“Baek, I came up with another theory! What if, there’s an alien that has really huge eyes! Like, so big, it’s like half the size of their body or something! Like an ostrich but bigger,” Chanyeol enthuses, as vibrant as ever, over his meal. Or through his meal, might be a better way to describe how Chanyeol is currently eating. Normally, Chanyeol is quite attractive... in a nerdy kind of way.

Baekhyun winces slightly, raising his hand in front of Chanyeol’s face, an inch or so from his mouth. Chanyeol gets the message loud and clear, and apologises quickly while blood rushes to the surface of his cheeks. He continues chewing, but after he swallows, he brings up the big eyed aliens again. Baekhyun just rolls his eyes and nods longsufferingly, knowing better than to tell him to shut up.

Chanyeol has been into extra-terrestrial beings since he was very little. His parents had been watching a scary alien film while he was supposed to be asleep and he walked in on them watching it. But instead of being scared, like most little children might, Chanyeol was intrigued. With the ooze, slime and thousands of teeth on the screen, Chanyeol became convinced that there was something else out there. In his bedroom, he has hundreds of science fiction books, UFO magazines and pages and pages of drawings of his theorised aliens plastered all over the walls.

Baekhyun has yet to tell Chanyeol that his preconceived notions of what an extraterrestrial looks like, are all wrong. He thinks it’s funny, that Chanyeol comes up with all these ridiculous ideas about useless body parts and pointless extra limbs. Because, although he looks very much like a twenty year old boy; he’s actually not human at all. He has silvery hair, slightly thicker than most humans, but most people assume that it’s dyed. His irises are silvery too.

 

The truth is, he’s from a very distant planet. And he would tell you his real name, but you wouldn’t be able to pronounce it.

His parents left home on an expedition to discover and study new life forms while his mother was still looking after him in embryonic form (pregnancy isn’t quite the same for his species). It was a pretty big risk for them to take him along, but they managed against the odds.

His parents’ role in this expedition was camouflage; to blend in with the locals somehow. They had discovered that creatures on the foreign planet were similar enough to themselves that they could fit in, if only for a short time, so that they could learn more about them. After a few years of exploring human culture, they decided collectively not to make their presence known to the population of planet earth. After all, if they did, the humans would probably kill them.

 

Baekhyun looks back at Chanyeol fondly. They met when they were both very young; in his first year of school. He remembers being so very excited for his first contact with real humans! Everyone he had tried to talk to had just ignored him; he had missed a few days of school and they had already formed their little friendship groups. His parents had signed him up too late, not realising when the term times started until a neighbour asked which school Baekhyun was attending.

So when Baekhyun had shown up excited to get to know people, he was sorely disappointed to find that nobody was that interested. Until Chanyeol found him playing by himself in the sand box and asked if he wanted to draw with him. He remembered Chanyeol drawing a little green creature with tentacles for arms and getting very upset when told that it was an alien.

“You’re wrong!” He had shouted, “That’s not what aliens look like!”

“How do you know?” Chanyeol had replied. Little Baekhyun had balked; recalling his promise to his mother to never, ever, ever tell a human he was from another planet.

“I just do,”

“Oh,” Chanyeol had considered, “Ok then.”

From then on, they had been best friends all the way through school up to now.

Baekhyun had always assumed that he would retain his secret forever, until he left for his home planet with his parents, because he wasn’t a human, and humans tended to frown upon inter-racial relationships of any kind.

He personally doesn’t really mind, and doesn’t quite understand the problem with it. Their biological make-up is similar enough, maybe it’s just an earth thing, he decided in the end, unable to comprehend humanity’s inability to accept anything new. Apparently they have always been like this, ostracizing groups of people based on superficial reasons. Life here is almost like something out of one of his parent’s books about the dark ages on his origin planet- he can’t call it his home planet because he doesn’t have any memories of there.

He mostly tunes Chanyeol out as he is talking, nodding, because he’s heard most of this before, with slight variations, of course. But then Chanyeol is waving his monstrous hands in his face, accusing him of not listening,

“Are you even hearing me? You’re supposed to be my friend; friends listen when their friend is trying to tell them stuff,”

Baekhyun blinks at him, before saying,

“What? Sorry I wasn’t listening,” his face an exaggeration of innocence. Chanyeol punches him, making him snort, but then carries on talking like nothing happened,

“So, yeah, I think I managed to find a way to make contact. I know it will probably take a long time before anyone gets it, so that’s understandable, but I thought maybe if they do find it then they’ll be able to, like, reply and then-” Baekhyun cuts him off, to stop him from tripping over his own tongue, as he is prone to doing when he gets excited,

“Stop, stop. Slow down,” Chanyeol pauses, bottom lip caught between his teeth.

“I’m going to send it into orbit, Baekhyun, and then they’ll see it. Maybe they’ll come visit me; I put my address on it,” Baekhyun resists the urge to coo over him patronizingly. There’s no life forms close enough to receive this message thing while Chanyeol’s still alive, and it wouldn’t be the first time one of Chanyeol’s schemes have failed. None of them would know what to do with an earth address, anyway.

But he can’t take the wind out of his friend’s sails just like that; he’s always wanted to meet an alien and he doesn’t want to disappoint him too early.

Sometimes Baekhyun wonders if Chanyeol would be disappointed to find out that he’s an alien. He seems to be under the illusion that aliens are huge and slimy and scary and Baekhyun’s none of these things. Well, he might be a little scary when he’s angry, but not notably so; not like Chanyeol wants him to be. And he doesn’t feel like an alien, because he was practically born here. Hatched, is closer to what happened, but that’s another story.

“Do you need help?” Baekhyun asks, sometimes Chanyeol needs an extra pair of hands for assistance, and others he just wants company. The taller of the two just shakes his head,

“Nah, but you can come anyway if you want,” Chanyeol promises, and keeps eating his sandwich uninterrupted by chatter this time. Baekhyun eats his too, and the pair finish their food in companionable quiet. Well Baekhyun does; Chanyeol pipes up after about a minute or so unable to keep his mouth closed for long.

 

After school, Chanyeol follows Baekhyun home, relatively quietly. But one glance at his focused expression tells Baekhyun that that’s because he’s thinking hard again. Baekhyun unlocks the door and waves his hand to Chanyeol in a ‘hurry up’ motion. Chanyeol promptly steps on the heels of his shoes to get them off without having to bend down, and then makes himself at home on the couch.

“I’d appreciate it if you got your stinky feet off there,” Baekhyun points to Chanyeol’s feet, unwilling to touch them, “they’re going to contaminate everything, I don’t want to be smelling your feet all the time,”

Chanyeol makes a face, and very deliberately rubs his feet on one of the nicer cushions before obliging. Baekhyun glares at him, but rolls his eyes.

Baekhyun is glad his parents aren’t in at the moment, it would make it a little awkward, he thinks. Not for Chanyeol, as he’s met them before- he’s quite close with his mother, actually- just for him after his self-depreciating inner monologue during lunch.

Baekhyun seats himself on the other end of the sofa, as far from Chanyeol’s feet as he can get.

He really wants to think Chanyeol wouldn’t be disappointed with his lack of alien-ness, but he’s just not convinced. He acknowledges that his situation is a little abnormal: he trusts Chanyeol wouldn’t be scared or disgusted with him at least.

This is actually beyond abnormal; it’s closer to ‘totally screwed up’ on the weirdness spectrum. Baekhyun glances at his closest friend, his blissfully ignorant amigo, and sighs. Well, as long as he doesn’t have to tell him, everything should be fine.

Chanyeol, who has the TV, gives him a baleful look,

“What,” he says, mock offended, before switching the channel to something that isn’t a drama.

 

“Baekhyun,” his mother catches him just as he is about to leave for Chanyeol’s house, the day after. It’s mid afternoon, and he’d planned on spending a while at his friend’s house, before helping him launch a toaster with his house address into space or whatever Chanyeol intends to do later in the evening.

“Mum?”

“Me and your dad need to talk to you about something, come with me,”

Bemused, Baekhyun follows her through into the kitchen, where his dad is already waiting, a sombre expression on his face. Nervously, he pulls out a seat and sits down, opposite them. This feels like the time he’d tried to steal alcohol from the locked cupboard, only to discover that alcohol doesn’t have the same effect on him as humans-the only reason it was there was to entertain guests, but he was still in heaps of trouble.

“Well, what is it?” Baekhyun asks, wondering what could possibly have them both in such a sad state.

“Well, recently we were contacted by our home government, about the ship to return us home,”

Baekhyun’s blood runs cold.

“Oh,”

He’d always known this day was coming, that he wouldn’t be here for all of his life, that he’d have to return to his origin planet with his parents at some point, to bring back the data that they’d acquired. He’d just assumed- hoped- that it wouldn’t be until much later in his life. That it would be after he had had a good life here.

He’ll be in stasis for the most part of the journey, since the trip is somewhere close to a hundred years in earth time. Chanyeol will be dead by the time he lands.

“Ok,” Baekhyun sighs. How is he going to explain this to his friend? How is he going to tell him that he’ll never ever see him again?

Baekhyun is his only friend, he’ll be so lonely without him.

“They’ve decided that they won’t send it,” Baekhyun’s father says, his eyes sad.

“What?”

“They’re having financial issues at the moment, problems that don’t look as though they will be solved for a long while. Therefore, since we have assimilated so well, our return is no longer a priority,”

“So… we’re not going back?”

“Unfortunately, no,” his mother says, as if expecting him to be very upset about this news. Instead he feels a strange mixture of elation, and a guilt twining around him because he’s not upset, and a lingering sadness because he’ll never get to see the place his parent’s grew up.

“Ok. I understand.” Baekhyun stands up, intending to go to Chanyeol’s now, but his dad stands up too, reaching out to pull him into an embrace.

“We’re sorry,” he apologises, squeezing him tightly. His mother joins, her arms around both of them. They’ve been hit by the news harder than he has, as they have friends back home who they are going to miss, but for Baekhyun, home is here.

“It’s ok.” Baekhyun reassures them, resting his cheek on his mother’s shoulder, “It’ll be fine,” and he means it.

 

He arrives at Chanyeol’s eighth floor flat a little while later, and lets himself in. Before he bothers searching for him, he hangs up his coat then crouches down to untie his shoelaces. Then, feet clad in holey socks, he pads through the living area to Chanyeol’s room, and peeks through the door,

“Chanyeol?” He calls out softly. A mop of dark hair pops up over the headboard of his bed, looking slightly alarmed, but happy. He flaps around underneath his comforter trying to get free, then falls onto the floor before finally rising to greet him.

“Baekhyun! What took you so long?”

“Oh, uh, my parents wanted to talk to me before I left.”

“Was it important?”

“Well, yeah I guess. But it’s more like something important got cancelled, so it’s fine,”

“Oh,” the left corner of Chanyeol’s mouth tilts down, “well, as long as everything is ok.”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun winces internally. He hates lying to Chanyeol, but at this point he would probably hate him more if he told him the truth. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

“Well, do you want to watch a movie? The aliens can wait until later.”

“Im sure they can,” Baekhyun chuckles, already making his way onto chanyeol’s bed, where they always watch movies. Chanyeol has a small TV in his room, on a little table at the end of his bed, which had been given to him when his parents bought a bigger one to go in the front room. They could go use the newer one, if they wanted, but after years of huddling up together in Chanyeol’s bed, neither of them wanted to try to break the habit now.

Chanyeol sets up the film, one of the ones from the small box underneath his bed no doubt, and relaxes into the pillows and blankets. He stares absently at the screen in front of him, the colours and lights half hypnotising his eyes and he thinks about the conversation with his parents earlier.

He’ll never see anyone of his own kind that isn’t related to him. He’ll never see the sight of his origin planet with his own eyes, never experience life there. He’ll never have a child.

But that’s ok, he thinks, at least he’ll get to stay with the people he loves.

“-khyun! Earth to Baekhyun!” Chanyeol’s voice breaks through to him, startling him from his despondent thoughts. He turns to the source, and blinks a few times.

He hadn’t expected him to be so close. He never realised just how dark his eyes are before,

“Hm?”

“I was just telling you about my plan. Are you feeling ok? You’re not sick are you?” As a child, Baekhyun had missed a lot of school days because his anatomy isn’t designed to withstand the level of oxygen, so he had to take days off to recuperate, “You seem a bit out of it today, does it have anything to do with the ‘important thing’ your parents were talking to you about?”

“I’m not sick. And, uh, yeah,”

“What was it?”

“Oh. Um.” Baekhyun thinks fast, “my dad’s company was planning on sending us overseas, but they cancelled it. So I’m happy that I get to stay here,”

“Huh. You didn’t tell me.”

“I didn’t know it was going to be soon, I thought I would have more time to tell you. Luckily I don’t have to go at all, so it’s fine anyway.”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol doesn’t seem convinced, but shrugs anyway, and then they both continue to watch the movie he’d chosen.

 

“Hey,” A deep rumbling voice rouses him. What’s going on? He groans quietly.

“Baekhyun, wake up,” the voice comes again, this time accompanied by someone shaking his shoulder, but it’s warm here, and he doesn’t want to wake up.

“Baekhyun. Wake up, or I will do something drastic,” Chanyeol warns, very close to his ear.

“Ugh, like what?”

“Like this,” a sudden wetness on his cheek makes his eyes fly open and he scrambles away,

“Did you just me?” He scrubs at his face with his sleeve, “Chanyeol, that’s ing gross,” he complains, but his best friend just sits there smugly, fingers interlocked on his lap.

“You were warned,” Baekhyun gives him a filthy look, then digs around in his pocket for his phone to check the time. It’s fairly late, too late to walk home without his mother worrying.

“I would stay over, but I didn’t bring any clothes or anything,” he sighs, “not that I want to if you’re going to me every time I fall asleep. You disgusting weavil,” the insult runs off his friend like water off an umbrella, and he maintains his huge innocent grin.

“I did warn you. And if you want I can always lend you some clothes, and I’m pretty sure there’s a toothbrush for you in the bathroom from last time you stayed over, too.”

“I know, I know,” he gasps, “wait, what happened with making contact? Did I miss it?” Baekhyun stands up, and starts rummaging through the drawers for some clothes to wear to bed, and Chanyeol’s face falls.

“Ah, yeah,” he scratches his head, “I didn’t want to wake you, since you were sleeping really deeply.”

“Well, you had no issues waking me just then, did you?”

“It’s cool, we can just do it tomorrow,”

“If you’re sure,” Baekhyun frowns, stripping off his shirt and putting on a mustard yellow one that is far too big for him, hanging off his slightly narrower shoulders, but it’s his favourite shirt that doesn’t belong to him. Without turning around, he slips off his jeans, leaving him just in his boxers. His silvery leg hairs glint in the low light, reminding him once again that he isn’t human. That he shouldn’t want what is tugging at him. But trying to stop it is like trying to catch smoke with your hands.

Chanyeol is already in his pyjamas, sitting quietly on his bed. Chanyeol is not quiet by nature, so Baekhyun concludes he’s probably feeling a little upset that he didn’t tell him about potentially moving away.

“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about it, but it’s fine anyway, right? I’m not going.”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol pouts,

“Aw, big baby boo, would you have missed me?” Baekhyun teases him, inserting himself under the covers and pinching his side. Chanyeol pouts harder and rolls over so all Baekhyun can see is his back.

“Of course,”

“I would have missed you too,” Baekhyun confesses, staring up at the ceiling but not really seeing anything. He would be despondent without Chanyeol, he realises, the boy has come to represent his life here on earth. Fun and freedom, and maybe… love? Just in a platonic sense, he hurries to clarify, but yes, love.

Despite his misgivings, he falls asleep fairly quickly next to the human, who runs at a higher temperature than him. It’s nice to steal some of his warmth, but he must have overheated during the night and kicked off the covers, and his pants. He doesn’t remember doing that. Grumbling to himself, he wriggles to get out of the bed- it’s not exactly early, either- but at the last second, Chanyeol grabs his leg and sends him sprawling forwards over the mattress and onto the floor. His cheek is mushed against the carpet- next to god knows what underneath the bed- and it’s not the most comfortable position with one leg up in the air, and the other dangling in midair.

“For s sake Chanyeol,” he gripes, kicking out against him to get free.

“Did I say you could leave?” The tall human slurs, rubbing his eyes and sitting up.

“Are you dreaming, still?” Baekhyun struggles, “what the heck are you doing?” His eyes widen when he sees Baekhyun lying out like that, and lets go like he was burned.

“I’m sorry!” He exclaims, thankfully rushing to help him back up.

“What was that about?” Baekhyun gripes, wiping his face.

“I-I don’t know,” Chanyeol looks away, scratching his hair. Baekhyun narrows his eyes at him. He’s lying, but fine, if he doesn’t want to share that’s whatever.

“Don’t do it again, ok? Your floor stinks. When was the last time you washed that? You disgusting person,”

“I don’t know, a while ago. Sorry,”

“Alright, you can stop apologising now, you’re forgiven. Let’s get some breakfast,”

“Ok, I’ll fry you some eggs as an apology,” Chanyeol says, “I know you love those.”

“Thanks,” Baekhyun grins, already having forgiven him, but he would never say no to food. Especially when it’s made by his best friend. It’s not that he’s even a spectacular cook, but it just feels nice to eat the food that he’s made, or wear the hat that he gave him for christmas, or the shirt he gave him for a birthday. He can’t explain it.

“Do you want bacon too? Oh wait you’re a vegetarian, you can’t have any, haha,” Chanyeol mocks him as he changes out of his pyjamas right in front of him. Baekhyun watches unabashedly for a moment, ignoring the banter he’s heard a million times, before getting dressed himself in more of his friend’s clothes.

“Hurry up and make me food,” he complains, tossing the yellow shirt from last night at his face.

“Alright, alright, fine,” Chanyeol placates him, already heading towards the kitchen. “What do you want, just eggs? Beans?”

“Toast as well. Don’t want to push your culinary skills too far, do we?”

“You’re so annoying.” Chanyeol grumbles, pulling out a frying pan and setting it on the stove. Well practiced hands search through the fridge until he finds what he’s looking for, and he cracks a few eggs into the pan. The sizzling sets Baekhyun’s stomach rumbling.

They eat together, the scene picturesque as they sit in a square of early morning light, their skin a luminescent orange hue. Chanyeol laughs, and Baekhyun thinks he’s always looked best in the sun, even though he holes himself up in his bedroom if the alien doesn’t drag him outside. It’s a shame, really.

Once again, Baekhyun wonders what Chanyeol would think if he knew he was an extraterrestrial. He probably wouldn’t be disgusted by him, but would he try to experiment on him, like in those alien movies? Shaking his head, he rids himself of these thoughts, shocked that he would think so lowly of his best friend even for a moment, and shoves a piece of egg into his mouth.

“You ok?”

“Yeah, it’s nothing,”

“Oh. You missed your mouth a bit there, buddy.” Chanyeol points at his own lower lip and raises his eyebrows. Baekhyun narrows his eyes at him, but his mouth anyway, and winces a little when he finds he wasn’t just being teased.

“Yeah, you got it,”

“Thanks,”

Chanyeol’s older brother chooses that moment to walk into the room, and watches them disdainfully,

“You two act like newlyweds, it’s disgusting,”

“Leave us alone,” Chanyeol glares at him, scraping his plate loudly with his fork so it screeches painfully. Chanhyuk sneers mockingly at him as he mixes a mug of coffee, and ruffles his little brother’s hair on his way out.

“You’re bright red, did I hit a nerve?” He calls over his shoulder, laughing as he continues on up the stairs.

“No!” Chanyeol cries, but he really is bright red. “Don’t listen to him! He’s an idiot,”

“I know better than to pay attention to him, don’t worry,” Baekhyun reassures him, and smiles when the tall boy sits back in his chair, seemingly relaxed.

 

As Baekhyun walks back home, after leaving Chanyeol’s place, he can’t stop thinking about what his brother said about them. Newlyweds? Do they really give off that kind of vibe? He supposes they do share the bed.... quite frequently, actually. And they share food all the time, and spend a great deal of time together. That used to just be called ‘being joined at the hip’ when they were kids, but since they got older circumstances must have changed without him noticing.

The thoughtful frown is still on his face as he unlocks the front door and heads to the kitchen to get some juice from the fridge. His mother is washing something in the sink.

“What’s up with you?” She asks, nudging him with her elbow.

“How did you and dad get together?” He asks. She puts down what she was washing and leans against the counter, arms held out over the sink so she doesn’t drip on the floor.

“What brought this on?”

“Nothing. Just answer me, please,”

“Well, alright,” she takes off her rubber gloves and sits down, motioning for him to join her at the table too. “We first met when we were just a little older than you, I think, and we had both joined a foreign research branch at a high level science facility. It took us a few years to really notice each other, but then we spent more and more time together, and one of my friends said that we looked like we were already coupled. So after that, I couldn’t stop thinking about him that way, and the next time I saw him, I was glowing! It was so embarrassing, but then he was glowing too and everyone was cheering, and he took my hand and asked me right then and there if I wanted to be his- what do you call it on earth?- I think ‘girlfriend’ is the equivalent. Nothing particularly dramatic, but I still remember it, of course.”

“What do you mean glowing?” Baekhyun frowns deeper, having recalled that phrase before, but having assumed it meant nothing more that a glowing feeling.

“Well, we have a gland here-” she points to the center of her chest, “-between our hearts, that contains a chemical reaction that occurs when we are around someone that we would like to couple. The reaction is chemiluminescent, and the light shows through our skin. It’s kind of like how some animals on earth show bright feathers to the ones they want to mate, I guess, but uncontrollable. And it carries on after you’re together, too.”

“Oh,”

“Why are you interested, all of a sudden?”

“Oh, no reason, just thought I’d ask,” Baekhyun mumbles. He’s not sure what to feel right now. “Do you think I will ever experience that?”

“Well. I don’t see why not. Human’s aren’t totally incompatible with our kind, but it would be difficult to explain why you literally light up around them.” She chuckles, as if imagining it.

“Oh,” Baekhyun smiles a little. Maybe in the future then. To be honest, he’s a little relieved that he hasn’t done this glowing thing around Chanyeol, but also a smidge disappointed, too. They must not be a good match, he thinks.

“Did you have someone in mind?”

“Oh, uh, no. Of course not,” Baekhyun is quick to say, taking a sip of apple juice.

“You have to already of thought of the person as a potential candidate for anything to happen, so relax. If you don’t like anyone, nothing will happen. You don’t have to worry about suddenly bursting into light in the middle of a conversation.”

“Ok then,” Baekhyun smiles, wondering what his partner will look like, and pushing away the insistent voice in the back of his mind that is saying Chanyeol.

 

In the school library, Baekhyun has already started working on one of his assignments while he waits for Chanyeol to show up. It’s going well, he’s about halfway through it already, and he’s got a good plan of how to finish it off. He rushes to finish as much as he can before Chanyeol gets here, because he knows that he won’t be getting as much done when his friend arrives. He’s far too distracting for his own good, always wanting to talk or go do something else. How he passes anything in class is still a wonder to him.

A hand on his neck makes him jump so bad that his pen makes a jagged mark on his paper.

“Chanyeol!” He whisper shouts, smacking him. Chanyeol just snorts, covering his mouth to stifle the laughter that would get them kicked out if he didn’t. It’s happened before. Baekhyun glares at him, fighting against the twitch of his lip.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Chanyeol wheezes, laying out his work sheets and getting out his pens. Baekhyun wrinkles his nose.

“No you’re not,”

“No, I’m not,” Chanyeol snickers again, ducking away from Baekhyun’s attack. A few muffled laughs later, and a distinct smack leaves Chanyeol looking almost contrite, and he actually starts working, mumbling quietly about friends with no sense of humour.

The scritch of pens and rustling of paper that fills the library should be a perfect atmosphere for studying. And it was, before Chanyeol arrived. Now, every few seconds, the alien boy finds himself glancing sideways at the human, and he isn’t sure why. Is he waiting for him to say something? Usually he isn’t so quiet, so perhaps he’s just anticipating his first complaint of boredom.

Without really noticing, Baekhyun’s glances get longer each time as he examines his friend’s profile. He has acne scars on his cheeks, and messy hair that he never really takes care of, but he still bears a kind of radiance. It’s the kind of thing that comes from within, and Baekhyun has always admired him for that. He used to be bullied a lot for his interests, but he would never let it get him down, always smiling and laughing no matter what.

“Baekhyun? Do you you have some kind of light up necklace on? Whatever it is, it’s cool.” Chanyeol compliments, reaching for his collar- to do what Baekhyun isn’t sure, but he knows he has to stop him. Covering his chest with his hands, he stutters out an excuse and flees, the sudden fear that everyone in the library is staring at him even though Chanyeol is the only one who is near overwhelming him.

“Uh, my mum wanted me to call her when, ahem, I-I need to go right now- sorry. I’ll be right back!”

“Baekhyun?” Chanyeol half stands up as he runs out of the library, leaving all his things behind as he dials his mum’s number and hopes he has decent signal here. He legs it down the corridor and down the stairs, sweating but not from the exertion.

He feels bad leaving Chanyeol like this but most of his concern for his friend is drowned out by the glaring panic of the glow, and what it almost certainly means.

He carries on running until he’s outside the library, and ducks out of sight. He tries to steady his breathing as the dial tone sounds, and bunches up his shirt until the light goes out- it has to go out, right? It won’t just stay on until something makes it go out?

“Baekhyun?” Her tinny voice sounds in his ear, “Is something wrong? You don’t normally call when you’re out with- oh.”

“Mum, what do I do?!” He crouches down until he’s sat on his heels. He won’t cry, he won’t cry.

“Just relax, Baek, nothing bad will happen. Where are you?”

“I’m outside the library. He thought I had a light up necklace on and I panicked and ran out, so now he thinks there’s something wrong. I’m such an idiot!”

“No, you’re not an idiot. Wait there, I’ll come pick you up, if you like.”

“But I left my stuff in there,” Baekhyun mumbles, feeling more stupid than ever. What if he’s just completely overreacting to this. He could totally have played it cool somehow and just told him it was a secret necklace or something. Chanyeol would have left it at that, probably... or maybe he wouldn’t.

But Chanyeol as his life partner? He had been thinking a little about it, but he hadn’t really thought it would actually truly  happen. So many emotions are mixing up and twisting around inside him right now, he can’t figure out what’s at the surface. Fear? Trepidation? Relief?

“That’s ok, you can text him, and he’ll drop it off later. Are you still glowing? I’m on my way to my car now.”

“Yeah, but it’s going down a bit. Aren’t you at work?”

“It’s fine, they won’t miss me for an hour or so.”

“Ok.” Baekhyun feels like a child again, being picked up by his mother because of another health issue. He’d waited outside school so many times for her to arrive, and it had always been as hard to breathe then as it is now.

“Alright, I have to hang up now, but I’ll be there in about twenty minutes, ok?”

“Ok. See you then,” Baekhyun looks at his phone anxiously, then adjusts his position so he can see down the road. That way he’ll know when his mum is coming as quickly as possible.

His phone buzzes in his hand. The message is from Chanyeol.

are u ok? - is all it says. The alien inhales a juddering breath and replies,

 

yeah, but im not coming back today, sorry. could u give me my stuff back tomorrow?

 

sure

 

Baekhyun winces. Chanyeol is still worried about him. He doesn’t say anything else as he waits for his mum to pick him up, and hopes that the human doesn’t try to come after him. Luckily he doesn’t, and when his mother arrives, he dives into the passenger seat like he’s avoiding a bomb. As soon as the car moves, he starts to relax, before feeling guilty again.

He just scared of being around him, in case he start glowing again.

“Aside from suddenly realising you have feelings for Chanyeol, how did your study date go?”

“Wasn’t a date.” Baekhyun mumbles, a little resentfully. Now that he’s safely in her car and not quivering in fear, she’s resolved to mocking him.

“Was it not? And here I thought this whole time Chanyeol was trying to get in your pants.”

“Mum!” Bakehyun cries out, aghast. She’s never said anything like that before!

“Is that not what the human kids say these days?” She remarks, “I could have sworn.”

“Mum, please. Don’t.” He presses his hands to his cheeks and slumps to the side, forehead against the window. It bumps against the glass every time they jolt, but that pain is better than the embarrassment of parental figures trying to be cool.

“I’m just teasing. But I really did think you would start glowing sooner than you did.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about it before then.”

“It’s not something that happens without knowing about it. It’s a strange thing, but lots of strange things are everywhere. I figured you would ask about that kind of thing sooner or later, so your father and I decided to wait until then. Ah, just wait till he finds out about this, he’ll be ecstatic,” she trills. He always has been the more enthusiastic about human integration, pushing him to join clubs and fit in. But Chanyeol was enough for him, and looking back he can see why people might assume they were like that. But he needs to think about it more before he can fully wrap his mind around the possibilities.

And then, he needs to figure out how to even tell Chanyeol about this. Oh god, it’s all too much to take in right now. Zombie-like, he trudges into the house and seats himself at the kitchen table, face smooshed into the wood.

“Cheer up, Baekhyun. It’ll all resolve itself.”

“Yeah, easy for you to say,” he mopes.

“It’s a good thing we aren’t scheduled to return, isn’t it?” She smiles indulgently at him, reaching over to fluff his hair as if his friendship with his best friend isn’t potentially ruined forever.

“I guess,”

 

It takes another two days for Baekhyun to face Chanyeol again, even though he brings him his things from the library, and sends him dozens of worried texts. It’s embarrassing that he feels like hiding out of sight when he hears Chanyeol’s voice at the door- when had his voice gotten so deep and since when was that such a good thing? He’d ran to hide in his bedroom, and shed his shirt, staring at the strange glow emanating from the middle of his chest,  about as big as his fist. It’s pale shade of yellow at the centre, and fades out to a more reddish colour at the edges and he likes the way it looks, but not what it means. It takes about half an hour to fully fade this time, and when it does, Baekhyun collapses on his bed wearily.

He still needs a little time to get everything straight in his head.

He’s more or less decided that before anything else, he needs to tell Chanyeol about his extraterrestrial origins, or nothing will work. If he rejects him from there

With a little help from his parents- his father had been particularly excited, and Baekhyun had to tell him that no, he couldn’t come- he eventually comes to the conclusion that he should ask him to go on a date. It’s hard to even think those words, it feels so weird putting that context next to his best friend, but then he realises a lot of what they already do could be considered a date.

Then Baekhyun gets another text from him, telling him that he’s going to retry making contact tonight, and that he’s welcome to join him, if he wants. Much to his mortification, he starts glowing just at the implication that they’ll be alone together at night, and retreats to his bedroom so he can reply in peace, without being made fun of by his parents.

He replies that he will bring food. Chanyeol sends back a smiley face. Baekhyun throws his phone onto the bed, embarrassed at his dumb reaction to a colon and a parenthesis.

 

He makes curry rice to take to Chanyeol’s and brings with him some chopsticks, because Chanyeol won’t have thought to bring his own, and a packet of cookies. In preparation, he wears a vest which should help block out some of the light, and an extra thick sweater over his normal shirt- it’s good that he has the excuse of being outside so he can dress warmly.

Baekhyun’s hands are shaking as he knocks on the door.

“You came!” Chanyeol greets him, grinning like nothing happened the other day. He picks up a large sports bag that looks heavy, “Alright, let’s go. I know the perfect spot, but we have to get a bus to get there,” he slings an arm over Baekhyun’s shoulder and guides him down the busy road to the bus stop. It’s already getting dark, so by the time the get to wherever Chanyeol is taking them, it will be pitch black. Baekhyun doesn’t say much. He’s practicing the speech he’s going to deliver later, running through it in his head over and over. If Chanyeol notices, he doesn’t say anything, and Baekhyun is grateful that he’s not pushing him to talk today. He must know something is up.

 

The sway of bus almost lulls him to sleep, so when Chanyeol pats his thigh to wake him up, he jerks violently.

“This is our stop, sleeping beauty,” he says, starting to shove him out of his seat. Baekhyun has to react quickly to not fall on his , and is sure he must already be glowing underneath his clothes. He doesn’t make a move to check, however, because that would draw attention to him.

“I’m going, I’m going,” he stumbles down the aisle and almost falls. It’s only Chanyeol’s hand that stops him from flying out of the front window when the bus stops moving, his long fingers spread out on his stomach. Now he’s definitely glowing he can feel it. Chanyeol retracts his hand as if burned,

“Sorry,” he mumbles, as they alight. They’re somewhere outside the city, but not so far that they can’t see the lights. In the opposite direction he can see the twinkle of another town, about an hour’s drive away. But between them is an open stretch of green fields that look black in the night.

“It’s ok,” he reassures him, wishing they could go back to how they were before. Ever since Baekhyun stormed out on him in the library everything has gone to , and Baekhyun isn’t convinced what he’s about to do is going to fix it.

Torch in hand, Chanyeol leads them both through a slightly overgrown field, and up a gentle hill before settling down on the damp grass. It must be a rule that grass is always damp, especially at night, Baekhyun thinks, wriggling around so he can get more comfortable. Their bags are sat in the middle, acting a little like a barrier. Baekhyun side eyes them, regretfully. Maybe if he wasn’t a damn alien, nothing would have come between them, and nothing would have changed.

Without a word, Chanyeol s his bag and reveals his creation, waving a hand over it like a hostess on a gameshow. Baekhyun tries not to laugh,

“Chanyeol, that’s a toaster,”

“Laugh all you want, it’s just the outside that looks like an ordinary kitchen bread cooker. The inside has been modified,” He taps the shell twice, conspiratorially, and puts it down on the ground before them, then reaches back inside the bag for what looks looks like a homemade remote control. Baekhyun is impressed. He knew he’s been to a few design technology classes, but hadn’t realised quite how much he’s improved. He must have been keeping it as a surprise.

But Baekhyun needs to tell him the truth before he gets distracted.

“Before we start, I, um. I have something I need to tell you,” his voice wavers.

Chanyeol leans back on his hands, watching him expectantly. “What is it?” He prompts. Baekhyun gulps as he realises his well practiced monologue is completely gone from his mind.

“I-I. I don’t know how to say it.”

“Start at the beginning?” Chanyeol suggests, frowning a little. Baekhyun sighs.

“Well. The beginning is that I’m not human,” he says, “ta-dah!” Jazz hands for effect. He’d hoped that would at least make him smile, if not laugh, but no. Nothing. Chanyeol’s eyebrows furrow into a line above his eyes as he stares at him, making Baekhyun a little uncomfortable.

“Say that again?”

“I-I’m not human. My family is from a different planet. I’m an alien.”

“Are you making fun of me?” Chanyeol looks hurt, pulling one knee to his chest. Baekhyun’s hearts clench- that’s the last thing he wants.

“What? No! Of course not!”

“Then why are you..?” He asks in a small voice. Baekhyun has to prove it somehow, but the only thing he can show him that might prove it would be his glow- but then he would have to explain what that is and why it’s happening. Sighing, he gives in. He’d rather be rejected as a boyfriend than have Chanyeol think he’s mocking him for his love of space creatures. He winces, screwing up his eyes in case Chanyeol takes this badly.

He lifts his shirt. Sure enough, the golden light is radiating from his chest, and it makes Chanyeol’s obvious astonishment all the more visible.

Chanyeol opens his mouth then closes it quickly.

“It wasn’t a necklace.” He says, more to himself than Baekhyun.

“No, it wasn’t,” Baekhyun agrees, pulling his clothes back down, shivering from the chill.

Chanyeol doesn’t say anything for a long time. He just stares at nothing in the distances, and Baekhyun wonders if he’s trying to think of a way to get out of here. Is it too much for him? He should have just kept it a secret. The longer he stays silent, the more worried Baekhyun becomes that he’s going to explode.

When Chanyeol kicks his communication device, Baekhyun jumps.

“I can’t believe I’ve been obsessed with making contact for years, and there was a whole family of you, literally right under my nose. I feel so stupid.” He moans, hiding his face in his knees.

“Don’t feel stupid, we go to great lengths to hide from humans.” Baekhyun admits, thoughts of movies filled with dissections and violence swarming his brain.

“Is that why you ran out the other day? I thought I had offended you or something, I’m actually kinda glad to know it wasn’t my fault.”

“Yeah. Not your fault.” Baekhyun chuckles awkwardly. He’s not upset? He almost feels let down- he’s been mentally preparing for him to shout at him, or be angry. At least to take a lot longer to process the revelation than this.

“You know, this all makes sense now. Remember when we first met? Wow, to think you almost told me the truth way back then. This is so weird.” He muses, already thinking hard.  “So what’s the glowy thing for? Is it just to light up so you can see? That would be pretty useful.”

“Ahh, it’s uh. Something.” Baekhyun curls in on himself. How the heck does he explain this without sounding like some kind of creep?

Curious now Chanyeol shifts a little closer, pushing the bags aside. “Can I see it again? I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be weird about it, but. It’s just really cool.”

“U-uh. Sure?” Slowly, he raises the hem of his clothes again, feeling a lot more sensual about it than he really should. Chanyeol doesn’t know that it means he might be in love with him, so how should he understand that it feels like they’re doing something very... intimate?

“Wow,” the human breathes, the golden light reflected in his dark eyes like tiny stars. He raises a hand, as if to touch, then brings it to his side jerkily, face colouring, “sorry, I’m being weird, aren’t I?”

“Only a little. I forgive you.” He whispers, lowering his clothes once again. It’s pretty cold out here after all.

Wordlessly, Chanyeol stares at him for another long moment.

“Is there even any point sending this thing up?” He nudges the little toaster a little disdainfully. Baekhyun sags in relief, seeming now to have dodged explaining the reason behind glow.

“Well, not really. It won’t get anywhere, since my family is, as far as I know, the only extraterrestrials around. And the nearest intelligent life is very far away, and even then, they wouldn’t know how to process the information on there. But still, it could be fun?” Baekhyun tries to encourage him, “And I know you spent a long time preparing it, we shouldn’t let that all go to waste.”

“Ok. Let’s do it then.” He jumps to his feet, remote control in hand. He arranges the toaster carefully a little way away, then steps back to where Baekhyun is sat, “get ready,” he warns, excitement infectious.

He flips a switch, and turns the dial on the remote to almost full. A shutter sound, followed by sparks, illuminates the night. Finally, Chanyeol presses another button, and the little toaster launches into the air, smoke trailing behind it.

It explodes in mid air, like a firework, little bits of glowing metal floating down.

Now Baekhyun knows why they came to such a remote place to do this.

“No!” Chanyeol cries out, slumping to his knees. Baekhyun stifles a snort.

“Maybe next time,” he promises.

“Yeah sure, I don’t think I’ll bother with this stuff anymore.” Chanyeol sits down next to his with a whump.

“You know what? You could talk to my parents, if you want. They would love to tell you all about my origin planet, as long as you swear not to share the information.”

“That would be cool,” Chanyeol agrees. Then he lays down next to him, tugging Baekhyun down too. “It’s a shame it’s so cloudy tonight, it would have been cool if we could stargaze or something. Might’ve made this venture a whole lot less pointless.”

“Mm.” Baekhyun lets himself flop down next to him, still just happy that Chanyeol is taking the whole Another Species thing well. If only it weren’t so cold out here, it would be pretty much perfect. He shivers, and folds his arms across his stomach.

“You know,” Chanyeol starts, his deep rumbling voice affecting him, “there was another reason I wanted to do this out here. But I think your thing was a bit more impressive. That being said, unless you suddenly reveal you have secret tentacles or something, I don’t think it’s changed anything, which should be weird, right? That I don’t feel different about you. But I don’t. So I’m just going to say it anyway and hope you don’t think I’m gross.”

“I don’t have tentacles,” Baekhyun whispers, voice so hushed he wonders if Chanyeol even heard.

“Good,” he clears his throat, “because... I like you. I hope that’s ok.”

Is it ok? Is it ok? Baekhyun must have heard wrong. He laughs, disbelieving.

“You like me?” He parrots. Pinching himself to make sure this isn’t a dream or a hallucination, Baekhyun lies in stunned silence for a moment.

“I shouldn’t have said anything, it’s weird, right? I’m sorry,” Chanyeol sits up, and begins gathering his things together.

“No!” Baekhyun tugs him back down again, “this is amazing!”

“You don’t mind?”

“Of course not! I-I like you, too.” It feels so surreal to say that out loud, when he has such a hard time admitting the same thing to himself. Even though it’s a little scary, he feels good about it.

“You do?” Chanyeol squeaks. Baekhyun nods, then finds himself with a large human on top of him, arms constricting around his torso and face buried in his chest. “That’s awesome,”

Baekhyun wheezes as Chanyeol’s arms tighten around him, and they end up half rolling down the hill, legs tangling together. I was so scared that you were going to say we couldn’t be friends anymore. But how great is this? It’s like two dreams have come true in one evening. I’m so happy.”

“Me too,” Baekhyun sighs, staring at the sky.

They stay like that for so long that Baekhyun thinks Chanyeol has fallen asleep on him. But he doesn’t mind, because it’s not cold with the human so close to him. He checks the time every so often, but he doesn’t have to start going home until ten, and that’s still an hour away. So instead he marvels at his good luck, feeling Chanyeol’s hot breaths tickle his skin through his clothes.

“Y’know, I still have a metric ton of questions, but I’ll ask them later.”

“Ok.” Baekhyun says, agreeing to the compromise. He’s happy just staying like this for now, all the talking and explaining can be done later. Chanyeol shifts in his hold, lifting his head so his bony chin presses uncomfortably into his ribcage.

“Actually, I’d still like to know more about the light-up thing. It’s just… really cool, and you didn’t answer earlier.” Chanyeol smiles beguilingly, and Baekhyun can’t say no, his hearts racing already.

“It’s kinda complicated?” He starts, “It’s sort of….to do with puberty,” he his lips, skirting around the truth nervously.

“So, like, this means you’re mature, or something?” He taps the source of the glow.

“Yes...and no.”

“Now you’re just being mysterious. Tell me,” he whines, flailing his too-long legs like a spoiled child.

“Ok, Ok, it’s like a-a mating thing, alright?” Baekhyun covers his face, looking away and waiting for the laughter.

“What?”

“You know when birds fluff up their feathers to attract mates? It’s kinda like that but I can’t control it.”

“Oh,” Chanyeol shifts again, wriggling like a caterpillar until his face is next to Baekhyun’s. Any other day, Baekhyun would have exploded into laughter at the sight, but not right now, the atmosphere is too tense for laughter.

“That’s not what I expected, but that’s still pretty cool. Hmm. Does that mean you were…. flashing me?”

“Chanyeol that was the worst joke ever, go home.” Baekhyun moans, pretending to push him off. But he’s really pleased that he isn’t making a huge fuss over the fact that Baekhyun apparently subconsciously wants to mate with him. He shoves that thought away as Chanyeol leers at him.

“Make me,”

“I will,” he squishes the human’s cheeks together between his palms, the light from the torch shining in such an angle that it makes Chanyeol look like a monster. A sudden wetness on the side of his hand has him recoiling,

“Ew, did you just me? What is it with you and lately?” He wipes his hand on Chanyeol’s clothes, making him laugh loudly. Baekhyun can feel it vibrating through him. He’s sure he’s felt it before, they’ve hugged and laughed at the same time many times, but it feels so different now, so new. It means something else.

“This is just so cool,” Chanyeol mumbles again, grinning widely against his skin.

 

It’s been a few weeks. Everything is settling nicely, and not much seems to have changed in their relationship- sure, they hold each other’s hands now, and their hugs go on for a little longer than before, but they still tease each other nonstop, and act almost the same as they did when they were just friends. He supposes that says a lot about their ‘friendship’ before, or maybe just that they’re so close that not much needed to change.

Baekhyun’s parents had cornered him the moment he’d got into the house on the night of his date, and interrogated him for almost an hour. They pretended it was in the interest of science- human reaction to the knowledge of their kind- but he knew they were just being nosy.

But even though not much has changed, and Baekhyun really kinda likes it that way, there’s still a few things he wants to try. Well, one thing in particular.

A kiss.

He’s seen it done on TV, and by other couples at school in between classes, so obviously it’s a popular thing to do. But he’s never had the reason to want to try doing that kind of thing himself, and he doesn’t think Chanyeol has, either. So it will be new for both of them. There’s plenty of horror stories going around about how awful your first kiss will be, but he hopes that with his best friend of almost twenty years it won’t be too horrible. He hopes.

But first, of course, he needs to build up to that. He can’t very well just lay one on him in the middle of the street, can he? He cringes just thinking about it. No, he needs to get a good atmosphere going, so maybe they should watch a movie first- a romance?- then make a move. Isn’t that what they call netflix and chill? It doesn’t sound too hard, so maybe he can pull it off, inexperience be damned.

Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t take long to persuade Chanyeol to agree to movie night, and just a few days later, Baekhyun finds himself tucked under Chanyeol’s covers with his laptop resting across both their laps. He recognises the music the moment the human presses play. Clearly it was a mistake to let Chanyeol have free reign when  choosing the movie they would watch.

“I am not watching Alien. Not again, Chanyeol. How many times have we seen this?”

“Not enough?” He tries weakly, already defeated.

“Too many. Let’s watch something else.”

“Fine. I guess it’s a little insulting, after all. You’re much more attractive than the alien in this anyway.”

“Shut up and pick another one,” Baekhyun scowls.

“Aww, look at you, all lit up,” Chanyeol teases, pinging the collar of his t-shirt. Baekhyun glares, and yanks the duvet up to cover his chest. This is not good, he’s already glowing and all he did was say he looked better than a slimy eight foot creature from some messed up person’s imagination.

“Shh,” he hisses. Chanyeol shuts the window, and lets Baekhyun pick something else. He spends a few minutes scrolling through the choices, as Chanyeol gets back into bed and curls an arm around his shoulders, long fingers encircling his upper arm.

Huffing Baekhyun allows himself to relax into his boyfriend’s hold, and resolves to just watch the movie for now. He doesn’t even need to push anything, so why is he worrying? Everything is fine and they have all the time in the world. Pressing play, Chanyeol hums disapprovingly but Baekhyun doesn’t care if he thinks it’s a stupid movie, he said he could pick.

The music starts and Baekhyun smiles, familiar with the dumb plotline enough to be able to mouth some of the words. Under the covers, their legs overlap.

About a third of the way through, Chanyeol’s hand moves from his shoulder to his waist, his hands spanning the front of his stomach. Underneath his shirt. One finger moves slowly, and Baekhyun is having difficulty breathing all of a sudden. Why does everything seem to have gotten warmer? Frozen like a deer in the headlights, Baekhyun tries to pretend that nothing out of the ordinary is happening.

“Baekhyun?” Chanyeol’s voice hits him like a bullet to the gut, and his hearts skip a beat. He turns his head, only to be met with Chanyeol’s mouth on his, just for a second. He’s softer than he thought.

“Mph?” Baekhyun recoils in shock, touching his lips. “You just..?”

“Yeah.” Chanyeol watches him carefully, as if he might run away at any given moment. Baekhyun laughs.

“I thought I was going to be the one to kiss you.” He explains, when Chanyeol raises an eyebrow at him, “but I guess it doesn’t really matter now, does it?”

“No.”  Chanyeol pushes his laptop aside and draws Baekhyun in closer, reminding him that he’s actually a lot stronger than he looks, even though he’s never beat him at arm wrestling. Baekhyun ends up sat on Chanyeol’s lap sideways, looking down on the human from his higher vantage point. Chanyeol smiles up at him, eyes full of emotion.

“I’ve wanted to do this for such a long time Baek,” he confesses, “I really, really like you.” He cups his cheek, hand dwarfing his face as he guides him back towards his lips. He lingers, and Baekhyun feels like it was charged with love, even though the thought makes him shy away from such cheesiness.

“I’ve literally had dreams about being with you,” he whispers, in between kisses, “remember a few days ago, when you slept over? I kind of thought I was still dreaming, that’s why I grabbed you.”

“That’s almost cute.” Baekhyun rearranges himself so that one knee is on either side of Chanyeol’s thighs, and his arms resting casually around his neck, “would have been cuter if I hadn’t ended up your gross floor, though,” Baekhyun teases, ducking back down to kiss him again, before he starts to answer back.

It’s still surreal to think about Chanyeol pining for him for so long before Baekhyun even started to think of him as anything other than a friend, but he’s glad about how things are now. And kissing him is nice, if a little clumsy on path their parts. It makes him feel even warmer than before, and Chanyeol’s hot hands creeping up his back, letting in a cool draft as his shirt lifts up, make him shiver.

He never thought it would feel like this for him, since he isn’t human, but he does feel something swirling inside him, spinning out of control. It’s hot and thrilling, and he kisses the human beneath him harder to keep up with it. Chanyeol moans lowly, hips arching up against him. Baekhyun thinks he might very well explode.

“Baekhyun, I’ve been meaning to ask; do you actually have a ?”

“What?” Everything that had been building up slowly drains away as he sits back and stares at Chanyeol, still red faced and glossy mouthed.

“Well, I don’t know. You aren’t human, so I was just wondering…” Chanyeol trails off as he figures out that he’s just completely obliterated the mood, and shifts to cover his , looking away, embarrassed.

“I’m male.” Baekhyun flops back onto the bed, sullen. He’s been freaking out about this a lot too lately, but had convinced himself that it wouldn’t come up in conversation for a while.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Chanyeol takes his hand and lays down next to him, “c’mon Baek, you know I won’t love you any less if I find out that you release like, spores or something.”

“I know.” And Baekhyun trusts that no matter what, Chanyeol won’t find him disgusting. At least he can count on that, he thinks, as his heart rate slowly returns to normal. “And I do not have a the same way you do, no.”

“Oh. Well that’s cool.” Chanyeol says, “so teach me, how does it work for your species, then?”

Baekhyun struggles to find a way to put it that won’t confuse him, thinking back to a very embarrassing talk he’d had with his parents a few years ago,

“We’re kind of like fish? Females lay eggs and the the males fertilize them once they’ve been, er, laid, so to speak. They’re very precious, and we tend to only have maybe two in our lifetime. The child grows for about, um, a year and a half inside a kind of egg thingy. I don’t know.”

“How does the fertilisation work?” Chanyeol asks, pretending to be innocent. Baekhyun rolls his eyes, and hides his face. Here comes the worst part.

“Well the atmosphere on my origin planet is apparently a lot denser, so, like.” he pauses to take a breath, “after c-, the kind of swims through the air to fertilise it.”

“Flying . Baekhyun. That’s amazing,” Chanyeol sniggers, “I would never have come up with that.”

“I’m not lying!”

“I know! That’s what makes it even better!” He collapses into a fit of childish giggles. “So you must have some kind of -like thing? Right?”

“Let’s not go into this too in depth right now,” Baekhyun begs, utterly mortified. How did they go from making out to a ed lesson?

“Ok, ok. But some time you have to tell me. I’ll wait.” Chanyeol rolls over, bringing Baekhyun with him like a ragdoll so he’s lying on top of him, between his slightly parted legs. He ignores Chanyeol’s half pressing into his stomach.

“Fine.” Baekhyun agrees, sulking against the human’s chest.

“Good. So tell me more about the atmosphere on your origin planet.”

“I’ve never actually been there, so I can only tell you what I know from my parents.”

“But it’s kind of like being underwater?”

“You know how the air gets when it’s really humid? It’s like that but a lot thicker. My parents had to use a lot of moisturiser before they got used to it. I remember getting bathed in the stuff when I was tiny.”

“I feel bad for you, a little. It must have been awfully lonely being the only one,”

“I have my parents. And you.” Baekhyun can hear Chanyeol’s single heart beating steadily, and it’s soothing for some reason. Chanyeol his hair comfortingly.

“That isn’t quite what I meant.”

“I know, but you made it better, even if I couldn’t tell you everything. I can now.”

“And I’m happy to listen to everything.” He can hear the smile in his voice, “I feel so lucky.” Baekhyun smacks him, lightly.

“Shall we carry on watching the movie now?” Baekhyun mumbles, making no move to get the laptop back from where Chanyeol put it.

“Sure, why not?” Chanyeol pushes Baekhyun off him for a moment to retrieve it, then pats the mattress between his legs. Baekhyun considers for a moment, before conceding and sitting there. He likes feeling surrounded by Chanyeol’s long legs and arms, and having his chin resting on his shoulder, even though he suspects he’s just going to use this as an excuse to fall asleep on him.

He could so get used to this.

---

well this turned out to be borderline crack but i hope u enjoyed it anyway~

im completely 100% happy to answer ANY questions about this AU ok ;) ;) any at all~

comment if you liked hehe