A few days pass, and Sehun falls into a routine. He wakes up to the sounds of feet stomping by his door and above his head, he eats a shoddy breakfast with whoever else is up, helps Yixing put their medical records onto the comp-tech (part of him wants to know how they’ve managed to amass such a strange collection of injuries, but the other just hopes he won’t end up being the next), eats dinner with the whole crew, spends time with Zitao slacking off, and goes to sleep; rinse and repeat.

Day five of their eight day journey to Ekwensu, Sehun sees the bridge for the first time. Yixing sends him up there with what is apparently a very urgent note for Luhan. The whole thing seems weird, so Sehun tries to sneak a peek. It’s written in Chinese, and Sehun curses for once wishing he’d brought along one of his father’s prototype translation implants—top secret.

He reaches the bridge in what is probably a less than stellar amount of time, though he can now get from his room to the mess hall in record time. He knocks on the door to the bridge, and it opens before he can even step back.

It’s smaller than Sehun had been expecting. At the far end is the cockpit, Junmyeon sitting down and pushing away the old style com-screen to take over from the autopilot, “We’re heading into a belt,” Yifan says from a chair at a panel on Sehun’s left. He startles but tries to act unruffled.

Yifan spins in his seat and gives Sehun a stare, one eyebrow raised, “Oh, yeah, I have a note for Luhan,” Sehun says, brandishing the paper.

Yifan rolls his eyes and spins back around, waving Sehun further in. Sehun wanders deeper on the bridge, looking for Luhan while Junmyeon guides the ship through debris.

After a few moments of searching, someone clears their throat right behind Sehun, startling him again. He spins to find Luhan with a palm outstretched.

“I believe that’s for me?” he says, and Sehun hands the paper over.

“Where were you... sir?” he tacks on as an afterthought, still unsure if Luhan was being serious when they first met.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I was checking on the guns,” Luhan points to the ceiling.

“If junk comes through that’s too big for me to dodge we might have to break it apart,” Junmyeon helpfully adds from his seat, “They’re nothing impressive, but they generally keep raiders off our backs.”

Luhan snaps his fingers, pulling Sehun’s attention back to him, “You ever fired a gun?” he asks, oddly disconcerting smile on his face.

“Uh... no?” Sehun isn’t sure he likes where this is going.

“Well, what better time to learn,” Luhan claps his hands together, smile turning manic, “Here, you man the guns. I’ve got important things to do.”

He pats Sehun twice on the back before practically running off the bridge. Sehun is left, mouth hanging open before Yifan comes over and steers him towards a ladder he hadn’t noticed before.

“Just humour him,” Yifan says, “it’s highly unlikely you’ll have to try firing.”

“Think of it as a nice view!” Junmyeon calls, turning to wink at Sehun.

*

Sehun settles in the seat of the gun pod. It’s cramped, and his palms sweat at the thought of possibly wrecking the ship if he misses. Static crackles and then Junmyeon’s voice comes over a small com.

“How’re you holding up?” he says, and Sehun can hear the smile in his voice. He doesn’t understand why this crew all seems to get such pleasure from taking the piss out of him. Sehun decides he just won’t play into their hands and stays quiet, pouting into the abyss.

“If you’re worried about missing, don’t be. The chance of debris that large in this belt is slim to none,” Junmyeon says after Sehun’s non-response.

“Then why am I even up here?” Sehun crosses his arms, allowing himself to sound whiny since he knows Junmyeon can’t see him.

“Because you’re cute~” Junmyeon teases, and Sehun pouts even larger in response.

“I’m not cute.”

“Well, that and you make this face when you have no clue what’s going on and it’s endlessly amusing,” Junmyeon even has the gall to laugh.

“I thought you were supposed to be on my side.”

“Come on down,” the com crackles again and goes silent. Sehun pats himself on the back for a verbal battle well won and manoeuvres out of the pod and back down the ladder.

It’s just him and Junmyeon on the bridge now, Yifan having gone off who knows where. Junmyeon waves Sehun over, pushing back the pilot’s seat so there’s room for Sehun to sit on the floor. Sehun stares at the spot Junmyeon indicated with his feet and back at Junmyeon who just gestures again. Knowing Zitao, these floors haven’t been washed in years, let alone swept, but Junmyeon raises his eyebrows questioningly, and Sehun finds himself gingerly sitting on the dusty floor at his feet.

“How’d you end up on this ship?” Sehun asks after a few minutes of looking around in relative silence.

“Mmm, long story,” Junmyeon says, and Sehun laughs, it’s always a long story, “No really! The short version is that Yifan often did business where I used to be based and needed a pilot. I liked the crew well enough, so figured I’d take the chance.”

It seems like a cop-out answer, but it’s not like anyone has any reason to trust Sehun yet, “that’s not the kind of person we need.” He tries to clear his head, but Junmyeon says something more, “Why are you here anyway? Is it a long story?”

Sehun struggles to come up with a boring story about familial drama, but Junmyeon’s gentle gaze makes him realize he’s being a hypocrite. He tells the truth, “My full name’s Oh Sehun, my dad’s the head of the Oh Conglomerate. I— I ran away because I wanted adventure. It’s not exciting, but I’ve been feeling suffocated since I’ve come of age.”

Junmyeon closes his eyes and leans back with a long sigh, “I can’t believe we kidnapped the heir to a commercial empire.”

“You didn’t, I ran away—” Sehun protests.

Junmyeon’s eyes snap open; he looks vaguely angry, “But your father won’t see it that way,” Sehun deflates under his eyes. He’s right of course; Sehun’s an idiot. His face is probably all over the Empire by now. “Does Yifan know?”

Sehun shakes his head, sudden rush of guilt churning in his gut at the thought of being as untrustworthy as Luhan apparently thought him, “I meant to say something, I don’t—”

Junmyeon places a warm hand on Sehun’s head, “I don’t doubt you had the best of intentions, but this could get us in heaps of trouble,” his voice is soothing, holding back the frustration that seeped into it before.

“I’m sorry, I never meant—” Sehun drags his hands down his face; his hair slips through Junmyeon’s fingers.

“Better late than never I guess. I’d rather find out while we’re in the air than have us find out when we land and get arrested,” Junmyeon ruffles his hand in Sehun’s hair, and Sehun’s surprised at how little he minds the contact.

Footsteps thump onto the bridge and Sehun hears a soft curse before they start to move away again. He looks up to see Yifan slowly sneaking away backwards, hands up.

“You aren’t interrupting anything,” Junmyeon says, turning to face Yifan, “In fact, Sehun here has something to tell you.”

Junmyeon sends Sehun a pointed look, and Sehun sighs, trying to gear himself up to face Yifan. Yifan stops his retreat, hands migrating to his hips and eyebrows furrowing.

Sehun clears his throat, “I may or may not be heir to the Oh conglomerate and my father may or may not assume I’ve been kidnapped,” he spews out as quickly as he can.

Yifan furrows his brows even more, tilting his head and staring at the wall above their heads to mull through what Sehun said. He seems to decipher it after a few seconds, face paling and eyes crying out to Junmyeon for help. Junmyeon shrugs, turning his full attention back to piloting.

Sehun bites his lip, not wanting to face Yifan knowing he’s ruined their attempts at laying low, “Oops?”

Yifan huffs before walking over to Sehun. Sehun’s ready to make a tactical retreat, but Yifan claps a hand on his shoulder before he can make a single step back, “Sehun,” he begins, moving his hand to the back of Sehun’s neck and squeezing uncomfortably, “I’m not gonna lie to you; this could get us put in jail for the rest of our lives, even killed.”

Sehun feels like he’s six again and he’s just smashed his father’s priceless ancient vase. Junmyeon snorts from the pilot’s seat though, and the sound lightens the weight in Sehun’s gut, “Sorry,” he mumbles.

“I’d rather find out now than find out on my way to a prison station,” Yifan says, echoing Junmyeon’s sentiment, “I am gonna have to ground you though. We can’t have you running around if there are people looking for you.”

“Have Zitao give him a haircut; it’ll give him something to do,” Junmyeon calls from the cockpit. Sehun can’t see any more debris on the view screen, and Junmyeon reactivates the autopilot, coming to stand opposite Yifan.

“Good idea,” Yifan says, and Junmyeon smiles like he hears those words a lot, “Sehun,” Yifan releases his neck and meets his eyes again. He puts on a gruffer voice, “report to Zitao for a mandatory makeover.”

As Sehun walks off the bridge, he passes Luhan who’s heading back on. Luhan sends him an unreserved smile and Sehun almost gives himself whiplash double taking. Luhan doesn’t seem to notice, heading onto the bridge with the back of his hair sticking up wildly.

*

He finds Zitao in the common room, lying on his stomach in the middle of the floor playing solitaire. He looks up as Sehun walks in and smiles cutely. He kicks his legs in the air, and Sehun moves over and leans his elbows on the bottoms of Zitao’s shoes. Zitao whines and tries to kick him off, spinning his torso around with a glare that seems much less scarier than it would have days ago.

“Don’t you have something better to do?” Zitao asks, half-heartedly baring his teeth, as Sehun grabs onto his feet so he can’t move away.

“Nope,” Sehun pushes Zitao’s feet to the side and plops down on a chair, “besides, I’m here on orders from the top.”

Zitao raises an eyebrow, “Why would Yifan-ge get you to bug me?”

“I need a makeover. Something totally different,” Zitao raises his other eyebrow to match, but a slow smile spreads on his face as Sehun laughs, “Long story?”

*

Zitao’s setup is pretty nice compared to Sehun’s, and he’s almost jealous. Though the rooms in essence are the same, Zitao has amassed a huge collection of holo-photos and knick-knacks. Zitao herds Sehun into the adjoined washroom before he gets a chance to really look at things, but he caught a glimpse of what looked like Yifan holding some sort of small animal, so he knows it’d be worth it.

Sehun spills his story to Zitao while the older boy rubs his scalp under the cascading water of the tiny sink he’s crouching under. Zitao doesn’t respond except to let Sehun know he’s listening and Sehun finds himself spewing out more than he had said to Junmyeon. He’s pretty sure that Zitao can be considered a friend. Sehun hasn’t known them for very long, but he feels easy with the crew of the Galaxy like he hasn’t for a long time.

“I’ve got pretty much any colour you can think of, so what do you want?” Zitao says, jolting Sehun from the half sleep he’d slipped into.

“Uh...” he hadn’t really thought past ‘different’ and says, “Surprise me?”

Zitao chuckles under his breath, leaning back to crack his knuckles before telling Sehun to close his eyes, “So it’s a real surprise.”

*

Sehun stares into the ruddy mirror and isn’t quite sure who stares back. It isn’t Oh Sehun, heir to the Oh conglomerate though so Zitao’s done his job in that respect all right. Once black hair falls into Sehun’s eyes as a cornucopia of colour. There are reds, blues, greens, even one solitary strand of purple. Zitao looks smug, slanted smile proud on his face.

“What do you think?”

“It’s... well, it’s definitely different,” Sehun laughs, running his fingers through his hair, he finds it less soft but not unpleasant, “No one’ll recognize me.”

“That’s the idea,” Zitao helps Sehun up, and they go back to his room proper.

This time Sehun doesn’t waste his chance and goes over to peer at Zitao’s board of holo-photos. The one he’d caught a glimpse of earlier turns out to be Yifan making a ridiculous pouting face as he holds up a small, grumpy looking lamb. Sehun almost falls to his knees in laughter at the thought, and Zitao laughs along, “That was when we were on Tian Long back when the crew was just Yifan, Minseok, and me. It was close to my birthday, so I made them take me to the petting zoo.”

Sehun lets his eyes drift across the other photos, they’re mostly group shots, everyone smiling. One catches his eye though, it’s one of the few moving photos. The reason it stands out is there’s one more person than there should be. There nestled between Minseok and Junmyeon is an unfamiliar face, though something about the quirk of his mouth makes Sehun feel like he should recognize him, “Who’s this?” he taps the holo-photo.

“Oh,” Zitao laughs, “that’s Jongdae.” the way he says it further implies Sehun should know who he is.

“And who’s Jongdae?”

Zitao winks and places a finger over his mouth, “A friend.”

Sehun raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t really have the ammo to keep pushing. He hasn’t been here long enough to have any weight to pull, “Come on, I’m hungry,” Zitao says, spinning on his feet and opening the door. Sehun follows him, mind finally catching up to wonder why Minseok isn’t second in command instead of Luhan if the crew started with him and Yifan.

*

Half way through eating a pack of dried apricots Sehun realizes he never got back to Yixing. He startles, running off towards the sick bay while blurting an apology to Zitao. He reaches the sick bay, patting himself on the back for not even having gotten lost once, to find a note on the door.

Sehun, if you’re reading this, you’re free for the day, thank you —Yixing.

Sehun sighs, popping another apricot in his mouth, and turns around to head back to the common room.

*

Right on schedule, they reach Ekwensu. Residing in the same system as Veles, it’s a mid planet. Not far enough from Mithras to be considered out of sight, out of mind, but not close enough to draw in lots of money. Of the two, however, Ekwensu is the richer in material value, and empire presence. The reason for Ekwensu’s relative wealth is that it hosts the empire’s largest military academy.

Teens from all over the empire compete to earn their spot at a military school, those that do poorly are still accepted, but they don’t get to enjoy the greatest of educations compared to their higher achieving peers. Sehun has never known why Ekwensu was chosen to host the most prestigious, but he figures it has something to do with the placement of the system in the empire and some kind of long standing tradition he can only begin to dream of wrap his head around.

Entering orbit sees Sehun just as nervous as leaving Mithras’s had. Yixing insists, from his seat in the common room, that there’s never been any issue, but Sehun’s yet to see Yixing ruffled by anything. Once they’re in the atmosphere though they land so smoothly Sehun barely feels a rumble underneath his feet.

Yixing gets up and gestures for Sehun to follow him. They end up in the cargo bay where Sehun had first entered little over a week ago, along with the rest of the crew. Sehun slots in between Junmyeon and Zitao, as Yixing wanders over to Luhan and Minseok.

“Alright,” Yifan starts, clapping his hands together, and clearing his throat “now that we’re all here. First things first we need to drop off our delivery, Taeyeon doesn’t appreciate tardiness. Once we get paid for that, we need to refill our fuel supplies and then with the money left over I promise to take everyone out for hotpot.”

The promise of hotpot makes Yixing, Minseok, and Zitao clap while Luhan tries not to smile. It sounds pretty good to Sehun too, especially after a week of nothing but dry rations. Yifan puts his hands up to call for silence, and reluctantly everyone complies.

“Now, I’m sure we all know the rules, but for Sehun’s sake I’ll go over the basics. Stick with someone, buddy system. If we leave you behind we’re not coming back—”

Tao snickers in Sehun’s ear.

“—Luhan and Minseok are with me, we need to drop by Yoona’s so we can check in with Taeyeon and keep her mollified. The rest of you can do whatever, sight-see, I don’t care, just make sure to meet up at Yoona’s place in an hour.”

Ekwensu’s system has three suns, and two are in the sky as the crew steps off Galaxy and onto the docks. The docks themselves are barren of flora, but further on in the distance the city proper is shaded by great trees.

At the edge of the canopy, Yifan, Luhan, and Minseok split off from the rest of the crew, heading down a small alley to who knows where, well, this Yoona’s presumably, but it’s all the same to Sehun.

On every surface not covered in leaves are notices and wanted posters, much like the lower level of Mithras. The upper level of Mithras was much too streamlined for such things and instead boasted large screen that would change every few seconds on a rotating system of important messages. All the messages are the same though, even on Ekwensu. The usual suspects are members of the Bleeding Hart, Chen, the crew of the Nu ABO: dissenters and public enemies. There is one Sehun’s never seen before though, and Yixing jogs off and rips one down, covertly making sure no one’s watching.

“They certainly don’t do you justice,” he laughs quietly, shoving the poster into Sehun’s hand. Sehun takes it, and upon unfolding finds it’s a picture of him. It’s a terrible picture, the photo used for last year’s school id card, acne all over. Below the picture it reads, MISSING OH SE HUN: reward for any information concerning his whereabouts.

Huh, Sehun thinks, that was fast.

He jams the poster in his pocket surreptitiously, and Junmyeon shakes his head and starts walking down the main thoroughfare, Zitao linking arms with him.

Being under the canopy casts everything in shades of green. Sehun follows Junmyeon and Zitao to a market. In the market are stalls upon stalls of all kinds of goods, from jewellery to imported fruits. At the far end is a great gate and a small road that leads up to the military academy looming in the distance.

The four of them wander through, Zitao pulling Junmyeon over to look at gaudy accessories and pouting when he refuses to give him money for any of them. Yixing, meanwhile, seems content to people watch, every now and then elbowing Sehun and pointing at a particularly outstanding focal point.

It must be close to midday on planet, as students from the academy (recognizable in their crisp uniforms) roam the streets as well. Some more unruly than others, Sehun thinks he spies a loose tie somewhere in the crowd.

There are full fledged guards standing watch at the gates to the academy boulevard, and Sehun can’t understand how no one seems the slight bit nervous they’re all going to be taken in under suspicion of kidnapping. It’s amazing what a haircut could do, he guesses.

And it’s true, they walk past the guards without a second glance. Yixing pats him on the back, and Zitao drags Junmyeon, and by extension the rest of them, down an alleyway to look at blanket merchants.

The alleyway is dingier than the main thoroughfare, and lips are much looser. The further they get from the street, the louder the whispers get.

“They’ll never catch Chen because he isn’t real; he’s propaganda”

“Nonsense, he’s real alright, but he sure isn’t human.”

“There’re more guards at the academy then we’ve seen in years, must be a mad bot.”

No one else seems to be eavesdropping, Yixing staring up at the canopy while Zitao coos over baubles, disgruntled Junmyeon’s smile straining.

“I heard someone stole a bot, that’s why there are so many guards out.”

“There’s no sense in that, academy bots only know how to clean. They’ve got no better uses.”

Yixing speeds up his step, and Sehun follows. They overtake Junmyeon and Zitao, Yixing sharing a glance with the younger of the two, and Zitao drags Junmyeon after them, giving up on wrangling money out of him.

*

Yixing leads them back to the main square, plopping himself down underneath a tree and pulls Sehun down next to him. Zitao flops down, his head landing carefully in Yixing’s lap. Junmyeon sits next to Sehun, checking his watch.

“We don’t have enough time for you to take a nap, Taozi,” he says. Zitao just lifts his head to send Junmyeon a glare before laying it back down.

“Then what do we have time for,” he grumbles

Yixing pats his head laughing, “We probably have time to head to Yoona’s.”

Zitao’s only response is a groan.

“You have five minutes,” Junmyeon concedes, rolling his eyes, “then I’m waking you.”

Zitao smiles up at him, slowly, “You’re the best~” before burrowing back into Yixing’s thigh.

The next few minutes pass in relative silence, and Sehun finds himself drowsing off slightly in the heat even under the shade of the canopy. Junmyeon seems unaffected, watching people as they walk by and checking the time every now and then.

Sehun jolts from his half-sleep, as Junmyeon shakes his shoulder. Junmyeon chuckles a bit, leaning forward on his knees to repeat the process with Yixing and Zitao. Yixing blinks, while Zitao groans, sitting up and stretching with a long yawn.

“C’mon,” Junmyeon says, standing up and wiping his pants, “time to go.”

*

“Yoona’s” is apparently a clothier’s. Sehun finds himself trying to stare up at a large storefront nestled alongside a long row of other shops off the beaten path. This section of the city is just out of the canopy, suns casting everything in a harsh glow. The buildings are dim to contrast, but the heat is still almost too much and Sehun finds himself squinting in the brightness.

The store’s window displays well crafted, though slightly worse for wear, mannequins sporting popular styles. They’re hardly around for more than a few moments before Yifan comes stepping out of the shop followed by Minseok and Luhan. Luhan stumbles over the doorframe and spins around, only to be met with a woman in the doorway sticking her tongue out at him.

He flips her off, and she laughs, waving to everyone before closing the door.

“Hungry?” Minseok asks once they reach the others, and Zitao grapples on to him.

“Always.”

“How’d it go?” Junmyeon asks, and Yifan sighs, running a hand through his hair as they all set off.

“Fine, we’re on schedule and all so I didn’t think Taeyeon’d be mad or anything, but Yoona seemed especially bored.”

Junmyeon laughs, “Good thing we came to keep her occupied.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Luhan bites out, but then he yelps as Yixing pushes his head to the side. They squabble good-naturedly, running off ahead, and Yifan sighs again.

“Oh, Sehun!” Minseok spins around, halting the group’s progress, “We got you these,” he opens a bag, tilting its face so Sehun can see inside. He catches sight of a pair of pants and what may be a sweater. The crew of the Galaxy keep proving themselves to be far too kind.