“Do you hear that?” Jongin strained his ears, not sure if he had heard something or if he had just imagined it.

“What?” Sehun was skipping along the path in high spirits, energetically swinging the hand that was holding Jongin's, backwards and forwards.

“Shht. Wait.” Jongin stopped in his tracks, making Sehun do the same. He had heard it again. It was faint but it was definitely there. Something was beeping.

Worried that there could be something wrong with some of the farm equipment, Jongin strained his ears. With his dad away, he was in charge of the farm. It was a huge responsibility. Jongin didn't take it lightly.

He couldn't hear anything. Had he been imagining it? Was he going completely insane? Maybe it was just his mark that was beeping. It could do all kinds of other crazy things, there was no reason to think it couldn't beep too.

“Never mind.” Jongin shrugged, walking towards the back gate of the farm.

“Hey, why am I the only one who got a nickname? That's kind of unfair right?” Sehun said as if he was thinking out loud. “Don't you feel left out not having a nickname?” he asked cutely.

“Nah, I'm fine.” Jongin just said, not really up for some crazy Exorian nickname that he couldn't pronounce unless he shrieked so loudly that he popped his own eardrums.

“I'll make one for you!” Sehun exclaimed cheerfully. He was such a sweet soul, but sometimes he was a lot of work.

“Uhm, no, no, that's so not necessary.” Jongin waved his hands in a 'thanks, but no thanks' kind of way.

“Hmm, what would be a good nickname for you.” Sehun stopped abruptly and turned to Jongin, examining every inch of his face. Jongin almost felt like he was , his stomach tingling. He got the urge to kiss Sehun again, but didn't act on it.

“It definitely has to be cute, because you're so cute.” Sehun grinned, chuckling sheepishly.

Agh, that silly oaf of an alien. Jongin could feel his cheeks heat up. He self-consciously bit his lower lip.

“It also has to be kind and beautiful, like your heart.” Sehun nodded to himself, deep in thought.

Jongin tried not to let on how much he was melting at Sehun's words, but he couldn't contain his feelings, so even though he didn't show them, Sehun would probably detect them through their bond. This soulmate thing made it really difficult to hide anything from Sehun. But maybe that was the secret recipe for a long lasting, loving relationship. Honesty. Uncensored, brutal, in your face honesty.

“I've got it!” Sehun's face turned bright like a light bulb had went off inside his head.

Jongin tried to prepare himself for whatever awfulness Sehun had come up with, which he was going to be stuck with from now on.

“Nini!” Sehun scrunched his nose and giggled. “It sounds really cute, right?” he grinned proudly.

Huh.

Nini.

He actually kind of liked it.

Then again, he actually kind of liked Sehun too.

Jongin just nodded, letting the bubbly feelings that were bouncing along the bond over to Sehun speak for themselves and gave Sehun a peck on the cheek.

They both giggled.

There it was again, except louder. The beep.

“Oh, I hear it!” Sehun looked at Jongin. “I think I know what it is.”.

Without explaining any further, he grabbed Jongin's hand and pulled him into the barn.

His spaceship was beeping.

“Oh no.” Sehun gasped, putting his hand on his forehead, his mark.

“What? ....what?!? What's going on?” Jongin asked him, worried.

“They can detect when a bond is formed.” Sehun said in a low, ominous voice. Jongin didn't know who 'they' were, but somehow it didn't sound good.

“They can detect it over millions of light-years of space? One little bond?” Jongin frowned, unconvinced.

“Yep.” Sehun nodded and kept staring at his ship, lost for what to do.

“How?” Jongin couldn't imagine how that could even be done.

“Dunno.” Sehun shrugged, totally clueless.

“And what does that mean? Is that bad? I mean, isn't that what's supposed to happen.” Jongin softly asked, not sure why Sehun was being so dramatic about it.

“It means they now know where I am, and if I don't come back, they'll come for me.” Sehun said in a near whisper.

“Isn't that a good thing... Hey! Oh! Isn't that the best thing that could happen... you were stranded, and now you're not anymore!” Jongin was thrilled for all of two seconds, until he realized that they were from two completely different worlds, light-years apart. What were they going to do?

“If they come for me...” Sehun said hesitantly. “...then they'll discover you.” he whispered.

“I know, it's really far away and long distance is never optimal, and we're talking really, really long distance. I don't think I can leave my dad though. Maybe like, we could visit each other over the summer and winter vacations. It though, I'm going to miss you so much.” Jongin rambled on, not noticing Sehun's concerned expression.

“So ehm... a bond between Exorians and barbarians is strictly forbidden.” Sehun bit his lip.

“But you're going to miss me? Really?” distracted, Sehun's face lit up. It was cute how happy that made him. Of course Jongin was going to miss him, how could Sehun not know that.

“If it's forbidden... what's going to happen when they get here?” Jongin slowly asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

“Not sure.” Sehun confessed.

“They wouldn't like... stick us in alien prison, would they? How are Exorian prisons... they don't have a freaky torture chamber or anything like that, do they?” Jongin was joking, but he managed to scare himself.

“Okay, so, when are they coming?” Jongin started biting his nails, a habit he kicked years ago.

“It depends on how many they're going to have to collect and where we are on the list, it could be as early as next week, next month or it could be a year or longer.” Sehun shrugged. He really wasn't a fountain of information right now.

“But I mean, the bond has already been formed, and it's not like it can be undone, right?” Jongin asked.

“Right.”.

“Oh, and won't you die if it's broken?! There's no way they'd break the bond then, it would be no different from murdering you. So they have to let us be together!” Jongin concluded, having convinced himself.

“Wow, you are so smart!” Sehun beamed, satisfied with Jongin's reasoning.

It was solid. Jongin was sure that they would be able to solve this and talk it all out when those 'they'-people came. Even so, there was this uncomfortable feeling penetrating his gut, getting cozy in there like it was planning on staying a while. They were going to have to live with the threat now, at any time there could be an alien invasion whose sole mission was to break them up.

Jongin realized that he didn't want to break up, not one bit. This bond-thing had totally snuck up on him. He was falling for Sehun, like really falling in love with him. He didn't want to lose him, and he was not going to, even if he had to fight a whole alien army to keep that from happening. He wasn't scared anymore. He and Sehun were going to be together, forever.