My Alien Boyfriend

The Second Meeting

“Hello, and welcome to the second meeting of whatever this is called. Trott is over with the Flux Buddies, so it’s up to Ross-”

“I have stuff to get done!”

“So it’s up to me to run this meeting. What do we want to talk about first?” I look at the three men sitting in a circular shape. Sips looks like he has something to say but he doesn’t know if he should say it. “Sips, why don’t you start us off?”

He looks at me but looks away when I smile at him. “Fuck off Smiff.”

Simon laughs, taking a sip of his whiskey. “Someone else want to start us off then?”

Parv shrugs, telling us about Will getting mad at at him for Ridge coming over while he was gone. I resist the urge to make a comment, refilling everyone’s cups.

I look at Sips after Parvis is done, noticing that throughout Parv’s story he got more and more fidgety. “Why don’t you go next Simon,” I suggest, wondering if Sips will be more willing to speak his mind if he wasn’t thinking so much.

He agrees, giving me time to make sure Sips ingests a nice amount of alcohol to loosen him up. I don’t really pay attention to what Simon is saying, catching various words and phrases, nodding and making passive comments.

“Yea, don’t want to know about that,” I say, holding up a hand to stop Simon from continuing. He cackles, whiskey spilling over the side of his glass. “That’s enough for you,” I mutter, taking the glass from him. Parvis seems to be pretty sober still, much to my surprise. I wasn’t sure giving him alcohol was the best idea, knowing Strife would come after us if we dumped a drunk Parv at his door.

“Guess it’s my turn,” Sips says, knocking back the rest of his drink. “I’m not gonna believe it, but it’s true. I went for a walk to the old compound, you know, the compound Sjin and I tried to do?”

I smirk, laughing at his horrible speech. “Yea,” I take his glass from him when he holds it out.

“Well he- he was there! He was there, working on the tower. Everything was back to normal. It was like - like I went back in time. He wasn’t mad at me, he even was wearing his space suit! I saw him before my walk, and he was in his dumb farmer overalls.” I throw a look in Parv’s direction, wondering if he’s just as confused as I am. Sjin, he mouths at me. I nod, watching out of the corner of my eye as Parv seems to realise something. “When I turned around, it was back to it’s old run-down state.”

“How long ago was this, Sips?” Sending a questioning look Parv’s way, I watch Sips try to sit up in his chair.

“Dunno, it was after I left here. Kermit knows.” Now it’s Parv’s turn to look at me, eyebrows raised.

I shrug. “No idea. It was five or six days after they came back, I think.” He nods, looking lost in thought.

I wonder what I’m supposed to do with Simon, who is snoring away in his chair. Parv seems capable of getting home, Sips I can bring over the hill to Sjin’s place.

“I can bring Simon to Craggy Island, if you want.” I turn to Parv, realizing I’ve been staring at Simon for a while now. “It’s not super far from my place.”
“Yea, thanks mate.” He raises his glass, smiling at me.

“Thanks for the drink. People usually don’t let me drink alcohol.”

“I can’t imagine why,” Standing up, we wake up Simon. “If you ever want to drink though, it gives me an excuse.”

He laughs, guiding Simon up the stairs. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks Smith!” I nod, waving goodbye to the pair.

“Ross?” I call, walking through Hat Corp. “Ross!”

“Yea?” I find him in the garden, eating a carrot.

“I’m going to run over to Sjin’s farm quick.”

He nods. “Tell Sjin I’ll be over in a few days to help with the farm.”

I say I will, going to find Sips. He’s still in the room, passed out on the floor. Knowing that there is nothing I can do to wake up Sips, I pick him up bridal style and head for the farm.

Sips is heavy but manageable, the journey short enough for him not to be too much of a nuisance.

Reaching the farm, I’m not surprised to find all the lights in the house off. The area is lit up enough where no monsters will spawn, the faint sound of skeletons and spiders roaming around the fields of wheat making me question bringing Sips back.

I debate knocking, Sips getting kind of heavy now that I’m not in the air. Not really wanting to wait for Sjin to wake up and come downstairs, I open the door, rolling my eyes at the lack of security. “Sjin,” I call into the empty house.

I head for the stairs when I don’t get a response, jetpacking up the stairs. I call out again when I reach the top of the stairs, moonlight streaming in through the windows. It provides enough light to get me to the double bed without tripping over anything, the bright green carpet softening my footsteps.

The stairs almost bring me down, and I let out a string of curses as I correct myself. The bed shifts and I watch as Sjin sits up. “Who’s that?”

“Smith and Sips. Go back to sleep.” Instead of going back to sleep he gets up, stumbling out of bed.

“Why is Smith here?” He turns on a lamp, looking really confused at the sight of me standing in his bedroom holding Sips. “What?”

Not knowing if he knows about the meetings, I smile faintly at Sjin, trying to think of a good excuse. “He came over and got a bit drunk. Didn’t want to deal with him in the morning, throwing up everywhere.”

“Gee, thanks Smith.” I nod, setting Sips down on the bed.

“You guys are good, right?” Sips made it seem like they were, and I really don’t want to lug him all the way back to HatCorp. He nods, and I breath a sigh of relief. “Great. And Ross wanted me to tell you he’ll be over in a few days.”

“Oh? Alright,” He frowns slightly, throwing a look Sips’ way. He mutters something that I don’t really catch, the only word being ‘gone’. I briefly wonder if something’s going on between the two builders, but then the scene that played out in Hat Corp pops into my head. There’s no way Sjin would do that, he loves Sips too much to do that. Right?