He’d been drowning. There wasn’t a more succinct or apt way of describing what had been happening. He’d been drowning, not even really treading water, and the worst part was that he hadn’t even been attempting to fight it. He’d gone willingly, floating by unfamiliar places, too familiar faces, and the staunch reality that he was never going to see Changmin again.

Because Changmin was dead.

His little brother was dead and it was all Yunho’s fault.

Occasionally he could hear voices of people who’d been important to him once, when things had mattered.

He could hear Kyuhyun saying loudly, almost chiding, “You’re not the only one who lost people you loved!”

And then Mi would say, “Let him be, Kyuhyun. You lost a friend, he lost family.”

It wasn’t just that Yunho had lost his family. He’d lost far more than that.

“My friends were my family,” Kyuhyun had added. Then, “What are we even doing here, Mi? Sitting around, watching our captain drink himself to death? This is ridiculous!”

They’d been free to leave at any time, but Yunho knew why they’d stuck around. He knew why day after day they’d tried their best to take care of him, and console him, and help him get back to the person he’d been before Changmin had died.

They’d just never known that returning to that state, one where he was a functioning individual with hopes and dreams, was never going to happen.

Because Changmin was dead, and Yunho was to blame.

He wanted to die, and desperately take the risk that the old gods were real, that the afterlife existed, and that Changmin would be there waiting for him. He wanted to take the easy way out and just stop thinking.

He absolutely had to stop thinking, because when he thought, all he could picture was the look on Changmin’s face when he’d come waltzing up into the ship, lending his name and reputation to Yunho to get to New Haven.

The truth was, no matter how anyone told it, that Changmin wouldn’t have been on the ship when it exploded if Yunho hadn’t insisted on garnering his help. If Yunho had just left well enough alone, and figured out a solution to the problem of New Haven on his own, Changmin would have been left safe and sound on Helios.

Maybe the ship wouldn’t have exploded.

And by the time the weather turned nice on Helios, and Changmin was getting married, Yunho would’ve been there to see it.

If Yunho had only kept his mouth shut, and not traded the Eye for his brother, he wouldn’t be drowning.

Then the impossible had happened.

Just as Yunho had resolved himself to a future filled with beer until his money ran out, and not much else, Minho had pulled his legs out from under him.

Changmin wasn’t dead. Changmin was alive.

“Is this going to be like a romantic vid?” Minho asked as they disembarked from their Alliance transport. He had a teasing tone to his voice, but also a cautious one. Yunho had come a long way from what he’d looked like and been like when Minho had found him, but there was still some trepidation, understandably, about his stability. Yunho more than understood, and couldn’t fault him for it.

“Probably,” Kyuhyun cut out playfully for Yunho, dashing past him towards the busy space sport, Zhou Mi trailing afterwards at a more leisure pace.

“Probably,” Yunho echoed. “There’s sure to be some platonic hugging, at the very least.” His eyes were searching right away for his ship. The port was huge, and they were garnering a great deal of attention with the Alliance ship behind them, but Yunho cared about none of it. Only about spotting the Tohoshinki.

Kyuhyun did it before Yunho, which was perfectly all right.

Kyuhyun took off at a sprint towards the ship on the far side of the port and Yunho called back to Minho, “I may need your help to pull Kyuhyun off the others. Come on!” Then Yunho was running too, legs working at a blur, streaking towards his family and his home and all the things that he lived for.

The best part was that they didn’t even have to contact the control tower to have the ship lower her ramp. Neither did they have to throw the idea to the side based on a lack of patience and start banging frantically on the hull.

They didn’t have to do any of it because the ramp was already down, most of the crew on the appendage watching the Alliance ship.

“Changmin!”

Yunho spotted him like a hawk, arms crossed in his fancy clothing, a suspicious look on his face.

Immediately his brother heard him, arms falling away and body turning towards Yunho. Then his eyes were widening, his jaw dropping and he was running to meet Yunho.

“Changmin!” Kyuhyun called from near Yunho. And he was also shouting the names of the rest of the crew, acting every bit the teenager he’d be for a few more months.

Yunho caught Changmin in a grip that was perhaps too tight. They collided with a great deal of force, slamming into each other and holding on tightly. But bruises were superficial and they would fade over time. The most important thing for Yunho was having his brother in his arms and being able to process the fact that he was alive, and everything since Minho’s arrival hadn’t been a dream.

“Yunho,” Changmin sighed out, more emotional and affectionate than Yunho had ever seen him in his life. His shoulders were shaking as he breathed out, “I didn’t know what to think. I was so worried.”

“I thought you were dead,” Yunho choked out, and he realized it was the first time he’d said the words to Changmin. It was first time he’d told him of his greatest fear. “I thought the ship had exploded.”

“We didn’t,” Changmin said, puling back so Yunho could see that there were tears of happiness in his eyes. “Of course we didn’t. Your ship is a bucket, Yunho, but she’s got the best people in the world holding her together.”

Yunho wrapped him up in a crushing hug once more, and through his own tears he could see Kyuhyun and Zhou Mi hugging he others,

“I’m sorry,” Changmin whispered in his ear, voice wavering.

“For what?” Yunho asked. He felt like a child again, like he was tiny and scared. When he’d been small it had been a struggle to protect Changmin. Now Changmin was an adult, and not so much in need of protection, no matter how much Yunho still wanted to do it, but the urge was never ending. “You know nothing that happened is your fault.”

“No,” Changmin agreed, his fingers clenching around the material at Yunho’s shirt. “I’m just so sorry you had to think I was dead.”

Yunho shook his head. “You’ve got one hell of a fiancé, Changmin.”

“I could have told you that,” Minho said from behind them, making his way slowly up the ramp. “Changmin, I missed you.”

Yunho tried desperately to smother down the tiniest hint of jealousy he felt as Changmin finally let go of him and embraced Minho instead.

If there had been even the slightest doubt in Yunho’s mind that Changmin and Minho weren’t in love, and honestly there probably was, it was smashed to pieces by the way they were currently kissing each other.

“Psst,” Kyuhyun said, his voice catching Yunho’s ears. “Leeteuk, Ryeowook. That’s Minho. That’s the guy our Changminnie is marrying.”

Maybe it should have even been a little disturbing for Yunho, watching his little brother make out with anther person, but it really wasn’t. Minho was kissing Changmin with care and attention and tenderness. But more than that, he was kissing Changmin like he was a man in love, and it only served to reassure Yunho that this was the person he could leave Changmin’s care to. This was the kind of man Yunho had always dared to hope Changmin would end up with.

“You are amazing,” Changmin told Minho when they’d finally stopped kissing.

Minho said dismissively right away, “How do you know this wasn’t more for my benefit than anything else? I actually have to get to know the guy who’s going to be my brother-in-law before the wedding, and since you refuse to bring him around enough for this to happen, I took advantage of a situation.”

Changmin slid his fingers through Minho’s and tugged him over to where Yunho was standing, remarking, “It’s not me who keeps my brother away, isn’t that right, Yunho? He’s fully aware I’ll make time for him without hesitation.”

Yunho laughed a little, the first that felt real in what must have been ages, and said, “I guess I’ll have to start coming around more often, then.”

He had a sinking suspicion that he’d be hounding Changmin more than he ever had before, at least for the foreseeable future. Maybe he’d let up the second his paranoia over Changmin’s well being did, not that he expected that to happen anytime soon.

One more quick look to the crew showed that Leeteuk and Zhou Mi were chatting easily with Onew, and Kyuhyun had a relieved arm around Ryeowook’s narrow shoulders.

It was a scene Yunho had never expected to see again, but one that kept him grounded in the here and now. It kept him pushing forward, along with Changmin’s smiling face.

But not all the crew was present. There were two missing members.

“Leeteuk,” Yunho said, clasping at his arm when he was near enough, so very thankful to see him alive as well. “Where are the others?”

Leeteuk raised a knowing smile, a bit of a grin on his face. “You mean Jaejoong?”

Yunho couldn’t even bring himself to feel the slightest bit agitated. Changmin was Yunho’s world, and him being alive was the only thing that had gotten Yunho going again. But Jaejoong had never been put fully from Yunho’s mind. Guilt about his presence on the ship had haunted Yunho on Valhalla as well. There was a part of Yunho that needed to see Jaejoong as well, if only to stop his hammering heart.

Onew spoke up, “You only said that you’d caught a fast transport and would be here quickly. We had no idea you were coming in on that thing.” Onew nodded towards Alliance ship that hadn’t even bothered to cool its engines. “So naturally, considering the somewhat … delicate status of a couple of our crew, we were a little worried to see an Alliance ship land here.”

Of course. Now Yunho felt stupid for not sharing Minho had managed to get them a ride out on an Alliance transport that could outpace the Tohoshinki easily. It had slipped his mind after the moment he’d seen Changmin on the video screen, and everything else had blanked from importance.

“They’re inside,” Leeteuk said bluntly, thumbing up towards the ship. “We thought it was best if they stayed out of sight, just in case, until we knew more.”

Changmin reached over to pinch Yunho playfully. “You should go se him.”

Yunho wanted to. Oh, how Yunho wanted to, but he was still nervous about letting Changmin out of his sight. It was illogical, but there was pent up fear in him that he’d come back to find Changmin missing once more--gone from his side.

“Yunho,” Changmin said softly, as if he was so easily able to sense his brother’s thoughts, and it was possible he was. “The rest of us are going to take this reunion inside as well. Go find your doctor and say hello, okay?”

Yunho took a half second to rally his courage, then gave a nod and strode forcefully up the ramp and towards the infirmary.

“Yunho,” Yoochun said a bit in awe when the man caught sight of him a few walkways away from the infirmary. He cleared his throat and then said, “I mean, Captain. It’s good to see you.”

Yunho, who’d had a rough start with Jaejoong, but even more so with Yoochun, only found himself smiling at the man. “Good to see you too. I heard there was some excitement on this ship.”

With a laugh, Yoochun said, “I’m absolutely convinced this is the most lucky ship I have ever seen in my life.”

Yunho gave him a pat to the shoulder and kept going.

Thirty seconds later and the infirmary came into view, the bright ceiling lights of the room illuminating the space and everything inside it, including Jaejoong.

For just a second, Yunho allowed himself to simply stand at a distance and watch Jaejoong through the large window. Jaejoong was as beautiful as ever, tall and graceful and all kinds of desirable. But he looked sad now, too, standing to the side as he sanitized instruments.

The doors to the infirmary were already open when Yunho got there, and he slid himself through with ease. Jaejoong still hadn’t noticed him, and looked to be off in his own world, too wrapped up in his thoughts.

“Jaejoong,” Yunho said, his voice a little weak at first, but growing stronger by the minute. “I missed you.”

Jaejoong set a scalpel down gingerly on the tray in front of him, his shoulders all knotted up in tension. “Changmin told me you were on your way.” His tone was even, but also unflinchingly bland.

This certainly wasn’t the way Yunho had imagined the reunion going. At least with Changmin there had been hugging.

“I …” Yunho took another step further into the room. “Did you … ah, did anyone tell you what happened?”

Slowly, but finally, Jaejoong turned to look at Yunho, and his face was drawn with worry. “I know what happened here, on the ship, and Leeteuk said the reason you couldn’t communicate with us was a mistake on your end. But I don’t--”

Yunho steadied himself and said, “I thought you were dead. I thought you all were dead. The recorder from the ship, the one that I’m going to assume was jettisoned into space after the first explosion, or after you jumped the engines back to life, gave every indication that you’d been blown to pieces.”

“What?” Jaejoong demanded, and he put his hand down too heavily on the tray the instruments had been sitting on. It flipped quickly, sending steel clattering down to the ground, but Jaejoong seemed immune to the sight, eyes wide and almost frantic on Yunho’s form instead. “What?”

Carefully, Yunho repeated, “I though that Changmin, and you, and the others were dead.”

“We thought you were just missing,” Jaejoong returned.

“Thought I cut and run with the Eye?” Yunho teased, hands in his pocket. “Jaejoong, that damn gem doesn’t mean a fraction to me what this crew does.”

Jaejoong shook his head. “I never thought that for a second.”

Yunho barely had time to brace himself before Jaejoong was pressed against him, all long arms and legs, chest heaving, relief now pouring out of him.

“Hey,” Yunho said, rubbing his back as he held him. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay,” Jaejoong ground out, fingers twisting around the back of Yunho’s neck, his forehead against Yunho’s. “I thought you were missing and I’d never see you again. You were supposed to be here. This is your meeting spot. But you weren’t, and the others were worried, and all I could think about so selfishly was how I felt about you and how I’d never get to see you again.”

It was going to be Yunho’s new resolution, he decided, to absolutely make sure he did as little to scare the people who loved him, and whom he loved, as possible in the future.

“Sometimes these things just happen,” Yunho said, feeling more and more confident in what the future held now that he’d hugged Changmin and had Jaejoong in front of him. “But I’m sorry you had this scare.”

Their relationship, or whatever they had, was so new and so fragile Yunho was afraid to make a wrong move. He was afraid to do something Jaejoong didn’t like, or didn’t want, and it held him back at times. But there was no stopping the need to kiss Jaejoong in that moment, and as he bent down, deliberately cupping Jaejoong’s face and giving him ample time to speak up about the intended kiss, Yunho felt reassured when no resistance came.

Yunho kissed Jaejoong in a way that seemed completely different from the way Minho and Changmin had kissed. Theirs had been a respectful but loving kiss. Yunho’s mouth on Jaejoong’s was quite different, full of desire and need and passion and even something a little more dangerous than that. Yunho kissed him hard, like he knew Jaejoong wasn’t as fragile as he often looked, and like it was the kind of intense kiss that both parties could withstand.

He must have guessed right, because Jaejoong pushed up into the kiss with a happy sigh, his arms hanging loosely from Yunho’s shoulders as their mouths moved together.

To Yunho, feeling the barest hint of tongue from an increasingly bold Jaaejoong, it was like no kiss he’d ever had before. Jaejoong felt like no man Yunho had ever held.

“Don’t you ever do something like this to us again,” Jaejoong said, pulling back just enough to whisper the words. “Not to me, not to your crew, and not to your brother.”

“I can’t exactly make that kind of promise,” Yunho said gently. He let his thumb across Jaejoong’s cheek, marveling in the smoothness of the skin. Jaejoong was soft now. He was ever bit the Core bred gentleman he looked. But if he stayed on the ship, and Yunho wasn’t exactly willing to let him go anymore, it was something that would change.

“Then swear you’ll try.”

Yunho forced a smile and kissed Jaejoong’s lips once more. “I’ll try.”

He’d more than just try, Yunho reasoned.

An hour later saw the entire crew together, Minho included, squeezed into the small kitchen area while Ryeowook cooked like a madman and Leeteuk passed around the bottle of champagne they’d been hoarding for an appropriate situation. It was probably cheap compared to what Yunho knew Minho and Changmin were used to drinking, but they happily accepted glasses and seemed genuinely appreciative. Maybe it was more about the inclusively of moment, and less about the drink itself.

And for the rest of the night they ate and drank. They demolished almost all the food they had on the ship, and once the champagne was gone, they moved on to the more dangerous alcohol, the kind that Jaejoong and Ryeowook refused to drink, Changmin wouldn’t let himself or Minho have, and Kyuhyun asked for seconds on.

They laughed and talked and they were a family.

By morning the Eye, still packed in it protective case, was burning a proverbial hole in Yunho’s pocket. Yunho woke with it on his mind, consuming his thoughts, at least until he tried to roll over in his bunk and discovered he was being half crushed by Jaejoong’s warm body.

“Oh,” he breathed out, realizing his right arm was asleep where Jaejoong was using it for a pillow, and their legs were twisted up in a crazy kind of way.

Yunho had slept with all of two people before in his life. He’d had with plenty, though it wasn’t an abhorrent number. But slept? He’d shared a bed with Changmin, naturally, and then Leeteuk when they’d been space mining, and temperatures had been frigid and they’d needed each other more than they’d wanted each other.

Waking up with Jaejoong felt distinctly different than any of those times, and far better. Jaejoong was a welcomed weight against him, the more he thought about it, secure in the way he stretched across Yunho, breathing evenly, face relaxed in sleep.

“That’s creepy, you know,” Jaejoong said a few minutes later, stretching his arms out and groaning.

If this was what it was like to wake up next to the man he was falling in love with, dressed in their clothes, Yunho wondered how much more amazing it would be when their clothing was gone completely.

“What’s creepy?”

Slowly Jaejoong sat up. “Watching me sleep. No one wants to be watched when they’re sleeping. It’s creepy.” Then Jaejoong kissed Yunho’s forehead chastely and rolled out of bed.

“I take it you’re a morning person,” Yunho remarked dryly, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. He most certainly did not like mornings.

Jaejoong straightened his rumpled clothing and then threaded his fingers through his hair quickly. “I’m a doctor, Yunho. I’m used to sleeping three, maybe four hours a single day.”

“We’ll work on that,” Yunho said, pulling himself from bed. Now if only Yunho could remember how they’d ended up down in his bunk to begin with.

After breakfast Minho helped with the dishes, kissed Changmin sweetly, and then told him, “I’m going to head into town. I need to talk to my father and make arrangements for us to return.”

The words sent a spike of fear through Yunho. Of course Minho was going to take Changmin back with him. How could Yunho have thought otherwise? Changmin had only left Helios to be of help to Yunho, and now his contribution was over. Changmin had a retirement to finalize, a wedding to plan, and a life to get back to.

“You can use the communications terminal here,” Changmin said, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Minho gave him a knowing look, one that cut over to Yunho. “I think it might be better if I go find a different one, and give you all a chance to talk.”

“Talk?” Changmin echoed.

Minho’s mouth pursed for a second, then he offered, “Yes, talk. About … whatever happened on New Haven, that I will never ask about, or bring up outside of right now. And it think everyone can agree that it’ll be best if I’m not here for the conversation.”

Changmin gave Yunho a pointed look, and he understood what it implied almost immediately. Minho was trustworthy. He was deserving of the truth, responsible enough to hold their secrets, and more than that, he was family.

Yunho told Minho, “If you want to stay, you can.”

Minho reached for another kiss from Changmin, then held his hand out to Yunho. After a quick shake, he said, “Thanks for that, but no, I think I’m going to go take a walk and call my father. I’ll be about an hour. Is that enough time?”

Yunho grinned at him. “It is. Thanks.”

With Minho gone, strolling towards town seemingly without a care in the world, Yunho turned to Changmin and said, “That’s one interesting fiancé you have there.”

Changmin grinned wide. “He’s something. That’s for sure.”

Something good.

“Here it is,” Yunho said, a short time later when he had everyone together again, which seemed a harder thing than he’d imagined because Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun had locked themselves in their cabin for obvious reasons, Onew was still fussy about leaving the engine room, and Yoochun now seemed glued to his side. Something had happened there, something that Yunho planned to investigate later on, but for now they seemed far closer than they’d been when Yunho had left for New Haven.

Eventually, however, everyone was back in the same room and Yunho placed the lockbox in front of them, waiting only a hair’s breath before popping it open.

“Wow,” Ryeowook said, “that’s beautiful.”

Gleaming under the lights, the blood red gem sparkled in a way that made it look like it was almost worth every bit of trouble they’d had to go through to obtain it.

Yunho pushed it towards Ryeowook and said, “Check it out. Pass it around. Just don’t drop it when I tell you what I’m about to.”

“This doesn’t sound good,” Zhou Mi said, leaning forward.

“It’s not bad,” Changmin cut in pointedly, almost a little too defensively.

Yunho gave him an appreciative look, and took one last look at the earnest faces around him. He could still barely believe these people were his crew. This incredible group of people were friends he could to call family. They’d followed him for years, taken simply his word on many things, and gotten caught up in all of the heart pounding consequences that came with flying together.

He wondered if they’d look at him differently.

“Captain?” Onew asked, sounding uncertain.

“I’ve never been entirely honest with you all,” he said finally, already reaching for the top button on his shirt. “I mean with why I wanted to find the Eye so badly. I never told the truth completely.”

The Eye in his hands, Ryeowook asked, “It’s not for fame, fortune and glory?”

“I like those three,” Kyuhyun interjected, nodding.

Leeteuk wondered, “The Eye isn’t supposed to lead us to a vault of treasures, then?”

“Oh, I bet it does,” Yunho was quick to say, his fingers feeling a little numb as they worked his shirt’s buttons. “I have no doubt that if we ever manage to find the vault, it’ll be filled with enough treasure from Earth that was to keep us set a hundred lifetimes over. And I know that’s what I sold you all on--on the idea of not having to live job to job, and wonder how we’re going to buy our next supply of fuel cells. But for me? I’m doing it because of this.”

When the last button was down he pulled his shirt from his shoulder and turned his back to the crew so they could see the tattoos for what they were.

It silence that followed was a little anxious, and a lot tense.

“Holy ,” Yoochun said eventually, seemingly speaking for the crew.

Cold fingers pressed against Yunho’s skin without warning and he flinched.

“Sorry,” Jaejoong said softly, his fingers at a standstill on Yunho’s heated skin. “I’m sorry. I should have asked first. I just think they’re very beautiful.”

Yunho could have laughed himself sick in that moment. All his life he’d found the tattoos to be a burden. Something painted on him as a child, without his permission or any sort of want. He’d hated the tattoos at one point in his life, even loathed them, and on his best days they were simply a nuisance. The kind stretched too thin over time as he grew.

But Jaejoong thought they were beautiful, and Jaejoong wasn’t a liar.

“What are they?” Jaejoong asked. His fingers settled on the left shoulder patch of Yunho’s skin and he knew what they were focusing on.

“I don’t know,” Yunho said honestly. “I’ve always had them. My earliest memories are being a kid, wandering the streets looking for food. These tattoos were already there, by that point.”

Changmin gave a firm nod. “Yunho’s had them since he was very young, with no memory of who put them there.”

“And no clue about what they mean,” Yunho said with a sigh.

When Yunho turned back to look at his crew he could see Zhou Mi straining forward, eyes narrowed as he commented, “Those symbols … they’re writing? They’re certainly unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

“I think they’re a language of some sort,” Yunho said. “For all I know they could be every answer to the millions of questions I’ve asked over the years. But no one seems to be able to identify the lettering, or even point me in a potential direction. And then of course there’s the link to the Eye.”

Jaejoong fingers tapped over the drawing of the gem etched onto Yunho’s skin.

“Yunho,” Changmin said, “show them the medallion.”

Yunho had thought for sure that the ship blowing up had meant the end of the one possession he’d had his whole life. The disk that he always wore, tethered around his neck, had had to come off for the job on New Haven. Yunho had tucked it safely away in his bunk minutes before leaving the ship, and had thought it to be nothing but space junk in the aftermath of the ship’s recorder being discovered.

Now he had it resting in his pocket, sans the length of rope it usually hung from, golden and shiny in the light, heavy and cold in his palm.

“This, along with the tattoos, are all I have.” He leveled the disk up so that everyone could see the same strange symbols were engraved into the gold plating. “I’ve hunted for the Eye restlessly because I knew that it would fit into here perfectly. I knew if I put this and the Eye together, I’d get answers of some sort.”

“It certainly looks like it’ll fit,” Leeteuk said quietly.

Feeling especially vulnerable, Yunho mumbled, “I want to know who I am. I want to know were I come from, and who my parents are, and why who ever did this to my body, did. It’s more than a want. It’s a need.

Yoochun, who was currently in possession of the Eye, held it out to him without hesitation. “Then put this thing in there and let’s see what it does.”

Yunho fumbled the disk for a moment and it was Jaejoong’s hands, calming and steady, helping him align the two up, that made all the difference in the world.

The Eye fit in like it had especially been made to, and the two pieces clicked together without so much as a point of pressure from Yunho.

He only realized then, as he looked down at the fully complete product, that he’d been holding his breath, barely daring the believe that he was actually in possession of both pieces.

After several seconds of an excruciating wait, nothing happening, and Kyuhyun offered quietly, “Something was supposed to happen, right?”

Yoochun sighed out, “That’s very anti climactic.”

Yunho wasn’t sure what he’d expected to happen. Only that it had been something. Not the nothing that was currently occurring.

“I’m sorry,” he had to tell the others, feeling a flush of shame. “I really thought--”

He was cut off as the disk and Eye began vibrating suddenly. He had to clench his fingers hard around the object to make sure it didn’t go toppling down to the ground.

The face of the device was moving. It was whirling, spinning around and clicking madly, forming new patterns of the indecipherable symbols, before finally coming to a rest and stopping without so much as an inclination of life.

“I stand corrected,” Yoochun breathed out.

Jaejoong peered down at the disk and observed, “The symbols are in a different order now.”

Leeteuk, on his feet, leaned in for a look himself. “But the symbols .. They still don’t make any sense. What’s the point of the moving around if we don’t know why?”

The point was … there was no point.

Heavy hearted, Yunho put the disk down on the table in front of him and nearly collapsed down in his chair. “It doesn’t matter,” he said, trying not to feel bitter. “I … none of this matters. It’s a dead end.” Part of him had always expected a dead end. Answers would have been nice, but it hadn’t been realistic in the least bit to think he’d get them.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Changmin said, and he was sketching down some of the symbols quickly. “I have access to a respectable size resource database, but I bet Minho had even better access than I do. Or at least his father does. And I’m in a better position than any of you to go looking for what this might be.”

“Changmin,” Yunho said, shoulders slumping. “Don’t bother.”

Changmin gave him a dirty look. “You don’t tell me what to do, Jung Yunho.”

The tiniest of smiles threatened to bloom of Yunho’s face, and while he’d never really admit to it, Changmin bossing him around like the naggy little brother he was, was something Yunho would always find endearing.

“Isn’t there another component?” Onew asked, face quizzical as he thought aloud. “The stories people tell, the ones about the Eye floating around, there’s always a part about a key that unlocks the vault. Maybe this Eye shows you how to get there, and the key does the unlocking.”

“So we need a key,” Kyuhyun said. “But I’m guessing it won’t actually be a key? I mean, it’s not like the Eye is actually an eye.”

“Guys,” Yunho said, trying to quiet them down. He was touched by their enthusiasm, but it seemed misplaced. “This isn’t worth talking about. We should--”

Leeteuk cleared his throat. “Captain?” he said, voice even toned. “I think we have two options here. Two clear options, and we should take a vote on it.”

“Two?” Yunho echoed.

“Two,” Leeteuk said once more. “The first option, naturally, is that we go with Captain self-deprecating and give up. We cut the Eye down, sell it off in little chunks, live like kings, and never think about what we could have found instead, or the answers Yunho could have had.”

Changmin’s hand paused from where he’d been sketching and he questioned, “I’ll take option two, if you don’t mind. Hearing it isn’t a necessity.”

A grin snuck its way onto Leeteuk’s face. “Or we go with the second option. We hock the other jewels that the Captain brought back with him from the New Haven job, buy ourselves some fuel cells, dry dock the ship for much needed repairs, and then go looking for this key.”

Yunho frowned. “That shouldn’t even be an option. I can’t ask any of you to give up a sure fortune for the maybe chance that we might come close to even hearing about what this key could possibly be. That’s not fair and it isn’t right.”

He was being ignored. It was a little flabbergasting, and Leeteuk went right along saying, “Raise your hand for option one.”

“Tempting,” Ryeowook said, trying to look encouraging, “but no dice. I think we’re all in this for option two.”

“Face it,” Kyuhyun said, drawing Yunho’s attention. “None of us followed you for all these past years on a crazy hunt for a jewel that we didn’t really think even existed, for us to get real proof of it all the sudden and stop. Sorry, Captain, but I think we’re all in for this key.”

Yunho turned suddenly to Jaejoong, and then to Yoochun. “What about you two? Trying to find this key won’t mean big payoffs in the meanwhile.”

Yoochun arched an eyebrow. “Surely you didn’t think we decided to stick around for the massive payouts your crew is clearly not receiving.” Onew knocked him playfully in the shoulder.

“You’re family,” Changmin said, getting to his feet in a way that looked natural, and not like he’d been shot recently, which meant he had to be progressing nicely in his recovery. “You are family, Yunho, do you understand that? Not just to me, but to everyone here on this ship, and even to Minho who’s out there soothing a father who he upset in order to get out here and take care of our mess. And when one member of a family, at least one who loves each other like we do, needs something, everyone pulls together.”

Yunho was absolutely certain that he’d suddenly turned into a hormonal teenage girl, what with the way his eyes were burning and air was threatening to explode in his lungs where it had lodged.

“Thank you,” he finally managed to tell them, finding nothing more perfect to say instead. “Thank you for all of this.”

Jaejoong nudged Yunho in the ribs as there was a burst of conversation all around them, some of it unbearably loud. “See?” Jaejoong said quietly. He helped Yunho slip back into his shirt and was dutifully doing up the buttons for him as he relayed, “This is why Yoochun and I wanted to stay, Yunho. Not for the security you wanted to offer, or the safety. Not for anything else but this.”

Yunho leaned a little against him, breathing in his scent and the comfort it gave him. “I get it,” he said.

Over Jaejoong’s shoulder his eyes met Changmin’s and he mouthed yet another thank you at his brother. Changmin only smiled back at him and mouthed in return a less than complimentary name.

Maybe to Changmin he was a dork. But he was clearly the most loved and valued dork in the ‘verse, so all in all, Yunho thought that was something he could live with.