This Is What I Brought You (You May Forget Me)

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Wikus pretended to sleep for hours, or what felt like hours, until he heard Oliver begin to shift restless in his own furs. Christopher quickly hushed his son, having been awake for a while but had stayed in his bedding reading one of the ship's manuals which was beside his bed for light reading when he was tired.

"Is he still sleeping, Father?" Oliver whispered, crawling out of the furs, and despite his older age, crawled into his fathers bedding and peered at the manual he held. It reminded Wikus of a human child, such a sweet gesture. It was an odd thought, comparing the two races.

"He is tired," Christopher explained. Wikus had a feeling that Christopher knew he was still awake, but didn't bring it to Oliver's attention.

Wikus was tired. He just couldn't sleep. So he contented himself to listen.

"It's great that he's here, isn't it father? We'll get to show him home!" Home was a foreign word, because it was different to the usual Poleepkwan word. It was spoken differently, and consisted of an extra click, and yet Wikus' mind still knew it meant home. Was it the name of the planet? He wondered.

"You must understand, Oliver," Christopher hushed his son, "that Wikus has given up a lot. Be patient with him."

"I know that, Father! We gave up a lot too." A child's attitude, Wikus thought, but didn't hate the boy for it. Instead, it made him smile to himself somewhat bitterly, wondering what Oliver compared loosing everything to.

"Not as much as he did, son."

"...Father?"

"Mmm?" It was actually just a whirling noise, but it meant the same as the human hum noise, Wikus assumed.

"Will he be happy as a Poleepkwa?"

Again, it was like a child's logic. As if that was a simple 'yes' or 'no' answer, and Wikus, for a moment, thought that Oliver was a lot younger than he was. He looked so small and fragile, despite his hard exoskeleton, seeking the reassurance from his father.

Christopher sighed, and placed his manual back to the ground. Wikus opened his eyes a little more, watching as the father wrapped his arms around his adolescent son and they laid comfortably in the bed of furs. It wasn't awkward, as it would be if a human father laid in the same bed with his teenage son. Somehow, it just seemed acceptable for the Poleepkwa. Was it acceptable? Was it something he should have known about, being Poleepkwa now?

"Only time will tell, son, but we will try our hardest to make it so."

It made a funny feeling appear below Wikus' breast plate, much to his confusion. His eyes flickered open, pretending to wake up slowly. Christopher and Oliver were both watching when he finally opened his eyes completely, giving him smiling looks.

"Happy wakings!" Oliver chirped. Was that like 'good morning' to humans?

"Happy wakings," Wikus returned, unsure but forming the words anyway. He was rewarded with a vibrant look from the younger male.

"Did you sleep well?" It was Christopher who spoke, the change from the childish glee from Oliver, to a very adult tone of 'politeness' disorientating Wikus for a moment.

"I feel more rested," Wikus dodged the question, and saw a knowing look cast his way. He stayed sprawled out in his beddings and they fell into comfortable silence, until Oliver perked up again.

"Come lay with us!"

Wikus blinked, while Christopher stared at his son and Oliver simply smiled at them both. The boy was crazy, Wikus decided.

The adolescent was still in his father's beddings, looking oh-so-comfortable and at ease in the assortment of furs. It did look comfortable...Wikus stopped that thought quickly. "I'm happy where I am, thank you."

Oliver frowned, pausing to think for a moment before he slipped from the furs. "Then we will come to you instead!"

Without realising what was happening, Wikus quickly gained a bed mate. The younger prawn slipped into the furs easily and without a hint of hesitation. Wikus would have gaped, if the image of a prawn gaping wasn't a horrendous sight, that would likely terrifying the boy.

It was like he had reverted back to being a child. Was it because that was the last time he had seen Wikus?

Was it a Poleepkwan thing? Wikus wondered, staring at the boy. To be so comfortable with others? He hadn't seen the prawn on earth being so 'touchy-feely' with each other as Oliver seemed to be with him and his father. Was it...a family thing?

That was a scary thought.

"Father! Come on!" Oliver coaxed, from where he was now buried in Wikus' bed. Christopher gave Wikus an apologetic look.

"That's enough, Oliver. Wikus did not invite you to his bedding, you must leave now," Christopher said firmly and Wikus watched Oliver visibly deflate.

Wikus winced and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder as he went to slip from the bedding. "You can stay...if you really want."

Oliver brightened considerably. "Father too?"

Wikus glanced at Christopher, who still looked apologetic, and nodded awkwardly. "Yeah, s'pose." Fookin' hell. What was he doing?

Christopher sighed again, heavily, as if the very thought was tiring and slipped out of his bedding. Crossing the room he slipped into the furs beside his son, so that Oliver lay between the elder prawns.

To Wikus' surprise, it was nice.

There was...absolutely nothing intimate about it. There was no body heat to share, no awkward touches. It was simply...sharing space.

On earth, as a human, there would be so many things wrong with sharing a bed, even to do something as innocent as laying there, with a man and his son. It was just...wrong.

This was nice though.

Oliver obviously thought so as well, because he gave a low whirling sigh, and relaxed into the fur, utterly content. He said something, an unfamiliar word that made Christopher tense. Wikus didn't know what it was, and his brain offered no translation, but he knew it wasn't good by Christopher's reaction.

Christopher slapped a hand over his son's mouth, to stifle any other words which may have slipped out, a warning glance sent his way. Wikus could tell Christopher was uncomfortable, with whatever his son had said.

Before Wikus could ask, Oliver retaliated his father's gesture and Christopher quickly withdrew his hand. A thick layer of saliva coated the flat of his hand, which on a human would have been called a palm.

Oliver had slobbered on his hand so that his father would remove it.

It was such a childish and familiar gesture, that Wikus threw his head back and laughed.

Staring in disbelief at his saliva drenched hand, Christopher soon joined in. Oliver began to laugh too, after a moment, not because he knew what was funny, but because he liked the sound of it, their laughter mixing in the otherwise silent room.

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After a while of lying together, their laughter fading away, Wikus began to shift restlessly and Christopher picked up on it quickly.

"Are you hungry?" He asked, directing it at both of them.

"Yes," Oliver announced, and twisted to look at Wikus. "Are you?"

"A little." To be honest, Wikus couldn't feel his own stomach at the moment, disorientated with this body, which made it hard to feel hungry.

"I'll take you both to the Cafeteria," Christopher said, slipping from the bedding and getting to his feet in an easy movement. His son followed him, with the same grace, and Wikus stumbled as he raised himself up. Oliver grabbed his arm, helping to steady him.

"Just us, Father? Where are you going?" Oliver asked, sounding...tired. Wikus glanced between the pair, noticing a tension that had not been there moments before.

"I have work to do, and I am not hungry."

If Christopher's stomach had rumbled, Wikus would have called him on the comment, but there was no indication that the male was actually hungry, so both Oliver and Wikus were forced to let the statement pass.

"Will we see you later?" Oliver asked, and Wikus marveled at how easily it had become 'we', from it would have been 'I' earlier.

"Perhaps. It depends on how quickly I get my duties done, but I will make sure to come and find you before it is Rest."

Rest. Wikus tested the word, his mouth forming it but no sound coming out. It was like 'night' was to humans, but in space, there would be no night. It was simply a constant state of just...being. How odd.

"Are you coming, Wikus?" Christopher and Oliver were standing at the now opened door, watching him expectantly. The fabric, which Wikus had seen Christopher remove in the odd room in the back of the ship, was now back around his shoulders and Wikus wondered how many of them he had.

He hurried to fall into step beside the pair, watching as people inclined their heads to Christopher and Oliver as they passed, casting curious glances at Wikus. He was unfamiliar to all the Prawn who had come to save them, but as they began to pass familiar faces from earth, he was rewarded with a few smiles.

The woman, Janine, who had been so sweet to him on earth, and later cast him aside, passed him as they walked towards the Cafeteria. He hesitated, and she did as well. They stalled in the hallway, and Wikus' companions stopped to watch the interaction.

"I..." Janine stammered, her hands clenching.

You...are sorry? You...regret what you did, what you said to me? You...were wrong?

She said none of that, she simply looked him in the eye, tilted her head up, and walked straight passed him. It seemed rather poignant, that all she had managed to say, was simply "I". As if Wikus did not exist in her world.

"A friend of yours?" Oliver asked, when Wikus caught up with them.

He shook his head. "No. Merely someone I once knew." His time on earth already seemed like a life time ago, and yet no more than ten hours had passed since he first stepped onto the ship.

"She didn't seem to like you much."

"No, I don't think she ever did, much." He smiled slightly, the thought now amusing him. None of them had really liked him, but they had respected him, and then hated him, and finally it had become fear. There were few Prawn on earth who had truly 'liked' him.

Well, except Joseph, but he was rather an odd case.

"You're smiling, Wikus," Oliver pointed out, rather obviously, as they approached the cafeteria-like room.

"Am I not allowed to smile?" Wikus retorted, but it was not said cruelly, more a gentle taunt.

Oliver stammered for a moment, "of course! It's just...odd to see, sometimes. You never smiled much on earth." He slipped in, behind his father, into the Cafeteria. Wikus paused, outside the room filled to the brim with Prawn.

He used to smile a lot, when he was with his Tania, his angel, but after he lost her, he stopped smiling. Now, it had started again. It was hard not to smile, when surrounded by people who knew who you were, who you used to be, and hoped to see the person you later became.

He slipped into the room, taking his place beside Christopher, who was attracting a lot of attention. Standing beside him, he thought that he would be mostly ignored in favour of the well known Prawn.

"Wikus!"

His eyes widened, stumbling back a few steps, as a familiar Prawn barreled into him. His arms came up, and he caught Joseph's shoulders.

Why were prawns so fooking huggy?

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Author's Note:

Thank you for the reviews for last chapter!

Life is getting hectic for me, but this story will be updated when I can. It may be on a slightly odd update schedule though. More info about Prawn life next chapter. I'll be introducing culture and things soon.

Reviews appreciated,

-Liaa