"Where are we going."

"You'll see."

"I feel like this is becoming our thing."

"What?"

"Dragging the other to some sort of event and not saying literally anything about it beforehand." Sunny hummed deep in her chest and Adam just rolled his eyes, looking around at the dark city awash with eternal night.

"Why Noctopolis of all the places. I mean we have a week off and you want to spend your vacation days in the literal dump of the galaxy?"

She huffed and rolled her eyes, "Please, you love it here. It's like any tradeworld from any sci-fi movie ever."

That shut him up, and she could see the slow grin pass over his face.

Finally she shrugged, "Look, I just thought it would be nice to... go somewhere where we could relax, not have to worry about hiding."

"I think there are a few nice beachfront planets we could have done that on."

"Not with the tourism." She shot back

A gust of sour wind kicked up through the bustling night streets tugging at Adam's jacket and rippling the blue of his shirt like ripples across a pond. He adjusted his eyepatch as she led him through a maze of back alleys and tall buildings.

They took a rickety lift down into the gorge where the ever-present red mist billowed and glowed below them in patterns that undulated and wired.

They stepped off into another shallow rift, and followed a narrow street down into another side alley, where Sunny stopped.

Trash and little bits of paper blew around them where they stood in front of a peeling red door.

Adam raised an eyebrow at Sunny, "Ah, beautiful. A lovely vacation spot, I would like to move here and retire."

"Smartass." She mumbled at him before knocking on the red door.

There was a long pause while they waited, Adam tapping his foot against concrete below before the door opened a crack and a single human eye peered out at them. The distant echo of music thudded up through the room echoing off the walls.

"What do you want?"

"I'm A friend of Adam."

Adam frowned and raised an eyebrow as the door shut suddenly and there was a rattling on the other side as if a chain was being released.

He glanced at Sunny but she only shook her head.

The door opened, and a woman with short buzzed black hair stepped into the doorway, invisible tattoos glowing under the blacklight.

As her eyes fell on him, he watched as her eyebrows raised, single eyebrow stud glittering in the light, "You weren't kidding. Then her stern face broke into a smile, "Come on in. Any 'friend of Adam's is a friend of mine'."

Adam followed along behind Sunny as the music grew louder, "Is that a code for something.... Is this a code? I am very confused."

He was a lot less confused a minute later when they stepped out into the main room, a large spacious area with multiple stories. A room off to one side had bright flashing lights, and emanated with the sound of drums. Then there was a bar and couches and pool tables and TVs.

It was less of a club or a bar and more like some sort of clubhouse. The bar seemed to be serving food. On the second floor there were more couches, and some rooms that led off into other rooms.

But what really gave it away was the people.

Aliens and humans.

Aliens and humans holding hands and often cuddled up together on the couches.

He shot Sunny a look.

She just shook her head at him, and together they walked over to the bar.

Just off to their side a human was busily and delicately helping a Finnari to put on some sort of dark shaded glasses.

"That better, hun?'

"Yeah.... Yeah, that's better." the Finnari hugged the woman, "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for>"

"I know you can change how warm you are, and I'm sorry I have to wear the glasses...."

She just laughed and kissed the top of his head.

Adam cleared his throat awkwardly and tugged at the collar of his shirt.

They made it to the bar before anyone recognized them.

"Admiral!" He winced and turned around running into a familiar face at the bar, a familiar green mohawk and a small blue finnari.

Adam frowned, "I thought you were living on the Tesraki homeworld now."

"We lease an apartment there for business, but we prefer it here.... So tell me, what are you guys doing here."

He glanced at Sunny, "That's what I'd like to know."

She took a seat, "Just relaxing. It is our vacation after all.

Mohawk eyed them a little as Adam sat down reluctantly.

"Drinks on the house then."

Beside him, the little Finnari waddled over handing up a cup of cucumber juice for Sunny.

The man looked at Adam,"Pick your poison."

Adam shrugged, "Something girly and brightly colored that tastes good. If I'm going to get drunk it better be worth it."

Mohawk grinned and got to work.

Another couple wandered over to the bar talking and laughing sliding into seats next to Adam and Sunny.

The human recognized him instantly and grabbed his hand to shake, "Admiral, Vir. I can't believe you're here! I can't believe I get to meet you.... I.... well me and Hasan." He turned to look over his shoulder at the large, silver Drev sitting next to him, "We owe you so much, the entire community owes you so much."

Adam blinked, "I.... Well I mean.... I only did what anyone would...."

The man shook his head and waved a hand at him, no no, only you could do what you did and only you DID what you could."

Adam shrugged not entirely sure what to say before.... "May I.... ask you a question."

"Anything."

"Friend of Adam. What does that mean?"

The man waved his hand, "Oh, it's just a little coad we have for someone who is LFIL, you know so that we don't have to say it out loud to someone we aren't sure about."

"Oh, I see." he glanced back at the silver Drev listening quietly from behind, "And i'm assuming you are some sort of Kung Fu master.... Dating a Drev and all."

"Official battle partners , actually."

Adam raised an eyebrow, "You mean you've challenged-"

"Challenged him to the right of unarmed combat. Yes I did. You sure know a lot about Drev culture."

"You forget, I am Sentinel of a Drev clan, and I spent a couple months training with one of the clans on Anin.:

The man grinned, "But yes to answer your question. I am a.... Sort of well known here on Noctropolis.... MMA fighter, though I also dabble in the use of medieval weapons."

"Adam only had a little trouble believing that this overly talkative man could probably kick him six ways to sunday, but it seemed strange with his strong but silent type Drev partner who seemed just happy to listen and sip at his juice.

The Bar tender came back with a pink smoothie that Adam was sure had so much rum in it he wasn't going to be able to feel his legs tomorrow, but it tasted pretty good and it included a crazy straw, so he was happy enough.

The man he had just been speaking to grabbed him by the hand and dragged him to his feet, "Come on, you need to come meet the others, they will be so excited to see you."

He was tugged to his feet and went only a little hesitantly.

Sunny fell back and began talking with the silver Drev rapid fire.

He was dragged across the open floor to where a group of them was sitting around a low table.

A woman in a nicely recessed suit was sitting with her chin on her hands staring intently at the board.

A few rolls of the dice, and the little black-furred Tesraki stood feet on the table and pointed at her, "HA I win, eat your heart out sweetheart."

"Not fair, if you hadn't put hotels on the boardwalk, i would OWN your furry ass."

The Tesraki waggled his ears at her

Adam couldn't help but bark out a laugh, "Are you playing monopoly.... Isn't that dangerous to play if you want your relationship in tact?"

The Tesraki turned to look at him, walked across the table and then fell back into the arms of the wall dressed woman, looking rather smug as she wrapped her arms around him, "Not likely, human." He patted the woman's cheek, "my muse is one of the shrewdest business minds this side of the galaxy, and nothing is more attractive than pitting one financial mind against another."

She stroked the fur on the top of his head.

Adam smiled but shook his head, looking around the room to where the others were staring at him.

He leared his throat, "uh....hi.... Sorry to intrude we just...."

That is when the cheers started up and he was pulled into the group with the others. He shook a bunch of hands before things settled back down.

A finnari and a human were curled up across the circle.

Silver drev and his battle partner were holding hands just to their right, and Adam was feeling a little more than awkward sitting, back straight hands clasped politely before him like he was sitting at church.

"Forgive me for asking, Admiral. I know it might be a sensitive subject, but everyone here in the clubhouse know each other, and we.... Well we have been wondering for a while. Well, we know you are supportive of us, of course, but we wonder if maybe you have other.... Reasons." They glanced at Sunny

He felt his neck turn red, and tried to cover it by pulling his jacket up.

He glanced at Sunny and she leaned in to speak to him, "I think you should tell them."

HE frowned at her.

"Just hear me out before you shoot it down. "I know you're stressed trying to keep it secret, and these people have a code of conduct. They won't tell anyone. I just think it would be good to get it off our chests for once to people who will finally understand."

He could see her point of course, but still. He wasn't sure. Just thinking about saying it oud-loud was causing his chest to tighten up a bit. He had been fighting to hide this for a while now, and it was sort of just habit.

The group stared at him.

Hopeful expressions almost.

They were waiting for him.

But how was it that despite being with Sunny, he didn't feel like one of them. The guilt was enough to galvanise him into action. He cleared his throat and sat up "well, not when I made the speech to the GA, no...."

They seemed to wilt.

"But,"

They all lifted their heads in anticipation, "I..... Sunny and I are..... Dating."

The word fell from his lips like a led weight. His head felt suddenly light, and the room around them burst into sound and color as the group of them rose to their feet cheering. Someone slapped him on the back.

He could barely hear.

"Feels good doesn't it, to finally say something to people who understand. DRINKS FOR EVERYONE!"

The group was smiling and laughing, "Come on, you don't have to hide here.:

"Hold her hand!"

"Yeah."

He caved, even though his hand was shaky and slick with sweat.

More cheering

He felt as if he was drunk, or drugged. As if he had stepped out of himself. Inside his stomach churned and swarmed with insects.

"Kiss her." Someone else urged.

The group laughed, but took up the call. Blushing like red as a cherry he leaned up and gave her a quick kiss on the bheek before sitting back down.

Thanks for them, they sensed his nervousness and backed off.

Sunny hummed with pleasure.

He still felt lightheaded.

He could hear them talking but wasn't sure what about.

Eventually Sunny got up with one of the other drev, and the two of them stepped over to a circle on the floor to have a friendly contest with spears.

Adam was left alone.

The partner of the Drev Sunny was fighting came to sit next to him looking over at the circle, "Pretty amazing aren't they..... Beautiful."

He nodded lethargically before, "Can I.... make a confession?"

The group was interested and leaned in, he felt their eyes on him. He rubbed the back of his neck, "I... I really do.... Thank you all for... the encouragement but.... well . I have to admit that I....I've never really.... Felt like one of you."

They seemed surprised but were interested to listen.

"What do you mean?"

"I.... well.... This is going to sound strange, but I'm not..... Actually.... Attracted to aliens."

They stared at him confused.

He sighed and shook his head, "It's... complicated."

"We're listening."

"I.... it's not the fact that she's a Drev..... I would love Sunny if she were a Tesraki, or a Finnari, or a human. I'm not attracted to Drev as a hole, but Sunny....just Sunny. That's it she's the only one."

There was silence for a moment, and for a second he thought he had offended them, but then.

"Aww, that's so sweet."

"I understand."

"Yeah I can see that, but either way you are more than welcome here."

He was surprised, and after that little exchange, he relaxed a little and smiled, taking a sip of his pink smoothie using his crazy straw.

Sunny was right, it did feel a little better to get off his chest.

And for Sunny, things felt better as well. Finally she had someone she could share with about humans. At one point the aliens and humans split off into groups, the humans living on nostalgic childhood games meant to cause pain.

Sunny sat with the others.

"And the mood swings with humans." Someone was saying.

"Tell me about it. They go from angry to cuddly to horny in about two seconds flat."

Sunny snorted, "Can't say I've seen the last one, but the first two, yeah it's a bit of a roller coaster. No wonder they're always exhausted."

"Really, you've never seen the third one."

"Adam is a bit.... Shy I think, It'll probably take him a while."

"Well you are in for a surprise when he does. Humans are a bit insane."

One of the Drev huffed, "That's a good thing I'd say."

The group laughed and then, "Ok but does anyone else's human get angry when they are hungry?"

A chorus of yesses.

Sunny sighed, "Oh yes, when your human is 6,2 and 210 lbs and often forgets to eat because he's so busy. It is a common occurrence. Then he will try to argue with me when I go to feed him that he doesn't have time and he's stressed, and I tell him that he will feel better when he eats, but NO I'm the crazy one."

One of the Tesraki smiled, "I find there are a few ways to remedy this. Number one, is that I have stashed snacks in all the vehicles and locations that we own. Barring that, I make it a habit to hide currency in her pockets so when she randomly finds a credit it makes her day. She doesn't know I do this."

Sunny smiled, "I have a friend who is a doctor, and he once made me read a paper about a human scientist Pavlov, who talked about conditioning, that if you associate certain stimuli with others you can cause a specific reaction. So I make sure to play this one very specific song when we spend time together or cuddle or something, so when he's stressed I discreetly turn it on,and either he relaxes or he comes to me for comfort."

The group ohed at her genius and she felt rather smug.

That was until loud laughter rang out across the room, and the group of them turned to see humans standing on the bar... or specifically one human standing on the bar dancing stupidly.

She sighed, "yep, that one is mine."

It was good to see him loosen up at little though and he was more than happy to be dragged around by her. She even forced him to come dance with her, and some of the others joined in. Flashing lights and bodies pressed tight together in a semi darkness. Aliens and humans.

All that while the humans were slowly getting drunker.

Thought that all lead to an impromptu karaoke session with most of the humans singing horrible off tune in their drunken state.

Interesting how humans could suddenly become so bad at speaking when drunk.

Adam did pretty well though for someone who got dared to sing Burning Love, which he did pretty well despite sounding absolutely nothing like Elvis – though to be honest, Sunny wasn't a big fan of Elvis anyway and preferred Adam's version. But that might also have been for the eye contact he held with her on occasion, allowing her to think maybe the song was for her.

A fact that made her secretly very happy.

Adam got more socially confident when he was drunk.

It seemed odd to her that he could be such an extroverted person who was very charismatic some times, but in other situations he could barely string two words together.

Either way, looking around at other people's humans she couldn't help but be a bit smug. Yeah sure their humans were fit, but her human was the best. In her opinion, he had the brightest UV stripes, the prettiest eyes, and the nicest smile. Not to mention that she would bet money he could win in a fight against the other humans .

Unbeknownst to her, a similar conversation was happening across the room with the humans, accept it was out loud.

"I mean she's fine, my boy is the best."

Adam snorted, "Please, gold eyes and carapace the color of blue lightning. You can't compete."

"Mine is taller.."

"Mine is more huggable. The perfect height ratio, but have fun bringing a step stool around with you."

"Don't need one when he can pick me up."

"She can pick me up too, so your point is irrelevant."

He leaned back against the table, his voice slightly slurred as he stared across the room at her, where she was standing, demonstrating some sort of spear move to one of the other Drev.

His voice grew serious, "No woman, no Drev, no alien can compete with the sheer power, and grace. She is a phenomenal warrior, loyal.... Everything that is perfect."

There was a pause, and then they all burst into a fit of drunken giggling.

By the end of the night most of the humans were passed out, or close to it. And the sober aliens walked over to collect their fallen human from the scattered bodies.

Someone ave Sunny a key, "Rooms upstairs."

She nodded and thanked the bartender as she reached down and hoisted Adam up with her lower arms under his. He was probably going to have an intense hangover tomorrow, but now he looked rather peaceful in his sleep.

She waved at the other Drev doing the same thing to their humans. Occasionally helping one of the FInnari or Tesraki with a human that was too heavy.

She went upstairs and flopped him down on a bed. He didn't wake up, but smiled in his sleep. She crawled up to lay next to him. She was glad that he had been able to relax. She had hoped finally admitting it to someone would help.

To be fair, she needed it too.

More than most could know.