(Your POV)

On your journey through the universe, you passed countless colorful galaxies and sparkling stars, one more beautiful than the other, making you stare out of the window in fascination.

According to the silver-eyed alien next to you, you had already spent one whole day in the spacecraft since your successful escape from the SS Commissioner. Despite all that time, though, you still hadn't exchanged more than a few words with each other. When you had questions or must have looked especially confused with how the spacecraft worked, Tae sometimes explained a few of its functions to you. For example, when you had been about to fall asleep a few hours after escaping, he had demonstrated how you could transform your seat into a bed. Or when he had explained how to open the overly complicated food packaging. 

But apart from explaining those basic things, he didn't speak a word to you, his eyes concentratedly staring out of the window into space the whole time, even though nothing was visible in the darkness apart from a few stars and galaxies. It felt as if he wasn't even aware of your presence, and while the spacecraft passed glittering galaxies with surreal speed, you both sat stiffly inside, not even looking at each other.

At some point, you finally couldn't stand the heavy atmosphere anymore and turned to Tae with a quick movement, determined to break the silence.

"Where are we even going?" you asked, almost flinching from how extremely loud your quiet voice sounded in the little room of the spacecraft.

The alien sighed, and with that action, all the stiffness from the previous hours disappeared, and he slumped back into his seat in exhaustion.

"To a safe place," he answered, tiredness showing in his voice, making you frown in worry.

"How do you know that it's safe?" you voiced your doubts, your questions uncontrollably bubbling out of your mouth, now that he had finally responded to you. "I mean, what makes you so sure? Where is that place even?"

Tae rubbed his eyes tiredly, a slight glimmer of doubt in his eyes. You were startled seeing the striking difference between his current demeanor and the way he had acted before your questions had ripped him out of his stoic state. Minutes ago, he had appeared so strong and confident, but now he looked like a vulnerable, lost child. It made you wonder why he had put up that façade, pretending to be fearless even though he knew that you were by his side and supported him.

"Honestly, I don't even know what that place is, if it's a planet, a spaceship or if it maybe doesn't even exist at all. All I have are the coordinates and the navigation system that shows me where to go, even though the destination appears to be nothing other than void. Since returning to the SS Commissioner would be a suicide mission, we have to trust the person who gave me the coordinates."

You winced at his unceremonious words before nodding in understanding.

"And who is the person that gave you the coordinates?"

Sadness flashed in his eyes, and nostalgia was evident in his voice when he replied: "An old friend."

"Oh," you made, and then you both just sat there in awkward silence.

After a few minutes had passed, you glanced at him out of the corner of your eye, noticing that he was once again stoically staring out of the window into the darkness, the fabric of his uniform unfortunately hiding his expression, rendering you unable to read his feelings. The silence was so incredibly unbearable that it almost physically pained your ears, and in an attempt to break it, you blurted out the first thing that came into your mind.

"Why are you always covering your face?"

(3rd person POV)

Startled by the girl's sudden question, his head snapped around to her, and he looked at her in surprise, caught off guard and flustered at the same time.

"I... uh..." he stammered, not knowing what to answer.

In curiosity, she tilted her head cutely, and he couldn't help but swoon internally over the adorable habit she appeared to be unaware of having. But her following words weren't rather cute at all.

"Is it because you think you're ugly?"

Taehyung released a disbelieving, breathless laugh.

"I'm not... ugly! At least, I don't think I am. It's just..." He hesitated, clueless about how to continue. 

"It's something my father trained me– forced me– to do to suppress my emotions to allow me to focus on the whole mission without any distractions."

His eyes had become dark gray like the stormy sea, hatred and anger swirling inside of them as he scornfully pronounced the word like an insult.

"Why would you need to suppress your emotions for that?" the girl next to him asked with a frown, failing to comprehend that reasoning. "Isn't passion the most important thing to have when it comes to achieving your goals?"

"Emotions make you weak and vulnerable," he pressed through his clenched teeth, and when the human was about to disagree vehemently, he continued with a sigh, "At least that's what my father taught me."

"But you don't think so?"

"Exactly," he answered, his fierce expression morphing into a nostalgic smile. "My mother and my grandmother have taught me that love and trust are the strongest qualities in our whole existence, binding the universe together. They make you invincible."

The girl nodded in understanding, admiring the wisdom of Taehyung's closest female relatives. She hesitated before asking: "Then why are you still covering your face?"

Vulnerability crept into his eyes as a sad smile came to rest on his lips under the fabric. Like Taehyung had just told the girl, he had never actually wanted to hide his emotions, but he was still hesitant to reveal his face because he was insecure about showing her how he looked. What if she really thought he was ugly? What if she wouldn't talk to him anymore? What if she feared him? What if–

Out of nowhere, he suddenly got ripped out of his thoughts by the sensation of someone touching his hand that was still covered by his gloves. Taken by surprise, he looked down to see tiny fingers softly caressing his large hand, soothing him with the comforting touch. When his gaze eventually moved up to meet the mesmerizing girl's eyes, he found them filled with understanding.

"I promise," she said while looking straight into his eyes with a sincere smile, "that I won't be afraid of you and that I will stay by your side, no matter what you are hiding behind that cloth. You can trust me, Tae."

The alien carefully searched in her eyes for any sign that she was lying, but he only found them glowing with honesty, which successfully quieted his doubts, making his thoughts calm down.

Slowly but steadily, his hand moved up to his head, and he started the complicated process of unwrapping the artfully wrapped cloth, layer for layer until there was only one thin layer of the woven fabric left covering his face. Taking all his courage, he removed it, anticipating the girl's reaction.

And she did not disappoint. When the last layer was removed from Taehyung's face, revealing his divine features, her breath immediately hitched audibly, and she was unable to look away, captivated by his appearance. The Lucyndian looked ethereally beautiful, his skin emitting a soft purple glow, glittering as if it consisted of numerous tiny diamonds. His lips possessed a unique shape, and the girl wanted nothing more than to know how his smile would look like. On the bottom lip, she could spot a cute mole, and on the tip of his nose, there was another one. His face was perfectly angled, the jaw-line sharp like a knife.

In curiosity and fascination, she let her eyes wander to the top of his head, where they fell upon silver-purplish colored hair that reflected the dim light of the stars and looked so soft that she wanted to touch it. Her hand unconsciously twitched in her lap when she thought of how heavenly it would feel to pet his hair, and she had to suppress that urge before she would actually reach out her hand to test it.

She saved the best part for last, his mesmerizing silver eyes that she was already so familiar with. They were sparkling with a captivating glow, infatuating and bewitching her, and she wasn't able to tear her gaze away.

Only after quite a while passed, she finally noticed that he was wiggling impatiently in his seat, afraid of her reaction, anxious because she hadn't said anything.

"Oh, Tae," she told him with a mesmerized and fond smile. "You're the most beautiful being I've ever seen. Inside and outside."

1477 words

I hope you enjoyed the fluff!😊

Your support means a lot to me, thank you so much for all the reads and votes!💕

Sorry for keeping the A/N short but the sunset is so beautiful and I want to watch it!

Edit so you can enjoy it as well:

With purple love💜💜💜
~Rere

Pic credit: https://de.3dexport.com/3dmodel-spaceship-cockpit-v1-281540.htm