Crashing into your world

Four

Wooyoung was worried about San. He hadn't eaten for weeks and he was getting weaker and weaker. He had to do something, even if San didn't like it. He looked at him as he sat beside him on his bed.
"What are you going to do?" Wooyoung broke the silence.

"You really want to get close to this earthling, don't you?" Wooyoung asked him before.

San nodded slightly.

"Yes, but it's no use, you've seen that it doesn't work." Why did he ask San that? Didn't he see that he was suffering enough already.

"Of course, it doesn't work because he doesn't know you exist," San sat up questioningly. "Can you explain in more detail what you're trying to tell me?"
Wooyoung nodded.

"You know he's your soulmate because you felt it, because it's just in nature with us, with Earthlings it's just more complex." he paused for a moment to make sure San could follow him.

"He must receive a soulmark and so must you."

Energetically San began to shake his head.
"No Wooyoung. I told you I don't want to do it to him, you know exactly how painful it is."

Again Wooyoung nodded slowly
"Yes, but it has to be, he will survive, well if..." he stopped. "...If he really is your soulmate."
San looked questioningly at Wooyoung.
"But you can't give someone a soul mark, can you?" his best friend shook his head.

"No, not me, but the captain." San sighed softly. Asking the captain for a favor was always a tricky thing. It wasn't that you couldn't talk to Hongjoong but he didn't think much of the whole soulmate thing, which was because his one had stabbed him in the back. "And you think it would be a good idea to ask him if he does?" San laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Well, there's no other way or you'll give up on this whole thing and never meet your soulmate."
Wooyoung knew well that San was desperate to get closer to this human..

"Ok, yes you're right. I want him, no I need to meet him." euphoric San jumps and glares at Woo.
"Come on let's go see Hongjoong."

"What, now?'' You want to go see him now?" he glares at him in puzzlement.
"I don't think he has time right now." San shrugs lightly.

"Well, if we don't go there, we won't know."

It was very quiet on the mothership. Most of the crew were off duty and enjoying the wide variety of recreational activities. They could sit together at Space's own bar. Gamble in the arcade or do sports in the space sports hall. At the other end of the ship was the captain's office, which was also his bedroom. Hongjoong was currently sitting at his desk, looking over the digital display and was so deep in thought that he didn't even notice the first knock on the door, only at the second, slightly louder one did he flinch and look up.

"Yes, please?" slowly the door opened and two small heads peered in.

"San, Wooyoung? What can I do for you?" smiling, the captain closes the digital recordings and invites the two inside. Nervously and with small steps, the two walked to Hongjoong's desk.
"Please sit down. You have not been to see me for a very long time." He seemed relatively pleased that someone had come into his office.
"Please sit down," he said again before the two boys sat down. He looked at them both questioningly.

"Well, to what do I owe the honor?" San looked at Wooyoung, who nodded at him and then, with a slight tremor in his voice, San began to tell them about the request they had come to the captain with.

Hongjoong really didn't think much of the whole soulmate thing, but he also realized how much San hoped and wanted to meet his soul mate, talk to him and be close to him. The fact that it had to be an earthling, however, was a thorn in his side. After San finished speaking, Hongjoong nodded slowly, then stood up and walked to a shelf, while looking for something there, he spoke.

"You are sure that this...human...is your soulmate." The word human had a slightly dismissive undertone to the captain. This one caught Wooyoung and San's attention, but neither said anything in response.
"Yes, I'm very sure." replied San curtly, startled slightly when Hongjoong called out joyfully.

"Ah, there it is."
He had a small bottle in his hand with a light blue, slightly shimmering liquid inside. He walked back to the two and handed the bottle to San. Looking questioningly at the bottle resting on his palm, San looked over at Wooyoung, who just shrugged.

"You have to take the liquid to be able to breathe." said Hongjoong as he sat back down in his seat behind the table.
"But I can breathe just fine." San was visibly confused.

"Yes, here on the ship and in space, but not on Earth." Hongjoong glanced at him.

"That reminds me, we still need to do something about your gills. As far as I know, humans don't have them." Again the captain stood up and walked to the shelf.

"Do I have to take the whole contents of the bottle?" asked San, putting it in his pocket. "For everyone's sake, please don't." said Hongjoong, shaking his head.

"If you do, you might as well stay on earth." "How is San supposed to know how much to take?" asked Wooyoung now.
"You'll have a harder time breathing if you need some again." the captain turned back to them, again he had something in his hand, but this time a small tin, which he now pressed into San's hand as well.
"You put a fingertip of this ointment on your gills every morning, that way they won't be visible." San nodded slightly and also put the tin in his pocket