tear-stained face. His friend has been battered, but not beaten. His friend, who protected them, who saved them all. His friend, who is beautiful and brave and unwaveringly kind. His friend, his… his...
He wraps an arm around Khun, letting him rest all his weight on his shoulder, and turns to the others. "The rest of you, get us out of here," he barks, and for once, everyone rushes off to do as they're told. "Yours or mine?" he asks Khun.
Khun doesn't hesitate before saying, "Yours," and letting Taecyeon guide them to his room and set him down on Taecyeon's bed. Taecyeon closes the door and collects some items from his private washroom (Captain's perks), before moving to kneel in front of Khun. He dips a cloth in a bucket of warm water and carefully wipes Khun's face, dabbing at his eyes and drawing it down his jawline.
It's weirdly intense, Khun sitting passively and letting Taecyeon do whatever he wants, probably because it only reinforces the amount of trust he still has in him. Taecyeon struggles to stay calm, his heart feeling like it's breaking as he slowly strips Khun down to his boxers, revealing more cuts and bruises, wiping down his torso and long legs before dipping his feet in a separate bucket. He washes them gently, then takes his biggest towel and wraps Khun him in it, pressing it into Khun's skin, wrapping his arms around him to make sure it reaches all the way around.
He pulls back once he's satisfied. Khun is looking at him with big vulnerable eyes, and then he's reaching up to touch Taecyeon's face, hooking his fingers over Taecyeon's ear.
Taecyeon lifts his hand too, placing it over Khun's and squeezing it. "Close one, huh?" he says softly.
Khun snorts, but doesn't say anything. Taecyeon is more than willing to wait until he's ready.
He slides their hands off and lifts Khun's feet from the water. He makes sure they're clean and dry and wraps them carefully in medicated gauze, and then carefully lifts Khun's legs up, giving Khun time to go with the motion and swing up and around to lie on his side on the bed. Taecyeon shoves the buckets and medical stuff aside so there's less chance of tripping over it, and then strips off his flight suit, getting down to his own underwear.
Maybe he should, but he doesn't even hesitate before getting into bed next to Khun, pressing his chest right up against Khun's back, wrapping an arm around his waist. Khun wiggles back a little, so their knees interlock, and they spoon until the others wake them up in the morning, hovering creepily over Taecyeon's bed, demanding to know, amongst other things, if Khun's okay.
"I will be," Khun says, ruffling Chansung's hair. He catches Taecyeon's eye and gives a tiny, but genuine, smile. "I will be."
11.
"This is ridiculous," Taecyeon calls.
"You’re ridiculous," Khun says, the same time as Junho shouts it from the other side of the door.
Taecyeon jiggles the door handle again, and tries not to let himself get too annoyed. "I am the Captain of this ship! You can’t lock us in here! This is a mutiny!"
Khun sighs, sliding down the wall next to him. He kicks Taecyeon in the shin on the way down, and doesn’t apologise. "I really think they’re past caring."
"Let’s see how much they care when I throw them into a black hole!"
But all he hears is Chansung’s departing high-pitched laughter, and then there’s nothing.
"Guys?" He pounds on the door harder. He wonders who ever had the stupid idea of making the storage areas lockable. What did they think was going to happen? Were they that worried about the linen? "Guys!"
Silence.
Taecyeon drops down beside Khun.
More silence.
"So..." Taecyeon says. "Insert awkward small talk here?"
He glances at Khun, who is very obviously trying to hide a smile. "It depends," he says eventually. "We could have an awkward deep and meaningful conversation instead."
Taecyeon nods. He starts playing with the zip on his flight suit. "We could talk about our real feelings."
"Only because then we might not get locked in the washroom tomorrow, of course," Khun hurries to clarify. "Not for only other reasons."
"Exactly. Although..." He clears his throat. "I do kinda miss you. Sometimes. When I’m bored. Which isn’t a lot, because as Captain of this ship I’m very busy. But still."
"Yeah." Khun’s hand edges towards his. His fingers linger on the tip of Taecyeon’s shoe, before gliding slowly up to loop gently around his ankle. When Taecyeon looks up, Khun is close, so close their noses brush. Neither of them pull away.
12.
Taecyeon feels himself relaxing the minute Wooyoung eases them into the stratosphere. Minjun exchanges information with spaceport security, Khun does the final checks, and finally they're away, flying into the dark. It probably still shouldn't affect him like it does, but he can't help it. His shoulders loosen, and he breathes deeply a few times, rolling his neck.
"Better?" Khun asks, and Taecyeon glances over to find him watching closely, an amused smile playing on his lips.
Taecyeon shrugs. "Space, man. Space."
Khun shakes his head, but it's fond, because how could it not be? Taecyeon is delightful.
"Shut up and get back to work," Taecyeon instructs him.
"Sir yes sir," Khun says, but he smirks and he doesn't salute.
Taecyeon literally kicks him in the ass, and then pulls him in for a kiss.
Junho makes retching noises. Minjun claps. Chansung coos. Wooyoung doesn’t care.
Taecyeon just starts using tongue.
Title: Fly Toward A Secret Sky (I Won't Let You Fall Remix)
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: TaecKhun
Length: 5,768 words
Summary: "Hey," Khun says, calling him back. He's attempting not to smile, but trying to hide emotions is pretty useless around Taecyeon. Taecyeon knows him better than anyone. "You like me." Taecyeon raises his eyebrows. "Who doesn't?"
Warnings: Brief mentions of torture.
Notes: Thanks to M for cheerleading, B for the beta and the much-needed comma cockblock. This turned out nothing like I thought it would, but I really hope you enjoy it regardless, dear Remixee.
Remixee author: verocity
Title of work you remixed: Falling Two Hundred Feet Is Easy
Link to work you remixed: http://verocity.livejournal.com/21533.html#cutid4
1.
The first time Taecyeon goes into space, he knows it's where he's meant to be.
There are gravity simulators and other technological things he doesn't really care about keeping their ascension into the atmosphere as unnoticeable as possible, and logically Taecyeon knows he can't really be feeling anything, but the further they get from land the better he feels, the more relaxed. The more at home.
"Space, man. Space," Taecyeon breathes. He stares out of the porthole of their space taxi, hundreds and thousands and millions of stars, feeling awed and small and loving it.
Khun does not feel the same way. He has never been interested in space travel, apparently, and is only along because he likes the idea of doing something new. He might also be feeling a little travel sick. "Yeah, it's great," he gasps, gritting his teeth. They're both still in their National uniforms-they finished mandatory service last week, but after three years of training in the Miguk Colony they don't actually own any other clothes-and he's sweating into his, the grey material showing no mercy on his growing armpit stains.
"You know we're fine, right? These taxis never crash," Taecyeon assures him, punching him in the arm.
"Actually," a voice pipes up from across the way, where a passenger also in a National uniform (blue, which means he's an engineer of some sort) with curly red hair and assessing eyes is watching them idly, "these ships have the worst recorded flight history of all taxi liners. Two cruisers malfunctioned on the Hanguk-Miguk line just last week."
"Thanks," Taecyeon says, glaring, but he was speaking a Hanguk Colony dialect that Khun can only half understand, so it probably doesn't matter anyway.
Khun elbows him. "Hey, what'd he say?"
"He said..." Taecyeon eyes Khun's white-knuckled death grip on his seat belt. "He said, 'but soft, what light from yonder window breaks'."
Khun eyes him. "I don't wanna know, do I?"
"What I wanna know is," Taecyeon says, leaning forwards to catch the other National's eye, "do you already have a crew, or are you ready for me to make your day?"
He sighs. "If you must."
2.
Winning a spaceship in a poker game is easy.
Trying to fly it without a properly trained pilot is not.
3.
To be honest, Taecyeon only agrees to do a job for Seulong because he's desperate.
Their last (and only, but they're just starting up, so Taecyeon's not worried… much) lucrative job was two months ago, and while they've done a few small deliveries in between, they've also managed to pick up two new crew members and they only have enough food supplies for one standard week, at most. More if Minjun (a communications and weapon specialist-Khun thought it was a strange combination but Minjun insisted they go hand-in-hand) locks himself in his quarters to 'be creative' and forgets to eat, less if Chansung (one of Junho's friends, dependable and caring, experience with both ship management and ground operations) has a hungry day.
So it's with a heavy heart that he tries to land his ship, his beloved Tupiem, in their allotted bay at Hanguk Colony's spaceport, trying not to hit any other spacecraft as he carefully sets her down with a thump, a crash, and a disgusted sigh from Junho, all of which he ignores.
Khun pats him on the shoulder consolingly.
Taecyeon looks at him, an ingenious idea occurring to him. "Maybe you could-"
"No."
"But-"
"No. He's obnoxious to you but he flirts with me. He serenaded me last time, Taec. He stroked my hair and called me 'baby'."
Taecyeon sighs, stomping to the Tupiem's hatch. It lowers and he descends the walkway, standing face-to-face with Seulong for the first time in years. He barely even notices the noise of the spaceport, the hundreds of different lifeforms scurrying around him, to and from their ships, the constant frenzied movement. He keeps his gaze on Seulong, who's looking unbearably smug, as usual.
Taecyeon nods in greeting. Seulong grins widely. He looks like an idiot but that's never stopped him before, especially since he's exceptional at using people's preconceptions to his advantage. Which Taecyeon knows from intimate experience.
"Seulong," he says, forcing himself to hold a hand out to shake, but Seulong bypasses all of that and pulls him into a hug he never wanted, slapping him on the back, even lifting his feet up off the ground. He holds Taecyeon there-asserting his superior strength, maybe, how unsubtle-but Taecyeon doesn't bother struggling. Let Seulong play games.
After a few more moments dangling in the air Seulong finally puts him down, and Taecyeon takes a few moments to straighten out his flight suit.
"I heard you need a pilot," Seulong says, by way of greeting. Taecyeon doesn't even bother wondering how he knows-if Taecyeon's poor parking job directly in front of him hadn't been enough if a clue, Seulong has ties with Kwon, and Kwon knows everything. "A friend of mine needs a job, I could help you out, hook you up while you're here. For a small fee, of course."
"Of course." Despite himself, Taecyeon watches with interest as Seulong turns and waves to a skinny blond guy with a bitchface worse than Junho's. The guy stands beside Seulong, watching Taecyeon warily. Taecyeon thinks about trying out an encouraging smile, but then he remembers the last time he'd tried that, how long it'd taken the toddler to stop crying, and he settles for a nod. "Hey."
"This is Wooyoung," Seulong says, pushing him closer. He notices a spot of grease on Wooyoung's neck and tries to rub it off, but Wooyoung pushes him away with a scowl.
Taecyeon likes him already.
4.
"Hey Taec?" Khun says slowly, but he isn't using his 'listen to me now or we'll all die' voice yet, so Taecyeon feels like it’s pretty safe to keep ignoring him.
"Wooyoung, what about those sensors, should Junho come and fix them for you?" Taecyeon asks, spinning in his chair. It's actually a pretty comfortable chair, padded, leather, high-backed, ergonomic. He installed it himself because the last one was lumpy and kind of gross, and also it smelled. But his new seat is amazing, elevated and set further back on the bridge, just behind the workstations of his crew, so he has an overview of their work processes and he can keep track of everything that’s happening on deck. He can even catch Minjun whenever it looks like he's going to fall asleep. Waking him up with some kind of conveniently-timed alarm or jingle is one of Taecyeon's favourite pastimes.
Wooyoung shoots him a dirty look. "I'm more than capable of repairing my own equipment."
Taecyeon smiles sweetly. "Just making sure, my Wooyoung! You know how important the navigation systems are to me, nay, to all of us."
"Bite me," Wooyoung says primly, before turning back to his screens.
Taecyeon grins. Ribbing Wooyoung may be another one of his favourite activities, but even he knows when to back off. He's pretty fond of his life, at the moment, and it'd be nice to keep it. "Chansung, what about-"
"Taec!" Khun barks, and that's his 'listen to me now or we'll all die' voice, so Taecyeon swivels to face him.
"Report?"
Khun frowns down at his screen, his workstation the closest to Taecyeon's, so close that Taecyeon can see the adorable little line between his eyebrows that his frowny face always causes. "It seems... I think we're just about to get attacked? By marauders?"
Taecyeon blinks. "Huh. Maybe we should get out of here," he says.
5.
No-one’s really sure why they keep Minjun around. He’s loud and nosy and never where he’s supposed to be, and he's guaranteed to cause trouble wherever they go.
Granted, they probably shouldn't still have been in the seedy bar anyway, should have gone home with Chansung and a sleepy Junho or just stayed in the ship with Wooyoung, but Minjun insisted on staying and Minjun is very good at convincing Taecyeon to do things. Khun, at least, is sober (has been for a long time, since that speeder crash back when they were in the Jungguk Colony), but that doesn't mean anything when he has two unreasonably drunk grown men in his custody.
"Another!" Minjun cries, raising his empty shot glass high.
Khun sighs and carefully prises it out of his grip. "I think you've had enough."
"But Khunnieeeeeee," Minjun whines. He leans into Khun's body and nuzzles into his neck. "I just want to be happy, don't you want me to be happy?"
He sighs. "Of course I do."
"Thennnnnn let me drink," Minjun says, pouting, pulling out all the stops, and Taecyeon almost wants to defy Khun and supply Minjun with more himself.
Khun, a better person than Taecyeon always, remains strong. "You'll only regret it," he says firmly. "You don't really need it, do you."
It's not really a question, but Minjun nods demurely, unhappily, anyway. And then Khun makes the mistake of excusing himself to go to the bathroom, and Taecyeon watches nervously as Minjun's eyes take on a sudden evil gleam. He wonders what he's up to but only has to wait a few moments to find out, because as soon as Khun gone-
"Another!" Minjun cries. He picks the shot glass up again, but this time when he raises it up he fumbles with it, and it ends up sailing across the bar, smashing to the floor, glass shards flying everywhere, directly into the middle of a group of other patrons.
Patrons who also happen to be Beings of Extraterrestrial Descent, or whatever the politically correct term is these days. If Taecyeon could focus he could probably figure out what species they are, but no dice. They're short. They have purple-tinted skin. And they look mean. Very mean. Mean and also vengeful, if the way they're growling and cracking their (wow, really huge and gnarly) knuckles and advancing closer is any indication.
"Um," Taecyeon says.
"Uh oh," Minjun says, sing-song, before collapsing into a fit of giggles.
"We should..." Taecyeon says, edging towards the door.
The nearest Being snarls, revealing some amazingly sharp-looking teeth that kind of look like they might be dripping with something.
Taecyeon makes up his mind. He grabs Minjun and hauls him up, dragging him out of the bar and into the sticky, oppressive heat outside. It's so dark he can barely see, and Minjun is actually really heavy, damn. He swears, struggling with Minjun's limp body, fumbling and sloppy and wishing he'd been sensible about those last few Galaxy shots. He can hear the Beings getting closer, and he tries to put on an extra burst of speed. Up ahead the mouth of the alley awaits, like sunshine in a winter cycle, if he can only reach it in time to hail some help or a taxi speeder or anything. And he's nearly there, and freedom is so close, but then suddenly it's not, because a speeder screeches to a stop and blocks the exit.
Taecyeon pulls up short, barely managing not to drop Minjun. His life flashes before his eyes, because surely these are more Beings set on destroying them, surely now they have met their doom, but suddenly the passenger door is thrown open, and that's when Taecyeon registers two things: it is a taxi speeder, and that's Khun in front seat.
"Come on!" Khun shouts, flailing madly.
Taecyeon nearly cries with relief, launching forward and stuffing Minjun into the back of the speeder, climbing in after him and nearly slamming the door shut on his foot.
"Go go go," Khun urges their driver, and the speeder jolts forwards.
Taecyeon's head jerks into the back of Khun's seat but he doesn't care, he barely even feels it. "How did you-"
"Went out the back."
"Love you," he gasps, slumping over Minjun's prone body. "I love you so much Khunnie."
Khun doesn't answer.
6.
The woman doesn’t walk so much as slink onto the ship, and Taecyeon can't help but wonder what the hell they’ve signed up for-giving her safe passage to Ilbon Colony or giving her their souls.
"So," she says silkily, looking him up and down, "you’re the Captain."
"Miss Gahi." Taecyeon bows. Even though he’s technically the boss, something about her just demands respect, and it just feels right. "Welcome. If there's anything you need during your stay, please do let us know."
"Oh, I will. No problem at all."
Next to him, Khun coughs back a laugh at her blatant suggestiveness and Taecyeon elbows him in the ribs. Khun retaliates by stamping down on his toes. Taecyeon is about to figure out a way to somehow surreptitiously pinch Khun's nipple when Gahi leans in, grinning widely.
"Oh, I can see why you like each other," she says, running one blood-red fingernail down Khun's chest and winking at Taecyeon before sashaying over to Chansung. She looks him up and down before caressing his arm. "But I'll take the one who likes the way my hair reminds him of his first love."
Chansung’s eyes widen. "How did you-"
She laughs. It's a little scary. "Oh darling, just think about it for a-yes, you've got it. That's it exactly." She pats his cheek knowingly, even though he never said anything, and leads him down the corridor.
Taecyeon turns to Khun. "A telepath? Really?"
"We need the money, right?" He shrugs.
Taecyeon rolls his eyes and starts down the hall, because someone has to make an effort at maintaining order on his ship.
"Hey," Khun says, calling him back. He's attempting not to smile, but trying to hide emotions is pretty useless around Taecyeon. Taecyeon knows him better than anyone, probably even the telepath. "You like me."
Taecyeon raises his eyebrows. "Who doesn't?"
"No, I mean..." Khun takes a faltering step forward. He's not looking at Taecyeon now, gaze locked on the ground, and suddenly Taecyeon can't actually read him.
He frowns. "You okay?"
"Yeah." He nods. "Just-"
But their commlinks choose that moment to crackle to life. "Who is this woman and how does she know my nightly skincare routine?!" echoes out in stereo.
Taecyeon sighs. "We're talking about this later," he says firmly. He draws a cross over his heart with his index finger but doesn't wait for an answer before he jogs away to save Wooyoung.
7.
Chansung sucks in an unsteady breath, fingers flying over his screen. "Two fighters incoming!"
"Junho!" Taecyeon calls, trying desperately not to sound too frantic, "how’re those repairs coming?"
"We scored a direct hit to our FTL drive, I’m rigging something up but I need more time," Junho’s voice crackles over the comm from the engine room. "I’m doing my best but it’s a mess!"
"Keep us updated. Wooyoung, we need those jump coordinates asap," Khun yells.
"I’m trying to make the calculations but I’m getting a lot of interference," Wooyoung grits out. He does something, swinging his arm out, and the ship jolts sideways, nearly knocking Taecyeon off his chair, but they narrowly miss a wild laser beam so in the end it was probably for the best.
"They’re scrambling us," Chansung adds, "we need to get out of range."
"Minjun I need you on artillery, try to hold them off!" Taecyeon instructs, grateful when
Minjun switches over to his guns immediately. "Who are these guys?" He swears under his breath when the fighter he’s aiming for swings wide. "What did we ever do to them?"
"It's probably your fault," Wooyoung snaps, "we all know it."
"Hey, I don’t always-yes!" He whoops as one of the fighters explodes and they spiral through the debris, the other still directly on their tail.
The pressure on Taecyeon’s chest lessens a little, and he’s about to check back in with Junho when-
"Four, no, six, six more fighters just jumped in!" Chansung announces, and Taecyeon’s throat immediately closes up, because they went through this kind of scenario on the simulators in training, and they’ve got into a few scrapes on the Tupiem, but they’ve always been able to escape, to jump away before it got too hairy, and he doesn’t know how-
"Shit, what the hell, what do we-" Taecyeon glances wildly around the bridge, but everyone else is busy, everyone else is doing something, no-one else is freaking out, no-one else-
"Stop," Khun says-commands-in a voice Taecyeon has always found hard to ignore. So he stops. "Take a step back. Breathe. Focus. Remember our National training. It wasn’t good for much, but this? You got this, Taec." Khun reaches up, squeezes Taec’s shoulder, pulls him close, presses their foreheads together. "You got it."
Taecyeon nods slowly. "Okay," he says, and breathes, his head suddenly clear. "This is what we do."
8.
"What if I told you that I made a very big mistake?" Khun is quiet, distracted. He stares up at his bedroom wall, set to display a spectacular panorama of the sun setting over a Taeguk Colony beach. The light plays yellow and white on Khun's face, and beneath it the tension is hard to miss.
Taecyeon is pretty sure he's homesick. He decides that their next stop will be the Taeguk Colony, will be Khun's family, no matter what, but tries to keep the mood light. "Considering that the only thing I wouldn't forgive you for is if you slept with Seulong, I don't think you have anything to worry about."
The corner of Khun's lips that Taecyeon can see curls to a frown, but beyond that there's no reaction.
"You didn't... did you?" Taecyeon steps closer and the soju in his glass sloshes a little with the movement, but he refuses to indulge, too fascinated by this strange side of Khun.
Khun still doesn't answer. Every nerve in Taecyeon's body is telling him things are so wrong right now, and it almost feels like jumping out of the airlock would be painless by comparison.
"What's with you tonight?" he persists. He clinks his glass against Khun's, takes a sip. Khun doesn't move. "What happened to my lovely sunshine and rainbows Khunnie? I miss that Khunnie. That Khunnie is my favourite, my honey bun, my sugar pie." And then, because in Earth History they spent a whole unit learning all about the terrible space travel media from the 20th and 21st centuries, "He’s the Spock to my Picard, the Luke to my Han, the Adama to my-"
"Yeah, I get it," Nichkhun interrupts and Taecyeon is pleased to at least receive a reaction, even if it is one of exasperation. "I'm your friend, and you're mine."
"You wanna kiss?" Taecyeon asks. He grins and wiggles his brows, puckering his lips and making a show of leaning in-and freezes when he realises that Khun hasn't moved away and is just looking at his lips with mild interest. "Is it my breath? It's my breath, isn't it?"
"I made the mistake of falling in love with my best friend." And with that Khun leaves, leaving a very confused Taecyeon, lips still puckered for nothing.
9.
Taecyeon should know better than to try and fix a piece of technology himself, especially when he’s emotional, but the last thing he feels like doing is talking to anyone about it. Surely all the atmosphere regulator in his room needs is a little love. He squints, leans closer to the panel. It just needs a little...
His hand slips, the sharp edge of the hydrospanner lancing down to slice open the palm of his right hand.
"Shit!" he curses, shaking his hand out before wrapping a sock around it in a makeshift bandage. "Shit shit shit." He wipes the bloodied spanner on his shirt, then cradles his injured hand to his chest as he makes his way down to the med bay.
The ship is idling and quiet, darkened and powered down for the crew’s sleep cycle, but the med bay is literally the light at the end of the tunnel. Taecyeon frowns, peeking around the open door. No-one is inside. The top drawer of the supply cabinet is open, contents spread out like someone is doing inventory.
Taecyeon’s heart sinks, because it’s probably Khun. Sometimes, if he can’t sleep he’ll go and organise some part of the ship, despite the fact that it’s not his job and no-one can figure out where anything is for weeks afterwards.
Okay. Obviously Khun’s taking a break of some sort, maybe Taecyeon can get in and out before he even comes back. He hurries inside and turns on the spotlight over the sink, carefully unwrapping the sock. The bleeding has slowed but it’s a deep enough cut that he’ll probably need skin repair, which will probably be easy enough. He’s poking his tongue out in concentration, trying desperately to get a good angle with the dermal restorer (which seems impossible to do left-handed), when Khun walks in.
Taecyeon freezes.
Khun raises his eyebrows. "I didn’t know you knew how to use that."
"Can’t be that difficult, if you can use it," Taecyeon snaps, and immediately hates himself. "Sorry," he says quickly. "It just hurts."
Khun eyes him, then makes his way over slowly, probably waiting to make sure Taecyeon won’t flee. He kind of wants to, but his hand burns, and his sock is completely soaked through with blood, so he doesn’t.
Khun finally reaches him and his hands are gentle, fingertips dragging heat down his arm when he manueovres Taecyeon’s hand into the right position, holding it still with one hand as he switches the laser on with the other.
"Stop squirming," he chides. Taecyeon is grateful to have something to focus on and keeps himself steady as he watches his skin slowly heal over. "What did you do?"
"Was fixing my panel," he mutters. "The temperature was stuck."
Khun is quiet for a few moments. Then, "Why didn’t you just call Junho?"
Taecyeon shrugs. "He was sleeping."
"And what’s your excuse for not asking for my help in here?"
Because of course Khun knows what he was up to. Khun always knows. Taecyeon holds his gaze. "I thought maybe we should stay away from each other for a while."
It’s a lie, but it works. Khun’s eyes shutter. He steps back, warmth disappearing from Taecyeon’s newly-whole skin. "If that’s what you want."
It’s not, but Taecyeon doesn’t have the words to say otherwise.
10.
By the time Taecyeon finally lets himself think about it, really lets himself contemplate the extent of where things could go with Khun, it's probably too late. Because Khun is kidnapped by space pirates while they're in the Hoju Colony. As far as Taecyeon could tell, he was visiting an old friend and the fuckers grabbed him as he was leaving, sending the Tupiem an encoded ransom note over a private channel.
Chansung and Minjun are out trying to save him, but Taecyeon isn't sure any of them are coming back-they were supposed to have reported in over two standard hours ago, as is ground-ops protocol, but there's been nothing in the past four and a half hours.
It's torture for the three of them left on the ship. Junho's prowling around the bridge, poking random things at Khun's station every time he walks past, and Wooyoung's been frowning so much Taecyeon is pretty sure his face is going to set that way. None of them speak.
Finally Taecyeon gives in, throwing himself out of his chair and stalking down the hallway to Khun's room, standing at the door for a few moments before punching in the code (it's the birthday of his favourite 21st Century Earth author, like that's hard to guess) and letting himself inside. This time the sunset panorama feels like it's mocking him, so he immediately swipes at Khun's panel and switches it off, spending a few moments to flick through the other projections Khun's downloaded. He pauses on a theme called 'lava1', which is just red blobs floating through a darker red background.
Red. Red like blood.
"Shit," he mutters, and turns the projections off completely, settling on the house lights. But that's hardly better, because for something that feels so natural everywhere else on the ship, Taecyeon can't help thinking that in Khun's room it feels harsh and clinical. Nothing affiliated with Khun should ever feel like that.
He does a slow turn in the middle of the room and is drawn to Khun's bed, where a rumpled jacket sits on his bed, out of place in the otherwise criminally tidy space. He picks it up and immediately recognises it, because this is Khun's ex-National jacket. The warm one, with the hidden pocket he always keeps his grandad's old flick knife in, the one he graduated in, standing proudly next to Taecyeon in a long line of fellow teenagers, grateful the experience was finally over.
That idiot. He didn't even take his jacket.
"You're a dick," someone announces suddenly, and Taecyeon whirls to see Junho standing in the doorway, fiddling with his sleeves, the epitome of forced casual.
"I know you are but what am I," Taecyeon shoots back. Whatever, he's emotionally frayed right now, it'll do.
Junho ignores him. "You're in here, rubbing yourself all over his clothes, but you can't even tell him how you feel when he's around."
Taecyeon frowns. "Hey, I'm the Captain, you can't-"
"I can when you're being a dick," Junho points out. Taecyeon thinks that's probably not an official rule, but figures it's probably wiser not to say anything. "What is wrong with you, anyway? Why can't you just say it? What are you afraid of?"
"Everything," Taecyeon blurts. He clears his throat and drops Khun's jacket, standing straight and aiming for poise. The look on Junho's face tells him he's not succeeding, and he feels his resolve melt all at once. "Anything, I don't know. Things going badly, things going well, things not going at all. Everything."
Junho sighs. "You really are a dick, aren't you."
Taecyeon nods. He opens his mouth to add more, when Wooyoung's voice suddenly blares through his commlink, as seems to be his speciality.
"They're back, and they have Khun! They look okay, I don't know, no-one's following them so I'm gonna open the-"
Taecyeon doesn't even wait for Wooyoung to finish. He and Junho run full-pelt, meeting Wooyoung at the hatch and waiting impatiently for it to open. As soon as Taecyeon sees them, all three of them, alive and breathing and alive, his breath comes out in a rush and he feels a surge of relief. They all look terrible, but Khun is the worst, dirty and bloody and barely able to walk.
"I didn't tell them anything," Khun says weakly, as soon as they're inside and the hatch is closed. "I never told them who we are, or where you were. They got nothing." He's clutching at Chansung's shoulder, and Junho and Wooyoung start moving towards him but Taecyeon pushes past them, nudging Chansung away and propping Khun up against the wall with an arm across his chest.
"You're okay," Taecyeon breathes. He can't stop himself from cupping the back of Khun's neck with his other hand, sliding his fingertips into Khun's hair, pressing them gently into his scalp. "You are, right?"
"Mostly." Khun gives him a wobbly half-smile. "My chest is… They… And my toes, too."
"Did they-" Taecyeon starts, imagining the worst, wrenching his eyes away from Khun's to stare at his bloodied feet.
"Not that," Khun says. "Just. My toenails. A few of them."
Taecyeon feels the anger coiling in the pit of his stomach, rising slowly, almost like real steam is pouring out his ears. "I'm gonna fucking kill-"
"Can we just go? Taec? Please?"
Taecyeon looks back at him, at his dirty, tear-stained face. His friend has been battered, but not beaten. His friend, who protected them, who saved them all. His friend, who is beautiful and brave and unwaveringly kind. His friend, his… his...
He wraps an arm around Khun, letting him rest all his weight on his shoulder, and turns to the others. "The rest of you, get us out of here," he barks, and for once, everyone rushes off to do as they're told. "Yours or mine?" he asks Khun.
Khun doesn't hesitate before saying, "Yours," and letting Taecyeon guide them to his room and set him down on Taecyeon's bed. Taecyeon closes the door and collects some items from his private washroom (Captain's perks), before moving to kneel in front of Khun. He dips a cloth in a bucket of warm water and carefully wipes Khun's face, dabbing at his eyes and drawing it down his jawline.
It's weirdly intense, Khun sitting passively and letting Taecyeon do whatever he wants, probably because it only reinforces the amount of trust he still has in him. Taecyeon struggles to stay calm, his heart feeling like it's breaking as he slowly strips Khun down to his boxers, revealing more cuts and bruises, wiping down his torso and long legs before dipping his feet in a separate bucket. He washes them gently, then takes his biggest towel and wraps Khun him in it, pressing it into Khun's skin, wrapping his arms around him to make sure it reaches all the way around.
He pulls back once he's satisfied. Khun is looking at him with big vulnerable eyes, and then he's reaching up to touch Taecyeon's face, hooking his fingers over Taecyeon's ear.
Taecyeon lifts his hand too, placing it over Khun's and squeezing it. "Close one, huh?" he says softly.
Khun snorts, but doesn't say anything. Taecyeon is more than willing to wait until he's ready.
He slides their hands off and lifts Khun's feet from the water. He makes sure they're clean and dry and wraps them carefully in medicated gauze, and then carefully lifts Khun's legs up, giving Khun time to go with the motion and swing up and around to lie on his side on the bed. Taecyeon shoves the buckets and medical stuff aside so there's less chance of tripping over it, and then strips off his flight suit, getting down to his own underwear.
Maybe he should, but he doesn't even hesitate before getting into bed next to Khun, pressing his chest right up against Khun's back, wrapping an arm around his waist. Khun wiggles back a little, so their knees interlock, and they spoon until the others wake them up in the morning, hovering creepily over Taecyeon's bed, demanding to know, amongst other things, if Khun's okay.
"I will be," Khun says, ruffling Chansung's hair. He catches Taecyeon's eye and gives a tiny, but genuine, smile. "I will be."
11.
"This is ridiculous," Taecyeon calls.
"You’re ridiculous," Khun says, the same time as Junho shouts it from the other side of the door.
Taecyeon jiggles the door handle again, and tries not to let himself get too annoyed. "I am the Captain of this ship! You can’t lock us in here! This is a mutiny!"
Khun sighs, sliding down the wall next to him. He kicks Taecyeon in the shin on the way down, and doesn’t apologise. "I really think they’re past caring."
"Let’s see how much they care when I throw them into a black hole!"
But all he hears is Chansung’s departing high-pitched laughter, and then there’s nothing.
"Guys?" He pounds on the door harder. He wonders who ever had the stupid idea of making the storage areas lockable. What did they think was going to happen? Were they that worried about the linen? "Guys!"
Silence.
Taecyeon drops down beside Khun.
More silence.
"So..." Taecyeon says. "Insert awkward small talk here?"
He glances at Khun, who is very obviously trying to hide a smile. "It depends," he says eventually. "We could have an awkward deep and meaningful conversation instead."
Taecyeon nods. He starts playing with the zip on his flight suit. "We could talk about our real feelings."
"Only because then we might not get locked in the washroom tomorrow, of course," Khun hurries to clarify. "Not for only other reasons."
"Exactly. Although..." He clears his throat. "I do kinda miss you. Sometimes. When I’m bored. Which isn’t a lot, because as Captain of this ship I’m very busy. But still."
"Yeah." Khun’s hand edges towards his. His fingers linger on the tip of Taecyeon’s shoe, before gliding slowly up to loop gently around his ankle. When Taecyeon looks up, Khun is close, so close their noses brush. Neither of them pull away.
12.
Taecyeon feels himself relaxing the minute Wooyoung eases them into the stratosphere. Minjun exchanges information with spaceport security, Khun does the final checks, and finally they're away, flying into the dark. It probably still shouldn't affect him like it does, but he can't help it. His shoulders loosen, and he breathes deeply a few times, rolling his neck.
"Better?" Khun asks, and Taecyeon glances over to find him watching closely, an amused smile playing on his lips.
Taecyeon shrugs. "Space, man. Space."
Khun shakes his head, but it's fond, because how could it not be? Taecyeon is delightful.
"Shut up and get back to work," Taecyeon instructs him.
"Sir yes sir," Khun says, but he smirks and he doesn't salute.
Taecyeon literally kicks him in the ass, and then pulls him in for a kiss.
Junho makes retching noises. Minjun claps. Chansung coos. Wooyoung doesn’t care.
Taecyeon just starts using tongue.