“For an older brother, Jinki’s pretty cool. A little on the lame side considering all he does is study and help people – including us – but there are worse things. It’s just that… when he gets an idea in his head, it can be a little difficult for him to change course. Even without the teasing, Doyun and I knew something was different about Jinki when it came to Kibum, his ‘special’ mentee. Oh, of course he acted about the same as he always did for everyone he helps, but there was also this… sense of extra worry. Like looking after Kibum was more all-encompassing. Seriously. It was fascinating to watch.”

-Lee Hajoon (Jinki’s 16-year-old grav jump sister)

 

                Despite their success in making up, meeting up with Kibum outside of school hours was not as easy as Jinki hoped. At least he was responding to his personal messages this time… He looked at the message: Enjoy the movie.

                Jinki sighed and glanced at the rest of his group. Hajoon had tagged along and so had Doyun, just making it over the age limit. They were giggling animatedly while they talked to Henry and Larad, at least a little bit smitten with both of them. Ercite remained quiet next to Larad’s leg, one hand grabbing the fabric of his pants to make sure they didn’t get lost in the crowd. You really are welcome to come too, he sent, hoping that maybe he’d get a positive this time. No such luck though. The incoming message he got was a thumbs down sign instead and Jinki sighed.

                “Oh! The line’s moving!” Henry urged, reaching over to swat at Jinki and grab his attention.

                “Huh? Oh!” he blinked, laughing at being zoned out while his sisters about it, each coming close to hang on one of his arms.

                “Please don’t tell me you’re dealing with school stuff now too,” Hajoon groaned theatrically as she shook his arm.

                “Oh! Maybe it’s a mentee,” Doyun guessed, grinning broadly, the expression bright with her earth brown hair pulled back in a loose horsetail.

                The sisters looked at each at the same time and suggested, “A special mentee!” with all the innuendo they could muster.

                Henry snorted and nodded in agreement. “If I’m right,” he started to say, eyeing Jinki speculatively, “he’s special alright.”

                Hajoon and Doyun squealed in animated excitement and abandoned their brother for Henry. “Tell us!”

                “Jinki never spills the beans for anything like this,” Doyun whined, looking up at Henry expectantly.

                Jinki sighed and smacked his forehead with his palm. He flinched when a hand touched his back, propelling him forward, and Larad’s voice drifted to his ear. “He won’t tell them too much,” the Varium reassured, nodding towards the entrance where the rest of the group was heading.

                “I know,” Jinki confirmed with a shrug before roughing his family brown hair with one hand. “I did invite him again, just in case.”

                “Space, remember?” Ercite laughed from their vantage on the other side of Larad.

                “You’re one to talk,” he shot back with a grin, recalling the canteen event.

                “Okay Mr. Helpfully Pushy,” the Dawbn said with an easy shrug.

                Jinki rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. He couldn’t. He was unintentionally pushy with his good will sometimes and it was easy to see why that might have scared Kibum. He was going to have to really be aware of that going forward.

                Even if he still had a few hurdles to get over when it came to Kibum, at least the movie was good. Well, entertaining was more accurate, but they had fun.

                Sunday was a bust for meeting his mentee, but there was always something to do on campus and Jinki was no stranger to such activities.

                He finally had a chance to meet up again on Monday when Kibum came out from the dorm area to meet him on their way to the canteen before class. For a moment, he almost didn’t think the first year would come. But then he did, uniform rumpled and looking like he hadn’t slept enough, but Jinki’s smile conjured an answering one on his tired face. “Good morning,” he greeted, trying not to hurry as he moved closer to walk beside his mentee.

                Kibum winced at the greeting, a skeptical look on his face. “Is it?”

                “So far,” Jinki answered without skipping a beat. “Come on. What do you want for breakfast?” he asked, wandering in front to walk backwards so he could have a clearer view of Kibum.

                “You’re paying, right?” Kibum asked, his pace nonchalant and unhurried.

                “I said I would,” was the quick answer.

                “Then whatever,” he shrugged, a tiny smile playing on his lips.

                Jinki scowled, an empty threat, and shifted to walk beside Kibum once more. “You’ve gotta give me something to go on. Otherwise, I’ll just keep end up getting you sandwiches for food and nobody wants that.” Kibum shrugged with a noncommittal sound and laughed once when Jinki raised his hands like he wanted to throttle the younger man.

                “Surprise me,” he offered instead, an impish grin playing at the corners of his mouth.

                “Hopeless,” Jinki snorted, giving a half-hearted roll of his eyes before he shepherded his companion into the canteen.

                The weekend had done nothing to allow the rumors to die down and they received plenty of looks and whispers when they entered. Not that Jinki let it bother him. The rumors had no basis in reality after all. He could tell that Kibum was a little tense though. A surprising revelation considering how confident he usually seemed otherwise.

                When they didn’t give the rumor mill much to feed on over breakfast, general interest waned pretty quickly. Especially since Henry wasn’t there to make things even more interesting. Small talk expressions, grimaces about grades, and exasperated eye-rolls were entertaining but hardly dramatic enough for the typical gossip.

                “Terran biology is your worst subject by far,” he reminded his mentee, much to his aggrievement.

                “Ugh…” A pitiful groan paired with his chin resting in his palm and an obvious grimace made Jinki want to laugh.

                “Hey. We’ve got less than two months to turn your scores around before the end of the semester. Find a time we can meet and I can help you sort it out,” he promised confidently, pointing one finger at the young man, a knowing look gracing his features.

                “How about never?” Kibum mumbled, glancing at Jinki once but otherwise keeping his attention focused elsewhere.

                “Or tomorrow,” Jinki shot back, using his grin as a weapon.

                Kibum scoffed and wrinkled his nose. “I’ve gotta get to class. Thanks for breakfast,” he added, pocketing a snack for later and heading off quickly.

                “Hey! Wait!” Jinki yelped, scrambling to clean the table so he could follow.

                So maybe helping Kibum get caught up in all his classes was going to be more challenging than Jinki thought, but at least he didn’t have quite the resistance to the other subjects. And to be honest, Kibum was quite proficient in anything to do with science and tech. Also not surprisingly, he was good at oration and diplomacy. Well, maybe not mutually beneficial diplomacy but he could probably talk the opposition into agreeing by sheer force of will and doggedness if he needed to.

                Their first full week together actually went pretty well, all things considered. Kibum was skittish to let Jinki in and he absolutely would not give up his dorm number but was approachable in most other aspects. Jinki hadn’t quite worked up the nerve to go back to see him at The Stars Aligned, but it was like a shared secret between them for the time being. Henry knew Kibum had a unique job but Jinki hadn’t enlightened his friends yet. Wouldn’t either, until Kibum was ready to share. This was more difficult between his siblings – sisters mostly – who had started pestering him incessantly about Kibum since Henry’s hint at the movie, but still manageable.

                And even if Kibum wasn’t one to share a great deal of information, for now it was enough that he looked like he was starting to put on a little bit of weight. At least Jinki wasn’t able to see his cheekbones quite so clearly anymore. Maybe that was why he seemed to be in a better mood nowadays too…

                Another weekend came and Kibum deferred meeting again. That gave Jinki more time to work with his siblings, and hang out with Henry, Larad, and Ercite though. And that was great, until he overheard Henry murmur, “Almighty Key?” while scrolling through his personal feed. “Hey… isn’t this Kibum?” he added curiously, making Jinki’s stomach flop.

                “Huh?” he grunted, looking away from the vid they were watching together in Henry’s dorm room.

                Obligingly, Henry turned the screen so that everyone could see and showed the side-by-side image of Almighty Key with the otherwise normally dressed Kibum. “It was posted in one of the school forums. Random tag but I guess this counts,” he explained, leaning around to see the original image for himself again.

                “Who posted it?” Larad asked, eyes scanning the page as he looked for the name.

                “It’s an anonymous post, which is interesting, given it’s the school site,” Henry frowned, one brow rising. His attention shifted to Jinki who had remained incredibly mute while he looked over it for himself. “Is that really Kibum though?”

                “Uh…” Jinki trailed off, blinking dumbly as he was put on the spot. It was, but should he admit it? Kibum wanted to keep that part of his life secret so even with the post… could he confirm?

                “I think it’s probably him,” Ercite nodded, saving Jinki from having to say anything, but their response made him choke all the same. The Dawbn looked at him with a muffled laugh and rolled their shoulders in a slow shrug.

                “Yeah?” Henry mused, tilting his head to the side like he was still trying to puzzle it out. “I don’t know… did you know about this?” he asked, turning his attention to Jinki.

                “Eh? I mean… Kibum didn’t tell me he was Almighty Key so…” he trailed off, hedging his words very carefully. It wasn’t a lie. Kibum hadn’t told him. The fact he did know was completely unrelated.

                “He did,” Larad grinned, his brownish green eyes dancing with amusement as they observed him carefully, reading all the unspoken things he wasn’t saying.

                “Jinki!” Henry wailed in complaint, clinging to the other man’s shoulders like a whiny child. “I thought I was supposed to be your best friend! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

                Caught off guard by the question, Jinki wanted to say ‘You are’ and ‘It’s not like that’ at the same time, but it came out as, “You’re not like that!” Henry gave him a baffled look while the words registered in his head before Jinki clapped one hand over his mouth and used the other to wave frantically in front of him.

                Larad barked a laugh and Henry snorted shortly after, a bright grin lighting up his face. “Oh, never change, Jinki,” he chuckled, slinging an arm over the other man’s shoulder and shaking him gently.

                Jinki shrugged and managed an apologetic shrug but kept himself from saying anything. In the resulting quiet, Ercite wandered close with a side-eyed look at the Terran but they didn’t say anything as they looked at the pictures instead. “What do the comments say?” they asked, pointing under the pictures before they started to scroll down, scanning the posts that had started flooding in shortly after the images has appeared.

                Henry sat up and cleared his throat, changing gears blindingly fast. “They look to be a mixture of surprise, awe, and confusion mostly,” he laughed. “Like this one,” he grinned mischievously. “’Is that really Kibum?! Why is he a prettier woman than I am?!’ He really is pretty,” he added with a knowing look at Jinki and a quick wink.

                “You should see him perform,” Jinki snorted without thinking, his face flushing red as three pairs of eyes turned to look at him at the same time.

                “You’ve seen Almighty Key performing?” Larad asked, one corner of his mouth pulling up into a lopsided grin and an eyebrow rising suggestively.

                Jinki clapped a hand over his mouth again and simply stared at them in mute response. “I suppose we can take that as a yes,” Ercite barked a laugh, turning their attention back to the holoscreen.

                “Jinki!” Henry whined once more, clearly upset at being left out.

                “Looks like someone is slightly disappointed by this revelation,” Ercite added, pointing at a recent comment. “’Didn’t you want to show Almighty Key a good time @(student tag)?’ And right under it – ‘No I didn’t!’ I still do not entirely understand your largely Terran fixation on form,” they admitted with a sigh, craggy brows furrowed in thought.

                “It doesn’t hurt that Dawbn only have one form,” Larad grinned with his hands rising on either side of him.

                “Or that Varium have many,” Ercite responded, their head tilting as if in challenge.

                “Hey! We have more than one form too!” Henry piped up, pointing between the other two in mock – or maybe it was slightly genuine – outrage.

                “Oh to be a Terran with an easily modifiable physical form,” the Dawbn bemoaned, mimicking the very Terran gesture of placing the back of their hand against their forehead.

                “It’s not my fault the Terran genome is so simple,” he grumbled back, making a face at Ercite before glancing at Larad to see if he was going to say anything.

                Amidst the chatter of their discussion, Jinki frowned as a niggling worry settled in his gut. “Give me a minute guys,” he urged, finally speaking up and trying to step outside.

                “Attempting to escape, are you?” Henry scowled while his focus shifted on a dime. He snagged Jinki around the chest with one arm so he couldn’t stand up just yet, his tone playful and joking.

                Jinki was hit with a sudden surge of irrational annoyance at being detained and it surprised him. He bit his lip to keep from saying anything at first, but then grabbed Henry’s arm and tapped it firmly. “I need to get in touch with Kibum. He didn’t want people to know,” he explained abruptly, his tone sharper than he meant for it to be.

                “Oh…” Henry trailed off, removing his arm quickly. Jinki didn’t look back to see his expression but it felt like Henry might have been slightly hurt.

                “Oh! Look at this comment!” Larad called – loudly. “It looks like Kibum might have a fan club already.”

                With effort, Jinki was able to keep himself from checking and simply stepped out of the room. The hallway was mostly clear in the immediate vicinity, though there were a handful of students and residents wandering in the distance or talking in the hallway. He thought about calling Kibum but didn’t think it would be the best course of action with so little privacy right now. Instead, he opted to send a message.

                Didn’t know if you’d seen the forum post recently. Someone outed your role at work. Just wanted to make sure you knew as soon as possible. He sent the message and looked around to be sure the coast was clear. No one else seemed bothered by the news or they were otherwise oblivious to it. The post was relatively new so it was likely it hadn’t made the rounds yet. That didn’t mean it wouldn’t be a bigger deal come Monday… Jinki frowned and chewed on his bottom lip for a moment before sending another message: Will you be okay?

                There was no immediate response and no indication that Kibum had received or read the message at all, but that didn’t mean he didn’t see it. It was equally likely he was trying to figure out what to do. Jinki knew that Kibum’s job was based on his performance and maintaining his persona. If people knew who he was, how would that change it? Maybe he’d just become like the other Terran or the Moladhi and perform as he was. But would there be a space for him?

                He didn’t know and he suddenly found that it was something he thought he needed to know. The fact that Kibum wasn’t answering him immediately wasn’t helping in this instance either.

 

                In point of fact, Kibum wasn’t answering because he didn’t know how to answer. He read Jinki’s message and his vision tunneled with a strange ringing in his ears. After a second, he shook his head and blinked hard, forcing himself to take a breath. Hiding out in the open was no place to fall apart. He took another breath and peered around the planted tree he was currently resting behind.

                On the edge of the university, it was one of the many evergreen types that dotted the landscape, but since there was no bench and it was near the border, most people didn’t hang around it. Perfect for him on most occasions and certainly ideal on weekends when he wasn’t working and didn’t want to be at home. Now was one of them but it still felt too out in the open just then. Content in the knowledge that there was no one nearby at the moment, he reviewed the message once more with a frown on his face.

                 Someone outed your role at work.

                Who was it? It wouldn’t have been a coworker. Shouldn’t have been a customer. There was almost no chance they would have recognized him from The Stars Align. Given that, unless it was someone completely different, it had to be a student. Damn that Jinki for the whole ‘Where’s Kibum?’ fiasco. And damn himself too for that matter. Not that he could change anything about it right now.

                It wasn’t like he’d never thought he’d be exposed. It was always a possibility after all. Garum had been very upfront about it being possible and likely after a point. Especially since he didn’t want to use any props or prosthetics for hiding his identity. But that didn’t mean he was ready for it to happen this soon. He hadn’t even been working there a full year yet. Sighing, he scrubbed his face with both hands and went back to the message screen.

                Will you be okay?

                He almost wanted to scoff at it. Such a dumb question. Of course he was going to be okay. He was Kim freaking Kibum. He’d made it this far on his own and he was damn well going to get past this stupid stumbling block too. But… when was the last time anyone had actually asked him that question? Had genuinely cared?

                Oh, many people threw the question out like candy. ‘You okay?’ ‘How was the test? Did you do okay?’ ‘I heard you got into a fight the other day. You okay?’ All general interest and surface concern. But when Jinki asked such a thing, it… felt different. Real. And Kibum didn’t know what to do with that. He understood Passeri’s concern – she mothered everyone younger than her. Jackson just followed her concern, a useful echo. Sunny acted concerned because she was programmed to. Even Eric showed some degree of concern but Kibum could never be sure if it was because he felt pity for him or was more worried about the possibility of future trouble.

                “Ugh,” he groaned, waving the holoscreen away and staring at the scene in front of him. On a raised platform above a fair portion of the city, the University was impossible to miss, but it gave a phenomenal vantage from which to see everything. Yonichi was a bustling city on Star Seeker’s Rest. The fourth established planet out of seven on the not yet fully terraformed planet’s list. The dome that shimmered faintly in the distance protected them from the harsh atmosphere beyond and confined them to whatever abode the people chose unless they had the money to travel between them.

                Kibum had only managed to come here because his guardian had given him the money for the trip. Even then, he’d only been able to stay since he had his… father’s apartment to live in. But he still needed money to live and The Stars Align had seemed like a dream come true. It didn’t pay as much as he’d like but it gave him something he hadn’t really been able to find elsewhere: freedom and happiness. Now that it was threatened, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do about it.

                “Guess I should go see Garum then,” he exhaled, working his jaw back and forth as he mulled it over. The vibrant green grass under his nervous hands ripped and fluttered away in shreds as he plucked at it thoughtlessly.

                But he hadn’t responded to Jinki yet and he wrinkled his nose once more before bringing up the contact screen. Will you be okay? The question glowed in front of him, almost taunting, and he tapped on it to send a response. Yes. Then he hit send and closed everything out again so he could wander off towards The Stars Align and see if Garum was available yet.