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Oh was generally a very happy Boov. Ever since the feeding rooms, his first memories on the original Boov planet, he liked to look on the bright side of things. It was a little sad when they were all so far apart, and no one wanted to be his friend, and he knew that the others were not happy like him when he was around, but smiling made him happy anyway.
Now, though, he was definitely the happiest he had ever been. Earth was great, and he had friends now, real friends, like Tip, and Tip-mom, and pig-cat, and Kyle. Other Boov and humans wanted to be his friends now too, like Jo who had never really liked him but now said hi to him every time he went by the hair salon, and Tim, the nice man at the grocery store. They were nice and okay, but it wasn’t the same.
Oh would also say that nothing was the same now, though; it was better. And now he had Kyle.
——-
Tip looked at Oh over the pictures that they were drawing together (Tip a flower and Oh Slushious) and hesitating before starting, “Oh…”
The Boov looked up at his human friend. “Yes, Tip?” he asked, curious.
She hesitated again. “Is Kyle your… boyfriend?”
Oh cocked his head a bit. “Yes,” he answered, “Kyle is my friend, who is like a human boy.” He thought for a second. “But that is not what you are asking me, correct?” Over the last three or so months since the most awesome party ever, Oh had gotten better at knowing when he was understanding things wrong. Human speech was so complicated.
“Yeah,” she said, “that’s right.”
Oh was also now familiar with the way Tip would think for a minute before explaining something to him when she had to try and think of how to say it.
“So,” she started, “you know those two men we saw in the park the other day? Kissing?”
“Where humans press faces together?”
“Uh… yeah, that,” Tip answered. “Well, most people have friends, and then there’s best friends, and then a lot of people have something that’s like friends but different.”
“I do not know if I really understand.” Oh was… confused.
Tip shrugged. “That’s okay. It’s kind of different for every person. Some people don’t have that kind of person and never will. Some people have multiple people. It just kind of depends.”
Oh frowned down at the table, trying to wrap his head around the idea. “Well, Boov do not really… do friends. Until now.” He added the last part quickly. “I don’t even know if Boov can have these special-people-feelings.” For some reason the thought made him a little sad.
“Well, I can’t describe it exactly, but I think that when you look at him, it feels like everything is complete in your life. Like you want to be with them all the time and all you want to do is see them happy.” She sighed softly, looking past him with a little smile.
Oh thought for a second. “Do you have a person, Tip? You seems to be knowing a lot about this.” He was always impressed with how much she knew about things; Tip was very smart (she got an A in geometry, you know).
She seemed to notice him again. “Oh, no, I don’t. I wish. I just read a lot of fanfiction.” She chuckled.
“What’s that?” he asked, always wanting to know more.
“That’s something for another time, Oh.”
She looked awkward, so Oh said, “Okay,” and they turned back to their pictures. What she said about human’s person didn’t leave his brain, though, because that’s how he felt about Kyle. Was Kyle his boyfriend?
——-
A few weeks after the conversation, and Oh’s boyfriend (boyfriend!) Kyle was out directing traffic, the sun having already set on the evening shift. Oh’s job as leader was hard sometimes, but he usually had to work during the day, at the same time as most humans. Kyle’s times were a lot weirder and changed a lot, not that Oh minded.
They had an apartment, only a few blocks away from Tip and Tip-mom and pig-cat, and Oh was very happy.
‘Knock, knock,’ came from the apartment door.
Oh was, at the time, seated in the living room that said door was attached to, and he was a bit confused at the noise seeing as how Kyle wasn’t supposed to be home for another hour or so. Maybe it was the neighbor Boov next door asking for sugar? They always seemed to be out of it.
He went to the door and opened it.
“Hello, Oh,” came a very familiar voice. It was not a good voice.
Oh gasped and took a few steps back. “Old-Captain Smek?”
“Yes, it is I.” He smiled, but it wasn’t a very nice smile.
“How are you being here?” he questioned, moving back one step for every step that Smek came towards him. “You were forbidden from coming back on Earth.”
Smek kept smiling as he stepped forward. “Oh, I have my ways.” Another step. “You see, Oh, the moon is boring, and I was not liking it.” Step. “And do you know what else I don’t like?” Step again. Oh didn’t answer. “I do not like you.”
Oh started to feel scared when Smek stopped smiling. Then, he felt his back hit the wall behind him.
“Oh, you is stupid, annoying, and you is not deserving of being the leader of the Boov.” Smek had stopped walking towards him by now and actually stepped back. Oh was still scared, but now also confused at what was happening until Smek pulled out from behind him a security wristband, like the kind that Kyle used. The now-not-Captain should definitely not have that.
With his fear at the escalating situation spiking, Oh was suddenly able to talk again. “Wait!” he yelled, panicked about what he knew was about to happen. “We can be talking about this, right?” He laughed nervously. “You aren’t really wanting to do this. This is all a big misunderstanding.”
“No, it’s not,” he said coolly and aimed the wristband at Oh.
Then… ‘Knock knock.’
“Oh, I’m home!”
Both Oh and Smek froze. Even though facing Smek made him scared, Kyle being here made Oh terrified. Now he could get hurt, and that was so much worse than anything else.
After a second, he could hear Kyle’s key in the door. “Oh?”
“Kyle!” Oh all but yelped. “I is… making a surprise! So you cannot come in, okay?” Why was Kyle home so early? Of all days?
His attempts at keeping his boyfriend out did nothing when the already unlocked door swung open. “Oh, what is- Smek?!” In seconds, the traffic Boov took in what was happening, and his face changed from confusion to anger and fear. “Oh, what’s happening?”
“This is looking much worse than it actually is,” Oh replied, making a placating gesture to both his former captain and his current boyfriend, looking anxiously between the two. There were not many ways that this could get worse. “Kyle, why don’t you leave for now, and we,” he pointed to himself and Smek, “can talk about this.”
Kyle was quick to glare at him as he went to pull out his own security wristband. “Not gonna happen.”
Smek, however, recognised the movement. “Ah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” He waved the weapon around a bit in front of him, reminding them both of the danger that he posed. Smek smiled smugly when he realized that he had them.
“Now, Kyle, I don’t have any problems with you. You are a smart Boov, and smart Boovs run. Why don’t you leave?” His tone was sweet, and his smile had become softer, but there was an edge of poison to his words that made Oh uncomfortable.
Nevertheless, he didn’t want his boyfriend here right now, not if he could get hurt. “Kyle, Smek is right. This is not safe for you, and it would not be smart to stay.”
Kyle’s eyes met his, and Oh could see that they were determined. “I’m not leaving, even if that makes me a very dumb Boov. Smek, what do you want?”
And Oh could see that Smek was slowly getting fed up. His hands were tightening around the wristband and he looked more than annoyed at this point. “I want him gone. And I don’t care if I am taking you out too.”
In the next second or so, a lot of things happened all at once. Oh could see Smek preparing a shot, and he dove out of the way just as the red bubbles went past him, landing right where he had just been. The last thing he saw before the explosion was Kyle running towards him, and he could feel himself start to shoo him away.
Then a bang and nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Heat.
It was hot.
He could hear ringing.
Why did his body hurt?
“-h? Oh? Come on, come on, wake up!”
Kyle.
Why was he supposed to wake up? Was it morning?
He tried to open his eyes, but his head really hurt, and he winced when the light assaulted his eyes.
It was… red? And orange?
Then, the memories came flooding back. Smek. Kyle. The wristwatch. The explosion.
Kyle.
And there he was, the lighter Boov hovering over him, blurry but there. His body really hurt.
“Kyle?” he asked. Well, tried to. His voice was more like pig-cat when he spit out the balls of hair.
“Oh.” Kyle sounded relieved. “You’ll be just fine, okay? You just hit your head, I think. How do you feel?”
“Good,” he answered honestly, despite the heat and how his head hurt and his body hurt and some part of his brain was worrying about Smek.
“Don’t lie to me, Oh, this is serious.” His boyfriend sounded a little bit annoyed, but that didn’t make sense, because Oh wasn’t lying. He probably wasn’t even a little green.
“I am telling the truth. I am always feeling good when you are with me.” He smiled a little and looked up at his boyfriend.
“Oh.” It was a good oh.