To The Moon, For You. [BL | TIWSON/POR]

14. We keep each other company.

Por came out of the shower drying his hair with a towel. He laid his pile of dirty laundry beside his duffel bag. It was amounting to a small mountain and Por thought to himself that he would need to do laundry in a washing machine soon. But where would he have access to that? Jorn was sitting on the bed his leg straightened up on his blanket. He saw the mountain of dirty laundry Por had accumulated and picked up the laundry basket. He goes up to Por and placed the dirty laundry into the basket. He then beckoned Por to follow him and they went to the ground floor. There Por saw big silver machines. Some were in use and clothes were spinning on the inside mixed with water and bubbles. He stared at them in fascination. On the Moon, he never had to do laundry. They dropped it off at a very special shop and someone does it for them. He placed his face close to one of the machines and stared into the glass. There was something very therapeutic about watching clothes spinning. Jorn laughed and goes to an empty machine. He emptied Por's laundry into the machine and Por ran to stop him. He wanted to do it by himself. He placed whatever was left into the machine and looked at Jorn. Jorn took a packet of powder from near the machine and poured it into a small drawer. Detergent, Jorn said. These would help keep clothes clean. Jorn pressed a few buttons and Por tries to memorise the sequence. The red one first then the second button. When that was done, Jorn sat on the chair facing the machine. Por followed suit.

"Where are you from, Por? You can tell me I will keep it a secret."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw how you arrived. You just fell from nowhere and landed on my bed. Are you an alien?"

"You are really fascinated with outer space, aren't you? I am not an alien."

"Then what are you?"

"I am human."

"Really?"

"Does it not scare you that you are living with a non-human?"

"Not really. You don't seem scary. "

They grew quiet for a little bit and the gentle sloshing of water suddenly from the machine suddenly became loud.

"You promise you'll keep it a secret?"

"Yes. I promise."

Jorn stretched out his pinky and Por stares at it. Jorn hooked his pinky to Por's.

"On Earth, this is how we promise."

Por looked at their interlocked pinkies with amusement. He unhooked his finger. Por then placed his cheek on Jorn's cheek. Then he moves away.

"From where I am from, this is how we promise."

"So close?"

"We like touching."

Jorn smiled.

"Are you an alien?"

"I am human. I just live far away from here."

"Like outer space?"

"Maybe. So I don't know most things about Earth. You need to teach me."

"Why are you here?"

"To meet lovely people like you."

At that moment, the washing machine beeped and the clothes came to a stop. Por thought to himself what a close shave. He almost had to reveal why he came, something he knew he had to keep a secret till the end of the mission. He took the clothes out from the washing machine with Jorn's help and realised they are wet. He looked at Jorn with an expression of confusion. Jorn laughed and said they would hang the clothes in the room to dry. Por carried the basket and realised how heavy it has become. It dragged it on with all his might. Jorn came and lifted it for Por. He told Por to go ahead and he would carry the basket for him. They got to the room and Jorn took out a metal hanger and they hung the clothes together in the room. After that, they laid on the bed ready to rest for the night.

"Do you have enough space?"

"Yes. Am I taking up too much of your space?"

"No."

"If you need me to find somewhere else to live, you could always let me know, ok?"

"Ok. But I like having you around."

"Why?"

"It's nice to live with someone."

"Why?"

"Living alone can get lonely sometimes."

"Do I make you feel less lonely?"

"You do."

"You make me feel less lonely too."

Jorn gave Por a little pat on the head. He turned off the light and turned away from Por. Por closed his eyes and for the first time in a long time, he felt happy. Happy to have people around him, and happy to have made friends. Maybe Earth wasn't so bad after all. He looked down at his watch and closed his eyes.