“So, uh, goodnight.” I clicked off the lights then blindly made my way to my side of the bed.

“卂ㄩ乇卄几.” Was all that came from the other side of the bed, and I felt too embarrassed to ask what he meant.

It was all too apparent to me how close we were in the darkness. My mattress was a queen, so all it would take was for me to touch him was an outstretched arm.

I closed my eyes and did my best to ignore the body next to me.

At some point, I must have fallen asleep, because the next time I woke up I could see brightness outside the curtains, and while that may have been the first thing I noticed, it was not the most important.

The most important was the second thing I noticed, which was that Zesper was half on top of me. The third and fourth things I noticed were that his tail had wrapped around my arm, and his head was laying on my chest.

That’s when I panicked.

Oh fuck, what am I supposed to do? This is so awkward.

Dammit, I should have known this would happen.

And there’s no way for me to slide out, not with this damn tail wrapped around my arm.

My heart sped up way too quickly, and for a moment I was sure it would wake him up. One of his arms was casually thrown across my torso, and every inch of my body was hyper-aware of the contact.

I had never once been in a situation like this, and my mind was screaming multiple things at me. On one hand, I should be waking him up and pushing him off, but on the other hand, I had twenty-three years of horniness telling me to stay put.

Alex! I’ll just text her!

I awkwardly reached my hand back to grab my phone from the side table. I texted Alex one-handed and she responded immediately.

help plz!! Zesper is asleep on my chest! what do i do???

omg thats so cuteee

youre not helping… do i wake him up?

no!!!! cuddle him!!!!

we just met tf

gtg, ill stop by after wrk… cuddle him ;)

I groaned inwardly and exhaled. That was useless. I glanced at Zesper, thinking about what Alex said. Even if I were crazy enough to do what Alex said… what if in his culture it’s different? What if what he’s doing means gratitude or friendship to him? Or worse, he may not even have meant to do this at all...

He started moving and I freaked out.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

In a moment of intense brainpower, I closed my eyes and tried to slow my breathing. There was some vague movement, and then he froze completely. I was sweating slightly, thinking he had realized I wasn’t actually sleeping. But then he jolted away from me and his tail whipped off my arm.

I almost jumped when he started talking incredibly fast, “丨卂ㄩ乇卄几千Ҝﾌᗪ丂 乇丨ㄩ卂ᗪ千Ҝﾌ 丨ㄖ乇ㄚ尺ㄖ丨乇 丂ᗪ卂千卂丂ᗪ千! 丂ㄒ卂山乇Ꮆ乇ㄒᗪ丂Ꮆ乇 乇卂Ꮆ山Ꮆ卂乇卂卄尺!”

I felt strangely sad at what was obviously a bad reaction, but I mentally shook myself.

This is what you wanted.

I can want more than one thing, you know.

But then his ranting turned strangely sad, and at that moment, I swear I would have given anything at all to know what he was saying.

It took everything in me not to move when his hand brushed over my head. I was holding my breath, and he said something else in his language, running his hands through the top of my hair.

Just as quickly, he jerked away, and I felt him get off the bed, then footsteps leading out of the room. I let out the breath I had been holding, gulping air. I opened my eyes and sat up, running my hand through the same spot he had just been touching.

What just happened?

~~~

I took a shower and then emerged from my room, determined to put the morning’s incident behind me.

I walked cautiously into my living room, peeking around the corner to see where Zesper was.

Play it cool, play it cool.

Zesper looked up from my armchair, where he was curled up like a cat, and his eyes seemed puffy. “Ah, hello Felix.”

He discreetly wiped at his eyes, and it sent a pang straight through me.

He was crying.

“Hey. You want some breakfast?” I smiled softly at him, wishing I could put him at ease. Wishing I could help him. Wishing for a lot of things.

“Agreeable.” He got up from the armchair and followed me into the kitchen, where I opened the fridge, looking for food.

“How ‘bout eggs?” I looked up for conformation and jumped when I realized he was peering over my shoulder into the fridge with me.

“What are eggs?” He looked up at me, sending another pang through me, and this one had nothing to do with sadness.

“Uh, I can uh, make them, and you can tr-try them.” I grabbed the egg carton hurriedly, turning to hide my flushed face.

Dammit, what are you doing? Keep it together, Felix.

I made eggs and explained everything as I was doing it. Deep down there were thoughts telling me he was going to have to learn these types of things, because there was no way we could get him back home. I ignored them.