"So what kind of places do you think Namjoon is seeing while he is searching for Earth?"

The question had come up to break the silence that had come over everyone when they'd grown tired of trying to find other topics of conversation. What else were they supposed to talk about? There wasn't really much for them to do on this ship but wait and ponder. The question had come from Yoongi, who had awoken from his slumber and couldn't help but wonder what kinds of places were ahead of them.

"We can only speculate. If Namjoon doesn't know where he is, as his communications suggest, it's a place none of us have ever seen before." Jungkook peered down at his mate, whose head was on his lap. He placed a hand onto Yoongi's arm and began to rub in a soothing motion. "Of course, Namjoon has seen many more worlds than either Seokjin or me, but he is still lost. Wherever he is, it's new territory."

"All we can do is hope that he doesn't come across any highly-territorial species." Seokjin knew that was a possibility, but he also knew that it wasn't the most likely thing to happen. "Based on what I learned during all my training and missions, the vast majority of inhabited worlds out there are not as hostile as some may speculate. It's more likely for them to be curious about outside visitors, rather than want to immediately destroy us. Though we do have to keep in mind that unfamiliarity can breed fear, and fear is what causes a lot of violence in many worlds."

That was something Yoongi understood. Fear was definitely a feeling that caused a lot of unnecessary violence on Earth, and it made sense that it would be the same for the inhabitants of other worlds as well. "Well, if we come across any other inhabited worlds, we should do our best to show that we mean no harm to them."

"Yeah, if we can understand them." That was a problem Jimin had been thinking about. "We most likely won't be able to communicate with them through words. We might have to try to communicate with actions and hope to not be misunderstood."

With a wide grin, Jungkook was thinking of the many possibilities of the journey. "What if we come across a new world that's fun? I want to meet a new species and make friends with them. That would be so cool."

Yoongi moved his hands up a little to slip them around Jungkook's leg, hugging loosely. "That would be nice, but we have to make sure we're ready for anything."

"The odds are not very high that we'll come across a species any of us will be able to understand," Seokjin interjected. "Still, we will do our best to communicate and find our way to Namjoon's location."

"What if Namjoon is bonding with other species to learn their languages and get directions?" Jimin was mainly just thinking out loud, not really directing that question toward anyone in particular.

Seokjin shrugged. "It is a possibility. It would be useful for him to make many bonds to find more information about his location."

"We could do that too--"

"No fucking way." Yoongi suddenly sat upright and narrowed his eyes at Jungkook as soon as those words left his mouth. "You're not bonding with anyone else. That's against the rules."

"The rules?" Jungkook was confused by Yoongi's phrasing. "What rules?"

A jumbled mess of syllables escaped Yoongi's mouth in what could only be described as flabbergasted shock before actual words formed again. "The rules of dating. The rules of being involved with someone. The rules of engagement. The rules of life. The rules of us. Shall I go on?"

Looking to Jimin for help, Jungkook was met with a head shake from the other human.

"What Yoongi-hyung is trying to say is that bonding with someone else would be cheating," Jimin clarified. "I believe he's also trying to say that you're only his, and he will be very upset if you bond with anyone else."

"Jimin, don't make me sound possessive!" Yoongi could feel his face getting hot.

However, Jimin simply shrugged. "Hyung, I'm not making you sound possessive. You are possessive. In a good way though."

Seokjin decided to explain it a bit more clearly to Jungkook. "It's the same as when you get Yoongi to use your shampoo. You want him to smell like you so others will know that he belongs to you. Yoongi is behaving the same way. You belong only to him. It is not something we incubi grow up with, but it is a feeling we have if we are lucky enough to find a forever mate."

"I get that. I mean..." Jungkook glanced at the ring on Yoongi's finger. "We're mates, and we always will be. I just don't understand why there's not a difference here between cheating and mating for communication." This was confusing for him. It seemed totally different in his mind. "I wouldn't mind if Yoongi mated with another species for communication if he possessed the ability like we do. It would just be like a mission."

Moving away a bit, Yoongi rose to his feet. "Well, I'm not fucking anyone else, Jungkook. And neither are you. This is not up for discussion."

"Yoongi, wait." Jungkook scrambled to his feet as Yoongi marched out of the room, following after him. He didn't understand the complexity of this.

"Foot, meet mouth," Jimin said with a facepalm.

"What?" That was a saying of which Seokjin did not know the meaning.

"Oh nothing." Jimin allowed himself to lean backward from his sitting position until he was lying flat on the floor. "I thought Jungkook would be better at this after so many years on Earth, but I guess being clueless with relationships is just in his nature."

Seokjin chuckled at that. "He is still naive. Besides, we incubi see things differently than you humans do. For us, it wouldn't be a big deal at all for our mates to bond with another species for information or communication purposes. That's simply what we do. It's not like that for you humans, and even I occasionally find myself still slipping back into the mindset of living on Szarvoun and travelling to other worlds with the need to mate for information. Sure, we've been on Earth for several years now, but that is still less than the amount of time we spent on Szarvoun with the ways of incubi under the late emperor's rule."

"I guess you're right." Jimin really didn't want this to cause a crack in Yoongi and Jungkook's relationship foundation. He didn't think it would, but it wasn't impossible. Perhaps they just needed to talk about it privately and take into consideration that the stress of this journey may be affecting their emotions and responses.