Lane 1

Commissioner Park Jihyo, Chief Officer of the Proxima Centauri Interplanetary Trade Federation, marched through the loading dock with purpose. Despite being one of the shortest people in the spaceport, she was the centre of attention in every room she walked through. Workers suddenly became entirely focused on their jobs, whether it be mopping floors, fixing spacecrafts, or loading and unloading merchandise. Passengers and pilots waiting for their ship to be ready scuttled onboard as she passed, or kept their head down if there was nowhere to go.

Part of this was due to her own reputation. One of the youngest search and rescue officers to ever reach the rank of Captain, her exploits were known not just on her home planet of Cu, but throughout the entire solar system of Proxima Centauri. A rescue mission gone wrong had left her with two damaged legs, and while she could still walk, she was in no position to be jumping between spacecrafts as her old job required. Thus, she had transferred to interplanetary trade law, with a new goal of ridding the entire department of corruption.

A job that had made her more than a few enemies. Which was where the other half of the intimidating reputation came into play. Im Nayeon, Jihyo’s right hand woman, and the reason no assassin would agree to go after the young Commissioner. She was never more than two steps behind Jihyo at any given time, and even though no one knew the full details of her exploits they knew enough to stay away. 

She’s the most deadly agent 2T Field Operations ever trained. One pilot whispered.

I heard they wanted to kill her because she wouldn’t follow orders, but no one was brave enough to try it. A passenger muttered.

I heard they put her in a building filled with explosives and she walked out unharmed. The flight attendant replied.

I heard that the last person who tried to kill the Commissioner, she burnt every single person responsible for it alive. Froze them all with her voice first so they couldn’t run.

They can do that you know. Those Loahs. They’ve got special powers when they sing.

Quick! Don’t let her catch you whispering.

Is it true that they’re in love?

I don’t know. Doubt she’s even capable of it.

“Can you hear what they’re saying?” Jihyo asked, more out of curiosity than an urgent need to know.

Nayeon shot her an amused smile, and shook her head.

“Still half human. Hearing is tragically limited, although not quite as bad as yours.”

“Thanks.”

They moved out of the first loading bay, and into the second. An audible sigh of relief could be heard behind them.

“So care to fill me in on why we’re going to visit Jeongyeon? I’m guessing it’s not to arrest her.”

“Depends on what she’s up to.”

It was an empty threat and they both knew it. But Nayeon was still struggling to adapt to Jihyo’s morality, which Jihyo could willingly admit was slightly greyer than the law dictated. Case in point, her best friend, the supervisor of planet 2T space cargo delivery, also known as the most trustworthy and reputable fence on the planet.

The first time they’d met, Nayeon offered to kill Jeongyeon for her. Things had gotten slightly better since then. Now, as they approached the doors of loading dock three, a dock that was meant to be unused at this time of the night, Nayeon didn’t even have her taser out.

Progress.

Really, they were just here to meet with Jeongyeon’s clients. To make sure they were who Jihyo suspected they were, and to ask them a few questions. Jihyo was aware that if any of the people who wanted her dead found out about this, she’d be demoted faster than Nayeon could put a bullet in someone. She’d be derided as a hypocrite, someone who claimed to want justice but colluded with law breakers.

But the law wasn’t always just, and both Jeongyeon and Jihyo understood that. Nayeon did too. She just had a slightly different perspective than Jihyo did, and that was fine. Nayeon trusted her, and she trusted Nayeon. Just like she trusted Jeongyeon.

But she still couldn’t help her nervousness as she entered the code to open the dock. If Jeongyeon was dealing with someone other than the three kids, if there were criminals behind those doors that wouldn’t hesitate to open fire on them, how would she...

The doors opened, and Jihyo was greeted by a flash of bright purple hair. She relaxed immediately.

As she had hoped, it was just the crew of Minjoon. Although one was missing, presumably onboard their spaceship. Jihyo still didn’t know how the invisibility shields on that ship worked, or why it could slip past their sensors. It was mildly terrifying to think about in the hands of a violent enemy, but thankfully this ship captain was nowhere near a threat to national security.

“Dahyun.”

Minjoon’s captain greeted Jihyo with her trademark grin, offering a mock salute with a hint of genuine respect. Jeongyeon also smiled at Jihyo, but didn’t stop counting the crates in front of her.

“Commissioner Park.” Dahyun replied, glancing over at Nayeon. “Here to arrest us?”

“Depends on what you’ve brought.”

At Dahyun’s side, her crew member took a step back. But one reassuring touch from Dahyun, and she relaxed. Her glare was still stony though, and the eerie, almost unnatural blue hue to her eyes never failed to unsettle Jihyo. Chou Tzuyu, alien tattoos in a language Jihyo still hadn’t found a translation for crawling up both of her arms, all the way from her wrists to her shoulders. Blue earrings to match, a new purchase since the last time Jihyo had seen her. Probably a gift from Dahyun.

Tzuyu and Dahyun tended to match outfits somewhat, and for some reason Jihyo always found that strangely adorable. Both wearing black boots and black shirts, although Dahyun’s had long sleeves with a white duster jacket over it, a dual gun holster near her hips, gold hooped earrings and a cross necklace, while Tzuyu had a sleeveless hoodie over her shirt. Jihyo always wondered if the tattoos needed to be free, or if it was just Tzuyu’s choice. Her clothes were quite loose in general, compared to Dahyun, who looked straight out of an old western movie from Earth. All she was missing was the cowboy hat.

The first time she met the three woman crew of Minjoon, Jihyo thought they looked like children, completely out of their league. She soon learned that their looks were very good at downplaying their skills and talent. Now, years later, they were some of the most renowned pirates in the galaxy. Untrackable, unpredictable, unbeatable. No one had ever come out of a conflict with them a victor.

Jihyo tried to make herself look friendlier, even as Nayeon mirrored Tzuyu’s suspicion beside her.

“It’s nice to see you again. ” She said, pronouncing every syllable slowly and deliberately. She’d only begun learning Chinese since meeting Tzuyu, who Dahyun claimed couldn’t speak Korean very well.

Tzuyu turned and muttered something to Dahyun, who’s smile grew wider.

“She says your pronunciation is as terrible as always, but your vocabulary is improving.”

“I appreciate that.” Jihyo responded wryly. “You still haven’t answered me by the way. What’s in the crates?”

“Medicine.” Jeongyeon said, finally looking up from her counting. “Enough to resupply all the hospitals and clinics in the five major cities. We can end the Lisinopril shortage at last.”

“I see.” Jihyo turned back to Dahyun. “I take it that means you were behind the attack on the Jinyoung Enterprises cargo ship?”

“Guilty as charged.” Dahyun smiled politely back.

“I heard there wasn’t a single fatality.”

“Of course. No need to harm crew workers who are just doing their job. If any of the actual billionaires running the company were on board, we might have shot a kneecap or two.”

“Glad they weren’t then. How much did you sell them to Jeongyeon for?”

“Half the current market price. We make a profit, she can make a profit if she wants, but she probably won’t. Either way, the public hospitals now get medicine they can afford. The only people who suffer a loss are those who won’t even miss the money we took from them.”

“Sounds like you have it all figured out. Are you sure you weren’t followed?”

“We never are.”

“Good.” Jihyo nodded, then turned to Nayeon and jerked her chin towards the door. “Until next time.”

She turned to leave, but surprisingly, Nayeon didn’t. Instead she just stared at Dahyun, head tilted slightly.

Dahyun looked at Jeongyeon, then Jihyo, then back to Nayeon.

“Are we good?”

“For now.” Nayeon replied tonelessly. “But if you get caught, you’ll get Jeongyeon caught. And if that happens, it will either drag Jihyo down, or make her upset. So if Jeongyeon ends up in jail because of you, I’ll make sure you all regret not being cautious enough. Which will probably involve me killing you.”

An awkward silence filled the docking station.

“Just wanted to make sure you all understood that.” Nayeon said, after a moment.

“Got it.” Dahyun’s smile was more nervous than cocky this time. “Loud and clear. Don’t get caught or you’ll murder us in our sleep.”

Nayeon nodded slowly, and then she turned and followed Jihyo out of the docking station.

“What was that all about?” Jihyo asked, once it was just the two of them.

Nayeon shrugged, and reached her hand out to squeeze Jihyo’s.

“I'm not going to actually kill them. I know you have a soft spot for them. And I don’t care about the billionaires they rob, but I care about you, and you care about Jeongyeon. So they need to know what’s at stake. That’s all.”

Jihyo smiled, and squeezed Nayeon’s hand back.

“You’re such a romantic.”

---

“Well.” Dahyun clapped her hands. “That was fun as always. But if you don’t mind, I think we’ll be taking our money now.”

Jeongyeon, who looked just as rattled by Nayeon's speech as Dahyun felt, recovered enough to hand Dahyun two briefcases. Dahyun opened them and started counting the gold, quickly but carefully. 

It was all there. She turned and winked at Tzuyu, who nodded. 

Tzuyu closed her eyes, and her tattoos slowly began to light up. Dahyun couldn’t help the swell of pride in her chest at the awed look on Jeongyeon’s face. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen Tzuyu use her non human abilities, but it was still breathtaking. Dahyun had always found the glow beautiful, and she knew that wasn’t just love talking from the way other people would stare open mouthed. Even Chaeyoung still looked a little stunned every time she saw Tzuyu in action.

Right on cue, a small spaceship slowly shimmered into view. The door slid open, and a ramp pushed itself down onto the concrete of the loading dock. Leaning against the doorway was the ship’s first mate, smirking down at them. Her short blonde hair barely reached her shoulders, and she wore a checkered coat, shirt and tie, as if she was a noir detective. It contrasted with her lower half, which consisted of the same black trousers and boots as Tzuyu. Chaeyoung somehow pulled it off, and she swaggered down the ramp with all the confidence of a hot girl who knew exactly how hot she was.

Dahyun loved her best friend a lot.

“Ship’s all ready for you captain.” Chaeyoung gave an exaggerated bow and held out her hand to Tzuyu, who giggled and took it while Dahyun rolled her eyes in the background.

“No respect.” she muttered to Jeongyeon. “No respect at all.”

“Isn’t your girlfriend the only reason you can work this magic ship?”

“It’s not magic, it’s just biotechnology. But I see your point. I actually asked if she wanted to be captain when we first met, but she and the crew picked me instead for some reason.”

“It’s because we didn’t want the responsibility.” Chaeyoung called over her shoulder.

Dahyun did her best to ignore that, even as Jeongyeon struggled to control her amusement next to her.

They said their goodbyes and then headed into the ship. Tzuyu went straight for the frontal area, which Dahyun and Chaeyoung had dubbed the cockpit. Chaeyoung, meanwhile, went towards the bedrooms, planting a kiss on Tzuyu’s cheek and winking at Dahyun before she left.

The spaceship still fascinated Dahyun, even after all these years. The back end of it was entirely normal, with metal walls that Chaeyoung had spray painted murals onto with help from Tzuyu. It contained bedrooms, a dining room, a kitchen, a pantry, a communal bathroom, a weapons room, a library, and a small garden room for growing plants. All of this had been there when Dahyun first discovered the ship, although the weapons room took a while to find, since in order to open it it required a handprint signature, which only worked for Tzuyu.

But the cockpit was definitely the strangest part of the whole ship, even more so than the functioning garden or the secret weapon stash. It reminded Dahyun of the inside of her own mouth. The walls were a reddish brown colour, as were the piloting controls, situated at the very front of the ship. Large windows circled the room, providing full 180 vision of their surroundings when Tzuyu required. If she didn’t, she would close them up. All she had to do was focus, and the red walls would suddenly grow, covering as many of the windows as she wanted.

That was the most bizarre part of the whole ship. While the manual controls could be operated by Dahyun and Chaeyoung when required, and it worked similar to any regular spaceship, most of the time Tzuyu chose to steer the ship herself.

With her mind.

Today, she marched straight into the centre of the cockpit, Dahyun following behind her. Most of the floor was the same colour as the walls, but the centre was a slightly darker circle, with lines flowing out of it across the floor, and up the walls. It reminded Dahyun of a child’s attempt at  drawing the sun.

Tzuyu sat down in the circle, and took a deep breath. Her eyes lit up again, and the tattoos slowly followed suit. As each of the shapes and lines on her arm began glowing blue, the circle did too. It spread out, streaking across the floor. As the blue glow spread, parts of the ship responded, lighting up and starting to hum.

“Where to now, boss?”

Dahyun allowed herself five seconds to be in total awe of how beautiful her glowing alien girlfriend looked, and then she answered.

“I was thinking of heading back to Signeul, does that work for you?”

“Sure thing.” Tzuyu’s voice was always so calm, as if she was just staring casually at Dahyun, as opposed to single-handedly piloting an entire ship. “Anything to get me off this planet.”

“What’s wrong with 2T? Messing with Jihyo was fun, right? How long do you think it’ll take her to realise you can understand everything she says?”

“It is fun listening to her try and speak Chinese. But still… too many people.” Tzuyu suddenly looked very small. 

Dahyun walked over and sat down next to her. The floor was soft, almost spongy. Slowly, Tzuyu leaned her head over so that it was resting gently against Dahyun’s.

“Plus her girlfriend just threatened to kill us.” Tzuyu added.

“I think that was Nayeon’s way of telling us she cared. Apparently she’s done the same thing to Jeongyeon before too.”

“Well next time she should just buy us a gift card or something.”

“I could get behind that.” Dahyun smiled. “And worst comes to worst, we can always stick Chaeyoung on her.”

“You mean let them fight? Or see if Chaeyoung can seduce her?”

“Whichever works.”

---

The Story Begins

It started when Dahyun was fifteen, and she was forced to flee her normal life on Earth and save Chaeyoung by escaping as far and deep into space as she could possibly go.

But really, it started when Dahyun was nine years old. Before the concept of ‘safety’ was even a concern that crossed her mind. She knew there were bad people out there, especially dangerous aliens from other planets. But her country was full of strong humans who kept the scary aliens away, and so she’d never even met one. Some countries were dumb enough to let aliens live among them, but here it was illegal. So Dahyun was safe, her family was safe, and her best friend Chaeyoung was safe.

But then Chaeyoung told her a secret. A secret Dahyun wasn’t allowed to tell anyone else, not even her mom. Chaeyoung made her pinky swear while holding their matching puzzle piece necklaces and everything.

Chaeyoung was one of those scary aliens. Or at least, her father was. Her mother had accidentally gotten pregnant by a man who was not exactly as human as he looked, and only when Chaeyoung was born did she realise that her daughter had powers that most people did not. 

“My human dad knows about it, and he says he always knew and that it doesn’t change anything. He loves me and my brother the exact same amount even though I’m not his kid. But I’m not supposed to tell anyone because it’s a serious crime and we could all die.”

At first it didn’t make sense to Dahyun. Chaeyoung was the nicest person she knew! How could she be a scary alien?

But then Chaeyoung showed her what she could do, which mostly consisted of making rainbow sparks dance around her fingertips, and Dahyun realised that maybe all aliens weren’t bad and scary. Maybe they were nice, like Chaeyoung. Maybe all they wanted to do was draw, and write, and play tag with Dahyun. Not take over the country and eat human kids.

“My mom says my other dad was probably a Chwiz.” Chaeyoung whispered to her. “She only met him once, at a bar, so she’s not sure, but most of my powers match theirs. They’re from a really, really far away planet. She says I’ll probably never meet another person like me. Which , because apparently on their home planet they have trees that can help their kids control their powers. But I can’t get that so I have to be really careful, because it makes my magic ‘unpredictable’ and ‘random’. If I get mad at someone I might end up turning them into a frog.”

“But you never get mad at people!”

“I get mad at my brother a lot. But I’ve never hurt him, so I think it’s going to be ok.”

And for the most part it was. Dahyun researched everything she could about the Chwiz and their home planet of Terha. It was all the way on the other side of the Milky Way, and journeys there were really expensive for humans. But the library had some information, and together when they were alone in Chaeyoung’s room they would practice what Chaeyoung could do. Some days she could float things, other days she could talk to animals. But she never did anything bad, never hurt anyone. Her powers weren’t evil or scary, they were just cool.

For six years, everything was fine. Dahyun didn’t tell anyone, and she helped Chaeyoung at school whenever her powers accidentally made things happen. Sure, it meant getting detention when you had to falsely confess to putting paint in the shower sprinklers because the gym teacher was really mean and Chaeyoung accidentally turned them orange, but Dahyun didn’t mind. It wasn’t Chaeyoung’s fault she couldn’t control her powers completely, and she tried really hard. A stain on Dahyun’s permanent record was better than Chaeyoung getting arrested for magic.

But then, one day, it all went wrong.

They were over at Dahyun’s house, playing around outside because the weather was nice and they’d finished all their homework. Dahyun’s house was in a nice little suburban neighbourhood, and in the front garden there was a big tree with branches that were level with Dahyun’s bedroom window. Her parents were out that day, and Dahyun declared that she wanted to climb the tree and use it to jump into her bedroom. There was no particular reason for this, other than she was bored, a teenager, and it seemed like it would be either fun or funny, depending on how successful the jump was.

“Isn’t it kind of dangerous?” Chaeyoung frowned. “What if you fall?” 

“Then you’ll save me.” Dahyun declared brightly. “I believe in you. But I won’t fall.”

Maybe, if she’d done it right, she wouldn’t have fallen. But Dahyun would never know. Because right when she’d shuffled along the tallest, sturdiest branch, right when she was inches away from her bedroom window, her parents arrived home early.

“Dahyun?”

Dahyun started jumping, heard her mother’s voice, turned to look, panicked, and slipped.

She screamed. Chaeyoung screamed. Her parents screamed. Dahyun braced herself for impact.

But it never came. When she opened her eyes, Chaeyoung had her hands out, and Dahyun was hovering inches above the ground. There was a stunned silence as Chaeyoung slowly lowered her arms, and Dahyun floated gently onto the grass.

Dahyun knew this was bad. But her parents had just seen Chaeyoung saving her life. Surely they couldn’t think she was evil? Surely they would be relieved, and grateful?

Dahyun looked up. Her mother was staring at Chaeyoung with disgust, while her father had one hand out protectively in front of her brother. Dahyun had never seen him look so scared, and it made her heart sink.

Chaeyoung took off running, heading straight home. Dahyun looked at her family, saw how they glared at her best friend who just saved her life, as if Chaeyoung was a serial killer. 

Dahyun made her choice. She stood up, and ran after Chaeyoung.

They reached Chaeyoung’s house in five minutes, faster than they’d ever managed on foot. Chaeyoung was panting, tears streaming down her face, but together she and Dahyun managed to explain what had happened. Chaeyoung’s mother looked grim, but she ran her hand soothingly through Chaeyoung’s hair until she calmed down.

“Dahyun, do you think your parents will notify the authorities?”

Dahyun wanted to say no. More than anything. But she knew the truth, and she was already the reason this was happening. She couldn’t lie.

“Yes.” she whispered.

Chaeyoung’s mother sighed, and then she stood up and looked at Chaeyoung’s father.

“You know what to do. Take care of our boy.”

“He’s at his after school club I could tell him to come home, say it’s a family emergency-”

“You know you can’t.” Chaeyoung’s mom took her father’s hands into her own. “You have to protect him. That means neither of you ever knew about this, and you hate me for lying. We can’t give any indication that you helped me escape.”

The man shuddered, and Dahyun realised he was crying. Chaeyoung’s mom kissed him softly, and then stepped back and put her hand on Dahyun’s back.

“Come on. Let Chaeyoung say goodbye.”

Dahyun didn’t fully understand, but she was starting to figure out what was happening. So when Chaeyoung’s mom opened the front door, Dahyun shook her head and stepped back.

“I’m coming too.”

The woman looked at her, surprised. But Dahyun stuck her chin out stubbornly and tried to look as serious as possible.

“It’s my fault Chaeyoung got exposed. And this way my family will be safer. The police will know it was just me who helped Chaeyoung hide her powers, not any of them.”

The mother sighed, and Dahyun felt a wave of desperation hit her.

“Please.” she begged. “Please, I don’t want to live with them. I can’t. Chaeyoung is my best friend, my soulmate.” Dahyun held up her puzzle piece necklace. “It’s my fault, it’s my family that’s about to ruin everything. I need to stay with her. You can’t make me go home.”

“If you come with us, it’ll be proof that you’re guilty of aiding and abetting a criminal.” Her mother put a hand on Dahyun’s shoulder. “If they catch you, you die. If you go home to your family and swear to the police that you didn’t know anything, you live. Think about it Dahyun. Your dreams, your friends, your family, your school. You won’t ever be able to have a normal life. You’re too young to throw that all away.”

“I know.” Dahyun looked straight into her eyes. “I don’t care. I don’t want a life with no Chaeyoung in it.”

Chaeyoung’s mother stared at her, and slowly Dahyun watched it dawn on her that the kid in front of her was dead serious about this. She let out a shaky breath, tears forming in her eyes.

“You’re a child.” she whispered. “I shouldn’t be considering this. I should be sending you home.”

“But you want to keep Chaeyoung safe.” Dahyun stepped forward. “That’s all I want too. More than anything. So focus on protecting your own daughter, and let me do this. If anything happens to you, I swear I’ll keep her safe. No one will hurt her as long as I’m around.”

They stared at each other. Dahyun could see the conflicting emotions as they flickered across the woman’s face. It didn’t really matter to her what Chaeyoung’s mom decided. Nothing would stop her from following Chaeyoung wherever she would take her.

The door beside them opened, and Chaeyoung walked out, eyes red from crying.

“Let’s go.” she choked out. “We have to hurry, right?”

“Right.” Dahyun reached out her hand, and Chaeyoung took it, smiling faintly.

“You’re coming too.”

“Of course.” Dahyun grinned, even though her heart and head both felt two seconds away from cracking open with grief and fear. “We’re bros aren’t we? I’ve got your back, no matter what happens.”

And she meant it too. Even when a week later the police caught up to them, and Chaeyoung’s mom got arrested while the two kids hid in the bushes. Dahyun had a feeling it was Chaeyoung’s powers that stopped the police from finding the two of them, but she was never sure.

When they executed Chaeyoung's mother on the road right in front of them, Dahyun kept her hand over Chaeyoung’s mouth, and hugged her friend tight as she sobbed silently.

A week later, they snuck aboard a cargo ship delivering electronics to Mars. This time, it was definitely Chaeyoung’s powers that kept them hidden.

As they floated through space, leaving Earth smaller and smaller behind them, neither of them bothered looking back.

---

Lane 2

“You know.” Dahyun said, shooting at soldiers as Tzuyu typed away calmly on the computer next to her. “I’m not sure if I should be flattered or scared that they keep upping security to try and detect us.”

“Signeul Atmosphere Patrol are dedicated, I agree.” Tzuyu clicked on another two images and Dahyun had no idea what they meant, but Tzuyu gave a satisfied smile. “Seems they’ve given up tracking our heat signature, and instead they’re trying to sense the shifts in dark matter around our ship as we move.”

“Is that something we can fix?” A soldier ran out from behind the door, aimed at Tzuyu, and Dahyun blasted him in the leg before he could get a shot off.

Tzuyu didn’t even flinch. She just typed a few last things, and nodded to herself.

“All good. I should be able to get our ship to absorb the dark matter around us instead of pushing it away like normal.”

“Cool.” Dahyun pulled her other gun out of the holster as the number of soldiers running towards them increased. “I think it’s time we leave, don’t you?”

“Yes. I don’t feel like getting shot. Chaeyoung!”

A second after Tzuyu called her name, there was a cracking sound. Chaeyoung materialized out of thin air, winked at them, grabbed their hands, and then the world warped around Dahyun. When it unwarped, they were standing in the cockpit of Minjoon.

Dahyun sat down on the floor, and put her head between her legs to stem off the nausea.

“Have I mentioned how unfair it is that both of you are immune to the side effects of teleportation? Stupid fully human biology.”

“Look on the bright side.” Chaeyoung grinned. “I didn’t teleport us out into the vacuum of space by accident.”

“I hate that that’s always a risk factor.” Dahyun glanced up at Tzuyu, who had her hand against the wall and her eyes closed. “Are we ok?”

Tzuyu stood there for a moment, and then stepped back and sent them a thumbs up.

“They can’t track us anymore. We’re free to go to MiSaMo’s.”

“Excellent.” Chaeyoung sat down next to Dahyun, a smug grin on her face. “It’s been way too long since I’ve seen the three of them.”

Dahyun rolled her eyes, and gave her best friend a gentle shove.

“What, flirting with Jeongyeon isn’t enough for you?”

“Flirting with Jeongyeon isn’t the same.”

“She’s right.” Tzuyu chimed in. “Jeongyeon clearly sees all three of us as kids, even though we’re all in our twenties, and she finds Chaeyoung’s flirting attempts to be either embarrassing or adorable. Mina, Sana and Momo all actually reciprocate Chaeyoung’s bad attempts to flirt, even though I don’t really understand why.”

Chaeyoung pouted, while Dahyun just laughed. She reached her arms out and Tzuyu eagerly walked over to sit in her lap.

“I love you so much.” Dahyun muttered into her hair, pressing a quick kiss to Tzuyu’s head.

“Oh, and I’m the cringy one for trying to have some fun. I see how it is. Third wheels have no rights on this ship, I’m going to start a mutiny and-”

Dahyun dragged Chaeyoung into the cuddle pile, which thankfully stifled her exaggerated whining.

The journey to MiSaMo’s passed peacefully after that. Tzuyu could control the ship perfectly while sitting wrapped up in her girlfriend and best friend. Dahyun was confident that she knew the route with her eyes closed. Which was good, because eyes were fairly useless when it came to locating the bar they were heading towards. Mina’s illusions meant that it just looked like an empty field until you walked close enough, and then if Momo saw you and didn’t know you she could use her magic to turn you away. If any police ever managed to infiltrate, all they would find was a humble looking bar with a rustic, warm feeling. And even if they were allowed downstairs, where the large underground nightclub was hidden, there was no way of accessing the secret meeting rooms that every crime lord in the galaxy paid good money to rent out. In short, they were completely untouchable by the law.

And that was why the crew of Minjoon were frequent customers. Information, bounty hunting, pirating, mercenary work, all of that and more was available. Whenever there was work to be done, MiSaMo’s shack was where they’d find it.

As they entered the bar, most customers barely batted an eye at them. They were regulars, after all. And the good kind, that never started fights but knew how to finish them. Everyone minded their business and left the three of them alone, which was exactly how Dahyun preferred it.

Except, that is, for two young women. One with long brown hair polishing glasses behind the bar, and one with shorter, black hair, taking a customer's order. They both smiled when they noticed Dahyun standing there, although Sana’s was more of a full beam while Mina’s was much softer.

She opened to say hello, but Chaeyoung got there first, stepping in front of Dahyun with a cocky grin on her face.

“Ladies.” she said, and Dahyun shared a look with Tzuyu. “Where’s your better third?”

“Right here.” Dahyun did her best not to jump as Momo suddenly appeared behind them. “How’ve you been?”

“Pretty good.” Dahyun smiled politely. “We’re just looking for more work, you know how it goes.”

“All work and no play, huh?” Momo ran her fingers up Chaeyoung’s arm, and Dahyun barely held back from rolling her eyes. “Well that doesn’t sound too good. How long are you staying for?”

“Well, you know." Chaeyoung's voice grew higher the more Momo ran her fingers along her arm. "I think we’ve got a few hours to kill, right Captain?”

Sana’s hands were rubbing Chaeyoung’s shoulders, while Mina giggled and played with Chaeyoung’s hair. Combined with the pleading look Chaeyoung shot Dahyun, there was no way she could say no to this.

“Alright.” Dahyun sighed. “Two hours to relax, and then we talk business. Knock yourself out. Not literally. Ew.” 

Chaeyoung grinned, both smug and grateful. Momo just smirked, and led Chaeyoung towards the door marked STAFF, Mina and Sana both following right behind.

“I’m loving the strawberry blonde Momo, and Mina, black suits you so well. What will it be this time, the storage room?”

“For you Chaengie? The bedroom of course.”

“You guys spoil me, you really do.”

They were safe enough away for Dahyun to make the fake retching sound she’d been dying to do since their flirting began. Tzuyu’s eyes curled up with laughter as Dahyun shook her head in disgust.

“That’s not going to end well, you mark my words.”

“Chaeyoung can handle herself.” Tzuyu said, sipping on some orange juice Momo had left her as they watched the door swing shut behind their friend. “And Momo was right. We deserve a few hours with no gunfire or artificial gravity or people threatening to kill us.”

“Normally, I’d agree.” Dahyun leant back in her wooden chair. “We do deserve some rest, and Chaeyoung can handle herself just fine. But someone is clearly going to catch deeper feelings, and whoever it is, the whole thing will end messily. We both know Chaeyoung is a romantic deep down, I just don’t want her getting her heart broken.”

“Have a little faith.” Tzuyu smiled, and linked their hands together. “We worked out just fine, didn’t we?”

Dahyun grinned, pulling Tzuyu’s hand up and kissing it.

“Tzu, I’m pretty sure we’re the exception here. There’s not a single couple in the whole cosmos with a love story like ours.”

---

The Story Begins: Page Two

Roughly six months after their escape from Earth, things were going… not great.

The small space shuttle they’d managed to steal accidentally entered private air space, and had gotten blown out of the sky. The only reason they survived was because Chaeyoung teleported them at the last second onto the attacking ship. It was her first ever teleportation, and Dahyun had spent a full hour afterwards throwing up as quietly as she could. After that, they’d just hidden in the cargo hold until the ship stopped moving, and now here they were.

Dahyun had zero clue where ‘here’ was. She didn’t even know the name of the planet. It seemed like they were in a ship hangar, with dim light and walls that reminded Dahyun of a warehouse. At the end of the large rectangular room containing spaceships of various sizes, was a corridor. They crept over to it, where the walls turned from grey to pristine white, and the fluorescent lights got much, much brighter.

The corridor immediately split in two just past the entrance. Chaeyoung pointed left and raised one eyebrow in question. Dahyun bit her lip, and then shook her head and pointed right.

To this day, she didn’t know why she decided to go right. Tzuyu said it was fate, Chaeyoung said it was the best dumb luck of their lives. Either way, as she crept along the corridor, one hand hovering above the gun on her hip that she had yet to ever fire, she noticed a glass wall up ahead.

Behind that glass wall was a room, brightly lit, with white tiles covering the floor and the other three walls. It looked empty at first, but as they crept by it Dahyun realised that there was a girl inside, sitting on the floor.

Later, she would think back to the complete lack of furniture and cold, clinical feel of that room. But right now, all she felt was terror at being caught. She gripped her gun tight, and waited for the girl to sound some kind of alarm.

But the girl didn’t. She stood up and walked over to them, looking confused, but not scared or angry. Her hair was dark brown, tucked back in a low ponytail, but still quite wavy. She wore all white, from her top to her shoes. Dahyun didn’t move as she approached, but Chaeyoung stepped closer. With both girls facing each other, Dahyun realised that they looked to be around the same age.

The girl in the room stuck out her hand, and pressed it against the glass. She had blue tattoos curling up her arms, in a pattern that Dahyun had never seen before. Chaeyoung did the same, placing her hand directly opposite the girl’s. This caused the girl to smile, and despite her fear Dahyun’s heart melted a little, because it was the sweetest smile she had ever seen. She even had a dimple that matched Chaeyoung’s.

And then the glass disappeared.

“.” Chaeyoung hissed, stepping back as alarms started to blare. “Did not mean to do that.”

The girl scrambled back at the sudden onslaught of loud noise and red, flashing lights. Dahyun was prepared for her to lash out at them, but instead she just curled up in a ball, shaking her head back and forth with her hands over her ears.

“Dahyun.” Chaeyoung said.

“I know.”

This girl did not seem like the men that had shot their spaceship down. If anything, she seemed like a prisoner. Or some sort of lab experiment. Dahyun wasn’t sure which answer would disgust her more.

There was no way they could leave her like this. Even though realistically, they were barely managing to avoid trouble with just the two of them. Dahyun knew that she had to look out for Chaeyoung, and that should mean leaving the girl and running. But… She couldn’t. She just couldn’t. Something about this girl just seemed so innocent, it made Dahyun feel compelled to protect her too.

Dahyun crouched down in front of the girl, reaching one hand out to try and gently touch her. The girl jerked away, but looked up at them, fearful.

Dahyun felt a large amount of hatred for the men who worked here.

“Come with us.” Dahyun said. “We can help you escape. Free you from this place.”

The girl frowned in confusion, and spoke rapidly in a language Dahyun recognized but could not understand.

“Chaeyoung, how’s your Chinese?”

“Uh… Mostly nonexistent. I know how to say hi?”

“Try that.”

Chaeyoung crouched down next to Dahyun, looking far more relaxed despite the fact that the alarms were still blaring. She smiled at the girl, and waved.

“Nǐ hǎo.”

The girl squinted suspiciously, but waved back. Chaeyoung grinned, and pointed at herself.

“Chaeyoung.” she said, and then she pointed at the girl and quirked an eyebrow.

The girl’s eyes widened in understanding, and she pointed at herself.

“Tzuyu.”

“Nice to meet you Tzuyu.” Chaeyoung stood up, and gestured to the open space where the glass used to be. “I think we should run and hide now.”

But Tzuyu’s expression crumpled back into fear, and she shook her head frantically. Chaeyoung raised her hands up to placate her, glancing worriedly at Dahyun.

Someone or something had terrified this girl into not wanting to leave her room. Dahyun’s best guess was that it was fear of punishment from trying to escape. They needed to convince Tzuyu that they were on her side, and that she could trust them not to turn her over to whoever had hurt her before. But Dahyun didn’t know how. All she had was her facial expressions, body language, and…

There was one phrase she knew. One phrase she could try.

Dahyun reached out one hand, palm up. An offering. Come with us.

Tzuyu didn’t take it. She looked up at Dahyun in confusion, and Dahyun gave her the best, most peaceful and friendly smile she had in her arsenal.

“Wǒ ài nǐ.”

Tzuyu’s eyes widened. Dahyun kept smiling.

Tzuyu reached out, and took her hand.

They ran.

Dahyun could hear the sound of men yelling from behind them, but she focused on keeping pace with Chaeyoung, and holding Tzuyu’s hand as they raced back the way they’d come. Chaeyoung turned into the hangar, and then led them over to a relatively small spaceship with a dusty tarp thrown over it, sitting in the darkest corner of the room.

They ducked inside. Dahyun could hear all three of their heartbeats as they huddled against each other, trying not to breathe loudly as heavy boots stomped around the hangar in search of them.

One of the men opened the door to their ship. Tzuyu’s breathing hitched, but Dahyun just put a finger to her lips, and Tzuyu mimicked her. The man looked at them, Chaeyoung stared back, and his eyes glazed over.

“Clear!”

Dahyun breathed a sigh of relief, shaking Chaeyoung’s shoulder as a silent thanks. Unpredictable as they were, her powers were very useful when it came to keeping them alive.

When the sound of movement had faded completely from the hangar, Dahyun allowed herself to relax a little. She ran her hand along the wall of the spaceship, searching for any type of lightswitch. Chaeyoung stuck her index finger out and glared at it, which Dahyun knew was her way of trying to summon a small floating ball of light.

It rarely worked. Such was the nature of Chaeyoung’s powers. Most of the time, they only worked consistently in life or death situations.

Tzuyu copied Dahyun, following her through the ship as Dahyun explored each room. For the most part, it was hard to see a single thing, and Dahyun couldn’t find a light source anywhere. But then they reached the front, and everything changed.

Tzuyu stepped into the room, and her tattoos lit up. She jumped back, but the whole floor started glowing as well. There was the sound of an engine hum, and the ship began to gently shake as life flowed into it.

“Ah.” Tzuyu said quietly.

Her eyes were glowing blue, and she seemed to be staring right through Dahyun as the ship continued to hum. Dahyun had never seen anything like it before, and part of her was very tempted to bolt. For all she knew she’d just released a serial killer from their prison and now Tzuyu was going to murder her. 

But if she was going to die, at least it was going to be at the hands of the most beautiful person she’d ever met in her sixteen years of living. Death by pretty, glowing, blue alien girl was not the worst way to go.

Tzuyu did not kill her. In fact, as it turns out, Tzuyu barely had any idea what had happened to her. Later on, when they could communicate much more effectively, Tzuyu would still be unable to have the right words that described the feeling of connecting with the ship for the first time.

“I just knew.” Was what she would say in the end. “Even though I’d never had a home before, I knew this was what it felt like.”

---

The Opening

“There’s a few new faces at the bar this week.” Tzuyu leant back, taking a gulp of her third drink. “They won’t stop staring at me.”

“They’ve probably never seen anyone as beautiful as you before.” Dahyun smirked, taking the bottle when Tzuyu offered her.

“They’ve probably never seen anyone like me before at all. I still haven’t.”

It was clearly meant as a joke, but there was a hint of bitterness in Tzuyu’s voice that caused Dahyun to lean forward and place her hand over Tzuyu’s.

“We’ll find them. You know we will. Statistically speaking, there has to be other survivors out there.”

“I know.” Tzuyu sighed. “But we’ve no leads to go on. No family, a planet that’s already been destroyed, and a ship that clearly belongs to me but that I have zero recollection of being on before I met you. It’s just… hard. Sometimes. To keep hoping.”

Dahyun didn’t know what to say to help, because Tzuyu was right. The planet her people were from orbited a very distant star that had already burnt out. Despite all the years spent searching, they were no closer to figuring out how that research facility had gotten their hands on Tzuyu or that ship. The best guess they had was that Tzuyu’s parents had put her on the ship and sent her off into the cosmos and she just had the misfortune to be picked up by an amoral company looking to experiment with alien technology. 

“It’s alright though, if I never find anyone else.” Tzuyu squeezed Dahyun’s hand. “I still have a family right here, and that’s enough for me.”

Dahyun felt a lump grow in , and squeezed Tzuyu’s hand back. Before she could find the right words to reply, the staff door swung open, and Chaeyoung reappeared. Her hair was rumpled, her cheeks were flushed, and her lips were swollen. She wore a dazed grin on her face that had Dahyun torn between a laugh and a grimace.

“Good news guys.” Chaeyoung swaggered over, grabbing Tzuyu’s bottle and taking a drink. “They have a new job for us.”

“Wow, and you managed to finish in just under two hours this time.” Dahyun snatched the bottle and passed it back to Tzuyu. “Very impressive.”

“What can I say,” Chaeyoung’s grin grew wider as Sana appeared, slightly wobbling as she walked over to them. “I aim to please.”

“Gross.” Tzuyu said, and then she finished the last of her drink and stood up. “Let’s get down to business.”

Chaeyoung and Dahyun looked at each other.

“To defeat.” Dahyun sang.

“The huns.” Chaeyoung finished.

Tzuyu rolled her eyes, and walked over to where Sana was waving at them.

“You know I don’t understand your Earth culture references.”

---

Sana led them downstairs into the nightclub, and then out into the storage areas. Dahyun shared a confused look with her crew. Normally, they conducted business in the meeting rooms.

“This is a bit of a special case.” Sana explained. “No real money in it, at least not the kind you’re used to. But I kept this job for you three because I think it’s something that will interest you.”

Sana slid open a panel in the wall. Hundreds of eyes stared back at them, causing Tzuyu to jump back and Dahyun to step in front of her.

“They’re refugees.” Sana explained. “Ceons who are being hunted for food and sport by their neighbouring planet. The Thrice are a very powerful species, and they have legal jurisdiction to hunt the Ceons on almost every planet around. Except for 2T.”

“So you want us to smuggle them in to 2T?”

“Exactly. You’re the best ship I know for flying under the radar. If anyone can transport these people to safety, it’s you three.”

They’d smuggled plenty of things before. But never people. They’d never had this many people on the ship at all. 

Dahyun glanced over at Chaeyoung. She was staring at the scared Ceons, brow furrowed and a familiar fire in her eyes.

Dahyun looked over at Tzuyu. Tzuyu gazed back, empathy and sadness radiating from every inch of her face.

Dahyun sighed.

“Alright.” Dahyun said. “We’ll get them onto 2T. But we’re not taking their money, yeah? They’re going to need it.”

“You know,” Sana smirked. “For a pirate on the most wanted list of every planetary police force in this galaxy, you have a pretty strong moral code.”

“It’s like you said,” Dahyun’s hand reached out, brushing her fingers against Tzuyu’s. “We’ve got a special interest in this job.”

---

They sat in an empty meeting room to discuss logistics while Sana explained what was happening to the refugees.

“Obviously, we can’t just dump them on Jeongyeon.” Dahyun rubbed her temples with her fingers. “But we can’t abandon them in the middle of the space port either. They don’t speak any of the 2T languages and they don’t have anywhere to go. There are far too many ways for them to get hurt.”

“We need to deliver them right into the hands of someone who will do right by them.” Chaeyoung said. “Their best chance for safety is with Jihyo. She can get them sent to the refugee centre and make sure that they don’t get hurt, and that the system works quickly to grant them asylum.”

“But how do we do that?” Tzuyu sighed. “It’s not like we can just walk up to her and go hey can you help us get these people to safety and please don’t ask any questions about how we got past security? ”

“Tzuyu’s right.” Dahyun nodded. “Immigration services are corrupt so we can’t just send them through the spaceport and hope they reach Jihyo, but we can’t give them directly to Jihyo with no explanation either. It would just make her look suspicious and she’d probably lose her job.”

“So what do we do?” Chaeyoung asked. “Because the only thing I can think of is deliberately letting Jihyo arrest us for smuggling people.”

There was silence in the room as all three of them stared at each other.

“I can get behind that.”

“Sounds like a fun idea.”

“You know it would be nice to make our first arrest one we did on purpose.”

“That’s settled then.” Dahyun clapped her hands. “We’ll borrow a ship from Mina, and Chaeyoung and I will use it to get to 2T. Jihyo arrests us, takes the Ceons to safety, and then once we’re in prison Tzuyu comes to break us out.”

Chaeyoung nodded enthusiastically, but Tzuyu bit her lip and shook her head.

“I want to go with Dahyun.” she said quietly.

Dahyun couldn’t help being surprised by that, and she could see that Chaeyoung was too.

“Are you sure?” she asked. “Because I know you feel most comfortable on the ship. You’ve never done a rescue operation alone but you can definitely pull it off.”

“It’s not that.” Tzuyu said. “I feel most comfortable on the ship yes, but I feel safest when I’m with you.”

Oh.

She rarely knew how to respond when Tzuyu said these things, simple words and gestures to confirm that Dahyun was her home, her safety. It was an honour and a privilege, to be loved so deeply by someone like Tzuyu. 

Dahyun loved her too. So deeply and intensely that sometimes it scared her. But other times, like now, it just made her heart swell with joy.

“Alright.” she said at last. “Chaeyoung knows how to pilot Minjoon manually. You and I can go to jail together, have a little couple’s retreat.”

Dahyun wasn’t sure if letting her girlfriend get arrested was a romantic move to make, but the way Tzuyu’s face lit up was enough to convince her this was the right decision.

---

Signal

It didn’t take long for Tzuyu to learn Korean. Around a month after they escaped the facility on their new ship, Tzuyu was able to have a fairly good conversation with both Dahyun and Chaeyoung. They tried learning Chinese too, of course, but they couldn’t pick it up quite as fast.

“So not only does she come with a ship, but she’s also really smart?” Chaeyoung grinned, watching as Tzuyu worked with a wrench under the main console, fixing a problem the other two could barely understand. “We have to keep her, right?”

“It’s her choice.” Dahyun bit her lip. “But we’re running low on supplies. We need to find a way to get food.”

“So we rob some rich spaceship.” Chaeyoung noticed Dahyun’s concerned eyes. “Ah. You don’t want to make her a criminal, do you.”

“I just want to give her the choice.”

“So then let’s ask her.”

Before Dahyun could stop her, Chaeyoung walked over to Tzuyu and tapped the metal. Tzuyu slid out from under the console, smiling up at them. Her hair was tied up and there was a smudge of grease on her face.

Dahyun’s heart fluttered. A lot.

“We need food.” Chaeyoung said, speaking slowly and clearly. “So we’re going to rob a ship. There will be fighting. If you don’t want to come, that’s ok. You can stay here, or you can leave us.”

Tzuyu seemed calm up until the final part, where her eyes widened and she shook her head frantically.

“No.” she said. “I want to stay. With you. I will help.”

“Great!” Chaeyoung smiled. “So do you want to be our getaway driver or do you want a more active role?”

Tzuyu clearly didn’t understand, so Dahyun jumped in to rephrase.

“Do you want to stay in the ship while we fight or do you want to come with us?”

“Ah.” Tzuyu nodded in understanding. “Come with. I want to come with.”

“Well that settles it.” Chaeyoung smirked at Dahyun. “Guess we’re going from Bonnie and Clyde to the Three Musketeers. I always liked that story better.”

---

The ship they chose to rob was a merchant’s ship. It was relatively small in size, which meant it probably only had a few guards. The plan was to let Chaeyoung take out most of the crew, while Dahyun would find the merchandise and Tzuyu would use her mind control of their own ship (which she had decided to name Minjoon) to help load the cargo on.

Unfortunately, it turned out that there were more guards than they anticipated. Dahyun got separated from Chaeyoung early on, as her best friend ran off to distract as many guards as she could. The thought of all those guns aiming at Chaeyoung still terrified her, but she had to trust that the younger girl could handle it. Especially since Tzuyu was clinging on tightly to Dahyun, trembling with every gunshot they heard.

Dahyun kept her hand around Tzuyu’s wrist as they ran, heading straight for the cargo bay. Just one more room, and they would-

The door in front of them opened and three soldiers stepped out, pointing their guns at them. Dahyun threw her hands up, and Tzuyu followed suit. She could feel Tzuyu’s heart pounding through her pulse in her wrist, and Dahyun squeezed her hand gently, the only comfort she could offer right now.

Suddenly there was the sound of screaming, and a whirlwind of bright white light blasted the soldiers off their feet. It materialised into the form of Chaeyoung, breathing heavily.

“So I discovered a new trick today.”

“That’s great.” Dahyun said, putting her hands down and drawing her gun. “But there’s more coming.”

“I can take them with me out the window.” Chaeyoung glanced at Tzuyu. “But it would be risky. You two would have to cling onto something, and stay that way until I come back.”

“I trust you.” Dahyun nodded. “Do it.”

Before they could say anything else, more soldiers appeared, and Dahyun could hear them yelling for backup. She put her gun back in it’s holster and reached out to grab onto the steadiest pipe she could see. Then she looked at Tzuyu, who was clearly terrified.

“Do you trust me?” Dahyun asked.

Tzuyu nodded.

“Then don’t let go of my hand.”

The soldiers ran towards Chaeyoung, who had her hands up. Dahyun watched as white light began to flicker around her, and then she tilted her body and suddenly she was gone. The soldiers cried out as a whirling twister of white light picked them off the ground and smashed through the window out into space.

The effect was immediate. Both Dahyun and Tzuyu were lifted off the ground, and Dahyun gritted her teeth and held on for dear life as the vacuum of space began to everything out of the room. She looked down at Tzuyu, expecting to see more fear. But instead, she was met with glowing blue eyes.

“Do you trust me?” Tzuyu asked, eerily calm.

Dahyun couldn’t speak, could barely hear over the clatter of boxes around them getting out of the broken window. But she nodded, and Tzuyu smiled.

“Then let go of the pipe.”

Dahyun had done a lot of crazy things since she left Earth for outer space. This was definitely top five, top three even. 

But she trusted Tzuyu. She really did.

Dahyun let go of the pipe, and the two of them flew out the window. She opened to scream, but before she could, they crashed into a solid metal wall. A very familiar wall.

The exit hatch to Minjoon closed up, and Dahyun slumped down onto the floor as artificial gravity took over. They were alive. They weren’t floating through the vast frozen wasteland of space while deprived of oxygen. They were safe.

“Have I mentioned how happy I am to have you on the team?”

Tzuyu, eyes and tattoos still glowing as she piloted Minjoon towards the cargo hold, smiled brightly from ear to ear.

Dahyun felt a sudden rush of warmth in her face. She decided to chalk that up to the near death experience.

---

“I didn’t kill them, right?” Chaeyoung asked, moving the last of the food off the merchant's ship and onto Minjoon. “The soldiers all had uniforms which doubled as spacesuits. They’ll be fine, just floating around out there until they’re rescued.”

“Right.” Dahyun agreed, with far more certainty than she actually felt. “They’ll be fine. Probably just a little spooked. It was very cool what you did back there.”

“Thanks.” Chaeyoung tossed Dahyun a packet of chocopies from a random crate. “I think I’d rather face less near death situations even if it means discovering less cool things I can do.”

“You never know.” Dahyun grinned. “Next time you might discover you’re bulletproof. Or that you can sprout wings. That would be worth it, right?.”

“Hard pass.” Chaeyoung pushed the last crate up the ramp of Minjoon, then whistled to Tzuyu. “Now let's get out of here before other ships start coming to investigate.”

Dahyun stepped inside as Minjoon’s engines started to hum and the exit hatch began to slowly close up again. Chaeyoung took one look at her nervous expression and rolled her eyes.

“Go talk to Tzuyu. Get whatever you need to say over with. I bet you anything she still wants to be a part of this team.”

“She almost died.”

“She’s been cooped up in a lab her entire life. I doubt too much action is a problem for her.”

Dahyun sighed, and reluctantly walked towards the front of the ship.

“If I’m right, you cook me dinner for a week!” Chaeyoung called as she left the room.

“No deal.”

It took her a minute to traverse the length of the ship, a minute where she went over in her head what exactly she wanted to say, how best to convey to Tzuyu that all she wanted was to give her as much freedom as possible.

But then she walked into the room, and actually saw Tzuyu. Standing there, already slightly taller than Dahyun, hair tied back, arms out and glowing, eyes shining and a smile on her face as she steered the ship. 

She was… more than beautiful. She was ethereal. Dahyun wondered if this was what the kids in school felt like, when they used to fawn over boys. She didn’t think so. Tzuyu was like a real life goddess, while those boys had only been slightly good at football or had decent hair. Dahyun felt like her crush was far more understandable.

Wait… crush? She didn’t have a crush, did she? She just thought that Tzuyu was beautiful, which was something that anyone with eyes would think.

Tzuyu noticed that she had entered the room, and turned to face her. The warm smile she gave Dahyun made her heart do that fluttering thing.

Damn it. Maybe she did have a (Small! Completely controllable!) crush.

“Dahyun! Did you want something?”

Right. She came here for a reason. She just needed Tzuyu to stop smiling so brightly at her so that she could remember that reason.

“I wanted to ask how you’re doing. It’s been a hell of a day.”

“It has.” Tzuyu held out her hand, and slowly formed a thumbs up. It was a gesture Chaeyoung had recently shown her. “But I’m doing alright. Not hurt.”

“That’s good.” Was Dahyun nodding too much? It felt like she was nodding too much. “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t have any second thoughts. Because being with me and Chaeyoung… it means a lot of days like this. And not many days better. It means being forever on the run, one bad raid away from death. And I do want it to end, but I can’t see how. Not yet at least. So, if you want. We could help you settle down on some planet. You could be safe, live a normal life. I just… I don’t want you to feel like you owe us, like you have to fight our battles.”

Tzuyu listened to her, and she seemed to understand everything Dahyun was saying, which was a relief. Her eyes stopped glowing, she sat down on the floor and patted it, indicating to Dahyun that she should sit too.

“I want to stay with you.” She said, once Dahyun was sitting in front of her. “Not because I owe you, because I want to. I thought about a normal life, I thought about finding some place to hide. But I don’t want to. I don’t want that life at all. I want you. I want Chaeyoung. I want this. All of this.”

Her words were strong and steady, Korean crisp and clear. But then she ducked her head, and when she looked up again, Dahyun was taken aback. Tzuyu looked scared, but a different kind of fear to when she had been clinging on to Dahyun to stay alive. More vulnerable, somehow.

“Is it ok if I stay? I… I don’t want to be alone. I want to be with you. But if you don’t want me-”

“No!” Dahyun reached across to grab Tzuyu’s hands with her own. “No that’s not it at all. I want you here, Chaeyoung wants you here. We love having you as a part of the team. I just didn’t want to hold you back, if you wanted to go somewhere else, or do something more with your life.”

“I don’t want to feel lonely.” Tzuyu said quietly. “And I don’t feel that way when I’m with you two. Is it really alright if I stay? Because I don’t think I’m ever going to want to leave you.”

“That’s fine.” Dahyun ran her thumb along the back of Tzuyu’s hand, brushing against a small scar she still didn’t know the story behind. “You’ve had such a hard life so far, I think not wanting to be lonely is completely understandable. And Tzuyu, we already consider you a part of this little family. If you want to stay with us I promise that you will have a home here, with me. And until the day I die I will fight with everything I have to protect that.”

The somber look in Tzuyu’s eyes vanished, replaced by another soft smile. Dahyun let out a breath, smiling back to help alleviate the heavy atmosphere.

“I believe you.” Tzuyu whispered.

A cough at the door caused Dahyun to break eye contact, turning around to see Chaeyoung barely resisting a smirk.

“Hate to interrupt… whatever is going on here. But Captain I need to discuss where we’re going to store some of this food.” 

“Right.” Whatever trance Tzuyu’s gaze had trapped her in, Chaeyoung’s words were enough to snap her out of it. Dahyun gave her head a little shake and then stood up, heading back out to where the crates of food were stacked.

“You know,” Chaeyoung commented as they walked. “I get that you like her and everything, but proposing marriage this early is a bit much.”

“What?” Dahyun’s head snapped around to glare at her. “What are you even talking about?”

“I heard the end of your little chat.” Chaeyoung’s face looked like she was very much trying not to laugh. “You basically went ‘ til death do us part.’  Sort of over the top, don’t you think?”

“Shut up.” Dahyun groaned. “You know I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Whatever you say, Romeo.”

---

#Twice

In the end, the first part of their plan went off without a hitch. Mina easily agreed to lend them a ship, after Chaeyoung whispered something in her ear that Dahyun was certain she never wanted to find out about. Once that was sorted, they just flew directly through the 2T atmosphere and towards the spaceport, ignoring the warning signs and the threats to shoot them down.

“Identify yourself!” A voice buzzed over their communication systems.

“Captain Kim Dahyun.” Dahyun replied every time, and then didn’t say anything else despite the repeated demands for airspace authorization codes or to turn their ship around.

When they reached the space port, they were greeted by a very stern looking Jihyo. Dahyun just offered her a grin, which she did not return. Tzuyu waved at Nayeon, who did not wave back. But Dahyun thought she saw a small smile.

“You must be the famous Commissioner Park.” Dahyun strolled down off the ship. “Heard a lot of good things about you.”

“Wish I could say the same.” Jihyo gestured towards their ship. “What have you got here? Bombs? Some sort of bargaining device?”

“People!” Dahyun chirped. “Refugees actually. I was hoping to deliver them right to you because, I don’t know if you’ve heard but, most people working here are kind of corrupt?”

“I have heard that rumor going around, yes.”

“Great.” Dahyun clapped her hands cheerily. “In that case, I’ll leave you with- Wait is that Yang Hyunsuk?”

Everyone turned to look at the man standing next to Jihyo, who seemed just as confused as them.

“He’s our head of border control, yes.”

“Really, him?” Dahyun laughed, and Tzuyu joined in. “Yang Hyunsuk, the man who will smuggle anything into 2T for the right price? Interesting choice.”

Dahyun resisted sticking her tongue out as the man began sweating. If looks could kill she would be dead, but as it stood he couldn’t do anything to her.

“What the hell are you talking about, kid?” he growled. “You’re going to jail for a long time, and I heard they don’t like snitches, even fake ones.”

“Exactly, I’m going to jail. And giving information will get me a lesser sentence, right? Especially if it leads to the arrest of someone who is actually completely fine with human trafficking, even against the human’s will.”

“This guy is a real creep.” Tzuyu confirmed. “Every planet we went to we heard his name. Drugs, guns, people. Anything you want smuggled in to 2T he will allow. No morals whatsoever.”

There was a stunned silence in the room, although Dahyun couldn’t tell whether it was from the revelation that their chief of border police was a scumbag, or the revelation that Tzuyu could speak Korean with full fluency. Probably a bit of both.

Hyunsuk took advantage of everyone’s shock to turn and bolt. He barely made it a metre before Nayeon opened and let out a long, sustained high note that reminded Dahyun of an opera singer shattering glass. Hyunsuk’s body locked up, and he crashed onto the ground.

“Loahs are so cool.” Dahyun whispered to Tzuyu.

“I think we’re about to get arrested now.” Tzuyu whispered back.

“Oh yeah. Definitely.”

They left Jihyo supervising the transfer of the refugees to a secure location, and let the police drag them into a van, and then drive them towards the nearest station. Dahyun was amused at how similar to Earth it was. The lineup room had a light blue backdrop instead of white with black lines, but the way they were meant to stand and face the camera felt very familiar.

“Names.” A tired looking officer said, pen and paper in hand.

“Kim Dahyun.”

“Tzuyu.”

The officer looked at Tzuyu with dead eyes. She blinked innocently back.

“We need your full name.”

“I don’t have one. Or at least I don’t know it.”

The man looked ready to cry, so Dahyun hastily intervened.

“Just put down Kim Tzuyu, it’s fine.”

The officer nodded gratefully and left, but Tzuyu turned to Dahyun with a mischievous grin on her face.

“Kim Tzuyu? I didn’t know you wanted to marry me.”

“I- what? No. I mean, I don’t not want to marry you but that wasn’t- This isn’t-”

“Dahyun.” Tzuyu cut her off by pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. “Relax. I was joking.”

“Oh.”

The officer came back into the room and handed them both white cards to hold up. They took a few poses as the camera went off, each one slightly goofier than the last. There was no fear, no regret, no sense of guilt. The officers watching them were clearly annoyed by how flippant they were being, but no one stepped forward to stop them.

Dahyun made a hashtag sign with her hands, sticking her chin out as they took another photo.

“Twice.” She said. “We attack you once with our visuals, and a second time with our laser guns and magic.”

“What was that?”

“Brainstorming gang names. In case we need them in prison. What do you think?”

“It’s…” Tzuyu struggled for words as the officer tried to take one serious photo of them. “...a decent first attempt?”

“You know, we don’t have that many pictures together.” Dahyun realized. “Maybe we can come back later and steal these. I think we look cute.”

“Yeah, they could probably double as our wedding photos.”

Dahyun choked on air.

“Still just messing with you.”

“I know.” Dahyun coughed.

“Besides, you already proposed to me years ago.”

The stunned deer in the headlights look on Dahyun’s face was enough to make Tzuyu burst into laughter. It took a moment for Dahyun to realise what she was talking about, and then she put her head in her hands and let out a deep sigh.

“I’m going to kill Chaeyoung.”

“I think it’s cute.” Tzuyu smiled and handed the officer her card as he came to them to their cell. “It suits us, you know? We’ve never really done anything the conventional way.”

“Yeah…” Dahyun pondered on that as the cell door slammed shut. “You know what, yeah! I feel like I was waiting for the right moment where we would be ready to settle down but I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. I love travelling the cosmos in Minjoon with you and I don’t see that changing. So you’re right! I’m going to propose properly to you, not in a dingy little jail cell. And then we’re going to have the best wedding two pirates in love could ever have. Whatever you want, I’ll get it.”

“Cool.” Tzuyu grinned. “I’m still counting this as your second proposal, because I feel like it fits our story. Also I was thinking, I know rings are an Earth custom but what I really want is… what’s that headpiece called that royalty wear?”

“Crowns? Tiaras?” Dahyun shook her head. “Doesn’t matter! Next time we rob royalty I’ll steal you both.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” Tzuyu leaned closer, cupping Dahyun’s face with her hands.

“I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

As they kissed, Dahyun couldn’t even be bothered to care about the security guards that were probably watching their every move.

Watching and listening through the cell cameras, the security guards in question sent each other a confused look.

“They do realise their sentence will probably be at least ten years, right?”

---

Merry & Happy

Dahyun was not a hateful person. She rarely even got angry. Neither she nor Chaeyoung ever really enjoyed talking badly about people.

But sometimes, when Tzuyu would see their curious eyes, and explain where one of her scars came from, Dahyun felt anger bubble up inside her, surging uncontrollably. Sometimes, she wished that she had been able to shoot some of the men working in that facility, before they escaped.

“You know that would have just hurt Tzuyu more.” Chaeyoung always said, and Dahyun knew she was right.

That still didn’t stop the anger from swelling up whenever she noticed Tzuyu tracing a line up her arm, running her finger along a thin, surgically precise scar.

“It’s ok.” Tzuyu said, aware of Dahyun’s gaze. “This one didn’t hurt. They had me unconscious for the whole operation. It was just about getting data.”

“They never knew about your connection with the ship?”

“I don’t think so.” Tzuyu hummed thoughtfully to herself. “I guess I didn’t glow when I was a baby. They never really knew much about me I think. Which is why they kept doing operations, getting samples of skin and bone and blood. They wanted to know more about my species.”

It always made Dahyun feel sick, thinking about what Tzuyu went through. But she was the Captain of the ship, the oldest, so she did her best not to let it show, and to just listen sympathetically whenever Tzuyu felt like talking. Chaeyoung was the one who could voice how she felt, who could talk about going back and burning that entire building to the ground. And it put a smile on Tzuyu’s face, but Dahyun knew that she couldn’t join in. Someone needed to be the one for Tzuyu to come to when she got nightmares, someone who would hold her and wouldn’t make her feel like she had to downplay her emotions so as to not upset her friends.

Most of the time, Dahyun could keep her anger under control. Even when Tzuyu hugged her tight in bed with tears in her eyes, and whispered secrets about operations where she had been awake, painful memories that would never leave the darkness and comfort of Dahyun’s arms. Dahyun never cracked, never talked about hunting those men down and making them pay. She just held Tzuyu, and reminded her as many times as she needed that she was safe now.

No one would ever hurt her again as long as Dahyun was breathing.

Sometimes, it caught her by surprise. Like when they found out that Tzuyu didn’t know what ice cream was. It was such an innocent question, but it felt like a knife to Dahyun’s heart. She shared a secret look with Chaeyoung, and the next day they travelled straight to the nearest planet with humans on it and raided every single store that sold ice-cream. 

The look of joy and shock on Tzuyu’s face as she ate a tub of chocolate ice-cream was a memory that Dahyun looked back on with extreme fondness. But at the time, she had also felt a deep and heavy sadness. For all the loss and tragedy she and Chaeyoung had suffered that sent them fleeing into space, she felt lucky that she had the chance to grow up safe and loved. It wasn’t like their trauma was a competition, but Tzuyu’s was just so different and extreme, it was hard for Dahyun to wrap her head around it. 

One thing Dahyun knew for sure was that she never wanted to get angry with Tzuyu. She didn’t know what kind of anger the people at the lab had shown her, but when she and Chaeyoung started roughhousing and Tzuyu flinched away, they both took note of it. Thankfully, it didn’t become a problem. Mostly because Dahyun found out she was utterly incapable of ever getting mad at Tzuyu. Even when Tzuyu almost got them all arrested for stealing a bag of bread, Dahyun couldn’t even bring herself to reprimand her. One look at Tzuyu’s sad puppy dog eyes and Dahyun was helpless. Not even Chaeyoung’s subtle whip cracking motions could make her snap. Dahyun did not have a single angry bone in her body when it came to Tzuyu. All that rage was saved for those who actually deserved it.

For years the angry thoughts towards Tzuyu’s captors remained just that. Thoughts. And over time, as Tzuyu slowly got brighter and healed from her experiences, the white hot rage Dahyun felt towards the people who locked her up for years became more controllable. The important thing was making every day happier than the last for Tzuyu and Chaeyoung, not getting vengeance for those who had made them suffer in the past. Dahyun was good at brightening spirits, good at making them smile. It had always been a talent of hers, ever since she was a child dancing in front of her church’s choir. The anger and hate she felt was so small, compared to the love she could give.

But small and buried as it was, it was still there. And three years after meeting Tzuyu, it finally found an outlet.

It was a routine job, some tiny little planet near the edge of a star where corrupt businessmen were trying to develop some kind of artificial intelligence. Momo gave them the tip, and the crew of Minjoon set off to rob them of all their valuables. 

At first, it proceeded normally. Chaeyoung as the distraction, causing all the security to chase after her while her powers kept her alive in whatever random and hopefully destructive way they’d chosen that day. Dahyun with Tzuyu, following the blueprints Momo had given them to find the treasury of the building. There were a few guards still on standby, but Dahyun took care of them with a few shots to their legs. Non fatal, as long as they got medical care in time. 

But then, at the door to the treasury was a man. Skinny, with glasses and a tiny wispy moustache. Dahyun assumed he was some sort of accountant, and was about to ask him to get out of the way. But then, she felt Tzuyu’s grip tighten on her hand, squeezing it so hard Dahyun could feel the bones of Tzuyu’s fingers pressing against her. The man looked at her, then looked at Tzuyu, and when he noticed the tattoos his eyes widened.

“It’s you.” he whispered, an awed reverence in his voice that instantly unsettled Dahyun. “After all these years… Subject 9.”

Tzuyu was practically cowering away, hiding as much of her body as she could behind Dahyun. It clicked into place who this man had to be, and Dahyun whipped out her gun and pointed it straight between his eyes.

“Move.” she said. “Get out of here now and don’t come back.”

The man ignored her, as if she didn’t have a gun inches from his head. He just looked right at Tzuyu, with that same disgusting look of joy on his face.

“Tzuyu.” he said, voice soft and slimy. “Do you remember me? It’s Jung San. I was the one in charge of your diet. Remember those times I used to sneak you some snacks?”

“Shut up.” Dahyun hissed, feeling Tzuyu’s trembling increase behind her. “Don’t you dare talk to her. Not after everything you’ve put her through.”

“Tzuyu.” The man continued to ignore Dahyun. “Do you remember your training? Do you remember the code for when you got lost?”

“No.” Tzuyu whispered, so quiet and small only Dahyun heard it. “Please no.”

“Remember what you have to do. Clear your mind and-”

“Shut the up.” Dahyun shot him in the knee, and the man gasped in shock as he fell to the ground. “She’s never going back with you, do you understand me?”

And still, despite the hole in his knee, the man kept ignoring her. He just looked at Tzuyu, so repulsively desperate it made Dahyun want to kick him away.

“Clear your mind Tzuyu.”

“Stop it.” Dahyun aimed the gun at his face again. “Give up. Don’t make me do this.”

“Subject 9, focus on my voice. You know what you have to do.”

“Stop talking!” Dahyun screamed, as Tzuyu curled up behind her, head between her knees. “If you keep talking I’ll shoot you again. I won’t let you take her, so don’t make me kill you.”

“Tzuyu.” the man said. “Come home with us. Clear your mind and focus.”

Tzuyu’s tattoos began to flicker. Dahyun’s finger curled around the trigger of the gun.

“Remember your training Subject 9. Clear your mind, and focus on my voice. You must obey-”

Dahyun pulled the trigger. The laser bullet shot straight through the man’s forehead, cauterising both the entrance and exit wound as it went. He slumped over, eyes still wide and hopeful.

Dahyun spun around and crouched down next to Tzuyu.

“Are you ok? He didn’t get to you, did he?”

“I’m ok.” Tzuyu still sounded far too small and scared for Dahyun’s liking. “He tried activating a failsafe they gave me. But he didn’t get the full password out. I’m just… a little confused right now.”

“That’s fine.” Dahyun sat down in front of her, grabbing Tzuyu’s hands. “You remember who I am, right?”

The familiar gesture seemed to calm Tzuyu, as her shaking eased and she gripped Dahyun’s hands firmly back.

“You’re Dahyun. My family. You and me and Chaeyoung and Minjoon.”

“That’s right.” Dahyun smiled. “Tell me what else you can remember. Anything confusing, I’ll help fill in the blanks.”

Dahyun kept smiling, kept calm, kept sitting there and talking and holding Tzuyu’s hands, right up until Chaeyoung found them. After that, she focused on explaining the situation, and robbing the treasury like they had planned. Chaeyoung didn’t ask about the body, but she clearly noticed it.

The heist went off without a hitch after that. It was only in the safety of Minjoon, when Tzuyu had gone to bed to recover from the ordeal, that Dahyun allowed herself to crack a little.

Chaeyoung found her sitting on the floor of the cockpit, staring blankly off into space.

“Everything ok?”

“Nope.” Dahyun kept staring out, focusing on one distant star. “I think I’m going to hell.”

“Ah.” Chaeyoung sat down next to her. “I’m surprised you only figured that out now. I mean between the amount of people we’ve injured and all the property damage and robbery I think we both booked our one way tickets to hell years ago, and that’s without even factoring in the gay thing, which honestly I don’t really believe is a problem but who knows-”

“Chaeyoung I’m serious.”

The smile slipped off Chaeyoung’s face, and she let out a deep sigh.

“Right.” she said softly. “The man you killed.”

“Yeah.” Dahyun pulled her legs up so that she could tuck her chin into her knees. “The first human being I’ve ever murdered. I’m a killer now.”

“And you think that- what? Makes you a bad person? Makes you an evil sinner that’s going to hell?”

“I mean it doesn’t get much worse than murdering someone, does it?”

“Yes!” Chaeyoung spun around so that she was directly facing Dahyun. “Yes it most definitely does! Dahyun, you killed one very horrible man under very specific circumstances. You even gave him a warning shot to the knee, and I doubt I would have been that generous if I was in your shoes. That man was an unrepentant child abuser, and the fact that you still feel bad about killing him when he gave you no choice proves to me that you are far from evil.”

“But-”

“Would you kill me or Tzuyu?”

“No! Never.”

“If you saw a random lady walking down the street, would you kill her?”

“Of course not!”

“Congrats.” Chaeyoung patted her on the head. “You’re not a serial killer, and you’re not going to hell. If anything, you better start praying for me. Because last week I had premarital with three very beautiful women, and I don’t regret it at all. So if one of us is on God’s bad side…”

“Shut up.” Dahyun laughed, shoving Chaeyoung’s shoulder lightly. “Why do you always try to work that into a conversation?”

“Oh come on! It came up naturally this time!”

“Sure.” Dahyun scoffed, but then she sobered up. “It’s just… I try to have a code, you know? We steal, and we smuggle, and we do a whole bunch of illegal things to get by. But there’s lines I thought I would never cross, and now I’m realising that when it comes to Tzuyu, and you… The lines that I wouldn’t cross are a lot fewer than I believed.”

“And that scares you.”

“Yeah.” Dahyun slouched back, gazing up at the stars again. “Can I really call myself a good person, or say I’m trying to live a good life? I won’t kill people I’m robbing, but if someone was to threaten you or Tzuyu, I wouldn’t hesitate to hurt them. Kill them even.”

“If someone was pointing a gun at Tzuyu, and I used my powers to melt the metal, and then melt his skin, would you say I’m a bad person? Or that I have no morals?”

“...No.” Dahyun admitted. “Wait, can you do that? Melt things?”

“I don’t know. Probably. Look, my point is, you do have a moral code, and you do your best to live by it. But when it comes to me and Tzuyu, it bends a little. That doesn’t make you a bad person. At worst it makes you a tiny bit hypocritical, and I think that’s a part of being human. We all have our families and our favourites, and just because you would do more to protect us than a random bystander doesn’t mean you’re going to hell. All it means is that you’re a good Captain.”

It felt like a weight in Dahyun’s chest eased, and the next breath she let out seemed lighter. She smiled at Chaeyoung, who grinned toothily back. 

“So are we good? No more fear about suddenly bursting into flames while Lucifer comes and collects your soul?”

“You’re so annoying.” Dahyun groaned. “I wasn’t being that dramatic.”

“You were being a little dramatic.” Chaeyoung shrugged. “But after the day we had I think some drama can be forgiven.”

Dahyun looked over at her best friend. With the glow from the stars and the ship tinting her hair shades of red and blue, and the soft expression on Chaeyoung’s face as she stared up at the endless night sky, she looked beautiful. Dahyun thought about the scared fourteen year old she’d escaped Earth with, and how much had changed in three and a half years. But that dreamy look in Chaeyoung’s eyes as she watched the stars had never faded, no matter what they went through. 

"Hey Chaeyoung? I love you."

"I love you too bro."

There was a peaceful quiet, as both girls stared at the galaxy moving around them. 

"So does Tzuyu know you’re flirting with me like this?” 

"Shh. Don't ruin the moment."

---

Candy Pop

“Would you rather... have 1% battery during an important scene in a drama or have poor wifi and not be able to get the drama to load?”

“Hmmmm...” In the bunkbed above her she could hear Tzuyu moving slightly. “I think poor wifi would frustrate me more. If I run out of battery I can just watch it later.”

“That’s fair. Your turn.”

“Would you rather be 5cm taller but live 5 years less or be 5cm shorter and live 5 years more?”

“5cm taller for sure.”

There was the sound of a foot thumping against the wall from the cell next to them.

“Hey Candy Pop, shut the up!”

Tzuyu’s head peeked out of the bed, meeting Dahyun’s confused eyes.

“That’s me, right?” Dahyun whispered.

“Yes. I’m pretty sure it’s because of your hair. They called me Pretty Face.”

“Oh hey, that’s nice!”

“I think they meant it in a derogatory way.”

“Well it’s still true.”

“Last chance to shut the up!” Came the voice from next door.

Dahyun sighed, and blew a kiss to Tzuyu. Even in the dark, she could see Tzuyu’s bright, blushy smile, right before she rolled over and went to sleep.

The prison beds were far from comfortable, but Dahyun had slept on worse. It didn’t take her long to drift off into dreamland, where she and Tzuyu were dancing together while Mina, for some reason, played Careless Whispers on a saxophone behind them. Jeongyeon was there too, crying proudly about how she’d taught Mina everything she knew. It was the kind of bizarre dream Dahyun greatly enjoyed, so when she woke up to the sound of the breakfast bell clanging she was not very pleased.

Her morning got a little better when she had to wake Tzuyu up, because her girlfriend was incredibly cute when she was sleepy. But then things took a sharp turn towards the terrible. As they attempted to leave their cell and head towards the cafeteria, five women crowded into their cell. Dahyun pushed Tzuyu back, eyeing them warily.

“What’s this about?” She said. “If it’s about money we can get it for you. If it’s about last night we’ll be quieter.”

“It’s about you being a ing snitch.” One of the women spat. She was taller than Tzuyu, and her muscles were quite intimidating. “We heard about what happened to Yang Hyunsuk.”

“Ah.” This was not good, not at all. Dahyun couldn’t help the nervous chuckle that escaped her. “Well to be honest we thought we’d be long gone by the time everyone found out, but wow I guess news travels fast around here! I’m happy for you, that you get to keep up to date with the outside world.”

The women moved closer, and Dahyun stuck out her hands.

“You might want to reconsider this.”

Another woman, with equally large and intimidating muscles, frowned as she noticed Tzuyu’s tattoos.

“Is she an alien? What’s she doing locked up in the human section of this prison?”

In truth, Tzuyu was here because they had no area for her species, and the guards had confirmed that none of her powers made her a danger to her fellow fully human inmates. Which was a shame because Dahyun very much wished Tzuyu was locked up safely alone right at this moment.

“She’s an alien alright.” Dahyun tried to make her grin cocky instead of scared less. “They didn’t know how to process her so they just stuck her in here with me. But try touching her and she’ll melt your face off.”

“Oh yeah?” The first woman who had spoken, and the one Dahyun assumed was the ringleader based on her height, build, and confidence, stepped forward. “So if we beat the out of you, she’ll kill us all, right?”

“Well I’m not sure it needs to come to that but-”

The first blow she saw coming, but it still hurt. She heard Tzuyu gasp as she fell to her knees, and two women reached out to hold Dahyun’s arms up as the ringleader punched her in the stomach again. Dahyun coughed, tasting iron as she spat onto the floor.

“Fine, I was bluffing. But this time, I’m deadly serious. You can do whatever the hell you want to me, but you touch one hair on her head and I will personally make sure you all die in the most slow and agonisingly painful way possible. And that’s not me trying to threaten you. That’s just a fact.”

The woman in front of her seemed slightly unsettled by the gleam in Dahyun’s eye, but clearly she wasn’t fully convinced.

“And how are you going to protect your girl if we leave you in a bloody mess?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Dahyun shrugged. “You can put me in a coma, or even kill me. I’ll still come back. I’ll still find you. And then you’ll all die. That’s a promise.”

“Nice try .” One of the other women sneered. “Humans don’t have the ability to come back from the dead.”

Dahyun couldn’t help it. She laughed. Short, manic cackles that had all of them taking a step back. 

“You think I’m alone?” she chuckled. “I have friends in high and low places. Normally, they’d know that if I died I would want to rest in peace. But you lay one finger on Tzuyu and they’ll make sure I’m brought back to life, just for the sole purpose of hunting you down and torturing you to death. So if you’re angry, feel free to take it out on me. But touch her, and you’ll regret it for the rest of your very short lifespan.”

Dahyun wasn’t sure they were convinced, but they kept making eye contact with each other, trying to figure out if they believed her or not. And every second they weren’t hitting her or going for Tzuyu counted. She meant every word of course, but in the ideal scenario both she and Tzuyu got out of here with minimal injuries, and no one had to go on a soul crushing revenge quest.

“We’ll keep that in mind.” The leader said in the end, which was about the best Dahyun could have hoped for.

She closed her eyes and braced herself for the next hit, but it never came. When she opened one eye to squint out, all the women other than the two holding her had shuffled back over to the door of the cell, with a blue glowing light shining on them.

“Oh good.” Dahyun said. “Rescue’s here.”

The two women dropped Dahyun’s arms as Tzuyu walked closer, and Dahyun turned and smiled at her girlfriend, who’s eyes and tattoos were shining a rich deep blue. Tzuyu held out a hand and pulled Dahyun onto her feet. There was a rumbling noise, and Dahyun heard the faint sound of explosions and guards screaming from the other side of the prison. It filled her with a warm sense of familiarity.

“Are you ok?” Tzuyu asked softly.

“Never better.” Dahyun winked, not mentioning how she could still taste blood in .

She turned to the women, now actively shuffling out of the cell as if they could sense the oncoming danger. It filled Dahyun with a strange sort of pride, to see all these grown, hardened criminals terrified of her girlfriend, who stopped to help snails cross the street and kept trying to adopt every puppy they found.

“So remember when I said I was bluffing about her being an alien?” Dahyun’s grin was back to it’s usual brightness. “That might have been a bit of a lie too.”

And that was when Minjoon smashed through the wall, scattering bricks, wood and other such debris across the cell.

---

What is Love?

“So are you sure about this?” Dahyun said, fumbling nervously with her spacesuit. “Because I know I said you had to see this at least once in your life, but it’s only been seven months since you got out of that facility and I understand if it’s too much so-”

“Dahyun.” Tzuyu laughed, wiggling into her own spacesuit. “Relax. I want to do this.”

“Right.” Dahyun breathed out. “Of course. You’re the one who asked me. This is fine.”

Tzuyu nodded, and headed over to the airlock controls.

“You know how all of this works though, yeah?” Dahyun blurted out. “The oxygen lines and maneuvering in space. Because if you wanted to I could go over it-”

“It’s fine.” Tzuyu smiled. “If I hold onto you, I’ll be ok.”

Dahyun knew Tzuyu was just repeating what she herself had said earlier, but the way Tzuyu said it, the way she smiled at Dahyun. It felt like there was something more to it. Was Dahyun just reading into things? Was her crush tinting everything she saw with a rose coloured lens?

There was no more time to think about it. Tzuyu hit the airlock button, and then ran over to hug Dahyun as the doors opened and they floated out into space.

At first Dahyun focused on adjusting to the loss of gravity, and keeping a solid grip on Tzuyu as they drifted further away from the ship. It felt like swimming in a pool at first, almost lighter. It was easy to get dizzy, but Tzuyu didn’t seem to be bothered. As they drifted, she just looked up at the stars, and Dahyun swore she could see the light from each and every one of them shining in her eyes.

“It’s so huge.” Tzuyu said. “I feel so… free.”

“I’m glad.” Dahyun said, hoping the microphone in her own old, stolen spacesuit still worked.

“I’ve never seen anything this stunning before. Have you?”

Dahyun had seen the stars before, but not like this. Not through Tzuyu’s wide, bright eyes. Not with Tzuyu in her arms, wisps of hair brushing across her very pretty face inside the spacesuit, neck craning in every direction, she was so eager to take in all the stars. The way Dahyun could feel Tzuyu’s heartbeat, slightly faster than her own, seeing the rise and fall of her chest and feeling how Tzuyu’s arms curled around her waist. Tzuyu, who had been so shy and scared when they first met, smiling at the vast emptiness of space with the most excited and animated expression Dahyun had ever seen on her.

“No.” she said. “I don’t think I’ve seen anything this beautiful before in my life.”

They stayed out there for a good hour, just floating and holding on to each other. Dahyun showed Tzuyu how to flip in zero gravity, and pointed out the different stars and their names. Tzuyu made Minjoon do a loop around them, and they both laughed imagining Chaeyoung’s confusion inside the ship. Once they had named every star they could see, and every possible piece of space Tzuyu wanted to travel to in the future, Dahyun pulled them back inside.

She did her best to keep her eyes on the ground as they stripped out of the space suits. A gut feeling told her that if she took one look at Tzuyu like this, she would never stop blushing. Only when they were both fully dressed again did Dahyun look up. Tzuyu’s cheeks were still flushed from their escapade outside, and even without the stars shining her eyes still sparkled. 

Dahyun didn’t realise she was staring until Tzuyu stepped closer.

“Dahyun?” Tzuyu’s voice was back to its usual softness. “Can I kiss you?”

It took an embarrassingly long time for Dahyun to register what she had said. She was so busy staring at Tzuyu’s nose and her lips and her eyes that it was a full seven seconds before it hit her.

“KISS? Me?” She began to panic as Tzuyu’s face dropped. “Wait, that came out wrong what I meant was: Yes! I’m sorry I just feel like this is a dream and I’m going to wake up to Chaeyoung complaining that there’s no more cereal oh my god why am I still talking I’m just a little overwhelmed sorry. Because… what. You, Chou Tzuyu, want to kiss me. It’s just a lot to-”

“Dahyun.” Tzuyu put a hand on her shoulder. “Do you want me to kiss you?”

Dahyun’s mouth was so dry, her hands felt heavy. But somehow, she managed to give a tiny nod.

“Yes please.” she croaked out.

And so Tzuyu did.

The kiss itself was sweet and chaste. Tzuyu was gentle, clearly as nervous about this as Dahyun felt. But then as Dahyun realised that this was real, this was happening, she pressed closer, kissing Tzuyu more firmly. She wanted to make sure that any doubts Tzuyu had about her feelings being mutual were erased with this one kiss. Dahyun had never kissed anyone before, only heard about it from Chaeyoung, and seen it in TV shows and books. Chaeyoung had offered once, but Dahyun had declined, saying that she appreciated the offer but she wanted her first kiss not to be platonic.

This one was definitely not platonic.

Tzuyu tilted her head and pushed back, causing Dahyun to gasp slightly. She wrapped her arms around Tzuyu’s neck, pulling her closer as if they were still hurtling through the abyss of space. And maybe they were. Dahyun no longer had any idea what was going on around them. If the universe was suddenly to burn up, and everything died a fiery death, she doubted she would even notice. All that mattered in this moment was Tzuyu, and Tzuyu’s lips against hers.

It became a battle of oxygen versus the need to keep Tzuyu close, the need to keep their lips together, to let Tzuyu know just how much Dahyun wanted this. But eventually, oxygen won. Dahyun reluctantly pulled back, resting her forehead gently against Tzuyu’s so that they were nose to nose.

“Thank you for the spacewalk.” Tzuyu whispered, and Dahyun let out a silent giggle, feeling a rush of happiness as the euphoria of the past two minutes began to hit her properly.

“Any time.” she whispered back. “And Tzuyu?”

“Yes?”

“I want to kiss you again.”

“Oh. I would like that very much.”

By the time they left the airlock, with messy hair and rosy cheeks, Chaeyoung only had to look at them for two seconds before bursting into laughter.

“Well.” she grinned. “It’s nice to see that you two made a lot of new discoveries out there.”

---

Like a Bulldozer

Alarms were blaring. Guards were swarming the area in an attempt to control the prisoners. There were riots breaking out left and right as chaos began to slowly overwhelm order, and no one seemed to know why it had started or how to end it.

“This.” Chaeyoung announced, arms wide open as they watched sections of the prison burn. “This is my masterpiece.”

Safe inside Minjoon, watching the scene of their latest crime as they flew away, Dahyun hugged Tzuyu tight.

“You know there were mass murderers in there that we probably let escape?”

“I didn’t target them.” Chaeyoung retorted. “Those cells are still intact. I mostly focused on the warden’s sections, the money, and the place where they keep the petty criminals. Smuggling, theft, trespassing, possession of drugs that could have easily been planted.”

“Well when you put it that way…”

“Look, if they didn’t want me committing arson, they should have kept the idea of private, for-profit prisons confined to Earth.”

Tzuyu looked at Dahyun curiously. She shrugged and snuggled closer into Tzuyu.

“She’s right honestly. I know Jihyo was planning to shut this place down so, in a way, we just helped her speed that process along.”

“Do you think she’ll still be mad at us?” Tzuyu asked.

“Oh yeah definitely. We burnt down a prison.”

“For sure. We probably shouldn’t come back here for a few months, give her time to cool off.” 

“Aw.” Tzuyu pouted. “I like her. And Nayeon. And Jeongyeon. I always think it’s funny when she calls me ‘kid’.”

“Jeongyeon does have a way with words.” Chaeyoung smiled. “Maybe we can hack into the 2T communal wifi again? Set up a video chat, just in case she gets lonely without us.”

“I’m fairly certain she has other, non criminal, friends.”

“Yeah but we add a little spice to her life, you know?”

Dahyun felt her body shake as Tzuyu laughed. She loosened her grip slightly, but kept her eyes on her girlfriend. Tzuyu, smiling widely from ear to ear, hair perfectly framing her face as she watched the prison burn. There was no indication that the time in there had been scary for her, no indication that she’d been threatened with violence less than an hour ago. And maybe that was because Tzuyu always bounced back, or maybe it was because Tzuyu had never really been scared in the first place. Because she was with Dahyun, and she trusted Dahyun to keep her safe, somehow even more than Dahyun trusted herself when it came to Tzuyu.

She still didn’t know if she deserved Tzuyu. Maybe no one deserved her. But Dahyun didn’t really think relationships were all about ‘deserving’ each other. All she knew is that she would do everything she could to keep that smile on Tzuyu’s face, to keep life fun and adventurous for all of them. To keep earning their happy ending.

“Hey Tzuyu.” she said. “Will you marry me?”

Dahyun thought she had seen every single Tzuyu smile possible. But this one was new. Bright and shy and a tiny bit smug. An instant favourite.

“I thought you’d never ask.”