moons of jupiter | stray kids af

o3.2

[...continue]

All nine pairs of eyes dart to see what Felix was so amazed by and slowly revealed behind a rocky hill was the most majestic ship they had ever seen. It was something being pulled straight out of a movie — it glints under the morning sun, it stood tall and mighty, almost like a mothership but definitely a little smaller yet still... grand and almost regal, in a way. The ship was white in colour, it's shaped shuttle-like but not quite. Along the body, 'CHRONOSAURUS' was written in big bold letters, along with the logos of the astronauts' own respective space organisations. It no doubt made their jaws drop, there was no way that this will be their home soon. Especially, now that Seungmin's gotten a closer look at it, it kind of looks like...

"... it looks like a fish," Felix comments, "a flying fish."

Woojin whistles lowly, nodding at the younger's statement. "I see where you're coming from," he adds, but then pulls on Felix's ear which made him squeal in pain, "but that's our fish, you make it sound like it's a bad thing!"

Seungmin steps out of the van, immediately turning to face the ship he will be boarding soon. The feeling of being small crawls over his skin, giving him slight goosebumps as he takes in the mighty spacecraft in front of him.

"Wow," he breathes, eyes wide.

A person falls in step next to him. She nods, clearly impressed at the ship before turning completely to Seungmin. "Scared?" Sunhee asks in an almost mocking tone, an eyebrow slightly raised at Seungmin who jumped slightly at her sudden presence. The boy shoots her a look before shrugging.

"No, just amazed," he corrects her.

Sunhee snorts in amusement. "Whatever you say, bud, I can see it in your eyes," the girl remarks and pats his back harshly. "Come on, we've got interviews and last farewells to go to."

Interviews weren't that hard, only having to face several television stations from around the world for their live broadcast of the launch later that evening and having to make sure Jisung stays calm through all of this. Farewells, however, come much harder — for his peers, at least.

Seungmin didn't have many to say goodbye to anyhow; just his parents and his grandmother who had fought her fear of flying just to wish him good luck (he would be lying if he felt as if he was going to cry in her embrace). After saying goodbyes, Seungmin observes his surroundings.

He could see the leader, Chan, with his parents and two siblings in the corner; Woojin with his parents and grandparents in the other corner; Minho with his grandparents who had brought his three cats with them, almost sobbing into their fur; Changbin with his parents, his sister and her boyfriend trying to keep him from crying; Hyunjin whose friends and family had come to bid their farewells, along with his beloved dog whom he'd talk about for hours on end every day; Jisung whose family came with their cousins, cousins' cousin, aunts' aunt and uncles' uncle (possibly the whole family tree); Felix with his parents as well as his equally as loud siblings in the middle of the room and Jeongin conversing quietly with his parents as well as his siblings right by Chan's family.

After a while, it was time to go and as the doors close between the eighteen astronauts and their beloved dearest, little sniffles were still heard.

The time was getting closer to five in the evening now and with a couple of hours to spare, they all changed into their spacesuits. Seungmin feels his heart race as he gets into his suit, his hands tremble as he fastens his boots on to his feet and his eyes almost cross in overwhelm when he straps his gloves tight on to his hands. He looks down on his body — yeah, it definitely feels real now that he sees his name stitched on to the top left of his chest area of the suit.