Alex had been taught a few words in Tsla, enough to get by until someone could find a translator. The usual stuff: yes, no, help, please, food, water. It was all in the primer, which was really just a guide on how not to create a diplomatic incident when you have to deal with the aliens.

The primer didn’t mention sort-of-drunken fooling around, or any other type of fooling around for that matter, which was one of those things that could definitely cause a diplomatic incident, so you would think they’d have covered it a little bit.

He assumed he had been doing pretty well so far. Despite his slow pace Carbon seemed to be enjoying it. Alex was reasonably sure he was enjoying it too, though he felt oddly pressured by the fact he had no idea what she would like or expect in this situation, not being human and all.

There would be certain similarities, of course. External body structures were overwhelmingly similar, and that seemed to be working well for him so far. He assumed there were specific things Carbon liked that she wasn’t telling him about... She was talking a little bit, but it wasn’t in English.

She’d been giving him nothing but positive feedback, via tone and action. That was potentially dangerous, yes, but climbing onto his lap definitely seemed like strong approval. Carbon clutched the front of his jumpsuit, fists balled up over his collarbone and thumped her forehead against his chest with an odd, unwell noise. Without further warning she threw up on him. It was as unbecoming as it was sudden.

Some day, they would look back on this and laugh.

Carbon gave him an apologetic and somewhat drunk look as she pushed him away and mumbled something. He understood ‘go’ and ‘bathroom’ and could figure the rest out from there. The room had already started to stink like alcohol and stomach acid as she departed.

Alex sighed, unzipped his jumpsuit and peeled himself out of it, balling it up and using it to soak up the few droplets that hadn’t stuck to him immediately. Fortunately, there were no chunks. He tossed it into her cleaner - his was currently unpowered and not actually cleaning - and left her cabin wearing just the standard issue compression briefs.

Carbon had left the door to the bathroom open and was cleaning her face with one of the antibacterial wipes, which seemed like a pretty good idea right now. He leaned in and snagged the package, pulling a few free before setting it back next to her. She looked him over with doleful eyes, “sorry. Not you.”

“I know.” He smiled and continued on, noting for the first time just how cold it was on the ship. He wiped residue off his chest and went digging through his dresser, grabbing a t-shirt emblazoned with the CPP logo to go with it and then shaking out the other pair of shorts included in the clothing package. If he was in for a penny...

Once again dry, clothed, and clean enough, he found Carbon sitting at the table in the mess looking miserable. He skirted past her and dialed in four bottles of water from the dispenser. Production on something as simple as that was quick, the machine dinging off one every 30 seconds or so. His eyes flickered over to the tablet clipped to the wall between the two dispensers, a red exclamation point flashing in one corner.

Alex pulled it from its cradle and tucked it under his arm, collected the bottles from the dispenser and went to take his usual seat across from Carbon. She still looked forlorn. He set the bottles on the table and slid them over to her. “Water. Drink up.”

She looked surprised and overwhelmed. “I cannot, is so much.”

“Oh, fine.” He grinned and took half of them back, “Still, it’s good for you. Dehydration and all.”

“Thank you.” She smiled faintly and started drinking but still looked forlorn.

“You shouldn’t worry about it. Happens to everybody.” Well. Maybe not throwing up on people. Definitely having an evening not go how you expected, that was pretty common.

Alex got out the tablet and thumbed the exclamation point. He’d left the sensor’s computer with two instructions. If something very important happened, like another ship coming within a hundred thousand kilometers of the Kshlav’o, turn the shipboard alarm on and let him know immediately. If it noticed something natural close or a ship significantly further away, it would just send an emergency notice, wait six hours and then turn the alarm on.

Passive sensors had detected something depart from the cluster of Eohm ships and set a course that would take it near them in about a week. The resolution from the passives were terrible at nearly a billion kilometers, but it was an object roughly the size of their ship. Might have superluminal engines. Might not. You never could tell with the Eohm.

“Did not expect sickness...” She sounded better, though still just as sad as she looked, and the lack of her usual refined use of English told him she was still feeling the alcohol she hadn’t... purged. Carbon twisting the bottle in her dark furred hand, claws gently scoring the plastic. She mumbled something that sounded like it was in English.

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He eyed her over the top of the tablet, “Sorry, I didn’t catch that last bit.”

She sighed quietly and closed her eyes, “First time.”

“The f- Oh.” Alex felt his eyes widen as he glanced down and scrambled to come up with something to say to that. “Y-you mean with a Human?”

Carbon glared at him so hard it should have been fatal. Apparently not. She grumbled and as she crossed her arms on the table and set her head down on them, eyes closed. Alex tapped the command console for the sensors and had it track the object, ship alarm if it does anything different. A week away, no need to bother her with it tonight. It’d been rough enough as it was.

He slipped out of his seat and took her hand with a grin, “Does your offer still stand?”

“Wh- What offer?” She asked, legitimately confused as she unhooked her foot from the bench and slipped off it, towed slowly behind him as he pulled her into the corridor.

“Can I stay with you? Power is out in my bunk, you know.” He laughed softly, a sly smile on his lips as he glanced over his shoulder at her. Alex was pretty sure her bed was actually vastly superior to his as well, but that was just a bonus.

“Yes.” She’d never said anything so seriously in her life, obviously trying to keep her shit together as they replayed what she had been hoping would happen the night before. “Yes you can.”

“It was really nice of you to offer, looking out for my well being and all.” He pulled her up to the access panel, a hand on her hip as he let her enter the code. Either of them could override in an emergency, but it seemed unreasonable given they were both right here. Would have been a real dick move.

The second time around, without the crushing loneliness of the Tsla’o narcotic effect weighing him down, and somehow only slightly buzzed, Alex really did marvel at the mural of a forest on the walls of her room as she pulled him inside. It looked painted, actually really painted! He was distantly aware of the sound of the bed being unzipped as he gawked at the ceiling, recessed lights dim, leaving the alien starscape looking surprisingly real. He didn’t recognize any of the constellations, and assumed they were an accurate representation of the night sky from-

Carbon derailed his train of thought with a warm hand under his shirt as she gently cleared her throat to get his attention. It worked quite well.

“This is incred-” He blinked once and was surprised to find that Tsla’o wore what he’d describe as underwear as well. Probably shouldn’t have been, but it simply hadn’t occurred to him until he found Carbon mostly disrobed and sitting on the bed clad in simple dark blue briefs and something akin to a sports bra that just covered her small breasts, in the same color. They struck him as a bit utilitarian and modest, which given the nature of their original mission, made sense. This sort of thing wasn’t part of the plan. He found his gaze lingering a bit longer than he had let it previously, taking in the shape of her. Athletic and lean, with a bit of muscular definition barely showing through blue-black fur.

“What do... How do you sleep?” She inquired, head tilted to the side as she patted the empty bed next to her. It was perhaps a little snug for two, but acreage compared to the standard human bunk.

That question spun through his mind for way too long, but he figured it out and peeled the shirt he’d just put on back off. There was an urge to crack a joke but this was one of the worst times he could think of to do that. “Usually underwear. If that’s OK with you?”

“Yes, fine.” Big blue eyes wandered Alex’s upper body with an unusual intensity, “perfect.”

“Glad to hear it.” He said with a smile as he moved on to taking off his shorts. He didn’t mind the gawking, given that they were... involved now, and the last time they had seen each other in a state of undress he had most of his limbs burned off, and she was covered in his blood. Not exactly a time to check out the goods, even if he was somewhat proud of his physique. Alex was no gym rat, but he kept himself in good shape, and the Navy portion of the CPP training had accentuated that a bit. Probably not used to seeing that much skin anyway, given Tsla’o had a layer of fur smoothing things out.

Carbon slid out of the way, shimmying under the covers and leaving a very nearly Human sized space available to him, which he took, and she zippered the bed closed. “Lights, off.”

In the darkness, Alex decided to let her set the tone this time. He had absolute faith that he was way ahead of her in the ‘sleeping with people’ department and didn’t want to blow past her comfort zone by accident. “Snug in here, isn’t it?” He tried to sound casual, but he could hear the hint of nerves in there. He was privy to the fountain of ethical conundrums his brain was spewing, and it was not helping things at all.

“Yes. Difficult no gravity.” At least she sounded as nervous as he felt. She nestled up against him, chin resting on his shoulder, and exhaled a worried sigh. “Would it... Bother if we did not?”

“Did not... Continue what we were doing earlier?” He asked, resting a hand on her hip again now that she’d selected a place to rest.

“Liked, but-” She paused, silent for a heartbeat and set a hand on his chest. “Two thoughts too close. No mix.”

“Yeah, it’s fine.” He didn’t understand what she meant by that, but this actually felt like a weight off his shoulders, the pressure of being the guy who has sex with an alien - and worse, probably the first one - gone for the time being. She was probably a bit too drunk still to make a decision about that anyway. If he was being honest with himself, he was probably a bit too deep for that as well. “I think I may have moved a bit too fast there, anyway. This is uncharted waters for both of us and I just guessed. I very easily could have guessed wrong.”

“Guess was good.” A little snort of a laugh came from the dark beside his head and Alex could hear a smile in her voice. “You got fired.”

He returned the laugh and nodded. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“Growing on me.” She tilted her head and kissed his cheek, then curled herself up under the covers. “Goodnight, Alex.”