“There you are! Took ya’ long enough.” Alex winked at me, and I felt horrified.

“Okay, so let’s sit down and talk.” Me and Zesper sat on the couch, and it was not lost on me that Alex immediately chose to sit in my armchair.

I sat sideways, pulling my knees into my chest.

“So, how did you end up on Earth?” Alex was the one who started the conversation.

She was sitting sideways in my chair, her legs thrown over the armrest.

“I do not remember. I can recall flashes of light, and heat, intense heat. But the last memory before that was sitting down with my family to eat ﾌ卄卂ᗪҜ.” His face suddenly fell, and I felt a wave of sadness for him.

“You may have fallen through Earth’s atmosphere? That would explain the heat and light, and why the blanket thing and your pants were all burnt up.” Alex tilted her head up towards the ceiling, frowning, which was how I could tell she was thinking.

“I do not understand. My home is many light-years away from Earth. There is no way I could have accidentally landed here.” Zesper paused, and his eyes seemed to mist over. “My family must be worried. My sister and I, we were supposed to go to 丂卂ᗪㄖㄒtoday.”

“I’m sorry.” I laid a hand on his shoulder, and his tail tapped my hand.

“I do not understand. I want to go home.” I glanced at Alex, mentally asking her what the hell we were going to do.

“We’ll help you!” Alex jumped out of her chair in excitement, and I looked at her, my eyes filled with alarm.

Alex, what the hell are you doing?!

“You will?!” Zesper paused. “Wait, why? You both have been very nice, why?” His eyes were full of hope, despite his words.

Alex shrugged. “BECAUSE! Eh, why not?”

Zesper looked at me and I only shrugged at him, indicating that I had evidently no choice in the matter.

“And besides, there are a lot of people on Earth who would probably want you dead or worse, and it really isn’t safe for you out there.”

“Why would other humans want me dead?” I looked at Zesper, glad to escape Alex’s searching gaze. 

“Well, not all humans. There’s a lot of us. But you’re what we would call an “alien”, and some people would want to do uh, well, experiments to see how you’re different from us. So it’s probably best we keep you hidden for now.”

“I see.” He looked down, and I noticed he was scratching his wrist again. “No wonder all other species are told to avoid you at all costs.”

“Is there other life throughout the galaxy?” Alex was a space nerd, and she had always believed in extraterrestrial life forms.

“Yes, many species. Most have societies similar to Earth’s, but Earth is far behind in technology. You haven’t even developed teleportation yet.”

I felt a little miffed, but I couldn’t exactly disagree with him.

“In fact, I don’t know how you intend to help me. Earth doesn’t have the technology it would require for me to make it home.”

“We’ll figure something out, I’m sure of it. It may take a while, but I promise we’ll do our best to help you get home.” Alex looked so earnest, and Zesper looked so expectant, I couldn’t find it in me to bring up the hopelessness of the entire situation.

Zesper turned to me, his eyes shining. “You will help, too?”

Call me a fool, but I smiled back, and said, “Of course.”

~~~

“Alright, my ma’s expecting me, so I’ll be back tomorrow after work. Bye!” Alex waved as she walked out of my apartment, and then it was just me and Zesper.

“What do we do now?” Zesper looked at me, and I tried to ignore my rising panic at being left alone with him.

“Uh, I suppose we could um, try to get to know each other better.” I rubbed the back of my neck, all too aware of how incredibly corny that sounded.

“May I ask a question first?” He was thrilled at my suggestion, however, and it made me smile slightly.

“Shoot.”

“I do not understand what you mean.” The confused face made its return.

“Sorry! I guess you don’t know slang, huh? I meant you can ask.”

I’m going to have to watch what I say.

“What is in your face?” He pointed at my face, and it took me a second to realize what he was talking about.

“Oh, these are piercings.” I laughed at his fascinated expression.

He scrambled across the couch too quickly for me to put a hand up, and before I could blink he was right above my face and gently poking my bridge piercing.

“Does it hurt you?” His hands moved to the gauges in my ears.

OhmygodOhmygodOhmygod.

I gulped, and tried to ignore the thoughts racing through my head.

“Well, at first they do, but not anymore unless they get yanked- I mean pulled, on.”

He showed no sign of moving and him hovering above my body was causing all the blood to rush straight down to my lower half.

“Alex only had metal in her hearing orifices, but you do not.” He touched my nose ring.

I coughed slightly. “You can choose where to get them. Not everyone has them, and some people have ton- a lot. Also, they’re called ears.”

“Interesting.” He moved back to his side of the couch and I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.

“I have another question.” His face was the picture of innocence, but I swear his eyes glinted, almost as if he knew exactly what he was doing.

“Alright.” I tried to get my face to cool down.

“Do you have nutrition I can have?”

“Of course!” I jumped up, glad to have an excuse to move away, if only to escape his searching gaze.

I searched my cabinets, trying to think of something Zesper would like. “Um, you can try this. They’re called doritos, it’s one of my favorites.”

I walked back to the couch and opened the bag before handing the chips to Zesper.

He grabbed a chip and looked at it suspiciously, then cautiously put it in his mouth and started chewing.

I laughed as I watched his face transform from doubt to pure joy. “I AM HIGHLY ENJOYING YOUR FAVORITE.”

I snorted and reached over to snatch a couple. “Yeah, they’re pretty great. Alex hates ‘em though.”

He scarfed down the bag in ten seconds flat, and while he was eating, I noticed his tongue was abnormally long. It looked more like a snake’s than a human’s, but he seemed to eat normally.

My couch was rather small, so it wasn’t hard for Zesper’s tail to reach over and tap me on the head again. I was beginning to enjoy the little taps, and it was impossible to keep myself from smiling softly.

He is kinda cute….

No! Don’t think like that!

“Humans sleep, correct?” I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up at Zesper.

“Yeah, and speaking of which, it’s getting late. Do you need to sleep?”

“Yes, but not as much as humans.” He stretched his arms, and his eyes got that look again.

“We do not often sleep alone, however.” He sighed quietly. “Regardless, where do you want me to sleep tonight?”

Guilt was eating away at me, and I conducted a full argument with myself in the span of a couple seconds.

The bed is big enough, he can sleep with you.

No way, he can just sleep on the couch!

He’s had a horrible day, you can at least offer.

It’s way too weird. It’s creepy! I shouldn’t.

He’s homesick, you’re really gonna leave him out here by himself?

But…

And you definitely don’t want him wandering outside, do you?

“Well, you can sleep on the couch…” He started scratching his wrist, and I broke. “Or if you want, you can sleep with me? You don’t have to or anything…” I trailed off, laughing nervously.

Oh my god, that sounded so creepy, he’s gonna think I’m a perv.

He smiled brightly, and something told me I had just willingly walked into a trap. “If you do not mind, I would appreciate that.”