Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Somehow, somehow, I managed to escape. I used the moment Assassin was concentrated on the fight with these humans, thanks to that I could flee from the battlefield.

Now, with my invisible system turned on, I ran through this human habitat, avoiding being discovered as much as possible, which wasn't easy, even though it was the middle of the night, there were so many humans on the streets. Most were just pups in some ridiculous costumes. I don’t understand, humans aren't considered night creatures, so why were they here and why did they wear these stupid clothes? And even more, why did they go from house to house begging for food? At least that's what it looked like, given that almost every time someone opened the door, they were given some small pieces of strange, human food.

Interesting, but not the time for thinking about strange humans rituals. I quickly had to come up with some plan, or it would be my end.

Thankfully, I didn't have any serious injury, only a few bruises here and there, but my earlier wounds began to throb again. One thing was clear, I shouldn't fight right now, which meant I had to hide somewhere. The question was, where?

There were too many humans around even if most were just pups, had any of them noticed me, they would have started a scandal and then human enforcers would come, assuming that they were still alive after a fight with Assassin, and what's worse, with them, Assassin could come. So best not to dwell around the human pups.

With this thinking, I reached a side street. There were fewer humans than on central streets, but still too much to move freely. With no better option, I climbed on the tree which grew next to one of human’s house. A pretty big house that was separated from the others by a high wooden wall. There was only one human in the house, but fortunately, the little human seemed not to notice me, which meant I could rest safely till the rest of the humans went back into their houses so I could run away. For now, that was all plan I had, and all I could do for now.

Satisfied, I didn't hear little cracks right under my feet. Until it was too late and branch on which I sat broke.

With a loud crack, I fell right into the human water reservoir, which looked like a little lake. Very small, more puddle than a lake. Whatever it looked like, it didn't matter, because little or not it's still water and my invisible system started to malfunction.

In less than a second, the system short-circuited and stopped working. My only hope was that no one heard me fall. But it disappeared at the moment I heard someone's footsteps coming from the house.

I wanted to get out of the water to reactivate my invisible system, but it was too late. Before the system turned on again, I was illuminated by a faint beam of light and heard the human's scream.
"Don't move!!! I have a gun!"

Right before me stood a little human, one hand pointing at me and in second holding a small shining object.

The human was definitely a male that I could say for sure, he seemed to be a little older than those on the streets, but almost as small as them. I scanned him closely in search of the mentioned weapon. He was scared, his pulse was rapid and his hands were shaking. But what's more important, he didn't have a gun.

--

It was almost midnight, which was the best time to watching horror movies specifically in Halloween. Hugging cushion tighter, I gazed at the TV screen, on which was played Carpenter's ‘The Thing’. Right at the part in which the dog started changing into the monster.

"Uh..." I pressed my face more into the cushion. It was the fourth or fifth time I was watching this movie and that scene was always disgusting, like almost all the rest of the film. This doesn't change the fact that this still was one of my favorite movies, well it's in the top 20, but definitely the favorite horror.

I raised my head from cushion a little bit to check what was happening on the screen, the dog was still changing, so I pressed my head back into the pillow. God, I hate this movie as much as I love it.

I made a quick look at a clock standing on a cupboard, it pointed midnight.
Mom probably would back after 3 am, given that she was with our neighbors, so maybe I could watch the whole "The Thing" and the next horror. It would be awesome.

I continued watching the movie, scared more and more with every second. All of sudden I heard a loud crack.

I screamed terrified as hell, squeezing the cushion to my face. With head in the pillow, I felt as if my heart was going to jump out of my chest. It took me a while but finally, I calmed down enough to look around.

"... the hell?" I mumbled, realizing that this crack came from the garden. I took a few deep breaths and only then I was finally able to move, pausing the movie and going to the terrace door.

At first, I saw nothing besides darkness, but after a moment I finally started to perceive single shadows of bushes and tree, but it was hard to find what caused this loud crack.

I sighed and took my phone out from my pocket, opening the door and slowly walking out of the house.

'God, let it be some homeless cat or raccoon or whatever, just not a thief or a murder.' I prayed in mind, carefully going through the garden towards our little pond, my mum's idea, ready to run away in every second.

The first thing I saw was a big branch lying on the edge of the pond, then my gaze moved to water or more precisely to a guy standing right into the middle of it. Before my mind started to work correctly, I was already screaming and pointing at him.

"Don't move!! I have a gun!"

Of course, I didn’t have a gun, there wasn't any weapon in the house beside the kitchen knives.

Honestly, I thought that dude would attack me or at least try to escape, but he didn't move a muscle. I did the same, and by that, I mean did nothing. So for a long while, we just stared at each other carefully.

After a moment of watching him, I could say two things. First, this guy was really tall, like really, really tall.

Even standing in the middle of the pond, he still looked at me from above as if I was a little child. Not that it's something new, I'm not the tall one and being honest from a legal point of view I’m still a child, even if it is for the next four months, but compared to this guy I seriously look like a baby.

The second and most important was that this guy had the best costume I have ever seen in my life. Although I couldn't see it well in the weak phone’s light, it still was impressive. His skin was painted green like reptilian skin. His body was fully armored, at least it looked like armor, on his right arm he had a thing that looked like something between gear stick and joystick handle. On both hands, he wore gold metallic wrist gauntlets. But the best part was the mask, from the front it reminded me of Vader's helmet but mixed with spiderman's eyes, which were glowing like the ironman's. Plus the guy had really funny dreads looking like tentacles.

His costume was weird, but so, so fucking cool and amazing, that I could fall in love with it. If I met this guy on the street, I would start to squeak and babble about how cool he looked.

However, because that dude was in my garden, probably after he fell from a tree, I was a little confused. Although it didn't look as if he wanted to hurt me, or at least I hoped so.

Finally, the guy moved and cocked his head still watching me, then I realized, he knew I didn't have any weapon. So I brought my hand back and took a little step back.

"Ok... I don't have a gun, but I can go to the garage, to get a shovel and I'll bash you in the head with it so hard, that your mask will break in half. For real!" I yelled while stepping back.

He cocked his head to the other side.

"I'm deadly serious!" I snapped, taking another step back.

However, that dude seemed to have lost his interest and turned away to get out of the pond. I watched him for a second, trying to understand what was going on here. But I couldn't, so I slowly started to circle around the pond to finally stop next to my new friend, who was already one leg out of the water.
"You're not gonna hurt me... Right?!" Without looking at me, he shook his head.

"And you don't wanna robber my house?" He stopped for a moment, turned his head in my direction and cocked it. "Ok… I'll take it as no. Then why did you climbed on my tree? Because I guess falling from it wasn't part of your plan."

And again the guy didn't answer, just got out of the water. And yea he was tall, taller than I thought, he had to have more than seven foot, what compared to my 5'6” gave me the impression that I was talking to a mountain. "Not too talkative, hm?" He looked at me from above, probably as pensive as me.

Well, on the one hand, I probably should call the police because after all, there was a stranger and maybe even armed guy in my garden.

But, on the other hand, if he wanted to hurt me, he would have already done it. So he was here probably by accident. What didn't change the fact that I still didn't know why he climbed on my tree.

"After all, everyone has their kink." I sighed, turning to the broken branch. "Well, I can always tell mum that the branch was broken by a Tarzan on steroids."I chuckled, he didn't get it. Actually, no one ever gets my jokes, besides my mum, but she does it out of pity.

"Anyway, I won't call the police, so you can go if you want," I told, shoving the phone back to my pocket, ready to go back home. However, the guy still stood in the same place. I looked at him again. "Or, if you want, you can come in and watch some horror movies with me."

He looked at my house and at me again. "Oh, come on!" He finally moved and followed me. "Cool! By the way, where did you get this awesome costume?"

Chapter Text

This human was weird.

Despite the fact that he was frightened unarmed and utterly defenseless, he didn't run away or start to scream. He was just standing there and staring at me. Until he finally understood that I knew, he didn't have a gun, then confused he stepped back and mumbled, something about hitting me with a shovel.

It was kind of funny. Unfortunately, I didn't have time for it. So I just left him be to get out of water. However, he came to me again and started asking some silly questions.

First, why should I hurt him? He was small, feeble, and wasn't a threat. Besides, if I wanted him dead, he would die before he noticed me. Second, why was he even asking about it? Also, what's more ridiculous, he thought that I wanted to steal his stuff. For what? Human technology is so primitive that even a pup wouldn't want it.

As he was still babbling, I could fully stand in front of him. Like I noticed earlier he was little, I probably would be able to kill him with one hit.

Honestly, for a short second, I started to think about it, but then the oddest thing of all that evening happened. The little human invited me inside his home.

And again in my mind appeared one thought. Why? Why did he do that? Is it normal for humans to invite strangers to their houses, or is it only him? Whatever was the reason, it didn't have any sense.

But on the second hand, it didn't have to if thanks to that, I could hide from Assassin. In the end, the last place where he would search for me is a human house. And even if not, then it's still better hideout than a tree.

I went with a little human while he was chatting. When he asked where I got my costume from, I understood what's wrong with him. The boy thought that I'm like one of those pups on the streets. So that's why he wasn't scared of me and that's why he invited me inside. That still didn't make any sense, just like the fact he mistaken me for a human.

Well in the end, he wasn't that weird, he was just dumb.

…

I entered the house with my new friend, who had probably over 7ft. When he sat down on the couch he took almost half of the seat and that was a four-seater couch. Good that we got a high ceiling in another case he would bump against it.

"Have you ever watched this?" He shook his head when I showed him a movie's case. "Cool, then we'll watch from the beginning."I had switched the film to the beginning and sat cross-legged next to him.

"You haven't heard about it as well, right?" He shook his head again. "Well then it's about an alien, which ship smashed on Earth at the Arctic and now it wants to kill everyone. And on the Arctic is research base and scientist have to kill the alien, but they don't know who is it, because this can change the appearance. That's in a nutshell." He looked at me, still saying nothing.

"Quiet type huh?" I turned my attention to the TV screen waiting for the credits, but after another moment of silence, I couldn't help myself. "And also because it's gore there will be many bloody and disgusting scenes. For example when the dog transforms into the alien or when the alien bites off one dude's hands. And you know, many more scenes like that." I took a deep breath and looked at him. “But it's still a great movie even if it's little too scary, then again if you want to watch something else you can just say.”

He was looking at me in the silence, so I smiled, but he still says nothing. Maybe the guy was mute or something. I tried to convince him to speak again, but when it didn’t work I just returned to watching the movie.

As I occasionally looked at my seatmate, He was staring at the screen maximally focused, or at last, he seemed, like that. While the guy was watching I took a better look at him and I had to admit that his costume had much more details than I thought. It was full of smaller and bigger abrasions and scratches, especially the "armor" and the mask. It could come from the fall, but on my taste, there were too many of them. His nails, which looked like claws, were damaged and dirty, tentacles like hair shined softly and I couldn't devise from what material it was made from. And what's the most suspicious there were big neon green discolorations on his arms, which looked almost like dried blood.

I started to wonder that maybe, just maybe this wasn't costume at all. But in this case, what was it? I turned my head to the TV screen however, my thoughts were no longer focused on the movie.

Perhaps I made too foolish decision inviting him inside, but now it was too late for withdrawal of it. It was my biggest problem, I always acted too impulsively and emotionally, without a thought about consequences. And now I could feel them. The only thing I had left was to ask him to take off his mask. Because I couldn't just kick him off.

When the movie finally ended, I had switched off the DVD player and stood before my guest. I crossed my arms to look more confident and seriously. "So ... I knew I invited you inside, that's why I won't kick you out now, because it would be extremely rude. But I have to ask you to take off your mask. Could you? Please" He watched me for another second and eventually did what I asked for.

When I saw his "face" in the first second I wanted to ask him to take off this mask as well, but then I got that it was his face. I blinked a few times with a big mindfuck and for a long moment, I had no idea how to react.

Just in front of me sited well, for sure not human, he was or a result of some weird connections of human and mantis or I just faced real alien. Dude, whatever he was, had an abnormally large forehead full of little dark speckles and small chartreuse eyes pressed deeply into the skull. The human jaw was replaced by insect-like mandibles, with big sharp tusks.

When my shock ultimately passed, I recoiled from him, but I tripped over my own legs and fell down on the floor. I shouted the only words that come to my mind "You are an alien!"

He nodded slowly and I gulped.

"B-But you won't try to eat me? Or take control of my mind?"I stuttered, while I still was sitting on the floor.

He snickered amused, or at least that's how it looked like and shook his head.

"Ok... Then why are you here?" I said little calmer as I tried to pick myself up. He put his mask on, for what I was truly glad of because this face frightened me like hell, and then I could hear the voice of one of the film's characters.

"Hide... Somewhere..."

"Wow!! You repeated that!" He only nodded. " You've got something like a cosmic voice recorder in the mask?"

In response, he repeated my statement.

"Cool!" I came closer and leaned across him to look at the mask closely, but I didn't notice anything that could be a cosmic voice recorder. While I was gazing at him, he sat motionlessly, probably watching me from behind the mask.

I straightened myself and smiled at him."Either way, if you need shelter for the night, you can stay, but we have to hide you somewhere, where my mum won't see you or she'll have a heart attack." I started to look around the living room, in search of a good place to hide over the 7ft alien. "It doesn't have to be anything special, mum will be drunk anyway when she back and in the morning she'll be too tired to notice you if you only won't stand right in front of her."

I took a few steps forward to walk around the couch and started scroll through the room. "You are too big to hide you in most of my hideouts and mum will use the closet and garage tomorrow, so it's not an option. Hmm... Perhaps attic or basement would work, my room isn't that bad idea too..." I turned back to him, only to saw the empty room, he was gone, confused I looked around, but he wasn't anywhere in the room.

Where did he go? And how he left the house unnoticed? He couldn't just disappear. Did he teleported or something?

I came to the couch, still unaware of what was happening. Suddenly I felt a hand on my arm by what I shrieked in terror. I turned around freaking terrified, to saw how my alien friend literally materialized just behind me. I blinked a few times incredulously, trying to comprehend what just happened. He let go of my arm and stepped back.

"First! Don't do it ever again." I said as firmly as I only could "And second!" I made a little pause to calm, but I was too thrilled to cool down"That was awesome! What was it?! How you did it?! You have something like cloak of invisibility or is that your race aptitude?! It has any restrictions?! How long can you stay invisible?! Could you do it again?!"

I couldn't hold back a squeal of excitement and I almost was skipping in place as he disappeared before my very eyes.

"It's so cool! It's like if you had a superpower! You know! Poof! You are and then... Poof! You disappear! It's great! It's…"

He put his hand on top of my head and patted a few times, probably to cool me out. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. After a moment, I was finally able to speak normally.

"Ok. That will do. Do it when my mum will come and there shouldn't be any problem. At least I hope so."

I scratched my head nervously, not sure what should I do. I really wanted to show him another movie, if he only would want to watch it, but on the second hand, I also had about 1000 questions for him. Though if he only communicated by the voice records, there was a possibility that he didn't have them enough to answer on all. But I had to ask him a few, starting on his name.

"Right, I forgot to introduce! My name is Michael, you know like Michael Jackson. No. Wait. You don't know. You're an alien. Well, he was a singer, a very very very famous one. My mum has something about 5 his albums, so later I'll put one of them on. Anyway, I'm Michael but mum and friends, which I haven't, call me Miki, so you can too. And what's your name?"

He was looking at me for a while and then I could hear another voice record.

"I... can't…"

"You mean you can't coz you don't wanna or you haven't voice records with that."

He played another voice record with 'yea' on it, but I wasn't sure which option he meant.

"Ok... Then, for now, you will be 'You' and later we will think about it. And now, do you wanna watch another movie? I got a few more about alien if you liked this one."

"Yea"

"Awesome! Then come on!"

Chapter Text

Like I notice before, the house was pretty big and had enough space inside that I could move freely. In the central place inside was that what little human called a ’couch’ and in front of it stand this whole ‘TV’. This thing was smaller than I thought, given how much humans were talking about it while my earlier stays on Earth. While almost all my hunts I heard about that, about 'movies', ‘music’ and on top of that humans always were talking of the ‘internet’, whatever it was. All these things consistently made me curious, so when at last I could see one of these I was really excited, especially when the little human said that this movie will be about an alien. I would be even more if not thought about the Assassin who still was on my trail.

Watching this horror was fun, of course, it wasn't scary at all and honestly, I saw more blood while my youngblood days then there, however, it was still gripping. And thought that humans really imagine extraterrestrial life like this was laughable. But the movie ended soon and little human had a chance to prove he wasn't as dumb as I thought. And he had done, for a second before he amused me to tears.

Although I immediately calmed down as he came close enough, that if not my mask, I could feel his breath on the face. I didn't know how for humans but for my species, this kind of attitude was a provocation to fight or something else.

As he admired my mask, I took the opportunity to view his face closely. He had delicate facial features for male, small snub-nose, and big eyes. His hair was asymmetrical cut, one side long enough to cover the ear, on the other revealing even skin. In an exposed ear, he had a small piece of metal, jewelry no doubt.

When he finally stand back all his attention focused on schering a suitable place to hide me, so his mother wouldn't die on a heart attack. His deliberations were quite endearing however because he was unable to find any I decide to help him a little. Although his reaction on my invisible system surprised me. First, he shrieked with frightened later grumbled angrily and in the end, he started to chatter excitedly.

He was much too loud so to calm him down a bit, I patted his head a few times. As I did it, I noticed how soft his hair was much unlike my... hair. Fortunately, it worked and he calmed down enough to be able to speak normally, satisfied that such a camouflage should be enough.

Unfortunately, he didn't stay calm too long and in less than a second started babbling again. This time about the origin of your name, the funny thing was that humans also give their broods names after the famous individuals of their species. Our picked the name after best warriors and their after singers. Whoever they were.

Eventually, all his talk was just for him to ask me about my name, sadly for him humans vocal cords weren't adapted to pronounce any of our words, so I did not even bother to answer them.

But that didn't discourage little human even a bit, instead, he came to the conclusion that he would give me some name later. Did he try to compare me to a pet by this? Because if someone here was like a pet, it was him.

The next movie that he put on, was far more stupid and inconsistent with reality, that I couldn't help but laugh and the fact that little human regard it as scary was even more ridiculous. Actually how humans can be scared of something that they knew that didn't exist? Still, I watched it in concentration until the end, stopping only when little human was screaming to laugh at him.

As the movie ended, the boy moved upstairs, presumably to his chamber slurring something about how late it was and that soon his mother would return. Honestly, he wasn't wrong because a moment later I could hear the sound of unlocked door and following it slam of opening door. Turning on the invisible system, I stepped back watching a person, who appeared in my field of view.

Human female, mother of little human, she tottered through the house up to the couch, tang scent trail behind her, which I actually recognized. She leaned back against the side of the couch, mumbling something and ineptly trying to take off her shoes. In the end, she slipped and fell over the couch, staying like this until the morning.

It probably was this 'being drunk' about which little human spoked about. Came to think of it I already saw people in a similar state, but I usually thought, that they were just mentally disabled.

I crouched next to the wall so I could clear my head and think. I couldn't stay here forever, in the long run, it was a shit place for the hideout, well all this planet was a shit hideout. If not the fact that Assassin damage my ship I would never even landed here.

I was in the middle of my way of escape if I only managed to fly out from this galaxy I would be free, beyond my clan reach. I could join some deserter group or live alone. I was sure that they didn't even care about some fail hybrid which left the clan but the fact that it stole one of the best ships they couldn't let go. And here we are, one failed human-yautja hybrid chased by another experiment.

For sure I couldn't stay here for too long. Assassin may have lost his mongrels, but he himself was a good enough tracker to find me. I had to move on. Tonight he was still circling the streets, and during the day it was easier for humans to notice me, what I really wanted to avoid, so the best option would be tomorrow night. Later I would have to back to the place where I left the ship and simply fly away. Of course, assuming, that he wouldn't get me earlier. But for now, I should sleep a bit to gather strength.

...

In the morning I was woken up by quiet squeak of the floor after which I could hear a moan of pain. I moved back in some darker area and watched as a woman fully awake now started bustle around the house. When she went upstairs, I heard her demanding voice as she gave orders to little human and his honing of dissatisfaction. Their conversation didn't last long and finished as soon as a woman's voice became more strict and aggressive. After that, I heard a door slam, and she went back downstairs. Look like little human riled his mother in the end.

After return downstairs, the woman headed to one of the chambers, and the only thing I could hear after that was the noise of the water. Hadn't nothing better to do, I waited for her to leave.

When she finally got out, her outfit changed radically. Thin and revealing body fabric was replaced by covering almost all flesh gears, which closely resembled these belonged to 'scientists' that thought they can experiment on my guts. It even had a similar chemical scent. I restrained from the growl of disgust and watching her closely as she was preparing to leave the house.

She was taller and more muscled than him. Her hair were tied over the top of her head, but from what I remember, yesterday, when they were loose, they reached behind her shoulders.

This didn't take long, and I stayed alone, well almost. I looked at the stairs, theoretically, he shouldn't sleep, since not so long ago I had heard him speak. Although I didn't hear any movements now, so he probably fell asleep again.

Should I wake him up or let him sleep a little longer?

From what I knew, humans need more sleep than our species. But his mother slept even less than him, and she functioned quite well, so he supposed to be fine as well.
I located his chamber without much trouble. Especially that there were only four doors upstairs. I had crossed the narrow corridor, trying to smell little human scent. First had the same slightly chemical scent as his mother and second hadn't any human smell. Third also had woman's fragrance but much more delicate like if faded. The fourth was the one I was looking for.

I slowly walked in and looked around. This chamber was much smaller but still high enough that I could walk normally. Next to the door stranded big wooden cupboard and in front of me, table with one of these human's electronic toys on it. In the opposite corner was located bed with little human on it… partially. He was lying prone, half of his body hung from the bed with one leg sprawling on the floor and held in his hand this small shiny object from yesterday.

Without a second thought, I approached him and played one of the voice records, but instead of wake up he just pushed his head hard into the bed, covering it with hands as he mumbled something about giving him five more minutes. Unfortunately for him, I wasn't patient enough to wait.

I grabbed his leg and went toward the door, ignoring his yelling of protest. I pulled him out into the corridor and stopped right in front of the stairs, as he gave up and declared that he waked up fully. When I let him go, he rubbed his eyes and stood up, he looked at the shiny object and let out an agonizing moan.

"Man, have mercy, it's 6 a.m." I cocked my head not understanding what was his problem. Seeing that, he sighed deeply "So what is the reason for such a brutal awakening?"

I shrugged honestly I didn't have any specific purpose, I just wanted him to wake up.

"Ok... Well if I'm already awake, I might as well make some breakfast for us. Coz your species eat breakfast, right? And actually what your species eat? You got something like comic fruits or sweets?.."

Asking other foolish questions, little human he led me to the "kitchen", and told me to wait until he checks the content of the fridge. As he did so, after reading a piece of paper, which laid on the table, he turned back to me.

"The fridge is empty, so the only thing I can offer you for this moment is scrambled eggs or omelet."

I simply nodded, didn't have any idea what he was talking about. He put eggs before me and began to rummage in the cabinets again, mumbling something about the pan.

I scanned them with my mask, it showed that they were edible. Well, in that case...

I took my mask off and ate one of them. It didn't taste good, but at last, I could fill the stomach with something even if only for a moment.

"Don't eat them raw!!!"

Little human yelled seeing what I was doing, with visible disgust on his face.

Why not? It was edible.

I ate another one, ignoring his argument of how disgusting and unhealthy it was. In the end, he gave up with a loud sigh and let me eat at peace, meanwhile drinking some liquid called 'milk'.

But the moment of silence quickly broke his voice. Hearing him, I put my mask on.

"So.. How long you plan to stay?" Not giving me a chance to answer, he continued "Cuz if it"ll be longer than the next few hours then we need to find you some spot where you could hide. You know, my mom doesn't always back home drunk. But don't worry, I already have an idea. Also, we should set a few rules, for example, you mustn't show yourself to my mum or anyone else no matter what. Coz if someone sees you, it'll be game over. We'll be fucked. And my mum will kill me. Besides, you shouldn't…"

I listened patiently, wondering what kind of idiot he thought I am, that he was telling me so obvious things.. Also, his own mother will kill him? I didn't know that people practice infanticide. Even our kind didn't practice killing brood. And they thought of themselves as more humanitarian species.

He finally finished his monolog, and he repeated the previous question. I had a voice records to answer him. The question was: should I tell him the truth? Probably not. The less he knew, the better for me. The less he knew, the better for me.

"I've no idea men...""

He nodded and smiled silly. I was lucky that I came across such a gullible human.

"Ok... So I think that for now, you can hide in my sister's room. No one never enters there anyway. But you know, you have to be careful not to damage anything there even more than in the rest of the house. Ok?"

"Yep.."

"Awesome! And now, want to play video games with me? Or maybe watch another alien movie, I still got a few. And also I've few, I mean a lot of, questions. Oh... And I've come up with some potential names for you. Maybe you'll like one.”

I rolled my eyes following him towards the TV. At last, It seemed that I won't be bored with him.

Chapter Text

‘Bumblebee?’

He shook his head.

‘E.T.?... R2D2?... Claw? Lobo? Dreadlock? Hmmm... JD?’

He shook his head again, this time crossing his arms.

‘Aw c'mon, these are very cool names. At least the last one.’

In answer, he only snorted.

I gave him all the names that came to my mind at night, plus some improvised ones and yet so far he only laughed at them or snarled at them. Fussy like a kid. But being honest, none of these names suited him. Maybe beside E.T. but only a little bit.

I sighed helplessly as I slipped off the couch and also crossed my arms. ET was hooked on one of the newest movies from my collection, which meant I could sleep at least a few more minutes.

Honestly after my mother had woken me up I was almost sure that my new alien friend was just a product of my wild imagination. Until the product of my imagination didn't come to me and pulled me out of bed in such a brutal way that it would be a miracle if I didn't have bruises after that.

Not that the earlier wake-up was exceptionally pleasant. Mother was annoyed from the morning so she had taken it out on me. If her mood hadn’t improved, before she got to work, her subordinates would have a hell of a day.

I was still half-asleep, trying to listen to what was said on TV but I could only understand some random words. All of a sudden a heavy hand grabbed my arm and I was pushed off the couch.

I sat up straight with a quiet grunt while massaging my lower back, not sure where this sudden action came from. I wanted to ask but when I turned he was no longer there or at least I couldn’t see him. I slowly waved my hand above the couch to make sure he was no longer there.

He wasn’t.

When I opened my mouth to ask where he went, I heard the doorbell ringing.

‘Coming!’ I yelled getting off the floor but the bell didn't stop ringing now accompanied by a fast, loud knocking.

‘I’m coming!!’

This time I shouted louder almost dashing to the door. I didn’t notice my new friend so he must have stayed invisible, which was logical since we were going to have an unexpected visitor. As I reached the door I started wondering who bothers people so early in the morning.

Opening the door, I expected to see a neighbour or a mailman or even another alien, instead, I saw a government badge right in front of my face.

Of course, where are aliens there always is a government.

‘Hi, kiddo.’

In front of me stood a tall black man with short hair and a moustache, he was smiling, though I could tell right away the smile was fake. Behind him, on the lawn, were two more men, both wearing suits like some MIB agents, they even have black glasses.

‘Good morning, sir.’ I answered returning the fake smile while taking a closer look at the badge in front of me, ‘What can I help you, Mr Traeger?’

Well, I already knew the answer, but it would be weird if I hadn’t asked.

‘I have a few questions for you kid.’ He put the badge in the inner pocket of his jacket.

Of course. What do you want to know sir?’ I opened the door fully but leaned against the doorway so he wouldn’t think I let him in.

‘First and the last name,’ he asked but he didn’t have anything to write down the answer.

‘Michael Starski. It’s my mum's maidens name.’

‘And how old are you?’

‘Eighteen,’ I stated proudly, before adding ‘for three months.’

‘Uhu…’ Mr Traeger looked at me sceptically with a slight frown. He looked me up and down, from my tangled hair through the baggy t-shirt of Queens ending on my bare foot. ‘Where you home last night?’He finally asked.

‘Yop. I was watching horrors all night long.’

‘Have you seen or heard anything hmm…’ he stopped for a moment in thought ‘weird or unusual. Or someone like that.’

Now I had no doubts for whom Mr. government agent and his buddies were looking for, the question stayed should I tell them the truth.

On one hand, my new cosmic friend seemed like a cool guy, maybe a little fussy and stubborn but compared to some of my acquaintances from school he was great. On the other hand, I didn’t really know that much about him, yet. But, If he had wanted to hurt me he would have done that by now, right?

Plus in all the non-horror alien movies, I had watched, where the alien wasn’t the villain the army and government were. And those guys didn’t look particularly friendly. They probably wanted to dissect him and steal his awesome technology.

Still, I didn’t want to seem too suspicious after such a long pause so I said the first thing that came to my mind.

‘Weirder than a guy dressed as a roll of toilet paper?’ Mr Traeger answered with a puzzled look on his face, so I decided to continue, ’You know sir, yesterday was Halloween, so there were a lot of ‘weird and unusual people out there. You need to be more specific for who are you looking for.’

Now he looked more annoyed as the frow on his forehead deepened. He reached into his pocket and I was almost sure he will draw a picture of my new friend, or a gun, but he simply took a pack of mentos.

‘Tall, over seven feet, in a futuristic like armour, wears a mask, has dredlocks.’ he stopped putting one of the pills in his mouth, ‘And he’s extremely dangerous.’

‘Why?’ I came out with a question before I could stop myself.

‘What?’ The man looked at me clearly not understanding what I had meant.

‘Why is he on the loose then?" I corrected myself, hoping that it didn’t sound that fake. But obviously, I wanted to know why he thought my new friend is so dangerous.

‘That’s none of your business. Have you seen him or not?’

‘Well…’ I rubbed my chin and looked up at the sky, pretending I’m thinking over his question.

Again I felt torn, man could be lying and saying that something is "extremely dangerous" is probably the easiest way to make someone talk. At the same time, I didn’t know anything about “ET” and when thinking about it, he looked kind of dangerous. And even though I’m not an expert, that thing on his shoulder looked kind of like a mini canon.

‘So?’ Treager urged, visibly annoyed.

‘No, I haven’t seen anyone looking like that… Sir.’ I finally answered.

My new friend might not look friendly by our standards, but he was an alien, it was obvious he would look different. Besides, he hadn’t hurt me or my mum and he had been here all night. So he couldn’t be that dangerous.

My heart started beating faster as I waited for his answer. I hoped I was convincing enough for him to buy it.

But the man only mumbled his thank-you and angrily muttered under his breath about a waste of time.

I was about to say goodbye when one of his men came to me and hand me a card with the telephone number, saying to call them if I notice anything “unusual”.

When they finally left I immediately shut the door close, leaning against it with a pounding heart. I slowly sat on the floor trying to calm down, only now noticing then my hands are shaking.

I was both elated and petrified. Petrified because I just fooled government agents, if it was going to ever get revealed, I would probably spend the rest of my life in jail. Elated, because I fooled government agents and helped my friend. It was amazing.

When, after a while, I was finally able to calm down, I went back to the living room, looking for my cosmic friend. But he kept being invisible or he wasn’t even there anymore.

The doors to the backyard were open.

Maybe he thought I would turn him in and preferred not to risk it.

‘You can come out now,’ I called out, coming towards the doors.

The garden was empty, no seven feet-tall alien localized. Only the broken, partly decayed, branch was still laying in that pond, one of the causes of morning fuss. How was it possible for someone so huge to hide so well. I turned from the backyard, closing the door.

When thinking about it now, someone with that impressive camouflage could be pretty dangerous.

Suddenly I felt a strong grip on my shoulder.

I sprang back with a loud squeak and my back bumped against the door. Right next to me appeared my missing friend.

‘I told you not to do it!’ I shouted, already a bit annoyed.

But he didn’t seem to care what was I saying and without a word grabbed my forearm.

‘Hey! What are you…’ I didn’t finish as he pulled me away from the door.

I didn’t really understand what was he doing or what he wanted to do, but I suddenly felt stressed and maybe just a little scared.

‘Hey!’ I tried again, but he didn’t stop.

When he finally dragged me to the centre of the room again, he all but tossed me on the couch so I ended up in a half-sitting half-lying position. Standing right in front of me, he finally spoke or rather one of his recordings did.

‘Why?’

'What?’ I didn’t understand. What did he mean?

‘Why… you… HELP ME!’

Honestly, I was kind of surprised that just after watching a few movies he could already put together a decent sentence. Even though it didn’t really

‘Well, coz you’re my friend,’ I said sitting upright, while he cocked his head to the side,’ and friends help each other.’ I felt slight heat on my cheeks, it was embarrassing and he didn’t seem to understand what I mean.

‘Besides,’ I continued, ‘I’ve let you stay yesterday, so it wouldn’t be fair if I sold you out now. Right?’

After a while, he just nodded.

I waited for him to “say” something or ask, but he didn’t. He just stood there looking down on me.

‘If you don’t have any questions,’ I started, deciding to try my luck, ‘I actually have one.’

He didn’t answer or even moved so I took it for my permission to continue.

‘You see… Yesterday I asked you if you were going to hurt me and you said no. And you’ve kept that promise, for what I’m thankful,’ I chuckled nervously, scratching my neck. Not sure how to ask without upsetting or maybe even offending him.

‘But have you ever… mm… hurt some other human or something like that,’ he straightened slightly, probably touched by accusation, so I quickly added, ‘Because you know, that government guy said you are “extremely dangerous”, and you know, I just want to make sure I didn’t invite in some crazy, bloody, intergalactic serial murdered. So?’

I asked, looking up at his mask.

For a long second, we were standing there in silence. Only the sound of the movie that still was playing on the TV screen could be heard.

His silence started to feel unsettling.

‘No!’ answered one of his recordings, with the voice of some screaming woman, as he shook his head.

‘Good.’ I sighed with relief, that meant there was only one more thing to determine, ‘Then, why are these guys looking for you?’

‘Want… it,’ he pointed at his gauntlet and then the mask.

‘Your technology huh…’ I hummed, ‘ Hehe, I had a feeling it would be something like that. Though you should tell me that you are a fugitive so I could prepare mentally,’ As I was speaking, I turned my attention back to that horror, it was a scene where the alien monster killed one of the cops. Nothing truly scary the CG blood didn’t look convincing. And yet it still gave me goosebumps.

‘I’m gonna get change.’ I declared, turning towards the stairs, ‘you can watch if you want to.’

As I walked upstairs, I heard the movie being rewound. When did he actually learn how to use DVD?

Back in my room, I changed the pyjama on jeans and a loose Star-Wars blouse. I had to show him these movies as well.

I made a mental note of the another position on a list of “Movies I want to show to my alien”. Then I walked up to the window to check whether Mr Traeger and his buddies were still moving about the streets. Thankfully they were nowhere to be seen.

When I got down I found “E.T” standing in front of the terrasse door, looking outside on the garden. Or rather on the sky.

Right, his home planet. He probably missed it.

‘You miss your home?’ I asked, getting closer to him.

He only shook his head in a way which made his dreads slap against his armpiece, on his shoulders and without any word he walked by me to the couch.

Thinking about it, I didn’t even know why he was on my planet. In my house, he just had hidden from those government agents, but why was he on Earth in the first place. Emergency landing, perhaps?

I was curious and wanted to ask him about all of these, but I figured this might not be the right time. But, it would be probably better if he told me about it without my pushing. So I decided to give him time to open up.

Besides, now I had more important things to do than bugging him. Mother told me to do the groceries, and I was not going to go through the morning dispute all over again because of the lack of bread in the cupboard.

I headed to the door, on the way taking my jacket and wallet off the shelf and throwing a quick 'I'm out.'

Before I got to the door, I felt a tug on my blouse. The next thing I knew, I was hanging at least three feet above the floor, held by the hoodie of my blouse. I looked around only to meet my not-so-gentle friend’s mask.

Who was growling?

‘I’m going to do the groceries. You know, get food.’ I explained, ‘You want something?’

For a while, he was silent but then I heard a quiet snort and was put back on the floor.

‘So, you want anything?’ I repeated.

‘No.’

‘Are you sure? I mean, I don't think you want to eat raw eggs for every meal of the day. Right?’ I asked as I adjusted my hoodie.

‘No.’ He answered after a second.

‘So what would you like? Vegetables? Maybe fruit? Or sweets? Oh! I can buy you some candies! They are always cheaper after Halloween since they want to sell them before Christmas. Though they're not actually all that good, only sugar, no real flavour…’

‘No.’ he interrupted, shaking his head.

‘Then how about chocolate? Right, you don't know what it is… Then maybe meat? Or…’

‘Yea!’

‘Meat then.’ I said and clapped my hands together. ‘He, he... I should have guessed,’ I said, looking him up and down, ‘you don’t look for a vegetarian.’