When they got back to the mansion, Vok'Rul started to have some sort of crisis. He murmured something to Viktor, then started piling all of Viktor's belongings in the center of the office.

"Umm," Viktor said, frowning at the alien. He wasn't messy. If Vok'Rul was trying to make a point about how sporadic his belongings were scattered all over the room, he had another thing coming. "What are you doing?"

He was piling all of the toys - various sizes of balls, his Rubik's sphere, another color-changing ball that Thruul had gotten him after he had thrown the first one into some soup, and some other stuff - into the center of the room, organizing it swiftly by category. The alien even started to grab his food and water dish, which Viktor quickly grabbed out of his hands, spilling some water over the both of them.

"Oops," Viktor said sheepishly, reaching forward to wipe the water off his clothes. Vok'Rul grabbed his arm gently, cooing something. He launched into a monologue, speaking seriously to Viktor. Slowly, the alien seemed to realize that he couldn't understand what he was saying because he trailed off with a huff at Viktor's slightly confused expression.

Vok'Rul gestured vaguely to the pile, saying "neyk," and a few other words. Viktor frowned at the pile, then back at the alien.

"Are you..." he said, starting to put the pieces together. His voice wanted to waver, but he kept it as firm as he could, "taking my stuff away?"

Viktor tried to think of what he had done wrong to warrant such a drastic consequence. He couldn't think of anything. And while he knew that Vok'Rul would never maliciously take away his stuff for no reason, the thought still filled him with wariness.

"Flakmmn," Viktor tried hesitantly, stepping closer to all his stuff. This was his stuff. Granted, some of it was dehumanizing, like the harness he wore or the obviously designed-for-pets toys, and he would've never even touched them if he were back on Earth. But this, the blanket, his clothing, it was all he had on this planet. He didn't even know where his old Earth clothes were at. Vok'Rul had probably tossed them the first time he had gotten the chance.

Getting abducted was terrible, and getting thrown into a straw-bedded cell and forced to fight for his survival was even worse. Having stupid toys he never touched unless he was dying of boredom wasn't the worst thing to happen to him, and Viktor could admit to himself that he had grown attached to some of the inanimate objects. It wasn't like he could have an intelligent conversation with anything else!

"Flakmmn, Vok'Rul," he repeated, shuffling a bit closer to the Rubik's sphere and trying to fish that into his arms. It was a bit difficult to do without spilling the water and his jerky all over the place. "Kohgrash prosh? Mrrh? That's 'mine,' right? Please don't take my stuff." It was all he had.

Vok'Rul made a sad noise, crouching on the floor and pulling Viktor into his arms. Taken by surprise at the sudden grab, Viktor ended up spilling water against the both of them, again. Vok'Rul was squeezing him almost too tightly, murmuring a jumble of words together in quick succession. He kept hearing the word prosh, though so it must not have been about something terrible.

After the long hug - which had started to get uncomfortable about thirty seconds in, what with two bowls digging into his chest and the water soaking into the fabric of his sweater - Vok'Rul started scattering his stuff back around the office. Viktor sighed in relief, feeling the knot of nerves in his stomach dissipate. At least his stuff wasn't going to be taken.

He made sure to grab the Rubik's sphere and coloring-changing ball and shove them into the blankets on his bed, though. Just in case. He liked those the best, after all.

The weirdness didn't stop there, though.

Vok'Rul was acting all strange around him. Oftentimes, Viktor would catch him absently-mindedly reaching out to pet his hair and stop himself halfway through the action, awkwardly clearing his throat and mumbling something to himself. When it came time for him to feed Viktor for dinner, he grew even more conflicted with his actions. He grabbed Viktor's bowl, now empty of any jerky, and stared at it for a long while, before placing it back on the ground.

"Um, hello? Very hungry human, here," Viktor said, snatching his dish up and waving it in front of the alien. He just received a complicated expression.

"Pora, cho'k," he finally said, holding out his arms invitingly. Shrugging to himself, Viktor stepped forward, letting the alien lift him up and carry him down the stairs. He was hastily set down on the floor of the kitchen. His feet hit the ground hard, rattling the teeth inside his skull.

"Jeez, dude," Viktor grumbled, hopping in place for a second to get rid of the slight tingling in his feet. "Be careful. What's up with you today? It's like that translator device messed you up." Viktor squinted at him skeptically. "It didn't mess up your brain, did it? Vok'Rul, what's two plus two?"

He didn't answer, of course, but Viktor still watched him, a bit worried that the translator had messed him up. He ignored the fact that it had been his ear the device had been planted in and wouldn't in any way, shape, or form be able to mess with Vok'Rul's head. Still, it was confusing. Why was he acting so strangely?

Vok'Rul puttered around the drawers, as he often did when Thruul wasn't around to make him food. He kept opening the cabinets, looking intensely at whatever contents they held and shutting it loudly with an equally loud scoff. Viktor jumped at each bang, involuntarily, and Vok'Rul guiltily stopped slamming them so hard.

Suddenly, the alien stopped, whirling around to face Viktor. The space around them was large, but Vok'Rul had a massive tail. It nearly took Viktor out when he swung around. He had to hastily jump over it like a fucked up game of Snake. He nearly fell on his ass.

"Flakmmn, Kohgrash'mrr'k," Vok'Rul said distractedly, halfway through the motions of reaching out to steady him before he lurched backward as if burned.

"What?" Viktor looked behind him, but there was nothing there. Why was Vok'Rul so averse to touching him all of a sudden? He looked down at himself. Other than a drying damp spot on his sweater where he had spilled the water earlier, he wasn't particularly dirty.

Something hot squirmed in his chest, and Viktor slowly realized, as he watched Vok'Rul return to moseying about the kitchen, that he was feeling hurt. He stomped it down viciously. It was fine! He was definitely not upset that Vok'Rul seemed to be hesitating and withholding his affectionate touches.

It was easier to ignore when the alien dropped a large piece of the starfruit in his hands. Viktor angrily bit into it, pushing away the thought that Vok'Rul didn't run his claws through his hair like he usually did after feeding him.

That night, Viktor reached his limit. The happiness of the translator actually working and the very real hope that he'd be able to go back to Earth had long since worn off in the face of Vok'Rul's uncharacteristic coldness.

Vok'Rul had been pouring over the papers like usual, clicking in a way that meant he wasn't really concentrating like he should be. When Viktor, who was chewing on some of the jerky he had fished out of the bag in the corner, looked up at the alien, Vok'Rul's eyes were unfocused, lost in thought. Viktor got up, swallowing the last of the jerky before heading over to the alien. It was late, after all, and he was used to suggesting they head to bed by yawning loudly until Vok'Rul got the hint. His yawns hadn't worked this time, however.

He tapped the alien on the leg, smiling up at him. "Sleep?" he asked at large, tilting his head in question.

Vok'Rul looked down at him, a slow smile gracing his features. He dropped his pen onto the desk, stretching his arms into the air with a low, sleepy growl. His hand fell heavily onto Viktor's head, and he pushed himself into the reassuring, warm weight.

Vok'Rul's smile slid off his face, then, replaced with a conflicted expression. Viktor's expression started to match his, a frown marring his face. The alien stood up abruptly, then, pulling his hand away from Viktor's hair. He rumbled something, sounding almost self-conscious before exiting the room without even a pora for Viktor, switching the light off on his way out.

Viktor stood, insides twisting, in the darkened room for a moment before he hastily followed after the alien. It was just one day of Vok'Rul acting weird, he consoled himself, wiping his sweating palms on his sweater. There's no reason to worry.

"Yeah, right," Viktor whispered to himself, chewing on his lip as he took the familiar path to Vok'Rul's room.

He was nearly bowled over as Vok'Rul exited, Viktor's blankets in hand. He watched with confusion as Vok'Rul started to make up the couch, fluffing some of the pillows up before stepping back to look at it.

The alien pointed at it, looking at Viktor, "Kor, Kohgrash."

"What?" Viktor whispered, feeling as though the ground under his feet was crumbling beneath him. "No! Neyk! Kor'kn Vok'Rul."

Why was Vok'Rul trying to kick him out now? It hadn't been an issue yesterday!

"Neyk," Vok'Rul said firmly, pointing to the couch. His expression wavered when he looked back at Viktor.

Viktor's eyes stung, and he couldn't help the wave of hurt washing over him. He felt terrible. "Why?" he demanded hotly, voice growing thick. "I'm sorry! For whatever I did." Viktor wrapped his arms around his middle tightly, rooted to the spot. "Kohgrash flakmna," he said desperately, vaguely recalling that the word sounded like a more formal apology. "Flakmmn for- for being kora-," his voice hitched on the word, almost unable to force it past his tongue. "Kohgrash kor'kn Vok'Rul?" Embarrassingly, he felt like he was one more word from crying, and he bit his tongue to push back the tears.

Yes, Viktor was probably unhealthily attached to the alien. His separation anxiety regarding him had diminished slightly, bolstered by the fact that nothing has happened to him in the time when they were apart, but he still worried that Vok'Rul would suddenly disappear from his life for good. He didn't want that to happen. Viktor-

Well, Viktor loved this guy.

While Vok'Rul may not have been the one to personally rescue Viktor from the arena, he had been a beacon of light for him when he had nearly drowned in the aftermath of his experiences. He was nothing but kind. Patient. He didn't care that Viktor had massive amounts of trauma; he simply enjoyed Viktor for who he was, not what he had been through. Vok'Rul took care to not use words he knew hurt him unless he could help it. He took care not to move suddenly unless he was endearingly excited about something. He shopped for Viktor, he fed Viktor, he took care of Viktor when no one else would.

And Viktor, having spent nearly nine months with unkind aliens and less than three with kind ones, uprooted from everything he had ever known on his home planet, loved him for it.

Vok'Rul wilted at his words, expression guilty. "Kohgrash," he said hesitantly, voice upset. "Tas ney kora. Neyk." Viktor flinched despite himself, shoulders raising to his ears in a feeble attempt to protect himself. Vok'Rul's expression seemed to fall even further, and he walked over, careful and slow. Viktor was picked up without preamble, squeezed close to Vok'Rul's chest.

"Flakmmn, Kohgrash'mrr'k, flakmmn," Vok'Rul whispered to him, voice heavy with guilt. Viktor pressed his face against the alien, using the pressure to force his tears back. He just nodded into the alien, unable to muster up the energy to say anything.

Thankfully, things went uphill from there. The next morning, although Viktor was still hesitant about the night before, he followed the alien around, just like usual. Instead of stopping himself halfway through petting him, Vok'Rul touched him more often that day, be it small ruffles of his hair or picking up Viktor unexpectedly for a vicious bear hug.

It relieved some of the anxiety in his chest, and by the time the three-month anniversary rolled around, they were back to usual and Viktor's worries were completely evaporated. Whatever Vok'Rul had hang-ups about, they were gone, now. Viktor hoped they wouldn't make a reoccurrence.

Vok'Rul took him to a nearby park to celebrate their time together. Or at least, Vikor assumed that was why they were going. Vok'Rul didn't seem too much like the outdoorsy type, after all. It had been more or less a year since they had been abducted from Earth, give or take a few days. They had lost count after leaving the arena; there were no helpful tally marks at the vet or pet store, after all.

Rukka and Kac had dropped off Nohkka at the mansion in a flurry of claws, cloaks, and hurried goodbyes earlier that morning. Viktor, a bit too harried by the energetic child, had barely managed to say goodbye to the pair of aliens before they left in a hurry. Well, they wouldn't have said goodbye back. Because they were mean.

Nohkka seemed excited to see him again, patting him gently and chattering senselessly to him. Viktor caught a few words, but in the end, she spoke way too quickly for his mind to translate things.

Oddly enough, Vok'Rul had decided against wrestling Viktor into the harness. He probably forgot, but when Viktor, Nohkka and he had piled into a car and started down the road without so much of a whisper of the damned thing, well... Viktor wasn't going to say anything.

The park, unfortunately, was filled with aliens. It was a nice day, but that didn't mean Viktor had to like the extra company. Thankfully, they didn't stray too far into the thick of things, opting to linger at the outskirts of the park. Nohkka wasn't too impressed with this idea, but when Vok'Rul pulled out that remote-controlled hover car, both Viktor and Nohkka forgot all about it.

Apparently, hovering RC cars had no qualms about traversing scratchy brown grass. No matter the terrain, slope, or otherwise, it ran well. It took Viktor a little while to get back into chasing the thing, but Nohkka was as skilled a driver as she had been the last time. Plus, Vok'Rul stood well out of the way. There were no obstacles to stop them.

Despite them being as far from other aliens as possible, someone still managed to spot Vok'Rul, even when he was in his plain clothes. Viktor guessed that it was the height. Vok'Rul towered over most aliens, so he was bound to stick out like a sore thumb. Fortunately, most aliens were too busy enjoying their day to do anything other than giving him a bow and a formal rohsh'a. Unfortunately, there will still some that didn't carry on with their day.

One such case had been when a stray canine creature had come barreling toward Nohhka. Viktor only saw it because Nohkka had turned the car sharply, causing him to twist in place in order to catch it. He abandoned the car as soon as he saw it - the same species as Oorah or something similar; it didn't have the broad shoulders or extremely long tail - racing toward Nohkka, who was looking confused as to why Viktor had stopped chasing the car.

He sprinted toward Nohkka as fast as he could. He wasn't nearly as fast as he could've been, slightly winded from chasing the car around. The creature, much faster than him on four legs and full of energy, though he knew it would start flagging soon, was loping toward Nohkka, mouth open, and tail wagging. Viktor grabbed the first object he saw (a small rock) and lobbed it at the creature.

It didn't hit the creature, but it hit the ground behind it, distracting it enough that Viktor could get in between it and Nohkka. It didn't look aggressive - there was none of the familiar snarling and posturing that Oorah did - but Viktor was still wary.

"Kohgrash," Nohkka said, trying to get around him to - to probably pet the damn thing!

"Stay still, Nohkka!" he shouted, stretching his arms out and blocking her path. It was difficult, considering he was facing the creature, and his back was to her. His heart was in his throat, and he tried to keep calm. Tried not to attack first.

A flustered-looking alien ran up, then, and Vok'Rul arrived not soon after, speaking hurriedly with it. After a moment, Nohkka managed to evade his best efforts at keeping her behind him, rumbling in delight at the chance to pet the dog.

"Neyk!" Viktor said, grabbing Nohkka's arm and pulling her back. She let out a protest, turning around and giving him a look.

"Kohgrash, kas tih," Vok'Rul said calmly. "Keti." He looked briefly at the alien, who must've been the dog's owner, and tilted his head. After whatever silent conversation they had, most of which Viktor had missed, entirely too focused on the small, less-than-threatening creature in front of them, Vok'Rul crouched.

The dog leaped at him, and Viktor let out a strangled, almost inhuman shriek of protest, a garbled "no!" ripping out of his throat. He was halfway through lunging toward the creature when Vok'Rul's arm stopped him. But instead of going for his neck, the dog wriggled in excitement as Vok'Rul petted it with his other hand.

"Keti? Prosh," Vok'Rul cooed at the beast, making a show of slathering it with affection. Viktor felt sick.

Still, the beast didn't do anything; it just sat there, happy to be given attention. It was so different from Oorah, who had been nothing but the embodiment of hate and anger. Viktor stomped on the urge to attack it, forcing his body to relax.

He held his breath as Nohkka stepped forward, eagerly petting the damned thing. Nothing happened.

Eventually, Vok'Rul hummed a thank-you to the alien, who dipped low and retreated with the beast, murmuring apologies as it went. Viktor jumped out of his skin, due to the sheer amount of tension he was holding in his body, when Vok'Rul gently pushed back his hair out of his face.

"I'm fine," he huffed, feeling the last of the adrenaline fizzle out of his body. Vok'Rul cooed at him, and Nohkka joined in on the pet, chattering happily to Vok'Rul.

The day at the park didn't have much more excitement other than that. Viktor sometimes saw another human in the distance, and they exchanged exaggerated waves, but they were also too far apart to do much else. Viktor wasn't willing to separate from Nohkka or Vok'Rul anytime soon, and most of the humans he saw were hanging by their own aliens.

By the time they got back to the mansion, Viktor was exhausted. He fell asleep in the car on the way back and didn't even move when Vok'Rul lifted him and carried him up the stairs. He only woke when the alien dropped him gently on the couch and Nohkka leaped onto the cushions with such force that Viktor startled awake.

She and Vok'Rul began watching TV, then, and no matter how hard Viktor forced himself to stay awake, the warm weight at his side and Vok'Rul's presence on his other lulled him into a deep sleep, regardless of his wishes. It was an unfair fight. Viktor couldn't muster up the energy to mind.

***

A/N: Two chapters today! Make sure you don't miss Chapter 58!

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Vocabulary:

cho'k: endearment, usually meaning little one, love; usually used for pets or small children

flakmmn: sorry, informal

'k: little, usually added onto the end of a name or object

kas tih: it's okay

keti: look

kor: stay

kor'kn: stay with

kora: bad or naughty, a light scolding

'mrr: my/mine, usually added onto the end of someone's name (Kohgrash'mrr)

ney: not

neyk: stop, no

pora: come

prosh: good

rohsh'a: a formal greeting, usually accompanied by a bow

tas: you're