Note: This whole story is based off of a dream that Greizula had. I really loved the idea, and, she let me write it. :D Also, the whole Morphenuis thing is all hers; a species that appears in a currently unfinished story by her. So, with that, I dedicate this to her!

---

Sitting dully in the storage room, the roar of the engine and the air flying past us practically drowns out my very thoughts. As dank and odd as this room is, it’s really the only place where I can just be alone. I don’t have to worry about Jude screaming at me to go clean this, or fix that.

The only thing about the storage room is that the door is located in a well-used hallway in the ship. So, every time someone walks by, I kind of tense up and hope they aren’t scrounging around for an extra pack of Patty’s Pudding or something.

I can hear Jude’s heavy footfalls from outside the room now, and I crawl behind a big box of extra parts just in case. Jude’s a…good person; it’s just, he’s really scary sometimes when he really wants something to go his way. But his sister, who also lives on the ship, can usually keep him in shape.

Pressing a hand against the cold metal wall next to me, I can feel the ship’s excitement. We must be going a lot higher than normal, and pretty fast. Anya, our ship captain, also my cousin by adoption (I’m the adopted one); she’s usually a careful driver, but sometimes she lets herself go all out when we’re in the middle of nowhere.

For some reason though, I can do this; feel inanimate objects emotions. I’ve been able to do it as long as I remember. I once brought it up to Anya, but she just patted me on the head and said I shouldn’t really talk about it. I guess that means it’s strange, but, I don’t really think anything of it when I do it.

Now, it’s been a while since I’ve heard anyone, but there’s suddenly a light jingling sound nearby. Then, scratching on the outside of the door. Smiling, I realize what it is, and I shuffle over to the door, sliding it open just a smidge to let in Glove.

Glove is like the ship mascot. Everyone on the ship kind of hates animals, except for me, and I used to beg them all to let me have an animal, I promise I’ll take care of it, you’ll barely ever see it, et cetera, et cetera. We tried a dog, bird, hamster, bunny, mouse, even a chinchilla once, and then a gerbil, and fish. By the end we kind of figured the smaller they were, the less of a hassle. But each one ended in their own unique disaster.

But then Anya suggested one last animal – a cat. And thus, Glove. We’ve never had a problem with her, she’s very clean and she sleeps a lot, so she’s not bothersome at all.

Quickly closing the door behind Glove, I pull her over to my spot behind the extra parts, and put her on my lap. She curls up and starts purring as I pet her slowly. Sighing, I figure maybe I should go make sure I’m not missing anything important.

“C’mon, Glovey,” I mutter to the cat, holding her to my chest as I stand up.

Still cradling Glove in my arms, I slowly make my way to the main common room. Sliding open the pocket door, I find only a few of our crew members sitting around.

“Hey, Marsh,” Jude’s sister, Ronna, says in a bored tone. Luckily, Jude himself is nowhere to be found. I nod to her, sitting on the other end of the same couch as her.

Now, ‘Marsh’ itself isn’t my actual name. My name is Marsha, which is really depressing, seeing as I’m a boy. I suppose my biological parents forgot to add the L at the end or something. But I do kind of like being called Marsh.

Priding myself on being able to actually drag myself out of my usual hole, I now focus my attention solely on Glove. It seems like everything’s going fine with everyone else.

Glancing at Ronna, I see she’s huddled up at the end of the couch by the lamp, intently reading. She’s really pretty; she’s only Jude’s half sister, and it’s really obvious in her darker skin, and bright red hair and eyes, as opposed to Jude’s brown counterparts. Ronna and Jude share the same mom, who was human, but Ronna’s dad was a Morphenuis, a kind of aquatic species. Her dad was a red Morphenuis, so her ears are long and webby, and she has a long thick tale covered in scales, both of which are a deep scarlet.

There are lots of different types of humanoid species anymore; some of which, you can’t even tell that they’re not full human, especially if they’re half-breeds.

Jude’s kind of prejudice though…that’s why he and his sister don’t get along very well.

Sighing contently, I continue to stroke Glove’s fur, the feel having lulled me into a sense of security. Therefore, I jerk violently when the pocket door to the common room is slammed open.

“Marsha!” Of course, it’s Jude, and his loud voice jolts everyone from their calm state. Glove, annoyed, hops down from my lap and slinks out the door. Jude makes his way over to me.

“You forgot to clean out the kitchen,” he says in a lethally quiet voice. “Why didn’t you clean out the kitchen?”

“I—I—” unable to cling to Glove for comfort, I clutch at the arm of the couch, and it sighs wearily in my mind.

“Did you not hear me clearly enough?” he asks, leaning closer to me. Everyone watches in silence. The couch is getting kind of ticked off right now.

“There was just—I had a lot of things…I didn’t get around to—”

“Well, you’re not doing anything now, are you? Unless sitting around doing nothing is going to somehow contribute to the sake of this ship?”

“S-sorry,” I get up and hurry around Jude, scuttling off to the kitchen.

Once I get there, there’s already a bucket of soapy water and a sponge on the counter, waiting for me. Pressing my hand to the counter, I tell it that it will soon be sparkling, and the counter is grateful, smiling sweetly in my mind.

As I scrub everything down, Glove comes to visit me every so often, but no one else steps foot for the few hours I’m here, not even for food. I bet Jude told them all to stay away so I could get the job done right without any distractions.

Once I’m finished, I clean out the bucket and sponge, setting them back into a cabinet (they’re very glad to get to rest), and I wash my hands, before looking over the kitchen at my handiwork. Smiling, I’m happy with the outcome, so I plop down at the kitchen table to rest for a bit.

I hear footsteps in the hallway, and I press my hand against the table, which tells me I needn’t be worried. But then Jude slides open the pocket door, and I’m immediately worried, but the table shushes me motherly.

Jude glances around the kitchen and the barks, “C’mere.”

Getting up from the table, I shuffle up to Jude.

“Closer,” he mutters.

Looking up at him questioningly, I start to move closer, and he suddenly wraps his arms around me. “I’m sorry for getting mad, Marsh,” he whispers against the side of my face.

It’s not the first time he’s gotten all sappy, apologizing for himself, but it has been a while since last, and it never fails to comfort me.

I press my hands against his back, but I can’t feel anything from it, aside from the bumps in his spine. If I try really, really hard, I can feel what Glove feels, but it never works for other humans or humanoids. “It’s okay,” I say, barely audible. “The kitchen’s clean now.”

He laughs lightly and lets me go, but he still holds onto my hands. “You’re so good to me, Marsha.”

“I could be better,” I sigh.

He smiles and shakes his head. “Come on, the ship’s about to land.”

He lets go of one of my hands, but keeps a hold on the other, dragging me through the kitchen door and down the main hall. At the end of the main hall is the ramp off the ship, and Jude sits down a few feet away from it, against the wall, looking up at me expectantly.

Taking the hint, I sit down next to Jude. He scoots so we’re so close, we’re touching. I look up at him with a blank face.

He grins at me. “Where are you always disappearing to, eh, Marsh?” he nudges me with his shoulder playfully. “You always make it so hard to find you.”

“Oh, well,” I mumble, looking down at my lap. “I just move around a lot, I guess.”

Chuckling, he puts a hand on my thigh casually. Looking at it, I can feel the heat from his hand even through my thick jeans. The feeling is almost harsh; it’s the only think I can think of right now. I can’t will myself to take my concentration off of it.

“You okay?” he asks softly, moving his hand back and forth on my leg.

The ship suddenly jolts brutally, and I tumble across the hall, smacking into the wall parallel. Jude only moves slightly, of course, because he’s so big and strong and perfect, and I embarrassedly collect myself, but I remain huddled against the wall opposite Jude, a lingering heat left where his hand was.

“Everybody out!” I can hear Anya yelling from the end of the hall, banging on all the doors. Everyone comes to file out, and suddenly Jude is above me, holding out a hand to me. I take it, and he pulls me up, as Anya reaches us and shoves the ramp out of the ship down.

As we all exit the huge ship, I see we’re in a huge field, just next to a small and dusty town.

“Get only what you need, and meet back here in two hours sharp!” Anya hollered above everyone, and thus prompting us all to hustle on over to the town. Jude grabbed my hand and led me down the road. And, I mean, he doesn’t do this in a couple kind of way – Jude never does that kind of stuff with anyone. So, he must be doing it in a fatherly way. He’s kind of a lot older than me…but, he’s just always been like a parent, and told me what to do and stuff.

“You hungry?” he asks.

“Yeah,” I reply, even though I’m not, not really, but I can see he’s leading me to a small restaurant, so I don’t want to be difficult.

“Well then, how about some lunch?” he smiles down at me, and I return it weakly.

He lets go of my hand to walk behind me a bit, and he replaces his hand to the small of my back. Though behind me, he’s still leading me, in a weird way. I walk into the restaurant, and we wait to be seated, and then we wait to place our order.

After we’ve eaten and paid, we leave the restaurant to pursue other shopping needs. Jude says something about needing new pants, so we head for a clothing store.

I leisurely look around at everything, trailing behind Jude while he looks for pants.

“Hey,” Jude holds out a small shirt busy with cutely drawn animals all over the whole thing. “This would look adorable on you.”

“I—it’s cute,” I mumble, disbelieving that anything would look ‘adorable’ on me.

“I’ll get it for you,” he says decisively.

“Oh, no—you shouldn’t…” I am guilty to admit that I love this kind of honeymoon stage he gets into after he gets mad at me, but still, I feel like I’m taking advantage of him or something when I let him do things for me.

“I’m not letting you have a say in this,” he says before flicking me playfully on the nose.

“Hey, there you are.”

Looking over near the entrance to the shop, I see Ronna making her way over to us. She grabs Jude’s wrist and says lowly, “We need to talk.”

“Oh, well—” he pauses and glances at me, before saying, “Here, why don’t you buy this stuff for me—” he dumps all the clothes he’d picked out into my arms. “I’ll be back in a sec, okay?” He then shoves well over enough money to buy his clothes into my hand. “Get whatever you want for yourself,” he smiles, and winks, and then he’s off.

Sighing, I watch them walk out before sifting through the clothes and putting back the shirt Jude wanted to get me. I then putz over to the cashier counter and set everything down on it, skipping the ‘get whatever I want for myself’ step. I pay for the clothes and the heave the bag the cashier lady puts them in to the front of the store. Outside, I can hear Ronna and Jude’s loud voices from the entrance.

I’m not sure what it is that compels me to do it, but I find myself pressing my back against a stone pillar right be the shop entrance, so I’m unseen by the two siblings, and I can listen to their conversation. Through my thin shirt, the pillar congratulates me on doing something sneaky like this for once.

“You know, sometimes you just need to shut the fuck up and listen to what I’m saying for once!” I hear Ronna’s voice screeching unabashedly.

“No, you don’t understand—” Jude’s voice is quieter, but no less ticked.

“No!” Ronna overlaps him. “You need to get over your prejudice and take my advice for once. Do you ever step back and think about how you affect other people? That poor boy answers to your every beck and call because he’s so scared of you.”

“He’s not scared!” Jude snaps. “You need to get your facts straight. He does what I tell him because he respects me, and looks up to me.”

Now I can’t help wondering who they’re talking about now. It must be someone important, for them to get so worked up. I try to think of someone from the crew that’s like this. It’s probably not Jonah, though it might be Ercek…

“Hah, respects you? Who in their right mind could respect someone like you? Not even Glove respects you!”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jude scoffs. “Marsha has known me for longer than you think, and he has no ill will towards me.”

“If he doesn’t, it’s because he’s so used to your abuse!”

I’m shocked to hear my name come up. They were talking about me? I replay the conversation in my head, trying to understand. Well, I know I’m not a big enough deal to fight over. And I certainly know that Jude doesn’t—doesn’t abuse me.

“You know, you think you’re so fucking amazing—but someone needs to take action to get the ship into shape sometimes! No one else tries, except Anya, but she’s always busy flying the damn thing.”

“Maybe you should find a damn boyfriend to keep your mind off useless shit like—”

“Shut the fuck up,” Jude says quietly, but grimly.

Deciding that I should make myself known, I jump out behind the pillar as casually as I really could after eavesdropping on something like that. “H-hey guys!” I say as cheerfully as possible, walking up to them. “Um, are you ready to go?” I stand very close to Jude, as if to tell Ronna I’m totally comfortable around him.

Ronna looks at me, and sighs. “Yeah. We’re done here.”

She walks away, and Jude beckons me to follow him in the other direction.

We basically just window shop until the time Anya said to be back. Anya herself always gets the necessities for us, like food and mass amounts of disposables, because she doesn’t want anyone goofing off and getting the wrong things.

Once we get back, there are a few people there already, not including Anya. She always locks up the ship and doesn’t let us back on during these errands, until everyone is back, as she needs to take a clear headcount before heading off. She’s kind of a control freak, but, it’s always better safe than sorry. I couldn’t imagine accidentally leaving behind someone…

Slowly, everyone trickled back over to the ship. After Anya preformed the headcount, we ambled back on the ship and took off.

This is how we live. We rarely ever come back down to the ground. We live in the skies. We’re not really going anywhere…sometimes when someone wants to see somewhere, or return home real quick, we do so. Otherwise, it’s like a constant road trip.

Luckily, Jude takes his attention off of me, and goes straight to the common room, allowing me to scuttle into the storage room. I wish I had Glove, but my need to be alone is greater right now.

I don’t bother going behind any of the boxes, I just sit down, facing the wall, and put my hands against it. The ship is feeling calm and happy from the rest it’s just had. Closing my eyes, I lean closer to the wall and allow myself to get lost in the ship’s thoughts. I don’t even notice when the door slowly slides open.

“Hey, bub,” a voice says quietly, and I’m so startled, I jerk away from the wall and fall backwards onto the floor.

Looking up at the owner of the voice, I cry, “Ercek!”

Thank goodness it wasn’t Jude to find me like this, but even with Ercek, as kind as he is, it’s still embarrassing as all hell.

“Talking to the ship, or something?” he asks casually, laughing lightly. He closes the door behind him, as if it isn’t totally weird we’re in the storage room, and he sits on a sturdy looking first-aid box.

“Oh, n-no! I…I was just, well, I was…the wall, it—”

“You know, I can do that, too.”

All words died in my throat. I stared at him as though I’d never properly seen him before.

Ercek’s kind of a mutt, in a way…he has a lot of different kinds of species in him, even different races of Morphenuis. I don’t even know the half of what he is. But maybe, with all of the different things in him, it wouldn’t be so strange for him to have a power like mine.

“Wh-what do you mean?”

He leaned forward to put his hand against the wall I was listening to earlier. “The ship is very tranquil right now, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I breathe, still unable to take my eyes off him. It’s just too weird to comprehend someone else can do this…

“You never knew your parents, did you, bub?” Ercek moves to kneel in front of me.

“No…” I look down at my lap.

“Well, I think those who took you in have tried very hard to tell themselves, as well as you, that you’re just human. It is very easy to mistake your kind for human, y’know.”

“But—how do you—and, you, you—”

Ercek smiles and puts a hand to my knee. “I’ve seen you do it sometimes. You might do it subconsciously or idly a lot, but I can tell. And you know me, I’m a mix of everything. Apparently I’ve got some Alphenticus in me, too.”

He took my hand and put it to his chest, while he kept his other one on my knee. Suddenly, a strange, mental connection opened between us. Usually, I can just feel or see or hear objects in my mind, but this connection, I could sense in every way, all around.

Ercek let go of me, and I let my hand slide back to my lap. “Normally, you can’t do that to other people, right? But that’s how you can tell you’re an Alphenticus. We can do it amongst each other.”

Looking down at the floor, I’m still not totally grasping this right. “I’m not…human…”

Ercek put a hand to my shoulder comfortingly. “It’s okay, bub. Half the people on this ship aren’t human.”

“But…” I look up at Ercek, and I’m suddenly crying. “What will Jude think? He’ll be so upset…he won’t like me anymore…”

“Hey, no…c’mere…” Ercek scoots closer and hugs me. Burying my face in his chest, I can feel a small connection between us, and I can feel his sincere sympathy.

“Jude loves you for who you are, bub,” Ercek rubs circles into my back soothingly. “He can’t possibly stop just because you’re not human.”

“B-but, he never gets along with Ronna because…” I stop talking, but both of us know what I mean.

“Hey, who even says you have to tell him?” Ercek pulls away, and looks me in the eyes. “You’re still just as human-looking as ever. This doesn’t mean you have to tell him immediately, or ever, for that matter.”

“Yeah…” I break eye contact to look down dismally. I’m very bad at keeping secrets, but maybe if I promise myself to tell him one day, it will be easier.

Ercek stands, and gently motions for me to do the same. He leads me out of the storage room and down the narrow hall to the bedrooms. He holds open the door to the room I share with a few members of the crew, and then leads me to my bed.

He must have gotten it from our connection, because a nap is exactly what I want right now. He tucks me in and pulls up a chair to sit next to me until I fall asleep.

--

Later, I’m awoken by Jude shaking the mattress with his foot.

“C’mon, get up! You can’t sleep all day, when there’re things to do around here.”

Groaning, I roll over, but make no attempt to get up.

“Hey!” Jude leans in, and suddenly his voice is right in my ear. “Did you hear me? Get up!”

Swatting aimlessly at him, I mutter, “I’m up, I’m up—” but then I feel my hand smash against the side of his face. “Oh, no—”

Now, I really do get up; I sit up and look over to Jude. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, you little brat,” he’s rubbing his face where I hit him, and he looks like it hurts worse than he’s letting on. “Just get your ass up.”

He storms out of the room. I remain sitting, looking at the thick duvet over me, before sluggishly shuffling out of the room after him. I go to the kitchen really quick to grab something to eat.

In the kitchen I find Glove, which brightens my mood immensely. “Come here, baby,” I coo, bending down so Glove can jump into my arms. Shifting her weight into one arm, I rummage through the fridge with the other. Finding someone’s leftover sandwich, I grab it and kick the door closed. Setting Glove on the kitchen table, I rip off a piece of the sandwich for her. She chews on it happily as I do the same with my portion.

Once we’re done, I beckon her to follow me out and into the hall. I decide to look for Jude to see what he wanted from me, and so I start with the common room. But there I only find Ercek and a few others.

“Hey, bub,” Ercek says lightly, and I gather Glove into my arms again.

“Hi, Ercek.”

He gets up from the large armchair he’d been sitting on and makes his way over to me. He gently pets Glove, and her purring along with the conversation in the background are the only things to fill the awkward silence.

“So…” Ercek started quietly. “How are you?”

“I—I’m fine. I’m looking for Jude.”

Ercek looks up at me sharply.

“Oh! Oh, no, I’m not—he woke me up saying he had chores for me. But he didn’t say what, so…now I have to find him.”

“Ah, well…I’m not sure. In the kitchen, maybe?” I shook my head. “Captain’s quarters?” I shrugged. “If not, then try his room.” I nodded.

“Thanks, Ercek,” I reply quietly.

“Here, let me take her,” he says, and I pass Glove to him before leaving the common room.

I head down the long main hall. At the opposite side of the exit ramp is the door to everything of Anya’s — her large bedroom, along with a bathroom and a small break room of sorts, with a table and a fridge and some appliances. Then of course, there’s the cockpit, where she spends most of her time anyway. She does have a co-pilot, Jonah, who takes over for her at times. But Anya is a control freak, and she really does love flying. Jonah usually flies the nights, and when Anya’s sick.

I check Anya’s bedroom and break room before going into the cockpit. She doesn’t like it when people go there without a reason. However, I only find her and Jonah there.

“What’s up, hon?” Anya asks, not taking her eyes off of the skies. Her deep, straight red hair is pulled back into a messy bun at the base of her neck. Jonah lounges casually on one of the cushioned benches on either wall on the sides of the pilot’s seat in the large, oval cockpit.

“Oh, I was—do you know where Jude is?”

Anya sighs. “I swear, I knew I should have installed a P.A. system. Sorry, buddy, I dunno.”

I glance towards Jonah hopefully, but he shrugs.

“Oh…thanks anyway. But—actually…” I glance down at my feet before asking the question without thinking. “Do you know much about Alphenticus?”

Anya suddenly swerves a little before getting back on track. “Oh—why…why do you ask, hon?”

Her voice is a little shaky, and it’s obvious she knows something.

“I was just…” I trail off. Anya beckons Jonah and asks him to take over for her for a second. She rubs her eyes with the heels of her palms before heading over to me. “Come here.”

She takes me out of the cockpit and down to the break room. I sit down at the table, and she follows suit after closing the door carefully.

“Who told you about Alphenticus?” she asks apathetically.

“I don’t wanna say. Tell me about them first.”

She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Alphenticus…they’re kind of…taboo. It’s weird how, with so many inter-species relationships there are now, and how everything’s evolved so, that there should be even prejudice anymore, let alone taboo…but many people of pure blood think that they are superior. Take Jude for example; he’s a hundred percent human, and that makes him feel better about himself for some reason.”

“But I’m one hundred percent human,” I say gravely; ironically.

Anya puts a hand over one side of her face, her eyes closed. “I’m sorry, Marsha.”

“Why are we taboo?” I put a special emphasis on the word ‘we’.

“A few centuries ago, the Alphenticus were more…barbaric. A war broke out, and so many died. So many died…at the hand of the Alphenticus. They’ve changed in many ways now…and look more similar to humans, almost impeccably. But they are no less despised or looked down upon. Our family never wanted a life like that for you. So we raised you as a human.”

“Were you ever going to tell me?” I ask quietly.

“I’m sure your mom and dad planned to tell you sooner or later. But then, you got caught up in…this.”

Of course, she means our life in the skies. Sighing, I find myself not minding the information as much as I did when Ercek told me what I was. It’s always better to hear things from Anya for some reason; probably simply because I’ve known her all my life.

“Do you think I should tell Jude?” I ask, knowing she would know the answer.

“In time…you should take this all in yourself, first. Jude will probably be angry for a while, so be prepared for that. But he will learn to accept it, I’m sure.”

Looking up at Anya gratefully, I can’t think of anything to say. We both stand up, and she opens her arms to me, which I gladly fall into.

“I’m so sorry,” she murmurs.

“Thank you,” I say, ignoring her apology.

She smiles as we part, and she pats me on the back before heading back into the cockpit.

Making my way out of Anya’s quarters, I check the kitchen real quick again for Jude. I also check the common room again, and see no trace of Jude, or Ercek anymore. So I head into the tiny hall to the bedrooms, and I enter Jude’s without knocking.

He’s lying face down on his bed, looking rumpled. I close the door behind me, trying to make notable noise so he isn’t startled when I touch him. He just grunts at the sound. I walk over to him and bend down next to the bed, putting a hand to his back. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” he huffs, turning his head so he’s facing away from me. I rub circles in his back, like Ercek had a while ago. He sighs contently at the feeling.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, knowing something was up.

He just folds his arms and puts his head in them on the pillow. I climb onto the bed and sit on him, continuing to rub his back.

“Marsh,” he breathes after a while. He tries to turn over, and I move so he can, before sitting back down on him, my hands motionless on his belly. He smiles up at me. “Nothing’s wrong now you’re here.”

I smile, waving him off. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Just tired.”

“Did you take a nap?”

“Not yet…”

“Well,” I chuckle. “Now, what was it you wanted me to do before? When you woke me up?”

“Oh, just the common room—the bookshelf is a disaster again.”

“Then, you get some sleep, and I’ll have it done by time you wake up.”

Jude closes his eyes, a smile still in place. “I can’t thank you enough.”

Kissing him on the cheek, I get off of the bed and tug the covers over him, before leaving the room. Back in the common room, where there’s now no one, I can see what Jude meant; the huge bookshelf that takes up the back wall has books and papers and strange objects that don’t belong on bookshelves strewn everywhere.

First, I take out all of the papers and things, and throw them all onto the couch for later sorting. Then I get out all of the weird objects and put most of them where they belong, and a few on an armchair to figure out later. I sorted the actual books by genre, and then put them back alphabetically. Seeing as it was a huge bookshelf, this takes longer than I had thought.

Taking a deep breath after the alphabetization, I go back to the couch with the papers. I sort them into a few piles, like ‘important’, ‘Jude’s’, and ‘trash’. I also end up having to create a photo pile; I don’t even know who it is on this ship that had a camera.

After a lot of listless sorting, I come across an old picture, of an old friend. The subject of the picture is a half-human, half-Morphenuis guy named Wes. He used to be best friends with me and Jude, and he even lived here on the ship with us for a while. He was a little older than me, and younger than Jude, and the three of us fit perfectly together.

But then one day, something happened between Wes and Jude that I never really understood. But, I knew they got very mad at each other, and Wes left the ship, and we’ve never seen him since. Jude and I both were very upset afterwards; we stayed holed up in our separate rooms and ate very little. But Jude got the shorter end of the stick – he seemed so torn up, much more than I did. And ever since, his personality has been darker, and he’s been more prejudice.

Wes was also openly gay, and we all used to totally accept that, but since he’s left, Jude has also been very homophobic.

I flip through a few pictures of Wes, Jude, me, and the three of us together. Then I see a few pictures of just Wes and Jude, which I don’t think anything of, since I probably had taken them. Until I find a photo I definitely hadn’t ever even seen before – Wes and Jude, together…kissing. Shocked, I toss the other photos onto the floor, not caring if they made the photo pile, and look closer at this one.

It’s plain as day – Jude’s stark white hair, a little longer than it is now, and Wes’s light green skin and thick, forest green hair. Both of them have small smiles on their faces, and it’s a very chaste kiss. I can’t tell from the background where they are exactly, but I can tell they’re on the ground, and the sky is cloudy. Holding the photo tighter, it’s very happy, in a strange melancholy and nostalgic way.

It’s so strange…Jude has always proclaimed to be straight, and recently has been so hateful towards this kind of thing…I don’t know how to react. Should I ask Jude about this, about Wes? Or just about his preference? Or keep all of it secret forever?

Folding the photo, I slip it into my back pocket, before shakily going back to my work. When I found that photo, I was nearly done, so it doesn’t take me long to finish up. I put all the piles into the right places, and then take the pile labeled ‘Jude’s’ to his room.

He’s still sleeping, so I just place the papers on the small desk in the room, before slipping right back out. A couple doors down is Ercek’s room, and I knock on the door. It’s promptly answered by Ercek himself, and he smiles at me before letting me in.

“What’s up, bub?” he sits down at the desk chair, and I sit down on his bed, looking down.

“Anya told me more about Alphenticus,” I say quietly.

“You okay?” he asks.

I look up at him. “I’m fine. It’s just…weird. Takes a while to sink in.”

“Yeah,” he agrees.

Lying down on the bed, I stare up at the bottom of the top bunk. “Ercek?” I mutter.

“Yeah, bub?”

“Do you like girls, or…guys?”

“Well, girls, but, I’m not homophobic. Why do you ask? Exploring the ups and downs of your own young, budding sexuality?”

I snort in laughter. “Not really. I just—” I realize it would be weird to ask about Ercek’s sexuality, if not because of my own inner turmoil. “I mean, sort of.”

“It’s totally normal. Which one do you think you like better?”

Now that I’m thinking about it, I’ve never really thought about my sexuality before. I don’t really want to delve into it right now, so I answer how I think Jude would. “Boys, but…that’s supposed to be wrong.”

“No, Marsha. Don’t think like that. It’s not wrong…it’s just different. People think it’s wrong because they don’t understand it. But if that’s how you feel, deep inside, how could your own feelings be wrong?”

I don’t know, is what I immediately think. I suppose these would be inspirational words if I were actually confused about liking boys or girls. “But how come some people who have this…preference…try to deny it and stuff?”

“Well, some people don’t like to think that they’re any different than anyone else…some people think these feelings should be shameful, or that other people will ridicule them for it. Now, that second thing can happen – but someone who would stoop that low isn’t someone you should concern yourself with.”

Nodding, I try to remember some of this stuff, so maybe I can say it to Jude if I confront him about this. “Thanks, Ercek.”

“No problem,” Ercek smiles.

The sound of a door opening comes from the hallway, and I’m pretty sure it’s Jude’s. Thanking Ercek again, I leave, and I find Jude lethargically trudging from his room.

Quietly approaching him, I wrap my arms around his waist from behind.

“Oh, jeez—” he starts, surprised.

“Remember what I said I’d have done by time you woke up?” I ask teasingly.

Before he can respond, I put my hands over his eyes and push him down the hall, into the main hall, and right over to the common room.

“Open the door,” I say.

He fumbled blindly for the knick in the pocket door, then pushes it open. I move him forward a few steps.

“Now. Remember that horrible old bookshelf, all cluttered and unfortunate-looking?” I pause dramatically, and then pull my hands away and hop up beside him, to what his reaction. “It’s not much, but…”

“Oh, Marsh!” he grins, looking from the bookshelf to me, and back again. “You did a great job. I saw those papers on the desk and was wondering – and did you alphabetize—?”

“Yup!” I beam up at him. “And thank you.”

He smiles and pulls me into a bear hug. “Thank you, kid.”

Laughing, I pull away and flop onto the couch, on my stomach. Jude ambles over to sit on me, like I had before.

“Hey, this is falling out of your pocket,” he says, and I feel his hands in my back pocket, and blush. But then I remember what it is, and freeze. My heart stops at the sound of him flipping open the photo. “What is—?”

His voice stops dead in its tracks. All I can hear is my heart, now beating almost painfully in my ears. My limbs are suddenly numb, and my voice is gone.

“Where did you get this?” he whispers, getting up.

“Th-the booksh—”

“The bookshelf?” he suddenly yells. “And what, did you have to go through every single bitty paper?”

“Well, no—I just—Wes, I wanted to see Wes again—” I don’t want it like this…I’m not ready to approach him with this…

“And then you keep a picture like this?” he grabs the collar of my shirt and pulls me up of off the couch. “Get your rocks off to this kind of shit, you sick fuck?”

“You’re the fag kissing him!” I shout.

The anger slips off his face, replaced with a blank, but dark look. He lets go of me, throwing me onto the ground. He storms out of the room, and I can hear his heavy footfalls until he slams his bedroom door.

Shaking and crying, I curl up into a ball on the floor. I hear Glove jingle past the door, and on down the hallway. For some reason, it upsets me even more that not even the cat would stop for a second glance at me.

After a while, I crawl up onto the couch, and silently cry myself into a fitful sleep.

--

A strange texture rubbing against my face is what wakes me up. Gathering my wits a little, I realize it’s Glove’s tongue. Rolling onto my back, I pull her off of my face and plop her onto my chest, where she lays in a heap, purring.

Petting her fur, it feels a little matted. I better remember to brush her before Jude yells at me to…

But the sudden casual thought of Jude kind of startles me, as I remember what happened. I don’t know what to do, now…

“Just when he starts being nicer to me, I have to go and mess everything up,” I sigh to Glove.

“I don’t know what happened, but I’m pretty sure it’s Jude’s fault,” says a voice from the doorway.

Looking up, I see Anya walking towards me. I laugh lightly, embarrassed from talking to myself. “No, it was all me, for once.”

She sits on the arm of the couch, right next to my head, and starts stroking my hair lightly. “What happened, hon?”

“Well, it’s just…” I sigh. “Do you remember Wes?”

“Oh, did Jude finally tell you?”

“Tell me what?” I craned my neck to look at her.

“It’s nothing. Continue; I do remember Wes.”

“Um, well…he just—” I stop and sigh again, slightly frustrated. “I saw a picture of Jude and Wes. And Jude got really mad…but I didn’t do anything except find the picture on accident. Now I don’t know what to do, because no matter what I do, Jude will yell at me again, and all I want is it to go away.”

“It’s okay,” Anya mutters, running her thin fingers through my hair. She pauses before saying, “Whenever something makes Jude mad, he’ll snap at everything for a while after. It’s just…a Jude rule or something. So just stay low for a while, and since it doesn’t sound like any of this was your fault, Jude will start feeling guilty, and seek you out in time.”

“Yeah,” I sniffle, raising myself up enough so I could hug Anya’s leg, at which she giggles lightly. “Thank you.”

--

For the next few days, I follow Anya’s advice as though it were law.

I spend most of my time in the storage room with Glove, where I also get around to brushing her. Every once in a while, I’ll sneak out quickly for some food or something, but I mostly try to stay in here.

Now, I appreciate the blank metal walls and floors as they make a lot of noise when someone walks by. This way, I have a fair warning, so I know when to sneak out.

At night, when I can’t sleep (which is happening a lot since avoiding Jude) I usually go out to clean things. It’s mainly because I feel bad about this whole thing, even though it’s not really my fault. So I keep the kitchen and bathroom sparkling as a way to make up, or something. I think it also has to do with thinking Jude would seek me out if things got too dirty, regardless of whether he forgave me yet or not.

On my fourth day of avoiding Jude, I was almost proud of how well I was doing. I’d literally not seen any part of him since I’d practically gone into hiding, except on the second day when I saw his leg coming around the corner, after which I darted back into the storage room.

Said room is where I’m laying right now, my head propped against a crate. Glove is lying on my stomach, asleep. I myself am sort of dozing on and off.

The door slams open, and I jerk, completely startled. Glove meows unpleasantly and slinks out the door. I push myself up into a sitting position and turn to the door, for some reason, fully expecting Ercek. But it’s Jude.

“Jesus, kid!” Jude huffs, walking up to me, and pulls on my arm. I stand up, but I look at the floor, feeling small. “I was looking all around for you. You’re in the storage room of all places?”

“I…” At first, I don’t get why Jude would look for me, but I remember what Anya said. She’s always right.

“You what? You were avoiding me?” Jude snaps, shaking me.

My eyes remained fixed on the ground, and my lips shut tight.

Jude sighs louder than necessary. “Come on, punk.”

He drags me out of the storage room and around the corner to the bedroom hall, and right into his room. He gestures towards his bed, and I sit down, feeling like I’m doing everything all wrong. Jude sighs again, and sits at the desk chair, scooting it so he’s right next to me.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Wes,” he mutters, turning the chair backwards and folding his arms on top of the back of the chair. I can tell I’m not supposed to say anything yet. “I just…we were all younger, I guess, but…you just seemed so young, you still do, you’re really…tiny.”

I resist the urge to laugh, because even though I still feel really out of place, I can tell Jude does a little, too.

“It didn’t seem right to tell you. We were all friends, together, even if Wes and I…alone…” Jude runs a hand through his hair.

“It’s okay,” I say lightly, putting a hand to his knee. “Everyone has secrets…” I keep my gaze down.

Jude takes my hand on his knee and laces his fingers with mine. “I kind of thought you might…feel weird around me if you knew.”

My eyes drift up to meet his. “It’s what makes you you. I want to know everything about you, good and bad.”

He smiles and pulls my hand closer to him. “Thank you,” he says quietly.

“I mean…” I chuckle shakily. “Could there be anything about myself that I could tell you…that would make you like me less?” I laugh again through my nose, trying hard to seem natural.

Jude laughs, too. “Never. Unless you said you weren’t human or something!”

His tone is joking but I still can’t help it when my face falls. I duck my head a little and try to compose myself quickly, but tears well up in my eyes and I can’t stop it. Jude leans closer to me, and I instinctively lean back.

“Marsh, you—what’s wrong?” Jude sounds very confused, but also like he realized something he didn’t want to. “You’re not—it was a joke.”

“I know,” I sniffle, bringing a hand up to cover my face. “I just—I hate it when you’re prejudice like that. I mean, Ronna—”

“Hey, hey,” Jude gets up to sit next to me on the bed. He puts a hand on my back, right below my neck. “I love Ronna. What she is just gives me something to pick on when I’m mad at her. It’s not like I really hate her just for what’s outside…”

Pulling my knees up to my chest, I put my forehead down on them. “Well, with me, it’s only my insides that are different…”

“What are you talking about, Marsh?” Jude leaned to rest his cheek on my shoulder.

“I’m an Alphenticus…” I mumble into my knees.

Jude sits back up straight. “You’re…what?”

“Alphenticus,” I repeat, tilting my head towards Jude slightly. His face his somber, but not in any way upset.

“But you look—”

“I know,” I sigh. “I only found out recently…it was so hard to keep it from you.”

Jude smiles and rubs light circles into my back. “What’s different about Alphenticus than humans? What I’ve learned of their history has kind of…overpowered any real facts about an actual Alphen.”

Shifting my legs so I was sitting Indian-style, I stared at Jude’s desk chair. I’d never heard to term ‘Alphen’ before, but it almost sounded neat.

“It’s not much…I just…feel things’ emotions.”

Jude laughed through his nose. “What do you mean?”

Pressing my hand against the top of the bed, I can hear the comforter giggle in my mind. “Your blanket it very happy.”

Jude scoffed lightly. “That’s insane.”

I smile shyly. “I can do it with anything. I can also do it with small animals if I try hard enough. But not actual people. Except other…Alphens. I can do it with Ercek. We can feel…each other.”

“Whoa, whoa,” Jude leans back a little. “I don’t want you and Ercek getting all touchy-feely, here.”

Laughing, I say, “It’s not like that. He’s like a brother to me.”

Jude huffs, and then it’s silent for a while. He breathes deeply and puts a hand on my neck, and his chin on the top of my head. “I promise I won’t be mean to you, or Ronna, or anyone else about what they are anymore. I’ll just call you a little shit if you piss me off.” He pauses, then, “You could tell me anything in the whole world; I could never be mean to you about it.”

My eyes fall shut as I smile contently. “Well,” I finally say. “You could be mean to me a little. Sometimes. When you want.”

Jude chuckles and moves to push me onto my back on the bed. He stands up and says, “Then get off your lazy butt and follow me to the kitchen. Make me a sandwich or somethin’,” he snaps, playfully.

Grinning, I get up and shuffle after him.