“Apologies for not coming by sooner,” Cyanite offered as they took a seat on the recliner in the living room. Kibum and Jinki sat down on the sofa nearby in perfect synch, still staring at their guest. It made the Dawbn chuckle and wave in amusement.

                “Sorry,” Kibum gasped, blinking quickly and shaking himself when he realized he was being quite rude. “We just weren’t-”

                “Expecting me?” Cyanite grinned, tilting their head to the side and shrugging. “I don’t think the rescue team was expecting me to develop after being stuck in space like I was but they should know Dawbn are made of sturdier particles.” They snorted again and took another breath. “Admittedly, it did take me longer than expected to develop enough to travel. Hence why I am so much smaller than I should be.” They gestured at their body with a rueful expression on their oddly familiar face.

                “You really do look like Ercite,” Jinki murmured, one hand holding Kibum’s carefully.

                “I should. They were my parent after all. They and Larad had discussed it a couple times actually. By their count, I’m early, but such is the way it goes,” they explained matter-of-factly.

                “I had no idea,” Kibum sighed, shaking his head sadly.

                Cyanite smiled and waved off the words. “They would have told you when they were ready.”

                Jinki raised his hand with a curious look on his face. When both turned to him, he continued, “I have to wonder… why Cyanite? It’s remarkably close to cyanide,” he added with a wry twist to his mouth.

                “A Terran concern, I assure you,” Cyanite laughed once but then stilled. “His favorite color.”

                “Huh?” Kibum and Jinki chirped at the same time.

                “Larad’s favorite color. Cyan,” the Dawbn continued with a small smile. “Ercite suggested the name once. You should have seen Larad’s smile. Should’ve taken a picture,” they murmured with a sigh, a small frown on their face.

                Kibum’s smile hurt his face as he looked at Jinki. A similar expression was on his boyfriend’s as well. But then a thought occurred to him and it slipped just a bit as he looked back at Cyanite. “Do you… remember the accident?” he asked cautiously, unsure if it was a touchy subject for them as well.

                Cyanite snorted. “Ercite figured you might ask that. It’s part of what I’m here about,” they explained, raising one finger and pointing it between the two. “Yes, I remember the accident. And Ercite wanted you to know that they were happy. Sad that their cycle ended there with Larad, but happy that they got to spend their final moments with him. And that he got you two out. With Crawven,” they added almost like an afterthought, the delay intentional and paired with a playful smirk.

                It felt wrong but it made Kibum laugh once and sniff as he grabbed Jinki’s hand in both of his. “They were happy? Both of them?” he asked, almost like he couldn’t believe it.

                “Ercite didn’t blame you for anything. I doubt Larad did either.”

                “See, love,” Jinki whispered, wrapping his arm around Kibum’s shoulders and kissing the side of his head tenderly. Kibum didn’t say anything but he did elbow Jinki gently in the ribs with an embarrassed smile on his lips.

                “And that being said, I’m here to tell you that I won’t be joining you on your next journey, but there should definitely be a next one in your future,” they grinned, pointing at Kibum intently.

                He frowned and looked at Jinki with a shadow of doubt. “We haven’t really made any-”

                “Feh,” Cyanite waved off, interrupting him before he could finish. They straightened in their seat, tilted their head slightly, and opened their mouth to say, “You are Almighty Key and whatever you put your mind to, you will make happen. So once you have decided to get your cute Terran into the stars again, you will do so,” in a perfect mimicry of Ercite.

                It was the last thing Kibum expected to hear. The words registered but hearing Ercite come from Cyanite’s mouth took his breath away. He felt Jinki’s arm tighten around him, grounding him in the moment. It took a second, but then the shock wore off enough for the words to make sense and he laughed. Weakly at first, a broken sound more air than anything else. But once started, it built on itself, growing in intensity and duration. And it was absolutely absurd, but he couldn’t stop laughing. The situation wasn’t funny – or at least it shouldn’t have been – but he could feel himself teetering on the edge of tears and laughter was the only thing keeping them at bay. He closed his eyes to try and get a hold of himself but it didn’t really help.

                “Ercit- Cyanite!” Jinki gaped, obviously looking between the Dawbn and Kibum.

                “Yes, yes. I know,” they murmured dismissively. Kibum couldn’t see because he still had his eyes closed but he could imagine the Dawbn waving their hand. “Anyway, the other reason I’m here is because Ercite was working on something for when they were eventually going to leave the Shine.”

                Kibum hiccupped, then choked, then grunted a response. “Huh?”

                “You okay?” Jinki asked with a slightly concerned look at Kibum.

                He coughed to clear his throat, patted his chest with his hand, and nodded. “Say that one more time,” he mumbled, pointing at Cyanite.

                They just smiled at him and opened a pocket on their side – a literal compartment in their small craggy body. “Here,” they said, offering what looked like a data chip held carefully between their fingers.

                Kibum just stared at it and the Dawbn so Jinki reached out to take it gingerly. “What’s this?” he asked.

                “The base programming for an AI unit to be your Coms and Navigations officer. They added an additional function to allow it to act as the main computer in the ship as well. Needs a bit of fleshing out but the fundamentals are there,” they explained with a smile. “If they’d had time, they would have finished it for you, but we’re lucky Ercite managed to send it as a data packet before the systems failed anyway.”

                The panic of hearing that Ercite had been thinking about leaving at some point faded away and a grateful smile crossed Kibum’s face instead. He reached a trembling hand to pluck the data chip from Jinki’s fingers so he could get a better look at it. “Does it have a name? The AI, I mean.”

                Cyanite nodded with a wry grin. “To keep up with you, Ercite wanted it to be a talented, empathetic, and independent program. The TAEMIN program, if you will.”

                Jinki laughed and Kibum had to smile as he looked at the chip. “Taemin, aye?” he confirmed, glancing over it to look at the Dawbn once more.

                They confirmed with a brighter grin. “Reminder. It’s a work in progress. But I figure you know a person or two who might be able to help finish the programming.”

                Kibum’s brows furrowed slightly and he bit his bottom lip. He jumped when Jinki nudged him with his shoulder. “Huh?”

                “Didn’t you say Eric knows a thing or two about programming?” he wondered, looking at the data chip and then back at Kibum himself.

                “Well… yes?” he answered hesitantly.

                “Perfect!” Cyanite beamed, clapping their hands together loudly. Both Jinki and Kibum flinched at the sound. “Message delivered!” they added, crawling out of the recliner so they could walk over to where Jinki was sitting. They didn’t even reach the height of his knee. “Now if I heard correctly, most of your body was replaced,” they commented, poking at his leg with one finger. They gasped and grinned. “It feels the same.”

                Jinki laughed in mild bemusement before he shook his head and patted Kibum’s hand. “Why don’t you see if you can get in touch with Eric? Message or call. I’ll…” he hesitated, turning to look at the Dawbn that was currently still poking at his leg. Jinki gestured in their general direction and added, “get Cyanite caught up. Yeah?”

                Kibum looked between Jinki and Cyanite with a raised brow before he giggled and nodded, grateful for the easy out. He had no problem with Jinki’s condition anymore but hearing about the damage done and the replacements still made him uncomfortable from time to time. He was working with his therapist to try and get past the nagging guilt but it was a struggle… “Alright. I’ll be right back though,” he explained, pointing his finger at Jinki firmly.

                Jinki grabbed the hand in front of his face and brought it to his lips to kiss gently. “Of course,” he murmured, eyes smiling over their connected hands.

                “Charmer,” Kibum snorted, grinning harder when Jinki winked at him before letting his hand go. Kibum pulled the data chip closer against his chest as he stood up, pausing to look down at Cyanite for a second longer. Like Ercite and yet not. They could mimic the other Dawbn perfectly, but in this moment, they were anything but the Ercite he knew. With a shrug, he turned away and looked down at the data chip again. “Alright Eric. Let’s see what you can do with Taemin here,” he smiled, gently petting the chip in his palm.

 

                 It took a couple days but Kibum and Jinki were able to get up with Eric in Sanichi to see what magic he could work. Having never been to Eric’s house before, Jinki was… nervous to say the least. On the surface, it was a smaller building than his own home – one floor with standard metallic walls and several tempered windows, but at least it was a house and not an apartment like what they’d lived in before moving back in with his parents. For now. It was out of place in comparison to the other houses that more closely resembled where Kibum and Jinki were staying currently. At least until they went inside.

                “Kibum!” Eric beamed upon seeing his foster son when he opened the door for them. He raised both arms like he was going to hug Kibum but then dropped them just as quickly. “You never call. You never write. But you are looking better than the last time I saw you.” His smile didn’t waver at all as he spoke.

                Looking over, Jinki saw the hint of a smile on Kibum’s face. “Nice to see you too, Eric.”

                “And I see you brought Jinki today. Hmm,” he hummed suggestively, a particularly Terran twinkle in his eye. “Ow!” he cried and flinched away when Kibum smacked his arm.

                “Oh, now you’re being dramatic,” Kibum snorted with a roll of his eyes, completely missing the wide-eyed look Jinki was giving him. If he had ever done that to his father, he’d have been grounded for life.

                “So says the diva,” Eric winked, letting the act drop just as quickly as he waved his foster son inside. “Oh, don’t look so surprised,” he commented upon seeing Jinki’s expression. “Compared to Terran households, Varium are rather unconventional.”

                “That’s putting it mildly,” Kibum responded dryly. Turning to look at Jinki, he went on, “Remember how I told you about Moon and Young?” Jinki nodded in understanding while he sidled past Eric in the doorway, keeping a nervous eye on him. “Well, they weren’t the only ones that tried to keep me on my toes,” he finished, letting his gaze swing back to his foster father.

                “Ah,” Jinki murmured, looking between the two like he’d only just realized something that he should have a while ago. To be fair, he had known their relationship was odd, to say the least, and he was aware of Kibum’s teenage years in this household, but the Eric he was seeing today was rather different from the one he’d seen not that long ago…

                Almost like he could read minds, Eric clapped Jinki on the shoulder with one hand and leaned close to say, “Some Varium are more stable than others.”

                Kibum laughed once. “His form is stable. He hasn’t changed it at all since I’ve known him. His personality though, is anything but.”

                Jinki looked to Kibum and then glanced back up at Eric who simply gave him a toothy grin in response. “I see.”

                “You’ll get used to it,” Eric promised without a second thought before he moved away and was back at Kibum’s side. “So, you were saying something about a data chip that you absolutely refused to send me the information on ahead of time?”

                The snort that escaped Kibum held volumes of stories but he only said, “Knowing you, it was entirely possible you’d open it and make changes before we arrived.”

                “Harsh but fair,” the Varium agreed with a shrug before holding out his hand.

                Jinki watched as Kibum raised a brow but then reached into his pocket and retrieved the data chip. He set it gently in Eric’s palm and then crossed his arms expectantly.

                Eric grinned, a childlike expression, and then added, “This might take a minute. Feel free to make yourselves at home. You know where everything is, Kibum,” he added, already turning away to get started on his task.

                Kibum waved him off and Jinki watched as the Varium approached the far wall so he could turn a small lever on the surface. His eyes widened as he saw a panel in the floor open with a set of stairs leading down. Eric waited for the panel to open fully before descending, disappearing from sight. Not long after, a quiet hum started up. “Huh?” he asked, looking to Kibum for an answer.

                “Eh. Most of the house is underground. You can go look if you want to. He’ll call us when he unpacks the data chip anyway,” Kibum explained, wandering over to the cabinets in the kitchen. With the ease of practice and familiarity, he pulled out two ceramic cups. “Care for some tea? He has some of the best in the solar system.”

                “Uh, sure,” Jinki nodded, still trying to wrap his head around the new revelations. Taking a slow look around, he approached Kibum so that he could wait nearby. Albeit small, the top room at least looked like a fairly typical Terran house. It had a little kitchen much like in his own home, a small table nearby to eat at, a corner with a sofa for lounging and entertainment where a holoscreen could be activated on the wall, a doorway that likely led to a washroom, and one more that was probably to a room or a series of rooms. When he looked back at Kibum, the other man was noticeably tense and even more obviously doing his best not to look at Jinki. He took a small breath and his lips before he murmured, “You’ve never talked about Eric much.”

                One ceramic cup clinked as Kibum stilled, settling it against the counter harder than intended. There were tea leaves in the bottom and he seemed to be staring at them. He wrinkled his nose and cupped the glass in both hands. “I would say it’s complicated but that seems like an excuse.”

                Jinki laughed once. “It is, but I can give you a pass.”

                That made Kibum smile and look over just enough to make eye contact. He looked down again, rolling the cup between his palms. “Eric’s not a bad Varium. He’s not even a bad foster father. He just wasn’t…” He trailed off as he hesitated, debating on whether to continue or not. “He wasn’t what I wanted at the time,” he admitted eventually, the words small and embarrassed.

                Moving closer, Jinki put his hand on Kibum’s lower back and leaned over so he could get a better look into Kibum’s face. “I know he’s not a Terran but-”

                Kibum shook his head. “It’s not that. I mean, it was a little bit, but,” he said, mouth quirking to the side as a breathy snort escaped him. “He’s better than my father was in pretty much every way that matters.” His hands flattened on the surface of the counter. “More successful. More reliable. Smarter. Galaxies, he’s smarter,” he added for emphasis, looking up and exhaling noticeably. “Whatever you’re thinking, he was better. And that should have been a good thing, but…” he trailed off, shaking his head.

                Jinki smiled sympathetically and let his hand slide further to grip Kibum’s waist gently. “I think I get it. I mean to me that would be… intimidating,” he admitted, brows furrowed as he looked at Kibum’s profile.

                “You have no idea,” his boyfriend answered, giving him a sidelong look that once again spoke volumes of untold stories. “Doesn’t help he’s older too. I never felt like I could understand or match up or anything with him. And then he had kids around my age. Which should have been a good thing too, but you know. Varium kids,” he added with a self-explanatory shrug.

                “Now that I remember you telling me about. It was tough enough for me dealing with Hajoon. Especially when she got into grav jumping. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would have been like with two Varium siblings,” he laughed, scratching at his neck distractedly.

                “Not easy,” Kibum confirmed, taking the cup in front of him and sliding it over to Jinki. “It just needs water now,” he explained, nodding towards the processor.

                Jinki smiled and picked it up before wandering over to fill it with hot water. When he turned around, Kibum had followed him, cup in hand. He took it without a word and gave Kibum the full one. “Here.”

                “Thanks,” Kibum mumbled, ducking his head with a slight flush on his cheeks.

                It still always made Jinki’s heart flip when he did that. He took a second to enjoy the expression for a bit longer and then took care of his cup. “You said Eric was old. How old?”

                Kibum’s scoff was beautifully annoyed. “He never has given me a straight answer, but he’s somewhere around two hundred.”

                Jinki nearly choked on the sip of tea he was taking and did in fact scald his tongue. “Huh?” he coughed, holding the dripping mess away from him.

                “Careful!” Kibum gasped, setting his cup down and immediately going to get a cloth to clean it up. “Are you okay?”

                “Yeah,” he winced, rather wishing the pain receptors in his hand weren’t working quite so well just then. He could have turned them down but he didn’t want to do that since it dulled his sense receptors too. “Just surprised.”

                “Imagine how I felt,” Kibum added as he took Jinki’s cup and patted everything down, taking special care of his hand and inspecting it closely.

                Testing his tongue in his mouth, Jinki sniffed and took a breath. “He seems like a difficult person to live up to.”

                “Very. The one noticeable flaw he has is that he’s lazy,” Kibum added, still holding Jinki’s hand as he looked up to meet the other man’s gaze.

                “The exact opposite of you,” Jinki smiled, reaching up with his free hand to brush the backs of his fingers against Kibum’s cheek.

                “Most days,” Kibum grinned.

                Jinki scoffed but didn’t argue. Instead, he cupped the back of Kibum’s head in his hand and pulled it close so he could kiss his forehead.

                They both jumped when Eric started talking directly behind them. “No wonder my ears were burning something fierce,” he grinned, completely unrepentant as they turned to look at him with wide eyes.

                “Eric!” Kibum snapped, stepping forward like he wanted to smack him again.

                Lazily, Eric reached out to brush the hand aside and then looked askance at Jinki when he moved almost reactively. Jinki caught himself but he couldn’t school the flash of surprise that washed across his face. A sly smile tugged at Eric’s mouth and he said, “Looks like your replacement limbs are quite the upgrade.”

                “Huh?” Kibum chirped in confusion, looking between the two uncertainly.

                “Anyway. Taemin’s up,” Eric responded, ignoring the question.

                “He is?” Kibum asked, immediately looking towards the stairs. A little slower, Jinki flexed his hands and then followed Kibum’s gaze. “Can we go meet him?”

                “Sure. Just keep in mind he’s a base program right now. Looks like your friend compiled him from several different data chips so there’s a lot of room for growth in his automated learning capacities. This one’s the…” he paused to scratch at his neck and think of an appropriate term. “Baby version I guess you could say.”

                “Oh! Let’s go,” Kibum grinned, snagging Jinki’s hand and dragging him after.

                Jinki turned his head to look at Eric for a second – the Varium was still wearing a small smile – before following Kibum down into the underground floor. “Whoa…” he exhaled, looking around in wide-eyed wonder at the technological wonderland that opened up before him. All manner of monitors, workstations, and electronics in various states of repair filled the common space. There were doors that obviously led to other rooms, but the main room, and the source of the gentle humming, was apparently a technological hub.

                “Welcome to the lair of the Desert Fox,” Eric greeted theatrically when he came down the stairs. Kibum groaned but Jinki looked at him in curious surprise. The Varium laughed and straightened up. “A nickname an old Dawbn friend gave to me. Their memories are better than most and this one had ancestors descending from the Earth 1.0 era. We don’t have them here. Foxes. Or deserts like they did, but I liked the name. You can do your research on them later,” he added with a wink before gesturing towards the hologram in the middle of the setup.

                Kibum was already in front of it, staring in wide-eyed wonder. The hologram was young. It looked like a teenage boy with an innocent face that shared similar characteristics like theirs. The black bowl cut was terrible but cutely charming in a weird way. It was like Ercite had somehow managed to make the personification of innocence in a teen’s body from the fragments of whatever other data chips they’d used. And rather like a child, he was smiling and looking at them with wide, observant eyes.

                “Well go ahead. Introduce yourselves,” Eric encouraged, coming close to clap Jinki and Kibum on the shoulders.

                “Hi Taemin. I’m Kibum. It’s nice to meet you,” he beamed, waving at the hologram figure excitedly.

                “Hello Kibum. It’s nice to meet you too,” he answered, the voice pleasantly soft and sweet.

                “And this is Jinki.”

                “Hello Jinki.”

                “Hi,” he responded with a wave, delighted by the encounter so far.

                “How old are you?” Kibum asked.

                “I don’t know,” Taemin answered, brow furrowing cutely.

                “He’s kind of a blank slate right now. There are data packets embedded that I can and install that will give him more of a framework to pull from, but right now… Taemin’s basically a child,” Eric explained with a gesture at the program. “It’ll take me some time and it might alter or create alternative appearances or personalities, but if you want him to become part of your ship, I can make him ready.”

                “Well, we don’t exactly have a ship right now anyway,” Kibum admitted with a grimace as he turned to look at Eric.

                “We’re working on it,” Jinki stepped in quickly. Neither of them had been cleared to resume flights anyway so they didn’t need one yet, but they’d get there. Soon enough.

                “Nice. That’ll give me time to get him sorted then. Looks like you’ve got your main ship computer and Coms and Navigation Officer in one here. Now all you need are your Weapons and Medical Officers,” Eric nodded thoughtfully. “Any ideas there?”

                Kibum shook his head while Jinki answered, “Not yet. We’ve really been taking things one step at a time. Crawven’s out and we don’t even know where to begin to look for a Medical Officer.”

                “Like you said, you’ve got some time. I can see what I can find too, if you’d like?” he offered, leveling his gaze at Kibum.

                “No,” Kibum immediately answered with a shake of his head. “This is enough. We’ll get the rest of things figured out ourselves.”

                “Suit yourself,” Eric shrugged, completely unoffended by the abrupt response.

                Jinki wasn’t entirely sure why Kibum was so against it but it was something he would have to ask him about later. For now, there was Taemin. “How long will it take you to get him ready?”

                “Eh. That depends on you two. I have no estimate as there’s no deadline right now,” he admitted cheekily. ‘Lazy,’ Kibum obviously mouthed in Jinki’s direction. “Priority oriented,” Eric corrected with a tap on Kibum’s head. “And since you have no ship, Taemin’s not a priority yet.”

                “Eric…” Kibum groaned pitifully.

                “What? You know how to fix your dilemma,” he explained with a gesture at his foster son.

                Jinki reached out to grab Kibum’s hand and give it a reassuring squeeze when it looked like he was going to start saying something else. “So are we supposed to leave him here for now? We can’t stay indefinitely after all. I still have physical therapy and Kibum…”

                “Has things to do too,” he agreed with a matter-of-fact nod before he flashed Jinki a grateful smile.

                Eric nodded in easy acceptance. “Feel free to stay as long as you like. There are guest bedrooms down here too so you’ve got a place to sleep if you need.” His expression brightened considerably as he looked at Jinki. “And if you’re sticking around for supper, I have some stories I can tell about our dear Kibum here.”

                “Eric!” said person groaned in outrage. Jinki couldn’t help but laugh and he covered his mouth to try and stifle the sound. Both heard him though. Eric’s smile got bigger and Kibum looked at him in betrayed horror. “Traitor,” he grumbled, freeing his hand so he could cross his arms.

                “Kibum,” Jinki whined playfully, shuffling closer to wrap his arms around his boyfriend and shake him gently.

                “Alright lovebirds. Be careful you don’t teach Taemin bad habits now,” Eric warned with a mischievous smile and a nod towards the program. Both Kibum and Jinki paused and turned to look at the hologram still watching them with wide eyes and an innocent smile.

                “Uh…”

                “Maybe we should go upstairs,” Jinki suggested, pointing towards the ceiling.

                “Good idea,” Kibum agreed with a shy laugh. He grabbed Jinki’s hand in his and guided them both back upstairs.

                Jinki was satisfied. He had about a million more questions but it was nice learning a bit more about Kibum’s history. Even better that they also had a third member of their crew in waiting. All they needed now were two more and their revamped ship. Things were coming together little by little.

 

(a/n: Whew! Apologies for the long delay. T_T My life got... quite busy with ending my school year, transitioning to a summer session, and moving all in the mix! Fun times. But I'm finally settled and seem to have found my energy and my muse once more. Hopefully the next update won't take quite so long to get out. Apologies again. That's been riding me lately. >.> But I hope you've enjoyed the return and wish me luck with the next one. Thank you!)