Trying and Failing, Chapter 1: North
The cold window did nothing to bolster the mind of the tall, lanky figure standing before it, and as he pressed his hand to the frigid glass, the darkness of space passed it, he looked with those glorious, large eyes at the tiny little ball of dust floating below. Earth, the home he longed so incredibly to reach, and so very far away with the politics of it all.
Hue sighed heavily, as he usually did, but the reptoid that stalked up behind him slowly, silently, wasn't about to put up with yet another grump-slump day of Hue berating himself until Quazky was forced into the usual scenario of comforting him.
Instead, he thought he'd cheer up his friend by pulling a little prank, and so when he sprang, tackled the squishy Grey, distracted as he had been by his own thoughts, there was a clear upset from the startled man as his friend uprooted him and put him to the floor.
"Rrrah! Guess what day it is?!" Quazky shouted, his teeth gnashing in Hue's face as he spoke, that long tongue lashing about, he pinned his friend down and the Grey, as depressed as he was, quite obviously did not appreciate the sudden attack.
Not now, Quazky, came Hue's telepathic reply, but the reptoid ignored his wishes to be alone, instead springing back up to his feet, though Hue didn't move from where he lay, instead his head slowly turned to the side, as he looked longingly back to Earth.
"Nope, definitely now! It's..." Pausing, letting the tension build, Quazky grinned ecstatically, until Hue finally looked back up at him.
"It's Rose's birthday, Hue!"
If it was possible for those huge eyes to get even wider, then right at that moment that is exactly what they did.
Her... Birthday?
"That's right, so get the hell up, man! What are you doing down there on the floor when your girl's ready and waiting for her big, hunky, Grey gift?!" Hue, for a moment, thought that perhaps this was all a lie, a ruse to trick him out of his element, but when Quazky produced a phone from his pocket, turned on the screen, fiddled with it, and handed it down to him, Hue knew he was telling the truth.
There, on some arbitrary social media page, was a lovely picture of Rose, and the admission that today was indeed her birthday.
Oh no, Hue thought out loud, I don't have a gift...
"No, idiot, I just said it; you ARE the gift! Now get the hell up and get your Circuit on, cuz I made you two a reservation!"
What?! Hue cried, and shot to sit up in surprise. But... But I can't go into public that long! What the hell would happen if Roger found out? How did you even do all this? Does Rose even know?
Quazky, ever clever as he was, continued with his shit-faced grinning, breaking it only to stick out his tongue.
"I have my ways," he stated, and proffered a hand to help the tall being before him to his feet. Hue, now ditching his depression for a far more suitable set of worry, took it upon himself to begin pacing the room, muttering about such a date. What would he wear? What did humans even eat on dates?
"Well, actually, I lied. Gracelis has her ways, and you're going to be my cover..." Ah, there it was, the ulterior motive.
"She's finally sneaking out with me for a little night of hot lovin'..." As the stars entered his eyes, and he fawned over his crush, Hue blinked slowly, and looked down at the phone in his hand again. Rose's birthday... As his tiny smile grew over his face, sinking in with the happiness at the idea, Quazky finally took his phone back and clapped him on the shoulder.
"Hue, my man, tonight we hit the town! Double date style! What are you thinking, maybe a movie? Walk on the beach? Or do you just... Wanna be alonnnne..." His tone wasn't subtle at all, and the aggravation that flooded Hue at the thoughts Quazky had just put in his head clearly washed over his features, if only for a moment... The thought of being alone with Rose, what, was he crazy?
No, Quazky. If we do this, then we do it my way, and we do it quietly. Does Shade know about this? Quazky's flat expression in response told him enough, perhaps he had underestimated the oaf of a reptoid.
"Hue, Hue, Hue... Always with the Shade, and the questions... Can't you just relax for once?" His nonchalant demeanor as he shifted his weight around and hummed softly to himself gave Hue the impression he had suddenly started thinking of Gracelis again.
"Well?" he finally questioned, and Hue looked out the window once more to that little floating orb so distant...
Call Longus and Don. We're not going to want to mess this up... Which means, we need a distraction. Anything to keep Roger busy long enough. Hue stepped toward the hall way out of his quarters, and Quazky, arms behind his head, followed along.
"This'll be great! Just me, you, Rose, and... Gracelis..." He really did have it hard for her, Hue thought, he felt more or less like a terrible friend for never acknowledging Quazky's forbidden romance over his own, considering all the reptoid ever did was help him out... But tonight, maybe, he'd be able to help, instead?
But of course, they had to watch out for Majestic goons, as always. When Hue activated his Circuit, donning the appropriate human form, Quazky did the same, and they trotted together toward the transporter room. Lucky for them both, Hue had seen Tone and Shade leaving on some business for the Commander, and they were nowhere in sight right now. All the better, for as they whisked themselves away to Earth, nobody stopped them.
They arrived not too far away from Longus' place, and Quazky dialed his brother's number, the younger reptoid answered almost immediately.
"Hello?"
"Longus! Get your dick out of your boyfriend's mouth, I'm coming up!" he practically shouted into the phone, and Hue pressed the palm of his hand to his face, groaning, as Quazky hung up.
"Was that really necessary?" Hue tried, giving his friend a flat look.
"Is he really my brother?" came the witty response, and Quazky marched triumphantly inside. Hue sighed, and followed him, and in a few more seconds, they were standing in the middle of a living room, Longus had simply unlocked the door, and so they'd walked in, Don greeting them from the couch with a wave of his hand over the bowl of cereal he was currently stuffing his pink face with.
"Humans, so weird," Quazky said, slightly disgusted by Don's puffy, full cheeks, the spoon still stuck in his mouth as he furrowed his brow in annoyance and gave Quazky the finger.
"Longus! Your monkey is being mean to me!" he shouted toward the hallway, Longus poked his head out from his room, giving his brother a look, before he vanished once more.
"Humans don't consider themselves monkeys," Hue stated matter-of-factly, but Quazky just shrugged.
"Longus! What are you doing, man? We need a favor!" Of course he did, did Quazky ever drop by just to say hello?
"One moment," Longus called, and Don finally emptied his mouth enough to speak.
"Hey, guys, you gotta check out the thing Longus found," he said, and as he did so, the reptoid in question stepped out from his room, holding something in his hands, a big grin to match his brother's written on his green face.
As he stepped into the living room, he set it on the coffee table, and both of the other aliens blinked.
"Er... What is it?" Quazky questioned, as he poked the strange, metallic device. It looked like a multi-sided dice, one of those nerdy ones Don used to play that silly role-playing game with his friends on Saturday nights. But it was much larger, and each of the flat faces had an etched symbol in it, thirty two in all. The symbols glowed blue, and they looked oddly familiar...
"Check it out, I looked it up. Those are Egyptian hieroglyphs, real next-level shit," Don said, and Quazky rolled it over, examining them.
"Well, yeah, but what is it?" Quazky questioned again, and Longus shrugged.
"Don't know. Found it deep underground, no idea where it came from... Just kind of... Rolled out from one of the subway walls that was being renovated. My guess is it's some kind of ancient... something." Hue rubbed his chin as he looked it over, he could feel the strange power resonating off of it... Definite high tech stuff.
"Well, whatever, anyway... Longus, we need you and your dork here to create a distraction and get Roger's attention. Think you can handle that?" Quazky questioned, and Longus arched an eyebrow.
"Deal with that dickhead again? Sure. But why?"
Quazky elbowed Hue in the ribs, and he rubbed his side sheepishly.
"Lover boy here has a date tonight, it's a certain special someone's birthday..."
Don groaned loudly as he flopped back on the couch.
"Shit, it's Rose's birthday? I don't even have a gift..." He pushed two of his fingers together, and Longus smiled lovingly. The little squirt was always doing this, he was too nice for his own good. Longus stepped over and ruffled his hair.
"Ah, who cares, anyway? Silly human customs. It's just another day, right?"
Hue didn't seem to agree with that, and he shook his head.
"Not when it's her day," he said, and Don smiled.
"Awww, that's adorable," he fawned, but Longus shoved him roughly into the couch.
"What? It's true. Hue's totally romantic," he said, and Longus rolled his eyes, then leaned against his lover, earning him a kiss on the cheek as Don pulled him closer.
"Rose is lucky, she doesn't have to deal with reptoid smell." Quazky perked up at this, and shook a fist.
"What's wrong with the way I smell, you little shit?!" he inquired, to which Don simply laughed, joined a moment later by a soft chuckle from Hue.
"And what, pray-tell, will you be doing for Rose today?" Longus asked, and Quazky grinned widely.
"Well, I pulled some strings, and got them a dinner reservation over at that steak house that opened recently. You know, the one that replaced that terrible Chinese food place what got caught selling human meat? ...I miss that place..." Briefly both Longus and Quazky lamented the loss of their favorite restaurant, particularly because of the delicacy of human flesh, and Don made a tremendously disgusted face, until they stopped. Hue didn't seem to mind, he understood reptoid diets. And as long as nobody served up Rose's flesh on a plate, he was more than happy.
"All right, kiddo, you've got yourself a deal. We'll kick up some shit with Roger and make him think I'm trying to... I dunno, eat somebody maybe? We'll think of something, just leave him to us." Don nodded in agreement, and Quazky smiled and gave Hue a thumbs-up.
"Thank you so much, you two, I'm sure you know how much this means to me," Hue said, and Don, batting his lashes, gave another sigh of adoration for the romantic Grey. Longus gave him another playful shove, prompting a giggle and a bear hug, and Quazky to point into his own mouth, faking a gag.
"Get a room, seriously," he said, and Longus gave him the look only a younger sibling might muster for their stupid older brother.
"Uh... You're in my house, Quaz?" he said flatly, and Quazky threw up his arms, and turned to walk away.
"Yeah, you're right! Fuck this place! Let's go, Hue." As the pair left their home, Hue trailed slightly behind, taking one last, long look at the strange object on the table.
There was something that wasn't quite right with that thing...