#because nothing's ever gone wrong when returning a cultural item to its rightful owners 🥴

[kisskissbanggang]

Jumpspace Renegade - ep. 8 ✨🚀

[4.3k words, 15 min. read - Skz x Fem. Reader - Stray Kids Multi Fic, Scifi!au, Choose Your Own Adventure - SFW/Smut in Other Chapters - Changlix, Seungmin is a Flirt and a Fiend, Banter and Tension, Harmless Pranks, Infidelity, Scifi Guns, Always Check the Tags]

[Episodes on Fridays 7pm pst, Polling closes Saturdays 7pm pst]

[Series Masterlist | Come Say Hi!]

“How about a deal,” Minho offered. “Where you stop, I’ll stop. If you get dumped at the Hatchery or Sentury or whatever, I’ll detour with you if you’ll come with me to Victory Meridian.”

You thought about this. “Only me?”

“Only you,” Minho nodded. “I can't risk recruiting the crew; I don't trust them.”

“And if I don’t?”

“What, like if you decide to be a good crewmate and sell me out? That’s allowed, too. You can just say no. You can just tell me ‘goodnight, Minho’ and I’ll drop it.”

“That’s it?” you asked, your voices hushed in the more open service corridors. 

“I mean, I’ll stop trusting you, that’s all.”

You heavily considered your choices, but ultimately understood where the two of you sat in this scenario. All you had to do was say yes. All Minho expected was for you to say yes. And he may even expect that you'll turn on him if the situation gets bad enough. 

It was an easy decision. 

Minho was closing in on you against the wall of the service passage, pressing up real cozy again. 

“Goodnight, Minho,” you cooed. 

The outlaw’s gaze almost cracked. 

“I'm kidding,” you laughed. “I’m with you. I’ll let you know if anything interesting comes up before we land on Phaborus.”

Minho looked bewildered for a second, and even more when you leaned in to kiss his cheek goodnight. He staunchly rebuffed the move, leaning back an inch. “Good. No more of that, though.”

“Because I joked?!”

“No,” Minho shook his head, “I don't fool around with wingmen. It gets messy. Get some shut-eye.”

It was your turn to look bewildered when Minho lifted his cuffed hands to ruffle your hair and promptly leave. 

“That’s fine!” you called after him. “I’ll just send Jisung down next time I'm thinking of you!”

“Good!” Minho repeated over his shoulder. “He and I have unfinished business.”

You watched Minho head back to the cargo hold before you remembered how dumb you just were. Your cabin door was still locked, wasn't it? That’s what got you out here in the first place. You peeked into your room.  

Only to find that it wasn't locked at all. It was open. 

You climbed back up into your cabin, only to find that the hatch in your closet was open, too. Chan must have come in at some point to set you free. 

You tiptoed out to the workshop, seeing if there were any signs of life in here. The tarp covering the boat was pulled off, and when you crept closer for a curious look, you found Felix and Changbin tangled together under a blanket on deck, dozing like babies. 

Sleep sounded great. 

The events of the day caught up to you all at once. Your shoulders ached in a soreness that radiated down through to your hips. You dragged yourself into the shower for a much needed full-body scrub, and finally into bed. Astral clouds and fields of stars escorted you to sleep. 

Hours elapsed. 

Sleeping here still felt leagues better than back home. 

You were only sort of surprised that you were up again shortly after midday. Your room was still set to have ambient light that would change depending on the time of the day cycle, so you'd actually managed to sleep through hours of light. 

The ship was still largely quiet when you took a look around, but a voice called out to you when you entered the galley. 

“Hey, you’re up already!” 

You turned to see Changbin poking his head into the doorway of his cabin. He waved you over. 

“Come help me with something, would you?”

You nodded, attentively trotting into the mechanic's cabin. Today, given how warm the ship still felt (even after cooling off for hours) you’d opted for a breathable long-sleeve top with some cargo shorts, much roomier and comfier than yesterday's workout set. Your new boots still squeaked on the metal floor. 

Changbin’s cabin was attractively clean, maybe not methodically spotless but still organized and well-kept. A pull-up bar was welded onto the back of his cabin door and a set of weights sat in the corner under his packed bookshelf. His open closet was outfitted with extra compartments in the shelves. On the bed, Changbin had two outfits laid out. 

“We never go anywhere as nice as Phaborus lately,” Changbin explained. “I mean, it's the Hatchery, so it’s all tourists and fishing companies, but I missed going out. Trying to figure out what to wear before I go wash up and shave.”

The chosen outfits surprised you. Solely based on what you knew about Phaborus, you’d assumed the whole planet was tropical, but Changbin had pulled out rain gear and other stylishly warmer options. He picked up the black shirt on the left and held it up to his chest in the mirror on the inside of the closet door before grabbing the gray shirt on the right and doing the same. 

You took a seat at Changbin's desk. The surface was an amalgam of his personal tools, his accessories and colognes, and an amusingly sizable collection of pictures. A notable amount of the photos were of Felix, all freckles and beaming smiles. One photo featured Changbin with two women that he shared a charming resemblance with. You picked it up, enjoying the idea of having a family out there. Behind the picture, however, was another. This photo was of a woman. A gorgeous redhead. 

“Who’s this?” you casually asked. 

Changbin looked at you holding the other photo. “Spitting image, right? My sister and my mom,” he coolly answered. “I’m thinking the gray is a little more flattering today. Maybe with the task boots?”

You did a double take at the photos before realizing Changbin hadn't answered your question. The misunderstanding nagged at you, but before you could ask again he came over, plucking a watch up off a little display stand. It wasn’t overtly flashy, but it was noticeably nice. 

“Did I show you? Felix got it for me,” he gushed. “He knows me so well.”

“You two are so close,” you complimented. 

“We are,” Changbin nodded. “I’ve never felt seen by anyone the way Felix sees me.”

You marveled over that. It sounded so easy for him to say. “He sees you?”

Changbin nodded affirmatively again, this time choosing between bags. “Yeah. I feel like I'm really myself around him. I don't think I've felt that way around anyone before, honestly. I'd leave everything behind in a heartbeat if he said the same thing.”

Everything? Aside from the family you weren't sure what much more there was to leave behind. 

“Hey, did you eat yet?” Changbin suddenly asked, getting your attention back. 

You sat up straight, setting the photo down and shaking your head. Changbin pointed out towards the galley. 

“If my nose doesn't deceive me,” he continued, “I think you can grab a bite before everyone else wakes up.”

Sure enough, something delicious was wafting in from the kitchen. You got up from the desk and picked up one of the two bags, the handsome, waxed canvas crossbody, and plonked it in his hands. He affectionately booted you out before closing the door behind you. 

Out in the galley, Jisung was sat alone in the booth. An unopened iced coffee waited on the table while he peacefully dozed in his upright position. Back in the kitchen, Felix helped Jeongin with the cooking. They spied you coming in nonetheless, not nearly as distracted as the activity would suggest. Before Jeongin could step away, Felix reassuringly patted his shoulder before greeting you with a wide smile. You managed to be the first to grab a scone and proudly had half of it in your mouth already.

“Morning, dude,” he grinned. “You think you can round everyone up and make them eat something? I have a plate saved for you in the warmer.”

“Oh!” you absently responded, your mouth still stuffed full. “Sure?” It was a little maddening to let all the food wait without you, but it wasn’t like you couldn’t get it done and do Felix a favor. You ran through a quick roster of who Felix would be referring to. That would be Seungmin, Hyunjin, and Chan, right? And you’d have to see if Minho was awake, you supposed. You nodded your acceptance to Felix and set about your task.

You first trotted down to the cargo hold, seeing if your suspicions were correct. Sure enough, Minho was sleeping like a baby in the brig, all wrapped up under his coat. Two rooms faced you behind the staircase to return upstairs. You tried the open door first. Upon finding no Hyunjin, you guessed that this could be Jeongin’s cabin. It was mysteriously empty, lacking the accumulation of stuff the other crewmates had. Some trinkets and a couple photos decorated the space, maybe having been picked up on his travels with the crew thus far. You remembered Jisung mentioning that the cabin boy had been a stowaway, too. It was easy to get distracted wondering where he’d come from, what he was leaving behind. 

Back on track, you tried the other door and were surprised to find this cabin pitch dark, save for one small lamp casting a blue glow. Hyunjin carefully inspected something on his desk with a pair of magnification glasses and some sort of meter. A pair of headphones snug on his ears were blasting music. You leaned closer over his shoulder. As it turned out, the tiny object was actually a small picture, maybe even a painting by how the arm on the meter gingerly scratched the piece’s surface. You accidentally leaned forward an inch too far, pressing into Hyunjin’s back and making him jump. 

“Holy shit!” Hyunjin wheezed, whipping off the glasses and headphones. He flipped on a regular lamp and wheeled around on you, catching his breath. 

“I’m sorry!” you apologized with a wince. “You looked busy.”

“It’s okay,” Hyunjin waved you off with a small laugh. “Did you come to finally ask me about your Clessorian ring?”

You ogled him. “How did you know?”

Hyunjin shrugged. “I’m not interested in stealing it, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Too much trouble?” you joked.

“We’re locked in a tin can together,” Hyunjin smirked. “Not a great idea to steal from anyone here if I don’t plan on making a sale.”

“Admirable. Where are you selling that?” you asked, gesturing towards the little painting.

Hyunjin’s eyes lit up. “This? I’d never sell this. Maybe trade, if requested, but I’m actually returning it when we get to the Hatchery.” He placed the small picture in your hands. Looking at it closer, it depicted a gorgeous treeline and dark blue waves, accented in white seafoam. “Isn’t it great? I found it the last time we were in a convoy.”

“What is it exactly?” you wondered.

“It’s a Phaborian mating pendant,” Hyunjin explained. “Phaborians present these to their potential partners; it’s supposed to depict their future home and life together. Poor ones make them themselves, rich ones get them commissioned, and generic ones are mass produced for the tourist trade. This one just happens to be of the Hatchery, so I’m finding somewhere to return it when I’m done trading. I’m just testing it to make sure it’s, y’know, not one of the tourist ones.”

You examined the painted pendant in your hand. The delicate brushstrokes scratched the pad of your thumb gingerly passing over the surface. It’d be cool to get one of these, you mused. You thought of Changbin and Felix. 

Yeah. It’d be nice to have something like that someday.

“You want to come along when I go trading?” asked Hyunjin, gently taking the pendant back from you. “The market at the Hatchery is pretty neat.”

“I’d love that. It sounds fun,” you grinned appreciatively. You nodded back out to the hold. “But first you should grab something to eat.”

“Fair enough,” Hyunjin nodded, setting his work down and following you back up to the galley.

Jisung was still sleeping where you left him, and you couldn’t help yourself. You grabbed a nutrient shake from the cooler and swapped out the cans, taking his still unopened coffee for yourself. One of the little love bites Minho left Jisung was still an angry purple on his neck.

You jogged up the stairs, finding no apparent signs of life but faced with the task of trying to access Chan’s door for the first time. The door was clearly outlined in the alcove of the staircase but lacked an apparent knob or switch or lever or anything. You looked the door up and down. There was a quaint little pattern lining the door. Three little squares recessed into the metal panel, and then two further down, and three again, alternating all the way around until–

Oh. Well, duh.

The sequence broke, leaving a chain of three lined-up squares in a column of three. You felt around these, until the center of the center line lit up.

Cute.

You crept into Chan’s room, the right way. There was no sign of activity around; no hint of the captain being awake, and then you finally caught your prize: a blanketed lump on the bed. 

Coming closer, Chan was curled up under his thick blanket. You stroked his hair and got no response. You pinched his cheek with the same result. Dead asleep.

But, to your delight, his cybernetic leg was exposed. The need to meddle returned. He did cuff you and lock you in your cabin the previous night, after all. You leaned down, taking Chan’s foot at the articulated joint of his ankle and manually twisting it the wrong way around. 

Take that, you gloated internally. 

You straightened back up, ready to leave when a hand grabbed your leg. You screeched.

“Put it back,” Chan grumbled into his pillow, eyes not even opening to look at you.

You froze, trying to get your wits back about you before automatically cooperating.

“Lee back in the hold?” he groggily asked, still muffled. You nodded before you remembered he wasn’t seeing you.

“Yes, dear,” you sarcastically cooed.

“Atta girl,” he praised sleepily. He affectionately patted your leg before simply grabbing the iced coffee out of your hand. You let him, waiting a bit to see if that was what he needed to get up.

No further activity.

“You’ll miss chow time,” you chided him.

“Sucks for me then. Now go on.”

He waved you away. You thoroughly rolled your eyes, using the far more convenient access on this side of the door to exit Chan’s cabin. 

That left the navigator. You peeked around the corner to check the navigation office. Nothing. However, more music was blasting inside Seungmin’s cabin beside it. You knocked, trying to stop yourself from barging in wherever you wanted. No answer. You thought about this. 

Well, you didn’t want Seungmin to miss meal time. You poked your head in.

The navigator was busily working at his desk, touching up a physical chart laid out in front of him. Surprising you this time, Seungmin turned to regard you before you had a chance to make your presence known. 

“I see you like sneaking,” he grinned.

“I’ve come to profess my love for you,” you dramatically admitted.

“Ugh, finally,” Seungmin smirked. You got a better look at the chart now. In big letters in the caption read GALLORIAN STRAIT, PHABORUS AKA “THE HATCHERY”.

“You're still working on the charts?” you questioned.

“Hey,” the navigator chuckled, “you’re the intruder, I’m asking the questions here. Now what’s this I hear about a ring made out of Clessorian ore?”

Your eyes widened. Your fists instantly clenched. You were agog, mouth opening and closing like a grounded fish.

“How does everyone know?!”

Seungmin laughed out loud, eyes turning up and all. “Word gets around! Anyway, it’s not like I want to steal it, so calm the hell down. I have much bigger fish to fry if you can’t tell.”

“I thought the whole idea with the detour was that you were finished,” you wondered.

The navigator took a second, taking his glasses off and massaging his temples. “Yeah, I thought so, too. But I failed to recall that Phaborian sailors prefer to keep physical charts on board in case their systems go down. I had my final meeting with my customers and they’re like, ‘oh, we’re filling out the customs request, they want to know if you’re using packing tubes or packing sleeves’ and I’m like, ‘packing what’ and that’s when I remembered I’m actually a moron.”

“Ouch,” you sympathized. “Can I help at all?”

“You wanna come along when I make the drop?” Seungmin asked. “I can always use backup.”

“Oh,” you realized, “I’d love to! But I meant like here and now. Like, I’m no good with this but I could maybe bring you something to eat?”

A tough sigh fell out of Seungmin’s chest. He hung his head before getting up. “No, I should take a break.”

“Great,” you smiled reassuringly before you dramatically gestured again. “But you mustn’t tell anyone of our sordid affair.”

You laughed off your own dumb joke with a shake of your head, but that was before Seungmin grabbed your wrist and pulled you in nice and close. A pathetic, gasped curse eked out of you. His hands were wrapped around your waist. 

“You are such a little troublemaker, you know that?” he laughed, smooth and low. “I already told you, you don’t want to play with me like that; I get jealous, remember?”

You wriggled out of Seungmin’s grip and he ran after you when you fled, trying to keep your composure. He was shockingly suave, apparently, daunting after he seemed so unassuming. He instantly caught up with you when you made it to the top of the stairs, spinning you around and caging you in again. It was unexpectedly difficult to meet his gaze. First, you felt ridiculously bashful for some reason, and second, when you did look, he was giving you the most sly grin that made your heart beat faster than your encounter with Minho.

“You don’t even know what you’d do with me, do you,” Seungmin chuckled.

“Aren’t I the one that’s supposed to be asking that?” you tried to retort.

Seungmin nodded. “Sure, but I don’t think you know what you’re even doing. Surprising, given how clever you come across as.”

“Who says I’m not clever?” you giggled, far more nervously than you intended.

What the hell was going on? You never got flustered like this before. 

“You don’t do this a lot, do you, Nova?” Seungmin grinned. “You don’t spend a lot of time having someone’s full attention.”

I mean, you internally babbled, like outside of the bedroom?

It was stupidly true. Dating was never really your thing, and especially not when you had a parole officer following your every move. And it wasn’t like there were many options back in T’kaarm. You either knew everyone or they were all tourists. Perfect for passing flings, sure, but not really suitable for whatever the hell Seungmin was currently hypnotizing you with.

“What’re you looking for here?” you finally asked him. 

Seungmin’s lips were agonizingly close to yours but he wouldn’t lean in any further. “I just thought you were looking for a game of chicken. I’m really good at it. Are you?”

He did lean in now, just another centimeter. Your breath hitched in your throat.

When the resounding snap of blaster fire rocked the staircase. Both your attentions whipped to look down the stairs when another blast caught the railing. You could hear more commotion now.

“Felix!”

You and Seungmin traded worried looks before cautiously making your way downstairs. What you found out there was surprising.

Most noticeable was Felix, brandishing the blaster and trying to get around Jisung, with the pilot awake and madly trying to corral him. And Felix’s aim? Trained on a very distressed Changbin, wearing only a towel after his shower.

“A WIFE, CHANGBIN?!” Felix roared. He ducked into his cabin next to Changbin’s and was tossing things out, likely belonging to the mechanic.

Changbin caught a black hoodie to the face before Jisung could intercept, uselessly trying to herd Felix back into his cabin while Jeongin tried to escort Changbin into his.

“Baby, no–” Changbin brokenly tried to reason with him.

“Baby, nothing, you son of a bitch!” Felix seethed. “A boyfriend or girlfriend or whatever? Sure, that’d suck but I’ve had worse. A kid? I’d deal with that. But you’re fucking married?”

Seungmin tried to grab your sleeve before you could take a few more steps down the stairs, but you shook him off. You still didn't enter the galley, though, opting instead to hang out in the stairwell. 

Felix tried to duck around Jisung again before he was promptly tripped and wrestled down to the floor. The two grappled, with Jisung taking an errant elbow to the eyepatch. He squealed out a curse before fixing it and getting back on track. 

“Felix? Sweetheart?” Jisung frantically tried to get his attention. “What the fuck is going on?”

“Married, Jisung!” Felix shouted back. “Can you believe I'm so stupid?! He’s always telling me ‘no, baby, not my room, it’s a mess’ and I've been blind enough to accept that shit?!”

Jisung sat up on Felix’s hips, but not without wrestling the blaster away. Hyunjin jumped forward to grab it and keep it safely out of reach, hugging it to his chest. “Yeah, no, honey,” Jisung babbled, “you’re right; that’s shitty. Did something happen, though?”

“So I decide I'll wait for Changbin while he’s in the shower! Maybe be helpful and clean, fuck if I know! And what do I find on his computer?”

Jisung stared. All the men stared, except for Changbin, who was looking at the floor with his hands on his hips.

“A message from this mystery wife!” Felix laughed hysterically. “She’s wondering where the deposit is for the month! Doesn't he know they have a house to pay for?!”

The door to Changbin’s cabin slammed closed, and Jeongin worriedly opened it again to run after him. His door shut far more calmly now. 

“Fuck, Felix,” Jisung sighed. “That sucks, love. I'm so sorry.”

The pilot finally leaned off of Felix’s slim frame. Felix sat up now, arms resting on his drawn up knees. He hung his head with his own deep exhale. “I’m the sorry one,” he lamented. 

“Anything we can do?” Hyunjin asked from where he was still plastered to the wall. 

“Just some space would be great, thanks.” Felix got up to his feet and tersely threw his cabin door open. You all winced when the door roughly clanked shut behind him. 

“Well…” Seungmin finally piped up behind you. “I guess I'm taking that break.”

The four of you were awkward when you reassembled at the booth. You’d grabbed the plate Felix promised you, and with both Chan and Minho still sleeping, everyone else managed to grab some food. The air at the table was tense.

“So this is the worst one, right?” Hyunjin asked into his plate. 

“What, Felix and Changbin fighting?” Jisung questioned. He opened the nutrient shake you’d set in front of him and took a big swig. Upon realizing it wasn’t the coffee he’d originally grabbed, he reeled, nearly sputtering it out. He did a double take at the can. You sheepishly slid over a new iced coffee in front of him. You'd grabbed it when you realized now might not be the time for harmless pranks. 

“Well, like,” Hyunjin processed, “there was that time with Felix and that waitress at Sentury.”

“And the time when Changbin got drunk at the Caravan,” Seungmin contributed. 

“And the time when Felix took that bet at Saykorr,” Hyunjin nodded. “But this one is big. This one feels major.”

“Yeah, this is the worst out of all of those,” Jisung decided. “Maybe some space could be good for both of them?”

Seungmin thought about this. “I can take Changbin with me to go drop off the charts,” he suggested. 

Hyunjin agreed with a nod. “And I was already going to bring Felix with Nova and I to the market.”

“Can I come?” Jisung asked Hyunjin. “I could pick up a couple things while you're there.”

The navigator paused his current chew of food. “Nova’s going with you to the market? She already said she was coming with me.”

The three of you – you, Hyunjin, and Seungmin – all looked at each other. Jisung scanned all of your faces, too, massively awkward and confused while he drank his coffee. 

“Well?” he finally asked, breaking the silence. He caught his breath for a second, like he’d swallowed too much at once in the tension. You gave the pilot a sideways look in the booth. “What do you wanna do?”

You froze, considering your options with a lump in your throat. There was the obvious choice of doing nothing, of course. You could avoid the awkwardness altogether and stay behind, but you’d miss out on Phaborus. 

And if you went, it’d be really interesting to see a Phaborian fishing company, but Seungmin was already doing really well at getting under your skin. But Changbin would be coming along, too, and it'd be reassuring to get his side of the story. You liked Changbin. It sucked to think he was a no–good cheater. There had to be something in the story that no one knew. 

However, if you tagged along with Hyunjin, you could connect with Felix and check out the market. You could hang out with Jisung, comfort Felix, and see Hyunjin in his element while he went trading. It could very well be way more enjoyable all around.