A/N: Day 12: space
(suburban/sci-fi AU) There's something strange about Leone's new next door neighbor...

Warnings for mentions of intentional animal endangerment/abuse enacted by an unnamed person, and allusions to past alcoholism.


Leone stares dumbfounded at the man in front of him – or, at least. He's reasonably sure it's a man, as in, a human man. Moved in, recently, and introduced himself as Bruno, but Leone blinked just now and could've sworn there were three pupils in each of those ocean blue eyes.

Now that he looks again, though. They've each only got one pupil, those eyes.

…It was a trick of the light, maybe, and Leone shouldn't be dwelling on it anyway. That'd be rude to do, when he's been asked a question. Shame all he can offer in response is, "You want…what?"

"A cup of sugar," Bruno dutifully repeats. "Please."

You'll have to excuse Leone, here. His social skills are rusty from disuse, thanks to years of self-imposed isolation (save for a single friend, whose company he genuinely enjoys yet keeps at arm's length). And besides that, he's not used to being asked for something so stereotypical of a fucking sitcom depicting entirely fictional neighborly behavior.

Yet. Here this strange man is. Bruno, in all his glory, with that awkward haircut and a small, polite smile as he patiently waits for Leone to respond. That's kind of him, considering it takes Leone almost an entire minute of processing before he answers.

"Yeah, sure." What the hell else can he say? "Wait here."

Bruno's subtle grin stretches wider, and he bobs his head on a nod. Damn near bouncing on his toes for some sugar, of all things. (It is not at all…cute. Not even a little.)

Backing away, it takes all of Leone's strength not to close the door as he goes. Something about Bruno is a bit unsettling – like Leone's looking at a human person but slightly to the left. Uncanny valley, or some shit like that.

He hasn't been able to put his finger on what it is, exactly, but there's definitely a strangeness about Bruno. Which isn't a very nice thing to think of your new neighbor who's been nothing but friendly – especially when the last person who lived next door was a despicable asshole who put out antifreeze for the stray cats, for fuck's sake! – but since Bruno moved in…

Well. At least Leone hasn't had to bury anymore cats. Or rush them to the vet, ferry them to shelters, six of which wound up at Mista's place –

Leone wrenches his train of thought back on track. Grabs the sugar, and an appropriate measuring cup to dole some out.

Since Bruno moved in a week ago, he's kept mostly to himself. Which isn't odd, and is a trait that Leone prefers his neighbors to have. But the thing is, Bruno, in that time, has also managed to grow an entire garden. One of those natural ones with the tall grass and the flowers meant to attract bees. So much lush green crafted from a barren landscape of dead grass. Including a full-grown tree.

He waves to Leone every day, like clockwork, whenever Leone happens to go out to get the mail. He never seems to leave for work, or go anywhere in general – doesn't even have a car, which might explain why he bothered to come over and ask for a cup of sugar, of all fucking things…

His house was also painted blue, somewhere in there. Used to be a faded off-white. He's hung his laundry out to dry sideways. Always sits on that balcony of his and stares at the sky with binoculars, too, and –

No, Leone has not been spying on Bruno.

…Not exactly.

Bruno just happens to be the only interesting thing this neighborhood has to offer. And Leone has too much free time. That's all.

Cup of sugar in hand, Leone turns on his heel and heads back to the front of his house. Bruno is waiting there, in the doorway, right where Leone left him. Not that Leone really expected him to wander anywhere, but thanks to a single early meeting with Bruno on the sidewalk that first fateful day, Leone happens to know that he has a certain lack of regard for personal space.

True to form, Bruno lights up when he sees the sugar, steps in so close that he toes the threshold of Leone's house. He cups both palms together, hands held out ready and nearly bumping Leone in the chest.

Leone deposits the cup of sugar into those eager hands, and Bruno's face brightens that much more.

"Thank you, Leone," he says, eyes alight with genuine enthusiasm. (It's. Weirdly endearing.)

When Leone nods, Bruno turns and bounces down the porch steps. His gait is awfully springy as he heads toward his own house, too, and Leone is stuck watching him as he goes –

Especially when Bruno raises that cup of sugar to his mouth and sticks his tongue into it. Keeps licking at it, even tips the damn thing into his mouth like it's a glass of water. Grinning cheerful to himself all the way through his overgrown garden. Onto his porch and into his house.

Leone lingers, staring at where Bruno disappeared, for ten solid minutes.

Eventually, he gives up trying to make sense of anything and goes back inside.

x

The curtains to Leone's bathroom window are wide-open, after his shower. That's the only reason he notices anything weird going on next door – and it isn't weird, at first, is the thing.

Leone is minding his own business, as he always does. Blow-drying his hair so it doesn't dry in a scraggly mess or soak the back of his t-shirt, when he spots Bruno through the window. He's outside, watering that vast green yard of his (that's sort of started to encroach on Leone's property, not that he minds, it's less lawn for him to mow), with his back to Leone's house.

Nothing at all odd about that. People water plants all the time, and that hose attachment is one of the nicer ones. Gentle rain type shit, multiple settings, that kind of thing. Bruno is humming off-key, Leone can hear it between hairdryer sessions, thanks to this open window. A tune that he can almost place.

That isn't weird, either. It's as normal a scene as you can get, right down to the casual overalls Bruno is wearing that have no right to look as charming as they do on him.

Shit doesn't get bizarre until the phone rings.

Not Leone's phone, mind you – whatever landline Bruno's got in his house is damn loud, audible over the hose and this hairdryer alike. Though of course Bruno turns the hose off and sets it down before going inside to answer that call –

And by, 'going inside', Leone means, of course, that Bruno fazes right the fuck through the wall.

Leone stares.

Watches the peeled-apart edges of that house merge back into a single entity, and keeps staring.

That…shouldn't be possible, right? He didn't miss anything, when he flunked his college physics class because he was too busy going on a bender every weekend and spending the weekdays too drunk to attend, right? There's no hidden door, or whatever? No tear in the fabric of reality?

Hissing, Leone yanks his hairdryer away from where it's starting to burn his arm, aimed at it while he was busy staring. He meets his own befuddled glare in the mirror. Redirects it back outside, but nothing's changed out there.

It's just a house. With a nice solid wall. Painted blue overnight with a garden that sprung up in days.

He's got to be hallucinating…

x

"I'm going fucking insane," Leone says, poking his fingers into the split of his curtains and separating them just enough to see out of. Vying for a glimpse of Bruno, as he ever is, lately.

"No, man, I'm telling you," Mista's voice is tangibly excited, even over the phone, "he's not human."

It takes all of Leone's strength not to roll his eyes at that. Then he realizes he has no reason to be polite, and lets them roll. (They go right back to staring toward Bruno's place, afterward.) "Fuck's sake, Mista, what the hell would he be if he's not human?"

And Leone knows exactly what Mista will reply to that with, so it's no surprise when he says, with complete confidence: "An alien."

Leone wants to bang his head off of the nearest wall. "Christ, not this again…"

"I'm serious! It's the only explanation for all the weird shit you've told me about him. Either he's a superpowered human in the witness protection program, or he's not from around here."

"Oh, he's not from around here, alright," Leone mutters. Still peering out his curtains.

"So you do think he's an alien!"

For the love of – "Aliens aren't real."

"You mean to tell me," Mista says, gearing up for his usual spiel and diving right on in, "there's all those planets and undiscovered galaxies and shit out there, and you think us humans are the only sentient beings in the universe?"

"Shut the fuck up," is all Leone can say. He's fresh out of rebuttals, here, infuriatingly enough.

There's an audible grin in Mista's voice when he says, "Hey, you called me to complain, remember?"

"And I'm regretting –" Leone changes rubbernecking angles and stops short. "Holy fuck."

"What?" Mista sounds far, far too invested now, and as much as Leone would love to, there's no way he can keep this to himself.

"He's got a fucking – a goddamned telescope, on his balcony." When the fresh hell did he install that thing? It wasn't there yesterday. Leone's been watching, when he's not sleeping or eating or working. (Scratch those last two, he's usually watching while eating and is always watching instead of working. Customer service blows, even when you do it from the comfort of your own home.)

The way that Mista sits further upright on his couch is audible, he's scooching forward on the cushions. Literally on the edge of his seat for this shit. Bruno's officially become a spectacle, by now.

"For real?" Mista asks. "Like one of those little dinky ones people use to look at the moon?"

Oh, Leone wishes it were that. That would make sense for him to have missed. "No like…a huge-ass astronomer-approved thing. Looks like it should fall through his roof, the hell…"

Gleeful laughter from Mista. "See! He's phoning home."

"You can't call people with a telescope, dipshit."

"Okay, then he's checking on his home planet, whatever the hell you prefer."

None of that is what Leone prefers, thank you. He would appreciate if Bruno could stop exhibiting so much impossible behavior and thereby lending so much credit to Mista's tall tales. That huge telescope moves in tiny increments. Bruno stands studious at its helm. Looking at god knows what…

"Keep denying the truth all you want, he's an alien," Mista insists –

And when Bruno lifts his face from that telescope only to wave directly at Leone (who is huddled mostly behind his curtains), well. Leone finds it remarkably hard to keep denying.

x

It's two-thirty in the morning, and Leone is doing what he always does when he can't sleep: applying generous amounts of Monteverdi directly into his brain via headphones cranked the whole way up, and waiting until his body gives up and passes out.

Not the healthiest strategy, but hey. That 'regular bedtime' trick failed him, tonight.

So here Leone lies. Exhausted and staring at the ceiling, wondering whether Bruno uses weird alien magic to make his ceiling look like the night sky, or if that's against the alien witness protection rules – yeah, he called Mista again, sue him – and waiting for sleep to finally claim him. The whole rest thing isn't going well, but he's at least reached the conclusion that yeah, Bruno can probably make his ceiling look like stars.

Probably sits in bed and eats sugar by the spoonful and zooms in on his favorite constellations. Clusters of stars that Leone's never even heard of, before, because they exist in a galaxy far, far away.

It's silly.

Still better than the thoughts that usually plague him, late at night, and –

"I like your music."

Holy shitting hell

Leone sits bolt upright in bed, yanking his headphones off and staring wide-eyed at the door. His heart is in his throat and his breath is caught tight in his chest, and there's Bruno.

What the fuck – he's just standing there. Like he belongs here. Lingering in Leone's bedroom doorway like a ghost, eerie as shit in the dark with his oddly bright eyes and hair that shines even in the pitch black of this room.

Scrambling for his bedside lamp, Leone flicks it on. "What the fuck are you doing in here?"

Bruno blinks. Again, Leone could swear he had more pupils than is normal, but within the next blink, they're gone. "I heard your music," he says, like this is a normal sound to pick up from next door, and a normal reason to do some casual breaking and entering at nearly three in the fucking morning.

Which brings Leone to his next question:

"How did you get in?"

"The front door."

Oh, great, amazing. That clears absolutely nothing up. Leone can only assume that Bruno pulled his weird fazing trick, here, prying apart the edges of Leone's locked front door to grant himself entry…

Not at all strange or invasive.

At least Leone's heart has started beating again, and at a more sedate, healthy pace, too. No sense dying of a heart attack now that he's accidentally established first contact.

"What are you doing?" Bruno says. Which is a strange as shit thing to ask.

He's altogether too casual, considering the circumstances. Leone finds it hard to muster up much more fear, though. Which is strange in and of itself, but it's not like Bruno's ever done him any sort of harm. There's…nothing to be afraid of. Except maybe abduction, and at this point, Leone would consider that a blessing.

He might as well humor this weird probably-alien who's broken into his house. "I can't sleep, so I'm listening to music until I pass out."

Bruno nods, sagely. "It's…opera?"

"Yes…?"

"It sounds lovely."

"…Thank you."

Another nod from Bruno. He keeps right on lingering by the door. Gazing around Leone's room with undisguised interest. Not that there's a whole lot to see, in here. Leone isn't much of an interior decorator, and he prefers to keep his space tidy. Makeup products spread over his dresser are the worst of any mess.

While Bruno looks his fill, Leone examines him in turn. Searches for signs of alienness, like Mista told him to. What something like that would even look like, Leone has no clue.

Bruno is wearing pajamas. Shorts that stop just a little too high on his thighs and an oversized long-sleeved t-shirt that shows off his collarbone. Polka-dotted tube socks complete the look. Compliment his weird bobbed hairstyle, somehow.

…He's definitely not planning on leaving anytime soon. Or starting a conversation. It's up to Leone to go out on a bizarre limb and ask, "You can't sleep either?"

Bruno hums, and tilts his head. He seems enthralled by Leone's lipsticks, staring at them with enthrallment despite never moving from his post by the door. "I guess I'm sort of homesick," he says, and haha, wonderful, wait until Mista hears that shit… Bright blue eyes land on Leone, locked vibrant. "It feels lightyears away, sometimes."

He's smiling in an oddly human way, but just a little to the left, as usual. A sort of smirk that implies he's made a joke. God it can't be, there's no way that this is real. Leone fell asleep after all and this is a fucked-up dream.

Sitting sprawled atop the covers as he is, Leone tries to discreetly pinch himself on the thigh. It hurts.

Fantastic.

Being as Bruno is still watching him, and Leone understands what it is to be homesick – not for an alien planet, but he hasn't really felt a general sense of belonging since he was maybe ten years old – a ridiculous thought is forming in his head. A list of mundane things he does when he's feeling any flavor of down.

A deep breath, and he makes eye contact with Bruno. "Have you ever seen Sling Blade?"

x

Tipping his face back into the shower spray, Leone relishes in the steamy warmth.

Summer is starting to meet its slow end, and the first chill of fall hit today. Depression crept in extra-strong with it, of course, and the only thing to combat the early sunset is a long hot shower. Followed by skipping the hairdryer and maybe calling Bruno for another movie night.

That's…something that Leone's been doing a lot, lately. Hanging out with Bruno who-is-probably-an-alien. He's good company, and Leone is having fun despite himself, getting to know his new neighbor. (The surface of said neighbor, at least. He gets the feeling there's more, beneath that.)

So far, he's learned that Bruno hates popcorn but loves kettle corn. He has a bizarre and unparalleled sweet tooth, and has devoured his weight in chocolate ice cream since Leone introduced him to it – even topped it with sugar, last time.

And Bruno cries over rom-coms and dramas. His eyes go all misty and unnatural, wavering in a way that human eyes really don't. (Which Leone finds cute. To his horror. It's fine.) He also knows an awful lot about the ecosystem, here. Rambled about how good his all-natural garden is for it for hours, once, mentioning that he plans to 'install' more trees (not plant – install). He physically recoils at apples and beans (the first a personal preference, the other he says is toxic), prefers jazz music, always wears socks, takes lengthy bathroom breaks (seems fascinated by the solidity of mirrors, of all things), sleeps with his eyes open and in any position. Which, yes, is as freaky as it sounds…

All of Bruno sometimes shimmers, too. Particularly when Leone touches him, something that happens on accident more than on purpose. Because Bruno keeps his distance. But once in a while, Leone finds himself drawn in, and the texture of Bruno's skin is somehow…off. Smooth and fizzling against Leone.

He hasn't confirmed that Bruno is an alien. It's a theory that's a little stronger than casual suspicion by now. To Mista's utter delight and Leone's utter indifference.

The most important fact about Bruno, though, remains the earliest Leone learned about him:

Despite the way he dodges direct contact, Bruno has no concept of personal –

"Leone!"

Jumping in place, Leone jolts out from under the shower, lurching forward to yank the curtain open and poke his head out – being sure to leave most of his body covered – because there's Bruno. Bathroom door fazed apart so he can hang inside, which is the most blatant use of his alien abilities that Leone's ever seen up close –

"Bruno, what the fuck are you –"

"I would like permission to access your home's basement," Bruno says. His eyes are vast and blue and they definitely have at least three pupils each, now, but that is the least bizarre facet of this whole thing.

First off, there's the fact that Bruno is more worried about encroaching on Leone's basement than he is about barging in while Leone is naked in the shower.

And, second off, well:

"I don't have a basement."

At this, Bruno looks almost sheepish. "Yes. You do."

Okay. Whatever the hell that means – probably some kind of alien bullshit. Leone is too busy wiping wet hair out of his face and trying to lean closer to Bruno while hiding more of himself. Flexible translucent-blurry plastic is all that's maintaining his modesty, at the moment. Not ideal.

Disregarding the fact that Leone doesn't have a basement, he asks, "Why do you need down there?"

"It's where my spaceship is parked."

…Ah.

So it's true, is it?

God – what the fuck – Leone's been getting used to the whole alien notion, sure, but it was never so definite. In the back of his mind, he always assumed there'd be a reasonable explanation, so this is…a lot to wrap his head around. A fucking spaceship, Bruno says.

Unless Leone is mistaken, there's something like a blush creeping up Bruno's cheeks. An educated guess, on Leone's part; it's nowhere near a human blush…

In fact, Bruno's skin looks a little less human by the second. Oddly blurry, going pale before fading darker – flickering might be the best term to describe what's going on, and that blush sort of looks like veins flaring to life beneath the surface. Dark blue lines spreading out in lightning patterns over Bruno's cheeks.

Leone's got a million questions simmering below the surface, but somehow the only one that makes it out of his mouth is, "Are you leaving?"

Which is a surprisingly sad notion – even though that is not at all the point, right now, Bruno just admitted to being an honest to god alien and the only thing Leone can spit out is that, what the hell.

That weird sort of blush on Bruno's cheeks flares to life for a moment, then recedes. His eyes blink wide at Leone before they skirt to the side. "I have to," he mutters, and oh. There's a note of disappointment there. Leone thinks. Or maybe he's just projecting.

"Why do you –"

Muted banging interrupts, coming from next door – sounds like someone pounding a fist against Bruno's front door – followed by a series of muffled shouts. They're in some language that Leone doesn't recognize, composed of sounds he's not sure a human mouth could make.

"Law enforcement, from my home planet," Bruno explains. Home planet. Holy fuck. "I…didn't exactly leave on the best of terms, and now they're here to –" More banging from next door. Something that sounds like a goddamned laser blast, right out of a sci-fi movie. "They are apparently here to kill me."

Stomach turning to lead, Leone reaches out and turns his shower off with a rough yank. He's standing a close to Bruno as bathtub and shower curtain will allow. "Do you need help?"

Bruno looks stunned, for a moment. Eyes wide and fixed on Leone. Slowly, he shakes his head. "I'll just have to –" He falls silent. Unreadable expression going even less-readable the longer Leone watches it. He can tell that it's sad, though, Bruno's face. It's got the same lowered eyebrows and downturned mouth. "…I just need to get to my ship. In your basement."

Not that basement shit again. "I told you I don't have a –"

"Goodbye, Leone."

And then Bruno is gone, that asshole. Ducks back through the bathroom door, and just like that Leone is scrambling out of the tub. Dries himself off quick and pulls on his clothes over damp skin, flying down the stairs only to find Bruno peeling apart the entryway floor.

He's already disappearing into the hole, and before Leone can think better of it, he runs for that spot as it starts to seal up –

He falls. Down, into space that shouldn't exist below his house, heart leaping and arms flailing for something to stop his descent – but it's not a long drop and before he knows it everything erupts into pain when he lands with a loud clang!

"Leone!"

That's Bruno, at Leone's side. Hands on him, easing him upright to sitting, and, yeah, this one is Leone's bad. Rushing toward a fucking hole in the floor with zero forethought…he deserves these bruises…

"Are you alright?"

Absently, Leone nods. He's a little distracted taking stock of his surroundings. Sleek metal and so many flashing buttons. Illuminating lights in a myriad of colors that combat the dark of the underground. Comfortable seating. Doors that lead who-knows-where, and a giant window at the front, and huh, what do you know, all of this is super sci-fi-esque, too. This is absolutely a spaceship, where Leone has landed, how do you like that shit.

"…Was this under my floorboards this whole time?" Leone asks, instead of saying anything reasonable. He's not sure he's actually alright, though, all things considered, and so doesn't feel qualified to answer that question further.

Besides, he's stuck on the thought of Bruno landing in his house – or at least fucking parking here – pretending to meet Leone out on the street, crafty bastard –

Bruno is shaking his head, yanking on Leone's arm until he acquiesces to stand. "Why did you follow me," he says, and it sounds more like a lament than a legitimate question. "You'll be implicated in my escape for sure, now."

"I couldn't just –"

"They will kill you, Leone." Those blue eyes, with their many pupils, are imploring. And Bruno is standing in too-close, as usual. If he tips upward just a little more, their noses will brush. It would probably have the same smooth-tingling feel that the rest of his skin does.

Leone should maybe be more worried about the kill comment than this proximity.

The distraction cuts off when Bruno takes a step back. Something dreadful passes over his face. He doesn't take his eyes off of Leone. "I'm going to have to erase your memory," he says.

And – and hold the fuck up, here – Bruno can do that? Is going to do that, for some asinine reason, he's lifting his hands, reaching for Leone's face –

So Leone jerks his head out of reach, lurches backward. Spits out the first words that come to mind. "I don't want to forget you." God. The notion is almost unbearable. Makes Leone's stomach sink and his heart deflate and just that thought is far worse than the idea of Bruno leaving, in general.

Bruno's expression twists sour. His shoulders rise on a deep breath, his outstretched hands curling into fists that drop to his sides. He opens his mouth and snaps, "It's the only way to keep you safe, Leone!"

Oh, that, Leone can't stand for. It isn't fair at all, doesn't count as protection, as far as he's concerned. He doesn't want to be kept safe at the cost of losing Bruno – which is bizarre as fuck and selfish as all hell, but he can't help it. "I don't care."

Shoulders slumping, Bruno says, "You should care – if I leave you with your memories, it's…you'll be a…" A few seconds of hesitation. "Liability for me." Well. That stings, some, but it's softened by that quivering edge to Bruno's mouth as he speaks. "And that's if they let you live, when they're done interrogating you." That is a whole lot to unpack, but Leone doesn't have time right now, because Bruno is raising his hands again –

"I'll go with you," Leone blurts out.

Bruno pauses. Fingers halfway to Leone's face, they lower slowly. His eyes go even sadder, twisting Leone's heart up tight as Bruno says, "…I can't ask you to leave your life, here."

…In that case, Leone will make this easy. "You're not asking me. I'm telling you: I'm going with you."

Because there's something about Bruno that makes Leone want to cling on tight to his presence. A growing bright spot in Leone's life that's starting to become more than that, and he can't deny that he's as intrigued as he is attached.

A kind alien on the run from the law. This whole thing fills Leone with more enthusiasm for life and will to see what's around the corner than anything else has in years.

Bruno is quiet, for a long moment. All he does is stare hard at Leone with those unfathomable eyes of his. Another unreadable expression on a face that gets more luminescent as that glamor fades; it's intense, though, so Leone stares right back. Aims for all those pupils and notices that they're a bit asymmetrical, actually, Bruno's left eye has two of them merging in toward each other. Kind of cute.

All of him is. Kind of cute. Kind of hot, actually, and thank you, brain, for supplying Leone with yet more inappropriate thoughts as hostile aliens beat down the door to his house and this friendly neighbor alien searches Leone with intent.

Eventually, Bruno shuffles in a half-step closer. Leans up into Leone's personal space. So close that his breath is a cool breeze against Leone's chin.

"If we weren't biologically incompatible," Bruno says, "I would very much like to kiss you."

And then he's away and booting up the controls and Leone's face is on fire.


A/N: I admit to having too much fun, again. :|
I like to think that, from here, they have many adventures, eventually get married on at least one planet, and Bruno introduces Leone with lines like: "This is my human husband, Leone. I abducted him."

Thanks for reading!