Chapter Text
The next morning, Terry woke up in a bed that, excluding himself, was empty. According to the digital alarm clock on his dresser, it was 6:15 am. It wasn’t unlike Korvo to be up first, but 6 in the morning was a little out of the ordinary.
Terry slipped on the pajama pants he had somehow lost in the night and slid out of bed. Normally he’d make the bed and change into actual clothes, but after the weirdness of last night he was slightly worried about his partner. He was certain he’d find Korvo up in the ship working on some dorky nerd thing, so that’s where he decided to check first.
Sure enough, Terry’s instinct had been correct. Also still clad in pajamas, the blue Schlorpian was a heap on the ship’s floor, surrounded by open manuals. Although he was asleep, there were dark bags under Korvo’s eyes, hinting that’d he’d spent the wee hours of the morning tucked away in here. Terry knelt down beside him.
“Hey pal, what brought you up here so early?”
Korvo’s eyes flicked open at the sound of Terry’s voice. “God Korvo, you look like you haven’t slept in ages.” He stroked his partner’s head.
“I’m fine. I couldn’t sleep with you smothering me all night so I figured I might as well work on something important.” Terry tried not to look hurt.
“Yeah, I’m sure..” Terry glanced at the open books on the ground and then back to Korvo. “This seems really important.” He stood up and stretched. “Well, I’m gonna go make breakfast or something. I hope you’re well rested, because I’ve already decided the genre for today’s movie marathon- sci-fi! I think you’ll love it! I’ll see you downstairs in a bit,” with that, Terry headed off.
Once his partner was gone, Korvo made a face like he’d eaten something sour. The last thing Terry needed to do was waste an afternoon watching humans pretend to explore space. Korvo could show him actual cool things from space. He spent his free time repairing a space ship that stuck out of their HOUSE for God’s sake, and Terry never seemed even remotely interested in that.
The same kind of nameless anger that had struck Korvo after the rom com marathon tightened his chest and colored his face. He wished Terry would find something better to do than sit around and drool over humans all day, er, watch dumb stupid human movies all day.
***
Later that afternoon, Korvo and Terry were half way through watching every sci fi movie on Hulu. Secretly, Korvo found himself enjoying the nerdy nature of these pretend human adventures, but he’d never let that slip to Terry. Abruptly, instead of starting the next movie, Terry grabbed the remote and clicked the television off.
“Man, I’m booooored.”
“I thought you loved doing nothing but sitting for hours on end.”
“Yeah, normally I do! Which is why this is really strange!” Terry threw himself dramatically over Korvo, and landed with his head in his partner’s lap. “Do you wanna go on a walk or something? I don’t remember the last time I saw the sun.”
“I think it’s supposed to rain today,” Korvo mumbled pessimistically.
“It’s not raining now! Let’s just go around the block. We’ll be fast.”
“If we’re taking a break from the marathon, I think I’ll just go back to working on the ship. A walk seems like a waste of time.”
“Aw, Korvy, c’monnnn,” moaned Terry. “It’ll be fun.” He said in a sing-song way. “We can even hold hands if you want!” Against his will, Korvo smiled slightly. “Ok, yay! Let me go grab my Heelies, they’re the only shoe I’m wearing from now on,” Terry leapt up off the couch and ran to fetch his shoes.
Reappearing at the front door moments later, Terry was ready to roll.
“It looks pretty dark out there, are you sure you want to do this?” Questioned Korvo.
“Uh, yeah, don’t be dumb. I already told you we were gonna go fast.” Unable to argue with his fool-proof logic, Korvo followed Terry outside.
As per usual, Korvo had been right. Before they were even 3 houses away from their own, it began to lightly rain.
“Damnit Terry, I knew this was a dumb idea. I should’ve just stayed home.”
“Calm down, it’s just sprinkling. You won’t melt.”
“Do you know how much sooner I’d get the ship done if I wasn’t constantly distracted by your stupid ideas? I’d assume not, since you waste all your time thinking about stupid human things! Do you even care about the mission anymore, Terry?”
Terry was silent for a beat, not entirely sure why he was being yelled at. “What’s your problem with me lately?! If it’s such an inconvenience to spend time with me, you don’t have to! Don’t let me get in the way of all your SUPER IMPORTANT ship stuff! I’m sorry I keep inviting you to do things!”
“I don’t have a problem with you! I just wish you’d care less about dumb things,” Korvo stated matter-of-factly.
“Just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean it’s dumb! I don’t particularly care about the ship, but that doesn’t make it dumb! Why are you even mad at me right now?!”
“Why do you fantasize about kissing humans in the rain?!”
“What?”
Korvo sighed and tried to hide the blush creeping across his face. “Why do you.. Why do you want to kiss a human in the rain? Humans are dumb, and I’d like to bring up the reading material in our bathroom that is almost entirely mostly naked humans, I HAVE books you could read, they’re much more interesting than that-“
“I’m sorry, you’ve lost me entirely. Are you talking about the magazine Jesse left lying out? What does that have to do with the kissing thing?”
“I- I don’t know, it just seems weird that you love humans so much when you have me?” Terry cocked his head. “I know I don’t look exactly like the people in those movies you like or those magazines, trust me. And I’m sorry I don’t! I wish I did too! I just wish you wouldn’t make me think about it so much,”
“Oh my god, Korvo,” Terry asked, meeting his partner’s eyes. “Are you.. jealous?”
“What? No,” the blush across his face darkened. “I just wish that maybe you’d fantasize about.. kissing me in the rain?”
“You’re such an idiot,” A smug look appeared on Terry’s face. He stopped walking, and wrapped his arms around Korvo’s shoulders, pulling the shorter alien into him. “I’d kiss you anywhere,” he placed a hand behind Korvo’s head. “But luckily it also happens to be raining, so like, that’s cool.” He pulled his partner into a kiss that was immediately reciprocated.
“God damnit Terry,” Korvo muttered breathlessly.
“Oh jeez I knew I was good but not ‘god damnit’ good.”
“Shut up, that’s not what I’m talking about. Look at the fucking robe Terry, this is exactly what I said would happen. It’s so heavy when it’s wet,”
Terry smiled and interlocked he and Korvo’s fingers. “Well then, let’s head home. We can dry off, cozy up, then finish our marathon!”
Korvo smiled at the idea.