Archive of Our Own

“Earth. The first world. The planet of Origin. Also known as ‘The Old World’, Earth was deemed completely uninhabitable in the year two thousand one hundred and eighty five.”

The low, rumbling voice narrated over an image of a rotating sphere, bright blue and luscious green - Earth, in its former glory, slowly turning a dull brown and grey before it collapsed into dust.

“Radiated and destroyed by mankind, Earth turns to dust.” Taeyong’s lips moved along with the words of the narrator. He knew the script by heart. The screen in front of him sparkled before showing an image of another planet, the one Taeyong was born on.

“Luckily, mankind had already made their journey to the stars, colonizing the planet Nova, just outside the first system, naming the city that would later become the capital, Terra - to signify a new beginning. A new Earth.”

“It is here where mankind will reach its fullest potential.” Taeyong muttered the script, trying not to let his eyes roll mockingly. “Extending life and traveling through the cosmos, colonizing neighbouring planets, the second one being planet Vita, where you are right now.”

Another planet appeared, an arrow circling to a specific spot on the rotating sphere. The current date appeared in text at the top of the screen. May 23rd, 3012.

“And there you are, in the Archives on Vita. Say hi!”

A screen of a camera feed popped up, showing Taeyong himself, staring at the screen, his bright red hair stuck up in various places. He patted it down with the free hand not holding his notebook.

It was only then that he realized the tour group he had been with was nowhere to be found. He’d probably watched the entire 6 minute video five times that day.

He waited patiently for the video to end, then to begin once more.

“Earth. The first world. The planet of Origin.” The low, rumbling voice narrated.

Footsteps echoed in the empty hallway, not stopping until they reached Taeyong, a sigh falling from the man’s lips.

“Taeyong.” He knew Yunho’s voice without even looking, though he could still see the director in the reflection of the screen anyway. “You’re not going to learn anything new by watching the same video over and over again.”

Taeyong didn’t respond, choosing instead to watch the image of Earth turn into a grey rock and crumble for the sixth time.

“You can’t keep wasting your time worrying about the past.”

Yunho had told him that many times already and yet Taeyong still found himself in front of that particular screen every time he visited the Archives, which was often.

“Not worrying,” Taeyong’s eyes flitted around the screen, chewing at his bottom lip. “Just wondering.”

Yunho sighed again before walking away, obviously just as tired of having the same argument with Taeyong as Taeyong was with the Director of the Archives bothering him.

He watched the image of Earth, rotating, slowly turning rotten before disappearing into dust in space for the seventh time.

He wasn’t worrying about the past, simply wondering about the present.

“Taeyong, you’ve reached your daily limit on gratuitous candy already.” The monotone voice of the candy store’s AI rung out.

“Just take it from tomorrow’s daily limit.” He shrugged, popping another gumdrop into his mouth.

“You’ve already reached to an advance of three days, are you sure you want to start on a fourth?”

“I’m sure.” What else could be a perk of working at a candy store when you couldn’t keep eating the candy? Taeyong’s employee benefits only gave him a certain amount he could eat for free, it wasn’t his fault he was a candy addict.

It didn’t help that he was the only worker in the store except for the AI running. Taeyong was only there as a face to sell, and there was no one in the store to sell to which meant Taeyong ended up eating the product instead.

He wouldn’t have even acquired this candy problem in the first place if he’d gotten a job at the Archives like he wanted.

Taeyong was more than qualified, he had a degree in history, certifications upon certifications, he knew every artifact in the museum, every book in the library, and yet was told he ‘ wasn’t a good fit’ .

He hadn’t guessed why until the Director had begun to discourage him from visiting the Archives, specifically, the exhibits centered around Earth.

A part of it was a club he had joined in school, one dedicated to the history of the Old World and why it was so bare of details. It had been mysteriously shut down after a couple of months, no warning, no explanation. Taeyong never saw the founder of the club again.

Somebody, somewhere, was hiding something about Earth and Taeyong wanted to know what it was.

Obviously he wasn’t getting anywhere with Yunho’s eyes on him at all times while at the Archives and the rest of his days were spent on his home planet Nova, where he lived in the city and worked in a candy store called Sugar Planet.

He didn’t think the director knew what he was supposed to be keeping Taeyong from, just that he needed to discourage questioning about Earth when it went past surface level questions.

Taeyong’s thoughts were interrupted when he heard a bell ring as the door to the store opened, the AI automatically ringing out a welcome.

“Hello, Kun, Jungwoo, and welcome to Sugar Planet!”

The AI continued its speech that it was programmed to say while Kun and Jungwoo ignored it and approached Taeyong.

“We just got off work.” Kun’s usual perfectly coiffed blonde hair was slightly mussed, strands falling onto his forehead, evidence of a day’s hard work. “When are you done?”

“Ten minutes.” Taeyong popped another gumdrop in his mouth, ignoring the AI’s second warning.

“We’ll meet you at the rooftop?” Jungwoo ran a hand through his own angelic blonde locks that framed his face, a slight smile playing at his lips. “I have some updates I want to tell you about.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you.”

“Awesome.” Kun held the door for Jungwoo on their way out. “Gives me time to shower.”

Both blondes worked at the same restaurant, Kun as the human host and Jungwoo as the repair boy for the robot cooks and waiters. Taeyong only found irony in the fact that the restaurant was Old World themed, like a diner on Earth from the 1950’s.

The Star Colonies would obsess over trivial things like that, but they only cared to a certain point. No one seemed to care that they didn’t have the full story, we left Earth and then it crumbled and disappeared because of the damage and that’s it - people were satisfied.

Taeyong was not satisfied.

A beeper in the store went off and the AI informed him his shift had ended and he was now free to go. Taeyong grabbed his Star Colony standard issued jacket - pure white and padded to keep him warm at night with the temperature drop. He slipped it on and left the store, hearing the lock click behind him.

Taeyong kept his eyes glued to the ground as he walked home, he didn’t want to look at the sky just yet.

Instead of going inside the white cube he called his home, he climbed the stairs attached to the side, walking up to a patch of green on the top of his house.

Jungwoo was already lying on the artificial grass. Silently, Taeyong laid next to him, finally letting himself look up into the night sky.

It was his favourite feeling, when his breath hitched in his throat and his heart skipped a beat, eyes wide, marveling at the stars painted above. Every time, he was amazed, even if he practically had the whole layout memorized.

“I added some improvements to the stealth system of your ship, Yong. Ruby will be the quietest, sneakiest ship in the galaxy.” Jungwoo was also watching the stars with fascination, it was the same expression he wore when pouring over a set of blueprints.

“With the loudest AI in the galaxy.” Kun chuckled from beside him, Taeyong not having noticed when he’d arrived. His hair was perfectly in place this time.

“He may be loud but he’s very efficient.” Jungwoo shot back, defending Taeyong’s ship. He’d practically built the inside himself, it might be in Taeyong’s name and he might be the only person who knew how to fly it, but it belonged just as much to Jungwoo. Taeyong was pretty sure there were still tons of things Jungwoo had programmed that he didn’t know about yet. As long as his ship got him where he needed to go, safely , then he didn’t mind.

They soon fell into a natural silence, just watching the sky above. They’d been doing it since they were kids and Taeyong would be damned if he didn’t have a home with a roof to lay down on, ever so grateful that he finally did. It was the perfect way to end the day.

“Is it bothering you again?” Kun looked over at him. Taeyong hadn’t even realized he’d sighed aloud. “The stuff about Earth?”

“It’s always bothering him.” Jungwoo snickered but his smile was soft and one of jest. He did have a point.

“I just… I just find it hard to believe Earth just crumbled into dust one day. Inhabitable - sure, but just… gone? I don’t know…”

“You think it’s still out there somewhere?” Kun whispered, as if saying it too loudly would get him in trouble.

“The Archives says it’s gone.” There was a hint of doubt in Jungwoo’s voice, probably from the years of being around Taeyong.

“We never know.”

“But The Archives -”

“ I know what The Archives say .” Taeyong knew very well. “But until I see the pieces that floated away then I’ll never be certain about what The Archives tell us.”

“Seeing is believing.” Kun shrugged, looking back up into the sky. Jungwoo said nothing, Taeyong very aware that he never liked these kinds of conversations. He didn’t mention any more and kept his thoughts to himself while watching the stars twinkle above him.

When Taeyong was in school and got to hold his very first physical book, he’d been so nervous that he’d accidentally dropped it, tearing one of the pages out. He’d been mortified, to the brink of tears when his history professor had assured him that it wasn’t the first time it had happened and all old texts they had from the Old World were all transcribed and recorded digitally, like everything else.

He’d been deathly afraid of touching books after that, but there was nothing quite like the feeling of the spine of a book in his hands and the rough edges of turning a page. He finally picked one up again when deciding he wanted to read it untranscribed, raw, in the Old World language. It wasn’t too different from the language they spoke now, but enough that Taeyong had to learn - which he loved doing when it came to Earth.

Thinking of the memory of his first book, Taeyong was at the library on Nova - it was not as extensive on information like The Archives on Vita, but it held many copies of original texts taken before the ‘destruction’ of Earth.

He trailed his fingers over the spines of the books as he walked down the aisles, stopping at a particularly torn up text, its spine rubbed raw and a few pages torn at the corner. Taeyong marveled at the sight.

He pulled the book out from its place on the shelf and carefully let it naturally fall open, inhaling the unique scent of paper and ink. He quickly skimmed through, seeing if anything would catch his eye. The book seemed fiction - perhaps an Old World classic? The front cover was so worn he couldn’t even make out the title.

Tucking the book carefully under his arm, Taeyong continued down the aisle, towards a section he knew well, the history section. He had the sudden urge to hold that very first book in his hands again. It was a text accounting the first journey from space to Nova after its discovery, Taeyong practically knew it by heart.

He found the exact copy where he knew he would, one of the pages in the middle of the book half ripped.

Taeyong chuckled to himself. He’d always avoided looking directly at the tear, his memory of his devastation when he’d dropped it almost too much to bear. He gently trailed his finger down the rip, jagged and uneven, still as sharp as it was years ago.

He turned the page to examine the other side, only for his eyes to focus on the unnatural gap between the ripped page and the next. That was odd - had that always been that way? Taeyong had never noticed, but he’d never really payed attention to the pages near the rip anyway, preferring to read that part of the text online so he wouldn’t have to think about the rip he’d caused. His gaze drifted to the page number, 164.

Taeyong blinked. That wasn’t right - the page he’d ripped was 157, he knew that very well. He pressed a finger into the gap, trailing it down. There should be pages here .

His legs automatically moved to the section of the library filled with computers that held every single word printed on every single book in there. He clicked blindly until he found the text he was looking for, scrolling through until getting to a picture of a perfectly intact page 157, and then after it, 158.

Taeyong looked at the book in his hand then back at the electronic one. Page 158 in the computer was page 164 in the physical book.

Someone had taken pages out.

Someone was erasing sections of history.

How many other books had it happened to and he’d just never noticed, too occupied with the words on the page instead of the page numbers? Of the spaces?

Taeyong found himself a few minutes later surrounded by several history books on Earth - old ones, checking their records and finding that almost all of them had pages taken out . This couldn’t be a coincidence, someone really was erasing history of Earth and they’d been reckless enough to think that someone obsessed with books wasn’t going to figure it out eventually. They probably thought like the rest of the population, the books weren’t meant to be read, just for show, for the memories.

Heart pounding, head buzzing, not really thinking clearly because the thought that he might be right even when everything he knew about Earth might be wrong, excited and scared him so much he slipped several of the books into his jacket, trying his best not to run to the exit.

He was stealing - stealing from his beloved library and he’d get in immense trouble for it if he got caught but he didn’t even care, Taeyong might be right.

The security guard at the front entrance waved goodbye to him on his way out, not even bothering to check Taeyong because he was there so often.

He knew he had another two hours before the AI made its rounds and accounted for all the books. He had two hours to prepare everything and get off of Nova.

When a far enough distance from the library, Taeyong broke into a sprint, holding his arms around his chest as tightly as he possibly could. He had to get to his ship, he had to get there as soon as possible.

He nearly toppled over a poor woman with a child and brushed shoulders with a man who yelled after him, but he’d thought the worst was finally over when he got to the station where all the spaceships were docked, only to turn the corner and slam straight into Kun, spilling the books onto the floor.

“Taeyong?! Are you okay?” Kun stared at the ground as Taeyong scrambled to pick all the books up and shove them back into his jacket.

“I’m fine!”

“Taeyong,” Kun’s voice fell into a whisper, horror etched into his face. “Taeyong did you steal these?”

Without a word Taeyong held the books in his jacket with one arm and pulled Kun along with the other, running until they got to Ruby, Taeyong’s ship, and scrambled inside.

“Taeyong that’s illegal .”

“That’s not important,” Taeyong’s fingers were lightning on the metal safe he had in his living quarters on the ship, typing the code in and shoving the books he had taken into it, beside his own little notebook. He hadn’t actually meant to take that fiction book he’d been looking at but he had it now and there wasn’t any way of going back.

Taeyong turned to Kun, who still looked horrified, as if Taeyong had killed someone. “Some of the history books are missing pages Kun, I checked, it was all covered up online, but some of the pages go from one-fifty-seven to one-sixty-four. Someone’s been erasing history Kun, someone’s been lying.”

Kun gaped at him. “That - that’s - that - what’re you going to do?!”

“I have to - I have to go and see, Kun. What if - what if it’s there ?”

“Earth.” Kun looked like he was trying to swallow something sour before waving a finger in Taeyong’s face. “You’re not going anywhere. Give me half an hour.”

Taeyong made a noise to protest because he didn’t have time but Kun whirled around to point at him again. “Stay until I come back. Promise me.”

So Taeyong stayed, incessantly pacing around his ship because really, if he was going to leave without getting in trouble he had to go , but he also couldn’t just leave Kun either. He hoped Kun hadn’t gone to get Jungwoo… He was probably the only person who could change Taeyong’s mind.

He was going to go and see if Earth was still there because if someone was trying to hide something then he couldn’t believe everything he knew was true. He had to find out.

Kun came back like he said he would, with a rucksack in his hand.

“What’s that?” Taeyong asked.

Kun held onto the strap of the rucksack tightly and ignored his question. “How are you going to find Earth.” It was a statement rather than a diminishing question.

Taeyong turned to the front console in the cockpit of the ship. “Yangyang.” He addressed the AI, who immediately brought up a holographic map of the First System. Taeyong had already spent months mapping it out, planning.

“If what I know is right - which it might not be - but if it is , Earth is the third planet from the Sun.” Taeyong used his fingers to zoom in and highlight the direction his ship would be taking. “It takes approximately four and a half hours from Pluto to the Sun at lightspeed. If I travel at ten percent of lightspeed, it’ll take me just under two days to see if Earth is where I think it is, plus the five hours it takes to get to Pluto from here.”

“Taeyong,” Kun’s voice cracked. “If you go… you might not… they might not let you come back…if they find out you stole…”

“I know.” Taeyong sighed. It broke his heart to have to leave his friends but he had to do it, everything he’d done in his life had brought him to this point. He was going to go find Earth. “Tell Jungwoo I’m sorry.”

Kun only chuckled. “I won’t lie to him. Besides, you can tell him yourself.” He held the rucksack out to Taeyong. “I packed you food and essentials.”

Taeyong took the rucksack with a pout. “Kun…”

“Is there really no way I can convince you not to go?”

“Kun… has it really never bothered you that the only thing we really know about Earth is that it’s ‘gone’ ? For all the Earth themed things that we have - we really don’t know anything.”

“Yes, but there’s a reason people don’t just hop onto their ships and go looking for Earth but… those people aren’t you.” Kun sighed and reached into his pocket, taking out what looked like a miniature metal model of Taeyong’s ship and pressed it into Taeyong’s free hand. “This was supposed to be for you birthday but I thought you might as well have it now.”

Taeyong ran his thumb over the model and noticed a small button on the top. He clicked it and the model ship lit up before projecting a hologram of the night sky, the same view from his rooftop, stars and all.

His breath hitched as the sight of the stars he loved so much was all around him. At least he didn’t have to miss that too much when he was gone. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if he found Earth, but he didn’t see any option that kept him from coming back home. He’d find it and he’d find the truth and then he’d go home to tell Kun and Jungwoo about it, grovel at the authorities’ feet for forgiveness and tell them whatever it was they wanted to hear to let him go home. That was what he was going to do.

Kun cupped Taeyong’s cheeks in his hands and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “When you get there… you better contact me. You better find a way.”

Taeyong finally smiled. “I will.”

Kun tucked a strand of Taeyong’s bright red hair behind his ear before patting his cheek. “Good luck.”

Taeyong turned off the image of the stars and slumped into the pilot’s chair as Kun left the ship, putting in his request for takeoff.

“Another visit to Vita, Taeyong?” The spaceflight control officer’s voice buzzed over the ship’s intercom.

“Yup, it wouldn’t be a day without one.” Taeyong hoped his voice was steady.

“Alright, you’re clear to depart. Have a nice flight.”

Taeyong took off - looking straight ahead. He couldn’t look back at the docks to see if Kun was there - and he hoped Kun hadn’t stopped to look back at him either.

He directed the ship in the direction of Vita, cruising for five minutes before he would be out of sight of Nova’s spaceflight traffic control.

“Yangyang - engage stealth systems.”

“Stealth systems engaged - we are now undetected by radar. Would you like to engage the lightspeed engines?”

Taeyong narrowed his eyes as he pulled up the map of the First System and felt the ship moving in the direction of Pluto instead of Vita. “You’re already on top of this, aren’t you?”

“I didn’t listen to you mumble to yourself for months for nothing!”

Taeyong laughed. “Yes, engage engines at ten percent.”

“Ten percent lightspeed engaged, on our way to the First System.”

“I hope you’re ready for an adventure, Yangyang.”

“As ready as you’ve prepared me to be, Taeyong.”

Taeyong sniffed as he popped a gumdrop in his mouth while lounging in his pilot chair, notebook open across the dash. He’d found a bag of them in the rucksack Kun had given to him, overwhelmed at the thought of his friend running to get them just for him.

“You should rest Taeyong.” Yangyang instructed. “It’s been ten hours since flying out from Nova and you’ve barely moved.”

Taeyong sighed because the ship’s AI was right and continuing to stay up would just drive him into deliriousness over a gumdrop. He needed to be awake and alert throughout his journey, how else was he going to find out what happened to Earth?

“Don’t crash us into anything.” Taeyong mumbled, getting up from his chair, yawning as he  shuffled from the flight deck into his sleeping quarters and flopped onto his bed. Sleep overtook him almost instantly.

Taeyong was glad Jungwoo had modified his chair to give him the ultimate comfort. He absolutely loved curling up into it, knees tucked to his chest, watching the endless darkness with stars speckled throughout that surrounded him. 

He popped a single gumdrop into his mouth then resealed the bag, getting up to secure it away in his metal safe. He wasn’t going to let himself finish it before he got back to Nova, he wasn’t sure when he’d really be able to eat candy again if he finished it too quickly.

His safe only held the gumdrops for the moment, the rest of the books were scattered across the dashboard. He’d poured through them, trying to find something, anything that he didn’t already know. He cleaned up the books and put them into the safe, carefully stacking his notebook on top. He’d been through it a million times already, trying to look through his notes in case he’d missed anything. 

It was frustrating not having answers, but at least he was getting closer to one of them.

He locked the books and candy in the safe and left his quarters.

“How long have we been traveling, Yangyang?” He called out when he stepped onto the main deck, heading towards the cockpit.

“Approximately thirty-three hours now.”

Taeyong crawled back into his chair and began to nibble at the nail on his thumb, deep in thought. He was getting close .

He pressed a button on the control panel and pulled up the radar that scanned for objects around their flight path.

Taeyong frowned, sitting up straight in his chair when the small dots started to show up on screen. He looked up out the window, but they were too far away on the radar, the only thing he could see was the slow, approaching orange sphere with white and brown swirls that he could only assume was Jupiter.

Jupiter was a lot bigger than he’d expected, the books had said big but they’d never said how big.

They hadn’t mentioned a wall of asteroids and debris either.

Taeyong suddenly realized why - the rare times he’d ever heard of someone venturing to Earth - why they never seemed to come back.

“Yangyang.” Taeyong leaned forward and took the navigation controls into his hands with an iron grip.

“Identifying a path.”

Taeyong’s radar beeped one, twice, and then continuously as he got closer to the asteroids. The sound rang in his ear so shrill he winced. He didn’t even need to look down at the radar to see all the rocks heading straight towards him.

“It’s going to be a tight fit, are you sure you want to continue, Taeyong?”

Taeyong gritted his teeth. “I’m sure.”

There was no going back now.

-⭐-

“You know I can’t do that for you Johnny.”

“Oh, come on Doie, please? ”

Doyoung’s expression made no change but Johnny did not relent.

“ Please , you know I got some good stuff this month right? I’ll let you have first pick! I just want first choice on the tapes before Donghyuck snatches them all up!”

Doyoung sighed. “I run the marketplace auction Johnny, you know I can’t buy anything in it, there are rules .”

“ You make the rules which means you can also break them.”

“That’s not how this works.”

“Fine!” Johnny crossed his arms and grumbled, though he’d been informed before that it always looked like a pout. “You don’t get to see my cool new spaceship.”

Doyoung rolled his eyes and began to walk away, his boots clanking on the metal flooring that structured the marketplace. “I’ve heard enough about this spaceship anyway because Ten won’t shut the fuck up that you stole it from him.”

“I didn’t steal it from him,” Johnny followed along easily with his long legs. “He left it abandoned for whatever reason, so I scavenged it myself! His loss.”

With a sigh, Doyoung stopped and spun on his heel, facing Johnny, eyes narrowed. "If you two cause any trouble at this month's auction, I'm banning the both of you for life. Now leave me alone, I have work to do and no, I'm not letting you get first pick of your stupid music tapes."

Johnny pursed his lips, annoyed but let Doyoung walk away, heels still clunking. He turned to the side, resting his hands on the metal barrier that shielded him from a 30 foot drop into the desert that expanded the horizon. All his life, Johnny had only known sand, dust, and the overbearing and almost painful heat that came with it. He'd seen pictures, heard stories of a time where the Earth was green and blue. It all seemed too good to be true, if he hadn't scavenged a few photos himself he wouldn't have ever believed it.

A sigh fell from his lips and Johnny pushed himself away from the barrier, grateful that the walkways that ran along the structure of the marketplace were at least covered by roofs to protect from the assault of the midday sun. He headed the opposite direction Doyoung had gone in, back to the port where he'd parked his motorcycle.

As much as it seemed like it, the Earth wasn't all desert, there were cities made of metal, much like the marketplace, where people lived their daily lives. Some preferred to go farther out, in villages full of huts and caves in the sand, and then there were the scavengers, the ones who went even further out, to abandoned cement cities still ghosting with poison to dig out relics from the past, either to collect or to sell in the monthly auctions at the marketplace.

Johnny was more of a collector and vehicles like his motorcycle were his most prized possessions. When he'd found her she'd been beaten down and rusty but now she was a prized steed, modified to run smoothly on the rugged sand and dirt roads and of course, like everything else on Earth, was solar powered.

He slung one leg over the motorcycle and let the engine rev obnoxiously. He hoped Doyoung could hear it from his quarters in the marketplace.

"C'mon Girl," He patted the handlebar after slipping on his leather gloves and taking the goggles he had rested on his head, putting them over his eyes. He’d named the bike after a song he'd heard on one of his tapes, Jessie's Girl . If there was one request he got the most at his little mechanic shop (his main source of income that enabled him to collect old relics) it was to make their bike like his. Everyone wanted Johnny's Girl. "Let's go home."

- ⭐-

A mild ringing in Taeyong's ear is what brought his mind back to the present, eyes fluttering with blurred vision and a groan at his cracked and dry lips. Water, he needed water.

The weight of his head felt like an anchor, holding him down to whatever hard surface he was lying on. He tried to move but he was suddenly hit with searing pain across his scalp that made his vision almost go white.

Calm, calm, you have to calm down . He took deep breaths, in and out, in and out. He could hear words, he knew they were words but for some reason he couldn't understand, he recognized that someone was speaking but it didn't sound like his language, it sounded like -

"We really hit the jackpot, Ten."

Earth. Earth language, it was the language the books were written in, the language Taeyong had spent so much time learning and reading and speaking to himself at night. It was similar to his native language but just different enough, but now it clicked, now he could understand.

"Yeah but we lost the fucking ship thanks to Johnny."

Taeyong squeezed his eyes shut, his blurry vision making him dizzy. He was alive and he was on Earth and he didn't really remember how he'd gotten there but he had enough sense in him to realize that he was in danger.

"He's pretty."

"They only make 'em like this out there Kunhang, that red hair is gonna make us a fortune on it's own, imagine the rest of him."

“So Dejun will be alright now, won’t he?”

“He will be, Kunhang, he will be.”

Taeyong shrank back when he felt the ghost of a hand on his cheek and a low chuckle came from one of the men that had been talking.

"Don't worry Pretty," The man whispered, sending a shiver down Taeyong's spine. "You're in good hands."

He only wished he would have been able to tell Kun and Jungwoo he'd made it. Dying on Earth had been a possibility that had occurred to him, but he'd never really thought it would become a reality.

- ⭐-

"By the look on your face, I'm guessing Doyoung said no."

Johnny shrugged as he parked his bike right outside his shop, also his home. It was a hut made of metal and covered in solar panels that backed onto a hill. Johnny had been lucky enough to find it some years ago, building the hut himself and then connecting it to the cave on the other side, which he'd shielded and locked by building a heavy metal door to secure it. No one except him or Mark could get into it. "I tried. If Donghyuck didn't pose such a big threat to my cassette tape collection I wouldn't have to beg."

Mark had been working outside when Johnny pulled up, barely glancing in his direction because he knew the sound of Girl by heart.

"You still working on that water purifier?" Johnny asked, taking his gloves off, shoving them into his pocket and lifting his goggles up to rest on his head. He stood over Mark and his large frame shielded the boy sitting on the ground from the sun, fiddling with a wrench and a gear.

"Yeah, the rain's been brutal on it lately and it's not powerful enough to purify the toxins out of it. Must have been clouds that came from an Abandoned."

Johnny smiled, because Mark was always tinkering with something. "Just don't stay out here too long, I know it's easier to see in the sun but any more and it'll make you melt." It took a lot for them to feel the heat after being in it for so long, but Johnny knew he was almost at his limit for the day, his exposed shoulders and arms beginning to whine at him.

"I know, I know, I won't. If you make any breakthroughs on your ship you gotta yell for me though!"

"Gotcha."

Johnny took Girl by the handles and wheeled her around the back of the hill, where the giant metal door began to move upwards, granting Johnny access to where he kept most of his vehicles and collectables.

The cave was large, dark, and cool, illuminated by lights Johnny had hooked up to solar panels outside. The cave dipped down further into the ground, almost like a second level, and that's where there was enough space to keep his newest addition.

It was a ship unlike any he'd seen before. It was broken and littered in severe dents, probably from the heavy crash (he'd managed to haul pieces of it out of a decent sized crater when he found it, putting it back together once in his cave), it still shined with sleek design, advanced tech that made the outside look small while the inside was large enough for Johnny to walk through comfortably. He only knew about certain ships that could do that, and that meant this ship was from the Beyond.

He scoffed, thinking about how much of a fool Ten had been to let the ship go. He parked his bike and approached the ship, one hand feeling the sleek outside. The ship's door opened and stairs tumbled out. He'd have to try fixing that.

He grabbed his toolbox from the bench not far away and used his long legs to step into the ship, immediately heading to the navigation dashboard. He needed a good idea on what it was this ship was capable of. He'd thought about selling it, he knew it would get him much more coin than he'd ever need, but part of him wanted to keep it, to not give it to those greedy men and women who thought they were better because they lived lavish lives on Mars and hired people to buy them relics at the monthly auctions. They couldn't even bother to step foot into the wasteland that was Earth and the marketplace.

Johnny's first goal was to get the controls up and running - he'd gotten the lights on the day he'd found it, but maybe the ship had a memory log, maybe it could tell him how it crashed and what damaged it, it seemed like a very powerful shield had prevented most of the damage, but not quite enough.

The chair in front of the dashboard had been snapped from where it was attached to the floor, so Johnny simply stood as he ran his hands over the remnants of the dashboard, physically mapping out what was missing and what might need repairing.

It did good to be both a mechanic and a scavenger, it meant he had plenty of spare parts lying around that he hadn't sold and could help him with his restoration projects. Johnny spent a long while going in and out of the spaceship, tinkering here and there for hours until a piece of the dashboard he wrenched off submerged him into darkness, with only the dim lights in the cave letting him see his surroundings.

"Whoops," He clicked his tongue and sighed. "This is what happens when I tinker without tunes."

He made a move to lean down and dig his hand into his toolbox to search for his headlamp - a rookie mistake, he should have put it on in the beginning but the ship had been so well lit Johnny hadn't thought about it. A click and a whirring sound later, the ship roared back to life, Johnny needing to squint from the sudden artificial brightness.

He stood up and a dark metal box caught his eye in a different room of the ship, a door that had previously been locked shut was now open. He moved towards it, curious, until he got to the entryway and the lights flicked blood red and the door sealed shut.

"You have not been granted permission to enter."

Johnny whirled around, staring at the navigation console. The ship had an AI?

"How do I get permission?"

"The Captain grants access."

It made sense. Unless the AI somehow went rogue and crashed itself, there must have been someone behind the navigation.

"Who is the Captain?"

"Taeyong is the Captain."

Johnny slowly inched towards the console, intrigued with every step.

"And where is Taeyong?"

The static was loud in his ears until he could decipher it, a voice yelling frantically in a language almost similar to his own but he couldn't quite understand. There were multiple deafening booms, probably whatever caused the dents in the ship, then more yelling, until finally, just static.

That didn't really answer his question, though he now had multiple.

"How do you speak and understand my language?"

He was pretty sure the AI sighed - did they do that? Johnny wasn't sure he'd heard of them doing that.

"I am programmed to speak all languages."

The static started up again and Johnny had the feeling this AI was getting a little impatient with him. Again, he wasn't so sure he'd heard about them being able to do that. Maybe whoever programmed him had quite the personality.

Johnny could hear shallow breaths between the static of the audio, then grunts as something banged on the outside of the ship. Footsteps and then, the unmistakable voice of a certain scavenger -

"Kunhang? Get in here - We've got one. Let's hope this one's alive."

So Ten had the Captain of the ship, this Taeyong. Ten had also left the ship in the desert to transport him away, leaving Johnny to the swipe the goods. Johnny thought Ten had been the fool, but maybe it was him for not realizing sooner.

"Ten's going to sell him on the marketplace." This ship was from Beyond, that meant this Taeyong was a starboy from the sound of it, and a starboy would garner the scavenger billions. It made Johnny sick to his stomach.

He sighed, rolling his eyes to the back of his head because doing the right thing wasn't how you survived on Earth but he was pretty sure the AI was silently pleading at him and he wasn't going to get anywhere tinkering with this ship if it suddenly decided to shut down on him for not cooperating.

"Fine," He grabbed his toolbox roughly from the ground and practically stomped out of the ship. "Fine, if he doesn't kill me this time, I'll be back in a little while."

He dropped the toolbox on his workbench with a huff and headed up the stairs they'd made connecting the cave into his hut. Mark - having retreated indoors to continue working on his purifier, looked up as Johnny threw a thin long sleeve shirt over his tank top and vest, too lazy to properly change but he needed some sort of coverage if he was going to go back out into the sun again.

"Where are you going?" Mark frowned.

Johnny pulled his gloves out of his pockets and lowered his goggles onto his eyes. "Out, I'll be back before sundown." He grumbled and headed down into the cave where he hopped onto his bike and revved the engine. If Ten had been complaining about Johnny stealing the ship earlier, he could only imagine the ruckus he would cause when Johnny actually ended up stealing the prize he abandoned the ship for.

Johnny sighed again before leaving the cave.

- ⭐-

Taeyong wasn't sure when he'd lost all strength to even open his eyes, he just knew he somehow wasn't dead yet and that he'd been lying down curled in a ball for an excruciating amount of time. His limbs were stiff, begging to be stretched out and he tried but he was so weak, he had no idea how long it had been since he'd eaten or even had water.

“Please eat,” The man named - Ten? He would approach Taeyong every day and try to get him to consume something. His tone from their first encounter to now had changed significantly. “Please, drink something, anything.”

Taeyong got the impression that whatever they needed him for, they needed him alive and if Taeyong was one thing, it was stubborn. He’d even refused the blankets and pillows that had been offered to him.

His head was buried in his arms on the floor, eyes squeezed shut to try and hope the whole situation away but now Taeyong was stuck, starving and dehydrated with no will to move or try to escape. He would scoff at his own stubbornness but he was slowly losing the strength to keep breathing, so he spent most of his time thinking, 'one, two, breathe in, one, two, breathe out' . He didn't even have the chance to think about how he was on Earth , how it was real and everything he knew was a lie .

One, two, breathe in, one, two, breathe out.

He had no idea where he was being held, just that there was always a faint pulsing bass noise in the distance, music, maybe? It was annoying but it was rather steady and made it easier to count his breaths.

Taeyong didn't flinch when he heard footsteps approach anymore, he was used to it. He was ready to clench his jaw and not make a sound even if his kidnapper groveled on the ground for him to eat. Taeyong wouldn’t give him that satisfaction.

What he had not been prepared for, was the low tone voice that whispered.

One, two, breathe in, one, two -

"Taeyong?"

Taeyong's sharp exhale hurt his chest. Someone on Earth knew his name? Knew who he was? They were speaking the Earth dialect so it certainly wasn't anyone he knew. But they knew his name - Ten didn’t even know his name, how had they found out his name?

"Come on, Let's get you out of here."

Pain shot up in Taeyong's limbs once they began to be moved, Taeyong only having the slightest idea that he was being picked up. The voice apologized and Taeyong wished he could acknowledge it in any way, or even figure out who the person behind it was. He would have tensed up if it had been Ten or the other guy, but whoever this was knew his name , somehow, on a planet millions of miles away from his home. If there was anyone to trust, he had the slightest feeling this was his only chance.

One, two, breathe in, one, two, breathe out.

Taeyong had no choice but to relax in the arms of the person carrying him, entire body limp from neglect. It wasn't until he felt a searing hot pain across his face - like he was being burned alive - was he able to make a sound, a disgusting gnarled gargle.

"I'm really sorry," The voice did sound apologetic as it moved, resting Taeyong's bottom on some sort of hard surface. "This is gonna get loud."

His ears filled with a horrible roar but the burning on his face subsided a little when a material was placed upon it. It seemed that the closer Taeyong got to the body of the voice, the less pain there was, so with another inhale and exhale, Taeyong curled into the darkness and felt his body give.

- ⭐-

After a long while of just standing and staring at the man curled up on Johnny's bed, Mark suddenly turned to Johnny and began to whine, "I thought I told you to tell me if you made any breakthroughs on your ship."

Johnny sighed. "The power went out and then the AI booted up and basically told me it wasn't going to let me see anything on the ship unless I had permission from the Captain, so I went and stole him from Ten."

"You stole him from Ten - are you kidding me?! What the hell is he doing kidnapping people?" Mark's hand rested on his forehead, eyes wide in shock. "Holy shit he's going to rain hellfire on us if he finds out you took him."

"So then don't let him find out." Johnny kneeled down beside the bed and lightly dabbed the cold, damp cloth on the man's forehead. There was blood and dirt caked onto his skin and on his clothes, even darker than the bright red of the starboy's hair. They'd managed to tear off the jacket he'd been wearing to lessen the heat and humidity they knew he'd feel, leaving him in what looked like a long sleeve and cargo pants that used to be all white.

Johnny used the wet cloth and tried his best to wipe what he could off of his face, forced to be a little less than gentle in order to scrub it off.

"Get the first aid kit and then start the stove," Johnny instructed Mark, who nodded despite still staring at the man on the bed with wide, curious eyes that also seemed maybe a little fearful. He disappeared behind the curtain that separated Johnny's room from the rest of the hut for only a moment before coming back with the box they kept their supplies in.

"Start on the broth, okay? It'll help him get hydrated with some nutrients."

"Sure thing." Mark nodded, pulling back the curtain once more and disappearing again.

Johnny sighed and opened the first aid kit, full of supplies they'd had to buy for ridiculous prices in order to stay alive if they ever ran into trouble while scavenging, and it had certainly come in handy a number of times.

He removed the wet cloth and pressed a disinfectant wipe to the man's forehead, wiping gently. The blood came off with more ease, and in case the man had any cuts Johnny couldn't see, they'd be clean. Johnny sighed again because this had already gotten much bigger than just getting the Captain of a ship just so he could tinker with it.

'What the hell was Ten thinking? ' Johnny had his fair share of run ins with the scavenger, but he'd never seemed capable of... this.

Johnny wiped down the bridge of the starboy's nose and swept it over his cheek. He had to admit, he was exceptionally beautiful, even in the state Johnny had found him in. He wiped along his jaw to his chin to the other side, trailing upwards where a lot of the dried blood seemed to concentrate by the man's temple.

He had to press a little harder to clean the blood by the starboy's eye, realizing he'd reached a wound when the man suddenly hissed and his face twisted in pain. There were fingers wrapping around Johnny's wrist and mesmerizing chocolate brown eyes glaring at him.

Johnny paused, slightly taken aback but the man from the stars had barely been conscious when he'd picked him up, he probably had no idea where he was.

Johnny continued to run the disinfectant wipe over the spot until the skin was clean of blood, the man furrowing his brow but not letting go of Johnny's wrist, though he definitely did not have enough strength to stop him if he wanted to.

Freeing his wrist from the man's grip, he disposed of the wipe when it was unusable and the blood was mostly clean all off the man's face, Johnny dipped the wet cloth he used earlier into a bowl of water and wrung it out, gently patting it over the skin once more.

The man stared at him the entire time, and Johnny had to admit he was feeling a little squirmy under his gaze. Tending to someone's wounds was intimate, something he'd only done with Mark or Jaehyun, not some man that came from Beyond.

A man from the stars. They called them starboys and stargirls. It was rare one would find their way to Earth somehow, usually with no way to get home and a greedy, desperate bastard putting them up for auction for the rich ones on Mars to buy and - Johnny didn't like thinking about it and it continued to baffle him as to why Ten would do it.

The star boy opened his mouth but nothing came out. His tongue slid out and glided over his lips slowly, taking in the moisture they'd been given when Johnny had washed his face.

Resting the cloth on the man's forehead again, Johnny took a new cloth and wet it in another bowl of clean water and nudged it between the man's lips, pushing it onto his tongue. "Slowly." He instructed, though he had no idea if he understood.

The man's eyes fluttered shut and he closed his mouth, soaking in the moisture from the cloth and letting the water trickle into his throat. It was safer this way, he was still lying down and Johnny didn't think taking large gulps of water would be good for him so soon.

The starboy opened his eyes and let the cloth fall out of his mouth. "Thank you." He croaked. His gaze was less intense, almost blissed out just from just a few drops of water.

Johnny already had so many questions. The man spoke his language, seemed to understand - did he know why Ten wanted him? It didn't seem like there'd been others on his ship - why was he alone and so far away from home?

Instead, Johnny took the cloth that had dropped from the man's mouth, turned it and slipped it back into his mouth so he could continue gathering the remaining moisture. When he eventually had the strength to start sucking on the cloth, Johnny pulled it out, tossing it to the side and removing the cloth off the man's head.

The starboy's gaze hardened again for a moment - scared? Until he seemed to realize that Johnny was pushing him up so he could try to sit up. He almost could on his own, but Johnny kept his hand on his shoulder to steady him. It reminded him of the time Mark had gotten really bad heatstroke.

Johnny picked up a metal cup he had on the ground - also filled with water, and brought it to the man's lips, tilting it slowly into his mouth so he wasn't overwhelmed.

After his first drink of water in what Johnny assumed was a long time, the man was almost panting after using so much of his strength to swallow. Johnny took his time feeding him the water until the cup was empty, and he slowly guided the frail figure back down onto the bed so he could lie down. A fluttering of eyelids later, the man had fallen asleep.

When he woke again, Johnny was sitting on the floor with Mark, playing cards in hand and bowls of soup next to them. Johnny quickly put his cards down but the man seemed adamant on pulling himself up. His eyes flicked between Mark and Johnny when Mark offered him another glass of water.

After a few excruciating moments of deliberation, the man took the cup with shaking hands, displaying an overwhelming amount of self control when he took tiny sips out of the cup.

When he finished it, he stared at Johnny.

"How do you know my name?" His voice was still hoarse and raspy but better than it was earlier.

"Your ship told me." Johnny shrugged.

The man - the Captain - Taeyong - his eyes widened. "Johnny."

Johnny looked at Mark, who was just as surprised as he was.

"The man - Ten? He said he lost my ship to you - you 'stole' it from him."

"First of all, I didn't steal it, I found it fair and square after he left it , so he can't say shit. Though I did... steal you from him technically."

"Technically?" Mark rolled his eyes. The man seemed to concentrate on the other words Johnny had said though.

"I'm not an object you can just steal you know - Just say you... rescued me." But the starboy himself didn't look like he wanted to say that either.

"I don't rescue people because rescuing people just gets you killed and life isn't very long here on Earth anyway. Speaking of - welcome to Earth I guess?"

Both Mark and Taeyong shook their heads in disbelief and Mark took the opportunity to hand the lukewarm soup to Taeyong, who placed it into his lap.

"I'm Mark by the way - Don't mind Johnny, he's smart and caring but also just kinda dumb, you know?"

Johnny rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Mark."

Taeyong chuckled, lifting the spoon from the bowl and taking a sip. Figuring it was weird to just watch someone eat - Johnny and Mark continued to play their card game until Taeyong put the bowl on the side of the bed and almost fell over when he tried to stand up.

Johnny's reflexes were the fastest, catching Taeyong and nudging him back onto the bed. "You're not going anywhere until you have enough strength."

Taeyong frowned, practically pouting. "I want to see my ship, I want to see outside and see what Earth looks like."

"You'll have plenty of time for that later, you need to rest."

Taeyong obviously wasn't someone who liked being told what to do when he had his mind set on something. "I don't need to sleep again, I'm not tired."

Johnny raised his hands in surrender, he wasn't trying to force Taeyong to do anything, he knew how to take care of someone and Taeyong still needed to take it easy. He sat back down on the ground. "Then let's talk instead. I'm sure we both have a lot of questions."

- ⭐-

Taeyong found out the Earth was a lot hotter than he expected it to be, though he guessed he should have realized that if he knew (and assumed was true) that it had been plagued by war and radiation, it would have had an effect on the atmosphere.

The Earth turning to dust however, proved to be a shred of truth when Taeyong first stepped into the bright expanse of sand with Mark and Johnny's help. He hadn't been able to stay out for long, his skin seared easily in the assault of the sun, but his eyes had been protected by an extra set of goggles Johnny had given him.

He'd had to throw away his clothes from home, they were dirty and torn and they were built to keep him warm - he didn't need that anymore. So he wore pants that had been too small for Mark and thin long sleeve shirts that belonged to Johnny where the sleeves would go past his hands sometimes.

He also had a scar by his eye now, an imperfection on his perfect face. He referred to it as his welcome gift from Earth.

For 'scavengers' and self described 'not good' people, Mark and Johnny were the opposite. They were good men who went about their lives just trying to survive, and yet here they were, making sure Taeyong was alive and well, whatever the reason they had for it, Taeyong was grateful - at least he wasn't trapped and slowly dying anymore.

He also had so many questions - as many as Johnny did - and they spent a great deal of time just talking. Taeyong couldn't wait to tell Kun and Jungwoo everything, so when he was well enough to travel down the stairs, that's exactly where Johnny took him, down into the cave.

After several days of learning and adapting to unfamiliar settings, Taeyong almost wanted to cry when he saw Ruby, a little worse for wear but that was still his ship. He scrambled inside.

"Welcome, Taeyong." Yangyang greeted him as the ship's lights came on, aside from the few broken ones.

"Yangyang," Taeyong couldn't help but smile. He could feel Johnny hovering behind him, very interested but trying not to show it. "Could you tell me what happened after the asteroids? I don't remember."

"We were hit hard by rocks and debris while navigating through. Several critical blows made the ship begin to decline - so you decided to risk it and boost the lightspeed engines to twenty-five percent to get to Earth before the systems started to fail."

Taeyong was lucky he'd been right in the end, about Earth. Maybe not as lucky because of who first found him - but Taeyong was alive and he had a lot to tell his friends.

"Yangyang, contact Kun."

"Error - communication systems offline."

"Well put it online!"

Johnny coughed. "I don't think that's how it works."

Taeyong leaned on the navigation dashboard and began to press buttons, none of which were working. "I promised - I have to tell them I'm okay."

"You know you're saying this to a guy who owns a toolbox and fixes shit for a living, right?"

Taeyong turned to Johnny and crossed his arms over his chest. He might be nice and had given Taeyong food, a place to stay, nursed him back to health, but that didn't mean Taeyong trusted him. "What's in it for you?"

Johnny shrugged and Taeyong noticed he wore a lot of sleeveless shirts, sometimes accompanied by a ripped checkered shirt he would wear around his waist. The sun didn't seem to affect his skin as much as it did Taeyong's, probably from years of contact.

"Nothing, really, I just want to see what the ship can do and I like fixing shit."

"Why don't I believe you?"

Johnny sighed. "Look, I'm not saying I'll do it for free, I expect you to pull your own weight around here and not be a freeloader - you don't seem like the type anyway."

Taeyong scrutinized him before deciding that he was telling the truth. It wasn't like he really had another option anyway. "The ship's name - her name is Ruby."

Johnny grinned, patting the wall he was closest to. "Nice to meet you, Ruby."

If there was one thing Taeyong learned about Johnny was that he loved music, whenever he cooked, whenever he worked on things - all the time. There wasn't as much music back home, at least not the kind that Johnny played. He liked it.

Taeyong didn't have much to do, so he spent most of his time just observing because there were people on Earth and they were real and if he thought too much about it all his head would start to get dizzy.

"This is over a thousand years old!" Taeyong gasped, picking up a tape from Johnny's collection. "How did they stay intact for this long?"

Johnny shrugged and went back to looking at a wire underneath Taeyong's ship. For a man who had just as many questions for Taeyong, he seemed very complacent with answers that weren't very informative. "I have no idea, I don't question it."

"Where do you get them?"

"We find them, sometimes we buy them from the marketplace when it's auction time - once a month - when scavengers have found some. There's a lot." Taeyong nodded, remembering how Johnny had told him of the marketplace and how scavengers would go into old Earth cities that were now practically radiated rubble and search for relics of a past lifetime to sell to the richer folk (that apparently lived on Mars. Taeyong thought that was cool).

"Is everyone a scavenger then? How do people make a living otherwise?"

"Not everyone. The man you just met upstairs, Yuta, he's a gardener. Mark's fixing his sprinkler heads for him. There's tons of people who make money different ways."

"Like?" When the tape that was in the player finished, Taeyong took it out and put in another one labelled 'Belinda Carlisle' .

"Well you know with every economy, there's people who make money doing good things-"

"Like you," Taeyong had already noticed Johnny's love for fixing things for others.

"-and bad things. I know a few people, they've got iron wills and stomachs. We call the cities Abandoned but sometimes there's still... living things there, affected by radiation, dangerous. They attack on sight and if you don't have a Raider with you... you won't be coming back. Raiders - it takes a certain skill and mindset to be able to shoot a bullet through something."

Taeyong shivered at the thought.

"They're not bad people though, but if someone pays good enough, they might take contracts. Don't worry about that though, we won't be running into them anytime soon."

Eased a little from his worries, Taeyong decided he liked the song playing, especially its tone of irony at the moment, ' heaven is a place on Earth' . He liked that.

"Hey Johnny?"

Johnny pulled himself out from under the ship, brows raised. He was covered in dirt and sweat and if his tank top hadn't been black already that would have been absolutely filthy as well - it was different from the pristine white Taeyong was used to seeing everywhere.

"This sounds serious," Johnny sat up and ran a hand through his shaggy hair. The metal in his ears had somehow still stayed a perfect silver, unaffected by the grime.

Taeyong fidgeted with another tape in his hand. "Why do you answer all my questions? Give me food, a place to stay? You don't know me but I could be someone bad - I could be trying to conquer the Earth or something."

Johnny burst into laughter and Taeyong couldn't help but pout. Was his suggestion really that ridiculous?

"It's been almost two weeks now and I'm one hundred percent certain you don't have a bad bone in your body - and if you were trying to conquer Earth - though why would you, there's nothing here except people who can't get off Earth - you'd probably know a bit more about Earth before you crash landed here."

Taeyong crossed his arms. He had a point.

"Besides, you're very curious and I like answering and hearing the sound of my own voice."

"Don't flatter yourself, Johnny." Taeyong turned to see the customer from earlier, the gardener, Yuta, coming down the stairs and entering the cave. Yuta looked at Taeyong and winked. "He just has a thing for redheads."

"Fuck off, Yuta." Johnny glared at the gardener, who cackled. Taeyong couldn't help but notice Yuta's hair had a copper tone to it.

"Hey man, I'm giving you a discount on next week's veggies for your help so you can take it. Just wanted to say bye." Taeyong watched as Yuta leaned down and clasped their hands together in some sort of handshake. Yuta turned to Taeyong and waved. "See you later, Taeyong!"

Taeyong lifted his hand up and went back to looking through the tapes. He assumed Johnny would go back to working on the ship but when he heard his voice, Taeyong turned to see him still sitting on the ground, watching him.

"What will you do when the ship is fixed?"

Taeyong shrugged, he hadn't really thought about it, only thinking about what he'd say to his friends once the radio was fixed. Hopefully it reached that far out.

"I don't know - go home maybe?" He'd have to try and get past the asteroid wall again, and besides, he still had a lot more questions he wanted answered. "Not until I have more answers though."

Johnny chuckled. "Good luck, cause I for sure don't have as many as you think I do." He leaned back down underneath the ship.

Taeyong pursed his lips thoughtfully. It wasn't just the Earth, there were a lot more things about Johnny he wanted to know too.

-⭐-

Johnny honestly thought it was weird, how naturally Taeyong merged into their lives. He was pretty sure Mark very much enjoyed being able to beat someone else at cards, though it wasn't long before Taeyong insisted Johnny teach him tricks to beat him and Mark's winning streak was soon over.

"Alright," Johnny clapped his hands together one day and Taeyong shot up, eyes wide every time because he probably thought Johnny had an announcement about the ship, which Johnny was making progress on of course, but it was a big ship and it would take a lot of time to get it back to one hundred percent. "I'm heading out to go stock up on food."

"I want to come with." Taeyong scrambled up from where he was sitting - he'd been watching Mark tinker with an air purifier that would hopefully stop Taeyong from coughing at night.

The rest of him had been adapting well, he definitely had the fashion down. Cargo pants and a pair of Mark's old boots, Johnny's long sleeves (though Mark had offered some that would fit him better) and to top it all off, Taeyong had gotten into the habit of tying a bandana in his wild red hair that he'd rest the goggles Johnny had given him on it when he needed them.

Needless to say... he looked good. Johnny had tried telling him when he wore the first bandana, but his words had gotten stuck in his throat so he'd just pretended to have a coughing fit. "Swallowed some sand," He'd said instead.

"You sure?" Johnny looked Taeyong over, his skin still got red after a few minutes in the sun - even while covered.

"Yeah, I don't want to sit here and feel useless, let me come with you."

"You're not useless." Mark frowned. "You help me solve problems all the time when I'm stuck fixing something."

Taeyong smiled. He had a really nice smile, wide and bright. Johnny suddenly felt self-conscious about his own.

"Thank you Mark," Taeyong turned to Johnny. "But at least let me help with something."

Johnny shrugged. "Two pairs of hands will be better than one."

Taeyong didn't know how to ride a motorcycle yet, so Johnny made him sit in front of him on Girl while he straddled behind.

"Shouldn't I be behind you so I can hold onto your waist?" Taeyong asked, a hint of a quiver in his voice.

"If you fell off I wouldn't feel you. I'm also bigger so I'll protect you from the sun." Johnny ignored the warmth of Taeyong's back on his chest as the metal door of the cave opened. They both put their goggles onto their eyes, gloved hands on the handle bar (Johnny's a little further out than usual to accommodate for Taeyong's) and Johnny revved the bike and kicked off into the desert.

The ride was the longest Taeyong had ever been out in the sun. "You good?" Johnny yelled after ten minutes over the roar of the engine and the wind in their ears.

"I'm fine!" Taeyong yelled back, so Johnny kept going, though maybe he was going a bit faster than usual so he could get them out of the sun.

Yuta's greenhouses were some of the biggest modern buildings he'd ever come across, he was pretty sure Yuta was the number one seller, though he would never admit that because it could give him a target on his back. No one else seemed to have figured out the way to grow food like Yuta had.

Taeyong gasped at the sight of them, peeking over a sand dune as they got closer. "Wow," He marvelled when they parked and got off, bringing Girl into the garage. "We never had anything like this on Nova."

"No greenhouses?" Johnny opened the door for him into the first greenhouse attached to the garage.

"We have greenhouses, just not this big ." Taeyong interrupted himself with another 'whoa', and a chuckle from Yuta could be heard not too far away.

"I know I've made it when I've amazed a man who comes from the stars." Yuta stood up from tending to a plant, taking his dirty gloves off and putting them on the rag already on his shoulder. "Here for a veggie run? Or a tour?"

"May I?" Taeyong's eyes practically lit up and Johnny couldn't help but chuckle.

"Careful, you'll inflate his ego."

"Oh don't worry, it's already inflated enough." Taeil popped out from a door that connected to their main home. "Oh hi, you must be Taeyong." Taeil smiled and Taeyong seemed almost a bit shy about being known. "I'm Taeil, it's nice to meet you."

Johnny narrowed his eyes because he couldn't be too sure of what Yuta had said. Nothing bad obviously, but he couldn't help but be bothered by it.

"It's nice to meet you too."

"How about I show Taeyong around and gather the veg while you and Taeil talk, Johnny?" Yuta beckoned Taeyong forward, who almost looked hesitant before glancing at Johnny.

"Sure, just don't kidnap him or I'll have your head."

Yuta chuckled. "I don't doubt that."

Before Johnny could demand 'what's that supposed to mean?' , Yuta was already pulling Taeyong away and Taeil was disappearing from the doorway, so Johnny followed.

"Here," Taeil tossed him two cassette tapes, which Johnny caught with an offended gasp. One should never just throw tapes around. "These are the only ones I could get before Donghyuck snatched the rest."

"That damn kid." Johnny grumbled. "Thanks."

"Doie's pissed you didn't show up after your whole 'give me first dibs' pitch."

"He told you about that? I mean, I don't know if you've noticed but I've been kind of busy." Johnny looked at the names of the tapes in his hands - Starship and ABBA, nice.

"Busy enough to miss an auction? Must be some important starboy."

"Shut up, I just - don't think it's smart to go to an auction just yet. I may have stolen him from Ten, so..."

Taeil crossed his arms and even if he was a whole head shorter, stared Johnny down. "So you thinking of selling him?"

"No!" It came out a lot quicker and louder than Johnny had anticipated, though Taeil didn't seem surprised. "No, I'm fixing his ship and then he'll go home with all his answers about Earth or some shit. I know what they do to starboys when they get sold to those assholes on Mars, Taeil, I'm not condemning him to that."

"Wow," Taeil let out a whistle. "Johnny Suh has a heart along with his ridiculous cassette tape collection."

"I take offence to that." Johnny crinkled his nose, safely putting the tapes in a little bag that was clipped onto his belt.

Taeil rolled his eyes and started to walk back to the greenhouse. "C'mon, let's go find them before Yuta talks Taeyong's poor ears off."

Johnny followed with a chuckle. "I think you're underestimating how eager Taeyong is to listen."

"Oh wow," Taeil stopped in his tracks when spotting the two animatedly talking about what Yuta put in the soil to give him the best quality vegetables. Johnny could see it though, there was something troubling Taeyong and he was trying to hide it.

"You guys good?" Johnny approached as they both smiled at him.

"Of course! Yong here has a good eye for the best vegetables!" Yuta exclaimed, handing Johnny a basket full of vegetables. Taeyong had his own that he held onto tightly.

"Ready to go then?"

Taeyong looked around wistfully then nodded.

"You're required to bring Taeyong every time now Johnny!" Yuta grinned, obviously excited about his new gardening friend.

"And if I don't?" Johnny raised a brow.

"I'll give you another discount if you do."

"I'm not a bargaining piece!" Taeyong huffed and Yuta chuckled, slinging an arm around his shoulder.

"I'm just kidding Yong! I mean not really, but you gotta force him to bring you too okay? He needs that discount."

It returned again, that look on Taeyong's face that said there was something bothering him. Johnny decided not to comment, only to bid farewell to Yuta and Taeil and head off on the bike again, Taeyong clutching the baskets tightly.

He was awfully quiet when they got home.

Johnny for the most part, let him be. He put the vegetables away and Taeyong went down into the cave, probably going to keep organizing Johnny's tape collection alphabetically - or maybe to look at those books he kept locked in the ship's safe.

Either way, Johnny didn't ask about it, and Taeyong never mentioned anything to him.

-⭐-

Frustrated was an understatement. Taeyong still didn't have answers as to why there were still people on Earth - who was the first scavenger, how did they survive if war had been so bad the Earth should have shattered?

He'd already cross referenced the lies in the books he had with him, made speculations, but those were all he had. Of course he didn't expect Mark or Johnny to have these answers, they were just two guys surviving on their dusty planet because despite everything, humans still persisted.

Taeyong sighed, closing his notebook and putting it back into his safe, plucking out a single gumdrop from the bag because he'd been saving them for moments like that, where he needed a little pick me up or a reminder of home. He only really missed his friends - and the candy of course, but mainly his friends.

He closed the safe when he heard someone enter the ship - not that he was trying to hide anything, it was just a force of habit from when he had been having to hide his things.

"Hey," Mark's head popped in to Taeyong's living quarters. He'd cleaned it up a couple days into his first week with the mechanics so he could sleep in his own bed rather than taking Johnny's while he slept on the ground. "Can I show you something?"

Mark was gone before Taeyong could even open his mouth to respond. With a chuckle, Taeyong got up and followed him out of the ship. In the cave, he noticed the giant metal doors were open, and Taeyong realized for the first time in weeks that he hadn't actually seen the night sky yet.

The closer he got to Mark, standing outside in the sand, the slower his pace got. His breath hitched and tears sprung to his eyes when he fully stepped out beside Mark, casting his gaze fully into the sky.

It was unlike anything he'd seen before, a black canvas painted in swirls of green, blue, and purple, lights that danced instead of twinkling stars like Taeyong was used to.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Taeyong could see Mark grin at him from his peripheral. Taeyong only nodded, eyes stuck on the art in the sky.

"It's one of my favourite parts about all this, no matter how often I see it, it still leaves me breathless every time." Mark breathed, his smile never fading.

"Solar flares." Were the first words uttered in a whisper from Taeyong's lips.

"Oh yeah, of course you'd know how it happens. You've read about it in one of your books, haven't you?"

Taeyong nodded, gulping, throat itchy. "It only used to happen in certain regions but I assume with time and the sun getting older - wow."

They stood in silence, taking in the sight in front of them. Despite the Earth being a practical wasteland, it still had beauty to offer. Nature was almost cruel that way.

He wished he could take a picture, still the moment in time and show his friends - or better yet, have them there with him.

"One of my absolute favourite things to do at the end of the day," Taeyong's voice felt hoarse, though he hadn't even cried. Close, but not quite. "-was lie on the rooftop of my house with my friends and watch the sky. It was always beautiful - not like this, this is different, but still absolutely beautiful. You can't see the stars here, but you can't see these colours over there."

"Do you miss it?" Taeyong finally looked at Mark, who seemed sad with his wide eyes that reflected the lights.

"Yeah. I miss those moments the most I think, but I had to come here." Taeyong smiled to urge Mark not to frown. It worked, somewhat.

"It won't be the same, but I'll lie in the sand every clear night with you."

That got a genuine smile out of Taeyong, who touched Mark's shoulder affectionately. "Thank you Mark, I'd love that."

So they lied down and watched the strokes of colourful lights move in the sky. Taeyong enjoyed emptying his mind and just filling it with the beauty of the night sky, but there was one thing that kept bothering him.

"Why does Johnny buy the most expensive foods? From Yuta?" He stared into the abyss above him instead of turning his head to look at Mark.

"Hm? Oh, it's hard to get top quality produce here without it being expensive since regular produce - well it's always going to be radiated or poisoned a little bit. We're used to it, literally raised on it, but you're not, it would totally ruin your body."

Taeyong picked at the skin under his fingernail. "Oh. Yuta told me it's expensive."

"It's fine, it's better for all three of us anyway - hey," Mark nudged Taeyong's shoulder. "Don't feel bad or anything, our friend Doyoung has been on us about it cause it'll literally help us live longer, so it was really just a matter of time. You're like, the catalyst for saving us basically."

Taeyong sighed out his insecurity and focused on the sky again. He wasn't too sure what he'd done to warrant such care from the mechanics but he'd be able to repay all his debt one day, he'd make sure of it.

Days passed by, then weeks and Taeyong began to feel restless. There still wasn't any progress on the ship or contact with Kun and Jungwoo. Taeyong had already read all the books Johnny and Mark had (they didn't have many, they didn't get preserved as well as the cassette tapes apparently), besides rereading the ones he already had. There was only so many times he could read about Harry Potter and his magic school in that fiction book he'd accidentally stolen.

Taeyong would go with Johnny to Yuta's and he would help Yuta garden, just so he could find something that made him feel useful. Short trips turned into full days at Yuta and Taeil's though Johnny insisted he didn't mind.

But that was only once every two weeks, so in the meantime, Taeyong began to hover over Johnny's shoulder while he tried fixing the ship, asking questions Johnny didn't have the answers to.

"Will that work?"

"I don't know, I'm testing it."

"You don't know?"

"I don't exactly have an instruction booklet, Taeyong."

"Right. Sorry."

After about the hundredth sigh from Johnny, he practically picked Taeyong up and removed him from the ship, putting him in front of a rusty motor bike like the ones Johnny and Mark had, part of Johnny's collection, and gave him a set of tools and said "Have at it," so Taeyong did what he'd been observing for months, he tinkered.

To his surprise, the days went by faster now that he had something to occupy his mind. He'd work on the bike during the day, then sit out with Mark at night to watch the sky. It wasn't long before Johnny joined them too.

It was a nice routine for a while until the weather steadily got worse and they weren't able to sit outside anymore due to the wind and the sand. Those nights Taeyong spent alone in his ship's quarters, the star hologram Kun had given him projected above him.

The wind could be heart whipping against the metal door to the cave, though Mark had assured Taeyong that nothing could ever break down the door, not even the worst weather. Taeyong cleaned off the rust from his bike when Johnny began to shout.

"Taeyong! Mark! Get over here!"

Taeyong jogged towards the ship, Mark clambering in after him.

"What's going on?"

Johnny was grinning, dirt smudged on his nose. "I got a radio signal."

He was twisting something with a wrench, radio static getting softer then louder with every turn. When it quieted, he pulled the wrench away. "Can you hold the signal for me Yangyang?"

"Connection is weak but stable, contacting Kun."

Taeyong advanced slowly, hands on the intact parts of the dashboard to steady himself. He stared at the ground, concentrating on his breathing, trying to calm down the frantic beating of his heart and -

"Taeyong?"

Taeyong's head shot up. "Kun? Kun!"

"Taeyong? Taeyong, is that you?" The radio static increased and Johnny immediately began working again, trying to steady the connection. "Taeyong?"

"I'm here, I'm here, I'm okay, Kun!" Taeyong gulped, swallowing tears he wouldn't let himself shed.

"Oh Taeyong, wait let me get Jungwoo - Taeyong?"

"Kun?" Taeyong yelled, the static getting louder.

"Taeyong? Taeyong, I can't hear you!"

"Kun!"

The static went completely silent. "Connection lost." Yangyang reported. Taeyong hung his head.

"Fuck, it's probably the wind - the cave doesn't block out signals but the wind might be messing everything up, I'm so sorry Taeyong." Johnny dropped his wrench to the floor. Taeyong lifted his head and mustered a smile to the mechanic.

"It's okay, he knows I'm okay, that's all I needed. It's okay, thank you."

Taeyong found his feet shuffling towards his quarters, closing the door behind him and flopping onto his bed to cry into his pillow because he missed his friends dearly and couldn't bear the thought of not being able to talk to them ever again. Maybe his decision to go to Earth had been a little too hasty. Taeyong curled up into his bed and cried himself to sleep.

When he awoke and shuffled out, Mark and Johnny were still on the navigation deck, tools scattered everywhere.

"Guys - you're not still - you're not still working on the radio again, are you?"

Taeyong was ignored in favour of Mark passing Johnny some weird tool Taeyong had never seen before.

"Guys please, I really am thankful, but don't overwork yourself okay?"

Mark finally looked up at him. "We could hear you crying... We couldn't not do anything."

Taeyong reddened because the idea of them hearing him blubber his heart out was a little embarrassing. "Look, I just miss them, I know you guys are doing your best."

Johnny sat up, staring at the wall. "Hey Mark, remember those spare parts we found when out with Jaehyun?"

Mark's eyebrows raised so high they almost disappeared. "You wanna use those? "

"They'll probably work better than anything we've got right now and they're in pristine condition - they'll probably ... Yeah, why didn't I think of this before?"

"Uh, because Jaehyun will kill you? Do you remember what you guys went through to get those?"

Taeyong's heart thumped. "Kill?" He choked out. Was this Jaehyun guy - was he one of those Raiders Johnny had told him about?

Johnny looked at him for the first time during the conversation. "Relax, he won't actually kill me."

Mark scoffed and Johnny shot him a look, getting up to go get whatever parts he was talking about but Taeyong stood in his way.

"You don't have to do this for me."

"Of course I do. I'm gonna get your ship up and running so you can see your friends and go home whenever you want, whenever you get those answers you want. I'm doing it, Taeyong, you can count me."

Taeyong frowned because to his knowledge, he'd been nothing but a burden to the two mechanics. Without thinking about it, he slipped his arms around Johnny and buried his face into his chest. "Thank you." He whispered.

Johnny hesitated for a moment before wrapping his arms around him, Taeyong's heart thumping at the warmth. He kind of didn't want to let go.

-⭐-

Johnny told himself it was because he couldn't stand to see someone cry, especially if it was someone like Taeyong who had been so strong in the worst of situations.

He'd do it for anybody, Johnny convinced himself. It wasn't like the starboy had carved a place for himself in their little repair shop home that would feel empty when he would eventually leave.

Mark would periodically gave him 'bullshit' looks if Johnny ever brushed it off, so he stopped saying anything.

It was probably because they were cooped up in the cave for a week that did it, being unable to leave due to the high winds that whipped around the sand outside at dangerous speeds. Yeah, that was it. They were just too close for too long, that was why Johnny's skin tingled whenever Taeyong got close or looked at him for more than five seconds. Totally it.

It didn't help that Taeyong would call him over every time he made a breakthrough on his motorbike, a breathtaking grin on his face. The cave was big enough for Johnny to teach Taeyong how to ride it on his own, putting around in little circles until the cave went dark and the power went out.

"What happened?" Taeyong asked, only the light from the ship illuminating a soft glow for them to see.

"The sand must be covering the solar panels. It happens sometimes, we usually just adapt but I guess we have some light from your ship's reserves for now."

Mark, Johnny and Taeyong all gathered into the ship with their cold vegetable soup dinners and their playing cards to pass the time.

"Hey Taeyong, could you tell us about what you did on your planet? What was it called again, Nova?" Mark piped up after the tenth card game.

"On Nova? I worked at a candy store, believe it or not, but most of the time I spent on the neighbouring planet of Vita, at their Archives. It was like a museum of what happened on Earth, most of it being wrong. I... might have most of the vids memorized."

Johnny fiddled with one of the cards in his hands, staring at it, listening with interest. He hadn't asked Taeyong many questions about himself in the months of knowing him, just about his ship, about his tech. It had seemed too... personal... before .

"What kind of candy do they have there?" Mark leaned forward, eyes wide. "Our candy is shit, and those rich folks on Mars get the good stuff."

"That's because they have the resources to make it." Johnny pointed out.

Taeyong stood up. They were on the main navigation deck, sitting on the ground. He went into his quarters and came back with a bag of colourful pieces and something else Johnny didn't quite get a good look at before Taeyong shoved it into his pocket.

"These are gumdrops, my favourite." He explained, sitting back down and opening the bag in the middle of the three. "Kun packed them for me before I left so I've been savouring them."

"Can we...?" Mark's hand hesitated towards the bag until Taeyong nodded at him, smiling. When Johnny didn't make a move to take a piece, Taeyong nudged the bag towards him encouragingly.

Johnny met his eyes for only a second before looking away, taking one of the gumdrops and popping it into his mouth before he could say anything embarrassing.

"Holy shit, they're good." Mark wowed. "No wonder they're your favourite."

Johnny tilted his head, savouring the sugary, artificial taste. "What are they made out of?"

Taeyong forward. "I don't actually know. I just ate them."

Johnny pretended to tsk at him and shook his head. "This is vital information, Taeyong. How could you not know?"

Taeyong laughed, bright and carefree and it was pleasant to Johnny's ears, maybe eased his heart a little that he could make him laugh like that.

"I'm sorry! I took them for granted! If I would have known one day that a mechanic scavenger on Earth would want the information, I would have looked it up!"

Johnny smiled at that.

It wasn't long until Mark was yawning and Taeyong was shooing him to the ship's quarters for him to sleep in Taeyong's bed so he wouldn't drowsily trip over anything trying to get back into the pitch black hut.

So that left Johnny and Taeyong sitting across from each other, cards in hands and some butterflies in Johnny's stomach.

"Thanks for sharing your candy even though you were saving it..." Johnny said suddenly, and Taeyong shook his head.

"Stop. It doesn't even come close to what you've done for me."

"It doesn't really feel like I've helped at all..." Johnny mumbled, not expecting Taeyong to have heard him. Taeyong sighed and put his cards down, getting up to sit next to Johnny, backs against the wall of the ship. Johnny ignored the smallest stutter of his chest when Taeyong pressed their legs beside each other.

Johnny watched Taeyong's hand go into his pocket, reaching for whatever it was he'd put in there before, revealing a little model of the ship they were currently sitting in.

Taeyong took Johnny's hand, larger and rougher than Taeyong's, and delicately placed the model in his palm.

Johnny smiled. "It's cute. You think it could give me answers on how to fix your ship?"

Taeyong pursed his lips. "That's not the point of why I'm sharing it with you, dummy. Forget about fixing the ship right now."

Johnny turned to look at Taeyong, who really was awfully close. "What are you showing it to me for then?"

Taeyong lead with his finger and pressed a button on the model ship. Johnny was temporarily blinded until his eyes adjusted. His jaw dropped and his chest tightened at what twinkled above them.

Stars. Beautiful, clear, glimmering stars that Johnny hadn't ever seen before. The hologram showed them slowly moving over time and Johnny couldn't contain the gasp in awe that came from his lips. "This is... it's beautiful."

Looking over at Taeyong was a mistake, face glowing, illuminated by the stars that reflected in his wide, sparkling eyes. "It's the night sky view from my house. I've always loved watching the stars, wondering what's out there - if this planet really did exist. I never thought I'd get to see the sky from Earth like I can now."

"It's beautiful." Johnny repeated, but he wasn't looking at the stars anymore.

He was looking at the man who came from them, who was brave enough to venture to an Earth he wasn't even sure existed, who adapted so well, who insisted he help out in any way possible, learning to grow food, or riding his own motorbike. Taeyong wasn't like anyone Johnny had ever met before, doing things and helping because he wanted to, not just for survival. Johnny had the feeling he'd be the exact same way even if Taeyong had been born to a life on Earth.

Taeyong finally noticed his staring, locking eyes. Maybe it was his thoughts, the fact that they'd been cooped up together because of a storm for a week now or if it was just the atmosphere. Johnny wouldn't be able to say who leaned in first, only that Taeyong's lips were soft when they met his.

Neither pulled away after the first kiss, hovering close, Johnny's eyes on Taeyong's lips and the pounding of his heart in his ears. Johnny watched Taeyong's half lidded eyes staring at Johnny's mouth before they flicked upwards, meeting again. With a hitch of his breath, Johnny leaned in and Taeyong's lips parted as Johnny captured them in his own once more.

They were from different sides of the galaxy but the language was universal. Johnny watched Taeyong's eyes flutter shut and followed with his own as their mouths continued to move together, the model ship placed on the floor as Johnny's hands were more inclined to hold the man who made his heart pound and gave him butterflies. The stars continued to twinkle overhead.

Since Taeyong's arrival on Earth, Johnny had missed four auctions. The feeling of missing out (and letting Donghyuck get all of his tapes) was beginning to weigh on him, so he decided it was finally time to introduce Taeyong properly to the marketplace.

It had been a week since the wind storms had ended and they were finally able to roam free again. It was the only time Johnny liked feeling the sun on his skin.

It had also been a week since he and Taeyong’s kiss and no, they hadn’t talked about it. Was there anything to talk about? Probably, but Johnny wasn’t ready to face that just yet. Taeyong would be going home one day, home being literal light years away.

The point was, he didn’t want to think about it, but that didn’t mean he didn’t find himself standing closer than necessary, maybe their eyes lingered on each other a little longer and if Mark noticed anything then he wasn’t saying anything about it, thankfully.

“You’ll be good?” Johnny resisted putting his hand on Taeyong’s back as Taeyong sat on his refurbished bike, which he’d named Rose (a flower Johnny hadn’t ever heard of. Not that he’d seen many flowers unless they grew on vegetables. Taeyong told him it was his favourite flower.)

“I’ll be fine.” Taeyong smiled at him. He really looked like an Earth native dressed head to toe, with that goddamn black bandana that he wore in his red hair that made Johnny question his sanity sometimes. Were all starboys that good looking or was it just Taeyong? He even had smudges of dirt on his face, evidence of working hard on his bike and other things he’d begun to help the mechanics with.

“The man survived a ship crash to Earth, Johnny.” Mark pointed out, on his own bike. “I think he can handle this.”

Johnny was pretty sure Taeyong was only turning pink because of the sun. He shook his head and got onto Girl and revved her up, the two others imitating him.

“Sweet!” Mark shouted over the roaring of the three engines. “We’re like a biker gang!”

Johnny rolled his eyes and lowered his goggles onto his head, the other two doing the same. He kicked off and rode into the desert with Mark and Taeyong following behind him.

The problem with whatever it was that had happened between him and Taeyong, was that Johnny wasn’t sure if he was nervous about Taeyong riding his bike alone somewhere for the first time, the fact that they were going somewhere they might run into Ten, or that Taeyong just gave Johnny butterflies in general.

The possibility that it was all three didn’t sit well in his stomach. Life used to be a lot simpler when all he had to worry about was collecting tapes.

He glanced over his shoulder, relief washing over him when both bikes’ were still following him, Mark bringing up the rear. Johnny knew Taeyong didn’t need protecting but it still made him feel… better.

The starboy was hazardous to his health, though Johnny soon realized it had been four months since he’d seen Doyoung, which meant he was going to get an earful from him, which was arguably worse.

He almost groaned when he saw the marketplace appear in the distance, getting closer as they approached.

The hub where all the vehicles were parked was busy when they arrived, a few heads turning to look at the three bikes making all the noise.

They parked their motorbikes and Johnny lead them through the crowd of people. Most people stepped out of the way when they saw Johnny coming their way.

He stopped once they reached the main square, a large block of area that got covered by merchants’ vending stalls when it was the day of the auction. The merchants were also scavengers, selling small things they’d collected to earn money while anything big and worth more went to the main auction that Doyoung held.

Johnny felt a nudge on his back, pushed forward slightly. He turned to see that Taeyong had collided into him, eyes wide with wonder, looking every which way. Johnny had completely forgotten it would be his first time seeing the marketplace, not to mention the swarms of people all in one place that were all from Earth.

“Whoa,” Taeyong whispered. “I mean, I knew there had to be some more people here but I never imagined this many.”

Johnny smiled a little and gestured towards the stalls with throngs of people milling about. “Welcome to the marketplace Taeyong, the scavenger hub for trade where we watch the best ones get rich from the folks from Mars buying their rare shit that they were lucky to find.”

He watched Taeyong scan the area in utter fascination. Johnny wished he could get a glimpse into what it was like seeing it for the first time. He’d known it for as long as he could remember, the beauty of it was almost lost now.

“It’s… unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

“Yeah,” Mark scrunched up his nose. “We used to call it the junkyard for obvious reasons, but don’t let Doyoung hear you say that.”

“Careful,” Johnny warned. “You’ll summon him.”

“Summon who?”

Johnny almost whacked himself into Doyoung when he turned, Doyoung taking a pointed step back as he was in his best clothes for when he presented the auction.

“Doyoung!” Johnny smiled wide, hoping it would help undo any damage. “Long time no see!”

“Cut the shit Johnny, where the hell have you been? ‘I want first pick’ then you disappear on me like that? You’re lucky I don’t send someone after you just for being that annoying.”

“Missed you too, Doie.”

Doyoung scoffed at him then turned his attention to the other two in Johnny’s party, nodding to Mark and then focusing on Taeyong. “You are?” He tilted his head in intrigue. There weren’t often ‘newcomers’ where they were, so a new face to see was a big deal.

“This is Taeyong,” Johnny might’ve been shadowing him behind his shoulder just a little bit. Just to be cautious. “He’s… working with Mark and I at the shop.”

He would have told Doyoung the truth but there were tons of people around them and he couldn’t risk saying it out loud.

Taeyong gave Doyoung a curt nod that may have made Johnny swell in pride. He had definitely learned how to fit in.

Shut up Johnny, it’s just a head nod.

“Oh, by any chance Doie,” Johnny leaned in to murmur closer to Doyoung’s ear, though he observed both Mark and Taeyong gathering closer so they could hear. “Do you know if Ten plans on making an appearance today?”

Doyoung frowned at him, like it was obvious. “He’s always at every auction, unlike you - oh, for fuck’s sake you two aren’t still fighting over that damn ship -”

“Johnny!”

Johnny turned again only to be assaulted into a tight hug, the force of which made him knock back into Mark and Taeyong.

“Jaehyun, are you trying to kill me?” Johnny coughed, somehow feeling out of breath.

“No but you wanna tell me why Ten wants me to?” Jaehyun grinned and wrapped his arm around Johnny’s shoulder tightly, the butt of the rifle strapped to his back smacking Johnny on his head from Jaehyun’s movements.

“ What?! ” Doyoung practically shrieked. Johnny felt a hand clutch at the back of his shirt. He glanced to find Taeyong blinking at Jaehyun, eyes alight with worry, then embarrassment when he realized his reaction.

Johnny didn’t have time to process that because Doyoung was already yelling at him. “You two are going to be the death of me! What did you do ? There won’t be any murders at my auction!”

“Relax Doie, I’m not gonna kill Johnny,” Jaehyun grinned his dimply grin, then added cheekily, “Yet.”

Johnny swore he saw Taeyong bristle but again, didn’t have time to process it for very long.

“Why is he trying to have you killed , Johnny?” Doyoung sounded tired, as if he was a mother trying to calm a feud between two brothers.

“The answer’s right there.” Donghyuck appeared beside Mark out of nowhere, jutting his chin towards Taeyong, who looked almost… guilty.

Doyoung stared at Taeyong long and hard before it clicked.

“Oh,” He sighed. “You absolute idiot Johnny.”

“Awe, thanks.” Johnny joked because he didn’t want to concern Taeyong, but he really hadn’t imagined Ten was going to go as far as a kill bounty on Johnny’s head.

It was a good thing he and Jaehyun were friends.

“So… Johnny’s not dying?” Mark was talking but he wasn’t looking at any of them. Probably distracted by Donghyuck’s hand on his shoulder, Johnny noted.

“Nope,” Jaehyun answered. “Anyone who wants to accept that contract then they’ll have to go through us. Sicheng and Yukhei have been looking for some fun.”

Johnny was pretty sure he heard Taeyong gulp.

“Anyways, we’ll see you guys around, yeah?” Jaehyun nodded to them as he backed away and tilted his head to signal Donghyuck to follow.

“See you,” Donghyuck lifted his brows as farewell before turning to Mark. “Bye Mark.”

Johnny would tease the hell out of both of them if Donghyuck wasn’t the cause of his lack of tapes in his collection. Which reminded him -

“Let’s go look around.” Johnny’s fingers wrapped around Taeyong’s wrist and he began to pull him away. “Good luck with the auction, Doie.”

Doyoung sighed before bidding them farewell. “Please don’t cause trouble.”

Taeyong’s response of “No promises,” Made Johnny beam all the way to the first stall that looked like it might have some good stuff.

“If you see any tapes I don’t have yet - tell me.” Johnny immediately began to scan one of the tables.

“How am I supposed to know the ones you don’t have yet?” Mark scoffed.

Taeyong chuckled. “Run them by me before you get anything. I know all the ones we have.”

“We’ll probably find some more parts for Ruby too!”

“Who’s Ruby?” Mark asked.

“The ship, stupid.” Johnny turned to Taeyong, an excited grin on his face that fell when he saw that Taeyong was frowning. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Taeyong looked off into the direction Jaehyun and Donghyuck had gone off in. “They… had really big guns.”

Johnny couldn’t help but snort. “You should see his partner, Sicheng. That’s a big gun.” When that obviously didn’t seem to ease Taeyong’s concern, Johnny rested a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, it’s fine, okay? He’s a really nice guy, they all are, even if Donghyuck is trying to usurp my collection - stop smirking Mark - they hardly ever kill people.”

Taeyong’s brows raised. “Except when the price is right.”

Johnny was at a loss. “I mean… welcome to Earth I guess. It’s always been survival of the fittest here.”

“I get it, Johnny. It’s just… different, that’s all.”

Their chatter quieted as they continued browsing through the stalls, Johnny could barely concentrate on what he was looking at because he just felt guilty for some reason. He wished he could comfort Taeyong in some way. His hand ran over a cassette tape and almost let it go before realizing what it was.

“How much is this?” He asked the vendor, who seemed to shake a little when making eye contact with Johnny.

“I’m… not supposed to sell that to you.”

Johnny’s gaze hardened. “Why not? I’ve got the coin.”

The vendor looked around nervously. “I - he told me not to.”

“Who?” Johnny’s eyes narrowed.

The vendor mumbled a name but Johnny didn’t hear him. “Say it again.”

Visibly dishevelled, the vendor groaned. “One of the Raiders - Donghyuck.”

Johnny glared at Mark who had begun to chuckle. “You fucking serious?” He turned back to the vendor. “He’s playing with you, alright? He’s not gonna do anything - Mark, stop fucking giggling - Donghyuck’s not gonna get my blessing if you let him keep making my life miserable.”

Mark stuttered in protest but Johnny ignored him in favour of getting Taeyong to back him up and help him.

He turned around. “Taeyong, can you - Taeyong?” Johnny blinked.

Taeyong wasn’t standing with him.

Johnny had only felt panic a handful of times. When he and Jaehyun had almost been rundown by radiated beasts while scavenging - and when Mark had heatstroke. He felt that same feeling settle in his chest when scanning over the crowd and not seeing any bright red hair in sight.

-⭐-

Taeyong moved from one stall to the next, determined to look at everything . Some people were just selling small things like nuts and bolts they’d found on their adventures. He bought some things he thought might help repair Ruby using coin he’d earned from helping Yuta garden whenever they went to visit. He’d even snatched up a few tapes for Johnny - Elton John, Def Leppard, and Toto, none of which Johnny had yet.

He was deep in the throngs of the marketplace when a certain glimmer caught his eye, that pristine white he was so used to seeing back home.

Taeyong’s hand reached out, immediately touching the Star Colony issued bracelet on the vendor’s table. There were many other Star Colony trinkets too, cups, shoes, a jacket and even -

“A music box.” The vendor picked up the white cube and opened it. A hologram of a shooting star twinkled and a melody that sounded like a lullaby played. It wasn’t a tune Taeyong had ever heard before. It sounded personal.

Taeyong eyed the vendor carefully. Aside from reddened skin from the sun, much like Taeyong - the man had no blemishes on his face, no dirt, framed by pure black locks. His hands were small and smooth - they didn’t sport calluses like Taeyong’s did now, something he’d never had while back home.

“You’re a starboy.” Taeyong breathed. It was the first time using the term on anyone other than himself. “Are these your things?”

“They were.” The man smiled at him. He had to be at least a few years younger than Taeyong. “If I still call them mine they’ll be harder for me to let go of though.”

Taeyong’s mind raced a million miles a second. Johnny had said other people like him had landed on Earth before, even if it wasn’t often. “How did you end up here?” Taeyong knew very well how far from home they were.

“My father is quite adventurous.” The vendor’s smile was bright, though Taeyong could see the sadness in his eyes when recalling the memory. “For as long as I’ve known, he’s been obsessed with Earth. He’d heard about the asteroid wall too, and he wanted to see them himself, if they were real. Maybe if that was real then Earth would be real, you know? He was going to go alone but I liked using the ship to think - a little hideout. He didn’t know I was on it when he left. 

We got to the asteroids and - well you know how it goes. We somehow got past - not in one piece, obviously and - and then those men from Mars boarded our ship and - well it gets a little complicated from there.”

Taeyong nodded, sensing the unwillingness to share the complete story to a stranger. There wasn’t any way someone from Mars was just going to hand starpeople off to Earth though - he knew that much from Johnny and Mark’s stories.

“I’m sure your story is just as complicated.”

It was then that Taeyong realized the vendor knew he too, was from the stars. His red hair was a dead giveaway, even if covered in a bandana, sand and dirt. Not many people had it as bright as his naturally - a genetic choice Taeyong’s parents had made - though Taeyong had an inkling that that wasn’t what tipped the vendor off.

His gaze flicked to the scar by Taeyong’s eye, then took in his clothes. “You seem to have adjusted well though.”

Taeyong traced the edges of the music box with his finger. “I’ve had good friends who helped me.”

The vendor nodded, eyes crinkling. “Good friends are rare here - I’m glad you found some. Mine are very… protective.”

“Dejun!”

Taeyong tuned to see two men approaching, smiles on their faces that fell when they locked eyes with him.

“Speaking of,” The vendor’s smile got just a little bit tighter on his skin. “These are my friends, Ten and Kunhang. Oh, and I’m Dejun.”

Taeyong’s grip had frozen on the music box, watching with wide eyes as the two men settled on either side of Dejun, like a protective guard.

“I’m Taeyong.” He jutted his chin out a little, feeling Ten and Kunhang’s gazes looking him over. Taeyong knew those names, he knew who they were.

He looked at the music box in his hands. “I’d like to-”

“Johnny, over there! Taeyong!”

In an instant, Mark was beside him, gaze hard on the men across the vendor’s table. Not a moment later, a large hand landed on Taeyong’s back and there was Johnny, breathing heavy.

Had they been looking for him?

Johnny’s hand lightly curled into the back of Taeyong’s jacket and Taeyong had the feeling he had no intention of letting go.

“Oh,” Taeyong’s voice cut through the awkward tension in the air. “Dejun, these are my friends - Mark and Johnny.”

Taeyong watched as Johnny and Ten’s eyes met, Ten suddenly chuckling while Johnny’s jaw set in a hard line.

“You got something to say?” Ten cocked his head, staring Johnny down despite the height difference, an amused smile on his face when Ten’s eyes flickered to Taeyong for a moment.

Johnny stayed silent, but Taeyong took more interest in the dark shadows under all of their eyes and the hollowness of their cheeks.

As if there was a conversation between them Taeyong couldn’t hear, Ten’s gaze flickered to Taeyong’s again, then back to Johnny. “You would.”

“Let’s go Taeyong, Mark.”

The tap of Johnny’s finger against Taeyong’s back was gentle. Please .

“Wait,” Taeyong untied the pouch on his belt and put it on the table - the rest of his coin. “I want to buy this music box.”

Dejun’s eyes widened at the sight of the pouch. “Wait - it’s not worth this much - let me -”

“It’s worth that much to me.” Taeyong smiled, a genuine one as he carefully loaded the music box into the rucksack he had on his shoulder.

“That’s all your coin.” Johnny pointed out.

“It’s fine, I’ll make more because I can go to Yuta’s on my own now.” It was supposed to be helpful but it only made Johnny’s jaw clench harder.

“Careful,” It was Ten who spoke, a glimmer in his eye, looking fully at Taeyong. “Or you’ll break his heart.”

Johnny ignored him and turned away. “Let’s go.”

Taeyong lifted a hand to Dejun as they left and Dejun tentatively waved back.

Taeyong sat at a table in his quarters on his ship, Dejun’s music box in front of him. When the music stopped, Taeyong wound it up again and watched the hologram of the twinkling shooting star.

“Hey.” Taeyong looked up to see Johnny hovering by the entrance. He tilted his head as if asking if he could come in, so Taeyong gave him a little smile in response.

Johnny pulled up a chair to the desk Taeyong was at and sat down next to him, observing the music box.

When the tune ended, Johnny turned to him. “You okay?”

Taeyong hummed. “Are you?”

“Depends.”

Taeyong’s fingers traced along the edges of the music box but he didn’t wind it up again.

“Why did you buy the music box?”

He smiled to himself. “I liked it and I needed an excuse to give them coin.”

“But why? You worked so hard for your coin.”

Taeyong sighed, finally looking at Johnny. He had been expecting a hard, questioning gaze, but what he saw was the opposite. Soft, wide eyes that looked at Taeyong with wonder and curiosity.

“Did you see how hollow their cheeks were? For some reason they aren’t eating and Dejun’s desperate enough to try and sell things no one’s gonna buy here.”

To Taeyong’s surprise, Johnny began to chuckle, resting his forearms and head on the table and looking up to Taeyong with utmost affection and it made Taeyong blush.

“Your heart is so… good .”

Taeyong shrugged, embarrassed and continued playing with the music box in his hand.

“I wanna know what you’re thinking. Why do you think they’re strapped for coin?”

“I don’t know but when I crashed… I remember one of them - Kunhang? Asking Ten if Dejun will be okay now that they had me and Ten said he’d be okay. I think they were going to sell me to pay off some sort of debt that has to do with Dejun and his father and the men from Mars.”

Johnny’s face twisted at the word ‘ sell ’. “Well they’re not gonna sell you, so don’t worry about that.”

Taeyong smiled, reaching out to pat Johnny’s hand tentatively.

“I’m not worried, Johnny.”

They stared at each other, Taeyong finding comfort in the warmth of Johnny’s hand that made his heart race. He swallowed the thought of that when he left Earth, Johnny would be one of the things he’d be leaving behind.

Willing himself not to get emotional, Taeyong remembered the other things he’d bought that day. “Oh! I almost forgot,” He let go of Johnny’s hand, almost missing the feeling instantly. He got up and rummaged through the rucksack on his bed, pulling out the three tapes he’d bought. He handed them over to Johnny when he sat back down. “Got these for you.”

The smile that grew on Johnny’s face made Taeyong’s heart skip a beat. “When did you get these? When you ran away from us at the marketplace?”

“I didn’t run away! I wanted to look at everything…” Taeyong pouted but saw the glint of worry in Johnny’s eyes. “I’m sorry… did I scare you?”

Johnny made a face, as if he didn’t want to admit it.

Taeyong smiled, picking up the music box once more and turning the crank, setting it down to let the music play. “I’ll try not to worry you anymore.” He slipped his fingers between Johnny’s and held his hand while watching the shooting star twinkle in the music box.

Johnny straightened up only to lean back down onto Taeyong’s shoulder.

Taeyong wasn’t sure if he wanted to go home at all anymore.

“Mark, try twisting it the other way.”

“I’ve already tried that, it doesn’t -”

Mark looked up from his water purifier (broken, again) and stared at Taeyong in awe while the machine gave a delighted hum.

“Told you.”

“That’s not fair, you can’t be better at this than me already .”

Taeyong’s chuckle was interrupted by a loud thump coming from the cave.

Johnny scrambled up the stairs, panting. “Taeyong! Mark! I did it!”

“Did what? Hurt yourself going up the stairs again?” Taeyong didn’t think he’d ever seen Johnny that excited before.

“No! Well, yes actually, but -” Johnny huffed. “I fixed the radio!”

Taeyong almost dropped the cup he’d had in his hands. “The-”

“C’mon!” Johnny practically tumbled down the stairs and the other two followed, running into the ship.

Taeyong hesitantly put his hands on the dashboard, holding himself steady so he wouldn’t shake. “Yangyang? Contact Kun.”

“Contacting Kun.”

They waited in silence.

“Connection stable.”

Taeyong sucked in his breath and his eyes started to water when he heard the voice echo through his ship, loud and clear. “Hello?”

“ Kun .” He sighed out. It had been months since really, properly hearing his voice.

“Taeyong? Is that you? You’re not gonna cut out on me this time, right?”

Taeyong laughed, loud and bright and looked to Johnny, only then realizing he wouldn’t understand what they were saying. Johnny flashed him a hopeful thumbs up and Taeyong reciprocated.

“Yeah, I’ve got a good repair guy.”

He watched Johnny signal to Mark out of the corner of his eye and they both left the ship to give Taeyong some privacy. He sat down in his beloved pilot’s chair, knees weak.

“Repair guy, huh? An Earth repair guy?”

“Really? That’s what you’re focusing on?”

“It was the way you said it!”

“Oh, Kun,” Taeyong smiled. “I have so much to tell you.”

Taeyong didn’t know how long he talked to Kun, it was hard to tell in the depths of the cave but it was probably hours. They talked about Earth, what he’d learned, the people he’d met and the subject of Johnny may have come up a few times. That was because Kun insisted Taeyong keep bringing him up. When Taeyong had asked why, Kun had answered that it was in the way Taeyong said his name.

“You’re making that up.” Taeyong pursed his lips.

“I’m not and you very well know it!”

They finally let each other go as Kun had to get to work but Taeyong promised he’d call again later, when Jungwoo was available - no matter what time of day it was for either of them.

With a permanent smile across his face and a light heart, Taeyong made his way back up the stairs into the hut where he found Johnny sitting at the edge of his bed, cleaning off his goggles.

“Hey,” Johnny looked up when he heard Taeyong’s footsteps and smiled at him. It reminded Taeyong of the same kind of awe he felt when looking at a constellation. “How did it g-?”

Taeyong’s feet moved without thinking until he was between Johnny’s knees, hands caressing Johnny’s face and angling him upwards so Taeyong could lean down and slot their mouths together.

He felt Johnny’s breath hitch in surprise, but his mouth moved automatically with his. Taeyong sighed into their kiss because it just felt right, like the stars in the universe had aligned for the moment to happen.

Taeyong managed to convince himself to pull away, noting how Johnny leaned forward to chase after his lips but caught himself and held back, eyes wide with many questions.

Taeyong was in such a state of euphoria he couldn’t even freak out that he’d just walked straight up to Johnny and kissed him like that, but it was what he’d been longing to do after the first time and talking about him to Kun just made Taeyong want it more.

He was just so thankful for everything Johnny had done for him, he didn’t know how else to show it.

“Whoa.” Taeyong snapped his head to the side to see Mark, sitting cross legged on the ground with his water purifier again. Taeyong hadn’t even noticed he was there. “I’m glad I wasn’t the one who fixed the radio.”

Taeyong’s cheeks began to burn pink.

Johnny cleared his throat and tilted his head towards the open curtain that separated Johnny’s room from the rest of the hut.

“ Alright , alright, I get it.” Mark picked up his purifier. “I’ll be in the cave.” He loudly pulled the curtain closed behind him as he left.

Taeyong turned to Johnny, realizing he still hadn’t let go of his face despite his embarrassment.

“What was that for?” Johnny whispered, always curious about what was going through Taeyong’s mind.

“Thank you,” Taeyong couldn’t help but thumb over the apples of Johnny’s cheeks. “For everything, Johnny.”

“Taeyong, you don’t need to -”

Taeyong leaned in again and whispered across Johnny’s lips, “Just take the thanks.” 

Johnny tossed the goggles that were still in his hands aside and grasped Taeyong’s waist, closing in the minimal distance between them.

The sound of Taeyong’s heart pounding in his ears wasn’t enough to drown out the thought that danced across his mind. He didn’t ever want Johnny to let go.

-⭐-

Now that Taeyong could ride his bike on his own, Johnny found himself looking forward to when he would come back working in the garden with Yuta in the late afternoon.

At first they greeted each other with head nods, smiles and a “How was your day?”. Then it became small hugs, Taeyong easily slipping into Johnny’s arms and muttering “Hi,” into his chest.

Then came the kisses, something that happened whenever they gazed at each other a little too long. One of them would break the spell and lean in, capturing the other's lips in theirs.

It was Johnny's favourite greeting.

It was undeniable then (as if kissing didn't make it obvious) that there was something going on between Johnny and Taeyong. Something Johnny hadn't ever expected would happen when he first laid eyes on the wreckage of the ship in the desert months ago - that he'd fall for its Captain.

They still hadn't really talked about it. There was still something holding Johnny back.

Taeyong would be going home one day, millions of miles away. Johnny wouldn't ever see him again, so he didn't think about it which meant they didn't talk about it.

It was working out, for the most part.

The dread settled in Johnny's stomach one day while Jaehyun and Sicheng were over for repairs on their four wheeler ATVs.

Taeyong was out at Yuta's, so Mark decided it was the perfect time to tell Jaehyun how Johnny had been managing to repair the ship.

"He used what?! " Jaehyun practically roared when Mark told him about the items Johnny had used from their previous scavenges. He whipped around to face Johnny. "You remember we almost died getting that right? Twice?"

Johnny shrugged. "I needed it."

"He said he'd just go get another one." Mark decided to add more fuel to the fire and Johnny glared at him for it.

Jaehyun practically choked on his own spit. "You aren't - you aren't serious, are you?"

Sicheng was sitting nearby, an amused smirk on his lips. "Taeyong must mean a whole lot to you then, Johnny."

Johnny pressed his lips together, going back to concentrate on working on Jaehyun's four wheeler.

"I sure do hope he decides to stay."

His stomach twisted at Sicheng's words and never unravelled even after the two raiders had left and Taeyong had come back home that afternoon, a kiss waiting on his lips.

-⭐-

Taeyong went to Yuta's almost every day. He didn't have a schedule or anything, just went when he felt like it. He loved helping Yuta tend to the plants, harvesting the fruits and vegetables when they were ready. Taeil would prepare him something to eat for the day and Taeyong would usually try to recreate it back at Johnny's.

He found more joy in working with Yuta than he ever did at the candy store back home.

Taeyong approached the greenhouses on his bike, noting the jeep that was parked outside. It must have been a customer he'd never met before yet, that was still an often occurrence. Taeyong parked his bike, Rose, in the garage and shoved his goggles and gloves into his rucksack, pulling out his other pair of gloves he used for gardening.

He had honestly no idea how Yuta had been tending to the enormous greenhouses all on his own. Taeil had thanked Taeyong once because Yuta was getting a little bit more rest now. Taeyong was just glad he was of help.

He knew what section he needed to work on that day. Slipping his gardening gloves on, Taeyong had every intention of not acknowledging Yuta and the customer he seemed to be arguing with. That is, until he recognized the customer's voice.

"Please, there isn't anything-?"

Dejun was promptly cut off by Yuta. "I'm sorry, it isn't enough. You'll have to find someplace cheaper."

Taeyong was already moving towards them. Had Dejun gotten even skinnier? "What's going on?"

Dejun, for some reason, couldn't meet Taeyong's eyes.

"He doesn't have enough money to pay for any product. And yes, before you say anything Yong, I did offer a discount. He doesn't have enough for what he's asking for."

Taeyong closed his mouth, as he had been very much about to say something about Yuta's willingness for discounts sometimes.

It only took a moment and another glance at Dejun's hollow cheeks for Taeyong to decide what he wanted to do.

"I'll pay for it." Dejun whipped his head towards him, eyes wide. "Take it out of my pay, Yuta."

Yuta raised a brow. "You sure?"

"Yes." Taeyong nodded. "C'mon Dejun, let's pick out some food for you."

Taeyong grabbed Dejun's wrist and dragged him over to where he knew the best produce was ready for harvesting. He grabbed one of their handwoven baskets and shoved it into Dejun's arms, forcing him to follow along behind Taeyong as he scoured the rows of plants.

"Why are you doing this?" Dejun's voice was quiet, as if he couldn't believe it. He must not have encountered very many people who had shown much kindness on Earth. Taeyong himself was very lucky he'd met who he'd met.

"You think I can't see that something is obviously wrong?" Taeyong twisted the stem of a tomato off the plant and placed it into the basket. "I'm not from here Dejun, you know that, I'm not as ' survival of the fittest' as these people are. I want to help. What happened to the coin I gave you?"

The corner of Dejun's mouth twitched, hesitant.

Taeyong waited patiently, bending down to pluck another tomato and add it to the basket.

Finally, Dejun spoke, voice somehow even smaller than before. "You know what they do to starboys on Mars right? They've told you?"

Taeyong nodded grimly.

"I learned how to speak the Earth dialect from my father - it was just for fun, like our own secret language no one else could understand. When the men from Mars boarded the ship - my father - he sacrificed himself so I could escape. I- I crashed to Earth and just started running for help. No one wanted to help me. I thought I was going to die."

Dejun took a deep breath. "Then I found Ten and Kunhang. I don't know why they didn't turn me in too - I've never asked. The men wanted to buy me as well but Ten wouldn't let them. He - He got them to make a deal so we could buy my father back from them."

His eyes were beginning to water. It took all of Taeyong's strength not to wrap his arms around him and hug him.

"There's not enough coin on this planet, Taeyong. They'll never be able to pay it, but they're still trying and I - I don't know why they're doing it for me. The coin you gave us went straight to Mars. Please Taeyong, please don't hate Ten. He only took you because... it was our only shot. I felt horrible when he told me they found you - what good is it if we're just trading one life for another's? Why do you have to be condemned to that just because you were found by the wrong people? Please don't hate him for it - wouldn't Johnny do anything he could for you too?"

Taeyong was suddenly frozen, all except his heart that was pounding loudly in his ears with the realization that Johnny really might do anything if Taeyong needed it.

He would do the same too. He couldn't say to what extent - no one knew what they would do until faced with that moment. He imagined Johnny getting hurt, Mark getting in trouble, Yuta being unable to work. What lengths would Taeyong go to for them?

Perhaps he'd gotten more attached to this planet than he'd realized.

Taeyong didn't hate Ten. He understood him a lot more.

"Dejun. Do you want to go home?" Taeyong asked suddenly.

"You mean... back to the stars?" Dejun shook his head. "I don't think there's much still there for me. Despite everything, I like it here and I love my friends. I think - I think my life is here now."

Taeyong could understand those sentiments. A smile slowly grew on his face. "I think I have a way to help you."

-⭐-

Johnny punched his hands into the air in victory when the ship lifted itself off the ground, hovering for a few moments before landing again.

He almost had it, just a few more things to check, tests to run and Ruby would be at one hundred percent again.

“It feels good when shit actually gets fixed.” What didn’t feel good was the sinking in his gut whenever there was that thought in the back of his mind, that once the ship was ready, Taeyong would leave.

Johnny shook his head, as if to clear it (it didn’t work). He headed into Taeyong’s quarters to finish the small touches, fixing scratches and dents in the walls that hadn’t been restored yet.

He out his toolbox on the ground and looked around, something already feeling amiss. Johnny ignored it, like he did with most of his feelings lately (except the ones that made him want to kiss Taeyong, he liked those ones) and got to work on the walls.

There was only so much he could do other than filling in some dents as much as he could. He didn’t have the same impeccable white paint that these Star Colony products seem to all have. He looked towards the safe in Taeyong’s room, wondering if he could match the colour of that and just paint the most damaged wall the same colour. That was when he realized the safe door was open and more importantly, empty.

Johnny frowned. Taeyong kept his books and gumdrops in there, didn’t he? Not that Johnny had been paying attention. It probably wasn’t anything to think too hard about, but Johnny’s head buzzed with the thought.

He tried going back to fixing the dents, but soon found himself incapable of concentrating on anything else other than the empty vault.

Johnny sighed, leaving Taeyong’s quarters and the ship for a glass of water. It was while walking towards the stairs to the hut that he noticed the pile of books on the desk Taeyong had claimed as his workbench not long into his stay.

Johnny approached the desk, recognizing the tattered notebook filled with Taeyong’s handwriting and drawings from when he was on his home planet. Beside the pile of books was the almost empty bag of gumdrops, the music box he’d bought from Dejun, and the mini model of the ship.

Why had he taken them from his safe?

Johnny headed back into the hut, fetching his cup of water and drinking it while his mind wandered.

Was Taeyong getting… comfortable?

Did he… want to stay?

Johnny’s stomach turned and he found himself shuffling back down into the cave. It didn’t take him long to find what he wanted, a black rectangular box that could be used as some sort of user interface if he fixed it up enough.

He could - no, he shouldn’t.

But what if Taeyong really did want to stay?

Johnny glanced to Taeyong’s belongings on his workbench and thought to the empty safe.

It seemed very much like Taeyong was moving out from the ship and into Johnny’s home.

Would he do that if he was trying to leave?

Johnny hoped he wouldn’t. His poor heart might not be able to ever recover.

“Johnny?” 

Johnny looked up from where he was polishing his motorcycle, Girl, to see Taeyong stepping out of Ruby and heading towards him. His heart skipped a beat just at the sight of him.

“Sorry to bother you, I know you worked super hard on the ship but - the radio isn’t working again. Actually, I don’t even think Yangyang’s working? He’s not responding at all.”

Johnny glared at him playfully. “Taeyong, you’re never a bother, shut up.”

Instead of going towards the ship, Johnny headed towards the workbench.

“I’m not sure what’s been on your mind lately, but,” Johnny fiddled with one of the wrenches on his desk, his other hand resting on top of a cloth that covered the UI system he’d fixed up. “I noticed you were moving your stuff out of the ship and I guess - I guess I just assumed - some part of me just - a big part of me - probably all of me - wants you to stay so I made you this.”

Taeyong peered closer as Johnny removed the cloth and revealed the black box that lit up.

“What is it?”

Johnny almost didn’t hear him from the pounding of his heart in his ears. “Right now it’s a radio. Loads more can be added to it later but right now… well, it’s Yangyang. He’s installed on it. The ship itself all has manual controls that can do what Yangyang did so the ship is fine I just - I thought - if you don’t like it I can put him back, I just -”

Fuck, he’d gotten his hopes up hadn’t he?

“Wait, so, all of my data? Yangyang?” A blue light on the box flickered on. “Pull up the trajectory map from our journey from home to Earth.”

“You changed your home coordinates to Earth, Taeyong.” Yangyang’s voice rang out.

Johnny was definitely not imagining the flush on Taeyong’s cheeks. He could feel the uncertainty in his stomach start to unravel.

“You know what I mean, from Nova to here.”

A hologram of a map popped up above the box. “All of my data is still retained, Taeyong. Johnny was very careful.”

Johnny blinked, not expecting to be complimented. “It’s basically like your dashboard in the ship just without… the ship part.”

Taeyong turned to him, eyes wide and undecipherable. “Johnny…”

Johnny’s stomach curled back into itself. Fuck, this was it, Johnny was going to tell him to put Yangyang back because of course he was going to leave, why the fuck would he stay? Earth was some forgotten wasteland compared to where Taeyong was from, why would he stay -

“You were right,” Johnny couldn’t comprehend the spreading smile on Taeyong’s face. “I’m not leaving.”

“You’re-?” Johnny exhaled.

“I’m not leaving. I’m not going back to Nova. I’m staying. I’m staying here on Earth, I’m staying here with you.”

It was like his breath had been knocked right out of his body, leaving him empty but still constricting his lungs. “But… home… Kun and Jungwoo…”

Taeyong shook his head. “Kun and Jungwoo told me they knew I wouldn’t be coming back the moment I first stepped onto Ruby when I’d gotten her.” He stared Johnny in the eyes. “I’ve never felt more at home than here on Earth, with Mark and Yuta, Taeil, Doyoung, even Jaehyun and the Raiders. With you. This is where I want to be.”

The tightness in Johnny’s chest refused to let go. “You’re not fucking with me, are you?”

Taeyong laughed, reaching up to cradle Johnny’s face in his hands. “I’m serious. I’m staying.”

“Oh,” Johnny slowly regained the ability to breathe, finally feeling at ease. “Good.”

Taeyong giggled, laughing at him. Johnny liked it when Taeyong did that.

Taeyong’s hands slid down from his face and wrapped around the collar of Johnny’s shirt, tugging him closer. “Now that we’ve established I’m staying,” His breath was hot on Johnny’s lips and it took all of Johnny’s strength to concentrate on Taeyong’s words. “We should probably talk about-” Taeyong touched his lips to Johnny’s for a fleeting moment, teasing. “-This.”

Johnny had to stop himself from whining, hands traveling to hold Taeyong by the waist.. He swallowed instead, throat dry. “What are you thinking?”

Taeyong smiled, pressing their foreheads together and leaning in to gently nip at Johnny’s lower lip before finally licking into Johnny’s mouth with a satisfied sigh. The kiss seared Johnny’s skin, a slow heat that was quickly spreading. 

Johnny couldn’t help but gasp when they pulled apart, noses still touching, his mouth pulling up into a smile. “I was hoping you’d say that.” He whispered, capturing Taeyong’s lips in his once more, mouths moving together even as Taeyong giggled in between kisses.

Taeyong was staying .

Kissing him was addicting, Johnny was already drunk on all that was Taeyong. He chased after his lips even when Taeyong started pulling away again, causing him to giggle even more and bite his lip so Johnny couldn’t pull him back in.

Johnny pouted but Taeyong still held his smile, slowly reaching down to unclasp Johnny’s hands around his waist and intertwine one of them in his. Johnny was pulled in the direction of the ship as Taeyong walked backwards, a new kind of sparkle in his eye.

Taeyong was staying with Johnny .

He nudged Taeyong up against the wall once they were inside the ship, nosing at his neck, kissing, licking. Taeyong let out a restrained groan, one that made Johnny even hungrier but Taeyong was fast to escape from his embrace, heading towards his quarters and stopping in the entrance.

Johnny’s heart pounded in his chest when Taeyong turned around and held his hand out towards him. He took a deep breath and smiled, taking his hand and letting Taeyong guide him into his heart.

Johnny was just glad Taeyong wouldn’t have to be on his adventure alone anymore. Taeyong would always have him.

-⭐-

“Hmm, what about this one?” Taeyong traced a thin pink scar on Johnny’s shoulder blade.

“That one isn’t as cool as the others.” Johnny groaned, head in a pillow as he was lying down on his stomach while Taeyong sat up and explored his skin with his hands.

“You fell, didn’t you?” Taeyong chuckled, unable to lift his fingers off Johnny’s back for even a moment.

“I wasn’t always the best biker on this planet.”

Taeyong hummed, fingers trailing down to push away the thin sheets covering Johnny’s lower back. “What about these?”

“Rabid dogs while on a scavenge. Luckily we had Jaehyun and Yukhei there with us.”

“Each of your scars has a story.” Taeyong mumbled out loud, more to himself. Johnny turned in place to lie on his back, one hand under his head and the other reaching up to thumb at the scar by Taeyong’s eye.

“You’ve got your own story right there.”

The way Johnny looked at him, as if he was everything, made his skin flush. Never did he imagine this is what he’d find on Earth.

Taeyong trailed his fingers up Johnny’s stomach to his chest, finding delight in the way the muscles twitched under his touch. “I want to go on a scavenge one day.”

Johnny chuckled. “I’m only surprised you didn’t ask sooner.

Taeyong leaned down to lie on Johnny’s chest, his own skin feeling hot against the other’s. He could hear Johnny’s heartbeat, loud, just like Taeyong’s.

Johnny’s hand tangled in his hair, massaging mindlessly as they rested, finding comfort in each other. Taeyong wasn’t going anywhere, not when he had this on Earth.

“So, what are you planning to do with the ship then?”

Taeyong closed his eyes, smiling, knowing Johnny wasn’t going to like the answer.

“I’m giving it to Ten.”

Johnny groaned and Taeyong knew the face he was making without having to look.

“You really are too nice.”

“You’re not gonna fight me on it?”

“Of course not, it’s your ship.”

Taeyong opened his eyes and angled his head up to look at Johnny, brows raised.

Johnny sighed. “I mean, I hate that all my good and hard work will be going to Ten but… It’s all you.”

Taeyong lifted himself up to peck Johnny’s lips. “Thank you for that. A working Star Colony ship will get them more than enough coin.”

Johnny smiled against Taeyong’s lips, pressing in again. “Too good for this planet.”

“You’re good too, you know. Even if you say you aren’t.”

“Hmm, only to you.”

“Liar. Mark told me you gave Donghyuck all your Michael Jackson tapes when I asked him where they went.”

“It was a trade .”

“It was still good of you.” 

Johnny’s arm was suddenly around Taeyong’s torso, flipping them over so he was hovering over Taeyong, head nuzzled into his neck leaving heavy, wet kisses. “I only wanna hear when I’m good to you .”

Taeyong giggled and gasped.

-⭐-

Johnny straddled his bike, an amused smile on his face. After his stunt of not showing up to the marketplace for months, Doyoung made him promise to visit more often even if there wasn’t an auction going on and Taeyong made Johnny keep that promise.

He usually ended up fixing something for Doyoung while he was there, which made him finally promise that Johnny would get first look at the goods submitted to the marketplace in exchange for his services.

Johnny kicked off the sand and rode home, looking forward to seeing Taeyong again (and maybe Mark. He was going a good job at running the shop when Johnny was out.)

When the hut came into view, so did the keep parked outside and Johnny immediately knew who was there. Maybe it made him get there a little faster.

He parked Girl out front, there wasn’t time to bring her down to the cave. He burst into the hut and everyone standing there stared at him.

“Uh, Hi.” Johnny counted four extra people as he scanned the room, his gaze finally landing on the one he’d been looking for.

Taeyong smiled at him before turning back to Ten. “You were saying?”

“I was saying ,” Ten glared at Johnny though it seemed… playful. “We wanted to give you the coin left from selling the ship. As thanks.”

“Oh wait, Ten - No,” Taeyong shook his head vehemently when the only man Johnny didn’t recognize other than Kunhang and Dejun dragged a large trunk forward, presumably filled with way more coin any of them would ever need.

“There’s six more in the jeep.”

Holy shit.

“Thank you,” The unknown man grasped Taeyong’s hand. He seemed older than the others. Johnny belatedly realized he kind of looked like Dejun. “Thank you for helping my son and his friends. I don’t know if I could’ve survived much longer if -”

“No, no, please, it’s fine. Keep the coin, I don’t want it.”

Johnny watched Mark raise his brows, totally thinking the same thing as he was.

“I know it doesn’t undo my mistakes,” Ten sighed when Dejun nudged him. “But please accept it as my apology. I’m sorry.”

“Please, Ten, I don’t need it, it’s fine.”

“Or,” Johnny stepped in, ignoring the warning gaze from Taeyong. “We could split it between us.”

That had Taeyong hesitating. “We don’t need it...”

“I have the feeling Dejun here won’t go until we accept at least some of it. So this is the compromise. Also it works as compensation for trying to put a bounty on my head.” Johnny could feel Taeyong’s gaze on him as he turned to Ten. “Deal?”

Ten looked over to Dejun, who nodded, smiling. 

“Deal.”

They helped move more trunks off the jeep until they were split up, Johnny quickly ushering the four men out once they were done. Taeyong and Mark followed them to see them off as they gathered into the jeep.

“You know Taeyong,” Ten spoke from the passenger’s seat. “This world might not be so fucked with someone like you on it.”

Taeyong smiled and Johnny could see the redness on his cheeks. He snuck an arm around Taeyong’s shoulders.

“See you later.” Kunhang raised a brow before putting the jeep in drive and heading off, kicking up the sand behind them.

Once the grain settled and the vehicle was out of view, Mark turned to Johnny. “You know you let them go with the bigger cut, right? They have four trunks and we have three.”

Taeyong turned to Johnny as he shrugged. “Taeyong’s rubbing off on me.”

Taeyong’s grin slowly grew wider and Johnny squeezed his shoulders. He could already hear the ‘see, you are good’ speech he was going to get later.

Mark snorted. “Yeah, that’s not all he’s rubbing.”

Johnny glared at him. “I will not hesitate to hand you over for them to sell you too. I’d love to spend that coin.”

“I dare you. Donghyuck would have your head.”

“I’d like to see his face when I give him yours.”

Their bickering was interrupted by Taeyong’s giggling. “I couldn’t have crashed anywhere else on Earth, huh? Had to be stuck with you two.”

Johnny hugged him tightly and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “You wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Johnny felt the same way. Ten was right this time. The Earth was better now that Taeyong was on it.

-⭐-

“You’re going to make sure he doesn’t get hurt, right?” Even when planets away Kun still worried over Taeyong.

“Yes,” Johnny confirmed after Yangyang translated. “He will be safer than he’s ever been in his life. Even more safe than when he was on Nova.”

“That’s not possible.” Jungwoo scoffed. “But thanks for the effort.”

“I swear on my grave, nothing is going to happen to him.” Johnny turned to Taeyong. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Taeyong smiled at him fondly, heart full. “I know you won’t.”

There was a honk from outside, telling them their crew had arrived.

“Jaehyun’s here.” Johnny could recognize every vehicle he’d ever fixed. “Time to go.”

“Well have fun on your scavenge.” Kun sighed, knowing there wasn’t any way to stop Taeyong from going. “Be safe!”

“Tell me all about it when you can!” Jungwoo yelled before they said their goodbyes, ending the call.

Taeyong started to pack the radio into his rucksack. “You’re starting to pick up on the language.”

Johnny shrugged, pretending to be cool about it. Taeyong rolled his eyes but couldn’t help but smile to himself when following Johnny out of the hut.

Outside there were four ATVs, all revved up and ready to go. Donghyuck hopped off of his to greet Mark with some sort of weird handshake dance.

“What are they doing?” Taeyong pointed out as he and Johnny made their way to their bikes parked beside the hut.

“They do that for good luck before every scavenge.” Johnny explained, straddling his motorcycle.

“We should do something too.” Taeyong stood beside him, looking down, only slightly shorter when Johnny was sitting.

“Like what?”

Taeyong leaned down and kissed Johnny, tongue teasingly swiping over his lips before he pulled away and got onto his own bike.

Johnny hummed, biting his bottom lip. “I feel lucky already.”

“Seriously?” Taeyong heard Yukhei groan over the rumbling of all the engines. “Are they gonna be like that the whole time?”

Taeyong chuckled when Jaehyun told him to deal with it or everyone would start kissing too. He was pretty sure he could see Mark turn pink while getting on to his own bike.

“We ready?” Jaehyun called back and Taeyong followed the rest of the crew by giving a thumbs up, gloves and goggles on.

With a grin and a nod, Jaehyun drove off first and the others followed, Taeyong kicking off the ground and taking his place in their formation.

They rode off into the dusted plains of the Earth, stirring up clouds of sand behind them. Taeyong glanced at the men around him. Four raiders, two mechanics and himself, a man from the stars. All now scavengers, off to find ancient relics of another time.

To say Taeyong was thrilled was an understatement. He’d always been looking for answers, maybe now he could find some.

He looked to the side at Johnny, who noticed and grinned at him.

Taeyong was glad he’d at least found someone to go on his adventures with.