TW: Spacemen (the series), Language Barrier, Aliens, Fluff, Lego Talk, Silly, Flirting

The fire in the small hideaway crackled and popped ominously, but the couple in front of it curled together as if there was nothing to fear. They had set the fire themselves, and the trap outside in the corridor to boot.

One looked up, the yellow, scaly-skinned one, and smirked, as he did a little too often. "There go the alarms," he remarked, as sure enough, an ear-shattering wail pounded through the ship. A commotion in the corridor, the banging of metal and shouts of Thahayssians, announced the presence of the ship's measly guards.

"Here they come!" the scaly one squeaked. His private Name was generally unpronounceable in alien tongues, so for the sake of his partner, the yellow fellow had adopted the name S'jin.

Somehow, this had turned out to be almost just as unpronounceable.

"Aaaand there they go." Sjin's human companion, the grey one with his chubby arm around Sjin's slim frame, beamed. "It worked, holy shit it worked, Sjin, you're a genius," he exclaimed as the shouts turned to agonizing screams.

"Aww, Sipsy, screams were just what this scene needed." Sjin curled closer into the human, Sips, and purred.

"Lights, camera, action," the human laughed quietly, gently stroking Sjin's side with the backs of two fingers. "Eh, do you think they'll find us?"

"Naw, we're the best --"

"Around?"

"Yeah!" Sjin snickered and tucked his small snout in towards Sips' chest. "We're the best, and you know it, and those suckers -- those bastards out there know it."

"Yeah! A toast to us," Sips declared. "To Sips and Sjin, the best --"
"Around!" Sjin interrupted him with a giggle. "Sips and Sjin, the best..."

"Around." The two looked at each other, faces twitching in an attempt to see who could stay serious the longest. It lasted only a few moments, and both of them were lost in peals of laughter, heaving and collapsing into each other.

Their rolling left them breathing heavily, Sjin splayed on top of Sips. Sjin blinked, his second eyelid scraping over to remove any intruding disturbances to the large eyeballs. "Well, hello there," he nearly purred.

"Aww, come on, Sjin, get offa me," Sips complained, wriggling a bit. He didn't seem to be making more than a playful effort, though, and his arms snaked around Sjin's narrow waist.

"Why should I?"

Sips didn't have much of an answer to that, because Sjin had caught him in a long kiss, pressing his solid snout to Sips' soft human lips. Smiling wickedly, Sjin hooked his fingers underneath the stretchy fabric of the shirt of Sips' spacesuit. His small claws trailed teasingly up Sips' sides, pressing little red marks into the grey pudge there. "Hey, Sipsy, we do have some time before they catch us..."

"Yeah? D'you wanna sit around and watch The Notebook or something?"

"The one with Fr'yu Trax? Ah, I love it." Sjin paused, his claws still resting against Sips' sides, and blinked at Sips, chirruping playfully.

They both knew that neither the human nor the alien version of The Notebook starred Fr'yu Trax, but it was a common routine they often fell into.

"Yeah, where he dances in the rain with Danny Devito, lifts him up with the spin... That was my favourite part."

"So romantic," Sjin chirped as he nuzzled his snout into Sips' chest, pressing down on him. Sips was starting to get a bit nervous -- not that he was often nervous around Sjin, except when he feared for his life, but, well, other parts of him were a bit more jumpy around the slim creature.

"I know, right? I almost cried, especially when -- when Hulk Hogan read their wedding vows."

"It's only because the Hulk stopped the wedding and insisted on marrying Danny Devito himself --"

"And he punched the Fro-yo guy!" Sips punctuated the remark with a jerk of his hips, and Sjin gasped, suddenly aware of Sips' distinctly humanreaction to the close quarters. It wasn't the first time they'd found themselves in this sort of situation, and for God's or whoever's sake, they both swore it wouldn't be the last.

"Sjin," Sips breathed. He always pronounced it wrong, with a soft sh at the start, but it sounded wonderful coming from the soft human's lips. Sjin wished he could express his Name to Sips, for some crazy reason. His wife would have the full right to murder him -- literally -- if he did. But seeing Sips, the grey-skinned alien, lying beneath him and looking up with dark eyes that told him he was everything in the world at this moment, he needed to.

"Kill-claw skyborn home-soil-cry," Sjin confessed quietly, savoring the personal moment, but Sips' face scrunched into a less-than-pleasant expression.

"What the hell? Sjin?"

"Goddammit," Sjin swore. "My Heart name. Kill-claw skyborn home-soil-cry. Is that not... right?"

"I have no idea what the translator's trying to say. Do you wanna --" Sips wrapped one sturdy arm around Sjin and sat up slowly, then gestured at the device hooked into the back of Sjin's teeth. Sjin nodded in frustration, then reached into his treacherous maw and unhooked it. Sips leaned away a bit, still intimidated by the sight.

Handing his translation device to Sips, Sjin resettled himself on Sips' knee.

Unfortunately, without the translator, it came out as a screechingly loud series of chirps and squeals.

"Khhhhkccc yhhh kke-kkee-kke, hykk, hypich!" Sjin grinned, and Sips copied his smile. Even if he couldn't understand it, Sjin's noises were still endearing when he got a chance to hear them.

"Hypich," Sjin repeated, grinning wider and pointing one clawed finger at Sips. "Hypich."

"Is, ah, is that what I am to you?" Sjin hadn't removed the part of the translator in his ear, so Sips assumed he could still understand his words. "Your, uh, huh-yipik?"

Sjin shut his eyes and burst out in a series of noises Sips recognized as laughter. "Hypich! Ee hypich! Eh --" He pointed to himself. "Eh Khhhkccc yhhh kke-kkee-kke."

"I'm huh-yipuk?" Sjin nodded in confirmation. "You're... Uh kek kek yuh kekekek?"

Sjin looked mortified, and shook his head. Sips wasn't ever going to get it. His mouth, while built well for... well, other activities, wasn't fit to pronounce any sort of reptilian tongue. "Khhhkccc yHHH KKe-KKee-KKe."

"I don't think I'm gonna get it, I'm sorry," Sips admitted, pulling Sjin closer and handing him back the translator. "Kheh kuh --" He made a strange gurgling noise in an attempt to copy Sjin that instead had the alien tipping backwards in peals of laughter. "Yuh kay-kay-kay? Is that not right?"

Sjin's eyes bugged out a little further than they normally did at the last part. He held up one clawed finger, again, to Sips.

"One more try, eh?"

" Khhhkccc ,"

"Kuh-k. Cock."

To Sips' astonishment, Sjin nodded. "Khhhkccc."

"Cock."

Another nod. Well. If it worked, he wasn't going to turn down a method that turned up winning.

" Yhhh, " Sjin prompted.

"Yuh."

"Y hhh. "

"Yuhhh?"

Sjin shifted on Sips' knee and brought his hand up to Sips' jaw, forcing it to stay nearly shut. "Yhhh."

"Yhhh." Sips' attempt to speak through Sjin's hand seemed to bring the correct result. "Yhhh!"

"Yhhh!" Sjin exclaimed in glee, releasing Sips' chin. "Kke-kkee-kke."

"Key key key?"

Sjin tilted his head from side to side in an "ehhh" manner. "Kke."

"Kuh-kuh-ee," Sips pronounced slowly, then repeated it again for a positive response. "Kke."

To Sips' delight, Sjin seemed to be approving of most of his pronunciations this time. The alien was grinning ear-to-ear as he spoke the next word. "Kkee."

"Kuhkuhee. Kkee." Simpler.

"Kke."

"Kke."

Sjin looked Sips in the eyes. "Khhhkccc yhhh kke-kkee-kke."

"Cock yuhhh key-keee-key."

Sjin snatched the translator from Sips and popped it back behind his teeth. "Hell yes! I mean, well, close enough! Holy shit, Sips!" The alien threw his arms around Sips' neck and drew the human in, pressing their mouths together again. "I have no idea why it sounds so weird through the filter. Probably, like, a literal translation or something. God, I love you too."

"I love you too, Sjin. What, uh, what even was that?"

"Basically my name, or, like, 'I love you,' in a certain way. My wife says it. Now, ehm, you can say it." Sjin ducked his head in what he probably thought was a sheepish way, but like anything Sjin tried to do, it ended up looking more coy than embarrassed.

"Cock yuhhh key-kee-key," Sips repeated, loving the look that planted itself firmly on Sjin's face. "Khh-kuck yhhh keykeykey."

"You'll get there, Sipsy," Sjin beamed at him, pulling them as close as they could get, molding their bodies together. "You'll get there someday."

Credit to donotspeaktomeofdragonfire on Ao3