sooyoung fiddles with her alien "phone" communicator. only a few hours into this trip, and she's already having second thoughts. first, the ship they're taking looks like one of those optical illusion impossible shapes.

"this can't be human tested." she mumbles as the platform she's standing on begins to float. it moves across the floor, stopping gently at her assigned seat. some indecipherable symbols, that apparently are a number according to seungwan, matches her digital ticket.

she was slowly learning some of seungwan’s native tongue. but apparently there were about 4 different writing systems for numbers alone. she knew none of them.

"it is! i promise. the g force won't stop any bodily functions. at least it shouldn't." their bags fly into place, thanks to the magnet-type contraptions they were given at the station, and seungwan tells sooyoyng to sit.

seungwan finds sooyoung's hand palm up in her lap, and she squeezes it. a tiny reminder that everything will be okay.

now that she's positive that this intergalactic subway-ship isn't going to shut her body down, sooyoung's only worry is making a good impression. seungwan claims sooyoung already has, that the in-laws are already fond of her, but she still felt she had a small margin for error.

the truth was she hadn't dated anyone since early undergrad, when she was still planning to be a veterinarian. she met his parents. not to brag, but they adored her. they were all human though. and now she's a kindergarten teacher with a master's degree, maybe with plans to pursue a ph.d in some kind of pedagogy.

a lot has changed.

hell, she might be the lead of "crazy rich aliens." except there's no wedding. she and seungwan aren't engaged. so it isn't that similar, but she's not expecting much better.

"what's with the eyebrows?" seungwan asks. her finger pokes exactly between sooyoung's eyebrows. they relax on contact.

"thinking."

seungwan opens to ask; she's one to pry. sooyoung doesn't mind anymore, now that they tell each other everything. but seungwan realizes they're in a public space with random strangers all around, some who may or may not understand them, so they exchange smiles as the galaxy blurs behind them.

"almost there." seungwan says, eyes somehow able to read the stars blasting past them. they're familiar to her. though it's been years since she has gone home, they're still familiar. can she still call it home?

sooyoung wants that cheesy "home is with you" type of love. the kind where seungwan professes that anywhere she goes will only be home if seungwan is there. she knows she should tell seungwan what she wants, how she wants it. be clear. be concise. but she hesitates. every time because she doesn't want seungwan to feel like she has to choose. who she calls home. where she calls home.

the whole situation is a different pill to swallow. it's an odd shape and flavor and texture and color. she's not really sure how anyone is supposed to take it.

just like that pill seungwan pops from what is basically an airport-subway-shuttle station necessity shop.

"okay. give it a minute, but i shouldn't burn you anymore." seungwan slips the bottle? case? container. she slips the container into her purse-box thing, (sooyoung looks like such a tourist), and takes sooyoung's hand.

heat doesn't radiated off of her arms anymore. sooyoung lets her other hand find seungwan's forearm. it's warm. not hot, but warm. she's gotten away with quick kisses before. but for the first time since that kiss in the woods, sooyoung thinks she might be able to linger, to let a kiss really simmer-

"we're here."

sooyoung goes still as they stand in front of what seems to be a door. she can't get a good look; the thing vaporizes after seungwan steps on something. her head falls back as she takes in the mass of the building.

sooyoung didn't think this building was it. they had been walking past it for at couple minutes. this isn't a house. this is a floating bungalow mansion complex. she's scared to even be holding seungwan's hand now. surely something of the camera sort is recording her. probably analyzing her every move or something.

then a voice in the entrance strikes a familiar chord.

that's seungwan's mother.