Look at the Stars - Hyunjin x FEM Reader [✔️]

*21*

A homey space, filled with Chan's possessions: pictures of fellow spacers and vacation spots on half a dozen planets. Books, keepsakes, and mementos. Chan sits on his bed, on a handmade quilt. Coughs violently into a handkerchief, leaving the cloth spotted with blood.

GRAND CONCOURSE - GARDEN - MORNING

Y/n stands waiting by the oak tree. Hyunjin arrives with two cups of coffee, and hands her one. Y/n smiles, touched." Thank you," Chan arrives in a fresh coverall, a steaming mug in hand. No signs of frailty. He hands each of them a digital slate.

"All right. Last night I checked ten atmosphere stations and two of them were burned out. Twenty percent failure rate. Unheard of. So, we're going to see how far the rot runs," Chan turns to Y/n, "Y/n. You're going to walk Decks Two, Three, and Four, and check every atmosphere station. Green light good, red light bad, no light really bad. Write down what you find, I want a complete census,"

"Yes, sir," Y/n nods.

Chan turns to Hyunjin," Hyunjin. Go down to the Ship's Stores. Find atmosphere station CPUs and take an inventory of the spares. I know what the manifest says, but lists ain't facts,"

"Got it,".

"I'm going down to the Hibernation Bay to look at our pods. Maybe I can spot what went wrong," Chan says. Hyunjin and Y/n exchange glances.

"That should be interesting," Y/n whispers loud enough only so Hyunjin can hear, Hyunjin heart drops.

HIBERNATION BAY – Y/N'S POD - DAY

Chan kneels in front of the pod, examining the mechanism. Alone, he doesn't hide his difficulty: sweating and panting. Something he finds inside the machine makes him forget his symptoms. He stares astonished." Son of a gun," Chan says. A sound behind him. Chan turns to find Hyunjin watching. He looks from Hyunjin to the pod mechanism and back again. "You're supposed to be doing inventory," Chan says.

"I finished," Hyunjin says.

Chan is now holding eye contact with Hyunjin, "I looked at your pod. Very simple. The clock chips burned out. Not supposed to happen, but it's simple," Chan says, Hyunjin fidgets. Hyunjin starts to speak. Chan cuts him off. "My pod was complicated. A bunch of different failures at once, the whole thing went haywire. I think that's why I feel so bad," Chan stops and points to Y/n's pod. "But this pod...,"

"Chan...," Hyunjin goes to say.

"You did this," Chan says, a little stern.

"Yeah," Hyunjin hangs his head.

"I was thinking what a lucky son of a bitch you were, stuck with a beauty like Y/n. But it wasn't luck," Chan said now looking at Hyunjin.

"No," Hyunjin says. Chan sits down heavily, looking at Hyunjin.

"She knows?" Chan questions.

"She knows," Hyunjin confirms. Chan thinks that over, shaking his head at the idea.

"I could see there was some trouble between you," Chan starts putting his tools away. Hyunjin lays the electronic slate down beside him.

"Here's your inventory. I'll be in the machine shop if you need me," Hyunjin says, walking away.

COMMAND DECK - DIAGNOSTIC CENTER

Chan sits working. Behind him the Diagnostic Computer displays its progress bar: the diagnostic is 9% complete. Y/n enters with a digital slate.

"I finished the census," Y/n says. Hesitating to ask she questions, "You saw the hibernation pods?"

"Yeah," Chan sighs.

"So, you know. What Hyunjin did," Y/n's chin begins to tremble.

"Yeah, he told me," Chan says.

"He told you. Just like that? And?" She asks. Y/n waits, trembling with righteous indignation. Chan doesn't want to get into this: he looks away uncomfortably. "It's not forgivable, Chan. It's not. Don't tell me it is," Y/n says she can feel tears threating to escape.

"No, it's a bad thing. But...," Chan shrugs helplessly. "Look. When a drowning man drags somebody down with him, you don't call it right. But he's drowning. A starving man steals a loaf of bread, what can you say? You should have starved?" Chan questions.

"I would have starved," Y/n says.

"Really?" Chan asks. Y/n looks hard at Chan, thinking, and says nothing.

ELITE DECK - ARGENTINA STEAKHOUSE - EVENING

A rustic restaurant. Chan, Hyunjin, and Y/n sit around a table. Chan reads an electronic slate. "By Y/n's count, about thirty percent of the atmosphere station CPUs are burned out,".

"We can replace them," Hyunjin says.

"We will. But they'll just burn out again if we don't figure out why it's happening," Chan says.

"Where do we start?" Hyunjin asks.

"We wait for the diagnostic report. You've been knocking around this ship for two years. A few days more won't kill you," Chan said before the beginnings hacking and coughing. For a moment his weakness is plain to see...but robots sweep in and lay dishes on the table. Chan sets his slate aside. "Here you go. This is the best food on the ship," Chan smiles.

GRAND CONCOURSE - CONCOURSE BAR

Hyunjin, Y/n, and Chan sit at the bar. Felix stands by. "So how did you end up in space?" Y/n asks taking a sip of her drink.

"Only place I ever wanted to be. When I was sixteen, I lied about my age and got onto a lunar shuttle crew. A few years later I moved on to planetary ships. Made the Venus run a hundred times, then Jupiter and Saturn. Then the gravity drive came along. Real spaceflight. I did everything I could to get onto an interstellar ship. I was thirty-six years old the first time I saw an alien sun. No going back after that. I've walked on seventeen planets in five solar systems," Chan says.

"That's incredible," Hyunjin smiles in shock, considering the Chan was only twenty- four, he had done so much.

"Don't you feel homeless?' Y/n asked.

"I'm a spacer. My home is where I am. You can't take much with you, so you don't get hung up on things. You have yourself. The things you do. The company you keep," Chan pushes himself off his stool. Momentarily shaky, he pulls himself together. He takes a seat at the grand piano and plays - a fine beerhall pianist. Chan touches a switch and lifts his hands: the piano keeps playing. Chan stands and extends a hand to Y/n. She takes it, and Chan sweeps her across the floor. Hyunjin watches from the bar.

Felix aside to Hyunjin says, "Chan always dances with the ladies,".

Y/n follows Chan's lead - but steals look at Hyunjin. Her eyes unreadable. They watch each other as the dance goes on.