~One Day Later - 13:45~
You stand there, healthy and ready to leave your cage. Namjoon came by in the morning to let you know that he (somewhat) trusts you - and since you haven't shown any signs of illness, you're good to go. You bounce up and down on the balls of your feet, anxious to know when you're getting out. Of course you're only assuming he wasn't lying. Really you won't know until the end of the day, but you can't help but pace around anyway. Every second you spend in here is a second you could be wandering the ship and busting a metaphorical nut over the design. You would do anything to get your hands on the controls of this small ship, you've always wanted a medium sized to call your own. You could do jobs in it, live in it, have a crew... everything. That's always been your dream.
"Y/N, good afternoon. I have the whole crew with me," Namjoon says, breaking you out of your thoughts.
"Good afternoon, I'm excited to formally meet everyone. That little slab of glass hasn't exactly been helpful."
He chuckles. "I agree, I may have met you but these rookies haven't. Everyone, let's meet Y/N L/N officially."
The door hisses, then fully opens. You blink a few times before your eyes adjust to the new space. Five people stand in the cramped corridor. Namjoon stays behind the others, smiling brightly. You peep around at each of them. Four boys, one girl. Your eyes scan over each one of them, studying their features closely.
Your heart stops when your eyes land on the smallest boy with long, fluffy black hair. You don't know what it is inside you, but you feel your breathing halt and your stomach fill with tingles. He's in a denim jumpsuit, his brown eyes meeting yours. A sharp face and jawline, smooth skin (especially for someone working in space), and he looks to be muscular. You have to admit: he's pretty attractive. More than attractive - gorgeous. You already know who it is just by looking at his expression.
"Jimin?" you ask, and he nods. You let your eyes linger on him for another moment, your heart refusing to slow down before moving onto the next member.
"I'm Baekhyun," he says.
You grin, giving him a nod. "It's nice to finally meet all of you. I can definitely tell Seulgi apart from the rest of you." You pause to point at her, and she agrees, stiffly smiling. So much for her being your friend. "And Hoseok." He beams at the mention of his name. They all stare at you like you're foreign. All except Namjoon and Jimin.
"Well, I really need to get out of here, but I look forward to spending time with everyone," you say, yawning and striding forward. The crew parts for you, letting you dash past them. Jimin follows you as you march towards the bay, then to the cockpit.
"What are you doing?" Baekhyun asks from the end of the corridor.
"Staring at the controls and trying not to bust a nut." Jimin nearly snorts at your words as you take a seat in the pilot's chair, scanning over the controls. Your eyes widen in amazement, peeking at all the flips and switches and even the main joystick.
"Hey, this is my baby!" Baekhyun says, but you can tell he's joking. You give him a smug smile before turning your attention to the dashboard. Good, another person who can joke around. Maybe this crew isn't so bad after all.
"Wow... you're beautiful," you whisper, placing your hand on the dash gently.
Jimin sits in the co-pilot's chair, staring at the controls with furrowed brows. "You know, back in university, they made us go through a course on flying. I still don't understand the controls."
You laugh at his words, glancing over at him. "It takes a long time to learn, much more than a single course."
"The engineer and the pilot, huh?" Namjoon says, creeping into the cockpit.
Jimin nods. "I guess so."
You smile up at Namjoon, "From the looks of it, the Athena is in pretty good shape. Man, I'd love to get a ship a little bit larger than this one day." You glance back at Jimin before focusing your attention out the window, peering at the stars. Your eyes expand, your body coming off the seat. "Wow..." you whisper, letting your hand grow closer to the glass. You don't even notice Namjoon leave, you simply stare out the window, your eyes almost welling with tears.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Jimin says.
You force your gaze away from the stars to lock eyes with him, your breath hitching in your throat. "I've never looked up and not seen the giant Red Dot staring right back at me."
"That sounds... terrifying."
You sigh, sitting back down in your seat. "It was. There was never anything special about being so close to a Gas Giant."
The two of you fall into a comfortable silence, watching the stars. "Gorgeous," you say, your eyes darting between stars.
"Thanks, I try."
You pause, slowly peeking over at Jimin. He gives you a small smirk, and you burst out laughing, "That is so something I would say." Although you're laughing, mentally you agree with him: he's pretty gorgeous.
"I'm not gonna lie, that was the first time I've made a joke like that. This whole confidence thing is new to me."
You smile, giving his shoulder a nudge. "It suits you."
His eyes lighten up. "You think?" You hum, something you don't even realize you do a lot. "The other crewmates are watching us just so you know."
"Oh I know," you reply, shifting in your seat and looking back. You see Namjoon, Baekhyun, and Hoseok standing there about fifteen feet away. "What, you guys never see a female before?" Jimin laughs while Hoseok and Baekhyun scratch the back of their necks with pink ears. Namjoon has a neutral expression, but you can see him fighting off a smile. "How many quarters are on this ship?"
Namjoon purses his lips, toying with his answer before saying it. "Eight, so we definitely have one for you. I'll show you it, if you'll follow me this way."
You give Jimin one last glance and a soft smile before standing, patting him on the shoulder to show your gratitude. Together, you and Namjoon stroll off to go find your quarters. You don't even notice Jimin's gaze linger on you.
~One Day Later - 21:11~
After taking a shower, you're drying your hair, a basic jumpsuit on. You haven't really come out of your quarters in the past 24 hours. It's not like you've been hungry. Not because you don't want to eat or anything, it's because you haven't been in the mood. You needed a day where you relax and take a moment to process everything that happened.
It's been a couple days since that whole ordeal, but it still haunts your memory. You're sure it haunts everyone else as well, but quite frankly you're not sure what they've been through. You know they lost their ship: their home. That couldn't have been easy. If only there was a way to help alleviate that pain. But you hope they're telling the truth.
There's a knock on your door, interrupting you from your thoughts. "Come in," you say, running the white towel through your hair once more. The door clicks, then opens. Jimin stands on the other side, looking at you with his puppy eyes.
"Namjoon sent me to check on you, we haven't heard much from you in the past few hours."
You give him what you hope is a welcoming smile. "Come in." He hesitates, then does, closing the door behind him. "I've been taking a break to process everything. Plus, having my own space and a nicer bed is, well, nice."
Jimin doesn't disagree. "I'm surprised you aren't talking to Baekhyun."
"He seems fine, it's just a lot of people all at once. I don't know any of you, after all."
"Yeah, I get it."
When he goes quiet, you glance up to see him staring at the ground. You scoot over, patting the space next to you on your bed. "I don't bite." A smile breaks out on his lips, and Jimin heads over to the bed, plopping down next to you. "Park Jimin from Earth. An engineer and part of a crew of survivors. Seems like you have a lot on your plate."
He raises a brow. "Y/N L/N from Ganymede. A pilot and the sole survivor of a ship she was a stowaway on. Which might have alien life on it. Oh, and you were running away from home, which happens to have a war hero in it. You think I have a lot on my plate?"
With a laugh, you nudge his shoulder in an amusing manner. "Enough of the sad shit, let's talk about something good."
"Like?" he asks, locking eyes with you.
You pretend the eye contact doesn't have you swooning, instead opening your mouth to speak. "What made you want to be an engineer?"
He purses his lips in thought, his answer coming out a bit more hesitant than expected. "It may sound pretty stupid, but my brother always said he wanted to be an engineer with me. He wanted to travel the solar system and find new things while we were fixing up ships."
Just by watching his eyes, you know the memory is playing out in his mind. The two of you stare at each other for a few seconds, your pulse speeding up. "Did you guys plan on getting a whole ship and crew together?"
He smiles and nods. "A big crew with all our friends, and back then we even wanted to bring our parents with us."
"Do you think you can still do it one day?"
"I wish, but with me gone for so long, I doubt he'll even remember the plans we made." You rest your hand on his shoulder. Right away, you feel your skin jolt at the contact. You don't know what's getting into you. Why are you so flustered around someone you don't know? Who is he to you, and why are you acting like this?
Despite your inner turmoil, you sigh and start to speak. "I'm sure he'll remember. I'll even help you guys find a crew. I can be your pilot."
He snickers, peering back up at you. "I appreciate that." And you believe he does. His eyes show no signs of fallacy hiding underneath his words.
You fall into a comfortable silence for a few moments before a question pops into your mind. "Hey, do you think you could lead me to the others?" He perks up, his lips taking the shape of a duck's. Ha. Cute.
"The others?"
"Other than you, I haven't really talked to the crew," you say, letting the sharp ache of your words lock itself away in the pit of your stomach.
"What about Namjoon?"
You give him what you hope is a passive shrug. "Only to answer questions."
"I don't see why not. Come on, I'm sure they're in the bridge."
He stands, and you follow, walking out of your quarters and navigating through the halls until you reach the bridge. Baekhyun is leaning back in the pilot's chair, but no one else is around. "Huh, wonder where everyone else is." Baekhyun snaps up at the sound of Jimin's voice, and he whips around.
"Oh jeez, scared me Park. The others are in the dining hall, throwing some kind of small meeting. Guess we weren't invited." You and Jimin share a glance but decide against verbally voice your concerns.
After navigating the numerous hallways again, you make it into the dining hall, where Namjoon is speaking perhaps too quietly. "In three days, when we touch down on Mars, we have to stay calm. Everything we saw is hard to believe, so staying at least a little calm will bring them onto our side."
Namjoon peeks up and notices you and Jimin waiting at the entrance. Soon enough, the others turn around. "I was just going over the plan. Nothing special," Namjoon says, and you nod.
"Shouldn't Baekhyun hear this as well?" you ask.
"I'll be going over it again when we're closer to Mars, right now, this is more of a rough draft. Not everyone really needs to hear it."
You get the message loud and clear and decide to back off. "Well, I'm going to go explore some more. Jimin, feel free to join me," you say. You go away as quickly as you came, Jimin hesitating before chasing after you.
"Everything okay?" he asks once the two of you are away from the dining hall.
You halt and turn to face him. You're leaning against the wall, him right across from you. He's actually pretty close. He may be a rather-short boy, but from this close he almost seems... tall. His eyes carry a weight to them that you haven't seen before, and he looks at you more genuinely than anyone ever has. Jimin seems like he cares. Not bad for an engineer. Speaking of, he seems aware of the proximity between you two, but he doesn't back away. He keeps staring right at you. You're not ashamed to say you like it.
"Truthfully, I'm not very optimistic with this plan. I know it's the only option we have, but part of me wants to keep going. I want to run away and travel to a place no one has ever gone. Maybe we can reach the end of the solar system and zap away from everything. We don't need to see any wars break out, or get caught in the middle of the madness."
He sighs, closing his eyes for a brief moment. "I think everyone feels that way right about now, but Namjoon wants to solve it, and everyone else follows him."
"Including you?"
He pauses, and you know the answer before he speaks it. "I will admit that I don't totally agree with his plan, but he's under a lot of stress. We lost our Captain in that explosion. I know Namjoon and the Captain were close. This can't be easy on him. Being made a Captain due to the worst possible circumstance... I can't imagine what he's going through. But he's being strong, making what he thinks is the right decision for all of us. So I'll be there for him when he needs me."
You find yourself awestruck by his words. This isn't the same Jimin you met a few days ago, who was scared to so much as make a squeak of disapproval in front of his superiors. He literally needed your advice to have the strength to question authority. "Wow," you mutter out, which causes him to raise a brow. "I like that answer, I like it a lot."
"Really?"
You give him a grin, deciding not to answer with your mouth. "Come on, I was serious about the exploring part. Give me the official tour." He shoots you a bright smile before accepting, and the two of you practically skip down the hall together.
~Three Days Later - 20:43~
Jimin has been a nervous wreck the entire day. The closer they got to Mars, the more he felt the tension rise. He could tell this wouldn't be their average mission. In fact, they can see Mars from here. They aren't in comm range yet, but they're close enough that if someone were to blow them up right now, it would be visible to the citizens down on the planet. Jimin gulps at his thoughts, wondering if that's what the surviving crew is really meant for. What if Jimin was wrong before about sending out the message? Maybe they kept them alive to follow them and blow them up in front of Mars, declaring war on not only Ganymede but Mars as well. But who has the fire power to do this?
Jimin is on the bridge, Baekhyun sitting in the pilot's chair as normal while Namjoon paces around in the cockpit. Jimin notices his Captain's demeanor. Jimin can tell he's more on edge than any of them. After all - he makes the decisions. Jimin knows that if the decision went awry, Namjoon would feel bad about it for ages.
There's static over the comm, breaking Jimin out of his thoughts and Namjoon stops pacing. "Athena this is the Martian Silver Angel, please respond," a female voice says.
Namjoon is quick to obey. "This is Captain Kim Namjoon speaking, we hear you loud and clear."
"Please reduce speed and prepare for docking. We will be bringing you onto the Silver Angel shortly for questioning." Namjoon doesn't reply, he only stares when the comm clicks off.
"Sir?" Jimin asks. His Captain peeks back at him.
"Why aren't we landing?" Namjoon whispers, his voice so soft, Jimin has to lean in to hear it. Within a split second, Namjoon devises a plan: Jimin can see it in his eyes. "Pilot Byun, reduce our speed and scan for ships and lifeforms, make sure it's only the Silver Angel coming our way. If more than one ship appears comm me immediately. Jim- Engineer Park, go find our guest and the rest of the crew and bring them here to strap them in."
Namjoon begins to stride past Jimin, which brings a tint of carmine to the back of his neck. "W-What are you doing, sir?" Jimin asks, his skin glistening.
Namjoon pauses and stares over his shoulder, his eyes locking with Jimin's. "Making sure we're armed."
Without another word, the Captain leaves. Jimin gazes after him, but he remembers his assignment and rushes into action. He locates Hoseok and Seulgi in the corridor, chatting about something Jimin doesn't care to listen to.
"We're being boarded by a Martian ship, Captain Kim asked me to bring you guys to the bridge to strap in." They jolt to attention, their faces sewn in concern. "Go, I need to find Y/N," Jimin says, and they comply, rushing past him.
Jimin searches and searches, but he can't find Y/N anywhere around the ship. He eventually reaches her quarters and doesn't bother knocking, he goes right inside. "Y/N, are you okay?" he asks.
The woman's laying on her bed, doing nothing special. Her brows knit at his sudden intrusion. "Yeah, why?"
Jimin lets out a breath. "I couldn't find you anywhere, I got worried. We need to go, we're being boarded by a Martian ship, we need to strap in."
She's quick to obey, hopping up and approaching him. Her skin is doused with moisture, her fingers fiddling together. "Is everyone else up there already?"
"They are, except for Namjoon. He's a little occupied."
Y/N doesn't question what he means, instead her breathing quickens. "Shit... Everything's falling apart, isn't it?"
Jimin shakes his head once he sees the pure terror residing in her expression. "Hey, hey," he whispers, resting both his hands on her shoulders.
"I'm not ready for this, I should've never left," she says.
"Y/N..." Jimin says, which gets her to stop talking. "Y/N, hey, look at me." After a moment of hesitation, she locks eyes with him. "We're going to be okay, I promise. We'll get through this. Together."
For a moment, she seems wary. He perfectly understands; neither of them fully trust each other yet. He's still not one hundred percent sure what her true intentions are, if she even has 'true intentions'. He's as wary of her as she is of him, but right now, he can see it in her eyes: she needs him.
"You and me?" she asks, the fear beginning to dissipate from her expression.
He gives her a firm nod. "You and me." Jimin means it, and he hopes the way he said the words got that across.
She lets out a few deep breaths, her skin returning to its natural color and the sweat littering her flesh dissipating. "Alright... I'm back," she says.
"Let's do this," he replies, his hands slipping away from her shoulders. In mere seconds, he misses the contact. But he's not sure why.
"Yeah, let's do this."