hey gang! no major warnings that I can think of for this (aside from some probably dark humor and mentions of homophobia).

“Heard you have a headache.”

Hyukjae looked up, wincing a little when his head throbbed. He’d finally moved off Donghae’s lap when Seungchul had said that everyone was on board, but told him not to take off until the admiral was on the flight deck. “Hey Doc,” he greeted. “And yes I do.”

“Have you taken anything for it?” Zoe Vasconcelos’s hair was still in a bun with the hairpin shoved through it, and the bright blue jewels hanging off it clinked against her shoulder as she turned her head.

“Nothing we have works. The immune system stuff works, but the only pain relievers that work on me are the ones that knock me out,” he explained.

“Are you allergic to ibuprofen?” she asked while digging in her bag.

“No… oh, right.” Hyukjae sighed, irritated at himself for not remembering that they were literally on Earth and there was suddenly access to medications that would work with his body. “Please tell me you have some?”

“Here,” she said, pulling out a bottle from her bag and shaking two pills into his open hand.

Hyukjae was desperate enough that he didn’t bother getting more water, just popped the pills into his mouth and swallowed them. He worked up a little saliva and swallowed that too to make sure that the pills wouldn’t try to come back up. “Thanks.”

She patted his shoulder. “I’m going to chat with Song Qian and see what your medical facility needs to get stocked with for you on short notice.”

“Medication?” Donghae asked.

Hyukjae nodded. “The headache should be gone soon, thankfully.”

Donghae’s lips curved. “Good.” The panel between them beeped a few times and Donghae reached over to tap on it. “Yes twin?”

“We have located Father,” Amber said, her voice excited and happy. “He is well and with us now.”

Hyukjae felt the relief go through him, and he leaned over the panel, running his fingers through his hair in relief. He hadn’t prayed in years, but the words of thanks immediately appeared in his mind and he muttered them quietly before raising his head.

“We will meet with you shortly,” Donghae said, a smile curving his lips. “Please tell Father that we are most relieved that he is well.”

“I will. We are going to the… Ew Inn?”

“United Nations,” Hyukjae corrected. “Zhou Mi probably remembers where it’s at, but why are you going there?”

“We received a transmission from Wang Xian, who was contacted by this United Nations. They are apparently acting as a unified government and wish to meet to negotiate.”

Hyukjae’s eyebrows arched. “Okay, we’ll meet you there.” He didn’t have any hope of a cooperative government staying around, but he’d at least show up and see what was going on.

“Confirmed.”

“Admiral on deck,” Admiral Thorn said from behind Hyukjae, his voice rife with amusement.

Hyukjae turned his head and smiled. “You’ll have to forgive me for not snapping to attention. We’re ready to go if you’re steady on your feet.”

The admiral limped over to the projection table and leaned heavily against it. Hyukjae wondered what happened to his cane, but turned his attention back to the panels. “Go for it, Commander. Where are we headed?”

“The UN,” Hyukjae replied shortly, his attention being swallowed by the intricate task of getting the ship airborne. The ship shook briefly as they gained altitude, and Hyukjae landed at the UN buildings in less than two minutes. He saw that Amber and Zhou Mi hadn’t arrived, but there was security already lining up. He sighed irritably and shook his head. Surprisingly, it didn’t throb with the movement, and he didn’t know if it was a placebo effect or his body reacted quickly to the ibuprofen since it had been so long since he’d last had it.

“I’m getting really sick of having weapons pointed at me today,” he grumbled as he locked the panels and stood up after having initiated the process of lowering the ramp.

“Wait,” Donghae said, his fingers flying over his panel. “I am going with you.”

They met up with Samuel and Seungchul in the cargo hold, and Hyukjae could feel the growing agitation in Donghae’s posture and demeanor as they walked through the mostly silent hold. Samuel’s eyebrows were making a valiant attempt in meeting his hairline as the deep growls started.

Seungchul just sighed heavily. “I told them that they were on their own,” he said to Donghae.

Donghae looked around. “Why is it so important to know who is being penetrated?” he asked loudly. “Why is that the question? If it is that utterly important to know, the answer relates exactly to how much time we have allotted to ourselves,” he growled as he started to move towards the open ramp.

Hyukjae felt his cheeks burning, but reached out and grabbed Donghae’s hand. “We’re going to go identify ourselves to the people lining up and pointing guns at us.”

“Um, here’s a better idea, Donghae why don’t you stay here and I’ll go with Hyukjae down the ramp. I promise I’ll bring him back unhurt, okay?” Samuel said quickly, his voice cajoling. A large hand landed on Hyukjae’s shoulder and tugged him along. “I don’t want them freaking out because your eyes are doing the glowing thing and you look like you’re ready to destroy the planet. We’ll go get them calmed down and be right back.”

“Yeah that’s a really good idea,” Seungchul replied, patting Donghae on the shoulder. “We’ll be right by the door to provide cover.”

Hyukjae knew he was still red in the face, but the quick way Samuel and Seungchul were talking provided him a good amount of comedic value, and he was hard pressed to keep from laughing when Samuel started calling out random small talk as he and Hyukjae walked down the ramp before coming to a halt and introducing them.

“What is your business here?”

“We’re here to… wait, why are we here again?” Samuel asked.

“The UN contacted Wang Xian, Fleet Commander of the forty ships in orbit and indicated a desire to negotiate Earth’s position within the Zhang Empire under Empress Jia,” Hyukjae supplied, assuming everyone at the UN had gotten translator bugs. “She should be arriving soon after rescuing my father from a tribute camp.”

“Weapons down,” one of the officers said, and Hyukjae breathed a little easier once the guns had been lowered. “Is this all of your delegation?”

Hyukjae shook his head. “There’s another ship coming.” He looked up as he heard the upper atmosphere sonic boom as smiled. “They’re here now.”

“Hyukjae?" Seungchul called down from the top of the ramp. “Everything good?”

Hyukjae turned his head slightly. “Yeah, it’s fine. Amber’s coming in for landing now.” He wasn’t surprised to see his mother and Sora run down the ramp next to Donghae to stand excited and yet nervous next to him. Donghae immediately cuddled into his side, and he smiled and dropped a kiss on Donghae’s cheek.

“Are you still embarrassed?” Donghae quietly asked, his voice almost lost in the noise of the other ship landing not too far away.

Hyukjae smiled. “A little, but glad that Mom and noona weren’t there to hear it. I forget sometimes how weird it is here.”

Donghae snorted. “It is very odd here. I think I was far more offended at the immediate mental questions of who would be penetrating who as if it was vital information to know for etiquette.”

“Power dynamics,” Hyukjae muttered, his irritation spiking briefly before Donghae’s remembered forceful answer made him both amused and embarrassed all over again. “Hopefully we’ll have some time to ourselves soon,” he said into Donghae’s ear.

Donghae’s smile was warm and agreeing. It took several minutes before the ramp lowered on the other ship, but the residual stress Hyukjae didn’t even realize he’d had fell off the instant he saw his father. Sora was faster than he was running, so she got to their father first, but he was quick enough at getting his arms around both of them. More arms wrapped around him, and he felt more relaxed than he had since they’d left Earth a month before.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he whispered, and Kanghun ruffled his hair.

“I’m glad all of you are okay,” Kanghun replied. “You must have gotten here right in time, there was a rumor that we’d be shipped off soon,” he said, and Hyukjae caught the tight smile.

Hyukjae took a deep breath, knowing that once again he’d been at the mercy of time, but it had worked out in his favor. “Guess we have good timing,” he finally replied, his voice a little choked.

The volume picked up as they broke apart, greetings and relief being passed back and forth; several of the children bounced around, obviously excited to be reunited with the adults from Earth, and even Meng Jia warmly greeted them by name. It was only after they had all reassured themselves that everyone was alive and well that they glanced at the guards to the UN, who were still waiting patiently.

“What do I need to be aware of when negotiating with your people?” Meng Jia quietly asked Hyukjae.

Hyukjae glanced at Alex with a clear ‘help’ look. Alex’s eyes rolled fondly. “As I’m sure Hyukjae has already made mention of, you’re about to go into a room with approximately two hundred representatives from various nation-states on this planet. There has never been a unified, centralized government and without a doubt, some nations will use this as an attempt to gain more power, particularly my nation, the United States,” Alex quickly explained with a droll twist of lips. “My best advice for dealing with this situation is to appoint someone loyal to you as governor of Earth. There will be more cooperation if the nations see themselves as being beholden to someone not from here.”

Meng Jia nodded slightly. “My thanks. I will heed your advice and also keep a detachment of ships here to protect your world when we move on. It is unknown if Zhou Li would consider this world an important resource to be fought for or if he only sent ships here to capture my cousin.”

“I believe it is the latter,” Zhou Mi said. “But your caution is well-founded.”

“Before you get mired in all the political… stuff in there,” Seungchul started, and Hyukjae snorted a laugh at the pause, knowing exactly what Seungchul want