Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
TW: blood
This chapter is dedicated to my awesome friend Ella - she is so talented and I am so sorry for making you cry on a Zoom call! :)
It's about two weeks after the impostor's identity has been discovered by Hyunjin that anything major happens.
The eight astronauts have been settling in quite well to their new life on the Skeld. They've fallen into the skeleton of a routine: wake up in the medical bay, eat something in the cafeteria, then split off into their groups, whether that's to actually be useful and do their tasks, or to sit around and socialise. It's an odd life, but they appear to be managing to adjust well.
Something that has also been developing is the bonds between the boys. Whilst they often spend time in the evenings together as a large group, they find themselves with their chosen teammates much more often, allowing for deeper connections to bloom amongst them.
Since coming out to his partners, Felix has grown impossibly close to Seungmin. Hyunjin, on the other hand, is still yet to decide whether he wants to be Felix's caregiver or not, so instead has been keeping his walls up, not allowing himself to get closer to the younger pair; even though he wants them to be close more than anything, the secret he's forced to keep weighs heavily on his mind, and the last thing he wants to do is accidentally tell them who the impostor is. He cares for the two so much that he doesn't want to risk their lives by telling them who could kill them at any point.
It could be seen as something of a miracle, but, finally, Minho and Jisung have learnt to get along. Minho now trusts Jisung slightly more with looking after Dori (although he still doesn't let the two out of his sight that often) and they have become a well-balanced team, the orange providing the jokes and the purple providing the sarcastic responses. It's a strange dynamic, but it works for them.
As for the remaining trio, they haven't particularly been setting a great example to the others in terms of doing tasks. They spend their days in admin, the older two glued to the computers and producing music, while Jeongin watches from the corner, occasionally doodling or writing something down. As a result, the only task the three have completed is the one the youngest did on the first day - swiping his card. Sometimes Chan and Changbin worry about leaving Jeongin out, but he always reassures them that it's okay, that he's content to sit and watch while they work, when really, he is desperate to spend more time with them.
Jeongin wouldn't normally consider himself to be the sort of person to catch feelings easily - he's only had one significant other in all of his twenty-one years of life so far - but now he might be beginning to doubt himself. He's noticed how much he enjoys being in the older pair's presence; how, when they ask about his wellbeing, his face warms up and butterflies form in his stomach; how he often ends up sketching the producers while they work, admiring their features as he transfers them to his page; how they have begun sharing a bed like Felix and Seungmin do "to conserve body heat".
