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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4


Khcenac and Several of his Relationships

Part 2 - Vizkathla

Khcenac part 2

Oh, 'tis the freeing life of a single Vox, flirting his way through the world without a care! What a listless and worryless existence, switch-swapping between happy and sad like a metronome, without any male company to leave him grounded. Instead, his emotions could flitter and fly madly, and he could drift through a day in bipolar bliss. Atchki was welcome company at all times, and Matt had become a new mainstay in his life, a witty banter-buddy at the bar during nights, and the both of them acted as occasional wingmen for the lovesick bird. Khcenac wasn't sure how he felt about all his life leading up to this, and at times he mourned for the times in which he would simply think of himself as nothing but a heartthrob. Now that he'd had and tossed away a couple relationships in such short order, he knew he was entirely capable of picking up some lovely lad into his life, and equally capable of frivolously toiling to push them away.

But, oh, 'tis a freeing life, knowing all that. As other birds of prey, like the elusive 'stealthy' Stetikekiak, pushed to their own grand and noble goals of obtaining power or freedom for the station, Khcenac settled into his quaint place like a bird finding a nest. His place was, of course, sitting on break on Luna's surface, a half-eaten synthmeat sandwich by his side and a cup of hyperzine-infused coffee in one hand, browsing the station's newly-acquired dating forum on his PDA.

Not that there were an overwhelming number of bachelors on the station. Sure, it ended up being that a vast majority of the population was gay or at least attracted to men, a happenstance which was now constantly brought up in the workplace as some kind of 'miracle joke', and thus Khcenac was compatible with just about everybody, but there weren't so many people in total. There were enough aboard that Khcen couldn't memorize all their names, or even know every single one, but there were no completely unfamiliar faces.

As it happened, the bird's PDA wasn't exactly state of the art. He had no access to taking pictures with it, and so opted to maintain a rather mysterious and enticing profile, with no picture and only a vague relation to his job and appearance. 'Previous job: bloodsucker', he had typed, chittering to himself madly. His newly-acquired hyperzine habit really kept his energy up, even when it wasn't that warranted!

There wasn't a lot of scrolling to be done on the dating forum. Only a dozen or so people had signed up by then, and Khcen was just perusing their profiles on repeat. Atchki was on there somewhere- they'd convinced each other to join in tandem- as were a spattering of random employees from around the station, including the Chief Engineer. Why a Plasmaman was searching for a date, Khcen could not possibly know.

By now, he'd pretty much scoured everyone available, doting on them and wondering anxiously what life might be like with any of them as a partner. What would a relationship with a Plasmaman be like? What about a burly Mechanic? Jittering with his leg bouncing up and down, the bird went up and down the forum, reading through profiles again and again and again. Oh, how hyperzine trapped him in loops!

Eventually, halfway through the lunch break, Atchki wandered into the break room. The burly bird fell into a chair beside Khcenac, immediately looming over his shoulder. "Ya still on that?"

"Very much so," Khcenac replied, voice quickened. "There are some real and dear eligible bachelors in here! Not just the swingy types in it for a single night or perhaps two. I believe all these options on this page would be quite the thrill to live with."

Atchki nodded, letting out a gentle huff. "I'm just waitin' on a message to come to me first, personally. Don't wanna seem desperate." He tilted his head at the bird. "I'm guessin' you mean that ya don't wanna end up with someone like Matt again, huh?"

To this, Khcenac just shrugged. "He was very sweet, as I've iterated. But there were a fair number of incompatibilities from the beginning. I'd like the implication of a commitment with somebody!"

"I guess you're s'posed to learn from every relationship you're in." The gruff, larger bird leaned back, bringing out his own PDA to peruse the site. "I do got an idea for you, though. You know that real vague profile added yesterday? The one just askin' for a first date?"

"Yes?" Khcen tilted his head. "It seemed mysterious, perhaps even appealing, but there's hardly anything to go on. Nothing but the picture of a playing card."

"Ehh, well, that's somethin' ya got in common with 'em." Atchki chuckled softly. "Your profile doesn't even say you're a bird, or where ya work. Maybe a blind date's what ya got yourself in for."

His heart raced a little with hyperzine coursing through it. More would be great! He took another long gulp of infused coffee. "Ah, well, you know, I might as well give such a thing a go. I'll just flirt around a moment." He scrolled to the mystery-man's page, somebody with the name 'Vizkathla', and brought up the messenger. Conveniently enough, it sent messages translated into a preferred language (with a hefty delay).

'Hello! You're very quite interesting, mysterious to me. Perhaps you'd like a similarly mysterious self to reciprocate the offer of a date?

Atchki went back to leaning over his friend's shoulder. "Ya know, I'm pretty sure it's a Vox, given the name."

"I don't know," Khcen joked. "Humans name their kids very stupid things."

He received a message back! 'Yes! This would be great. I am enjoying the fruits of my labor in the bar right now. If your job lets you flunk, you should come and meet me. Who knows?'

To this, Khcenac immediately stood and began to down the rest of his supercharged coffee. Looks like he wouldn't need to eat the rest of lunch after all! Empty stomachs were perfect for hyperzine. "Looks like I'm off!"

"Ah, c'mon, hold up," Atchki stammered. "Right now? QM's gonna chew your ass out if ya dip in the middle of the day."

"I stand at twice his height. He'll simply need to learn to cope." Khcenac chittered to himself in amusement, took a sharp breath out, and scooted out of the room, en route to his first date in two weeks.

'You shall receive my presence in some minutes flatly! I hope to find you quite away from what I expected.'

He hurried through Luna Outpost, avoiding the gaze of any of his coworkers, and hopped onto the next shuttle ride back up.

Another message during the ascent! 'You type like a gentleman! Are you as well spoken?'

'I can only desire to be even moreso.'

The ship finally escaped atmosphere and arrived on the orbiting Luna Station, and Khcenac hopped on out with a dramatic flair. He'd have to get changed for this lovely date first, so he hurried to his lonely home to don the cheesy vampiric garb.

Meanwhile, the PDA between his hands buzzed with back-and-forth replies. 'I think sometimes how things are said is as important as what's being said,' the mystery man typed.

'Perhaps a compliment to me, or otherwise? I can simply tone down the ostentatiousness, if that's so very much more preferable.'

'You strike me as a bit of a character, that's all.'

'Now, is that a compliment?''

'I like characters! I've been told I'm one. I'm the kind of person who talks with his hands a lot.' As he received the message, the bird was marching through his pod home, searching for clothes.

'Ah, so you're very emotive! I do very much like my partner to express themselves vibrantly. I would be remiss not to find out how you react when told you're adorable, which I am now prone to assume you must be.' Khcen typed one-handed, fitting his arms and legs into his new midday outfit.

'You're mixed up. I actually talk with my hands, as in, a couple of sign languages. And I'm afraid I don't have the most vibrant facial expressions!'

'Well, I do tend to enjoy somebody who knows how to speak many dialects.' Finally dressed, the bird hopped out into the gravshaft and headed his way down, eager to reach the bar looking like a bloodsucking fiend. He was eager to find out what kind of form this person would take-- a lack of facial expressions? Perhaps it was a Vox after all, whose cheeks weren't all that malleable for smiles and whose eyes had to do a lot of the work in being expressive.

'I don't speak that many. I guess we'll have to find out which ones we have in common, huh? I'm so excited! I've never done this before.'

Khcen heard his cloak ruffle behind him as he hurried through the hallways amidst the station. Hyperzine kept his body light and moving along, even as that hollow feeling of anxiety rattled through his center. He typed frantically to keep up. 'I'm near, so we shall discover our similarities together! Perhaps we'll end up entirely incompatible, but I suppose it's better to try and know than otherwise!' Maybe this was simply a point of reassurance-- he had gotten into two ill-fated relationships as of late, and he was just about ready to become a nihilist on the matter.

'There's nothing wrong with just a peaceful date even if it goes nowhere.' The response from Vizkathla came quicker than usual, and was followed up by another. 'I have a table on the right from the entrance of the bar. Not many patrons, so wave and I'll wave back!'

Just as he got those messages, Khcen had arrived at the front entrance of the bar. He strolled in with a beaming expression, and proceeded to scan the thin crowd of playing-hokey crewmembers, dotting the tables and bar. The room was enveloped in the cool rhythm of a jazz big-band piece playing over the juke. With no clear candidate for his date in sight, he decided to just bring his arm up in a wide wave, gleaming teeth in the Vox version of a grin. He did get a response, a figure waving back from a lone table to the right, but it was not the bird-shaped man he was expecting, nor the human-shaped one he'd joked about. Instead, it was a slightly plump Insectoid, still wearing the green and blue Botanist uniform of his department, hesitantly looking Khcen over just as Khcen looked over him.

The bug resembled a stag beetle, possessing dark chitin and mandibles that would make him quite the intimidator for a smaller bird, and his eyes were immediately dazzled by Khcenac's arrival. To his credit, the Vox did his best to be excited, too; he'd seen this Insectoid around now and then, and it turned out- rather suddenly- that it was his date for the afternoon.

He approached, poofing out his coat a bit and giving the Insectoid a friendly gaze. Once he was looming over the table, he could see that there was a massive assortment of fruits on various upturned trays and plates. Plump, sweet-smelling treats piled six-high almost covered up the bug behind them, and he had clearly been enjoying them, given the pile of discarded stems to the side. Khcenac spoke. "Vizkathla?"

"Yez!" The Insectoid gave him a lovely, glimmering gaze, speaking in Common. "From the zite?" Despite his masculine form, with an exoskeleton built seemingly to resist the buffeting of a sandstorm, elements, Viz had a voice that was utterly radiant.

"Indeed. You're very quite unlike what I expected, but not at all uninteresting! I suppose these are the 'fruits of your labor' you brought up in our messages?"

Vizkathla gave him a blank look. Quizzical, he just murmured, "I... don't know Tradeband." His words faltered. "You'll have to uze Common, if that'z okay."

Khcenac gritted his beak weakly. He did his very best. "...And it's to... could have with speaking to and it's Common to the and it's with my best without my efforts, too much." The bird's demeanor drooped massively. "This isn't so and it's worse than it's to and you've bad?"

The little connection between them suddenly snapped. As much as he tried to muster up a romantic air, as much as he wanted this date to go smoothly, Khcenac was utterly helpless without a shared language. He'd had this happen before with friends, but never in this dire a circumstance. Viz put his mandibles together and took in a weak breath. "It'z... it'z not zo good, no."

"Oh." Khcen took in a sharp breath. The hyperzine was making his heart thump madly, and his quills were floofed in embarrassment. Unable to will up the courage to stay, he instead turned around, shuddered, and began to go.

Vizkathla called out at him, "Wait!" But the bird did not wait. He stomped away, demeanor thoroughly thumped, and left the bug in the dust.

Oh, to exist as Khcenac, such a failure in so many facets, but most of all language! It never was his intention that he couldn't string two words together in Common, such a brash and bare-headed dialect, but he supposed that he was to blame for it anyhow. It locked off so many things in his life, and now he supposed it made an utter fool of him. He had to get away so, so bad. His chest ached with anxiety, and Khcen escaped the blast radius of his mistake with his claws clenched.

The bar counter would have to do for now. Even though he wasn't entirely gone, it would surely put off a dismissive attitude if he were to sit at a stool, which he did. The bartender asked him what he wanted, and the Vox muttered quietly, "Something with hyperzine."

"Ztill don't speak Tradeband, Khcenac," the bartender said, huffing.

"It's r-right," Khcen blurted out. "Just... and it's to... with... hyperzine. Hyperzine, is in it's that way is something."

The hefy Insectoid behind the counter just sighed and got to work on some amalgamation of a drink. Khcen sat meekly, fully ashamed of his own inability. An inability to communicate- his very favorite pastime- made him so, so very useless.

Then, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

A light tap. Enough to have him turn, saddened look in his eyes. It was Vizkathla. He cawed at the bug, "What's that was it? I'm and can't without it's to a useless."

Instead of speaking, however, Viz began to sign. His spindly arms contorted in specific and precise manners, fingers twitching, head bowing and turning to the side. It was something Khcenac had learned when he was younger, a form of his native tongue built for those who did not possess the right kind of vocal cords. Viz had signed, 'You speak Pidgin, right?'

"Y-Yes," Khcenac stammered, in that cobbled-together Vox tongue. "You...?"

'I learned Beakless Pidgin from a partner of mine,' he signed, and sat beside Khcen. There was this incredibly enveloping warm look in his big bug-eyes. 'I'm really glad you know it!'

Khcenac sighed weakly, sputtering out air. "I feel stupid. Tradeband is how I always talk, but it's useless sometimes. I feel very regimented in Pidgin."

Vizkathla just leaned back, shrugging. 'I know that feeling,' he motioned. 'I won't be perfect with Beakless Pidgin either.'

"So it's even?" Khcen chuckled, his shame starting to muddle into something he could, at least, try to laugh about.

'It seems even to me!' Viz signed back.

For a little moment, the two just stared at each other, Khcenac's cheeks puffed and demeanor loosening up. He received a drink from the bartender, which smelled like the thorns of a rose and tasted foul and thin, but had a definite kick, enough to exacerbate his jitteriness. He started bouncing his leg on the stool. "You wanna drink?" the bartender asked Viz.

"Yez! Zomething fruity, zince I made you all kindz of fruitz thiz zhift."

Khcenac leaned against the counter. "So... am I pronouncing it... right? Vizz-koth-lah?"

The bug turned back to him and nodded. 'Completely right. I can try your name, too.'

"It's tough," Khcen laughed. "Vox names can be that way. I thought your name was Vox at first!"

'Well, you mind if I give it a go anyway?' Viz put up his mandibles in the form of a smirk. Beside him, the bartender had finished pouring a glass of fruity beer.

"Sure! Try, why don't you?" His spirits already felt plenty lifted, even if this was something of a strange, slightly awkward date. It had a terrible start, but... he supposed that it would have to blossom out of nothingness.

Vizkathla took a little breath through his body, squinted once more at Khcenac's nametag on his ID, and sounded it out gently. "...Kuh-zhennac?"

The bird hummed. "Well, that is how my mother used to say it, with the hard consonant and soft one at the same time. I guess it's closer to the true Pidgin pronunciation, if you were a scholar. Usually, it's just 'Shennac' in normal speech."

'I'm kind of a scholar!' Viz made a little buzzing noise as he signed. 'I love botany and xenobotany so much. I'm a second-generation Nanotrasen hire, so working on my craft has been in my blood since forever. And... language, too.'

"Well, I never really understood all the intricacies." Khcenac scoffed gently at himself. "I'm hard to teach new things. I think I work as a miner just because it leaves a lot of time to mess around."

In response, Vizkathla gave him a sly look. 'Go on a lot of dates?'

The bird rolled his eyes over. "You have me figured out."

'Not all figured out, but a little bit.' The bug laughed. 'I did pick up that you are pretty suave in messages. Is that all from Tradeband?'

"I could send you more, if you'd be willing to wait for it to translate!"

Viz nodded. 'Same here. Maybe if we find something we can't say to each other.'

The bar sat with a tidbit of rest, as the juke faded out and swept in a new song, a bebop tune this time. Vizkathla took a very long sip of his drink, mandibles clinging to either side of the glass. Khcenac just took in the now-calm atmosphere. "...So you work in Service?"

"Mmm!" Vizkathla hummed, through the fruity beer.

"So you're not slacking off from your job being here."

"Mm-mm."

Khcenac just laughed to himself, dejected. "I won't make it back before my lunch break. I probably shouldn't be this reckless."

Viz finished the rest of his sip, and set the glass back down. 'Probably,' he signed, 'but if you're going to be, what if you came to my department and hung out with me there instead?'

"Oh, come on." Khcen waved away the idea, scoffing. "You wouldn't... really just..."

'I would happily invite you to see my coworkers!' the bug motioned, excited. His demeanor had really perked up since they'd first seen each other.

The bird couldn't help but get a little flush. "Don't you think it's a little early in the date to be running around?"

Viz shook his head, and stood up out of the stool, bringing the beer glass up with him. He awkwardly signed one-handed. 'Dates are meant to be fun. Bars are limited fun.'

"They do get tired quickly," Khcen mused, starting to feel a little more comfortable in Pidgin. It was far from feeling fluid and flowing, but he could at least make himself understood. He stood up with the bug and brushed back his head-quills from his face, and took his own hyperzine-infused concoction along. "I can't say this very suave-ly. I don't know how. But..." He took a deep and shaky breath, heart throbbing from anxiety and interest. "...Take me by the hand?"

To this, the bug grinned with his mandibles, antennae flaring gently and posture lowering. It became clear, right then, that he was taller than Khcen, by an inch or two. He signed one last time, single-handed. 'Yes.'

"You better not take thoze glazzez and never return them!" the bartender said, raising his voice. Khcen and Viz were clear and reprehensible drinking glass thieves.

Khcen gave him a side-eye. "What is and it's your to and it's saying? Isn't it and it's Common to understand wouldn't be."

As the bird defied the nice request so meanly, Vizkathla couldn't help but let out a breathy giggle, his mandibles clicking to and fro. "Yez," he said, "I don't underztand either." He took one long swig of the fruit beer in dramatic fashion.

Typical station crew. "I expect to zee them back here, elze expect to zee me viziting, baztardz," the bartender growled. It was a little joking, at least for Khcenac, as the two had feuded dozens of times in the past, but it was still an inconvenience to have to replace drinking glasses when they went off missing. Regardless, the chuckling couple of blind-dating men left the bar, sharing a chuckle.

Khcen was being taken by the hand for the first time in recent memory. Typically, it was him fulfilling that role. With his cloak flapping behind him, he was whisked through the hall a short distance, until Vizkathla had brought them both to the entrance of Botany. He raised up his chest to display his ID to the airlock, and took another swig of fruity beer as it slid open for the both of them. "Hello, Botany!" he announced, stepping in with some flair.

The scene before them, however, was one of despair. Botanist Insectoids were scattered around the room, sitting on stools or splayed out on the floor, their heads in their hands as they yelped or cried. The array of plant trays, which Khcen assumed were once filled with lavish flora, now sat with dead wilted plants throughout the entire interior of the room. Green leaves and plump fruits had been replaced with the most sickly-looking discarded branches and leaves. It looked like some kind of foul blight had swept through Botany and taken every plant by storm, leaving absolutely nothing salvageable.

Vizkathla was mortified. He stumbled forth, hand briefly leaving Khcenac's touch, as he desperately tried to understand. "I-I waz gone... f-for only twenty minutez!" he exclaimed, in disbelief.

One of the Botany bugs replied amidst weeping. "You weren't here to help uz!"

Another, desperately pouring water into a hydroponics tray, cried, "It'z HOPELEZZ!"

Staring out at the scene, Khcenac stepped forward, unsure what to say. He just hummed curiously in Pidgin. "...I assume this isn't how it was when you left?"

Viz shook his head frantically. He stared around at all the mess, helpless in the face of great atrocity. He nearly dropped the glass of fruit beer, instead choosing to set it aside shakily on a table. With a pensive, frustrated expression, he turned to Khcen. 'I'm so sorry it's this way,' he signed. 'I wanted to show you a lavish botanical display!'

The bird gave a sympathetic gaze. "It's completely okay. I'm sorry your plants died!" He couldn't hide his gentle amusement at the whole situation, and it helped to have his hyperzine drink in hand, sipping to stay calm.

'No, no,' Viz continued, frazzled, 'It would have been really nice to show you.'

Behind him, an Insectoid who was splayed on the ground buzzed desperately into a station-bounced radio, "NEED A ZHIPMENT TO BOTANY OF MORE PLANT ZEEDZ, PLEAZE!"

Khcenac looked around the scene, and let out a softened chuckle. "Nothing is going as expected, for this date, hm." He took another drink. "Maybe we could go back to the bar?"

'I want to make it up to you, though.' Viz shook his head as he rephrased. 'I want to show you the craft that I love.'

"Well, I can stay, if you want to replant with the rest of the botanists...?" the bird hazarded.

After a moment of consideration, Vizkathla drew a short breath. He knew he would be chancing the odds, signing this next part visibly, but he felt like he had to, anyway. 'I have a beautiful garden in my pod home. Do you want me to bring you there to see it?'

The rest of the Insectoids in the room were wailing and noisy, but through the commotion, Khcenac's vision finally focused. Even through the hyperzine haze, he felt oddly calm in this bug's presence, to the point that he could feel his antsy anxiety slipping out of him. He mumbled softly, "Are you inviting me to your home?"

'Yes,' Viz signed, a little breathless. His gaze became starlit.

"Then... yes," Khcen responded, his shaky voice growing firm and sure at last. He took one last huge swig of the hyperzine-infused drink, set the emptied glass aside without any intent to return it to the bar, and offered a hand forth.

Without a second thought, Vizkathla took the hand, and began leading his date out, out, and up.

It was a silent journey. Without both hands free, Viz could not sign adequately enough to convey many ideas, and Khcen's heart was racing and racing and racing, too much to adequately speak. They passed through halls of frantic Assistants and Security Officers and Janitors scrambling to do their jobs adequately, and they felt themselves to be a serene presence through all that chaos. Playing hookey was a glorious feeling, and the two savored it all the way to the gravity lifts.

Vizkathla led Khcenac all the way up the shaft until the two reached a petit little doorway. He waved an ID once more, and the airlock slid open to reveal an interior that was altogether cramped and vast-feeling. Khcen stepped inside without prompting, and was very suddenly awed at what he saw.

The entrance area was enveloped from wall to ceiling in ivy and flowers, with massive alien plants covering every surface in some colors he could swear he had never even seen before. Every leaf was plump and hung heavy with water-weight, and the room was bathed in a warm, fluorescent light. He could see that the rest of the pod-home was as plant-filled, with petals waving and flourishing in lively cadence. Everywhere his eyes went, he could see another splash of life-- glorious, glorious life! What a marvelous, awesome display!

He was nothing short of giddy. He turned back to Viz, who was wearing a stupid, flustered grin on his mandibles, clearly amused by Khcenac's raw excitement. The bird blurted out, "This is incredible! I wish I could-- with Tradeband, I wish I could word how exactly..." Then, his voice faltered. He felt a sudden pain in his chest, and clasped at it.

Viz stepped forth in concern. 'Word how exactly?'

The pain arrived again, like a knife to his chest. All his limbs stiffened up, and his expression fell through the floor. Khcenac's heart was exploding. "I-I'm... I could..." Speaking Pidgin made his vocal cords sting. He swapped to Common, in desperation. "The-- the-- it's-- with it's-- my h-heart's it's and--"

His legs gave out.

Khcen fell to the floor. The comfort that hyperzine had once brought was now running through his veins like a serrated knife. He couldn't breathe. He gasped desperately for nitrogen from his tank, but nothing came, as his body locked up. Vizkathla stood over him, panicking, eyes wide, and that was the last thing the poor bird saw, as all light faded out.

The last of the beautiful vision of a garden made with love-- disappearing.

...

When he found himself conscious again, the world was calm.

His clothes had been changed out, and the garb he was wearing now felt exceptionally clean, a generic jumpsuit of soft cotton. Khcenac was in bed, now, but not his own-- the soft white comforter he found himself resting underneath was entirely unfamiliar, but the apartment wasn't. He saw the bountiful flora coating the walls and ceiling once more, bringing the room to life, and it became clear that he was still here, in Vizkathla's home, breathing sweet nitrogen, heart no longer racing.

Concerned for a moment, he checked to make sure all of him was still there, limbs still attached, and it was only once he verified he was entirely Khcenac that he noticed Viz to the side, sitting with a curious, embarrassed little expression in a chair by the bed.

He gently murmured, "...You saved my life. It must have been... the hyperzine."

Viz nodded, and signed slowly. 'Your heart basically died on the spot. I had to carry you to Medbay, and you're not so light, you know!'

"Ha." Khcen chuckled weakly, rubbing at his head, and trying to overcome the aching sensation that still permeated his body. With the fluorescent light coming from who-knows-where, Viz was enveloped in a glow that made him look rather angelic. He supposed that it was a bit of an angelic move, saving a dying bird like that. "Thank you... so much."

'I hope it isn't weird I brought you back here to rest. I didn't know where your home was, and--'

The bird stopped him mid-sign. "No, no! I would have wanted to resume the date immediately." He became flush as he said this, quills floofing out. Viz returned the cute expression. "I hadn't realized how much of that stuff that I was using. I picked it up during my last relationship, and... got out of hand, I suppose."

'I've had a lot of things like that.' Vizkathla nodded sympathetically. 'We pick up a lot of things without realizing it, from people we're with.'

"Habits and lessons," Khcen remarked. He took a short little breath, and looked off towards the ceiling, covered in bioluminescent ivy. "People in the past have made me realize how much I want a serious relationship, but I'm not very good at finding them."

The bug signed, and Khcenac's attention went back to him, to read the Beakless Pidgin. 'I hope I'm something you're looking for! But like I texted you, it's okay if this is just casual, right?'

"I suppose. But casual can hurt, or... it has hurt me before."

'That's very honest of you.' Viz glanced off in thought before returning his gaze. 'I've had a lot of boyfriends. I think that... one of them described me really well. They called me a passing comet. Does that make sense in Pidgin?'

"Yes, I think," Khcen said. "You stick around for a while, and then...?"

'I like to think I make everyone's lives better, but I'm bad at staying committed. I love being there for somebody who needs it right then.'

This bout of honesty and clarity made Khcenac chuckle. It was a warm feeling, being in Viz's presence, even if an exceptionally weird one. "So this would be a relationship for a period of time, but not forever."

'Yeah. Probably. I don't know! I'm not a computer.' Viz laughed, and the bird laughed alongside. 'But probably. And I want you to know all that before we really go for it.'

"Well, you did save my life..." Khcen muttered, displaying a smirk on his cheeks. Vizkathla gave him a playful smack on the arm, laughing with his mandibles upraised. "Ah, but, I think I would like... to try it. Even if it's just for a little while, you're very nice, and it would be a privilege."

'Okay.' All Viz could do was continue that flustered, curious little expression. Then, it seemed he realized something, and he began to sign quickly. 'There is something else! You really need to know this, so I don't surprise you later. I'm asexual.'

"Yes?" Khcenac tilted his head inquisitively. "I think I know what that means, but explain it again."

'I like romance, and everything about it, except sex. And... very intimate touch can be in that area, too. So if we go along with this, that will have to be a boundary."

The bird thought on it for only a moment, but his mind was easy to make up. He grinned with his cheeks, eyes gleaming. "It's not what I expected, but nothing about you is! I can manage fine."

Viz emitted a soft huffing laugh. 'You know, I actually had a hint about it on my profile. It kind of relies on people knowing Common.'

"Hm? What hint? There's almost nothing on your page," Khcen said, curious.

'My profile picture! It's the ace of spades.' The bird didn't seem to react, staring blankly, so Vizkathla elaborated. 'In Common, ace is a shortening of the word asexual. It's a play on words.'

"Ha!" Khcen was amused at the fact that he'd blundered right past that one. "Blame my friend Atchki. He didn't even notice that pun."

Viz shrugged. He had sat back in the chair by now. 'It's kind of obscure. I'm not very good at explaining myself to people usually.'

"Well, neither am I, in Common." Khcen chuckled, then a thought popped into his head. "Ah, do you have my PDA somewhere?"

The bug nodded, reached over to the nightstand, and handed it over. Khcenac immediately got to work, finding the messenger app once more, and began to type in rapidfire succession. His eyes went mischievously between the screen and Viz, who was a bit confused, until finally Khcen sent the message, and after a little while, Vizkathla received it.

In Tradeband, translated to Common, it read:

'You are an exceptional host and a lovely, darling date, the sort of which I have rarely had the pleasure of meeting, with so very much mysterious and left to discover. I am in awe of your apartment, with its absolutely splendid decor and lively aesthetic, and I believe that even as a member of fauna myself, I am energized by the energy put off in such a space. You also have petit mandibles on such a welcoming and friendly face, and those times I have heard your voice, it feels so very much like a fireplace. Thank you for rescuing my seizing form in my time of struggle, and thank you for your dear honesty amidst so much confusion in my lovestruck life.'

"Holy zhit," Viz blurted out, his entire body flustered and filled with amazement, hand clasped over his mouth as he read the message. He had never been so relentlessly complimented, let alone over text message. Glancing back up at Khcenac's sly grin, he realized he had no choice but to respond. His chitin-clad fingers got to work immediately, tapping out on his own PDA.

'You are also a lovely darling date! I can't believe you can be so soft spoken in Pidgin and then be such a showboat in Tradeband, but it's amazing seeing you in your home language. I wish we could share it out loud, but I feel so many lovely feelings through text, too. Thank you for letting me take you to see this craft I love, because growing plants is one of my favorite things in the world, and your words mean so much! I feel like I'm writing a letter. How are the kids? And so on. You are one of the strangest people I've gone on a date with. I love it. Let's keep this up.'

Khcenac was also embarrassed and amazed upon reading the message, nearly to tears from how good it felt to properly communicate. Everything was loosening out through his body. He'd never talked so casually about this confusion of love, and Vizkathla's demeanor was utterly different. He had to type out another response, but he was more frantic this time, more succinct.

'Every aching bone in my body requires us to keep this up, at least to the point of a moment longer. Though I may have experienced fewer dates than you, your sort is unlike any I've encountered before. It makes my heart flutter, though hopefully not to the point of death, to type to you with your energy so close to mine. Isn't this an enchanting space to be in, together?'

Viz typed back with a stupid beam on his face.

'It is very enchanting. I wish I was as good at complimenting as you. I like your face.'

The bird heaved in laughter, typing like mad.

'Your face is also very quite special.'

The bug looked starstruck, in both infatuation and amusement.

'Thanks. You too.'

Khcen was tempted to type something out once more, but his chuckling, joking self was too far off the rails to continue with candor. Instead, he just reached out his hand-- once more, offering it to his date.

After a moment's pause, setting aside his PDA filled with lovey-dovey messages, Vizkathla took the offered hand, clenched it tight, and sat there in a calm, quiet peace.

The two were surrounded with a garden to rival ones planetside, and as they gazed lovingly into one another's eyes, the glow could have illuminated a biodome.

...

Khcen slid out of bed half-awake. Unfamiliar sensation: meeting the floor with a thud and realizing he slept in.

Unfamiliar sensation: getting dressed in a quiet, contemplative haze, the morning settling over him in waves, not aware of what time it was or if he was late. Unfamiliar sensation: wobbling leaves on the ivy, smelling the rosy-looking flowers dotting the walls of their bedroom, enveloping himself in botanical wonder in dim lamplight and unfocused gaze. Unfamiliar sensation: a morning fugue like he was still in a dream, and the listless early fog slipping away just a bit as he heard ruckus in the outer foyeur.

All so unfamiliar, though familiar to his recent self, and welcome, as Khcenac had a lot to unpack, and having this carelessness upon waking up helped ache his soul.

He pressed open the door to the bedroom into the dining area, rubbing at his eyes. He displayed a little smile on his cheeks, one of somebody a little lovesick and tired. Beside the dining area was the kitchen, adorned in vibrant plants covering the undersides of counters and cabinets, which drooped heavy with the weight of plump, multicolored fruits and vegetables. There was the gentle hiss of a frying pan on low heat, roasting sliced plants that had been freshly harvested, and there was the Insectoid standing with his hand on the pan's handle, swishing from side to side, humming a soft melody to himself as he cooked.

Khcen joined him, and began picking up the melody alongside. It was some old pop tune that used to play more regularly from the bar's jukebox, and he happily provided backing vocal to his boyfriend's voice. The kitchen had plenty of room for two, and Vizkathla gave him a loving grin with his mandibles, giving him space to do his half of the work. Khcen began brewing a Space Americano for both of them. It was a simple, quintessential matter of grinding up decaffeinated vacuum-sealed beans, then boiling the hell out of them.

He bobbed his head to and fro, and the bug did the same. Breakfast was a lovely routine, wasn't it?

It hadn't been until recently that Khcenac had met somebody so very as obsessed with making something for their partner, and in some ways Viz overshadowed him in that front, always up and ready when the bird was too tired. Still, he was thankful for it, because as of late, he'd had a lot to decompress over. He never realized how badly he'd been hit even by the amicable breakups he'd already gone through, and how much he wanted, or needed, somebody there for him.

At that moment, humming a tune together, Viz and Khcenac may have looked quite like a couple. The bird didn't always feel like it was that way. It was more like a mutual inclination to improve each other, to hold each other up, to help each other through confusing emotional times. If it was love, it was of a sort that wasn't documented so well, or able to be understood by mere lovedove mortals. If it was love, it was a confusing type of love.

But, whatever love-sort it was, it was a lovely love-sort of love.

He had to race to keep up with Vizkathla's head start. By the time both of them finished with their respective tasks, the heat in the kitchen was starting to become a bit sweltering, coffeemaker on hot and frying pan steaming up the air! Finally, though, they were able to carry two plates of freshly-roast alien fruits and veggies, as well as two blisteringly-hot mugs of decaf, over to their dining table. Viz hummed the chorus of that unnamed tune one last time as they sat down, both nearly collapsing into the chairs with satisfaction.

It was all right, now. A flustered and happily-chittering Khcenac began tearing into his breakfast, before he reached under the table to retrieve a device that had come in to save them from so very much typing and reading-- a universal recorder. With a tired beam on his cheeks, he looked into his boyfriend's eyes, as the bug happily gnawed on a piece of greenish vegetable. It was only a matter, now, of turning the device on and speaking.

"Thank you so very kindly for this gesture of awakening before me," he said, in a bedazzled tone of Tradeband. Of course, Viz didn't understand it, yet, but he gave back a warm expression. Khcenac simply continued, his gaze locked. "I can only hope that my share of making coffee will in a form make up for your loving efforts! Regardless, I wish not for this engagement to become one of owed debts and commodities. Your care for me is all that matters so very deeply to my heart." He took a short breath, glancing down at his plate. "I am quite unsure I've made acquaintance with so many of these plants! They shape themselves and aromatize in unfamiliar patterns, and the tastes are unpredictable, as always. You simply must tell me more about our arrangement for this morning."

With his long-winded speech over, he clicked the recorder to stop, fingered at a few more buttons, and set it to play back-- this time, in Common. As it rattled off his speech through translation, he could watch amusedly as Viz reacted to every word, and sip at his newly-brewed cup of Joe. It was a bit of a magical thing, the recorder, as it mimicked Khcenac's voice quite nicely. Once it had finished speaking to Viz, Viz picked it up and reciprocated.

"It iz an azzortment of thingz I thought might be nize with you zo zleepy. Half-pecan glazzfruitz and znow peaberriez, and witherleaf rootz. There'z alzo a znapcarrot, zapcarrot, and regular carrot, zomewhere in there." He took a little breath in thought, gnawing on a mushy purple root. "Anyway. Good morning! I love you. You're a little frazzled, and zo am I, zo we zhould probably get out of the houze today, do zomething." With his message wrapped up in a bow, he clicked the recorder into playback once more and sat it in the middle of the table.

Khcenac listened in pleasant bliss. Viz's choices in ingredient always brought up surprises, and even as he was hearing the bug list them out in translated Tradeband, there was still ambiguity even as to which piece of food was which. Still, it was wholeheartedly enjoyable, mushy and sweet and savory all at once, and with an adjoining sip of decaf now and then he was perfectly contented. The message ended, and Khcen gave a plain nod. "I love you too," he said in Pidgin, satisfied with their morning letters to one another. "And I agree. Something outside to celebrate the day off."

Viz nodded, and signed, 'Rage cage match at 3 PM?'

The bird thought on it a moment, then shook his head, glancing off. "Too much energy for me. Asteroid zoo?"

'I'm scared too easily by weird Roid creatures. Cultist escape room?' Vizkathla leaned down to drink his coffee hands-free while signing.

"Eh." Khcen was once again unsure. "The ad had erotic undertones. And the ex-cultists who run it are rude to me for being ex-vampire." He scarfed down the last of his breakfast.

'That's mean!'

Chuckling, the bird nodded. "I think they're easing up, but I don't want to get you in a situation like that."

Viz gave him a thankful gaze. 'How about just a date? Cargo has a cafe now.'

"Oooh! We could do that." He considered it further, and then hazarded another suggestion. "Double date? Atchki and his new boyfriend?"

'I didn't know Atchki had a boyfriend. Good idea, though. I like it.'

"Yeah, they just started dating." Khcenac sat further back in the chair, resting in the calm of the moment. Even with his food finished, he wouldn't mind sitting here a long while longer, not worrying about the rush. There was a concern poking at him, anyhow. "...You aren't uncomfortable with it being Atchki?"

Vizkathla shook his head adamantly. 'He's really fun! I like your friends from Mining.'

Khcen shrugged. "Well, but... he's also my ex."

'You seem on good terms with your exes. I don't mind.' The bug took a long, purplish carrot stick from his plate and began gnawing on it, mandibles helping it in. 'I mean, I'm not one to even protest. You've probably met an ex of mine, or even two. I dated a lot more a year ago.'

"That's fair." Khcen took a little sip at his coffee before setting it in his lap. "...This is such a strange relationship. It feels like nothing works out at first, but nothing can't work out. You know?"

Viz laughed softly, his mandibles grasping in the last bit of carrot into his mouth. 'I do know! It's very weird. I don't know if it'll last forever, but it's really interesting, and still really lovely.'

"Lovely." The bird nodded at that, glancing off. "It's very lovely. I argue with myself over if it is love, or if it's just lovely."

'Well, it can just be lovely,' Viz offered. He gave a sympathetic gaze. 'I'm not a relationship expert, but you just came out of another one before this, and another before that, right?' Khcen nodded, and the bug continued. 'Maybe we both just need something that is lovely, and not love.'

The moment hung in the air like a bee, unsure where to land. For a little while, Khcenac was tempted to speak immediately in protest, but his tired body settled him down from that spot of antsiness. Instead, he just settled in this space of quiet for a little while, finger-claws tapping on the side of the coffee mug. There wasn't always the obligation to speak, and sometimes he needed the fifteen seconds to compose himself. Finally, however, he said, "I like telling you all kinds of words of love. Can this still stay just... lovely, not love?"

'Yes,' Viz signed, definitively. 'It makes me feel warm fuzzies inside. We don't have to be romantically serious to be...' His signing slowed, and he chuckled to himself. '...cheesy.'

"Yeah, eheh." Khcen's cheeks puffed out, and he went a little flush blue. "I enjoy that."

'I've noticed.' The Insectoid grinned a wide grin with his mandibles, before stuffing the last of his roast fruit breakfast in his gob. 'It's my favorite part about you.'

The bird had a little bit of gumption, right when he woke up. He'd mustered up strength to worry, to be anxious, to question if all of this was really 'him', if it were in the right direction. It never felt quite simple with Viz. But, sitting there in the face of such a cutesy remark, all of that felt trampled down thoroughly. Vizkathla seemed to not question any difficulty, seemed to never ask if this relationship was 'right'.

Right then, Khcenac realized that it was not love that drove Viz to him, but unconditional intimacy.

He could make do with that. Having finally obtained an answer in his own mind, he took a satisfied breath, surveyed the table's newfound mess, downed the last of his decaf, and got up to do the dishes.

It was the least he could do.

...

Atchki's new boyfriend was bigger than Atchki, and bigger than the Warden Vox, and bigger than just about any other crewmember to exist on Luna Station. Khcen already felt small around his bigger coworker, and now he was pretty much a pea in the face of Jimmy.

O, Jimmy! A charismatic lad from Mining who never finished his Space GED but could routinely quote philosophers nobody on comms had ever heard of. He was probably supposed to be the type of guy that didn't get along well, but his relatable humor and funny-sounding laugh was endearing enough for everyone to like him. At least, back when everyone thought he was human.

So far as Khcen heard it, amidst Atchki's extremely excited boasting about his new love's many talents, Jimmy had fallen down an abandoned magshaft while exploring the Moon's surface, broke every single bone in his body and crushed his own skull, and decided to reform his body into its true shape-- a Changeling 'Horror Form'. Otherwise only written about in panicked diary entries from doomed expeditions, this grotesque, monstrous shape resembled a scaly, fleshy beast more than a man. Many intriguing questions were asked when Jimmy was brought back safely, like, 'You were a Changeling the whole time?!' and 'What the fuck?!'

But, as it happened, 'Horror Form' made him practically harmless. He wouldn't be able to impersonate anyone, and after being Loyalty Implanted, he became remarkably station-patriotic-- and it turned out that by revealing himself, he could be accepted by his coworkers for who he really was. Now his morbid humor and hoarse, horrifying laugh made him endearing enough not just for everyone to like him, but for one Miner to end up loving him.

Atchki turned out to be the possessive type. Not that Khcen experienced it during their short stint, but the hefty bird absolutely loved cuddling and hugging and kissing at his big, bashful beast boyfriend, and talked positively about him at length while he was right next to him. When Khcenac and Vizkathla arrived in Cargo, the two love-monsters were already sharing sweet nothings and playfully trying to egg each other on. It was a simply infectious energy.

An energy that Khcenac could do nothing but reciprocate, by telling his favorite story.

It turned out far, far easier for Jimmy to grow new Pidgin-speaking organs than to maintain in the tricky tongue of Common, and that meant it was one common language around the table. Thus, as Khcen spoke, it was in the intermediary tongue of the Vox. "Ahah, Atchki, you love this part."

"Pockin' hell, I do! Jimmy's gotta hear it, an'-- you told Viz yet?"

Khcenac grinned with his cheeks and shook his head. "Not the whole thing."

'Tell me,' Vizkathla signed, his mandibles in a grin. He'd eaten his massive pile of salad first, and was now leaning back with his legs crossed and laid on the table. 'If you tripped and fell right next to the Singularity, how are you alive, and being my boyfriend right now?'

Jimmy spoke up with a gruff, breaching tongue. He was overwhelming in stature and voice, and nearly spoke over Viz's signing. "You are saying bold-faced that you decided not to wear magboots because they were uncomfortable. Is that right?"

"Very right. Fashion above form, or at least that was my sort of game back in those days." He puffed up his chest a bit as he continued with the story. "Anyway, the story of me surviving is simple! I began to just orbit around the thing, like a planet around a sun! My earpiece slipped off my helmet, and I lost grip of my tether, but it was no problem-- I just needed to build up speed."

"Escape velocity," Jimmy huffed. There was the formative shape of a grin on his deranged face. "It couldn't eat you alive. It was just weak enough to let you escape."

Khcenac chuckled. "Well, I fed it. I had to build up some speed, so I started throwing out everything in my toolbelt, then everything in my bag, including the station blueprints. Equal and opposite reaction!"

With a permanent grin on his cheeks, Atchki pitched in. "Poor pocking idiot didn't know he could use his fire extinguisher! He just chucked it with the rest!"

"D'aw." Khcen sunk, embarrassed and amused. "I was new to space."

'Well, but you got out. That's what matters.' Vizkathla rested an arm on Khcenac possessively, and continued to sign. 'When you got back to the Chief Engineer, what did he say?'

"Oh, he was fuming," Khcenac explained. "I'd thrown away his blueprints, and, ah, he didn't appreciate that much. To make it up to him, I decided I'd head over to try and help out with the Antimatter Engine..."

And, of course, this time Khcenac embellished the story even more. With Atchki's help, they sold it as a rather daring accomplishment absent the railgun mentioned last time, involving an improvised explosive mixed during the crushing ordeal. It didn't at all feel unnatural to change the tale for his new boyfriend, and both Viz and Jimmy were excited as all hell to hear the end of it.

With the story over, the attention went back on Atchki and Jimmy, the odd pair of lovers, who interacted with physical touch far more than words. After a moment of silence, picking his plate clean of crouton crumbs, Viz decided to ask, 'So how did you meet? I know you're both in Mining, but how did you actually start dating?'

Atchki had to respond, as the Changeling couldn't decipher the hand signs, only the spoken word. "I only knew the lad through comms, 'cus we were workin' in totally different parts of Luna." He shook his head and chuckled to himself. "When he showed up bein' all... the way he is, ya know, it was like meetin' a whole new person. Wasn't even like a coworker. Just a new guy."

"Seems like that helped," Khcenac muttered, smirking with his cheeks. "It can be hard to date a friend."

"Ex-act-ly," Atchki cawed. "And I'm real pocking lucky I got to keep you as a friend. But with Jimmy, it's a whole different story. He's so pocking cuddly!"

Jimmy held Atchki close with one long, outstretched appendage. "We have many things in... common. It's natural selection."

"I don't think that's what that means," Viz said in Common, laughing. The language wasn't entirely universal, and grated on Khcen's ears some, but at least the beast could understand and respond.

"Sure is." Jimmy let out a loud and groaning huff and continued on in Pidgin. "Wouldn't contradict me if I were you." It had a playful vibe, but it was a bit hard to tell, as the beast's voice came from deep within, and had little in the way of subtlety.

Atchki reached an arm around his love, reciprocating the grasp. "Woah, buddy, he's the one with the degree in here. Eh, right?" He turned to Viz. "Degree in hydroponics? Botany? Whatever it's called."

"Civil engineering, actually," Vizkathla said in Common, with a bit of pride. Then, he moved to signing. 'It was a weird degree! It didn't at all help me getting a job at Nanotrasen. They hire my kind for just existing. But I like having the knowledge.'

Khcen joked, "But not the debt, eheh."

'Not the debt at all.' The bug grinned with his mandibles, letting out a weak sigh. 'What about you, Atchki?'

"No degree." Atchki folded his arms and sat back in his seat. "I did go to college, an' took some classes, but, ehh, it ain't in Vox spirit. I knew I'd end up goin' into mining eventually. Not a whole lot to learn about rock splittin'. Bet Khcen's said otherwise, though..."

Khcenac leaned on his boyfriend a little. "No, I agree! Maybe I talk like it's complicated sometimes, but I was going into Linguistics and knew Mining was not very hard, so I could save up."

The Horror leaned forward again, this time at Khcenac. "You? Linguistics degree? Atchki says your Common is dogshit."

"It's was and it's not to wouldn't be! It's without it's to with and it's dog-shit, but couldn't be and wouldn't is the would if you were and to say this would and would."

"Pigshit," Jimmy reiterated, and let out a heaving, billowing laugh, one that outclassed Atchki's in every conceivable way. He leaned back, and Khcen gave him a knowing gaze.

Vizkathla spoke in Common, and his voice was love-filled. "Hiz Tradeband iz amazing. I think that'z what he'll ztudy, when he getz there."

"I wish ya pocking luck, Khcen. You'll be a romance writer someday, eheh," said Atchki.

Khcenac held firm, cheeks puffed out. "I'll get good with Common first."

Jimmy bore teeth. "I'll hold you to it," he uttered. "If I could learn Pidgin in a day, you can learn Common."

"No fair, changeling!" Khcen poked at the beast's face. "You're used to absorbing genes, languages aren't anything."

"Plenty fair, vampire." He grinned widely in response. "You're used to bloodsucking. Get some Common out of your boyfriend's blood."

"Ex-vampire."

Atchki cleared his throat, picking up the last bit of torn-up steak from Jimmy's plate and feeding it to him. "We've all been plenty of pocking things in our lives, but I especially like what we are now."

"...You see too much good in me," Jimmy huffed. As he nibbled, unable to contain his hunger, the bird leaned over onto his weight, as both Viz and Khcen couldn't help but go rosy at the sight.

Or, well, Khcenac felt rosy. It was so much damn intimacy. His mind began to wander to himself, to his wants and desires that couldn't really be figured out in Viz's company. His mind went to the anxiety of when he first woke up, when the idea of losing a relationship again was too much to bear all at once.

It seemed so much easier for the other couples, right then.

Eventually he snapped out of his daydream to realize that Atchki was in the middle of another frantically-told anecdote about him and Jimmy. "...and so he pocking hefted me to bed," he heaved, cuddling against his beast-boyfriend's weight. "Was so tired, he just picked me up and brought me in! Lotta pocking perks to a big partner, heheheh."

Jimmy was clearly flush amidst this all. He'd gotten better at speaking than when he first transformed, but it still had to be a very deliberate process. Sitting in what was beginning to feel like a far-too-small wooden chair, he uttered, "You're a lightweight. It's easy to exploit."

"Phfhah, you're right. I was flopped on you all night just from five beers. Khcen, guess how many pocking drinks it takes Jimmy to get tipsy!"

Clenching onto Viz, who was chuckling from the sheer energy these two put off, Khcenac said, "I would guess... many."

The Horror leaned forward on the table, his massive size a real goddamn intimidating factor. "Guess. We tested."

"Ehhh..." Khcen pondered a second. "Viz, help me out."

Vizkathla signed, 'You're fauna, not flora! But if I remember anything about changelings, my guess is you ran out of beer before he felt a thing.'

"Pocking right!" Atchki exclaimed with a heaving laugh, though Jimmy needed to look to him for a translation of the sign language. "He says we ran outta beer. That was one hell of a night. I just kept askin' if you were drunk yet, and eventually you got so pissed at me you--"

"--pinned you down and shut you up," Jimmy stated, hoarsely. This just made Atchki crack up even harder, and Vizkathla couldn't help but giggle.

Khcen laughed softly, but he leaned against his Insectoid boyfriend curiously. "You're okay with...?"

'Yes,' the bug signed, snickering. 'I don't mind friends talking about their sex life.'

"It ain't how we met," said Atchki, shrugging. "Jus' so ya don't think I'm some kinda horndog. But havin' a guy who's pocking big is... perks, you know. Heh."

Jimmy rested his great big head on Atchki's smaller self. "You like that I could crush you at a moment's notice."

"Ah, shaddap." The bird pushed lightly against his partner, flustered.

'I think that the Quartermaster's probably going to get mad if we hang around here any longer,' Vizkathla signed, grinning widely with his mandibles. 'I remember him having a distaste for you two miners?'

"Oh, you don't know the pocking end of it." Atchki groaned. "Good call, though, we finished eatin'... what, an hour ago? Eheh. I guess we should head on outta here."

"Places to be?" asked Khcenac, eyebrow raised.

Jimmy just grunted-- they both had that look in their eyes. Khcen felt awful for being envious. There was no doubt the overflow of love he had for his partner, but they had that small inaccessible thing, that part of their relationship he had never expected. Nothing gave him more joy than respecting Viz's boundaries, and exploring what else they could do together, but he missed what they didn't need.

It was a good moment as any to retire the lunch date, to head back home, and to leave those thoughts in a puddle.

...

'Space Movie 4?' asked Viz.

"Excellent," replied Khcenac.

They plopped onto the bug's sofa and held each other close as the opening title began. Khcenac never realized before meeting his comet-boyfriend just how addicted he could get to schlocky nonsense films. Even after watching this one three times together beforehand, he knew that they'd be excitedly yelling at the screen when the Big Bad was shot with a grenade launcher at the end.

'You're very warm,' Viz signed, leaning heavy into Khcen's weight and humming.

"Saves credits on a heater," Khcenac replied, resting his head on the bug's shoulders.

Their little dinky TV began blaring the first scene of the movie-- a zero-budget set somewhere in Space California's desert, with a group of baddies wearing spiked outfits. They're about to enter a gunfight with the film's unwitting, bastard protagonist, in glorious, worn Betamax quality.

He piped up softly, "I wonder what the timeline is on this thing."

'Probably the 2290s,' the Insectoid responded. 'It has that feel.'

'Er, no, not the movie." Khcenac let out a gentle little sigh. "...This thing. Our thing."

'Oh.'

The protagonist, given a name in the film but always known affectionately to Khcenac and Viz as just 'Space Movie', rode up in his rusted, dust-spattered motorcycle, kicking up a line of sand behind him that nearly obscured the camera. He began saying something, but he clearly didn't have a talent for saying his lines on screen, as they were muddled up and slurred to the point of farce.

Khcen said, "I ache knowing that we both will move on. I used to feel reassured, and I have healed being with you, but it's... like a time bomb."

'Well, it's not going to explode or anything.' Viz let out a huff as he snuggled up closer. 'I don't know what I'm doing in life most of the time. I just know I'm going to want to run off someday.'

"Someday soon?"

'I don't know about that,' he signed, weakly chuckling. 'Still have so many movies left to show you.'

Khcenac couldn't help but laugh under his breath. "Still have so many stupid stories left to tell you."

Space Movie pulled out a gun from under his leather jacket. Last time they watched, they realized that it was a prop from a halloween store, and the barrel was molded over in plastic. A cheesy-sounding electric guitar began playing what was seemingly, in the director's eyes, supposed to be tense music.

'So... that's the timeline. I show you as much as I can out of my life, and you show me as much as you can out of yours.' Viz glanced off. 'Then we sort of just... go on with our existence elsewhere.'

"Do you want to stay friends, after all that?"

The bug shrugged. 'Do you?'

Khcenac took a deep, deep breath, and hugged his boyfriend closer. "...Yes. It's been healthy for me to know Atchki and Matt."

'It sounds like it's hurting, though,' Viz signed.

"Yes. Some."

'I'm sorry.'

Something welled up in Khcen's throat. He spoke, but it was hard. "You don't need to be sorry for being so great. I'm sorry for being so attached."

Viz smiled back, mandibles tight, like he was holding them with every ounce of strength. 'It wouldn't be lovely if you weren't attached.'

"Wouldn't be lovely," Khcenac choked out, watching Space Movie fire an endless thirty-round magazine at the group of thugs running past grey-painted rocks made of cardboard, "without hurting to lose."

"Oh, Khcen," Vizkathla crooned in Common, resting his head on the bird's shoulder just as the bird had done to him. "The only thing we're lozing iz the people we would've ended up az by ourzelvez."

"Sc-screw those people," Khcenac muttered, in the most firm and stilted form of Common he could muster. It was a vulgar language in his throat, but... for once, he was feeling just vulgar and forthright enough to say it, with no embellishments or stumbling. As much as he hated this moment, as much as he boiled deep down inside with frustration for himself and his emotions, he was so glad that he had it, instead of the absence of such a thing. That reasoning held him together as the vicious pull of gravity threatened to pull him apart, just as it had with the Singularity years ago. He swallowed a load of spit in his throat, took a deep breath, and held Vizkathla close while he still could.

It would remain as a memory like a hearth to heal his soul, and it was the least he could do for his future self to make it a warm one.


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

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Pub: 26 Feb 2021 23:31 UTC
Edit: 28 Feb 2021 22:41 UTC
Views: 893