Chapter Text
If you were honest with yourself, you were kind of scared.
You knew it was natural though, to be nervous about moving into your own place. You don't think there had ever been a time where you had so much space of your own.
It wasn't the prettiest, or the most modern, but you liked it. Mostly because of how cheap it was. Obviously, you still had mortgage to pay on it, and would have it for a while, but you didn't care.
A little one story house. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room, kitchen, and an extra room for whatever. You planned on it being storage for a while.
It was in country area, so you had a nice yard, plenty of space to love off of. The house was older, so it didn't have all the newest niceties with it, but it had a washing machine, an oven, and running water. You'd have to deal with the AC before it got into summer, but that wasn't priority. For now, it was time to get settled.
You didn't get movers because everything you had could fit in your little 90s Honda Civic. Which says a lot. So, you got to work, carrying in boxes and starting to set things around. You didn't exactly have much furniture anywhere, but your friends and family had gladly donated some to you earlier. They said that they'd deliver them within the next few days or so, which was definitely a positive.
There really wasn't a whole lot to do asides from set up decor and get used to the layout. So, you did neither and started setting up the only complex piece of furniture you had brought. Your bedframe.
You weren't the strongest, that was a given, but you knew how to put it together! That was... if you could remember the directions from when you first bought it at the dorms. You groaned as you got to work, and eventually became satisfied with the result. Next step was pulling in the mattress from off of your car... how you kept it up there in yhe drive was a miracle you wouldn't question.
After pulling it into the house, you got started on removing the protective cover (which was really just two sheets that you never used, but hey who's asking). With a grunt, you remove the second sheet and toss them both asides. You'll get a load of laundry started later, you decide, then start to drag the mattress to the room you've designated as your own.
Once setting it up you flop onto the sheetless bed with a sigh. It was going to be a lot of hard work for the first few days, maybe weeks... but you had this. You made it this far. With a small smile to yourself, you sat up on your bed and pulled out your phone, realizing an issue that must be resolved. You turned on your favorite playlist and turned the volume way up. No need to worry about bothering family or roommates or neighbors, you had a whole house to yourself!
Shoving your phone into your pocket, you got back ti work with renewed excitement, beggining on setting your little things around the kitchen. Loading the fridge and stuffing the silverware drawers. You hummed or even sang along to the music as you put things wherever you wanted them.
There weren't a lot of dishes, but for one person and the occasional guest that would be just fine! Less handwashing for you.
After a while, you stepped back to examine the room. The house came with a little dining table and a couple chairs in the corner of the kitchen, so you added a little vase that your roommate gave you before you left. You didn't have flowers or anything, but it was a nice vase. The kitchen was alright sized, enough space for a sink, an oven, a fridge, and counter space. There were cupboards and drawers, and it was cozy. In the other corner there was the washing machine. Just a washing machine though. You guess you'd have to learn how to use clothesline unless you got a dryer.
With a side, you stepped out the kitchen archway to face your living room. This was where you dropped pretty much all the boxes in, so you guess sorting things out was a good option.
So, yet again, you got to work. You brought all of your clothes, bedstuffs, and bathroom supplies into your room and set things away. You didn't bother with your clothes yet, just leaving those boxes beside your bed. But everything else...
You did the bathroom fast, since it was connected to your room. There was very little there anyways. Next came setting up your bed, which you gladly did. A few posters got hung up, and a painting you always liked but never had room for.
You looked at the lightly decorated space and smiled. Actually, you thought this would be a great place to stop for today. You'd worked hard, and deserved a break. Plus, you were hungry and takeout sounded delicious.
So, you grabbed your phone and paused the music, walking back to your living room. As you searched for a good place to order, you grabbed your laptop and it's cord, and brought it back to your room. You plugged it in and set it on your bed to charge for a bit while you selected some generic fast food Chinese place.
It was going great. A lot better than you thought it would go for just one person. So, you decided to get yourself a little desert with the order. Once placing it, you set your phone aside on your bed and just layed back, looking up at the ceiling with a sigh.
It was nice to just chill like that. It was nice to be able to just fully relax.
That was until you heard a loud thunk from somewhere in the house.
You sat up swiftly, becoming cautious. You were pretty sure your house wasn't being broken into, or that thunk would've been a crash... the house was kind of old, so it was possible that it was just the walls shifting, but the sound seemed too focused to be that. Maybe one of your boxes was stacked weird and fell. That was likely. You picked your phone up to be safe, and started walking out of your room, peaking down the hallway.
Entering the living room, you looked around... nothing was moved at all. It sent a shiver up your spine, which tuned frigid when you heard another thump and what sounded like... talking.
One voice, but you couldn't hear what it said. All you could tell as you rounded the corner was that it came from your guest room. You didn't have a weapon at all, much less a plan, but you crept down the hall and slowly reached for the handle of the door.
Internally, you cursed your curiosity as you peaked in, but you stopped that mental war the moment you saw inside.
Inside somebody was walking around in circles, muttering to themself. They seemed to be wearing some sort of costume... but it was very clunky. The room smelled of gas and you tried to breath through your mouth as quietly as you could, before getting a lung full of foul tasting, dusty air and coughing.
Immediately, their pacing and muttering stopped as you pulled away from the door and pressed a hand over your mouth. You weren't sure if you should be terrified or curious, but things weren't quite adding up. You didn't see any broken or open windows, and your doors were all fine...
You didn't get time to think before the person pulled the room door open with a loud creak. But, they didn't step out at first. You watched the door way with wide eyes as an almost spacesuit esque helmet peaked out the door. It had a gold reflector and several wires sticking out, as well as some sort of... oxygen tube? You were a fan of space things, so you knew at least some workings of spacegear. But that didn't explain why this random person in your house was wearing it.
Once they seemed to see you, they froze, the helmet lense facing directly at you. They seemed to stare for a moment, before seeming to realize that they'd been... caught? That didn't seem quite right. But regardless, they said something that sounded like a swear and ducked back into the room. You heard thumping and a door open and shut. If you remembered the layout right, you guessed they just hid in the bathroom.
This confused you even more. After a moment of nothing hut silence, you decided to stand and walk in. Something, you don't know what, but something told you that this absolute stranger wasn't going to try and do anything. Maybe it was gut, or maybe it was curiosity, or maybe you just felt like being absolutely reckless. But that could wait til later. For now you walked through the empty room to the bathroom door and, after a second of thought, you knocked.
At first, there wasn't a response. The only sound was fabric shifting and muffled thumping. So... you knocked again. More shifting.
Then, a voice.
Tentative, and muffled from the door and that odd helmet that they were likely still wearing. "Hello-?" An accent that sounded almost country. Southern, or something else.
From muffled voice alone you could definitely not determine age, but they seemed young. Had to be somewhere around your age. If they were breaking into your house, for some reason, in that clunky suit of theirs, maybe you could convince them otherwise.
"Heya. Erm-" you paused a moment. How do you talk to a potential threat??? At this point you were going on stray limbs and wild guesses, so you tested your luck for what felt like the fifth time in the last three minutes. "You're in my house. Specifically, you're in my guest bathroom. So, uh... if you wouldn't mind, maybe come out? Just wanna talk, I promise."
There was some silence for a bit, then you heard the handle click so you stepped back. As the door opened, the person stepped out and held their hands in front of them. There was some sort of button gear attached to their arms... or maybe it was their backpack. But, something you noticed... there were only three glove fingers. Of course, that didn't necessarily mean anything, but it seemed odd to you. Then again, everything about this was stranger than anything you'd ever experienced 8n your life. So, you were quickly becoming more curious to what on earth was happening.
They're gear was very patchy, but seemed well padded. Obviously it wasn't a nasa suit. You don't know how it could even be one. But somehow, it seems like spacegear. There isn't anything else it really looked like it could be. Other than maybe an advanced hikers set. What with the bed roll and such.
You realized a bit too late that you were staring at them, and they made a small coughing sound. To this, you focused again. With a deep breath, you shoved your phone into your pocket, then offered your now empty hand for a hand shake, and introduced yourself. "What's your name?"
Internally you face palmed. What the hell were you doing? Not even gonna ask where they came from, just straight to friendly handshakes with the stranger in your house. Surprisingly though, they shook your hand as well. Their grip was firm, though they seemed to prod your hand a bit, as if curious about the five digits there.
"I... my name's Chalk. Nice to meet ya?" They said it with a question as they pulled their hand back. It sounded like they had questions, and you had a whole lot as well.
So, you may as well start.
"What's with the gettup?" You gesture to their... everything as you say that, and they look down at themself with a bit of a sigh. Personally, you were just wearing grey sweatpants and a graphic tee. Pair of flip-flops. That's it. After a moment, they started to reach for their helmet but froze, seeming to check something.
"My tank's full- so... must mean there is..." They seemed to be talking to themself mostly, so you didn't say anything. Until they removed their helmet that is.
With a hiss of genuine air coming out the bottome of their helmet, they clicked and rotated it off their head... which was a scaley, shimmery shade of blue.
You gaspsed as four yellow eyes blinked open, each one's pupil watching you. There was nothing to base this off of. As far as you knew, there wasn't exactly guides for an alien inside your house.
You guess they realized that though, as your mouth was hanging open in both awe and confusion. But, before anything else, they asked:
"How do you understand me?" Honestly. Now you were wondering as well.
"How do you understand me?? You speak almost perfect English... how... where did you come from???" They seem to wince a bit, as if remembering something they didn't want to, but swiftly shook it off.
"I don't know how I understand you. I would say that maybe it's my translator, because at this point anything is possible, but I really doubt my translator could vocalize all this, haha-" translator?? Every second your questions just grew and grew. Your head hurt... you considered that you may be hallucinating, but there were way too many details for that.
Then you heard a knock at the front door.
Right, you had ordered dinner.
You sighed and put your hands up in a sort of stay here motion. They seemed to count your fingers in their head, but you shook it off. They shifted their weight and you left the room, rubbing the side of your temple.
What in the world was happening?
One moment, you're settling into you new house, decorating and enjoying yourself, next there's a... well what else could it be but an alien??? In??? Your guest room???
You sigh and move the hand massaging your temple to the front door handle. You pull it open and accept the food with a strained smile, paying up a tip. The delivery person leaves and you shut the door behind them, looking at the food. You had gotten enough that there should have been enough for leftovers tomorrow.
You looked towards the back, where the guest room was and groan. It would be rude to not offer them anything... but then again, they were in your house without permission. But they also didn't seem human. You huff and walk into your kitchen, setting the delivery bag on the counter near the door.
After a few moments of thought, you walked back to the guest room, mentally preparing yourself to see an alien again.
When you entered, you were surprised (what else is new?) to see that the... you felt bad calling them one, but the alien was sitting on the floor in patchwork clothes, against the wall beside their removed gear. They were eating out of a large tub filled with what appeared to be... marshmallows? Was that all they had? Frankly, you were shocked they had anything at all. At this point, everything was shocking, so you might as well act like this is a normal occurrence.
They saw you and blinked, those four yellow eyes looking at you, then they glanced at their can, and then offered you a marshmallow with a... one, two, three fingered hand. Seems like the gloves were representative. You blinked back, and shook your head.
"Okay... how... how about you come with me, yeah?" You needed to eat. You thought better on a full stomach, and you were starting to get nervous about potentially leaving them... Chalk, they'd said? Leaving Chalk out of your sight. What a strange name you thought to yourself. But, then again, this was an alien.
You ran your hand over your face and left the door way, walking towards the kitchen. Though, you paused to see if they followed. They did.
After a minute, you convinced them to sit down at your little corner table while you grabbed two of the boxes and brought them over. Chow mein and an egg roll. Some meat. You wondered what they ate, because marshmallows didn't exactly give you many hints. You wondered if they were even hungry, but decided that if they weren't they just wouldn't eat the food. You grabbed forks (you were upset that you didn't have chopsticks) and sat down at the table as well, setting the containers down.
Chalk was staring out the window, knees on the chair as they were pressed against the glass. Their eyes traced the field and forest outside, their gaze curious. Like a little kid. You took the chance ti see if you could analyze their age. They were about the same height as you. Maybe a little shorter or taller, but you hadn't exactly measured at all. And their demeanor was young, but somehow knowing. Fresh adult maybe. Your guess was the same as earlier, being likely about your age.
You looked at their clothes, all muted colors in sown patches... you nearly gasped when you saw the teeniest tail peaking from their back. It was wagging like crazy, like an overly excited puppy dog.
Suddenly, they turned and sat fully in the chair, looking at you, then taking a deep sniff. This drew their eyes to the food and their mouth almost immediately started to water.
You laugh a little. "Go ahead, eat if you want. Might as well feed you if you're here, yknow?" You take your fork and stab it into your box, picking up some noodles and a chunk of meat, before stuffing it into your mouth and chewing.
Chalk watched for a moment, then picked up their own fork. "Huh... this one's got four prongs. Never seen one like that before." They jab it into their own box and sift around a bit. "Is there any fish in this?"
They seemed hopeful, but you shook your head, which seemed to make their obnoxiously large ears droop a bit. That made you feel bad for some reason, so you tried to lighten it, "the chickens real good though!"
Their disappointed expression shifted to curiosity. "What's chicken?"
Course they wouldn't know what that is. You think a minute. "It's a type of bird, that you can cook for meat. This one is real tasty!" You try and offer a smile, and they seem to oerk a bit at the word bird. Seemed to be something they recognized.
They pulled a chunk of the meat out with some noodles, sniffed it, then shoved it in their mouth before slurping up the remaining noodle. Their eyes widened and they looked down at the box like it was a blessing from heaven. That stare only lasted a few moments before they proceeded to scarf down the whole thing, scarily fast.
Honestly, you were impressed as they polished off the box so fast that you forgot to take another bite. Once they finished, you finally shoveled another fork full in, dumbfounded. They kind of just, watched you for a bit then. Patiently waiting for you to finish eating. As you ate they glanced around the room, so many questions seeming to flicker behind their eyes.
With a final bite and a sigh, you suppose sooner is better than later and shove your box to the unoccupied part of the table.
"So." You began, trying to be calm about it. You caught their attention and they looked back at you, each of their eyes blinking separately. Or maybe you were just being too over watching. "How in the world did you get in my house."
Maybe you should have started off simpler, like how was your day? Or what's your favorite color? But nah, you decided to be straightforward about it.
Just because you thought clearer when you ate did not mean you thought smarter.
They didn't seem to mind all to much though, expression furrowing into thought.
"I'm... not entirely sure. One moment I'm in my ship, doing something very important mind you, and... and the next..." They seem to realize something, and it doesn't seem good, because they immediately become stressed. "I-i... uh... I don't know what happened..."
Their dropping of the topic implied that they did, but you honestly were getting tired. And it was getting dark. You were stressed, they seemed stressed.
You sigh and stand up, stretching. "Tell you what, how about you like... sleep in my guest room or something and think about it, then we'll talk tomorrow, kay?"
They pause, watching you, then stand up fast. "Really? I could've sworn from yer expressions that you'd kick me out-"
You point a finger at them, correcting their statement. "Never said I wasn't. Just saying you can spend the night."
They smile anyways and shake the hand you point at them in a sort of thanks. Once they let go, you walk back to the guest room and let them in.
"If you need anything... uh... I dunno. Just don't need anything." They nod as they crouch beside their gear, grabbing what you had correctly guessed was a bed roll. You shake your head, still in disbelief as you close the door and walk towards your room. Maybe this was all just a really weird dream... either way, you needed sleep.
But before that, you remembered the dessert you got with your food, and pop by the kitchen to grab it. On your way to your room you munch away at it before shutting your door behind you.
You settle into your bed relatively quickly, and despite the still present racing confusion, you find it easy enough to fall asleep, dozing quickly with the rising moon.
_____
On the other hand, Chalk couldn't manage to catch a wink of rest. They spent the ntireime in that room watching the window, and the stars beyond them. There were so many. They were so bright and bold. And no matter how long they seemed to watch them, not a single one went out.
They wanted to get their hopes up. They wanted so badly to. But maybe something had went so horribly wrong with them trying to finish it all...
That the potential of finishing was no longer an option.