Sunlight on his face made the angel stir. Gunwoo winced against the brightness and then pried an eye open to see the blue morning sky before him. He took a shallow breath and shifted slightly, making a small sound in the back of his throat as he did so. It was enough to make the angel at his back wake, arms tightening around his waist and pulling him closer as warm breath rushed over his shoulder and tickled his wing. “Morning,” he smiled, cradling the arms with his hands and simply enjoying the feel of waking in his lover’s arms. Until yesterday, it was not something he would have ever believed possible.

                “Morning,” came the sleepy but relieved sigh. “I’m glad you’re still here,” he added in a softer tone, giving voice to the relief.

                Gunwoo didn’t say anything at first, though he tightened his hands about Changmin’s arms. “How often did you dream of me?” he wondered, knowing he had as well, but such nights had been few and far between.

                Changmin’s pause was painful as were his following words. “More often than I should have.”

                Curious, as he hadn’t heard much about the happenings in the Vylorian Quadrant, he wondered, “What was it like out there?”

                “Please,” Changmin pleaded softly, forehead pressing against the back of Gunwoo’s head. “Let’s not talk about that right now.”

                With a grimace, Gunwoo nodded and rubbed at the arms about him soothingly. “Sorry.”

                “S’okay,” his companion murmured, shifting to rest his chin on Gunwoo’s shoulder. “I just don’t wanna think about it. It’s… too fresh,” he added, pressing a kiss to his cheek though his hair got in the way.

                “I’m sorry,” the chagrined angel murmured again anyway, turning his head to look at his lover out of the corner of his eye. He looked more rested and… happy. A bit tired but after their evening and the events of the other day, who could blame him? After all, while he felt rested from a full night’s sleep, he was ultimately still tired. And his body ached, but in a satisfied way. Painful but well worth it and well earned. He was pretty sure they wouldn’t be trying that level of activity anytime soon though.

                Honestly, he was more than content just to stay like there were for as long as anyone would let him. On the other hand, certain bodily concerns eventually became more pressing and they both had to free themselves to take care of basic needs. And then hunger – and clothes – were a concern.

                “Sorry about your shirt,” Gunwoo admitted in embarrassment.

                “I’m not,” Changmin assured him, coming close to steal a quick kiss. “It was too tight anyway.”

                “Yeah, well,” he shrugged, choosing not to fight it. There weren’t exactly any stores around that they could just find a new one at and short of making one, they had no other options just yet.

                “We’ll figure something out. For now, I’ll just go without,” Changmin laughed, giving Gunwoo’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

                “Fine,” he relented easily, turning his gaze back towards the mouth of the cave before looking back at the remains of the sleeping space. Grass was strewn about rather haphazardly but there had been enough to lie comfortably on that hadn’t been disturbed before sleep claimed them, so there was that. But the enclosure was otherwise sparse, if apparently secure. Nothing had attempted to bother them while they slept either. “Considering I’m really starting to believe this is our new home, we might want to think about making this into a more homey shelter or do some more exploring to see if we can find a better shelter.”

                Changmin’s face took on a thoughtful look and he shifted closer to the mouth of the cave. “Fresh water isn’t too far away, and we should probably think about getting to it ourselves,” he mentioned with a glance down at their persons. Gunwoo had no arguments there. “And we should be able to find more in the way of food in the forest if we take a bit to look, but I do think we should explore that downed ship before too long.”

                “Right,” Gunwoo nodded, remembering seeing the fairly large vessel the other day. “Maybe it’ll have some supplies or something,” he shrugged, joining his lover at the lip of the ledge. “And after that…?” he murmured, trailing off intentionally.

                “I suppose we keep looking for other people. We can’t be the only ones on this planet,” Changmin said, shaking his head.

                “Fair enough. So, water first?” Gunwoo prompted, pointing towards where he was pretty sure the falls were. Squinting, he though he could see the stream of water winding its way through the trees anyway.

                “Sounds good,” his companion smiled, deftly hopping off the ledge and taking flight. Gunwoo joined him a second later.

                They settled in the shallows of the pool at the base of the falls. While there was still no sign of creatures they should be cautious of, they were now certain about the fish. And at the sides they noticed smaller creatures that resembled the lizards and mammals Gunwoo had seen back on Earth. So far, nothing much reminded him of the Angel home world, which wasn’t surprising since the atmosphere felt different, if hospitable to angel physiology, fortunately. And not surprisingly, the water was quite chilly, inviting more of a swim than a bath. But they had things they needed to do for the moment and they promised they’d come back later for the desired swim.

                Gratefully clean and no longer thirsty, food was the next item on the docket. And as Changmin surmised, they were able to find some edible roots and berries in the woods nearby. A bit of divination proved some to be… questionable while the others were satisfactory, especially the berries. It certainly wasn’t what he was used to back on the NADT Prime, but it was enough. Looking back at Changmin who was finishing off his handful of berries, longish dark hair still slightly wet and tanned bare chest gleaming in the patches of light that filtered through the trees, he couldn’t find it in his heart to really miss his old life. Not when this, and he, was what he had to look forward to.

                “So, ship next?” Changmin suggested with a nod towards the sky.

                It was still early but there was really no time like the present. “Ship first,” Gunwoo confirmed, dusting his hands off as he stood up and made ready to fly.

                Neither knew what to expect with the vessel. They approached it cautiously, as any sensible angel would, but were more than a bit surprised when the design seemed familiar. Getting closer, they were stunned to discover it was an angel ship… Not one that they knew and a little different from the standard issue they were both accustomed to, but obviously from the Angel Empire.

                “That’s weird,” Gunwoo murmured, inching closer to take in the old growth all around it. Clearly, it had been here for a long time, but he didn’t recall there really being any patrols in the direction they’d gone.

                “Quite,” Changmin agreed, taking the lead now. He didn’t have a weapon so he grabbed a nearby stick to use as a sword instead.

                “I can-” Gunwoo started to offer before a raised hand silenced him.

                “I’ve got this,” the taller angel assured him, determinedly looking stoic and valiant with his flimsy wooden stick.

                Gunwoo let him have it, raising his hands in mute and slightly amused surrender. He didn’t feel any danger nearby, so there was no real need for his flaming sword anyway, but he appreciated the sentiment all the same. Standing outside, he waited patiently for Changmin to go in and take a look around the medium sized vessel. It was more of an exploratory cruiser about the size of four or five personal vessels. Maybe a science ship?

                “Woo,” Changmin called from the interior, his tone obviously curious.

                “Coming,” he responded, ducking inside the semi-wrecked vessel. While the exterior was sufficiently banged up, the interior seemed mostly intact. Mostly. There were some obvious problems with panels busted open and wiring hanging loose, but it was in pretty good condition. He couldn’t exactly say the same for the previous pilot though… “Oh,” he sighed, stepping closer as he saw the deceased angel buckled into the chair.

                “Main power’s down but it looks like there’s still a charge in the auxiliary batteries,” Changmin murmured thoughtfully, looking over the controls and carefully avoiding the bony remnants of wings in his path.

                “Can we get an idea of what or who this ship was?” he wondered, glancing around with new reverence. Maybe there had been survivors but it didn’t seem like it. If there had been, no one appeared to have really taken anything or tried to get the ship up and running again.

                “We can try,” his companion confirmed, poking at switches carefully. “How about… now?” he wondered flipping a switch that prompted a quiet hum and made some of the lights flicker on. “Huh. What do you know?”

                “Video or audio logs?” Gunwoo prompted, looking to see what doors there might be in the vicinity.

                “Looks like the video and audio are shot but there a transcript recording here,” Changmin murmured, squinting at the screen. “This things as old as your father,” he snorted, making Gunwoo raise a brow at him. Changmin just shrugged and continued reading. “Research vessel… looking into a black hole,” he glanced up to meet Gunwoo’s eyes, “in the Hylorian Quadrant.”

                “That’s where Vic and I headed,” Gunwoo whispered, chewing on his bottom lip. “Where we found you,” he added with a shrug.

                “No other crew mentioned or cause of death. Could be anything at this point,” Changmin frowned, looking over the angel’s body. “A lot of the information is corrupted though,” he added with a grimace. “But at least there’s power,” he reminded Gunwoo with a glance around. “Seems safe enough. We should probably take a run through and see what we can find.”

                “Yeah,” Gunwoo agreed, taking one last look at the angel in the seat. Pity. It might have been nice to find another angel out here. Especially one so far removed from any obvious connections. Still, they’d only just arrived and this might be a relatively new world, judging by how untouched it appeared for the moment.

                Most of the ship was full of old samples the occupant had collected in his travels, broken bits of technology that might be salvageable, and otherwise generally unusable things. On the other hand, there was a small, still mostly functional med bay and… clothes. That would actually fit Changmin. “Lucky?” he asked in uncertain surprise as he held the old fashioned garb up.

                “I’d say so, and he certainly can’t use it anymore,” Gunwoo reminded with a shrug. Better than running around in uncomfortable clothes or none at all. “If nothing else, we can also take quite a bit of this bedroom stuff and utilize it for ourselves,” he added, eyeing the mostly good blankets and the mattress they should be able to remove. There were additional utensils in the ‘dining’ area and in the storage compartment, they even found a spare sword for Changmin.

                “Much better,” he sighed happily as he strapped the slightly heavier than he was used to astrilite sword to his waist. “Looks like they changed the formula a bit by the time I got my first one,” he commented, hefting the weight in his hands experimentally.

                “I’m sure you’ll get used to it in no time,” Gunwoo assured him, patting his abdomen comfortingly as he drifted close to take one more look around. Changmin nodded in quiet agreement and then put the blade away again. “So. For now. Let’s keep the cave as our base and make it a bit homier until we’ve had a chance to explore a bit more. Yeah?”

                “Good plan, lo- Woo,” Changmin agreed with a gentle kiss to the side of Gunwoo’s head.

                Giving him a sidelong look, Gunwoo smiled in satisfaction, not missing that near slip. “Love you too,” he responded, patting the firm waist in understanding. Old habits and taboos were hard to break sometimes.

                It took them most of the rest of the day, but they managed to bury the pilot respectfully and then gut most of the usable things from the ship before transporting them back to the cave. It was tiring work and they had to take several breaks for food and water and rest, but by the end of it, they were satisfied with how their ‘home’ was starting to shape up. It was still missing quite a bit, but it was at least more comfortable. Dinner felt more civilized with actual plates and silverware though, even if the cooking left a bit to be desired. Neither had much cause to practice previously.

                Physically exhausted, pleasantly full, and comfortable, they were content to simply sleep that evening. On their new mattress, sleep was easy and they were happy resting in each other’s arms.

                The next day found them both a bit tired but… sore. Enough so that they knew they would not be doing any exploring that day. Instead, they took the opportunity to swim in the waterfall pool as they had originally wanted to. The cool water was the perfect balm for sore muscles – maybe not as good as a hot pool – and it was pure bliss spreading their wings out to dry under the gentle warmth of the sun, feather tips just touching.

                After that though, they fell into a comfortable existence. During the day, they continued to make the cave their home. But they also started to make forays out and about to see what else they could find. The grass plains they’d landed in held more life than they originally thought and Changmin figured it might have been because the pod crash landing had scared most of them away the first day. Gunwoo was inclined to agree. Herds of creatures that resembled Earth sheep, but slightly larger and with more decorative horns, roamed together, looking up at them curiously as they flew overhead. That was also where they found their first predators – large hunting cats with dark green fur to better hide in the grass. They traveled in small packs and looked to be about the size of large dogs. From up above, it was harder to get a good look at them, but they didn’t seem that much of a threat from here. They were just something to be wary of should they make their way into the forest.

                The woods too held new creatures, both familiar and strange. Things like very short legged snakes, four armed monkeys, and… bugs. Near the falls, they weren’t so bad, but in the depths of the forest… cosmos they were annoying. Neither fully trusted the river water yet, or the ocean, but both were mostly a mystery. Granted, the latter did show more signs of life: shadows under the water and pods of things swimming by but never breaking the surface. They would tackle the mountains soon enough but for now, they were happy exploring this part of the continent or island or whatever land they were on.

                While they might have been busy during the day, their evenings were full in a different way. They took every opportunity to make love under the night sky, addicted to each other and making up for lost time. Sometimes they would just talk and cuddle or share stories, filling in the gaps of what they didn’t know, little by little. And if they weren’t trying to fix something or make something or change something in the dim light of a cave fire, they were generally sleeping.

                But always together. That was a constant Gunwoo could count on and it was one he knew that Changmin appreciated too. Sometimes, he’d catch the other angel just staring at him like he was something precious. A slow smile would always follow and sometimes maybe more, but it felt so good to be wanted… desired… truly loved. In Changmin’s arms was where he knew he was happiest and he hoped that the other angel felt the same way. Gunwoo thought he did and that was enough for him.

                The life they’d inexplicably found themselves in wasn’t much by any standard measure, but for them, it was almost truly paradise. They had no way of keeping time and it didn’t matter for the most part, but Gunwoo kept a running tally of days just to sate his own curiosity. One by one, a new mark appeared, and for weeks going into moon cycles, they lived in minimal bliss. Of course they were still curious about what might be on the other side of the mountain, but it was always something that could wait for another day. Besides, they were talking about it and it was going to happen soon. Maybe tomorrow or the next day.

                They were even thinking about it over breakfast. Well, Changmin was preparing breakfast this time – fresh fish and teeny bird eggs he’d found somewhere. Normally, Gunwoo loved both of those things, but for some reason, the smell that morning made him nauseous. Frowning and fighting the unexpected revolt of his empty stomach, he got up and headed for the mouth of the cave for a breath of fresh air.

                “Woo?” Changmin asked, confused by the shift and the slight green tinge on his lover’s face.

                “I’m good,” he waved the other angel off, sure he just needed some clean air. The smell followed him though, prompting a dry heave that surprised both him and Changmin.

                “Woo!” The other angel panicked and bolted to his side as he had the unpleasant experience of his stomach waging war against him. “What’s wrong, love?” Changmin asked, gathering his hair and pulling it back to the nape of his neck.

                “Dunno,” Gunwoo admitted, dry heaving again. “The smell, I think,” he added, shaking his head slowly. Immediately, Changmin stood up and removed the cooking food before flapping his wings to air the space out. It hit Gunwoo dead on first, prompting another heave, but then washed over him swiftly, leaving sweet fresh air in its wake. And peace. Taking a deep breath and feeling his stomach calm, he narrowed his eyes and chirped, “Huh.”

                “What happened?” Changmin asked again, coming close to sit beside Gunwoo and rub a sympathetic hand against his back.

                “I have no idea,” he murmured, not liking that one bit. “I’m okay now, but I don’t think I want fish for breakfast anymore,” he said, wrinkling is nose at the idea of trying that again.

                “I don’t blame you,” his partner nodded, still looking concerned. “Maybe we can get you something lighter this morning. I saw some of those fruits you like on the way back on if that would help?” he offered sincerely.

                Gunwoo was more than grateful that he was just concerned about him and not annoyed about breakfast being ruined. “I would like that,” he nodded in slow acceptance, eyeing the fish and eggs warily. Normally, he liked them just fine…

                “Okay. You wait here. I’ll be right back,” Changmin promised, kissing Gunwoo’s head quickly before he dove off the ledge in search of the mentioned fruit. And fortunately, it went down just fine with no problems, but their adventures were curtailed for the day as Gunwoo was urged to rest and Changmin watched over him. “You don’t have a fever. And everything else looks okay.”

                “Love. I’m sure it was nothing. Just a fluke,” Gunwoo waved off, cuddling comfortable with Changmin that evening.

                “You sure?”

                “I mean, I feel fine now,” Gunwoo promised with a shrug.

                And the next day, things seemed to be back to normal. Though they did avoid trying to cook fish inside the cave. By the following day, the incident seemed mostly forgotten as they resumed their search, making tentative forays over the mountainous peaks to see what they could. But something else felt off not too long after as Gunwoo literally had to wave Changmin away one evening because he couldn’t muster the energy for anything more than sleeping. He knew Changmin wanted to ask him more but he fell asleep almost as soon as he laid down. But like before, he felt fine in the morning.

                “I’m just as confused as you are,” Gunwoo admitted when his lover asked him about it.

                “Maybe we should check you out in the medbay on the ship?” Changmin suggested with a glance towards the forest. While gutted, the ship still had auxiliary power and there was a mostly functional medbay that could provide basic diagnoses and scans if needed.

                Gunwoo waved the thought off and shook his head. “Maybe it’s just me getting used to the planet and it’s hitting me harder because I’m a Royal.” That was actually a reasonable possibility. Standards were generally more resilient than their otherwise more powerful peers.

                “I don’t know, Woo,” Changmin shook his head uncertainly. “I mean, you still look alright, but if things keep happening, we are definitely going to use the medbay, okay?” he asked, coming close to press his forehead against Gunwoo’s while he grabbed his hands lightly.

                “Okay,” Gunwoo agreed, knowing that was also reasonable.

                So they let it go again, but that was hardly the end of it. Gunwoo experienced a couple more flashes of nausea in the morning that he was mostly able to quell and play off without rousing too much concern. Another bout of fatigue had him napping during the day, but his excuse of just being comfortable and relaxed was plausible enough for Changmin not to push the matter. He even had a moment where he pricked his finger on something and, while it didn’t really hurt, he inexplicably wanted to cry. He resolutely focused on what he was doing, keeping his back to Changmin until he got it under control. Of course he knew he shouldn’t be hiding such things from Changmin but he really didn’t want the other angel to worry over small things, such as they were.

                However, Gunwoo was starting to worry for a different reason. He’d seen things like this often enough with Hyosung to have a pretty good guess about what it might mean, but… it was literally impossible. Hence the worry, especially since there was no physical sign of anything otherwise. And for the most part, he was able to play off any other symptoms because he was generally aware of what he might expect and how to counteract them. Again… practice. None of that mattered when he suddenly woke up looking at a very worried Changmin above him.

                “What…?” Gunwoo asked in genuine confusion.

                “Are you alright? You… fainted,” Changmin admitted, using the word uncertainly as if it didn’t really fit. Honestly, it didn’t. He’d never fainted before in his life. Fallen unconscious, yes. Been knocked unconscious, yes. Fainted… no.

                Gunwoo opened his mouth to assure the angel he was in fact fine, but then stopped. Instead, he took a breath and nodded to himself. “Can’t believe I’m saying this, but… I think… I may be… pregnant,” he explained, drawing each part of the sentence out as if he didn’t want to say the words. He didn’t.

                “Huh?” Changmin grunted, eyes automatically moving to Gunwoo’s stomach in confusion.

                “I know,” Gunwoo raised his hands in surrender. He was well aware of how crazy that sounded. “Let’s… just go to the medbay,” he suggested, content to let things play out as they would. Knowing was better than not. Probably. He hoped.

                “Sure…” his partner agreed hesitantly, though he did pause to check Gunwoo’s forehead temperature first. “No fever. Pregnant?” he asked as if double checking.

                “Oh, shut up,” Gunwoo grumbled, feeling very out of sorts about the possibility. Self conscious too. Awkwardly, he got to his feet and stalked to the mouth of the cave, shivering in the new chill that was coming in off the sea. Apparently there were seasons here and this one was getting colder. “You coming?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at the taller angel.

                “Right behind you, Woo,” Changmin promised, still very much confused, but also very much with him.

                Gunwoo’s thoughts were heavy as they approached the wrecked ship. His nerves were almost enough to make him sick when they stepped inside. And he very much wanted to just curl into a ball and hide when he finally laid down on the cockeyed bed so Changmin could run a scan. A full, thorough scanner would have been ideal but it was broken, so they had to use the portable hand scanner that looked like a modified and extended electronic tablet. “Minnie,” Gunwoo muttered when the taller angel looked to make a full body sweep.

                “Just… bear with me,” Changmin cautioned. “I just want to be sure,” he explained a second later as he started his sweep.

                That was understandable but it did nothing to help make Gunwoo relax. It just made him more nervous, especially as the scanner moved closer to his abdomen. He tried not to fidget but it was hard. It felt like he was under a microscope and he didn’t like it. Especially when Changmin’s scan stopped almost exactly where Gunwoo expected it to. Biting his lip, he watched the other angel’s eyebrows rise on his forehead, eyes growing wide as he apparently zoomed in for a closer look.

                “Huh,” he hummed, head tilting to the side before he looked at Gunwoo with an unreadable expression on his face.

                “Let me see that,” Gunwoo grumbled, reaching for the screen and then focusing on what he was seeing. He had to zoom out to get a better orientation, but then he frowned, zooming in like Changmin had. Rotating the image to get a more 3D view, he frowned in concentration and then laughed once, disbelief almost palpable. No, he didn’t have a uterus, but there was something that was attached to his internal plumping. And that something, though certainly small and not at all angel like at the moment, had what suspiciously looked like a heartbeat. “Huh,” he echoed Changmin, staring at the screen as if it was lying to him and extremely conflicted about it.

                “You are pregnant,” Changmin whispered in a strange mix of reverence and awe. “It’s a miracle,” he added, stepping close to place a gentle hand on Gunwoo’s head while they stared at the screen together.

                “I don’t know how, but… it looks like it,” Gunwoo agreed, still not at all sure how he should feel about it yet.