Chapter Text
Something was keeping them up tonight. A heavy sigh slanting the steam coming from a fresh cup of tea cradled in their hands. There was a chill in the air, goosebumps littered on the skin of her arms as she gazed out into the midnight blue of the sky, the stars twinkling just beyond the trees of the forest.
Her fingers twitched around the ceramic, a thumb gently swiping over the rim she had just drank from. There was something weird about the sky tonight. The air was far too chilled for that of a summer night, a shiver running up her spine as she stared at what should've been a full moon.
Fuck those guys for blasting a hole in it. Really…
With a shake of their head, they settled into the cup of a loveseat off to the side of the living room, granting them a clear view of the night sky out the front window. The blackened shadows of the trees, tall and imposing in her forest-turned-backyard, did little to block her view of the hollowed moon and the vast expanse of stars clustering around it. She let out another sigh at the injustice and took another sip of her rapidly cooling tea.
Suddenly, however, it was far too quiet.
There was a brief pause in the sounds the forest provided at night. The crickets stopped their midnight songs and the wind halted its press against her living room windows, the subtle groan of the framework ceasing briefly. She looked up from her cup, startled as her eyes refocused on the fractured moon again, wide and spooked.
A line of red, searing and bright zipped across the pane of her window, a torrent of wind soon following and bending the tall, tall trees in its passing. Static filled her ears as it zipped past, frozen in place by the sudden light and bizarre noise of what she could only describe as a meteorite.
‘ That was… far too close .’ She thought to herself, her hands fidgeting and trembling around the mug held tightly in her hands and she glanced after where the blaze of fire had disappeared from her view.
Nothing could have prepared her for the sound that came to follow.
A loud crash, followed by a flash of light in the corner of her window made them jump, a small sound of fright escaping their lips as their cup tumbled from startled fingers. Her hands scrambled to catch the mug before it tumbled to the floor, another cry leaving their lips as all they grabbed splashed their palms in slightly too warm liquid. The mug fell just out of reach, landing on the carpet with a dull thud and spilling the rest of its contents out onto the plush material.
“Ah! God dammit… ” A shaky breath left her lips as she staggered out of her seat like a newborn dear, a tremble raking her body as she tried to avoid the mess on her carpet. A feeling of dread hung heavy in the air now with the hair on her arms standing on end as she continued to peer out the window at a scene she could not see. Light flickered somewhere beyond her field of view, dim and dying against the bark of the farther trees on her property.
It was silent for a while, the only noise audible was the steady sound of dripping tea and the shaky breaths leaving nervous lungs. They tied their robe tighter around themselves, the chill of the room finally getting to them as they looked away from the window and the dying light fading into the darkness. Their eyes studied the floor for a second, slipper clad feet shuffling nervously as they stared down at the wet spot slowly growing on their carpet.
Fingers, dripping and growing sticky, ran along the outer fabric of their robe, drying off what they could with a grimace on their face. They'd have to throw it in the wash later. With dryer hands, they reached down for their mug, straightening back up as they inspected the ceramic in their trembling hands. Their fingers ran over the rim of the mug, cursing silently as their finger snagged on a chip off the top.
Tch… this was their favorite mug too.
Her gaze rose back to the darkness of the trees, watching as the last bits of light died off and faded back to the black shadows of the tree bark. She heaved a heavy breath through her nose as she finally moved away from the loveseat in the corner and to the long hallway in the middle of her house that connected all her rooms. She paused for a second, letting her hands roam over her ruined mug as her eyes drifted over to the front door of her home.
Should she check…?
The question floats in her head like an old school game of pong, it dances and twirls in her thoughts as her eyes zero in on the door and then behind her once again to the darkened woods beyond the safety the lights of her home provided.
What business did she have investigating something like that? Truthfully.
A hum echoed deep in her throat, uncertain as she turned away from the window once again and headed off into the kitchen as the crickets finally resumed their midnight songs again after the long period of silence. There was a sluggishness in their movements as they placed their cup on the counter top, their fingers lingering in the dip of the chip on the rim before they reached out for the paper towels they left out specifically for accidents like this.
Their hands twisted in the loose end of the roll, gathering more than what they probably needed around their arm as they tried to think of anything but the curiosity growing in the forefront of their mind. They tore away at the paper, allowing the limp end to hand off their arm as they made their way back into the hallway and into the living room. They pointedly ignored looking back out their window.
As they blotted away at the now chilled tea stain on their carpet, their mind wandered back to that red light that soared past. Maybe it had been a stray rock from the moon falling close to her home? It wouldn’t be the first time she’s heard of pieces of it falling around her area. In fact, there had just been a massive chunk that landed not too far from Green Hills into the middle of a corn field. So who’s to say it wasn’t just some left over space stuff falling down to earth.
‘ … But what if it isn’t? ’ The thought caused her to stop her sluggish dabbing, the damp paper towel pressed down into the carpet. The thought lingered, curling its claws into her mind as she sat on her knees and let it wander. It draws her in like a pie on a window sill, and she’s weak to get away from her own curiosity.
The rest of the paper towels are ripped up and crowded around the spill in a halfhearted attempt to soak it up. She’d go after it with more gusto tomorrow when her thoughts didn’t scream their curiosity to the wind. A look of hesitance crossed her face as she lifted herself up off the ground and made her way back into the kitchen, crouching down to fish her emergency flashlight out of one of the cabinets.
Her robe hung heavily around her figure as she approached the front door, phone nestled deep in one of the pockets. She slipped her keys in beside them before bending to put on a pair of boots waiting for her by the door.
With a final huff, they made their way out into the darkness of the forest surrounding their home.
Without the dying embers illuminating the bark of the trees in the forest, it became somewhat difficult for them to find what they were looking for at this time of night. The woods seemed to drink up any light they tried to shine on them, the light of the punctured moon seeming to be the only thing capable of lighting their way through the forest at that moment.
Leaves and twigs snapped and crunched under their boots as they walked through the woods, getting their robe snagged on a few low hanging branches on the way. They took careful precaution not to be too loud as they went, wincing softly whenever a stick snapped a little louder than it should’ve.
She hoped whatever it was was worth all this.
They wandered around in the woods on their property for a good thirty-five minutes before they seemed to find what they were looking for. A small clearing surrounded by tall trees billowed with a steady stream of smoke and steam, being carried off with the wind in the opposite direction as more came. Coming closer, she saw a large crater in the ground, the grass around it burnt to a crisp and still smoldering in the darkness. She stepped closer to the hole, peering over its edge to what she assumed would be nothing more than a space rock laying on the inside.
Their eyes widened at what they saw laying there instead.
There was… a little guy? Slumped over on their side and clutching a pair of rings in their glove-clad hands. They looked really burnt and beat up, the… spikes coming out of their head were all singed and disheveled looking, along with a couple of cuts and ugly looking burns along their body. A gasp escaped her mouth at this sight.
Was this one of those “ aliens ” the townsfolk have been talking about recently? It's been a while since she’s gone into town, but last she was there there had been talk of alien animals and government stuff and giant robots built by men with way too much time on their hands. She subconsciously glanced up at the moon again, at the gaping hole in its side, and sighed.
Way too much time…
She leaned forward slightly to get a better look at the alien in front of her, watching closely for any sign that the thing was alive. There was no rise and fall of the chest, and they stayed so impossibly still where they laid, she had begun to think the poor thing must have died on impact.
But as she stepped further into the ditch, a few rocks displaced by her boots cascaded down onto the creature’s leg, causing it to give the faintest flinch away from the touch. She stumbled slightly at the sight, her eyes widening as her mouth opened in a silent gasp. It was alive!
… Oh God, it was alive.
The realization hit them like a truck, causing them to trip slightly in surprise and almost fall into the hole on top of the creature laying inside. Their arms swung out on either side of themselves as they tried to right their balance, a small squeak of horror leaving them.
A pointed ear that laid on the alien’s head twitched in the direction of the noise, flicking not unlike that of a cats’ in her direction.
The air around them seemed to freeze for a second as she stared at the black and red furred being nestled in the bottom of the crater, not taking her eyes off it for a second as she watched it intently. Her eyes flicking over their face, watching to see if it’d open its eyes and shoot lasers at her like some shitty old horror movie.
Nothing like that happened, however, no further movement coming from the creature at all. A sigh of relief soon followed the revelation, boots slowly creeping closer until she was fully standing over the hunched over being in the charred dirt. Smoke rose steadily from their fur, filling the air with an unpleasant burn smell that had her waving a hand in front of her nose to avoid breathing it in.
What were they even supposed to do in this situation?
The thought gave them pause as they stared down at the thing laying below them, their head tilting to the side slightly. A hand came up to rest on their hip as they bent down to examine the little guy more closely, careful not to touch him for fear of being either burnt or bitten should it decide to wake up suddenly. They thought a bit about what they should do. Should they leave it here? What if a wild animal got to the poor thing after they left and hurt it? Maybe the police, then?
The police…
Oh! That’s right, they’d completely forgotten!
There’s a family in town that raises these guys last she heard. The Wach-somethings? The husband was a police officer, if she remembered correctly. ‘ Weren’t they famous for saving the world? ’ She wondered to herself as she stripped her bathrobe from her shoulders and untied the sash from around her waist. Thank goodness she was wearing pajamas under it tonight, the cool night air making her shiver as she threw her robe over the still body of the creature, covering it completely.
There was no way they were gonna leave ‘em here if they could get the thing some help from in town. They hummed low in their throat as they shimmied around the body, hovering their hands over where the robe covered as they tried to decide how best to pick it up. Unfortunately, their fur was just a little too warm to touch comfortably with their bare hands, so they tried their best to keep the robe over parts they needed to be holding in order to carry them.
With a bit more shuffling, they manage to hook their arms under the bend in their knees and a little under those strange spines on the thing’s back. They stand with more ease then they would’ve expected, surprised by how light the alien was as they climbed out of the crater and back into the clearing. Well, they guessed something so small probably wouldn’t have weighed much more than this anyways.
Casting the crater one final look, they started to head off in the direction of their home, careful not to jostle the alien in their arms too badly. A pit formed in their stomach as they walked, nerves stirring as they got closer and closer to their destination. They stole a glance at the covered head of the alien as they questioned what the hell they were even doing.
Was this a smart move…?
Most definitely not.
But, they reasoned with themselves, if they can just hold onto the thing for the night then they could call someone in the morning to come and get it. The alien would only be there for four- maybe five hours tops, and then when someone came for them it’d be out of their hair forever. They wouldn’t have to think about the thing ever again.
Hopefully it didn’t wake up in the time she’d have it. She doubted it would, but knowing her luck…
The walk back to her home was much shorter than when she was going out to check the crash sight, no longer worried about making too much noise now that she knew what was here, the creature hanging limply in her arms. She maneuvered the thing as best she could while she opened the front door of her home, cradling it on her hip like a toddler. The comparison brought a wavering smile to her lips as she pushed the door open with her free hand, adjusting the alien in her arms again as she walked into her living room and to the couch. She laid them over the throw blanket already draped over the cushions, removing her robe from over top of them so she could examine them again.
They loomed over the body of their unexpected guest, getting a closer look at the singed fur and scrapes along their frame. The moon outside their living room window illuminated the onyx color of their guest, making them look almost blue under the light. They ghosted a hand over the alien’s arm briefly, feeling the steady heat that radiated off of them like a furnace before deciding that it probably still wasn’t safe to touch. They just hoped their couch would be able to survive the heat for the next few hours. It didn’t seem like they’d be cooling down anytime soon, unfortunately.
Casting one more glance down at the spiky alien creature, she decided that this was probably all she’d be able to do for the poor thing at this moment, walking out of the living room and back into her kitchen. She took a glass out of the cupboard above the sink, filling it with water to just about where it wouldn’t spill, returning to the creature shortly after and placing the glass on the coffee table in front of it. She doubted the thing was gonna wake up to drink it, but just in case.
With that, she took her leave and headed down the hallway to a room all the way at the end, cluttered walls greeting her as she as a wave of tiredness washed over her, a yawn forcing its way out of her mouth.
It probably wasn’t the smartest thing, going to bed when they should’ve been keeping an eye on the literal alien in their home, but the weight of their eyelids and the sweet call of sleep lulling them over to the plushness of their bed made it difficult to care. It was asleep and injured, after all. It probably wouldn’t wake up any time soon.
With another big yawn and a decision clumsily made in their mind, they flopped down onto their bed. Drowsy eyes stared out at the shadowed trees outside their bedroom window, watching as the leaves gently swayed while their eyelids sunk lower and lower until sleep cradled them into the world of dreams…
That is until a sudden shattering sound woke them up with a start.
Their eyes snapped open at the noise, staring back out the window to the trees swaying in the darkness outside. They froze in place, listening intently for any more noise while their eyes wandered to the alarm clock sitting on their nightstand. The numbers read out 3:34am. They’d been asleep for at most two hours.
The alien couldn’t have possibly woken up and broken something in that timeframe, right? The universe couldn’t possibly be that cruel to her…
She stayed laying on her bed for a little longer, no other sounds reaching her ears as she swallowed thickly around the lump growing in her throat. Moving as slowly as possible, she pulled herself off of her bed and began to creep over to the bedroom door, hands clenched tightly to her chest. She leaned slightly on the door and pressed her ear to the wood, listening again for any sound that could maybe prepare her for what was going to happen next. To her displeasure, her home remained completely silent.
A trembling hand came to rest on the door handle, slowly turning it and pushing the door out into the hallway, a creak from the wood making her flinch and look around in fear.
The hallway was the same as they’d left it before they went to sleep, from what they could see in the darkness. None of the pictures on the wall were broken, much less even moved, and there was nothing there that pointed to what the noise could have been. With a shaky exhale, they made their way out into the hallway, softly closing their bedroom door behind them.
The darkness of the hallway greeted them as they stepped into what felt like the den of a predator, slow steps taking them past the entrance of their kitchen and to the living room. The light of the moon spilled even brighter there, the shards of the broken glass they had left for their visitor glistening by the coffee table in front of the now empty couch. Thankfully, it seemed that the water had been consumed before the glass had fallen.
Where had the alien gone…? She looked around the living room in confusion, taking cautious steps as she looked behind furniture and in the darker corner where the light didn't quite reach.
She was in the middle of pulling back the curtains when a soft noise echoed behind her. It was so faint that she almost missed it, the small shuffling sound from somewhere beyond the room she was in. A shiver ran up her spine then, suddenly feeling like she was being watched.
She understood why she had felt that way almost immediately, if the soft steps approaching were anything to go by. Her little alien was right behind her, she thought as the steps stopped a little away from her.
‘Well,’ came a thought as she felt eyes sear into her back, ‘hopefully being killed by a mutant animal will give me bragging rights in heaven…’
… The thought did not make them feel any better about this, they decided.
They stood frozen in place for what felt like hours, but was actually only a few seconds at most. Silence enveloped them as night sounds echoed outside their home, whatever was behind them not making any more moves towards them.
The suspense was killing them!
“... Um..” They hummed, turning their head the smallest bit to the side as they slowly stood up straight from where they had been looking behind the curtains. They kept their back turned just in case that kind of movement set the thing off.
“ You ,” A deep voice rumbles from behind her, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin.
That was not the voice she expected to be coming from such a small creature, if she had expected a voice at all .
In her surprise, she picked up the quiet sound of slightly labored breathing on the other side of the room. Her hands twitched at her sides as her brows furrowed slightly, continuing to listen to the subtle puffs of air behind her.
Oh yeah, they’d forgotten that their little guest was injured and unbandaged , their fur was far too hot to touch before to do anything to help them. A feeling of guilt and concern overwhelmed them as they were consumed with silence once again.
With a wavering resolve, they turned their head to the side to look at the wounded anthropomorphic animal behind them.
A sharp red glare flashed up to meet their eyes, the alien was crouched low in a defensive position, black and red quills flaring from their head in an intimidation display. There was… a strange sort of grumbling noise coming from them now that they were looking at each other, it sounded like gravely, heavy and quick sighs coming from deep within their chest. The sound amplified when they shifted, coming out as more of a growl, but not quite.
Kind of like huffing..? Isn’t that something certain animals do when they're stressed?
Like hedgehogs for example.
Resisting the urge to hum at the thought, she backed up slightly away from the alien/hedgehog-esque creature. The backs of their thighs hit into the window sill, the cool glass pressing against their back as they leaned into it and raised their hand at their sides with their palms open. They hoped the gesture was understood by them, a wordless sign of harmlessness.
The huffing sounds got louder as she moved, spines puffing more and more until her back hit the window and her hands went up in surrender. That harsh glare stayed pointed at her face as they adjusted their position, the grumbling sound getting a little quieter as they stalked farther away from the couch and closer to the hallway.
“Who… are you, and where am I..?” That low voice returned, echoing around her head as she watched him back up further and further away from her until he was blocking the exit. The action spooked her a little when she realized what he had done, wide eyes flicking to the hallway and back to his face again.
“Uhh… I..,” They started, trying to keep themselves from shuffling too much as they tried to figure out a way to get out of here should things go sour.
‘ The window will have to do… ’ She thought, her hand slowly splaying over the cool glass. A gulp slid its way down her throat when she saw his eyes flicker down to her hand before returning to her face. A weird yellow spark crackling around his frame briefly, the huffing noise from earlier returning.
“ I won’t ask again… ” To her horror, instead of continuing to step back and away from her, the alien took a step forward, the threat ringing heavily in the way he bared his teeth at her. Panic shot through her system and she seemed to short circuit for a second before pressing her back fully into the window pane, waving her hands frantically in the air. “Okay-okay! I get it, I’m sorry!” She stammered, breaths coming out much quicker now.
“U-uhhh, oh fuck… ” They cursed under their breath, scouring their brain for a response that wouldn’t make the thing angry enough to kill them. “I’m the owner of this house, you’re in my living room.” They stutter over their response, watching as the alien’s eyebrows(?) creased in what was likely confusion.
“Why am I here?” He asked after a brief pause, his posture shifting a bit as his hands flexed at his sides. His spines still stood on end, and that silent, labored sort of breathing never really went away either. It was just fainter now.
“You… kind of crash-landed into my backyard and I carried you out of a crater and onto my couch.” They explained, watching as the light of the moon behind them illuminated their living room, giving it a slight blue hue. “I was hoping I could call someone in the morning to come get you while you were passed out, but as you can see…” They finished, gesturing to him with a wave of their hand still in the air.
His brows furrowed as they spoke, dipping into an agitated look when they mentioned someone would be coming to get him. She watched as he became even more rigid then he was before, concerning her a bit with how tense he seemed to be. If he stayed like that, the poor thing was gonna pull something.
“You, ” The tone that greeted her made her blood freeze, looking back up into the meanest glare she’d ever seen in her life. If looks could kill, as they say.
Confusion gripped her as the room seemed to drop in temperature and a sudden ringing grew loud in her ears. The alien in front of her was growling openly now, teeth fully bared as more of that strange electricity encircled him like a live wire.
Why was he getting so upset? Did he not want her to call anyone…?
“Who were you going to call? ” He demanded, stepping closer with silent steps that brought dread running down her spine. The rapid beating of her heart thundered in her ears as he drew closer, her hand moving back down to unlatch the window should she have to make a break for it.
This was going absolutely terribly.
“Please calm down! I wasn’t gonna call anyone bad, i just wanted to get you some help from town-”
“I don’t need help.” He interrupted, his shoe crunching broken glass from the forgotten glass under his weight. The round rang like alarm bells in their ears, eyes zeroing in on the sparkling glass for a second before returning to the being that was probably about to kill them.
“Alright, I heard you loud and clear. No help. I won’t call anyone.” She stammered, clutching onto the window latch like her life depended on it. Honestly, it probably did. “I won’t call anyone, so can you please stop doing that. I’m gonna pass out, I swear to God.” She pleaded, a hand pressed into the center of her chest.
The alien stayed where he was, staring at her with a lowered brow for what felt like forever, before he finally relented and took the smallest step back. A large sigh of relief escaped from her before she could stop it, her frame drooping as her head dipped low. Her hand pulled away from the window as she was eventually given more space, the creature standing back at the entrance of the room, sealing her in once more.
She studied him as he stood there, hand still on their chest as they tried to chase away the feeling of impending doom still draped around them. His brows were furrowed, though a little less than before, and he was looking around the room more curiously now.
Huh… he was actually kind of cute just standing there like that. In a fucked up stuffed animal kind of way.
He was standing up a little straighter now, his back not as hunched over in the defensive position it was in before. His glowing red eyes wandered over the living room, lingering for a second on the pile of tea stained paper towels over by the corner that they had left earlier. A short hum echoed in his throat before he moved onto something else.
A glint in the corner of their eyes caught their attention while they were watching him, their gaze returning to the sharp shards of glass littering their carpet. A sigh left them at the sight, causing the alien’s attention to snap back onto them, eyes narrowing slightly. An ear on his head flickers slightly in their direction, and they try their hardest not to say anything about it as they make a move to do something about that glass.
The action draws the alien’s attention back onto her fully, eyes once again narrowing in her direction.
“What are you doing?” He demands, his hands clenching at his sides again. Pausing her movements, she gestures to the broken glass on the carpet, the tiny particles of glass dust twinkling among the fibers. His gaze followed her hand before returning to her face.
“I need to clean that up before someone hurts themselves from stepping on it.” She said, speaking softly but staying still. It seemed to her that he got agitated whenever she moved.
A scoff left him as he crossed his arms over his frame, looking down at her with disdain and mild annoyance. “I will not be hurt by merely stepping on some glass.” He sassed, flicking his head to look at the back wall.
“Well, Mr. alien, you might not get hurt by it, but I will. I would like to walk past you, if that's okay?” They asked, staying still as they watched him for his reaction. His head stayed turned to the side, but his ears were facing them, so they knew he was paying attention.
Staying where they were, they waited for a response, relaxing their posture as they looked back over to the glass and where he had already stepped on it with his shoes. Now that they were looking more closely, he had tracked little bits of glass all the way to the entrance of the room, giving them more to clean.
They drooped a little at the sight, dejected.
A small ‘hmph’ noise emitted from the alien in front of them, drawing their eyes back up to him as he slowly moved out of the way of the doorway and closer to the couch. He stood in front of the cushions, but didn't make any moves to sit down, standing there with his arms crossed as he looked out the window at the moon.
They figured that was as clear a sign as any to get moving. So, with slow and silent steps, they made their way out of the room and into the kitchen to grab a dustpan and broom. Upon further inspection of the kitchen, they realize that stuff has been moved around. There’s another cup on the counter, half filled with water and the cabinet they keep snacks in had been opened.
A few more, smaller things had been moved around, draws left slightly opened and things pushed out of their original places. What had the little guy been doing in here?
Grabbing the broom and dustpan, which had been toppled over by the way, they made their way back into the living room. The alien they had left there seemed to have decided to sit on the couch in their time alone, one leg crossed the other as he continued to stare out of the window.
Creeping forward, she bent down on the floor by the coffee table, picking up the larger pieces of glass and putting them into the dustpan. The carpet wasn’t so fluffy that it would be difficult to sweep, but she would definitely need to go over it with her vacuum after. She glanced up at the alien sitting quietly on the couch, jumping slightly when she realized his eyes were already on her. Red eyes side-eyed her while she cleaned, there was no real heat in his gaze, however, just observing silently.
A good majority of the glass had been picked up by the time they finally got the courage to speak, timid eyes flicking to the alien’s burn marks every now and then as they cleaned.
“Do you… do those hurt?” They asked softly, bringing the dustpan closer as they swept up what they could of the glass into the dish. Silence settled in the pause of the question, a little still as they moved on from the glass to the pile of paper towels from earlier. They figured they got whatever loose tea was there by now. They passed by the front of the window, choosing to give the alien space rather than cross so close to it by the couch.
They had just crouched back down onto the floor when he finally decided to speak.
“Hmph, don’t bother. They’ll be gone by morning.” He answered, recrossing his legs to the other side as his eyes slid over to stare at them while they cleaned. They noticed that he seemed a little more at ease now, though they wouldn’t exactly call his posture relaxed. Just not as on edge.
She figured aliens probably had a different recovery rate that a human would, but ‘ by morning ’ had earned her guest some disbelieving side eye. She noticed that he bristled a little under her stare, his quills flaring slightly as he glared at her.
The room remained silent for a bit after that, the heat of the glare fading after a while as a chill settled back in the room. The rest of the ripped up pieces of paper towel soon joined the broken glass in the dustpan, a sigh leaving them at the sight. The tiredness from earlier was starting to return to their frame, making their shoulders slump slightly as they took a few seconds to themselves to just rest on the floor on their knees, paying the alien no mind as they still felt his gaze on their back.
Their knees popped as they moved to stand, cracking their back with a big stretch, arms reaching over their head with a groan. Their shadow stretched long and dark over the living room as they crossed behind the coffee table again, their movements being tracked the whole way with not a single word spoken between them.
As they passed through the threshold of their living room and into the hallway, they paused for a second and wandered back to the alien sitting on the couch. Remembering the state their kitchen had been left in when they went to get their broom in the first place, they turned their head to the side to address him softly. “Are you hungry at all? I saw that you went through my snacks in the kitchen.” She muttered, watching as a black ear atop his head flicked in her direction.
“I didn’t take anything.” He stated, his eyes locked onto hers in what felt oddly like a challenge of some kind. Her head tilted to the side at the answer, pursing her lips at him slightly. “Okay… but are you hungry?” She tried again, her hands flexing around the handle of the broom in her grasp.
“I don’t need it.” Came his short reply, his head fully turned to her now with slightly wider eyes. His expression was a mix of slightly annoyed and curious, his fingers flexing from where he had his arms wrapped around himself. She huffed slightly at his answer, earning herself more ear twitches as they seemed to stand a little straighter on his head.
This was an incredibly silly interaction and she was far too tired to appreciate it.
“That’s not what I… you know what? Stay there, I’ll be back.” She sighed before heading off into the kitchen without another word.
Throwing the broken glass and soiled paper towels into the trash and putting away the broom and dustpan, she began to riffle through the snacks she had in her pantry. It was the end of the week, so there wasn’t much left to share and she knew he had already gone through here while she was asleep. Actually, now that she thought about it, he was probably in here going through her stuff when she first went to investigate the living room earlier. She probably interrupted his scurrying.
With a small hum, she quickly picked over what she had left, pulling out a breakfast bar of a flavor she didn’t particularly like. Her eyes glanced over to the half full glass of water sitting on her counter, quickly grabbing it and pouring out what was left into the sink. Despite all the threatening gestures her guest had been displaying earlier, she felt there was something almost childlike about him. With that thought in mind, she headed over to her fridge with the glass and poured him some fruit juice, the reddish liquid splashing up the sides of the glass.
Hey, he could probably benefit from the added sugar after whatever the hell he’s been through.
The resolve steadfast in her mind, she reentered the living room with her offerings and placed them on the table in front of her guest. She watched as his eyes flickered with slight interest, his hands twitching faintly from around himself. He didn’t make any moves to reach for the stuff she offered, however, simply staring at it from where he sat on the couch.
“... Well?” She questioned, staring down at the small creature on her couch as he continued to sit there and not move. He looked up at her when she spoke with inquisitive eyes and she was suddenly hit by how cute he looked like this, biting her inner cheek to keep from smiling at him in case it set him off in some way. “I brought these out for you, take them. Maybe they’ll give you some energy.” She encouraged, lifting the cup as condensation began to run down the sides and drip from her hands.
Red eyes zeroed in on the glass, following the clear drops slowly slide down its sides and over their fingers, before he lifted up his own and reached to grab it. Their hands moved to support the bottom of the cup to give him room to wrap his fingers around where theirs had been without touching each other. As his hand wrapped around the glass, they noticed just how dirty his gloves were, blotched with dirt and burn marks. They internally grimaced as he brought the glass closer to himself, sniffing at the top and almost putting his whole nose into the cup.
They watched as he took a tentative sip of the drink, his ears pulling back not long after. “It’s sweet.” He grumbled, pulling the cup away from himself. He glared down into the liquid, his lip pulling up in a grimace.
They couldn’t stop the short laugh that escaped their lips at the sight.
“Yeah, it’s fruit juice, bud.” She chuckled to herself, pressing her finger against the glass when he tried to push it further away from himself and back onto the table. “It’s usually really sweet unless you specifically get it unsweetened. Drink a little more of it, just to get some sugar in your system. And if you really don’t like it then you can put it down and I'll get you some more water instead.” She said gently, coaxing him into drinking about half of the glass before he put it down with a shake of his head.
Okay, so he didn’t like overly sweet things. Duly noted. He probably wasn’t going to like the breakfast bar either then…
“Try this, I’m not sure you’re going to like it, but it’s definitely less sweet than the juice.” She picked up the plainly packaged snack and handed it to him, grabbing the glass soon after and heading out of the room. She heard him tear open the plastic as she was leaving and she silently hoped she wouldn’t see the snack with one bite taken out of it and then placed on the table.
When they reached the kitchen, they poured out the rest of the juice into the sink and rinsed the cup. If their guest had been someone they knew, they would’ve just drank the rest of the juice. They didn’t know what kind of bacteria could be in his mouth, however, so out it went down the drain. Pouring out juice in this economy…
With a shake of their head, they filled the cup about halfway with water from the tap, hurrying back into the living room with the cool glass in hand. To their surprise, the alien had actually finished the breakfast bar, the wrapper sitting flattened out on the table. The look on his face, however, told them all they needed to know about how he felt about that though.
She must have a death wish or something with how much she was chuckling at the poor thing in the last twenty minutes.
“Didn’t like it?” She asked with a small laugh, earning herself a wavering glare. The action only made her want to laugh more, but she stopped herself to not upset him any further. She placed the glass on the table, watching as he immediately moved to grab it and nearly down the whole thing in one gulp.
“Why is everything you have so sweet?” He said, wiping at the corner of his mouth with the back of his dirty-ass glove. Her eyes narrowed at the fabric, but she doubted he would let her take them from him.
“I usually have more savory stuff, but it's the end of the week. I haven’t restocked yet. You came at a bad time.” It was meant to be a joke, but the look they got from the small black and red creature made them second guess their choice of words. His eyes returned to that hardened glare they were in earlier, his finger drumming against his side as he glanced up at their face, a scowl growing on his. He uncrosses his legs as he stands up from the couch, looking away from them and out their window, light catching in his eyes from the full moon high in the sky.
“I’ve overstayed my welcome here.”
“What? Wait, no, that’s not what I meant-” They tried to explain, stepping closer to the alien as he continued to look away from them. He closed his eyes then, taking a deep breath before a flash of green light enveloped him. A small cry of surprise left them as they were momentarily blinded by the sudden brightness, shielding their eyes from the light.
When they managed to open their eyes against the blaze, their little unplanned guest was gone.
“... Ugh.. of course.” She mumbled in exasperation, putting a hand to her forehead as she scolded herself for not thinking the literal space alien wouldn’t understand the concept of a joke.
… Oh God, she couldn’t believe she scared off the scary(cute) intergalactic space hedgehog!
A groan fell from her lips as she moved to clean up the slight mess left by him, just the wrapper and the robe she had left next to him on the couch. She realized with a snort that he had taken the cup with him. Some of her disappointment was dissolved by the thought.
With tired hands, they cleaned up what they could of their living room without pulling out their vacuum, not wanting to deal with all that noise right now. Their couch had, in fact, survived all the heat that was radiating off the alien, sitting pretty and unscorned in the center of their living room. They let out a sigh of relief at the sight.
By the time they were done the clock had read out 4:28am on their wall. They couldn’t even watch the thing for 3 hours, let alone until morning like they had planned.
Should they still make that phone call? They weren’t sure anymore after that show he had put on earlier when they mentioned the idea to him. They’d have to sleep on the idea. Morning them could deal with it, they thought as a loud yawn left them.
Speaking of sleep…
With a tired hum and another big stretch, they head out of the living room and down the hallway, the crowder walls of their bedroom greeting them once again as they enter. The dimness of their room greets them like an old friend, persuasive and convincing as they fall onto the sheets they didn’t remake from getting woken up earlier. They pulled their legs up to their chest as they rolled onto their side. They couldn’t see the moon from this side of the house, but the trees swayed all the same, the dark silhouettes visible against the midnight blue of the sky and the twinkling white stars.
She could’ve sworn, somewhere in the darkness among the bark, a pair of red eyes looked into her own. As soon as she blinked they were gone, so she chalked it up to imagination.
‘It doesn’t matter anyway… ’ She thought to herself as sleep consumed her like a hungry beast, eyes drifting shut to block out the waking world around her. Her dreams did little to steel that resolve though, if the passing images of alien hedgehogs eating snacks that were far too sweet floating through her mind were anything to go by.
That next morning, she got a knock on her door from a few government agents asking about an energy pulse and a black and red alien hedgehog named ‘Shadow’ .
She told them she had no idea what they were talking about, and then promptly shut the door in their faces…
Snitches get stitches , as the kids say.