The two moons shone through the windows when Minho took a sip of his red bubbly drink, hoping that this one wouldn’t be as bitter as the black one that he had spitted out at the bartender earlier. Forners were one of the worst bartenders in the universe, with their octopus like limbs leaking some unknown liquids whenever they moved but Minho couldn’t complain right now. He found this small pub-like place on the outskirts of any main galactical paths so he and his crewmembers could be safe and sound for at least a few days. Even the Forner staring at him with suspicion didn’t put him off; he knew they had a few illegal things under that bar so he and them had that wordless pact going on between them that one wouldn’t rat the other out.

“Captain Choi!” one of the crewmates wrapped an arm around his shoulders, grinning in his obviously drunken state. Minho wrinkled his nose when his red drink started turning green and decided to pass it to his mate who gulped it down in a second. “When do we start looking for a new ship?”

Minho sent him a short smile that basically told the man to cut that topic. Minho really wanted to own a ship again – a silver one, with the newest engines and his own seat – but it seemed more than impossible to get. They were once the terror of the galaxy. People were scared to let his name roll off their tongues. And now there he was, hiding around like a rat with his little mice. He didn’t deserve to be called a captain anymore, yet his men wouldn’t stop doing that.

The Forner rolled his frog-like huge eyes when noticing another ship docking right outside the window. “More clients” he mumbled with no excitement, already rubbing his tentacle inside the glass in order to clean it, spreading more transparent goo inside in the process though. Minho grew alert when noticing the ship – but before he could react there were already creatures barging inside with huge plasma guns.

“Better don’t move you ugly toad!” one of them shrieked, pointing the gun towards the bartender who tried to reach something from under the bar. His skin only started producing more liquids in fear. The guy tilted his small head with big ears and some young human boy ran towards the bar, pulling stuff from under it.

Pirates.

The thought blared in Minho’s head like a neon light and he watched the human searching carefully in the boxes before he felt a cold weapon being pressed to his nape.

“We are taking everything and everyone” the same big-eared creature demanded, loading his gun to underline his words. Minho could see his crewmates obliging from the corner of his eye – after they had lost everything with their ship there was no way they could get any sort of weapon so they were defenceless. But Minho wasn’t going to give up so easily.

He spun around on the stool he had been sitting on and grabbed the weapon from the surprised lizard-like alien, his eyes bulging out when Minho aimed it right back at him.

“Ha!” he screamed in triumph but not for long. The human boy hit him from the back with a heavy metal coffee machine right against his head.

“You awake?”

Minho furrowed his brow with a groan, the back of his head pulsing like hell. It had been a long while since he had had a fight so his body wasn’t as comfortable with pain as it used to be. After getting accustomed to the throbbing that numbed half of his nape Minho opened his eyes and blinked them a few times to see in the dim light. He was locked up in some sort of a cage, below deck as he assumed. The one who asked him was no one else than the boy who stood behind his current misery.

At least now Minho could take a better look at him. His nearly-white hair was pinned up into a very short ponytail, so short that some of the strands actually escaped and hung loose at the sides of his head. On the side there was some kind of thin French braid that snug closely to his skin. But what caught Minho’s attention more was the lines that started at the corner of his right eye and ran down his face, some curling up at his cheek, some continuing down his neck. They were all straight lines and zigs, as if drawn with a ruler. Minho couldn’t stop staring at the patterns that were even brighter than his already pale face, almost as white as his hair.

“Um, hi?” the guy tilted his head, catching Minho staring that made him feel uncomfortable as hell. He averted his gaze and took a glance around this time. The space beneath the deck was rather clean, at least the room he was kept in. “Who are you?” the boy moved closer, playing with a pocket knife. Minho noticed it was made out of crystals, not difficult to mine but difficult to shape. He wondered for a second how this weapon got into the hands of this person.

“I am captain Choi Minho” he replied proudly, straightening himself to look more intimidating even though his nape was screaming in pain. The guy looked at him for a second in pure confusion before letting out a chuckle. Minho didn’t like the fact he was chuckling.

“Well I didn’t see your ship when we raided the pub, Mr Captain” he shrugged when focusing on his knife, throwing it up and down easily. Minho’s hands tightened into fists. The boy was already getting onto his nerves with that attitude but he tried to stay calm, like a captain should.

“A ship needs a captain but a captain doesn’t need a ship” he admitted all-so-wisely, nodding shortly when the guy caught his knife and looked at Minho once more, his eyes shining in the dim light.

“Look, I don’t care if you have a ship or a boat. You can be useful to us. Especially if you used to be a captain. Can come in handy”

Minho grimaced at the ‘used to’ part. He was still a captain. Even though he told his crewmates not to call him that anymore.

“And who are you?” Minho wondered out loud, although he had a pretty good idea that they were a pirate group, sailing the galaxy in search of adventure and pricey goods. Mainly pricey goods.

“I guess you can tell we’re pirates, can’t you? And I’m Taemin” the boy hummed when putting the pocket knife where its place was in his medium-length pants. He stopped up from his crouched position and placed hands on his hips. Minho found it rather cute than intimidating but didn’t dare say anything. “So you’re gonna help us out?”

“I will think about it” Minho shrugged, acting like he had a choice. But he knew he didn’t. He could-

“Either join us or we leave you out in the cold vacuum” Taemin seemed to be reading his mind, wearing a mischievous smile on his lips as he took a step forward and took a hold of one of the bars of the cage Minho was kept in. He wondered about many things at that moment – did this boy have the keys? Was he a mere deckhand or someone more important than he could imagine? Was he able to get through to him and make him free him?

Before he could dwell in his thought any longer Taemin opened the cage and moved his head towards the door.

“Come, you will meet the real captain”.

The meeting went rather smoothly and Minho was surprised that he got accepted so well – as well as it can be, considering the fact that they put a collar around his neck to zap him whenever he misbehaved. Other than that the captain (it was the big-eared alien that had taken the lead when Minho and his crew had gotten attacked at the pub) shook his hand and welcomed him to their ship called Jinju. Taemin kept wearing that smirk all the time when the clasp on Minho’s collar clicked under his fingers – he was probably receiving some sick pleasure from that, Minho thought.

The whole pirate crew was as diverse as it was possible – which was only reasonable, as any species had their own special talents and abilities. He saw snake-like skin, long tails, three pairs of eyes and other features that would had been considered unrealistic or mythical all those decades ago before Earth had come in contact with aliens and was able to travel through galaxy. Now humans didn’t mean as much in the universe – they always loved thinking highly of themselves, that they were the only intelligent creatures among the sky. Too bad they were wrong all along.

“Why don’t you start cleaning the deck?” Taemin chirped happily, playing with the braid that went above his ear, touching it with his fingertips back and forth. Minho took in the scene in front of him – a vast space full of star clusters and quasars, blinking right above their heads behind the thick layer of glass that covered the ship’s ceiling. Minho liked it. It was clean, quite advanced, well-kept and gave him a good feeling overall. He could see himself taking the steer of a ship like this one. Taemin tried repeating himself but Minho cut him off.

“Where are my crewmates?” he felt guilty that he hadn’t asked about it earlier. He was their captain after all, how could he have forgotten about his men. The boy looked at him carefully before smiling and pointing with his finger here and there.

“They are already working. It took much less effort to make them do that”.

So Minho did what he used to do when he had started his journey with piracy – he cleaned the deck, checked the engines, fulfilled all of the captain’s orders. He had to do so not only for the sake of his own life and safety but mainly for the sake of his people. The captain may have seemed rather warm-hearted (since he had taken them in and let them work) but if one went against his will, Minho knew the captain wouldn’t hesitate to kill. He had probably killed dozens so far, a few more wouldn’t make any difference.

Days were boring and mundane. They didn’t come across any other ships or at least tiny planets that they could raid. They swam through the ocean of stars almost at a lazy pace, most of the pirates dozing off or playing cards. Taemin was supposed to keep an eye on Minho as he had done so far but he as well was getting bored and he knew Minho cared about his men too much to risk their well-being.

“Where are the days when people got scared at the sound of the word ‘pirate’?” Taemin mumbled with a pout, carving out in some gel-like substance that easily took any shape that his pocket knife imagined. “I mean, I remember when I was a kid people wouldn’t even dare say the word. Now they just gasp when they see us”

Minho found Taemin’s expressions amusing but he had to agree with the boy. There were gold times for the piracy a few years ago, when they had drowned in diamonds and gold and priceless metals. The pirates had a status of a kind, they were on top of the top. But just like Minho’s crew, many of the pirates teams got split up or arrested by the space officers. Some were killed, some were able to flee but couldn’t build everything up from the scratch again.

“How did you get here?” Minho asked instead, taking a break from organizing the cables and plugs. They were in the server and storage maintenance room, all alone with nothing more but occasional beeps of working computers. Minho liked taking care of those the most, since he could relax and just talk with the boy. He got a liking to him, he was easy-going and straightforward and they found a mutual language easily and literally as well. Some of the aliens spoke in a way Minho didn’t understand at all.

“Me? I got recruited” Taemin answered, putting down a little sculpture that was probably meant to be a ship. Minho noticed that Taemin was debating inside his head whether or not to continue his story so he simply waited in silence. The boy continued before letting out a little sigh and pulling down the neck of his shirt. Minho tried to hide his shock but a frown crept onto his face anyway when he noticed the red thick line around the boy’s neck, adorned here and there with a purple vein that popped under the skin.

“I wore a similar collar to yours. The only difference is that they almost never turned it off”

Minho felt sick. How could Taemin still work at the ship that treated him like that?

“I was ready to cut my head off just to stop the pain. Luckily the captain attacked the ship I was kept on. He saved my life”

Now Minho understood. The boy got to the current ship after the previous one got attacked and taken over. He stared at the reddened skin but not for long because Taemin covered it once more with the collar of his shirt.

“I’m sorry” was all Minho could say in that moment, the sight still so realistic in his head.

“Like you care” Taemin spat out but without venom and Minho knew why he did so – pirates didn’t show emotions. Once you did you were screwed. That’s why you never saw father and son on the same ship. It was too easy to blackmail and manipulate them – feelings and blood ties were the biggest weakness for pirates and the strongest weapon for assailants. It was only understandable that Taemin quickly closed himself after opening up for a while, especially with the past like his. Minho didn’t press the topic and simply pat the boy on the shoulder like a good leader he was.

Minho couldn’t complain about his stay on the ship. Captain seemed to like him and from time to time even asked about his opinion since he used to manage a ship of his own in the past. He got to know the new crew better every day and his own people didn’t have a problem befriending them as well. They shared a few secrets and techniques so their combined team was even stronger and less difficult to surprise. Taemin seemed to get even more comfortable after their little talk and they spent almost every minute together, mostly in silence but it didn’t bother neither of them. Minho got more and more curious about the boy, about his past and also about his origins, because it looked like Taemin wasn’t fully human, what with the lines adorning the right half of his face.

Besides his crewmembers there were also two other humans on the ship and if Minho remembered correctly their names were Kibum and Jonghyun. He had a little bit of a problem trying to memorize all of the names (especially the strange alien ones). Kibum and Jonghyun were always close but at the same time trying to keep distance and at first Minho found it strange but then he realized what it was – those two had something going between them. He noticed the silent glances that lasted less than a second and anyone would have missed them if didn’t pay enough attention. But they knew that it would be stupid to show affection, anyone could use it against them. Minho felt a bit bad for those two. It wasn’t easy to find your other half in a place as huge as the galaxy and once they did they had to hide to not place themselves in danger. You never know if there are any rats on the ship.

Minho caught himself looking at Taemin longer from the moment he had realized what was going on between Jonghyun and Kibum. It was difficult for him to understand why it was like that but his eyes lingered on his braid or the lines on his cheek for a bit too long, longer than they should. Sometimes Taemin would catch him and tell him to ‘get back to work or he would zap him’. But sometimes he made that unreadable grimace, something between shock and embarrassment maybe?

“So you are the ‘mouse’ of this ship?” Minho asked Taemin when replacing some of the chips with newer ones with updated information. Taemin hummed and watched Minho carefully, passing him new chips when he finished and moved to the next slot.

“Yeah, I’m slim and silent so I can sneak around well. I am usually the one who gets on board unnoticed” he sent Minho a smile when giving him a chip and letting their fingers touch for a millisecond longer than usual. Minho wondered if it was his imagination.

“That’s a useful skill” Minho finally said after a while and focused better on his job to not confuse the chips and slots. They fell quiet all over again and instead of the comfortable silence that they had always shared this one was more awkward. They only sent each other nervous smiles whenever Taemin passed the chip to Minho and their hands brushed again and again.

Minho couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment when it started but he and Taemin were crossing the line that they both knew they shouldn’t have. Their touches lingered for much longer, their gazes got so much deeper and more meaningful, the little smiles Taemin sent him were messing up with Minho’s head. It was all so dangerous and because of that only more thrilling. It was easier to control themselves when they were out on the deck or working with the others but as always Minho was sent quite often to the computer maintenance room and tension there between only the two of them was unbearable. Especially now when they had to move the big server to the wall.

“Can you hold it there? I can’t- wait-” Minho had a hard time because no matter how he took a hold of the server their hands collided and either of them moved their hand away at the speed of light and the server was in danger of falling over. “Maybe we should just lay it down and hold the top and the bottom” that sounded like a great idea in Minho’s head but when he and Taemin got to work their hands didn’t touch anymore but they were bound to stare at each other while taking tiny steps because the cabinet wasn’t light at all. It seemed to take forever before they finally reached the spot and Minho told Taemin to move away so he could push the server up to its standing position. He huffed a little bit when straightening his arms so that they would place the cabinet against the wall when he felt a pair of lips on his cheek, so soft and quick that he was sure it was only his head playing tricks on him. Taemin quickly placed his hands at the front of the server when he noticed it tipping forward dangerously.

“Be careful” he mumbled without looking at Minho and helped him finally position the thing as it should be. They stayed on their places awkwardly, taking in the silent beeps of the working computers. Both of them knew that they shouldn’t. They were risking more than their own lives, they were also risking the safety of everyone on this ship.

“I need to go now, the captain said…”

Screw this, Minho thought, and turned Taemin around gently with a hand on his shoulder before pressing their lips together. Just a simple peck. Nothing more than a brush of two pairs of lips and yet Minho felt more elated than when he had become the owner of his first ship. He had never kissed anyone like that, he had never felt that tingling feeling all over his body and when Taemin moved away first he almost felt cold.

“We shouldn’t Minho…” Taemin shook his head, avoiding Minho’s gaze and staring down at his own shoes.

“No one needs to know, we will be careful” he assured the boy, wanting to look into his eyes to know his feelings but holding himself back from raising his head up by the chin. After a while Taemin finally looked at him, his eyes shiny not in excitement but in fear.

“I don’t want to… Again…” his hand instinctively moved up to his neck and Minho understood him perfectly without any more words. Only the thought of someone hurting his Taemin boiled the blood in his veins – and the thought of Taemin as his was an excuse itself enough to hurt him.

Minho pulled Taemin close to his body and embraced him gently but firmly at the same time, wanting him to know that he would be safe in his arms. Taemin quickly snuggled closer to his chest and stayed like this for a while, enjoying the silent computer sounds and their own heartbeats. And when Taemin raised his head and looked into Minho’s eyes he knew that there was turning back. There was no way that he could escape that feeling, could run away from those big expectant eyes. So he only dipped his head and left yet another sweet kiss on top of Taemin’s lips.

do you guys like it so far? i hope you do uwu there will be only one more chapter, stay tuned and let me know in the comments what you think! love you all ♥