While the Stars are our Home

The middle part two

When I woke up this time, it was very different than the last time I had talked to Taeyong in the library.
I woke up slowly, warm, and still curled into his side as the artificial sun rose over our heads. He was already awake, just watching the stars outside the large viewing windows.
I looked up at him and he smiled down at me, his eyes still as deep and beautiful as ever.
Somehow, despite feeling so much embarrassment at our current positions, the moment was a very special one. It felt like both the beginning of something and the ending of something else. The end of us skirting around each other, too scared to talk to each other, and the beginning of something new, a new dynamic between the both of us.
Neither of us spoke for a moment until I looked away, hands over my face to hide my embarrassed smile. I heard him chuckle and slowly start to shift, pulling his arms away from me.
"I'm sorry, we really shouldn't be sleeping in here like this, it can't be good for our backs," I tried to change the subject, wanting some kind of topic to distract me.
"I think once in a while can't hurt,' He says, voice soft but slightly raspy from sleep.
I slowly stand up and stretch, shivering at the cool air around us and wishing I had my jumpsuit on. They were not cute, but they were warm to have on.
He stands as well, a shy smile on his beautiful face, and holds out one hand to me, "No more running away?"
I nod, grinning as I shake his hand, "No more running."
He was about to say something else but then there was a piercing ring from his pocket and we both sighed, life was going to continue on even if we were finally friends.
"I have to go, there's a tech issue in the engine room," He says. He looked disappointed but I could see him starting to slip into his work mode anyway.
I nod, "It's okay, go please, I would rather not die or be stranded in space any time soon."
He shoots me a smile, a few other flashes of emotion crossing his face before he turns on his heel and runs out of the library.

About an hour later I traipsed into Jungkook and Yeosang's room, grinning from ear to ear as I sat down on the edge of Yeosang's bed.
He aimed a kick at my side, but I dodged it, grinning down at his still half-asleep face.
"I made progress!" I tell him and he freezes, glaring at me as he processes my words.
"With what?" Jungkook asks, peaking his head around the edge of the bunk bed, eyes wide in curiosity.
"Taeyong," I grin wider as Jungkook's face turned shocked and pleased and then I do fall off the bed, Yeosang had sat up so quickly that his flailing arms were a hazard.
I sigh from the floor once more, immediately shivering against its temperature in my thin clothes.
"You finally told him about your crush?" Yeosang asks over the side of the bed, hair a mess and eyes wide.
My grin turns sheepish, and he frowns, "I told him he's attractive? I mean I think we're friends now?"
The two boys look at each other and then shrug, "It's something I guess."
I nod, "Yes, like I said, progress!"
They concede and Yeosang helps me back up, letting me use him as a heater once more as Jungkook laughs at me.
"Hey Kookie," I ask after a few minutes.
"What's up?" He pops around the corner again to look at me.
"When are you going to talk to Taehyung?" I ask, bracing for an explosion.
He looks sad and I regret asking, "I don't think he has any interest in me."
I frown, "No he does."
"You can't know that."
I feel more than hear Yeosang sigh behind me and shake my head.
"You forget we work with him. He talks about you all the time."
Jungkook looks conflicted.
"Kookie, I promise, if you just start showing him your art, he will realize how he feels about you," I tell him. I had seen so many of Jungkook's drawings that it was hard to deny that the man was talented. Taehyung and his art-obsessed self wouldn't be able to say no to him.
"You really think so?" Jungkook asks, chewing his bottom lip.
I nod and Yeosang makes a noise of agreement behind me.
"I'll think about it," Jungkook says and then disappears behind the wall of the bed again.
"Progress," I say quietly and smile as Yeosang pulls me slightly closer to him in a semblance of a hug.

After that day, I started to see Taeyong around more, but instead of smiling and running the other way, now I said hi to him, and even stopped to talk to him or walk with him wherever he was headed.
He always seemed happy to see me and even invited me to walk with him or go to the dining hall together.
Later that week Jackson and Eric called a meeting for us teachers and we all went to go see them after school hours one day.
When we walked in, Eric was laughing, a pained look on his face as Jackson sighed.
We all blinked at them in confusion until Jackson turned to us and smiled, motioning for us to come in and sit down at the table.
"What happened?" Amber asks, a suspicious look on her face as she sits next to me and Wendy.
"I was asking him about a movie that was put out a few years back and he said he hadn't heard of it, so I called him old," Jackson says, straight-faced.
"I'm not that old!" Eric says, laughter dying out as he flops his head onto the table.
"Eric," Amber says, serious as he looks back up at her, "You are old."
Eric groans and lets his head fall back onto the table in defeat, "Fine, okay."
I take one look at Yeosang, and we both burst out laughing, not able to hold in the humor of the conversation.
Namjoon kicks me under the table, and we calm down as he asks Jackson and Eric about the reason for the meeting.
"Oh, so you know you've only had elementary-age students up until the point, the main government wants us to begin implementing a high school of sorts," Jackson explains quickly.
Eric sits up and sighs, "Taehyung, we know you've been working with a few of the teens already, but we would like to expand whatever you are doing with them."
"Oh, I've just been teaching a few of them how to draw so they can have something to do around their tasks," Taehyung says quietly with a faint blush on his cheeks.
Eric nods, "We appreciate that Taehyung, we really do. The main government is going to be sending out recorded lessons for us to have them watch but we do think that they would benefit from in-person support. There many are not much teaching to do in reality but whatever they need help with if you all could be there for them, that would be amazing."
"We know you already have full schedules, so there will be a bit of change to what you are currently doing, possibly splitting all of you up based more on age groups than what you've got now, just so we can fit in some time for them to have access to you all," Jackson adds, pulling up a spreadsheet on the wall of the meeting room.
They show us how the changes will affect us, give us options on what we wanted to do and then ask us to hang out for a few more minutes so that we could meet the teens. For some reason, the population of this ship ended up being mostly young families, there were not many kids between 12 and 20 years old, and not many in their 20s and 30s who were unmarried either.
The group of kids came in a few minutes later, and I immediately spotted Hyunjin in the crowd, another boy who looked similar to him right behind him.
Eric and Jackson quickly made introductions, had them all tell us their names and ages, and main interests.
I quickly wrote down each name as they talked, Christopher, Felix, Hyunjin and his brother, Jeongin, Seungmin, Changbin, Minho, Jisung, Nayeon, Momo, Sana, Tzuyu, Jeongyeon, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, and Chaeyoung. 17 of them in total. I sighed, there really weren't many of them on board.
They all respectfully bowed and waited for us to say something.
Namjoon took over like normal and quickly assured them that we would take good care of them and that they could come to us for anything they needed. A few of them looked nervous or anxious but a few others smiled and thanked us before they were allowed to leave again.
We all fell silent as the door closed behind them and I sighed, feeling a heavy weight settle on my heart.
"We want to say, thank you all for taking on so much responsibility," Eric says, all humor gone from his voice.
"They need us, don't they?" I ask so quietly that I wasn't sure if anyone would hear me.
Yeosang nods and takes my hand, "They do. I know we've been feeling lost as it is, I can't imagine how they are feeling. Going through this as a teen."
Everyone nods in agreement and it's then that we all take on more work, not regretting it in the slightest.