Fortunately for Jinki, he came to terms with his insecurity just enough in time to really get ready for their end of semester exams. He was generally ready like always, but that was also a time in which he was busier than usual helping other students – and friends – prepare for their upcoming tests too. He would have said family but Hajoon had a part-time tutor who was helping her to make sure she’d be up to snuff for officially transferring to Niichi after she graduated next semester.

                While that was a load off Jinki’s mind, albeit a reluctant one, Henry was his latest concern. Ercite and Larad were fine, as usual, and Kibum had been staying on top of things for the most part. Jinki wanted to help Kibum more but it wasn’t like he could do anything to assist him with his flight final anyway. And everything else was in the more or less acceptable range of preparedness for Kibum’s preferences. But as for Jinki’s best friend… he’d gotten too distracted during the semester with his girlfriend and his grades were looking like they might suffer for it.

                Thrown back into the craziness of exam season, Jinki had little enough time to worry about anything else other than himself, his panicking best friend, and all the younger students who practically begged him for assistance, including Lorielle, ironically enough. Not that she and Henry could study in the same space at the same time. They were both hopeless in that… But after many long days and even longer nights, all his efforts seemed to pay off.

                “Oh! You’re the best, Jinki!” Henry cheered when he finally got his results. He had one barely passing grade just above the sixty percent mark but the rest were in comfortably safe zones for him.

                When he spoke to Ercite, they were excited to announce, “I will be interning next semester at the shipyard here.”

                “What?!” the group gasped in proud surprise.

                “What will you be doing there?” Jinki asked, all smiles and happy energy.

                Ercite shrugged once. “I’m not entirely sure. Probably paperwork. And lots of it. Knowing you Terrans,” they teased with a noticeable eye roll. “But I’ve been promised opportunities to work on a ship from time to time to get firsthand experience. If you had told them you were going to be crewing a freelance ship in the future, they might have offered a similar position to you too,” they reminded Larad, a finger pointing at the tall male beside them.

                Larad simply shrugged and grabbed their whole hand in his lightly. “Everyone knows you’re smarter than I am, so it only makes sense I take a few more courses before I graduate. I’ll apply for the interim internship program since we’ll have to wait for Kibum anyway,” he added, glancing at the Terran with a bemused smile.

                “I can’t help it I’m younger than you guys,” he scoffed, hands gesturing fluidly in the space around him.

                “How’d you make out, love?” Jinki asked to help distract from the current discussion, leaning close enough to nudge Kibum’s shoulder with his.

                Kibum grinned and leaned back, immediately relaxing against his boyfriend. “I finally beat that snobby Toran in flight results.” Toran was a well-connected Varium who had also happened to be Kibum’s nemesis in all their flight classes thus far.

                “Congrats!” “Congratulations!” “Well done!”

                Kibum flinched when the group cheered him on unexpectedly. Then he laughed and nodded in agreement. “He may have money, but he got lazy in the middle of the semester. I didn’t,” he preened proudly, placing one hand on his chest.

                “Does that mean you finally beat Floris?” Ercite asked, looking up at him curiously.

                “Ugh…” Kibum groaned with a roll of his eyes. “No. I can’t even get mad at her either,” he grumbled with a heavy sigh. “Her family has money but she refuses to use it. She’s just… a damn good pilot,” he admitted begrudgingly.

                Jinki knew that Floris was Kibum’s competition. Unlike Toran, they never butted heads as antagonistic rivals, but they were in a deadlocked competition based on skill… A smaller than average Moladhi with azure and emerald plumage, she would have been striking anywhere. It threw a lot of people off when she proved how good she was at flying. “Well, at least it’s a Moladhi that’s your rival. I mean, I know she can’t fly but I don’t doubt that’s something in their blood.”

                “Oh. Fair point,” Ercite nodded in agreement as Kibum remained silent, though he sighed again.

                “Okay! So we know that we all did pretty well this semester. What are we doing to celebrate?” Henry demanded as he shoved himself into the middle of the group, boisterous energy claiming their attention again.

                “We could have a party,” Kibum suggested with a shrug, apparently content to simply keep leaning against Jinki in the meantime.

                “Eh. That’s a bit much,” Henry waved off. “I mean, after we graduate, obviously,” he added quickly when he saw Kibum’s mild glare. The younger man’s expression softened in immediate understanding and Henry snorted. “We did bowling last semester. Oh! We could try a grav jumping competition,” he grinned mischievously as he looked around the group. “We might even be able to get Hajoon in on it before she leaves,” he tacked on with a glance at Jinki.

                He inhaled quickly and then waved his hands in front of him. “It’s fine. I know we don’t all favor grav jumping and we’ll definitely do something as a family before she goes, so it’s okay,” he assured them all with a glance down at Kibum and Ercite in particular. His boyfriend had improved a fair bit but he was not a strong player by any means, and Ercite could play but didn’t prefer to since it was awkward for someone of their size and composition.

                “Actually, I wouldn’t mind trying that again,” the Dawbn surprised him by saying.

                “Oh?” Larad was everyone’s response as he looked down at Ercite.

                They shrugged nonchalantly and laughed. “When else am I going to get a chance to try in good company?”

                “Oh! If we’re doing that, can I invite Passeri and Jackson again?” Kibum asked, looking around the group hopefully. From what Jinki knew, they’d really enjoyed the experience, even if they hadn’t exactly played in the spirit of grav jumping in the end.

                “If we can invite Psitassi. And Crawven,” Ercite negotiated when the group looked around at each other. Kibum wrinkled his nose at the response. “You said yourself you’d consider him as a weapons and combat master. Especially after that class about the Yeunamba,” they reminded him promptly.

                Kibum wrinkled his nose further and then sighed, “Fine! It doesn’t mean I’ve agreed yet, though!” he added quickly, looking at Jinki as if he expected his boyfriend to back him up.

                “We can still talk about it later,” Jinki nodded diplomatically. “But it wouldn’t hurt to see what else he can do outside of bowling,” he explained gently. He had a bit of a grudge against the Moladhi himself, due to how he’d treated Kibum previously, but he had to admit he was a deft hand at combat and that was not something to be sneezed at when you were far from home.

                “If we’re talking about invitations, I’m bringing Lorielle!” Henry chimed in confidently, a pleased grin on his face.

                “That’s not enough for a full team though. Should we invite anyone else?” Larad wondered, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

                “Did you want to invite Mihael?” Jinki asked, nudging Kibum specifically.

                He thought about it for a second and then nodded. “We could. I don’t know that we’re friends friends, but he’s not bad,” he promised with a quick smile. “And you guys? Anyone from the fan club or the administration office?” he wondered, gesturing at Ercite.

                They waved the thought away quickly. “No thank you. I see them enough at work.”

                Larad chuckled and shook his head. “What about those bendy ones from The Stars Align?” he asked, leveling his gaze at Kibum. “I would imagine they might have a natural inclination towards grav jumping.”

                “Alexander and Senna?” Kibum clarified. When Larad nodded, he shrugged. “I can ask.”

                “If we really need players, I can probably ask Hajoon to invite some of her teammates,” Jinki reminded the group.

                “No!” came the unified response followed by amused laughter. “Hajoon is bad enough,” Henry snorted. “We don’t need the rest of her team wiping the floor with us.”

                There was that…

                Eventually, they were able to get things sorted and opted to ask a couple other well-known people from their secondary circles to join in the fun. Grav jumping could be played with two people but having a full team was always best. And when it was as diverse as their group was… it was bound to be interesting.

                And in the end, it was. Everyone survived with only mild bruises and slightly tarnished pride, though there had been a couple close calls. Varium of Larad’s size could easily get carried away and accidentally hurt someone. Fortunately, the two similarly sized Varium spent most of their time squaring off for that reason, though Larad got a little protective when a Terran got too close to Ercite at one point. It could have been a nasty hit, but Jinki and Hajoon swooped in to divert the Terran and ‘rescue’ Ercite, thus giving Larad space to calm down.

                Not that it was entirely a fair game overall. Even without inviting her teammates, Hajoon definitely carried the game on her side, but at least she went easy on them. And when it was over, they all migrated to a restaurant in the city center near The Stars Aligned so the performers would be able to get ready for their shift if they needed.

                It was a prime opportunity to catch up on everything and come down from their high. After a heart-to-heart conversation which Psitassi mediated, Kibum finally agreed to accept Crawven as the fifth member of his crew. Eventually anyway. They still had a ways to go but that was one less thing to worry about. Though neither Kibum nor Jinki missed the look Crawven shared with Psitassi when their discussion was through. Or the one that Psitassi shared with Passeri. Definitely more going on there than they were privy to.

                Psitassi was briefly distracted by the holo-news screen at one point. Something about a new energy source that was recently being utilized in some of the outer worlds and a burgeoning trade deal between two of the galactic powerhouses, but then someone complained and the channel was turned. Psitassi’s frown was subtle but Jinki noticed it. Only because he was watching her. And when she turned to focus on the group again, she caught Jinki looking at her and flashed him a quick smile, completely at ease. Wow. She was as good as Kibum at that…

                Passeri and Jackson did talk a little shop while they were there with Kibum, as well as the part-timers. They were probably going to be stepping down as the mainliners in the next year or two. “We’re not retiring. Don’t worry,” Passeri purred as she reassured Kibum, reaching over to caress his cheek with her fingertips.

                “We’re just giving you, and you two,” Jackson added, gesturing at Kibum first and then at Alexander and Senna, “an opportunity to shine and for Garum to find more talent if he wants to.”

                “We’ve got a nice little nest egg between the two of us,” the Moladhi explained with a quick shrug, her tone carefully neutral. “But you,” she continued, pointing her finger at Kibum, “will need to purchase a ship in the future. That requires money,” she winked, snuggling closer to Jackson happily.

                “Don’t let this one fool you,” Psitassi giggled as she leaned close with a twinkle in her eye. “She’s besotted with her Terran and maybe…” she started to trail off before Passeri interrupted her.

                “Psitassi!”

                With a goofy grin on his face, Jackson chimed in, “I wouldn’t mind telling them.”

                Jinki was rather lost but he caught Kibum’s excited gasp and focused on his boyfriend to see what thought had occurred to him. “Are you planning on nesting soon?” Kibum asked excitedly, childishly giddy at the idea.

                Jackson nodded with an even wider grin while Passeri looked down at him with a raised brow. “Maybe,” she conceded, a rising lilt to her voice.

                “We are,” Jackson whispered in an exaggerated fashion.

                “Oh! Congratulations then!” Lorielle chimed in as she looped her arms around Henry’s and beamed at the news. Henry didn’t seem to know how to react. “Can I ask? I mean, I don’t want to offend, but are you planning on adopting? Genetic mod? Oh… I’m sorry,” she apologized quickly when the words seemed to flow too freely from her lips.

                Passeri at least seemed inclined to take pity on her. “We haven’t decided yet. Time will tell,” she explained simply, reaching down to run the backs of her fingers against Jackson’s cheek. He grabbed her hand in his and just smiled at her adoringly.

                The display made Jinki’s heart full and he looked at his boyfriend with a similarly adoring expression. Wordlessly, he reached his arms around Kibum’s waist and pulled him into his lap so he could hug him from behind with a pleased grin. He felt Kibum’s hands settle on top of his and saw the smile playing on his lips when he turned his head to the side to look at him over his shoulder. Yep. All was right in Jinki’s world.

               

                That event was certainly the highlight of their semester break before they had to go back for the next one. It was Jinki’s last, along with Henry, Ercite, and Larad. Kibum still had one more year to go after that but the second semester of junior year could still be challenging. Jinki needed to make sure his final semester counted so he made sure to take a couple classes that would shore up any weak areas he had, which definitely included an intermediate self-defense course. He wasn’t planning on being the fighting expert Crawven would be, but having some know-how was not a bad idea.

                Throughout the semester, the seniors made efforts to finalize their year and set themselves on track to have a temporary job immediately out of university since they would have to wait for Kibum to graduate later. Ercite worked hard at their internship with the goal of getting hired on after the fact and Larad made inquiries into the emergency medical response team that handled the heavy lifting in emergency situations in the city. Obviously, nano-tech could work wonders but sometimes physical hands were needed for larger tasks and transportation purposes. To that end, Varium, especially those who were larger than the average Terran, were especially welcome.

                Jinki was aiming to work further with his father or his mother, if at all possible. His father would be the better option for salvage purposes but his mother would allow for more practice with repairs and familiarity with tech in general. As luck would have it, he didn’t really have much choice. His mom couldn’t pull enough strings to get him into a city job and it was much easier lining something up to work the shift with his dad.

                Crawven started joining more of their gatherings together as well and, though he wasn’t the best fit, he actually wasn’t half bad when you started to get to know him. Large for a Moladhi, he could also be surprisingly fast and it wasn’t uncommon for him to try and corner Larad into sparring sessions. The Varium was the only one who could keep up with him anyway when it came to speed and strength combined. After graduation, he would be working in the general orbit of Psitassi.

                “We’re nothing more than friends. I promise,” he explained when they finally asked him about it, since he had been spending far more time in her company. “Not like I’d be able to get all that close to someone of her stature anyway,” he admitted with a resigned shrug. “But she did help me find a job as part of the security detail for one of the buildings her father owns in the city center. Nothing too crazy. Though they will give me additional training with weapons and self-defense,” he grinned, thoroughly proud of himself.

                “Her father owns a building in the city center?” Jinki asked in honest surprise.

                Kibum blinked and turned to look at him. “I didn’t tell you that? Oops,” he added, covering his mouth with one hand in embarrassment.

                “I mean, I knew she came from big money but…” he trailed off, blinking at the realization. He hadn’t realized they had enough to buy literal buildings in the city. Then again… that should have been an easy leap since he recalled they had been in discussions to help found an eighth dome on the planet some time ago.

                “Yeah. Politician and company president’s youngest daughter,” Crawven snorted, shaking his head wistfully. “And to think she had a crush on me at one point.”

                “I remember,” Kibum grumbled with a narrowed gaze at the taller male.

                “Yeah, yeah. Water under the bridge, alright?” the Moladhi snorted, waving his hand dismissively at Kibum.

                “Eh?” he nearly choked in response and Jinki had to reach a calming hand to comfort him.

                “That was then. This is now,” he reminded his boyfriend soothingly.

                “See?” Crawven gestured towards Jinki as if that was the answer he wished to give.

                “Not helping.”

                Jinki waved at Crawven to get him moving and then turned his attention to Kibum himself. He could still be a little prickly sometimes. To be fair, so could he when it came to Kibum in turn, but by and large, they were figuring things out.

                Of course they had their ups and downs and the occasional petty squabble. Jinki had to fight with himself to not make it worse than it probably was when such things did happen. His inclination to believe it was the beginning of the end was still pretty strong. But Kibum often hunted him down after the fact if he delayed too long. And the one time he didn’t… well. It was safe to say Jinki would not be making that mistake again in the future.

                He could still vividly recall the condemnation he’d received after one of their worst conflicts – stress fueled and petty as they sometimes were - in which he’d pretty much fled to hide with guilt carving him open. ‘Don’t you ever pull away or disappear on me like that again. And if you do, you better have a damn good reason for it. You of all people know what my father did. What happened with my mother.’ Really, once was all it took. Most of the time, he put all the punishment on himself, but he’d forgotten how pulling back might affect Kibum. Never again.

                And so they slogged their way forward, preparing as best they could for the eventual future. Jinki’s storage room at home was full of salvaged tech for the ship. Of course his mother wasn’t a ship engineer so the stuff had mostly only been made operable again and it would need an official inspection to confirm if it could be used instead of buying a new one, but it was a start. Ercite and Larad were still tracking down leads and attempting to find avenues of funding for the hull and installation of parts.

                They’d come to the conclusion that none of them were ever going to have enough money to buy a ship outright, but they could sign on to purchase one over time as long as they were able to make regular payments. The problem there was the contract. Ercite was none too keen on most of the terms and conditions that were laid out in the offers they did receive. Repayment plans were ridiculous or the contract itself was essentially a form of indentured servitude for ‘x’ amount of time. They could try to sign on as a freelancer with one of the established companies but that had its own pros and cons. Most notably, they would have a decided lack of freedom of choice. Whatever company they signed on with would come first, so if they were already on a run and the company wanted something, they’d be contractually obligated to drop everything and switch gears. It would be a mess.

                By the time graduation rolled around for the seniors, they still weren’t ready for the next steps. Their graduation celebration was energetic, but there was a strange pall that hung over everything. For Jinki especially, it was a time a of change. Hajoon would officially be leaving for Niichi shortly after the end of her semester. She was going to play on the University team and could potentially be a starter if she performed well over the break.

                Doyun started focusing more on academics while Siwoo threw herself into low grav gymnastics with an almost frightening intensity. Daejung retreated further into his games but started making more holo friends and entering the odd competition. Jinki wasn’t sure he’d ever become super successful, but he encouraged him all the same.

                And he himself had to go to work. Officially. At a full-time job, which meant he wouldn’t have as much time to spend with Kibum or help him with his last year of classes. Furthermore, Larad, Ercite, and Crawven were in the same boat. Work. Save money. Negotiate for parts and try to find an acceptable contract for a ship that wouldn’t put them in debt for life or demand ridiculous compensation if anything happened to the ship.

                Jinki spent as much time as he could with Kibum – in his senior dorm room, at Jinki’s house, at The Stars Aligned – but his schedule was otherwise full. Despite the fact that he was well aware of his parents’ schedules, he hadn’t realized being an actual working adult could be so time consuming. Especially with the hurdles they were facing. They didn’t have the backing of an official entity and, while freelancing gave them the opportunity for far more freedom, it also presented unique challenges. Even when they finally got off the ground, their pickings for jobs would probably be slim, low payoff, high risk, or some combination of all of the above.

                Fortunately, Kibum managed to worm his way into a shipping crew for piloting purposes for his internship in his final semester. And that was great for getting experience and starting to make connections with the right kinds of people. But even when he graduated, they were no closer to making their dream a living reality. Frustration and the onset of despair were a real thing they had to ward off frequently.

                After Kibum’s graduation ceremony and their group celebration, when they were finally alone again in the privacy of Jinki’s room - since Kibum was no longer living on campus - Jinki hugged his boyfriend close and asked, “What’s wrong?”

                Kibum leaned harder into Jinki’s embrace and huffed audibly. “Nothing really,” he mumbled, his forlorn body language betraying the words easily.

                Jinki had to stifle a chuckle. “That was very convincing.” With how dry his tone was, there was no doubt he was being gently sarcastic.

                “Ugh,” Kibum groaned, quite likely rolling his eyes. Jinki couldn’t see since he wasn’t looking up but he knew him well enough to figure that much at least. “I just…” Kibum started to say, pausing to take a breath and start again. “I just thought we would have gotten things figured out by now,” he explained uncertainly, a hint of doubt creeping into his tone.

                “Oh, love,” Jinki soothed, tightening his arms and patting his boyfriend on the back. “We knew this was going to be a challenge.”

                Kibum worked himself free to so he could shift to look at Jinki directly. “I know that!” he grumbled, hands resting on Jinki’s thighs. “It just… feels like I failed,” he sighed, looking up in frustration. “I have a crew but no ship and no commercial license yet. And no guarantee our ship will be seen anytime soon.”

                “Hey,” Jinki called, reaching out to grab Kibum’s face to make him look at him. “The commercial license is an easy fix, we’ve got a ton of parts to barter with for a ship, and however long it takes us now is time we can spend to prepare and make ourselves more marketable.” Kibum wrinkled his nose at that but didn’t argue, for which Jinki was grateful. He’d been kind of worried about this moment: when not everything had aligned in the timeframe in which Kibum had envisioned it.

                “But what if-”

                “Nope!” Jinki interrupted immediately, shifting his hand to place it over Kibum’s mouth, silencing him.

                “But-” Kibum tried again, pulling the hand away before Jinki used his other one instead.

                “No buts!” Jinki laughed, shaking his head.

                “Seriously, Jinki!” Kibum grumbled when he freed his mouth again. “What if-”

                This time, Jinki pulled on Kibum’s hands to draw them both together and silenced him with his lips, smiling when he finally felt Kibum relax just a little as he leaned into the kiss. He freed his hands to cup Kibum’s face in both hands again. “I’m serious too,” he whispered, pulling back just enough to look his boyfriend in the eyes. “We’re on the right track, love. Now we just have to make it happen,” he assured him, smooth cheeks with his thumbs.

                “Ugh. Why is it so hard?” Kibum grumbled, expression turning bemusedly thoughtful while he snorted from the look on Jinki’s face.

                No, he was not just about to comment with a ‘That’s what he said,’ joke… Clearing his throat, Jinki smiled. “I didn’t know I was dating a captain that was willing to give up so easily,” he teased, the mild taunt quite intentional.

                Kibum’s expression shifted from bemusement to challenging. One brow rose while a sly smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth. “Oh, you want to see what a captain can do, do you?” he asked archly. “Well allow me to show you,” he added, the unspoken ‘in more ways than one’ obvious as Kibum climbed into Jinki’s lap and pushed him back so he could proceed to show him exactly what he meant.

 

(a/n: I had meant to get this out sooner but this past week was... rough. I made a few changes to this one as well, especially near the end. I'm happy with how it turned out too so there's that. The next chapter should have us moving towards space travel at some point and progress. Still figuring out a couple background pieces of information I need to have sorted for the next few steps, but things are coming together! Thank you as always and I hope you continue to enjoy!)