Expectations: Just a Moment
Series: Expectations
Adventure Thirteen: Just a Moment Part 1 of 3
Author: Aquariuslover
Pairings: Yunjae, KyuWook, WooGyu
Rating: R
Genre: Crossover, Science Fiction, Adventure, Romance
Length: Chaptered
Beta: tahoeturquoise
A/N: This story is inspired by Star Trek and the Kpop community; the story is my own.
Summary: Ancient technology on a deserted planet forces some crew members to stay within arm's reach of each other...literally. As Jaejoong's pregnancy progresses, Jaejoong's telepathic and emphatic abilities fade. Startling admissions are made, and something is stirring on the ship, much to Yunho's shock.
Prior Adventures
A flick to his forehead woke WooHyun from a deep, peaceful sleep. He looked up to find SungGyu standing over him.
A huge, sleepy grin appeared on WooHyun’s face as he looked up at his favorite person in the entire universe. “Good morning!”
“Do you want to go eat breakfast with me?”
WooHyun, who had gotten the bed last night, sat up. “Yes, I’d love to.”
SungGyu scrunched up his face in dislike at the mention of love. “I wouldn’t use the word love to describe mess hall food.”
“That isn’t what I meant,” WooHyun explained as he swung his legs off the bed.
“I know.”
WooHyun stood up and amended his statement, “I would enjoy eating breakfast with you.”
“Are you sure you don’t have to be in sickbay early?”
“No, I want to go to the mess hall and eat breakfast. Dr. Cho said I have been studying too much. He is making me take a break from it, and I get my own patients now,” WooHyun explained, proudly.
“Really?”
“Yeah, just a few.”
“That’s good.”
“They are just minor; bumps, and bruises, and well…”
“What?”
WooHyun shrugged. “One of the patients Dr. Cho assigned to me is a huge hypochondriac…he’s challenging to say the least.”
SungGyu didn’t hesitant a moment as he named, “Ensign SungYeol.”
WooHyun’s mouth dropped open.
“Don’t worry, you didn’t break any confidences,” SungGyu quickly replied, understanding the other man’s concern. “When the captain had me doing tours of all the departments on the ship I did a stay in Astro Physics.”
WooHyun’s smile reappeared. “That must have been interesting.”
“It was a trial in patience.”
“Unfortunately, he is my patient.”
“You can handle him,” SungGyu said confidently.
“I hope you are right.”
“I am. Get dressed, so we can go to breakfast,” SungGyu ordered as headed out of the bedroom.
WooHyun, who was only dressed in pajama bottoms, asked, “Are any of your friends going to be joining us for breakfast?”
SungGyu stopped at the doorway and shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Do you ever invite them to eat breakfast with you?” WooHyun asked as he walked up to the ensign. WooHyun was very eager to meet SungGyu’s friends and find out more about his roommate.
“No, if they are there we will eat together. If they aren’t, no big deal…I don’t require companionship to digest my breakfast.”
WooHyun brightened and nudged SungGyu with his shoulder. “But you woke me up to go with you.”
“I did,” SungGyu replied, sounding slightly startled by his own behavior.
A very happy WooHyun informed the other man, “That’s because we are BFFs.”
“What does that acronym stand for?”
“Best Friends Forever,” Woohyun explained with a huge smile upon his face.
SungGyu let out a chuckle. “You are so strange.”
“That’s why you like me.”
“Do I?”
“Yes, you like me best.”
“I do?”
“What do like better than me?” a smug WooHyun asked.
A still chuckling SungGyu started to walk away. “I like sl-”
“Sleep doesn’t count!”
***********************
“You are awake.”
Jaejoong, who was lying on his back in their large bed, let out a yawn and then replied, “He has the hiccups.”
Yunho, who was already dressed in his uniform, sat down on the bed beside his lover. “Again?”
“Yes, again.”
“Sorry about that,” Yunho sympathized, reaching out to run his fingers through Jaejoong’s blond hair.
“Nothing to be sorry about, it’s totally normal for human babies…and apparently half human babies,” Jaejoong responded, pushing the covers down off of him to expose his large belly. “What is the temperature in here?”
Yunho got up quickly and announced, “I was just leaving.”
Jaejoong sat up with a visible pout on his face. “You’re smothering me!”
“I’m not…I’m not, it was just too cold. When I am in bed with you, and touching you the bond keeps me all warm…and free of frostbite, but I can’t get dressed with it that cold in here. Parts of me were about to freeze off, important parts! Parts I am very fond of. Parts you are very fond of.”
Jaejoong rubbed his rounded belly. “How hot is it?”
“It’s not hot.”
“It is hot!”
“It isn’t hot.”
“Computer, what is the temperature in this room?” Jaejoong demanded of the ship’s computer.
“It is 21.2 centigrade,” the computer promptly answered.
“Traitor,” Yunho whispered under his breath to his treacherous ship.
“No wonder I am so hot! Yunho, if you have not noticed I am fat now-thanks to you! I can’t tolerate heat!” Jaejoong complained as he fanned himself with his hand. “I’ve never been fat before! I hate being fat!”
“My Love, you are not fat…you are pregnant,” Yunho calmly told his mate as he inched toward the doorway.
“You think I don’t know that? I know that! Just because I am pregnant doesn’t mean I am not fat! I am fat because I am pregnant! I am pregnant because of you! So I am fat because of you!”
Yunho made it to the doorway to their bedroom and ordered, “Computer, decrease the temperature to 4 centigrade.”
Jaejoong sighed in relief as the cold air filled the cabin. “Thank you.”
“I am going to go.”
“What’s the hurry?” a suddenly friendly Jaejoong asked as his bad mood completely vanished.
“It’s freezing in here and I am meeting Yoochun for breakfast,” Yunho reminded his mate.
“Oh, your attempt to mingle with the little people…so sweet of you,” Jaejoong said as he lowered himself back down on the bed.
Yunho fought down his amusement. “Yes, but it isn’t as if I am the Prince of Joong.”
“No,” Jaejoong agreed. “I am going back to sleep, Changmin’s hiccups have stopped.”
“Sweet dreams,” Yunho told his lover as he slipped out of the bedroom. Almost immediately the main doors to their quarters chirped alerting him to the fact that someone was at the door. He strolled toward the doors causing them to whoosh open.
Yoochun, who had been standing at the entrance, jumped back as the chill hit him. “Your balls must be snowballs.”
Yunho shivered and quickly exited his quarters. “They feel like it, believe me.”
“How do you stay in there?”
“Our bond keeps me warm as long as we are in contact,” Yunho explained as they walked down the corridor. “I keep hoping this little phase of his will be over soon, like all the others.”
“I liked the phase where he was making sweets all the time. He’s one hell of a cook; I have to give him credit.”
“You know if you keep on stealing our food, he’s going to end up killing you,” Yunho warned.
“He wouldn’t.”
“Oh, he is already thinking of ways to do it. He was just saying yesterday how you are taking food out of his mouth…and therefore depriving Changmin of nutrients…so therefore killing you would be a way of protecting Changmin and allowed by the laws of the Joong.”
Yoochun cringed. “Dully noted.”
Yunho smiled and kept on walking with Yoochun down the corridor until they came upon Commander Cho. “Commander, are you going to breakfast?”
“I was just going to grab something and bring it back to my quarters.”
“You should join us,” Yunho told him.
Kyuhyun nodded his head and stated, “I think I’ll take you up on that offer.”
“Still hiding from the ex-hubby?” Yoochun asked.
“I am contesting the divorce, so he isn’t my ex yet,” Kyuhyun said, quickly correcting Commander Yoochun. “But to answer your question-yes, I am still avoiding him.”
“So how does contesting the divorce work?” Yoochun asked. “It isn’t like you can go back to Earth and settle it?”
Commander Cho joined them on their way to breakfast, and explained, “Actually, if we had been married on Earth it would be easier for him to divorce me, but fortunately for me we were married on Baylor and it is much more difficult to get a divorce there.”
“Really? Does Baylor approve of extramarital affairs?” Yoochun couldn’t keep from asking.
“I did not cheat on him…not physically,” Kyuhyun replied uncomfortably.
Yoochun snorted. “Not this year.”
Kyuhyun sighed. “I am well aware of what I have done.”
“Don’t you mean-who you have done?” Yoochun snickered and asked.
“Can we discuss ship’s business?” Yunho asked in a curt tone. “We are the senior officers on this ship. Can we at least pretend to give off some semblance of professionalism?”
“I am not ribbing him publically,” Yoochun reminded the captain as they neared the mess hall. “I will be purely professional in the company of others.”
This time Kyuhyun snorted. “That would be very unlike you.”
“I can be professional,” Yoochun insisted as they entered the mess hall. Once inside the mess hall Yoochun came to an immediate stop. “This is not good.”
Both Yunho and Kyuhyun turned to face the engineer standing between.
“What?” Yunho questioned.
Yoochun held up one arm and pointed to a table where only Ensign SungGyu and Doctor Nam were seated. They were sitting side by side with not even an inch of space separating them, and they both were more consumed with their conversation than the food in front of them. “He’s lost to us…our bright shiny boy.”
“Why would you say that?” Yunho asked as he headed toward the food replicators with the other two senior officers following behind him. “They are just talking.”
“He’s totally smitten. I know the look. He’s been caught.”
Kyuhyun kept quiet and ordered his breakfast.
“There is nothing wrong with being smitten-or being caught…it’s actually quite enjoyable,” Yunho stated as he collected his plate of food. “It’s healthy to form relationships.”
“I have relationships,” Yoochun insisted, pointed at Yunho. “I am friends with you, and…I tolerate the rest of humanity.”
“You wound me,” Kyuhyun said drily as they headed toward a table.
“Oh, I kinda like you…I suppose,” Yoochun jested. “I like you better than your soon-to-be ex. I shall take your side in the divorce.”
“We are not divorced,” Kyuhyun reminded the engineer as he sat down.
“Not yet,” Yoochun amended as he sat down beside the captain.
“We are not going to be,” Kyuhyun replied. “He is upset with me, and I am going to give him time to calm down, and during that time I am going to work on my issues.”
“That sounds like a very good plan,” the captain told his first officer approvingly.
“Maybe you should just take the bull by the-”
“Forgive me, but the day I take relationship advice from you, I’ll willingly sign the divorce papers,” Kyuhyun interrupted to tell the other commander. “And I’ll never willingly sign them.”
“Why, that is rude…” Yoochun paused as a very irritated looking Sungmin entered the mess hall. “Oh, somebody doesn’t look happy at all.”
Yunho shook his head. “You are the biggest gossip I know…well, you and Heechul.”
Kyuhyun agreed, “He is. At least Heechul has the excuse of being insane.”
“I am not a gossip,” Yoochun denied. “I am simply concerned with our Chief of Security…I wonder if he and the Prince are on the outs?”
Kyuhyun side-eyed the engineer and innocently suggested, “Why don’t you go ask him?”
Yoochun stood up from the table with his plate in hand and told them, “I think I will.”
Commander Cho just grinned as Yunho continued to shake his head.
*******
“Do you mind if I sit down?” Yoochun asked as he sat down at the secluded table at the back of the mess hall that Sungmin was eating at.
“Yes, I do mind.”
“Oh, I am already sitting…so I will stay.”
Sungmin set the silverware he’d been holding down on the table and told the commander more forcibly, “I want to be alone.”
“Why, aren’t you the testy one this morning.”
“Shouldn’t you be sitting with the captain?”
Yoochun leaned over the table and whispered, “But you are all alone, and ever since you kicked Kyuhyun’s ass a month ago…I feel the need to be extra nice to you.”
“Bullshit, what do you really want?”
Yoochun sat straight up in his seat and chastised, “You are in such a mood. I would ask what’s up your ass, but we all know the answer to that question.”
Sungmin glowered and hissed under his breath, “Go now, or I am going to arrange for your recertification…and I will personally over see it…just like I did with Commander Cho.”
“I was just leaving,” Yoochun declared, standing up quickly.
“Too bad,” the voice of Ensign Junsu said from behind Commander Yoochun.
Commander Yoochun turned around to find a smiling Ensign Junsu standing behind him. “Do you mean that?”
Ensign Junsu let out a breath and admitted, “I think I do.”
Ensign Eunhyuk, who was standing beside Junsu, took the other man by the arm. “But he will get over it. Let’s eat.”
“Okay,” Junsu agreed, allowing Eunhyuk to lead him to the table.
A pleasantly surprised Yoochun offered, “You could always eat with me…and the captain. Or perhaps just the two of us could eat together?”
Junsu, who had sat down at the table, smiled up at the commander and told him, “Not today, but maybe some other time.”
A suddenly cheerful Yoochun told Junsu, “Well, I am always free for you…just let me know.”
“I will,” Junsu replied.
“I will hold you to it,” Yoochun told Junsu before turning around to return to the table where the captain and Commander Cho sat.
“What the fuck was that?” a stunned Sungmin questioned, unable to hide his horror.
Ensign Junsu, who was sitting across from the security chief with Eunhyuk explained, “Eunhyuk and I have decided we are going to be more open minded.”
“When you say open minded…do you mean…do you mean-”
“Yep,” Eunhyuk interrupted to answer. “Lieutenant SooYoung is not going to get with either one of us…and Sulli is unconscious. The captain refuses to open the holodecks up, so unless we plan on limiting our sexual experiences to just masturbation …our options are limited.”
“Having sex with a holograph is still masturbation,” Sungmin reminded his friend.
“But it doesn’t feel like it,” Eunhyuk pointed out.
“It isn’t right to toy with another person’s feelings if you are not sure. You shouldn’t experiment…at the cost of another person’s feelings,” Sungmin told them, unable to hide his displeasure.
“I am not doing that,” Junsu insisted. “I have complicated feelings for Commander Yoochun…I am just not sure what exactly they are.”
Sungmin grabbed his fork and aimed it at the helmsman. “You better be sure before you start something you can’t finish. He might be a slime ball, but he has real feelings for you.”
Junsu leaned back in his seat. “Okay…”
Eunhyuk, who had been closely watching his friend on the other side of the table, asked, “Are you and Siwon having problems?’
“Yes-no…he’s completely honest with me, and he’s done absolutely nothing wrong, but we are not without our problems.”
“But I thought you guys…well…I thought-”
“We date wonderfully and we make perfect friends…however sex isn’t great between us-unless I happen to be in the body of a woman, and then it’s…fantastic. It’s more than fantastic…it’s fucking fantastic.”
“So he’s straight?” Junsu asked.
“I hate that terminology,” Sungmin snapped. “Love between the same genders is not crooked.”
“Of course not,” Junsu quickly agreed.
“I am sorry for snapping at you,” Sungmin apologized, standing up. “I shouldn’t even be talking about this. I just really wanted it to work out…I really did, and I don’t think it is going to. I am going to go now, but do me a favor.”
“Anything,” Junsu, who Sungmin was looking down at, immediately responded.
“Don’t lead Commander Yoochun on…unless you are positive you can go through with it.”
Junsu nodded his head. Sungmin rewarded him with a small smile and then walked away.
Eunhyuk moved his plate of food out of the way and banged his head against the table purposely.
“Stop,” Junsu hissed under his breath. “It isn’t that bad.”
“How can you say that?” Eunhyuk complained, resting his head against the table. “I am not sure I am gay…I can’t initiate anything unless I am sure. I am so not sure.”
“Look on the bright side…they are having problems. If they weren’t having problems you couldn’t initiate anything even if you wanted to. Problems are good!”
“They are having problems because Siwon isn’t gay!”
“Honestly, he always seemed gay to me.”
“Me too,” Eunhyuk said lifting his head. “But Sungmin did say the sex was great when he was in the body of a woman.”
“But…maybe it was just different for Sungmin then,” Junsu said, reasoning aloud. “Sungmin wasn’t used to being a girl and having girl parts…I hear women can have lots of orgasms. So, maybe it was the newness that Sungmin found exciting. Maybe Siwon wasn’t so fantastic.”
“Good point.”
“Maybe…Siwon isn’t interesting enough in bed? Maybe he is just boring? Maybe Sungmin thinks it’s a sexual preference thing…when really Siwon is just not impressive.”
Eunhyuk brightened. “I am impressive…I am a bottomless pit of energy. Once I get them to the bed, they are always pleased.”
“So you say.”
“It’s true! Prostitutes have even offered to give me my money back.”
Junsu rolled his eyes. “I thought you said they offered to pay you.”
“I never said that,” Eunhyuk denied.
“Yes, you did.”
“I did not.”
“Let’s call Donghae and ask him how many times he’s heard the, ‘I am so good prostitutes pay me’ tales from you.”
Eunhyuk slumped. “I might have exaggerated.”
“Yes, I know.”
“But I really am exciting…not boring at all.”
Junsu smiled at his friend and was unable to resist saying, “With women and frogs.”
Eunhyuk’s cheeks reddened. “Don’t go there.”
“Sorry, couldn’t resist…but you owe me!”
“I do,” Eunhyuk conceded. “How are you going to get out of eating with Commander Yoochun?”
“I feel bad for flirting with him now. I wish we had thought of another way to broach the subject with Sungmin…I think I might just have to eat with him.”
“Your flirting was very convincing…I forgot you were acting.”
“Maybe it was not a complete act-I do have those complicated feelings for him,” Junsu told his best friend.
“You do.”
“He seemed so happy.”
“He did.”
Junsu sighed. “I will probably totally regret this.”
“Probably.”
******************
One week later, WooHyun was on the gym floor taking his first self defense lesson with security. Security clearance was a must if a member of the crew was planning on going on away missions. SungGyu had come to support him, along with his friend L.
WooHyun turned away from Kangin, who was instructing him, to look at SungGyu. The young doctor then lifted up both his hands, shaped them into a heart and pretended to throw it to SungGyu, all the while with a huge smile upon his face.
SungGyu couldn’t keep from laughing and rewarded the young doctor with his own smile, just as huge.
“Dude, did he just throw a heart at you?” an incredulous L asked.
SungGyu shook his head.
“He did,” the young pilot, who was sitting by SungGyu, insisted. “Don’t deny it.”
“It’s a greeting,” SungGyu explained.
L gave SungGyu a doubtful look. “I am sure it is-for lovers.”
SungGyu crossed his legs and stated, “We are not lovers.”
“What are you two exactly?”
“Best friends.”
“Really?” L asked, sounding unconvinced. “You two act like you’re in love.”
SungGyu turned and gave the other man a stern stare. “What do you know about being in love?”
“Nothing,” L quickly answered. “So you are best friends?”
“Yes.”
“After knowing him…for only eight weeks he’s your best friend?”
SungGyu, whose eyes were on WooHyun, nodded his head. “I can’t explain it…but he is my best friend. I trusted him with my life on Kanzi and also with the captain and Junsu’s life, and even though he was betraying his world…members of his own family, he didn’t fail me.”
“That was pretty cool,” L agreed. “When you say it like that…You seem like such different people though. I haven’t hung out with him that much, but he’s so…friendly.”
SungGyu, who was still watching WooHyun, reached out a hand and swatted L’s leg. “I am friendly!”
“You don’t throw hearts at people.”
“I might-I thought he was a doctor,” SungGyu stated as he watched WooHyun handle Kangin with complete ease.
L turned his focus to WooHyun and Kangin and his mouth fell open. “Shit.”
“He’s better than you are,” SungGyu told L.
“And he’s better than you.”
“I know.”
“He’s better than the both of us.”
SungGyu just nodded his head, spellbound by the action taking place on the floor.
L watched as Kangin took a break, and DongWoo took over. “What kind of doctor is he?”
“A kickass doctor,” Junsu, who had arrived unnoticed by the other two men, declared as he sat down on SungGyu’s other side.
“They are best friends for a reason,” a grinning L added. “If you go on away missions together he can protect you and stitch you up. It’s like a two for one deal.”
“Haha, you are so funny,” SungGyu grumbled to L but never took his eyes off WooHyun.
“Ensign DongWoo is more of a match,” Junsu said, still watching the practice. “I guess WooHyun isn’t going to need any further self-defense classes.”
A still amazed SungGyu just shook head.
“I bet he gets to go on away missions soon,” Junsu informed them.
“Yeah,” SungGyu said, controlling his admiration. “Doctors are spared the more rigorous self-defense levels of training. Not that he would have any problem passing them.”
“Well, it looks like his training is over,” L told them. “That was one of the shortest training courses ever.”
Junsu was watching WooHyun, who had just thrown another heart at SungGyu. He laughed and asked SungGyu, “Did he just throw a heart at you?”
L chucked and answered for SungGyu, “Didn’t you know that’s a Kanzi greeting?”
Junsu snorted. “Really? They didn’t seem like heart throwing people to me.”
“They didn’t exactly like us…he had to learn it somewhere,” SungGyu replied, unperturbed. “I don’t mind.”
L fought back a chuckle. “That’s good, because he is teaching DongWoo how to do it now.”
SungGyu just groaned.
**************************
“Visiting her again?”
SooYoung turned from her cousin’s bedside to face Dr. Cho. “Just for a short moment, I’m very busy with the M Class planet we discovered. I just feel badly if I don’t visit her everyday.”
Ryeowook cleared his throat and brought up a subject he had been dreading. “I should have moved her by now.”
“That seems…so final…can we not wait a bit longer?”
“What are we waiting on?” Ryeowook gently asked the new head of the science department,
SooYoung looked away from the doctor and back to her cousin, ignoring his question by asking, “Did you suspect she was bonded with Changmin?”
“At times I did. Changmin was always very relaxed with her, even when he first discovered he was a Joong. Back then Changmin was very unstable and erratic, but Sulli had a calming affect on him. Once he returned to his human form…he still sought her out,” Ryeowook answered, going along with the change in the topic.
“Is that all?”
“No, we suspected that he might have healed…healed her psyche, but if he did, he had no knowledge of doing so…it could never be proven. She was a very bright young woman-she might have overcome her own demons.”
“She was always like that…even as child. Nothing ever got her down. Her mother used to joke that she was born smiling.”
“Also, Heechul would say things about them being together, and I could not discount them.”
SooYoung frowned. “Heechul is not in his right mind.”
“No, but I think this version of Heechul…can sometimes channel the genius he once was. I never completely discount anything Heechul says…his brilliance was unmatched in the medical community. He was the youngest chief medical officer in the history of Starfleet for a reason.”
SooYoung nodded her head. “He was known for coming to the correct conclusions with very little supporting data.”
“His intuition was second to none…and he thought something tied Sulli and Changmin together.”
“But why did he think this? Sulli did not act like…like she was interested in Changmin romantically,” SooYoung added, puzzled. “When I first returned to the ship…Sulli was matchmaking. She acted as if she wanted me and Changmin to be together and she was very sincere about it.”
Ryeowook walked up to the bed and looked down at the beautiful sleeping girl. “She was very traumatized by what happened to her on Belara. She wasn’t ready to be in any relationship.”
SooYoung fought back the feelings of nausea she always felt when she thought of her poor, sweet cousin and the nightmare she had been forced to live. “Hangeng and Victoria didn’t flaunt that they were bonded, but it was very obvious to me-since Victoria could not make me think otherwise. Captain Yunho and Jaejoong’s bond is almost palpable to all of us around them. How could Sulli and Changmin be bonded and it not be clear to all, especially Jaejoong?”
“But they weren’t bonded,” Minho replied as he entered the room.
SooYoung turned to face her younger brother. “How can you say that? The moment he disappears she is lost. I know Changmin knew this would happen to her…he ordered for her to stay in here.”
Minho shook his head. “Maybe he did, but he did not think they were bonded. Of course he was as suspicious as you, once his thoughts cleared, but he ruled it out. When a Joong bonds with a mate they take on the form of their mate’s ideal mate.”
“And what exactly does that disprove?” SooYoung asked, puzzled.
“Changmin asked Sulli what her ideal mate was…and he was much relieved when she told him it was the gymnast of Gurrin 5,” Minho explained to his sister. “No one would ever compare Changmin to a gymnast from Gurrin 5.”
SooYoung was unable to hide her shock as she repeated in a whisper, “The gymnast of Gurrin 5?”
“Changmin was only half Joong, and he was very different from Jaejoong. When Yunho and Jaejoong were first bonded they could not leave each other…Sulli and Changmin never exhibited any of that. It is possible that Changmin wasn’t even capable of bonding with anyone,” Ryeowook added.
“He seemed very fond of her. I know I only knew him before his Joong side emerged…but he hugged her with such ease,” SooYoung stated unable to rid herself of her lingering suspicions.
Minho reached out and touched his sister’s shoulder. “I believe it was their time on Belara that tied them together.”
SooYoung turned back to her sleeping cousin. “I suppose,” she told her brother and the doctor, but she refused to believe that only friendship linked her cousin and Changmin together.
*********************************
Yunho sat in his captain’s chair debating his options. He was very eager to head the away team; he had been cooped up on the ship for weeks now. His problem was that Jaejoong would never allow him to visit a planet without him and leaving the ship without Jaejoong would be nearly impossible.
Pregnant Starfleet officers were not excluded from away missions, but Yunho found the thought of his very pregnant mate accompanying him on an unexplored planet discomforting. Jaejoong’s telepathic powers were fading quickly as the pregnancy progressed and he became more and more enthralled by the life growing inside of him, but Yunho highly doubted he could leave the ship without the bond alerting Jaejoong.
Yunho quickly discarded any thoughts of attempting to leave the ship without notifying Jaejoong. It would be dishonest and his relationship with Jaejoong was growing stronger every day; he would not betray Jaejoong’s trust. His and Jaejoong’s lives were tied together-now and forever and he would not willfully blemish their epic love.
Yunho was very aware of Kyuhyun sitting to his right in the first officer’s chair. Kyuhyun seemed to be handling his separation from Ryeowook well, but Yunho suspected otherwise. He didn’t want Kyuhyun to head the away mission unless he was certain his mind was on the mission and not the mess he had made of his life. But to put someone else in charge of the mission would be insulting to Kyuhyun and a show of no faith.
Unless he put Ensign SungGyu in charge…and said it was a learning experience; but no, SungGyu was much too young to lead an away team-even if he would be Yunho’s first choice. Which Yunho found rather startling, considering how green the young ensign was. Sungmin excelled at implementing orders, but original thinking was not his forte. Commander Yoochun, who was more than capable of commanding others, was always distracted by new technology and the planet had a mysterious device that was sure to garner all of Yoochun’s attention. SooYoung, Yesung, and Donghae had never led an away mission…and Yunho was well aware he needed to give them the chance, but still he found himself wishing Ensign SungGyu was older and a long established lieutenant instead of a lowly ensign.
Yunho was distracted from his thoughts when the doors to the bridge whooshed open and Jaejoong emerged on the bridge wearing his uniform. Yunho smiled at his mate as Jaejoong seated himself to his left.
“This is a nice surprise,” Yunho told his mate.
“It was just too cold in our quarters.”
Yunho couldn’t keep from snorting. “Really?”
Jaejoong nodded his head. “So are you eager to go exploring new worlds?”
“Always, but I won’t be exploring this one.”
“Why not?”
Yunho reached and took Jaejoong’s hand and sent telepathically, “I didn’t think you would let me?”
“I shall go with you.”
“No…no…no.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I am not being ridiculous.”
“I am self-healing and although my telepathic powers are greatly diminished…they aren’t completely gone.”
“True.”
“The time is fast approaching when my telepathic abilities will vanish completely.”
“It won’t be for long.”
“Changmin’s growth rate will slow down.”
“It hasn’t yet.”
“It will.”
“Then we will just have to wait a little longer for our miracle.”
“I do want to go on the away mission.”
“Why?”
“Because it will make you happy, and also I would like to walk on a planet. I think feeling the warmth of a sun against my face would be nice.”
Yunho resisted the urge to kiss his mate while they were on the bridge. He was relieved that Jaejoong’s freezing phase had passed. “Then we shall go exploring at 0600 hours tomorrow.”
“Perfect,” Jaejoong replied, leaning over to kiss Yunho on the cheek.
*****************************
Ryeowook was nearing the entrance to Ten Forward with a picnic basket in his hand, when he unexpectedly met up with Kyuhyun in the seldom used corridor. Ryeowook froze, he had been successfully avoiding the other man for weeks and to his relief Kyuhyun had not sought him out.
“Oh, hello,” Kyuhyun said awkwardly after coming to a halt in front of the other man.
Ryeowook looked down the corridor where Kyuhyun had emerged from and couldn’t keep from questioning, “Were you in the holodeck?”
“Yes, the captain has allowed me special use of it.”
Ryeowook recoiled, taking a step backwards, automatically assuming the worst. “Really? Anyone joining you or is the holodeck providing all your entertainment? Not that I care.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Like I said, I don’t care.”
“Why did you ask then?”
“Habit…one I am working on breaking,” Ryeowook snapped. “I will be going now.”
Kyuhyun reached out and grabbed Ryeowook by the arm as the other man attempted to pass him in the corridor. “I’m using the holodeck to continue my therapy.”
“You are…since when?” Ryeowook asked, unable to hide his curiosity.
“Heechul suggested I use the holodeck,” Kyuhyun explained, letting go of Ryeowook.
“Heechul?”
“Yes, he had one of his rare moments of lucidity and suggested it to me. After some reflection I realized how right he was. It appears I’m more open to therapy when you are not monitoring every aspect of it.”
“Yes, I remember one of the many drawbacks to being married to the Chief Medical Officer,” Ryeowook told the other man as he tightly gripped the picnic basket he was holding.
Kyuhyun closed his eyes, feeling the other man’s hurt and anger. “I wish…I wish I could take that back. I wish-”
“Why would you want to take it back? You meant it. You meant every word…you were just being honest. You hated yourself for saying it, but you meant it.”
“Yes, I meant it at the time, but I should not have said it. I should not have lashed out at you.”
Ryeowook backed up against the corridor wall and questioned, “Why are you fighting the divorce? I don’t understand your reasons…you are the one that chose to end our marriage.”
“I did not!” Kyuhyun vehemently denied. “Even back then, when I was being a complete idiot…I never wanted a divorce.”
Ryeowook dropped the picnic basket. “No, that is a lie! I gave you a choice and you chose divorce.”
“I didn’t choose anything! I didn’t do anything of the sort. This was your deal…I never agreed to it. Plus, I have not betrayed you!”
“Not for a lack of trying. We both know if the captain had not intervened you would have.”
Kyuhyun stepped closer to Ryeowook and admitted, “And I wish he hadn’t.”
“God,” was all Ryeowook could get out of his mouth and as he brought his hands up to cover his face and whispered, “It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.”
“Don’t misunderstand me…I am grateful, but this way…I’ll never know if…if I could have stopped myself. I need to know that I could have stopped myself from hurting you. I went to the transporter room and I was going to beam down, but I was so full of doubts. I was relieved when I found out we were no longer in orbit.” Kyuhyun reached out and pulled Ryeowook’s hands away from his face to look at the man he had loved since the academy. “I wasn’t disappointed. I was relieved.”
“But don’t you see…even if you had beamed down there and decided to not go through with it…it would still have been too late for us,” Ryeowook told him, holding back his tears.
“No, I don’t believe that,” Kyuhyun insisted. “I refuse to believe that. We have…our love has suffered a lot. I know I have done you wrong, but Ryeowook-I…I…I just need you to love me a little longer…I promise I am trying my best to be better for you.”
Ryeowook pushed Kyuhyun away from him. “Stop it! Just stop it! You don’t have the right to ask anything of me.”
“Yes, I do! We are still married and we promised to love each other for better and worse….and this is just the worst of me.”
“I…I…you need to shut up!” Ryeowook yelled at the other man as he picked up the picnic basket. “This is your fault! Don’t make me out to be the bad guy.”
“Don’t you think I know that? I know you are not the bad guy but I am not bad either. I am just…I just need time to heal. I didn’t want to fight with you. I really didn’t.”
“Divorce me and there will be no more fighting.”
“I am not going to do that.”
“Then we are going to fight, because you have hurt me for the last time.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Ryeowook eyed the picnic basket and contemplated throwing it at his husband. “Then why did you?”
“I can’t explain why I react the way I do…but it isn’t because of you…it’s because of all the things that have happened to me. It’s just hard sometimes…and crazy thoughts take over.”
“Kyuhyun…”
“I am not excusing the way I behaved, but it wasn’t to hurt you-”
“Well, it did!”
“I don’t want to lose you.”
“You already have!”
“Ryeowook…”
“You get all the therapy you need, and I really hope you get better…I do. I want you to be better, but we are over, now please just let me go,” Ryeowook pleaded, gripping the basket tightly.
“Ryeowook…”
“I know you have suffered…but I just…I can’t be with you anymore.”
“Ryeowook…”
“I am not going to say I don’t still care about you…because I do, but I don’t trust you with my heart.”
“Am I interrupting something?”
Ryeowook and Kyuhyun both jerked their heads in the direction of the voice, and found Siwon watching them.
“Yes,” Kyuhyun answered sharply.
“No, Kyuhyun was just leaving,” Ryeowook said, loosening his grip on the picnic basket. “We can have lunch, now.”
Kyuhyun’s mouth dropped open as he realized the two men were having lunch together in the secluded Ten Forward.
Siwon eyed Kyuhyun carefully as he told Ryeowook, “I feared I was too early.”
“No, I actually got here awhile ago. I wanted a moment alone…but that didn’t work out as planned.”
“Ryeowook, what the hell are you doing with him? Is this some way to get back at me and Sungmin with one stone?” Kyuhyun questioned in an accusing voice.
Ryeowook dropped the picnic basket again. “I know you didn’t just say that!”
“Well, I did! Are you insane? Sungmin will kick your ass!” Kyuhyun shouted.
Siwon held up his hands. “I assure you-”
“Shut up,” Ryeowook barked at Siwon, interrupting him before he could finish responding. Ryeowook then focused only on Kyuhyun. “Why do you care? Are you jealous?”
“Have you listened to a word I have said? Of course, I am jealous,” Kyuhyun replied, stepping up to Ryeowook and snatching the picnic basket up and thrusting it into Ryeowook’s chest. “I love you!”
Ryeowook puffed up and retorted, “Really…you are jealous? Not you, the great defender of polygamy. I mean love and sex have nothing to do with each other! Why would the fact that I am having sex with Siwon bother you?”
Siwon cleared his throat, but the warning glare Ryeowook sent his way had him clamping his mouth shut.
“Liar,” Kyuhyun told Ryeowook, shaking his head. “I know you…like nobody else will ever know you…and I know you are lying.”
“What if I’m not?”
“You are!”
“Kyuhyun, do you even realize how big of hypocrite you are?”
“Yes, I know,” Kyuhyun answered, reaching out to hold Ryeowook’s shoulders. “But you love me anyway.”
“You…you…jerk!” Ryeowook shouted, dropping the picnic basket…again.
“I am so sorry I hurt you…I am sorry for a lot of things…but let’s just stop these games. We belong together, and you and I both know it.”
Ryeowook stomped Kyuhyun’s foot with his own, causing Kyuhyun to let go of him. “I know you’re an ass! That’s what I know. You are sorry, so I should just forgive you! Bullshit!”
Kyuhyun limped back. “Ryeowook…”
“I am going to have lunch with Siwon…” Ryeowook paused as he turned back to face the prince and found they were alone. “He left.”
Kyuhyun, who was bent over rubbing his foot, looked up at the other man and suggested, “We could have lunch together instead?”
The doctor whirled around, snatched the picnic basket off the floor and threw it at Kyuhyun. “Here! Take it! You can choke on it for all I care!”
****************
“No, I think at one time there was probably an entire city surrounding it,” Lieutenant SooYoung said, answering Yunho’s question. “It’s just the only remaining structure from the culture that once lived on this planet.”
“Amazing,” Yunho responded, eyeing the device that was made of some virtually indestructible substance the Expectation’s computers could not identify. They were in the middle of a desert on the planet that the science department had dubbed Desert 37. They temperature was surprisingly mild, considering the terrain.
Commander Yoochun was kneeling by the device that was approximately sixteen meters in length, three meters in height, and four meters in width. “It’s very similar to the device that was responsible for the gender switch.”
“Seriously,” Sungmin exclaimed, taking a step back. “Should you be so close to it?”
“I am just observing it,” Yoochun informed the uneasy security chief. “I am not meddling with anything.”
Ensign SungGyu, who was studying the device uneasily, asked, “Is it older than the other one?
“It’s much older,” Lieutenant SooYoung supplied.
“Am I the only one unsettled by it?” Sungmin questioned.
“You are just afraid your boobs will return,” Yoochun told him.
“And you aren’t?” Sungmin asked, aghast.
Yoochun shrugged, still fascinated by the device. “I would probably get a lot more action if I were a girl.”
“Commander,” Yunho warned. “Why isn’t it covered in sand? It should have been buried thousands of years ago.”
Lieutenant SooYoung suggested, “It must have some sort of maintenance system that is still in affect.”
Sungmin took another step away from the device. “Are you saying it still works?”
“Yep,” Yoochun excitedly answered.
“It’s amazing that it is still functioning after all these years,” SungGyu, who was kneeling beside the Chief Engineer, stated.
“Indeed,” SooYoung agreed.
“So boring,” Jaejoong grumbled, standing back away from the device.
Doctor Nam, who was standing beside Jaejoong replied, “Not exactly how I envisioned my first mission, but as long as everybody is safe, I’m happy.”
“Yes, I am not exactly up for a fight either,” Jaejoong admitted.
WooHyun looked down at the Joong’s belly. “It seems like your baby is eager to be born.”
“His growth rate will slow down…although if I broke the three month record I wouldn’t be surprised. Yunho and I do tend to break all the Joong records,” Jaejoong sighed and admitted. “But it wouldn’t be something I could brag about.”
“Really? Why not?” asked a confused WooHyun.
Jaejoong tensed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay,” WooHyun relented, strolling away from Jaejoong and towards the others.
“How can it be more advanced if it is so much older?” Sungmin asked.
“I don’t know. It seems to be built by the same species,” Yoochun replied. “It just seems more advanced. It’s more compact and I wouldn’t even know where to begin taking it apart.”
“You are not taking it apart,” Yunho said, speaking up. “We have no idea what it does…and I’d rather not be turned into a woman.”
Yoochun looked up at Yunho. “But just think what a great mommy you would make.”
SungGyu stood up trying not to smile at the captain.
Lieutenant SooYoung did not attempt to hide her smile. “You will make a splendid parent no matter the gender, Captain.”
Lieutenant Sungmin knelt down by Yoochun and whispered, “Please, resist whatever uncontrollable urges you have to find out how this thing works.”
Yoochun frowned and complained, “I miss Changmin…he would have understood my curiosity.”
“We are all curious,” Yunho said from above the engineer, “but if he we are going to start dismantling this device…we can leave that to robotics.”
WooHyun stood next to SungGyu and asked, “Were you turned into a woman, too?”
“No,” SungGyu answered. “I had not yet started going on away missions then…thankfully.”
“Yunho, how much longer are we going to be here?” Jaejoong complained as he walked up to them. “I feel the urge to cook something.”
Yunho turned toward his mate and began to reply when a blue light emanated from the device, enveloping all of them.
The blue light disappeared as quickly as it appeared.
Yunho instinctively headed toward Jaejoong but quickly found himself jerked backwards as if he was tied to something. Yunho tumbled, finding himself on the ground beside Lieutenant SooYoung’s feet. “Jaejoong!”
Jaejoong, who still standing away from the others, asked, “What? I am perfectly fine.”
“They are still here,” Yoochun declared with relief as he stood up clutching his scrotum.
“Mine too,” Sungmin said, also relieved.
SungGyu, who had his tricorder out scanning, answered, “There was a quick energy spike from the device and now it is gone.”
“If these readings are correct then we are-” SooYoung, who was also looking at her tricorder, was interrupted when Yunho, who had gotten up again was knocked into her after trying to reach Jaejoong.
Jaejoong stared at Yunho curiously and stated, “You seem to be awfully clumsy all of a sudden.”
“What is going on?” Sungmin asked, after he tried to step away from Yoochun and found himself unable to put any distance between himself and the engineer.
Doctor Nam and Ensign SungGyu had only managed to take one step away from each other before they were stopped. “It’s as if we are tied together by some invisible force,” SungGyu said, mystified.
“Exactly,” SooYoung confirmed, studying the tricorder. “It appears Ensign SungGyu and Doctor Nam are linked together by some invisible force and so are Commander Yoochun and Lieutenant Sungmin, and…” SooYoung paused to look at the captain. “And the captain and I.”
It was Commander Yoochun who broke the silence that followed the science officer’s announcement. “Fuck!”
Adventure Thirteen: Just a Moment Part 1 of 3
Author: Aquariuslover
Pairings: Yunjae, KyuWook, WooGyu
Rating: R
Genre: Crossover, Science Fiction, Adventure, Romance
Length: Chaptered
Beta: tahoeturquoise
A/N: This story is inspired by Star Trek and the Kpop community; the story is my own.
Summary: Ancient technology on a deserted planet forces some crew members to stay within arm's reach of each other...literally. As Jaejoong's pregnancy progresses, Jaejoong's telepathic and emphatic abilities fade. Startling admissions are made, and something is stirring on the ship, much to Yunho's shock.
Prior Adventures
A flick to his forehead woke WooHyun from a deep, peaceful sleep. He looked up to find SungGyu standing over him.
A huge, sleepy grin appeared on WooHyun’s face as he looked up at his favorite person in the entire universe. “Good morning!”
“Do you want to go eat breakfast with me?”
WooHyun, who had gotten the bed last night, sat up. “Yes, I’d love to.”
SungGyu scrunched up his face in dislike at the mention of love. “I wouldn’t use the word love to describe mess hall food.”
“That isn’t what I meant,” WooHyun explained as he swung his legs off the bed.
“I know.”
WooHyun stood up and amended his statement, “I would enjoy eating breakfast with you.”
“Are you sure you don’t have to be in sickbay early?”
“No, I want to go to the mess hall and eat breakfast. Dr. Cho said I have been studying too much. He is making me take a break from it, and I get my own patients now,” WooHyun explained, proudly.
“Really?”
“Yeah, just a few.”
“That’s good.”
“They are just minor; bumps, and bruises, and well…”
“What?”
WooHyun shrugged. “One of the patients Dr. Cho assigned to me is a huge hypochondriac…he’s challenging to say the least.”
SungGyu didn’t hesitant a moment as he named, “Ensign SungYeol.”
WooHyun’s mouth dropped open.
“Don’t worry, you didn’t break any confidences,” SungGyu quickly replied, understanding the other man’s concern. “When the captain had me doing tours of all the departments on the ship I did a stay in Astro Physics.”
WooHyun’s smile reappeared. “That must have been interesting.”
“It was a trial in patience.”
“Unfortunately, he is my patient.”
“You can handle him,” SungGyu said confidently.
“I hope you are right.”
“I am. Get dressed, so we can go to breakfast,” SungGyu ordered as headed out of the bedroom.
WooHyun, who was only dressed in pajama bottoms, asked, “Are any of your friends going to be joining us for breakfast?”
SungGyu stopped at the doorway and shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Do you ever invite them to eat breakfast with you?” WooHyun asked as he walked up to the ensign. WooHyun was very eager to meet SungGyu’s friends and find out more about his roommate.
“No, if they are there we will eat together. If they aren’t, no big deal…I don’t require companionship to digest my breakfast.”
WooHyun brightened and nudged SungGyu with his shoulder. “But you woke me up to go with you.”
“I did,” SungGyu replied, sounding slightly startled by his own behavior.
A very happy WooHyun informed the other man, “That’s because we are BFFs.”
“What does that acronym stand for?”
“Best Friends Forever,” Woohyun explained with a huge smile upon his face.
SungGyu let out a chuckle. “You are so strange.”
“That’s why you like me.”
“Do I?”
“Yes, you like me best.”
“I do?”
“What do like better than me?” a smug WooHyun asked.
A still chuckling SungGyu started to walk away. “I like sl-”
“Sleep doesn’t count!”
***********************
“You are awake.”
Jaejoong, who was lying on his back in their large bed, let out a yawn and then replied, “He has the hiccups.”
Yunho, who was already dressed in his uniform, sat down on the bed beside his lover. “Again?”
“Yes, again.”
“Sorry about that,” Yunho sympathized, reaching out to run his fingers through Jaejoong’s blond hair.
“Nothing to be sorry about, it’s totally normal for human babies…and apparently half human babies,” Jaejoong responded, pushing the covers down off of him to expose his large belly. “What is the temperature in here?”
Yunho got up quickly and announced, “I was just leaving.”
Jaejoong sat up with a visible pout on his face. “You’re smothering me!”
“I’m not…I’m not, it was just too cold. When I am in bed with you, and touching you the bond keeps me all warm…and free of frostbite, but I can’t get dressed with it that cold in here. Parts of me were about to freeze off, important parts! Parts I am very fond of. Parts you are very fond of.”
Jaejoong rubbed his rounded belly. “How hot is it?”
“It’s not hot.”
“It is hot!”
“It isn’t hot.”
“Computer, what is the temperature in this room?” Jaejoong demanded of the ship’s computer.
“It is 21.2 centigrade,” the computer promptly answered.
“Traitor,” Yunho whispered under his breath to his treacherous ship.
“No wonder I am so hot! Yunho, if you have not noticed I am fat now-thanks to you! I can’t tolerate heat!” Jaejoong complained as he fanned himself with his hand. “I’ve never been fat before! I hate being fat!”
“My Love, you are not fat…you are pregnant,” Yunho calmly told his mate as he inched toward the doorway.
“You think I don’t know that? I know that! Just because I am pregnant doesn’t mean I am not fat! I am fat because I am pregnant! I am pregnant because of you! So I am fat because of you!”
Yunho made it to the doorway to their bedroom and ordered, “Computer, decrease the temperature to 4 centigrade.”
Jaejoong sighed in relief as the cold air filled the cabin. “Thank you.”
“I am going to go.”
“What’s the hurry?” a suddenly friendly Jaejoong asked as his bad mood completely vanished.
“It’s freezing in here and I am meeting Yoochun for breakfast,” Yunho reminded his mate.
“Oh, your attempt to mingle with the little people…so sweet of you,” Jaejoong said as he lowered himself back down on the bed.
Yunho fought down his amusement. “Yes, but it isn’t as if I am the Prince of Joong.”
“No,” Jaejoong agreed. “I am going back to sleep, Changmin’s hiccups have stopped.”
“Sweet dreams,” Yunho told his lover as he slipped out of the bedroom. Almost immediately the main doors to their quarters chirped alerting him to the fact that someone was at the door. He strolled toward the doors causing them to whoosh open.
Yoochun, who had been standing at the entrance, jumped back as the chill hit him. “Your balls must be snowballs.”
Yunho shivered and quickly exited his quarters. “They feel like it, believe me.”
“How do you stay in there?”
“Our bond keeps me warm as long as we are in contact,” Yunho explained as they walked down the corridor. “I keep hoping this little phase of his will be over soon, like all the others.”
“I liked the phase where he was making sweets all the time. He’s one hell of a cook; I have to give him credit.”
“You know if you keep on stealing our food, he’s going to end up killing you,” Yunho warned.
“He wouldn’t.”
“Oh, he is already thinking of ways to do it. He was just saying yesterday how you are taking food out of his mouth…and therefore depriving Changmin of nutrients…so therefore killing you would be a way of protecting Changmin and allowed by the laws of the Joong.”
Yoochun cringed. “Dully noted.”
Yunho smiled and kept on walking with Yoochun down the corridor until they came upon Commander Cho. “Commander, are you going to breakfast?”
“I was just going to grab something and bring it back to my quarters.”
“You should join us,” Yunho told him.
Kyuhyun nodded his head and stated, “I think I’ll take you up on that offer.”
“Still hiding from the ex-hubby?” Yoochun asked.
“I am contesting the divorce, so he isn’t my ex yet,” Kyuhyun said, quickly correcting Commander Yoochun. “But to answer your question-yes, I am still avoiding him.”
“So how does contesting the divorce work?” Yoochun asked. “It isn’t like you can go back to Earth and settle it?”
Commander Cho joined them on their way to breakfast, and explained, “Actually, if we had been married on Earth it would be easier for him to divorce me, but fortunately for me we were married on Baylor and it is much more difficult to get a divorce there.”
“Really? Does Baylor approve of extramarital affairs?” Yoochun couldn’t keep from asking.
“I did not cheat on him…not physically,” Kyuhyun replied uncomfortably.
Yoochun snorted. “Not this year.”
Kyuhyun sighed. “I am well aware of what I have done.”
“Don’t you mean-who you have done?” Yoochun snickered and asked.
“Can we discuss ship’s business?” Yunho asked in a curt tone. “We are the senior officers on this ship. Can we at least pretend to give off some semblance of professionalism?”
“I am not ribbing him publically,” Yoochun reminded the captain as they neared the mess hall. “I will be purely professional in the company of others.”
This time Kyuhyun snorted. “That would be very unlike you.”
“I can be professional,” Yoochun insisted as they entered the mess hall. Once inside the mess hall Yoochun came to an immediate stop. “This is not good.”
Both Yunho and Kyuhyun turned to face the engineer standing between.
“What?” Yunho questioned.
Yoochun held up one arm and pointed to a table where only Ensign SungGyu and Doctor Nam were seated. They were sitting side by side with not even an inch of space separating them, and they both were more consumed with their conversation than the food in front of them. “He’s lost to us…our bright shiny boy.”
“Why would you say that?” Yunho asked as he headed toward the food replicators with the other two senior officers following behind him. “They are just talking.”
“He’s totally smitten. I know the look. He’s been caught.”
Kyuhyun kept quiet and ordered his breakfast.
“There is nothing wrong with being smitten-or being caught…it’s actually quite enjoyable,” Yunho stated as he collected his plate of food. “It’s healthy to form relationships.”
“I have relationships,” Yoochun insisted, pointed at Yunho. “I am friends with you, and…I tolerate the rest of humanity.”
“You wound me,” Kyuhyun said drily as they headed toward a table.
“Oh, I kinda like you…I suppose,” Yoochun jested. “I like you better than your soon-to-be ex. I shall take your side in the divorce.”
“We are not divorced,” Kyuhyun reminded the engineer as he sat down.
“Not yet,” Yoochun amended as he sat down beside the captain.
“We are not going to be,” Kyuhyun replied. “He is upset with me, and I am going to give him time to calm down, and during that time I am going to work on my issues.”
“That sounds like a very good plan,” the captain told his first officer approvingly.
“Maybe you should just take the bull by the-”
“Forgive me, but the day I take relationship advice from you, I’ll willingly sign the divorce papers,” Kyuhyun interrupted to tell the other commander. “And I’ll never willingly sign them.”
“Why, that is rude…” Yoochun paused as a very irritated looking Sungmin entered the mess hall. “Oh, somebody doesn’t look happy at all.”
Yunho shook his head. “You are the biggest gossip I know…well, you and Heechul.”
Kyuhyun agreed, “He is. At least Heechul has the excuse of being insane.”
“I am not a gossip,” Yoochun denied. “I am simply concerned with our Chief of Security…I wonder if he and the Prince are on the outs?”
Kyuhyun side-eyed the engineer and innocently suggested, “Why don’t you go ask him?”
Yoochun stood up from the table with his plate in hand and told them, “I think I will.”
Commander Cho just grinned as Yunho continued to shake his head.
*******
“Do you mind if I sit down?” Yoochun asked as he sat down at the secluded table at the back of the mess hall that Sungmin was eating at.
“Yes, I do mind.”
“Oh, I am already sitting…so I will stay.”
Sungmin set the silverware he’d been holding down on the table and told the commander more forcibly, “I want to be alone.”
“Why, aren’t you the testy one this morning.”
“Shouldn’t you be sitting with the captain?”
Yoochun leaned over the table and whispered, “But you are all alone, and ever since you kicked Kyuhyun’s ass a month ago…I feel the need to be extra nice to you.”
“Bullshit, what do you really want?”
Yoochun sat straight up in his seat and chastised, “You are in such a mood. I would ask what’s up your ass, but we all know the answer to that question.”
Sungmin glowered and hissed under his breath, “Go now, or I am going to arrange for your recertification…and I will personally over see it…just like I did with Commander Cho.”
“I was just leaving,” Yoochun declared, standing up quickly.
“Too bad,” the voice of Ensign Junsu said from behind Commander Yoochun.
Commander Yoochun turned around to find a smiling Ensign Junsu standing behind him. “Do you mean that?”
Ensign Junsu let out a breath and admitted, “I think I do.”
Ensign Eunhyuk, who was standing beside Junsu, took the other man by the arm. “But he will get over it. Let’s eat.”
“Okay,” Junsu agreed, allowing Eunhyuk to lead him to the table.
A pleasantly surprised Yoochun offered, “You could always eat with me…and the captain. Or perhaps just the two of us could eat together?”
Junsu, who had sat down at the table, smiled up at the commander and told him, “Not today, but maybe some other time.”
A suddenly cheerful Yoochun told Junsu, “Well, I am always free for you…just let me know.”
“I will,” Junsu replied.
“I will hold you to it,” Yoochun told Junsu before turning around to return to the table where the captain and Commander Cho sat.
“What the fuck was that?” a stunned Sungmin questioned, unable to hide his horror.
Ensign Junsu, who was sitting across from the security chief with Eunhyuk explained, “Eunhyuk and I have decided we are going to be more open minded.”
“When you say open minded…do you mean…do you mean-”
“Yep,” Eunhyuk interrupted to answer. “Lieutenant SooYoung is not going to get with either one of us…and Sulli is unconscious. The captain refuses to open the holodecks up, so unless we plan on limiting our sexual experiences to just masturbation …our options are limited.”
“Having sex with a holograph is still masturbation,” Sungmin reminded his friend.
“But it doesn’t feel like it,” Eunhyuk pointed out.
“It isn’t right to toy with another person’s feelings if you are not sure. You shouldn’t experiment…at the cost of another person’s feelings,” Sungmin told them, unable to hide his displeasure.
“I am not doing that,” Junsu insisted. “I have complicated feelings for Commander Yoochun…I am just not sure what exactly they are.”
Sungmin grabbed his fork and aimed it at the helmsman. “You better be sure before you start something you can’t finish. He might be a slime ball, but he has real feelings for you.”
Junsu leaned back in his seat. “Okay…”
Eunhyuk, who had been closely watching his friend on the other side of the table, asked, “Are you and Siwon having problems?’
“Yes-no…he’s completely honest with me, and he’s done absolutely nothing wrong, but we are not without our problems.”
“But I thought you guys…well…I thought-”
“We date wonderfully and we make perfect friends…however sex isn’t great between us-unless I happen to be in the body of a woman, and then it’s…fantastic. It’s more than fantastic…it’s fucking fantastic.”
“So he’s straight?” Junsu asked.
“I hate that terminology,” Sungmin snapped. “Love between the same genders is not crooked.”
“Of course not,” Junsu quickly agreed.
“I am sorry for snapping at you,” Sungmin apologized, standing up. “I shouldn’t even be talking about this. I just really wanted it to work out…I really did, and I don’t think it is going to. I am going to go now, but do me a favor.”
“Anything,” Junsu, who Sungmin was looking down at, immediately responded.
“Don’t lead Commander Yoochun on…unless you are positive you can go through with it.”
Junsu nodded his head. Sungmin rewarded him with a small smile and then walked away.
Eunhyuk moved his plate of food out of the way and banged his head against the table purposely.
“Stop,” Junsu hissed under his breath. “It isn’t that bad.”
“How can you say that?” Eunhyuk complained, resting his head against the table. “I am not sure I am gay…I can’t initiate anything unless I am sure. I am so not sure.”
“Look on the bright side…they are having problems. If they weren’t having problems you couldn’t initiate anything even if you wanted to. Problems are good!”
“They are having problems because Siwon isn’t gay!”
“Honestly, he always seemed gay to me.”
“Me too,” Eunhyuk said lifting his head. “But Sungmin did say the sex was great when he was in the body of a woman.”
“But…maybe it was just different for Sungmin then,” Junsu said, reasoning aloud. “Sungmin wasn’t used to being a girl and having girl parts…I hear women can have lots of orgasms. So, maybe it was the newness that Sungmin found exciting. Maybe Siwon wasn’t so fantastic.”
“Good point.”
“Maybe…Siwon isn’t interesting enough in bed? Maybe he is just boring? Maybe Sungmin thinks it’s a sexual preference thing…when really Siwon is just not impressive.”
Eunhyuk brightened. “I am impressive…I am a bottomless pit of energy. Once I get them to the bed, they are always pleased.”
“So you say.”
“It’s true! Prostitutes have even offered to give me my money back.”
Junsu rolled his eyes. “I thought you said they offered to pay you.”
“I never said that,” Eunhyuk denied.
“Yes, you did.”
“I did not.”
“Let’s call Donghae and ask him how many times he’s heard the, ‘I am so good prostitutes pay me’ tales from you.”
Eunhyuk slumped. “I might have exaggerated.”
“Yes, I know.”
“But I really am exciting…not boring at all.”
Junsu smiled at his friend and was unable to resist saying, “With women and frogs.”
Eunhyuk’s cheeks reddened. “Don’t go there.”
“Sorry, couldn’t resist…but you owe me!”
“I do,” Eunhyuk conceded. “How are you going to get out of eating with Commander Yoochun?”
“I feel bad for flirting with him now. I wish we had thought of another way to broach the subject with Sungmin…I think I might just have to eat with him.”
“Your flirting was very convincing…I forgot you were acting.”
“Maybe it was not a complete act-I do have those complicated feelings for him,” Junsu told his best friend.
“You do.”
“He seemed so happy.”
“He did.”
Junsu sighed. “I will probably totally regret this.”
“Probably.”
******************
One week later, WooHyun was on the gym floor taking his first self defense lesson with security. Security clearance was a must if a member of the crew was planning on going on away missions. SungGyu had come to support him, along with his friend L.
WooHyun turned away from Kangin, who was instructing him, to look at SungGyu. The young doctor then lifted up both his hands, shaped them into a heart and pretended to throw it to SungGyu, all the while with a huge smile upon his face.
SungGyu couldn’t keep from laughing and rewarded the young doctor with his own smile, just as huge.
“Dude, did he just throw a heart at you?” an incredulous L asked.
SungGyu shook his head.
“He did,” the young pilot, who was sitting by SungGyu, insisted. “Don’t deny it.”
“It’s a greeting,” SungGyu explained.
L gave SungGyu a doubtful look. “I am sure it is-for lovers.”
SungGyu crossed his legs and stated, “We are not lovers.”
“What are you two exactly?”
“Best friends.”
“Really?” L asked, sounding unconvinced. “You two act like you’re in love.”
SungGyu turned and gave the other man a stern stare. “What do you know about being in love?”
“Nothing,” L quickly answered. “So you are best friends?”
“Yes.”
“After knowing him…for only eight weeks he’s your best friend?”
SungGyu, whose eyes were on WooHyun, nodded his head. “I can’t explain it…but he is my best friend. I trusted him with my life on Kanzi and also with the captain and Junsu’s life, and even though he was betraying his world…members of his own family, he didn’t fail me.”
“That was pretty cool,” L agreed. “When you say it like that…You seem like such different people though. I haven’t hung out with him that much, but he’s so…friendly.”
SungGyu, who was still watching WooHyun, reached out a hand and swatted L’s leg. “I am friendly!”
“You don’t throw hearts at people.”
“I might-I thought he was a doctor,” SungGyu stated as he watched WooHyun handle Kangin with complete ease.
L turned his focus to WooHyun and Kangin and his mouth fell open. “Shit.”
“He’s better than you are,” SungGyu told L.
“And he’s better than you.”
“I know.”
“He’s better than the both of us.”
SungGyu just nodded his head, spellbound by the action taking place on the floor.
L watched as Kangin took a break, and DongWoo took over. “What kind of doctor is he?”
“A kickass doctor,” Junsu, who had arrived unnoticed by the other two men, declared as he sat down on SungGyu’s other side.
“They are best friends for a reason,” a grinning L added. “If you go on away missions together he can protect you and stitch you up. It’s like a two for one deal.”
“Haha, you are so funny,” SungGyu grumbled to L but never took his eyes off WooHyun.
“Ensign DongWoo is more of a match,” Junsu said, still watching the practice. “I guess WooHyun isn’t going to need any further self-defense classes.”
A still amazed SungGyu just shook head.
“I bet he gets to go on away missions soon,” Junsu informed them.
“Yeah,” SungGyu said, controlling his admiration. “Doctors are spared the more rigorous self-defense levels of training. Not that he would have any problem passing them.”
“Well, it looks like his training is over,” L told them. “That was one of the shortest training courses ever.”
Junsu was watching WooHyun, who had just thrown another heart at SungGyu. He laughed and asked SungGyu, “Did he just throw a heart at you?”
L chucked and answered for SungGyu, “Didn’t you know that’s a Kanzi greeting?”
Junsu snorted. “Really? They didn’t seem like heart throwing people to me.”
“They didn’t exactly like us…he had to learn it somewhere,” SungGyu replied, unperturbed. “I don’t mind.”
L fought back a chuckle. “That’s good, because he is teaching DongWoo how to do it now.”
SungGyu just groaned.
**************************
“Visiting her again?”
SooYoung turned from her cousin’s bedside to face Dr. Cho. “Just for a short moment, I’m very busy with the M Class planet we discovered. I just feel badly if I don’t visit her everyday.”
Ryeowook cleared his throat and brought up a subject he had been dreading. “I should have moved her by now.”
“That seems…so final…can we not wait a bit longer?”
“What are we waiting on?” Ryeowook gently asked the new head of the science department,
SooYoung looked away from the doctor and back to her cousin, ignoring his question by asking, “Did you suspect she was bonded with Changmin?”
“At times I did. Changmin was always very relaxed with her, even when he first discovered he was a Joong. Back then Changmin was very unstable and erratic, but Sulli had a calming affect on him. Once he returned to his human form…he still sought her out,” Ryeowook answered, going along with the change in the topic.
“Is that all?”
“No, we suspected that he might have healed…healed her psyche, but if he did, he had no knowledge of doing so…it could never be proven. She was a very bright young woman-she might have overcome her own demons.”
“She was always like that…even as child. Nothing ever got her down. Her mother used to joke that she was born smiling.”
“Also, Heechul would say things about them being together, and I could not discount them.”
SooYoung frowned. “Heechul is not in his right mind.”
“No, but I think this version of Heechul…can sometimes channel the genius he once was. I never completely discount anything Heechul says…his brilliance was unmatched in the medical community. He was the youngest chief medical officer in the history of Starfleet for a reason.”
SooYoung nodded her head. “He was known for coming to the correct conclusions with very little supporting data.”
“His intuition was second to none…and he thought something tied Sulli and Changmin together.”
“But why did he think this? Sulli did not act like…like she was interested in Changmin romantically,” SooYoung added, puzzled. “When I first returned to the ship…Sulli was matchmaking. She acted as if she wanted me and Changmin to be together and she was very sincere about it.”
Ryeowook walked up to the bed and looked down at the beautiful sleeping girl. “She was very traumatized by what happened to her on Belara. She wasn’t ready to be in any relationship.”
SooYoung fought back the feelings of nausea she always felt when she thought of her poor, sweet cousin and the nightmare she had been forced to live. “Hangeng and Victoria didn’t flaunt that they were bonded, but it was very obvious to me-since Victoria could not make me think otherwise. Captain Yunho and Jaejoong’s bond is almost palpable to all of us around them. How could Sulli and Changmin be bonded and it not be clear to all, especially Jaejoong?”
“But they weren’t bonded,” Minho replied as he entered the room.
SooYoung turned to face her younger brother. “How can you say that? The moment he disappears she is lost. I know Changmin knew this would happen to her…he ordered for her to stay in here.”
Minho shook his head. “Maybe he did, but he did not think they were bonded. Of course he was as suspicious as you, once his thoughts cleared, but he ruled it out. When a Joong bonds with a mate they take on the form of their mate’s ideal mate.”
“And what exactly does that disprove?” SooYoung asked, puzzled.
“Changmin asked Sulli what her ideal mate was…and he was much relieved when she told him it was the gymnast of Gurrin 5,” Minho explained to his sister. “No one would ever compare Changmin to a gymnast from Gurrin 5.”
SooYoung was unable to hide her shock as she repeated in a whisper, “The gymnast of Gurrin 5?”
“Changmin was only half Joong, and he was very different from Jaejoong. When Yunho and Jaejoong were first bonded they could not leave each other…Sulli and Changmin never exhibited any of that. It is possible that Changmin wasn’t even capable of bonding with anyone,” Ryeowook added.
“He seemed very fond of her. I know I only knew him before his Joong side emerged…but he hugged her with such ease,” SooYoung stated unable to rid herself of her lingering suspicions.
Minho reached out and touched his sister’s shoulder. “I believe it was their time on Belara that tied them together.”
SooYoung turned back to her sleeping cousin. “I suppose,” she told her brother and the doctor, but she refused to believe that only friendship linked her cousin and Changmin together.
*********************************
Yunho sat in his captain’s chair debating his options. He was very eager to head the away team; he had been cooped up on the ship for weeks now. His problem was that Jaejoong would never allow him to visit a planet without him and leaving the ship without Jaejoong would be nearly impossible.
Pregnant Starfleet officers were not excluded from away missions, but Yunho found the thought of his very pregnant mate accompanying him on an unexplored planet discomforting. Jaejoong’s telepathic powers were fading quickly as the pregnancy progressed and he became more and more enthralled by the life growing inside of him, but Yunho highly doubted he could leave the ship without the bond alerting Jaejoong.
Yunho quickly discarded any thoughts of attempting to leave the ship without notifying Jaejoong. It would be dishonest and his relationship with Jaejoong was growing stronger every day; he would not betray Jaejoong’s trust. His and Jaejoong’s lives were tied together-now and forever and he would not willfully blemish their epic love.
Yunho was very aware of Kyuhyun sitting to his right in the first officer’s chair. Kyuhyun seemed to be handling his separation from Ryeowook well, but Yunho suspected otherwise. He didn’t want Kyuhyun to head the away mission unless he was certain his mind was on the mission and not the mess he had made of his life. But to put someone else in charge of the mission would be insulting to Kyuhyun and a show of no faith.
Unless he put Ensign SungGyu in charge…and said it was a learning experience; but no, SungGyu was much too young to lead an away team-even if he would be Yunho’s first choice. Which Yunho found rather startling, considering how green the young ensign was. Sungmin excelled at implementing orders, but original thinking was not his forte. Commander Yoochun, who was more than capable of commanding others, was always distracted by new technology and the planet had a mysterious device that was sure to garner all of Yoochun’s attention. SooYoung, Yesung, and Donghae had never led an away mission…and Yunho was well aware he needed to give them the chance, but still he found himself wishing Ensign SungGyu was older and a long established lieutenant instead of a lowly ensign.
Yunho was distracted from his thoughts when the doors to the bridge whooshed open and Jaejoong emerged on the bridge wearing his uniform. Yunho smiled at his mate as Jaejoong seated himself to his left.
“This is a nice surprise,” Yunho told his mate.
“It was just too cold in our quarters.”
Yunho couldn’t keep from snorting. “Really?”
Jaejoong nodded his head. “So are you eager to go exploring new worlds?”
“Always, but I won’t be exploring this one.”
“Why not?”
Yunho reached and took Jaejoong’s hand and sent telepathically, “I didn’t think you would let me?”
“I shall go with you.”
“No…no…no.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I am not being ridiculous.”
“I am self-healing and although my telepathic powers are greatly diminished…they aren’t completely gone.”
“True.”
“The time is fast approaching when my telepathic abilities will vanish completely.”
“It won’t be for long.”
“Changmin’s growth rate will slow down.”
“It hasn’t yet.”
“It will.”
“Then we will just have to wait a little longer for our miracle.”
“I do want to go on the away mission.”
“Why?”
“Because it will make you happy, and also I would like to walk on a planet. I think feeling the warmth of a sun against my face would be nice.”
Yunho resisted the urge to kiss his mate while they were on the bridge. He was relieved that Jaejoong’s freezing phase had passed. “Then we shall go exploring at 0600 hours tomorrow.”
“Perfect,” Jaejoong replied, leaning over to kiss Yunho on the cheek.
*****************************
Ryeowook was nearing the entrance to Ten Forward with a picnic basket in his hand, when he unexpectedly met up with Kyuhyun in the seldom used corridor. Ryeowook froze, he had been successfully avoiding the other man for weeks and to his relief Kyuhyun had not sought him out.
“Oh, hello,” Kyuhyun said awkwardly after coming to a halt in front of the other man.
Ryeowook looked down the corridor where Kyuhyun had emerged from and couldn’t keep from questioning, “Were you in the holodeck?”
“Yes, the captain has allowed me special use of it.”
Ryeowook recoiled, taking a step backwards, automatically assuming the worst. “Really? Anyone joining you or is the holodeck providing all your entertainment? Not that I care.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Like I said, I don’t care.”
“Why did you ask then?”
“Habit…one I am working on breaking,” Ryeowook snapped. “I will be going now.”
Kyuhyun reached out and grabbed Ryeowook by the arm as the other man attempted to pass him in the corridor. “I’m using the holodeck to continue my therapy.”
“You are…since when?” Ryeowook asked, unable to hide his curiosity.
“Heechul suggested I use the holodeck,” Kyuhyun explained, letting go of Ryeowook.
“Heechul?”
“Yes, he had one of his rare moments of lucidity and suggested it to me. After some reflection I realized how right he was. It appears I’m more open to therapy when you are not monitoring every aspect of it.”
“Yes, I remember one of the many drawbacks to being married to the Chief Medical Officer,” Ryeowook told the other man as he tightly gripped the picnic basket he was holding.
Kyuhyun closed his eyes, feeling the other man’s hurt and anger. “I wish…I wish I could take that back. I wish-”
“Why would you want to take it back? You meant it. You meant every word…you were just being honest. You hated yourself for saying it, but you meant it.”
“Yes, I meant it at the time, but I should not have said it. I should not have lashed out at you.”
Ryeowook backed up against the corridor wall and questioned, “Why are you fighting the divorce? I don’t understand your reasons…you are the one that chose to end our marriage.”
“I did not!” Kyuhyun vehemently denied. “Even back then, when I was being a complete idiot…I never wanted a divorce.”
Ryeowook dropped the picnic basket. “No, that is a lie! I gave you a choice and you chose divorce.”
“I didn’t choose anything! I didn’t do anything of the sort. This was your deal…I never agreed to it. Plus, I have not betrayed you!”
“Not for a lack of trying. We both know if the captain had not intervened you would have.”
Kyuhyun stepped closer to Ryeowook and admitted, “And I wish he hadn’t.”
“God,” was all Ryeowook could get out of his mouth and as he brought his hands up to cover his face and whispered, “It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.”
“Don’t misunderstand me…I am grateful, but this way…I’ll never know if…if I could have stopped myself. I need to know that I could have stopped myself from hurting you. I went to the transporter room and I was going to beam down, but I was so full of doubts. I was relieved when I found out we were no longer in orbit.” Kyuhyun reached out and pulled Ryeowook’s hands away from his face to look at the man he had loved since the academy. “I wasn’t disappointed. I was relieved.”
“But don’t you see…even if you had beamed down there and decided to not go through with it…it would still have been too late for us,” Ryeowook told him, holding back his tears.
“No, I don’t believe that,” Kyuhyun insisted. “I refuse to believe that. We have…our love has suffered a lot. I know I have done you wrong, but Ryeowook-I…I…I just need you to love me a little longer…I promise I am trying my best to be better for you.”
Ryeowook pushed Kyuhyun away from him. “Stop it! Just stop it! You don’t have the right to ask anything of me.”
“Yes, I do! We are still married and we promised to love each other for better and worse….and this is just the worst of me.”
“I…I…you need to shut up!” Ryeowook yelled at the other man as he picked up the picnic basket. “This is your fault! Don’t make me out to be the bad guy.”
“Don’t you think I know that? I know you are not the bad guy but I am not bad either. I am just…I just need time to heal. I didn’t want to fight with you. I really didn’t.”
“Divorce me and there will be no more fighting.”
“I am not going to do that.”
“Then we are going to fight, because you have hurt me for the last time.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Ryeowook eyed the picnic basket and contemplated throwing it at his husband. “Then why did you?”
“I can’t explain why I react the way I do…but it isn’t because of you…it’s because of all the things that have happened to me. It’s just hard sometimes…and crazy thoughts take over.”
“Kyuhyun…”
“I am not excusing the way I behaved, but it wasn’t to hurt you-”
“Well, it did!”
“I don’t want to lose you.”
“You already have!”
“Ryeowook…”
“You get all the therapy you need, and I really hope you get better…I do. I want you to be better, but we are over, now please just let me go,” Ryeowook pleaded, gripping the basket tightly.
“Ryeowook…”
“I know you have suffered…but I just…I can’t be with you anymore.”
“Ryeowook…”
“I am not going to say I don’t still care about you…because I do, but I don’t trust you with my heart.”
“Am I interrupting something?”
Ryeowook and Kyuhyun both jerked their heads in the direction of the voice, and found Siwon watching them.
“Yes,” Kyuhyun answered sharply.
“No, Kyuhyun was just leaving,” Ryeowook said, loosening his grip on the picnic basket. “We can have lunch, now.”
Kyuhyun’s mouth dropped open as he realized the two men were having lunch together in the secluded Ten Forward.
Siwon eyed Kyuhyun carefully as he told Ryeowook, “I feared I was too early.”
“No, I actually got here awhile ago. I wanted a moment alone…but that didn’t work out as planned.”
“Ryeowook, what the hell are you doing with him? Is this some way to get back at me and Sungmin with one stone?” Kyuhyun questioned in an accusing voice.
Ryeowook dropped the picnic basket again. “I know you didn’t just say that!”
“Well, I did! Are you insane? Sungmin will kick your ass!” Kyuhyun shouted.
Siwon held up his hands. “I assure you-”
“Shut up,” Ryeowook barked at Siwon, interrupting him before he could finish responding. Ryeowook then focused only on Kyuhyun. “Why do you care? Are you jealous?”
“Have you listened to a word I have said? Of course, I am jealous,” Kyuhyun replied, stepping up to Ryeowook and snatching the picnic basket up and thrusting it into Ryeowook’s chest. “I love you!”
Ryeowook puffed up and retorted, “Really…you are jealous? Not you, the great defender of polygamy. I mean love and sex have nothing to do with each other! Why would the fact that I am having sex with Siwon bother you?”
Siwon cleared his throat, but the warning glare Ryeowook sent his way had him clamping his mouth shut.
“Liar,” Kyuhyun told Ryeowook, shaking his head. “I know you…like nobody else will ever know you…and I know you are lying.”
“What if I’m not?”
“You are!”
“Kyuhyun, do you even realize how big of hypocrite you are?”
“Yes, I know,” Kyuhyun answered, reaching out to hold Ryeowook’s shoulders. “But you love me anyway.”
“You…you…jerk!” Ryeowook shouted, dropping the picnic basket…again.
“I am so sorry I hurt you…I am sorry for a lot of things…but let’s just stop these games. We belong together, and you and I both know it.”
Ryeowook stomped Kyuhyun’s foot with his own, causing Kyuhyun to let go of him. “I know you’re an ass! That’s what I know. You are sorry, so I should just forgive you! Bullshit!”
Kyuhyun limped back. “Ryeowook…”
“I am going to have lunch with Siwon…” Ryeowook paused as he turned back to face the prince and found they were alone. “He left.”
Kyuhyun, who was bent over rubbing his foot, looked up at the other man and suggested, “We could have lunch together instead?”
The doctor whirled around, snatched the picnic basket off the floor and threw it at Kyuhyun. “Here! Take it! You can choke on it for all I care!”
****************
“No, I think at one time there was probably an entire city surrounding it,” Lieutenant SooYoung said, answering Yunho’s question. “It’s just the only remaining structure from the culture that once lived on this planet.”
“Amazing,” Yunho responded, eyeing the device that was made of some virtually indestructible substance the Expectation’s computers could not identify. They were in the middle of a desert on the planet that the science department had dubbed Desert 37. They temperature was surprisingly mild, considering the terrain.
Commander Yoochun was kneeling by the device that was approximately sixteen meters in length, three meters in height, and four meters in width. “It’s very similar to the device that was responsible for the gender switch.”
“Seriously,” Sungmin exclaimed, taking a step back. “Should you be so close to it?”
“I am just observing it,” Yoochun informed the uneasy security chief. “I am not meddling with anything.”
Ensign SungGyu, who was studying the device uneasily, asked, “Is it older than the other one?
“It’s much older,” Lieutenant SooYoung supplied.
“Am I the only one unsettled by it?” Sungmin questioned.
“You are just afraid your boobs will return,” Yoochun told him.
“And you aren’t?” Sungmin asked, aghast.
Yoochun shrugged, still fascinated by the device. “I would probably get a lot more action if I were a girl.”
“Commander,” Yunho warned. “Why isn’t it covered in sand? It should have been buried thousands of years ago.”
Lieutenant SooYoung suggested, “It must have some sort of maintenance system that is still in affect.”
Sungmin took another step away from the device. “Are you saying it still works?”
“Yep,” Yoochun excitedly answered.
“It’s amazing that it is still functioning after all these years,” SungGyu, who was kneeling beside the Chief Engineer, stated.
“Indeed,” SooYoung agreed.
“So boring,” Jaejoong grumbled, standing back away from the device.
Doctor Nam, who was standing beside Jaejoong replied, “Not exactly how I envisioned my first mission, but as long as everybody is safe, I’m happy.”
“Yes, I am not exactly up for a fight either,” Jaejoong admitted.
WooHyun looked down at the Joong’s belly. “It seems like your baby is eager to be born.”
“His growth rate will slow down…although if I broke the three month record I wouldn’t be surprised. Yunho and I do tend to break all the Joong records,” Jaejoong sighed and admitted. “But it wouldn’t be something I could brag about.”
“Really? Why not?” asked a confused WooHyun.
Jaejoong tensed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay,” WooHyun relented, strolling away from Jaejoong and towards the others.
“How can it be more advanced if it is so much older?” Sungmin asked.
“I don’t know. It seems to be built by the same species,” Yoochun replied. “It just seems more advanced. It’s more compact and I wouldn’t even know where to begin taking it apart.”
“You are not taking it apart,” Yunho said, speaking up. “We have no idea what it does…and I’d rather not be turned into a woman.”
Yoochun looked up at Yunho. “But just think what a great mommy you would make.”
SungGyu stood up trying not to smile at the captain.
Lieutenant SooYoung did not attempt to hide her smile. “You will make a splendid parent no matter the gender, Captain.”
Lieutenant Sungmin knelt down by Yoochun and whispered, “Please, resist whatever uncontrollable urges you have to find out how this thing works.”
Yoochun frowned and complained, “I miss Changmin…he would have understood my curiosity.”
“We are all curious,” Yunho said from above the engineer, “but if he we are going to start dismantling this device…we can leave that to robotics.”
WooHyun stood next to SungGyu and asked, “Were you turned into a woman, too?”
“No,” SungGyu answered. “I had not yet started going on away missions then…thankfully.”
“Yunho, how much longer are we going to be here?” Jaejoong complained as he walked up to them. “I feel the urge to cook something.”
Yunho turned toward his mate and began to reply when a blue light emanated from the device, enveloping all of them.
The blue light disappeared as quickly as it appeared.
Yunho instinctively headed toward Jaejoong but quickly found himself jerked backwards as if he was tied to something. Yunho tumbled, finding himself on the ground beside Lieutenant SooYoung’s feet. “Jaejoong!”
Jaejoong, who still standing away from the others, asked, “What? I am perfectly fine.”
“They are still here,” Yoochun declared with relief as he stood up clutching his scrotum.
“Mine too,” Sungmin said, also relieved.
SungGyu, who had his tricorder out scanning, answered, “There was a quick energy spike from the device and now it is gone.”
“If these readings are correct then we are-” SooYoung, who was also looking at her tricorder, was interrupted when Yunho, who had gotten up again was knocked into her after trying to reach Jaejoong.
Jaejoong stared at Yunho curiously and stated, “You seem to be awfully clumsy all of a sudden.”
“What is going on?” Sungmin asked, after he tried to step away from Yoochun and found himself unable to put any distance between himself and the engineer.
Doctor Nam and Ensign SungGyu had only managed to take one step away from each other before they were stopped. “It’s as if we are tied together by some invisible force,” SungGyu said, mystified.
“Exactly,” SooYoung confirmed, studying the tricorder. “It appears Ensign SungGyu and Doctor Nam are linked together by some invisible force and so are Commander Yoochun and Lieutenant Sungmin, and…” SooYoung paused to look at the captain. “And the captain and I.”
It was Commander Yoochun who broke the silence that followed the science officer’s announcement. “Fuck!”