Jungkook grew silent and hung up to see that Taehyung was right outside. After one month, the man finally showed up and stood right outside the door… Waiting to be answered and let in. Jungkook felt nervous because after a long time, he cut off all contact with Taehyung and only focused on Jimin for the longest. It was a lovely month together where they didn't even have to worry about others. But waiting this too long, delayed Jimin's recovery just so he could stay longer with his boyfriend. Up until now, Jungkook just knew days with Jimin like that has come to an end; especially since Mr. Park was coming over for a whole week.

           The young man made no hesitation and pulled the door open with just his underwear and shirtless body. Completely forgetting to put something on before meeting his best friend after a long time. By there, Jungkook didn't realize he was shirtless until he opened the door and fixed his eyes on Taehyung's perverted smile once his eyes dropped down onto the younger's abs.

          “Oh, my Kookie Crunch~ you just got the call that I was here and you couldn't even keep your clothes on!” Taehyung laughed and took off his own glasses. The older wore black pants, a dark, olive turtleneck sweater and black classy shoes like always. The man looked as if he came directly from work to show up with his hands occupied with a leather bag that held containers of Jimin's soup along with the pills and medications in the other pockets of the bag. “I'm so happy to see my lovely husband after so long! Have you missed me?”

           “Of course I did.” Jungkook teased and rolled his eyes before moving in to close the door behind Taehyung. “How's everyone at the facility? Have they missed me?”

           “No. Because if they did, I'd kill them.” Teased the younger and set the bag onto the coffee table before taking his shoes off at the entrance and only wearing pink and green mismatched socks. “I missed you more than my own parents~”

           “Stop playing around like that, Taehyung.” Jungkook responded and locked the front door right after. Almost instantly, Taehyung noticed the scratch marks down Jungkook's back; falling horizontally over his pale body. This made Taehyung grow silent and glance down quickly.

             “So… How's Lee-Young?” Taehyung asked. This time, he had a hint of jealousy grow inside him he grew unaware of before. He only fed this by playing around and teasing Jungkook, but he didn't know how much he actually enjoyed playing that little game until now.

             “I don't know. We broke up a month ago.” Jungkook announced and messed his own hair up before walking over to a couch to put on one of Jimin's oversized T-shirts. “Have you heard from her?”

              “Not really… She hasn't shown up at the facility for a while. Maybe she moved on.” The older continued. However, he couldn't help but to ignore what he just found on Jungkook's back. “Do you have anyone at the moment?”

              “Does it matter?” Jungkook asked and tilted his head. He knew he shouldn't ever deny Jimin when asked if they were dating. So, until then, he dodged it all for the sake of the older man. “I don't think it matters.”

               “But those scratch marks say otherwise.” The older retorted and folded his arms before walking to the kitchen. “Where is he?”

                “...Jimin?”

                “Yes. He has soup from his father and medications to take. Give it to him when you can. The schedule is taped to the lid of the bottle.” Taehyung grew silent right after and gazed at the mess of dishes in the kitchen.

             The older astronomer knew Jungkook wasn't going to stay innocent forever and he had no problem with that, but he was more shocked at the fact that Jungkook had sex with Jimin. It was no rocket science and Taehyung was smart enough to connect the dots. He didn't want to hate on the younger man's relationship… Yet, Taehyung just couldn't stop himself from doing so. He imagined Jungkook and Jimin hooking up right after the younger broke things off with Lee-Young and this was probably their first time together. He didn't know when, but Taehyung was disturbed. His own best friend fucked the one Taehyung spoke about and expected Jungkook to hate Jimin too. Not make love to him.

            “Thank you for coming here… He's in my room if you want to see him. Namjoon told me you didn't want to come and talk to him? Why is that?”

              “Does it matter?” Repeated the older in the same tone Jungkook said it. “I don't think it matters.”

               “It does… Taehyung, you're going too far. Jimin has suffered enough! He did this to protect you… Or else, that would be you trapped in space and that would be you locked up and left all alone with lack of communication and movements. Please… Stop fighting this already. It's so stupid for you to hold this against someone who already faced their consequences.”

            “All of you… All of you are against me…” Whispered the older and within seconds, tears fell down his big eyes and eyelashes batted closed swiftly. “I don't… know what motivated him to take my place because I knew well that he didn't care about the consequences I'll face. That wasn't until the night before my expedition where he suddenly cared and ruined my trip… Why are we still arguing about this? Why do you all keep blaming me like I'm the monster here? We both got off on the wrong foot yet, you and Namjoon side with the one that was lost in space for an earth year. I wonder… If I was in space right now, would you blame him, or me?”

          “Taehyung…”

          “Maybe just me… You wouldn't want to go against your new best friend… Or should I just say boyfriend.” Taehyung's voice cracked at that part. He was sick of being seen as someone everyone blamed many things on. He was tired of looking like a nebula; nothing but dust and gas, hiding behind every star that took his place. Jungkook and Namjoon of course, neglected Taehyung and instantly chose Jimin's side since he suffered. When in reality, both of them were at fault. According to Jungkook's knowledge on this, Jimin at the very end tried to protect Taehyung, and Taehyung just tried to take on the mission for anyone else. They caused their own friendship to fall when the two of them tried to protect others or even have fame in their own names. Either way, Jungkook just knew he had to have the two put this ongoing battle to an end.

          “Stop talking like that… So what if I'm with Jimin? That doesn't mean I'll kick my best friend to the side for the sake of my Jimin…”

          “Look at you… Talking as if you've been with him for a year… Already after a month, I bet you already made love with him… but what do I know? I'm just a-”

           “So what if I did?”

           “Jungkook… You're my best friend… You're supposed to be on my side!” Cried the older on and on until he covered his face. “Not you too… Betraying me…”

         “That's it...come with me. I've had enough of this… Just talk to him. I'm tired of hearing you say all of this when I just don't know anything about it. I only know what you, Namjoon and Jimin have been uttering on and on back and forth.” Jungkook finally spoke out and walked with Taehyung holding his hand and trying to move away. However, Jungkook just wouldn't let go.

         “S-Stop!”

         “You'll thank me later.” Jungkook continued and grabbed the leather bag to place over the older's free arm. Next, Jungkook guided Taehyung to his room and pulled the door open to see that Jimin was staring at the wall silently. He knew Taehyung was here and he knew what would come next. “Go.” Jungkook murmured to the older man and had him walk forward before closing the door behind him. Then, Taehyung and Jimin were all alone now.

         Taehyung kept his eyes locked onto the ground as he hugged the leather bag close to his chest. He could feel the hot soup at the base of the bag and moved it around slowly to hear it swish against the plastic containers. Silence followed and the atmosphere around them was dense as if they were surrounded by a black hole; were all things got lost and time was endless. Taehyung was back to feeling like he was just a nebula around the star that had Jimin's name written all over. Taehyung felt like he had no importance because everyone sided with Jimin and he was titled as the bad guy or just some random and destructive asteroid floating in space.

           After a good while, Jimin slowly fixed his eyes on Taehyung; standing by the door like he was frozen in place. Sealed in his own thoughts to keep him from reality. “Taehyung… I'm.. I'm sorry…” Jimin finally spoke and coughed instantly. “I'm sorry… I said it… I knew I'd have to face you eventually and now that I have, I wanted my first words to be those. I'm sorry.”

            “What were you thinking… What were your intentions?” Taehyung whispered and let out a sigh while looking down at the bag he carried.

             “I just… I just wanted to do this for you… I know it meant the world but I felt like the B248 was going to reach some defects! I had to jump in and do it. I-I know… this was r-rare to you since your field is nothing but astronomy and I could have sit this one out…. But I couldn't. I didn't want you to go through it.”

           “Liar… That wasn't your intention or else you would have told me! I… looked forward to it… I really did… I trained for six months and it went to nothing.” Taehyung confessed and looked up at Jimin. “I know you took all the hits for me… But this was something I wanted no matter what. I was ready for all the damage I would get. This was going to hurt me, yet you hurt me more the second I saw you on the B248 instead of me….”

           Then, Jimin crawled out of the bed and slowly approached Taehyung even if he had pain and limped. “You… looked forward to that and I took your chance. I'm sorry. How many times do I have to say it? I'm so sorry. I wish I could take it back but I don't want to… Because if I did, you'd suffer here like me and I didn't want anyone to go through that... So I lied and took your place and I will admit, my intentions before were different but I suffered and risked everything I knew you'd face. I did it for you.”

            “You had different intentions… So you did want to take it from me. How could you do that to me? Let alone, Namjoon? Did it hurt you to leave him behind? Because it scarred him…” Taehyung asked and finally met eyes with Jimin standing a few feet before him.

            “I know it did… I know I hurt him and I still have the guilt. But, I couldn't give him everything he wanted. An escape was my intention. Not your fame. I couldn't face Namjoon on my own to break his heart. My father hated us together so I was so scared of facing him because I still loved him. Guess it wasn't a good idea; out of his pain, he moved on… Forcing himself to get married. However, he's happy now so there was a good side to it all.”

           “He would have been happier with you…” Taehyung mentioned and those words silenced Jimin. “Now, I guess the two of you are happy without each other because you both found love in someone else. That was a way he got happier after a month.”

          Words like cold asteroids shot through the older, frail, man so quickly until he began to cry to himself. He never realized how much pain he caused to others while running away to take on such a deadly mission. “I-I'm sorry… I really am and I feel horrible… S-So horrible…”

          “I accept your apology...” Taehyung whispered, setting the leather bag onto the ground before facing Jimin and slowly leaning in to give his best friend a tight hug. “You're still my best friend… Park Jimin.” The younger whispered and just along Jimin's pale ‘neck, Taehyung found a faded and purple hickey. By there, he began to laugh and pull a perverted smirk. “So… When's the wedding?~”

         “Ah, shut up…” Jimin laughed and pulled away from the hug so Taehyung could help him back to the bed. By there, the two carried no feud between each other. They were finally close friends like before. Through every asteroid shaping moon craters, every star forming star clusters, to the rings of the beautiful planet; Saturn, Jimin's life began to feel better now. With such glee, Jimin smiled and dropped his gaze down onto the bed happily to see Taehyung right by his side like one year ago. They were now, closer than Mercury to the sun and closer than the Andromeda Galaxy to the Milky way.