It took another week and a half to reach Caspin's home-planet of Invaer. As they approached, Cas called Adrian up to the bridge to pull up a view of Invaer on the big screen. It was surreal for Adrian to see. It reminded the man of Earth. There was the blue of oceans, the green and brown of land, and swirling white clouds. It was strange at the same time. The land masses were the wrong shape and there were larger areas of white at the poles.
Caspin punched in coordinates and then took Adrian's hand.
"What do you think?" the fox asked timidly.
"It's like Earth, but different at the same time. Does it get colder here?" The human wondered aloud, though he kept holding the fox's hand.
"In some areas," Cas answered. "We have a good sized temperate zone. The tropical band is narrower than Earth's. Our arctic areas are larger, but there's a lot of life there. It's not as severely cold, though there's snow all year round. My family lives on the largest continent." Caspin pointed it out on the screen. "It's pretty mild most of the year. The rainy season is beautiful...so many rainbows and waterfalls."
"Sounds wonderful," Adrian responded. He was actually quite excited to see it all for himself. "What's your family like?" More importantly, he wanted to know what the fox’s family would think of the fact that Caspin picked him up from Earth and wasn't returning him.
"Oh, they're...nice." Cas grimaced. "There are a lot of them. I'm one of five pups, though my older siblings have families of their own now. Then there are the aunts and uncles and their pups." The fox rubbed his thumb along the back of Adrian's hand. "I'm the only throwback in the family right now. Although, mom says my great-great grandpa was bland-colored and may have been a throwback and just kept it secret."
"Wow, big family!" Adrian mused. "So, are there only foxes on your planet?"
"Oh, no!" Cas shook his head. "There's lots of other life on the planet. We're pretty proud of our biodiversity. There's only one other sentient species though." Caspin explained. "They're kind of dog or wolf-like, if you want to compare it to your planet. They're humanoid like us, but with ears and tails like me. And teeth..." the fox shuddered. "Very big teeth." Cas made a face. "Anyway, we've been mostly at peace with them for centuries. There are sometimes...cultural misunderstandings, and there are always dark rumors. I never know if I should believe them." The little fox paled. "They used to eat us. Some say they still do, and if one of our people goes missing they say the Kaynens ate them and then covered it up."
"....and that just makes me want to be right next to you at all times." Adrian admitted. "I'd rather you not come across any of those Kaynens, friendly or not." He then thought of something. "Is there anything else I should know? Any gestures that they would think are rude or any words I shouldn't say?"
"I should have thought of that! You're so smart." Cas thought for a minute. "Um, don't touch someone's ears or tail unless they're a pup or you want to have sex with them. Let's see, what else? Don't look a Kaynen in the eye unless you want to fight them. The pups always eat first at meals." Cas paused. "Oh, and never call someone by their last name unless you know them very well. If I think of anything else I'll let you know."
"...maybe I'll just keep quiet when I'm not spoken to." Adrian decided. "...and keep my hands to myself."
"You'll be fine." Cas giggled. "And I hope you don't keep your hands to yourself too much..."
"Let me amend that last statement...I'll keep my hands to myself and to you." Adrian replied as he leaned down to place a kiss on Cas' cheek.
"Yay!" The fox grinned, tilting his cheek up to the kiss. "Now have a seat and buckle up. We'll be hitting the atmosphere soon. Then it's just a little bit until we hit port."
The human followed the instructions without any hesitation. Their descent took a while, but when they finally docked, Adrian felt that excitement bubble up once again. It was one thing to visit another country. It was an entirely different thing to visit another planet.
Caspin had a bag slung across his shoulder as he walked hand in hand to the exit hatch.
"Okay, we vaccinated you and checked you for allergies."
Adrian nodded.
"We ordered you clothes that should have already been sent to my parents'."
The soccer player nodded again.
"Anything else I forgot?" Cas asked as they stood in front of the exit.
The taller man grinned. "Have you let your parents know that we're here?" He asked.
Caspin's eyes widened. "Oh, dammit!"
The fox dropped his bag and scampered back up the hall to the nearest computer screen. He waved a hand over it and then tapped on the screen.
"Hey, Mom!"
::
From the moment that Caspin had first brought Adrian on board, he had applied for all the necessary permits to allow Adrian to be on Invaer. Though it was wishful thinking on his part, he was glad for it just then. It made getting through security and customs a much easier affair. It was early in the morning, so there weren't many people around. The foxes they saw tended to be multi-hued in fur and eye color with a lot of variations in markings.
"Now we just need to get the car." Caspin said after signing the last screen.
Adrian chuckled as Caspin flitted about like a busy bee to call his parents and to sign them through customs. "I wonder what your cars look like."
"Similar to yours." Cas said as they walked out into the morning sunshine.
There was what was immediately identifiable as a car at the curb. The concrete ended at the curb though. Past the sidewalk was soft grass, multi-colored stones, and short flowers. The layout of the grass and gravel reminded Adrian of markings on streets and highways.
The car was tiny, clearly made only for two, with no backseat. The headlights were blue and the tail lights were green, but it could have passed for a fancy new-age car on Earth, except for a few things.
"Ours hover and don't use fossil fuels." Caspin said with a smile as he opened the door for Adrian.
"Then they're tons better than ours," He gruffly admitted. As they drove on, he gaped at the scenery, taking note of the subtle differences in the leaves of the trees and plants on the planet. Even the terrain had certain differences that intrigued him.
Caspin took delight in pointing things out to Adrian as they drove.
"Oh, look, those are kind of like your cows." Caspin pointed to a herd of shaggy beasts behind a long fence. They had long ears like a lop-eared rabbit and short fluffy tails.
"We use them for their fur." He explained. "The Kaynens eat them and use their skin."
"They seem like a mix of cows and sheep..." Adrian commented. "Do the authorities do anything about the Kaynens? Do you even have authorities?"
"Of course." Caspin snorted. "And if people break the law, Kaynen or not, there is an investigation and they get the appropriate consequence. We don't really do prisons here, though. There's more of a focus on rehabilitation."
"Something's something, I guess." The human figured. "At least they're not allowed to do whatever they want all the time without consequence."
"I guess it does probably sound kind of weak to you." Caspin frowned. "I hope there aren't any cultural things that really bother you."
"I didn't mean for it to come out like that..." Adrian explained. "I just...worry. Wouldn't want anything to happen to you."
"You're sweet." Cas leaned over and patted Adrian's hand. "Our crime rate is very low, and the talk of the Kaynens is really just that, talk." Caspin brightened. "Oh look! We're here!"
They pulled up to a little cottage built into the side of a small hill.
"Most of the house is underground. It's great when it's hot or cold out. When we need more room, we just build deeper into the hill." Cas explained as he climbed out of the car.
"So you expand lower, not higher or wider..." Adrian was curious about the idea. When he stepped out of the car he took a good look around before following Cas.
"It depends on the house and-eep!" He was cutoff as a multicolored blur tackled him from the side.
"Caspin!" Etsu squealed with joy. "Haven't seen you in so long!" He purred loudly, rubbing his cheek against his cousin's, black tail wagging.
Adrian was so startled that words refused to come out of his gaping mouth.
The human extended his hand out to shake and the dark-haired fox gave him an odd look before eventually giving it a shake. "What happened to his ears?"
"He doesn't have ears or a tail." Caspin explained.
"Wait, what?" Etsu questioned, confused.
"He's a human, from a planet called Earth," Cas finished.
Adrian nearly let out a snort of amusement when Etsu gaped at him with a hint of pity and disgust in his eyes.
Caspin growled and gave one of Etsu's ears a hard flick. "Be nice to my Adrian."
"Ow!" Etsu grumbled as he rubbed his ear with his hand. "I wasn't being mean or anything, jeez!"
Caspin growled again as he clambered to his feet, pointing at Etsu. "Nice!"
"Alright, already! I'll be nice..." Etsu whined.
As the three of them entered the house, Caspin was once again attacked. This time, it was his mother, who immediately grabbed him.
"Oh baby, we're so glad to see you safe and sound. You were gone for longer than usual,” his mother wailed. “You had us so worried!"
Caspin hugged his mom though his shoulders hunched defensively.
"I'm always gone that long, mom." Cas said with a sigh. "And I was fine. Better than fine, even." Caspin pulled back with a wide smile. He looked to his father, who was standing behind Cas' mother. "Dad, Mom, I want you to meet Adrian." He stepped back and took the tall soccer player's hand. "He's my boyfriend. He's from a planet called Earth. He...he's made the commitment to stay with me."
"Wait, boyfriend?" Etsu shrieked in shock. His mouth was open wide.
Caspin's mother turned her piercing gaze to the tall human before looking back to her son. "You leave for such a long time and come back with some foreigner?" She hissed, distrust dripping in her voice.
Adrian's eyes narrowed, but he didn't even flinch. "I am very grateful to your son." He stated calmly. "He practically saved my life, in more ways than one."
"Now, honey, I'm sure if Caspin chose him then he's a nice young man," Cas' father said, patting his wife on the shoulder. The tan and red-spotted fox peered at Adrian with green and gold eyes. "Are you a nice young man?" he asked more sternly.
"I would like to think so, sir." Adrian replied with a grin.
Etsu pressed his hands against Caspin's cheeks until it squished into a fish face. "What blasphemy is this that I wasn't the first person you told this to?"
"I would have told you," Cas' voice came out garbled, his pooched lips struggling around the words. "But you were busy making fun of his cute little ears."
Adrian burst out laughing. "You think my ears are cute, do you?" He teased as Etsu finally released Caspin’s face.
The dark-haired fox folded his arms across his chest in a petulant huff as Caspin blushed.
::
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