Three Years Earlier, 24th December

"Oh?"

The Boov Captain turned his head towards his Homo Sapiens soulmate. "Yes, Tip?"

She smiled at him for reasons unknown. "Are we, like, officially married now, or…?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and waving her right hand around in a circle.

"Ah- no, no we are not. You would be considering to be my fiancé, but not the wife," Oh explained, sitting down on their bed.

Tip frowned, slightly puzzled, and sat down next to him. "When will people look at us and go 'hey, married couple!'?" Oh shot her a look including a raised eyebrow –or the Boov version, anyways- and she rolled her eyes. "I know, it's not a perfectly crafted sentence, give me a break." He chuckled, but soon his laughter died away.

"Well," he begun, chewing on his lip and wondering how to put it into words. "We would have to do the- the thing."

"The… thing?" Tip asked, narrowing her eyes in confusion. Oh looked at her again, this time blankly. "O-oh. That thing."

"That thing," Oh agreed, successfully throwing the torch at her so she could say the next sentence.

There was a slight pause, and then Tip reached out and grabbed his hand in hers. It was her way to ask for a bit more comfortable and private way of talking. Even though the effects caused by being far from the other had ceased after almost a whole year –and would cease more, they theorized- they rather preferred to stay close anyway, and talking over the link was, obviously, more private than talking out loud.

:Is this you, uhm. Asking me to do the, the thing with you?: Tip asked hesitantly, looking away from her soulmate and blushing furiously.

Oh raised his eyebrow again and chuckled once more. :No, it's not. I know that it is considered taboo if girls do the thing when they are too young: he explained, even though he couldn't fight off the blush either, the orange and yellow* stripes rolling over his purple skin showing off his slight discomfort at discussing this with her.

As Tip turned her head even further away from him, refusing to look at him, her nervousness shone through. :But- but you- you are willing to- to do the thing with me? And- and physically capable, right?:

Oh's expression softened. "Of course, Tip," he whispered, and the humansperson started. :Although I'm not sure whether I can give you children or not the natural way- when you are ready, I am ready, okay?:

"O-okay," she answered, and this time she did look at him, throwing a soft smile in his direction. Then she frowned again. "Naturally?"

Oh ignored her slipping up and grinned. "Yes. You do remembering that Boov are masters at manipulating genes, yes?"

She opened her mouth, widened her eyes, and didn't close her mouth for a while either. "Ooooooooooooooooooooh," she exclaimed after almost three minutes and Oh had begun to worry if he had broken her. "Oh," she said, and tears filled her eyes as she took his other hand in hers, too, and rested her forehead on his. "I love you so much. I'm so glad to have you in my life, and one day, I'll be happy to have you as a husband."

He smiled at her, and she gave him a short, passionate kiss before she hugged him warmly.

Present Time, 4th August

The strange, married couple –and strange it was indeed, with a seventeen-year-old human girl and a sixteen-year-old male Boov*, bonded by mind and body- lay side by side on the large bed, both of them panting hard and trying to catch their breath.

The human –her name was Gratuity, Gratuity Tucci, but her friends called her Tip- broke the almost-silence suddenly when she snorted loudly. She turned around, laying on her stomach instead, and pressed her face into a pillow, trying to muffle her laughter.

The Boov –he was the Boov Captain, mind you, but didn't like to be called JLo, he preferred Oh- sighed heavily and rolled his eyes before he crossed his arms and sat up.

"The- the sounds you made!" Tip's shriek was very much audible through the pillow. By the sound of it, she was fully aware of this fact. "Oh my God you sounded like a dying puppy," she gasped and howled with laughter once again. Oh rolled his eyes, drummed his fingers against his bare arm and looked in the opposite direction.

"Well, you were sounding like a whale," he muttered good-naturedly, and had to bite his lower lip to keep from laughing himself. He had made quite the hilarious sounds after all.

And yes, it sounded a lot like a dying puppy, but surely that couldn't be just him- right?

(he soon joined her in laughter not that he would ever admit it)

When their laughter finally died down, they were sitting next to each other, Tip –being fairly short- resting her head on top of Oh's. "The sex was good though," she said after a while.

"The sex was good," Oh agreed with a nod.

(They begun laughing again)

19th August

Oh was concerned. There had been discovered a few other Boov with human soulmates, and they wanted to be able to marry each other legally. Tip was fine with marrying him the Boov way, since it was illegal for humans to even consider marrying someone of the same gender, but not all humans or Boov were happy with just that. Oh, being the Boov captain, was supposed to have a meeting with some of the most important leaders among the humans to see if they could come to an agreement. It would be his first real act as the Boov Captain, the Boov leader, since most of the problems among Boov had been taken care of rather quickly.

"Hey, are you worrying about that meeting again, inyoni*?" a voice called, and Oh looked up from the dining table just in time for Tip to press a chaste kiss to his forehead. He smiled softly at her. She was seventeen now, and had finished school just three months ago. Lucy, her Mymom, was out of town to do something work related –Oh hadn't quite caught it, all he knew was that Tip and him were going to be alone for around a week. "Don't be," Tip said as she smiled back. Her hair was fixed so it wouldn't fall in her face and her dark green eyes were shining with joy. The apron she wore had once been white –it wasn't anymore- and at the corner of her mouth there was a spot of light blue paint. "I'm sure it's going to work out perfectly," she comforted him and went to wash the brushes she'd just used. Do you know about the moments where you just look at a person and you're suddenly hit with the thought and feeling that "I love you. I love you so much." That was how Oh felt at that moment, and his skin did nothing to hide it.

"Now, what do you think about this, Oh?" his wife asked, and cocked her head at her own painting.

Oh turned around in his chair to look at it, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "It is… fine, I guess?" he decided on, and shrugged helplessly. He honestly didn't know.

Tip laughed happily. "Silly me, I should know better than to ask you. You just don't get art," she said lightly, with a shake of her head. "Just as I don't get Boov music."

"Excuse me, I did get that first painting, from when we were to the Paris," Oh shot back, crossing his arms stubbornly.

"Oh yeah? Just how long time did that take. Four years?" Tip flopped down in the chair opposite of him, folding her apron over the chair next to her.

"You are wounding me, Tip," he whined, and patted his chest desperately. "And I will have you to know, I got it the next day."

Tip didn't answer besides chuckling, and Oh counted it as a win. "Now," she said, and turned serious very suddenly. "Tell me what you want to talk to me about." A glare followed this command, and Oh's smile faded. Of course she would know that he wanted to talk to her. Of course.

"Uh-" He poked his index fingers together nervously. "When- when are you thinking about having- having children?" This had been troubling him for a while. The process of combining genes didn't take a long time when it was between two Boov, but with a humansperson and a Boov… it might take longer, because there was so much work concerning it.

It seemed like Tip had awaited something much more serious –as if it wasn't serious enough- and she sighed in relief. "Well," she said, eyes flicking around the room, as she seemed to think about it. "It depends."

Oh tilted his head. "On what?"

"Tell me, Oh," Tip said, leaning forward and stippling her fingertips together in what he recognized as the "evil hand triangle". He gulped. "As the Boov Captain's wife, will I ever have to worry about finding a job?"

"Er…" He considered this. "Not for the moment, no."

"Okay," Tip drew the A sound out, looking pleased. "Then what about later?"

"Later?"

"When you're older and can't be the leader anymore," Tip explained.

"Ah, I- I guess that I would choose an apprentice or just retire. Why?"

Tip rolled her eyes and sighed, even though she smiled, too. "Would I, being the former Boov Captain's wife, still not need to find a job?"

Oh flashed orange when he understood what she was getting at. "I see," he said. "No, no you would not, as long as we live in the Boov Mothership or elsewhere where there are Boov in main control. My being the former Captain would not have been enough of a status, but since we are also having the soulbond," –he gestured in between them as if to indicate the stretching, white chains they knew where there but couldn't see- "It takes our place in society to a new level." Tip had been nodding all along his explanation, and now she was grinning.

"Well then," she said, and took the rubber band out of her hair, causing it to fall down as a crown around her face, framing it almost like a dark halo. "Hit me with your best shot."

Oh smiled, his skin taking a strange color mix between bright pink and the orange color called suno among Boov. Taking a closer look at his soulmate, the suno color lost the fight with the pink one. He shot a thought at the necklace he still wore at all times –a silver key in a silver chain- and he had to smile at Tip's almost-kinda proposal. The next thought was of the necklace Tip wore at all times –a round medallion, but with two stones instead of pictures, and the engravings that meant 'will you be my songbird'. He didn't think of Tip as a songbird, not anymore- she was something much more. Sometimes it was as if Tip was a star, a burning sun, just a bright, bright light in the middle of darkness, and that he was a moth, drawn to her. He was so lucky that she didn't burn him- at least not anymore.

He leaned over the table and kissed the light blue spot of paint, smiling gently when he pulled back. "However, we must discuss how to mix the genes*," he whispered softly, and Tip shook her head as if to end a trance.

"Ye-yeah, sure, give me two seconds," she said, a distant look in her eye. When she went to find two pens and some paper, she tumbled twice.

"So," Oh said, tapping the pen against the paper. "What I think is best, is if we take as much as possible of either your genes and as little as possible of my, or the other way around."

Tip frowned. "Why like that?"

"We take just enough of my genes to create a life, or just enough of your genes so the life will stay and you will have the possibility to give birth. We do not look much alike; our genes is not an exception, it will be hard, almost impossible to create a hybrid with fifty-fifty of each of us."

Tip nodded slowly. "I think I understand," she said, and her frown evened out.

"It is up to you if you want most of my or your genes," Oh said, and clicked the pen to be able to use it, quickly scribbling down the 90-to-10 percent usage of genes. "I really do not care."

"Uhm. I kind of- okay so I really, really want a Boovish kid, but- I want a humanish, too?" Tip said, biting her lip and drawing a doodle in the corner of her paper. "How many kids do a Boov normally have, in one birth?" The doodle got six legs and a pair of eyes.

Oh considered it, pointedly ignoring the drawing of him. Yes, he knew it was him because Tip wrote 'my inyoni' underneath. "Four or five at a time, but since we are to be combining humansperson genes and Boov genes I am guessing it will be two or three instead. Can you work with that?"

Tip looked up from the paper. "Have three or four kids combined? Yeah, that's great." This statement came with a smile, probably to prove that she was indeed serious about this. "But since the genes will be combined, as you say, what will be different with our kids and other Boov slash humans?"

Oh tilted his head to the right side and then to the left side a few times, looking up at the ceiling. "Well… I am guessing small things. I am not an expert, please do not take my words for the true," he warned her. At her nod, he continued. "But- with Boovish kids I will say, perhaps the ability to falling in love, not being able to change the color of the skin, not have the same tough skin as other Boov… other too, but I cannot think of any right now."

"And- for the humanish?" Tip inquired. The pen was lying next to the paper she was to write on, abounded, as she preferred to focus on the conversation. Her eyes were shining.

"The opposite, I would guess. The smart thing is to talk to a Boov 'scientist'." He made quote marks with his fingers at the word. "I am sorry, Tip, English does not have the right word."

"I'm going to guess you mean something like a genes expert, and that's okay. I'll talk to one if I find it necessary." She paused, and her eyes glazed over as if she was in deep thought. Oh didn't disturb her; he found it quite pleasant just to look. "Oh…" she said after a while, and Oh raised his eyebrows. "What- no, that's wrong. Uhm. How large are Boovlings when they are born?"

"Around football sized," Oh said, and noted with concern that Tip seemed to sadden at the fact.

"Could we make them smaller, do you think?" she asked, and looked at him with pleading eyes.

"Well, yes, I do think so," Oh answered. "Why?"

"Human babies' heads are around this size," she said and held up her hands, showing something remarkably smaller than a football.

Oh paled. He knew that humans could die during childbirth. It was unheard of among Boov, but common knowledge that it was fully possible among humans. Did this increase the chances of Tip dying? He was suddenly very unsure of this. "Hey, inyoni, don't worry, it'll be fine. If it's possible to make them smaller at birth, but- ooh, perhaps give them some kind of boost at growing after the first weeks or something, I should be fine." Tip smiled encouragingly at him, and reached out to take his hand. "And besides, we have that Caesar way, too." She frowned. "Sorry, I forgot the word," she chuckled.

"You mean cutting up your stomach?" Oh asked in disbelief.

"Yeah."

"You are not making me feel better, Tip," Oh said, squirming nervously.

She laughed. "Believe me, cutting up my stomach is better than pressing a football sized baby out of my vagina. Three times."

Oh shuddered. He preferred not to think about childbirth at all. He let his mate do that part of the relationship.

Seven Weeks Later, 1st October

"Mom, Oh and I are thinking about moving out," Tip said, putting it bluntly while wringing her hands nervously.

Lucy blinked a few times before knitting her eyebrows together in worry. "Moving out? Why? I haven't done anything wrong, have I?"

"Oh no, mom, you're absolutely wonderful," Tip hurried to assure her as she took one of her mother's hands in both of her own. "You've been so helpful, so accepting!"

"Yes, very accepting," Oh nodded. "Both of me…"

"And our relationship," Tip finished.

Lucy looked between them, blinking three times before she said anything more. "But why? I- I know that the two of you are technically adult," –she indicated Oh with a wave of her hand- "and almost adult," –another wave, this one at Tip- "so I would understand it if you want more independence, but is there anything else? I have enough space, you shouldn't worry about that-" Upon noticing that Tip's expression fell more and more with each sentence her mother said, Lucy widened her eyes and hurried to add, "I'm not saying that I won't allow you! God forbid, I just want to know why, Tippy."

Oh's white cat sprung to attention from her place on top of his head, and the three of them chuckled softly as Oh begun petting her. "Well, mom," Tip said, looking down and licking her lips. Oh could feel her nervousness, and, reaching out, he squeezed her hand encouragingly. "I really don't think that there's enough space in the apartment for three Boovlings," she finished, not really looking her mother in the eye.

:There. I said it.:

Oh gave a mental chuckle. :Yes, I know, and if she has any further questions then I will answer them.:

Lucy blinked rapidly. "Am I going to be a grandmama?" she whispered hoarsely after a long-by-human-standards-short-by-Boov-standards silence, her face not showing any emotions. However, after four years in his mymom-in-law's presence, she had called Oh a friend more than once, and Oh could easily detect- shock. And, well, pure happiness, so he wasn't too worried.

Tip looked at Oh pointedly. "Yes," he answered hurriedly before he provoked Tip's wrath.

"Stand up, Tip," Lucy said flatly. Nervously, Tip obliged, letting go of Oh's hand. Standing up herself, Lucy walked around the table and stared hard at her daughter. Said daughter swallowed hard. Then, surprising all of them, Lucy sobbed and embraced her daughter. "I'm so happy for you, Tippy!"

(The cat on top of Oh's head meowed proudly at what she considered praise, but no one really cared right now. Shush, cat, there's a bonding moment going on here.)

Tip hugged back fiercely. "Thanks, mom," she whispered. The only reason Oh could hear it was because she had accidentally pushed it through their link, as she tended to do when she was very emotional.

When Lucy eventually let go of his soulmate, she turned to Oh and smiled widely at him, too. "Thank you so much, Oh, for making my daughter happy again," she said truthfully, and Oh blushed lightly.

"Yes, Oh," Tip chimed in with a mischievous smile. "Thanks."

Oh blushed harder, but muttered a small, "You are welcome…" before adding a light "I guess?" under his breath.

"Where are you thinking about living, then?" Lucy wondered, as she sat down on the couch again. The couple followed her example.

"Well, we were considering the Boov mothership as the most likely candidate."

Lucy did a double take. "What? Why?"

Shooting her mother a dry look, Tip explained. "Oh, being their Captain, has an unclaimed… suite, of sorts."

"It has two bedrooms, a guestroom, a small library and, or, a storage room, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a study and a living room, plus possibilities for out building should it be necessary," Oh said. "It is free to live there, as it is the Captain's house. It is built after I became the Captain, since it was known I had a soulmates, and there was the possibility we were going to be living there, later," he continued when Lucy merely nodded. "Boov are almost always prepared." A small wince accompanied that statement. "That is mostly my fault," he muttered.

The two females laughed, and he considered that a plus.

"What about food? And you, Tip, what about your studying?"

Tip smiled. "I'd like to raise our children first, mom. We don't have to worry about money; Oh is, after all, the leader of the Boov." She looked thoughtful for a moment, and Oh could feel her drag time out. "And who knows, perhaps I can earn some money by painting, too… Oh can easily get a side job to increase the amount of money in the Captain Vault, and later I can get jobs at, for an example, a library or a cafeteria or something. Oh and I share a Vault in the Boov Nation too, and there's already some money in it, enough for us to live on, thanks to what we've moved from the Captain Vault."

Lucy shook her head lightly, trying to wrap her mind around the new information. "Let me get this straight. You have two vaults; one… family vaults, of sorts, and one Captain Vault. The Captain Vault holds a lot of money that you can use, but you haven't earned. The family vault holds some money, enough for you to live on in- in how many years?"

"Three," Oh shot in.

Lucy nodded thoughtfully. "In three years, yes… and by that time, at least one of you should be able to have a stable job, giving you enough to be able to live off, and then- then, some years later, your kids might be able to have some jobs, too…" She trailed off and shook her head again. "Well, as long as you know what you're doing…"

"We do, mom," Tip said with a smile. "There's also taxes, of course, that other Boov have to pay, and at least thirty percent of those* goes to Oh."

"Uh- Mymom, there is a third vault, too," Oh hurried to add. "The Retirement Vault."

Tip nodded, even though she hadn't heard of it in more than a bi-sentence. "By its name, I'm guessing it's like a retirement fund*, and that it's empty?" she tried, and Oh nodded wordlessly.

"How much money does the Captain Vault have, anyways?" Lucy asked. "I'm guessing that it's more like the money that's supposed to only be used for the country, or in this case, the species?"

Oh winced, and Tip looked uncomfortable by the question. "It is not as much money as it once was, since the Captains are allowed to be using the money in it for personal reasons."

Lucy frowned. "That's not a very good way of doing things, is it?"

Oh shrugged. "It could be, if you are me. I have not much money in my personal Vault, and I would not be able to have a good start in 'the office'," he said, quoting the office.

"Why isn't it as much money as before?" Lucy asked.

Tip and Oh shared a look. "Smek," they said in unison. "The Boov were a great trading species before, with lots of intergalactic money, too. Smek came to leadership in his youth, when he was twelve, and ruled since. In the beginning, it went great, but… it changed. He thought he could have everything that he was wanting, and when the Gorg refused to ally with us, instead of staying on neutral terms with them, Smek went to war. He used almost half of the money in the Captain Vault, changed it to the intergalactic type, and used it in the war. The Gorg didn't flee as Smek suspected and they erased a lot of Boov and other aliens. It turned the remaining Boov into cowards, and other alien species were refusing to help or talk to us. Some forty years later, war more or less forgotten, the Gorg invited the Boov for a peace meeting, and, well… you know the rest," Oh elaborated, and shrugged helplessly when he finished.

Lucy looked at them in shock. "That's- that's quite a story, Oh, I- I don't know what to say."

"Do not worry," Oh said with a smile. "It is in the past, now, and Smek has apologized."

"But to answer your question, mom," Tip said with a smirk. "There's still a lot of money in the vault; transferred into… say, dollars, I would guess that there's around, or even more, than seven millions there."

"However, we would only use the money there in the absolutely crisis, and, or, now in the beginning, to help us off with a start," Oh said as he saw Lucy's shock.

Lucy sighed. "It's fine, Tip, Oh. You can move out when you're ready- and Tip, don't hesitate to tell me if you need any help with the kids. Or any news on them, for that matter"

Tip laughed. "Oh, mom, I think that the Boov will have an advantage there! Our kids will be somewhere around 90 percent Boov and ten percent human. But hey, you can still help with babysitting!"

Lucy shook her head in defeat. "I need an ibuprofen," she muttered, stood up and headed for the bathroom.

Two Weeks Later, 14th October

After discussing it with Tip a few years ago, Oh had changed the way a Boovling should be raised. Boov were not required to give genes for reproducing anymore, but every now and then a female and male –they often didn't know each other- were asked to be a surrogate parent, of sorts, because another Boov –often a male, or sometimes an unfertile female- wanted to adopt. One time a year, Boov that wanted to have Boovlings were asked to sign up for it, and if they wanted to adopt they had to sign up for that a few months earlier.

There were also some Boov that wanted to know who their parents were, and a program had been started so they could find out that, too.

The baking oven was more like a kindergarten where the Boovlings parents could place them until they were three or four years old. When they hit that age, they would move on to be Cooled Down, as Tip had called it. The Cooling years were more like a school, and the days were longer than it was in the baking oven. The Boovlings stayed there until they were nine or ten, and after that they could either begin working as an adult, or go five years on the Plate- university.

The concept and words were strange and foreign for the Boov, but Oh was glad to see that it clearly worked and that the Boov were happier now than they had been when he was younger.

"Hello, Captain!" a Boov male called out to him as he passed by.

"Hello!" Oh called back with a wide and happy smile.

"Good morning, Captain JLo," a shy female Boov said with a smile as she walked past him.

"Good morning," he answered, his own smile growing.

"Hey, JLo!" Oh turned to look at a Big Brain Boov that he recognized.

"Hi, Jill," he said with a wave. When Jill moved on, Oh turned to grab his soulmate's arm. "They are happy, Tip!" he whisper-yelled, his skin taking the color of a JoX attack.

"Whoa, yeah, they are!" she answered with a laugh. "You should consider to calm down, by the way."

He tried, and managed it quite well, when something bumped into him. A quiet 'oof' sound to his right caused him to turn and look at- he gasped lightly. There, on the ground, sat a young Boov, barely out of the Baking Oven. The Boovs eyes widened as they realized who he was. "Captain JLo, I am so sorry!" an adult Boov gasped as she hurried to the scene. "It will not happen again, I promise!"

"Oh no, it is okay," Oh said as he picked up the young Boov. "Hello, little one," he said as he held the kid up above his head.

"'ello, Capt'n JeeLoh," they answered in a small, feminine voice. His smile grew only wider as he spotted a pink moon above her left eye, so thin that it couldn't be called anything but a sickle, the opening facing left.

"Congratulations," Oh said, directed at the mother. She smiled at him and bowed her head.

Tip gasped. "Oh good Lord," she muttered, and took a step closer. "Am I going to have three of those?"

Oh laughed. "Yes, inyoni, you will. What is your name?" The last part was directed towards the young girl in his arms. He had to admit that he was quite excited to have some himself.

The Boov Captain and his new young friend ignored the other two females present when they began talking about pregnancy. "Am Kylai, Capt'n JLo," Kylai answered.

"Please, call me Oh," he smiled. The girl giggled. "Do you have any siblings, Kylai?"

She nodded. "I 'ave twee," she said excitedly. "Solla, Uni an' Jols."

"Where are they?" His soulmate and Kylai's mother were apparently done talking, now, and the mother reached out after her kid.

"'Ey are wit' papa."

Oh smiled at the Boovling one last time before he handed her over to her mother. "Have a good day, Kylai."

"I will!" the Boov answered and gave him a cheery wave as the pair walked away.

"She was adorable," Tip said with a longing look, and Oh chuckled.

"Yes, yes she was."

"This is what hopefully will become our new home, Tip" Oh said with pride in his voice as he gestured towards a circle, looking chopped off at the bottom as it hit the floor.

Tip hummed. "Interesting," she said as she walked towards the door. It slid open without a sound as she moved closer. "Does it always do that?" she asked worriedly.

"No," Oh answered and stepped forward, pulling Tip back again. The door closed. "I have scanned a picture of you into the security systems; the apartment will be recognizing you. See, I will show you." He shuffled away and over to a random Boov that was walking past. He was holding some bags, and Oh was pleased to see that he was apparently a new baked father. "Excuse me," Oh said in Boovspeak. The stranger turned to look at him, and his eyes widened.

"Good day, Captain JLo," he greeted politely, respect in his voice. "What can I do for you?"

"I just want to show my wife how the security system works. Since you are not scanned into it, may I borrow you for a moment?"

"Of course," the Boov agreed, and followed Oh when he walked back to Tip.

"See, Tip, if-," Oh started to speak, but broke himself off. "What is your name?" he asked the other Boov.

"I am Grad, Captain."

"Thanking you," Oh said automatically, and explained that, "If a Boov the system does not recognize comes close, this will happen." He pushed Glad towards the door. As the light purple Boov stepped in front of the metal, a round, red button popped out of the wall next to it. The text above it read, in both Boovletters and English, 'doorbell'. "Thanking you for helping, Glad, you can go now."

"It was my pleasure," Glad answered, and then he was gone.

"Fascinating," Tip said with a smile, and stepped towards the door again. It opened, and they stepped inside. "Woah," his soulmate whispered. There was no hallway, when they stepped into the room they immediately ended up in the main room, or often called the living room among some. It was formed almost as an oval; if you took a ball of clay, put something hard and flat both underneath and on top of it and then pressed gently, it would almost look like this. "Where do we put clothes, and shoes and stuff?" Tip asked. Oh wordlessly gestured towards the shelves 'carved' into the walls next to the entrance. "Fancy, I like it."

The walls, roof and floor, at Oh's request, were not purple like they usually were. Instead, they were pastel green, almost like the moss green color of their souls, but lighter. Tip, noticing this, cast him a knowing smirk. Oh pointedly did not look at her.

"Is all of the furniture Boov-themed?" she asked after looking around. Indeed, it would appear like it. In the middle of the room, a seating seemed to grow up from the floor. It was interesting, and not very 'human like', as his mate would call it. It was obviously forming an almost completed circle, just a passage you could use to sit down on, and a round table in the middle of it all. There was also a few lamps in the ceiling, giving off white light at Oh's request.

"These are very simple furniture, inyoni," Oh explained with a calming gesture. "There are lot of space so we can put our own in, if you want. That includes the couch," he said and gestured vaguely in the direction of said couch. "We can also change the color of the furniture very, very easily, as not to get a feeling of flatness."

"Huh," Tip said as she took a 360 to take the whole room in. "Can I sit on the couch?"

"Of course," Oh answered, and followed her over. He understood her concern; the couch seemed to be of the same material as the room in general, and that material was hard to the touch.

She let out a yelp of surprise when she sat down and sunk a few inches in. "Oh wow," she smiled, wiggling a bit to sink further down. "Yes, I could get used to this." Reaching out, she tapped the table. It was as hard as the floor. "This is super cool!" she exclaimed with a childish grin.

"Come on, Tip, there are more rooms to check out."

There were. Spread out across the place, there were eight doors similar to the one at the entrance. Each of them had a different pastel color, and above each, there was one of the white lights sunken into the roof. A pattern would soon become clear; the walls, roof and floor of the room would be the same as on the door. The couple moved on to find a middle-sized room with an almost baby-blue color theme and a bed. The next room was slightly larger, and here the color theme was yellow. There was no furniture in this room, and Oh explained that it was to be the Boovlings' bedroom, and that they would fix beds and other important furniture later. The next room, with a light brown theme, was the storage room, also empty. Next, a guest room with a double bed that could be separated into two and with pale pink as the color theme; next, a kitchen with an oven, a sink, a table, some workspace and a fridge. The walls and door was pale red. Then came the study room, with three desks and chairs, plus three shelves, one for each desk, with the iconic purple color of the Boov, just toned down.

They found that there was a bathroom connected between the Boovlings' bedroom and the other bedroom, as well as one connected to the main room and the guestroom.

In the end, the two of them were sitting in the living room again, on the couch, close enough to touch each other easily. "Could we get a TV and stuff to work here?" Tip asked.

"Absolutely," Oh informed her. "If needed, we can create a new room where we could watch TV, have recharging stations… it could be a technology room. We could see if the Gaming Folks would be willing to help us."

"I like that. Especially as I miss Manor of Mirrors," Tip smiled. She leaned over and pressed her lips to his in a soft kiss. "You're too nice to me. People like you are hard to stumble across."

Oh hummed his agreement. "I am thanking the stars and the Fates every day, that you was the human that would not get picked up."

"I should be the one to do that," Tip argued. "I mean, you're such a sweet guy. I do not know any others that treat their family or friends as you treat my mom and me! I'm so lucky you're my soulmate, and not some other weirdo."

Oh chuckled at that. "As I said; I am thanking the stars and the Fates every day. There is a lot I can be thankful of."

Tip sighed fondly, and rested her head on top of his in a very familiar gesture. "Don't think I didn't notice that the walls here in the main room are our color. That only helps to prove my point," she growled playfully.

Oh chuckled again. "I did not think so. But did you notice the other colors?"

"The fact that one room had your soul color and another had mine? Yeah, yeah I did. By the way, why are the other rooms in such light colors?"

"Darker colors would cause it to, well, look darker. I did not want that, but I can change it if you do," he explained and offered.

"Oh no, it's fine, I like it. It just… gets a little monotone with the same color in the whole room, you know. Can we, I don't know, have a different color on the floor, or many different colors in a pattern or something?"

Oh smiled at the room in general. "Yes, that is possible. The texture of the floors can be changed, too, so it feels like a carpet. Or we can just have blankets on the floor; that works too."

"And we have to discuss what kind of furniture we shall have," Tip pondered aloud, toying with the new and different texture of the Captain Uniform. "I like the beds, they were cool and comfortable, but in the storage room… is it possible to make it larger, to transform it into a part library, part storage room, part art room? So I can paint in there, I mean. Because I really like the idea of having a library, in case any of the kids will like reading. A storage room would also be smart, a place to have Christmas décor, or clothes we don't need in the winter, and stuff like that."

Oh hummed. "Yes, I can see how that would be a good idea. I will tell the builders to do that."

"Mmm." Tip turned and drew him closer to her body, hugging him from behind. "But not now. Now we cuddle on this amazing couch."

Oh had to agree. His mate had made a wonderful point, and it would not do any good to argue.

Two Weeks Later, 27th October

Speed two weeks forward and the married couple had settled in. Tip was now a seven weeks into her pregnancy, and, to her surprise, she had not experienced any pregnancy symptoms*. When she, worried, had talked to Oh about it, he said that it was very likely that it was because of the 90-ish percent of Boov genes she carried around in her stomach. For the moment, the soon-to-be mother was painting in the main room, since she felt it was more comfortable doing it there, rather than in the study. When Oh asked her, she explained that it was too cramped and she was afraid of getting paint on the books.

Oh, the ever-so-mature Boov Captain, popped his head out of the door and called "Hello, neighbors!"

He giggled and disappeared inside again when over half of the Boov nearby called "Hello, neighbor!" back with a friendly wave.

He then proceeded to run around the whole house while giggling madly and chanting "they like me" repeatedly.

"You're so mature, Oh!" Tip called out, and, with a chuckle and shake of the head, put away her easel and paint. It was very likely that the hurricane running around the house would ruin something. "Can you try and calm down a little? I wanted to talk to you."

Oh stopped immediately and flopped down in the sitting area. Tip chuckled and went over to sit next to him. "It's about my pregnancy," she said and wiped her hands on her apron before taking it off.

Oh nodded slowly. "Is this about whether to use Boov or Human hospitals and doctors?"

They'd talked about this before, and they were basically on the same page- the problem was finding someone that was willing to help them. "I have a new idea," Tip said.

He perked up. "I am all ears."

"Or, at least during the actual birthing hours," she corrected sheepishly. "I'm thinking that maybe we should have both human and Boov there, since I am a human and I'm giving birth to Boov- or at least Boovish."

"That seems reasonable," Oh said with a bright smile. "Are there any humans willing, do you think?"

"There must be someone," Tip moaned in despair, and rested her head on the coach behind her, closing her eyes. "I really don't want to give birth at home. Alone."

Oh smiled reassuringly even though she couldn't see him. He reached out and patted her arm affectionately. "It is going to be okay, inyoni," he muttered. "It is going to be okay; we can ask the doctors we already have, yes?"

:I really hope you're right, Oh. I really, really, hope so.:

He looked at her skeptically. :Are you tired?:

She shot him an alarmed look. :Tired? No, why?:

He grinned. :Well, then I know of something I can do to make you… feel better,: he told her, putting pressure on the last two words.

Her eyes widened, and then she chuckled and sat up, facing him. :My, my, how eager you are to please,: she all but purred, and leaned forward to pull him closer. He was expecting a kiss, but instead she grabbed hold of his right luktsans* (she often called it his right nose, but that wasn't quite right), and it immediately became harder to focus on their little game.

:Care to take this to the bedroom, Milady?: he muttered, eyes fluttering closed.

:Such a gentleman,: Tip answered with a giggle and got up, all but dragging him in through the blue door.

They stayed in there for the rest of the evening.

And then? Then the weeks passed. Every second weekend the couple would travel down to Earth to visit their Mymom and friends. At home, in the Boov mothership, they quickly became friends with the neighbors, and Grad was one of them. Time flew, as they spent it on planning Ovens, and then an eventual school, baby clothes and toys, and so on. Oh did some paperwork, solved some Boov problems, and Tip painted and read some books on Boov history and math.

And as I said, the weeks passed. Tip was eight weeks in, nine, ten, eleven- she began showing, now, and then it was twelve, thirteen, and fourteen.

While they didn't broadcast it to the whole world, it was not secret for anyone that Tip was pregnant, and that it was Boovlings.

That was a mistake. Perhaps they didn't think of it, or perhaps they simply didn't care.

Point is; they underestimated how desperate some humans are for information, and how far they are willing to go to achieve it…

(*Seeing as yellow signalizes surprise or being scared, while orange companied by yellow stripes also means fear, I figured that it could also show discomfort

**I am aware that the Boov do indeed have seven genders, but I'm not applying that to my fics before I have some way or another to tell the genders from each other- so let's just go with male and female for now

***inyoni (pronounced inn-y [the oh sound in boat]-nee) is the zulu word for 'bird', as I found it heavy for Tip to call Oh iyinyoni, aka 'songbird'. You may remember the words in Tip's wedding necklace, Ingabe uyoba, iyinyoni yami, which means 'will you be my songbird'

****please note that I have no idea how manipulating genes work. I have read an article about it, and know that it is possible, so I make doing this possible, in this universe. I'm allowed to do this thanks to my Author's License

*****again, I am using my Author's License to make this okay, since I have no idea how this would work IRL. My apologies for being young and innocent

******I hope this makes sense. Blame Google Translate if it doesn't

*******hey, I don't know if this is possible or not, but Tip is pregnant with three fucking aliens and I have an Author's License. This makes everything easier for me as an author and I really want to write this without doing way too much research. Don't like- don't read

********luktsans comes from the Norwegian word luktesans, and means "sense of smell" or "ability to smell"

Right, so, just to make a point here: I know almost nothing about pregnancy, okay? But I'm taking some freedom here, since, you know. Tip is pregnant with three aliens. Author's License, everyone, I am allowed to make this normal by Boov standards. Do we agree? Good.

You've probably noticed by now that Oh speaks a less broken English than in the movie, though there's still mistakes now and then. This is because he's lived with Tip and humans for four years, and probably picked up on most things.

Also, I know that there isn't that much action in this chapter. I promise that there will be more later, as well as more cuddles and cute scenes. Did you know, this was originally going to be a two-shot? Well, look at where we are now! Tip has some babies on the way, and I can't just let that slide past, now, can I?

Questions? There's a function called PM, or Private Message. Go on, it won't hurt anyone.

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