Unfortunately, housing a lost alien princess in your dorm room didn't seem like a proper excuse for being absent from work, so despite the extraterrestrial situation going on at home, Tristan had made his way to the mall cinema, where he worked five nights a week, leaving Vyrsa at home with Bobby to read data from his laptop.

That didn't mean his thoughts didn't constantly go to the sparkling entity who had materialized in his bedroom two nights ago. He wanted to know all about the place from which she hailed, the complicated universe surrounding it, and the advanced technologies making traveling within it possible. But most of all, he wanted to know about her. What were Vyrsa's desires and dreams? Were they far from his own?

He couldn't quite figure out how to approach her though. Not knowing her customs, he didn't want to accidentally step on any toes (if her species even had those?). So he'd made sure to give her space and not force himself upon her by offering her Yeong's room to sleep in. He'd thought that maybe they were building a connection when they watched Star Trek together but after that, she'd become distant, focusing only on scanning data about Earth. Which was understandable, as it was her only possibility to find a way home, which Tristan of course would never want to prevent her from. Still, he couldn't help but wish for the information retrieval process to take long enough for them to allow time to get more acquainted with each other.

The confusing emotions about his unusual guest were about to fizzle over, like the often-malfunctioning drink fountains at the movie theater that could suddenly shower guests in sugary sweet liquid. But it wasn't an unsuspecting guest who would be the victim of Tristan bubbling over.

"Robin, can I ask you something?" Tristan leaned back and jumped up on one of the snack-filled fridges behind the ticket counter. All prime-time showings of the night had started, which meant he and his coworker/former high school classmate/quiz bowl rival/burgeoning friend had a few moments of relative calm before it was time to clean up at the aftermath of the customer's joyous evening.

"Sure," Robin replied, wiping off the counter from popcorn grease. "What is it?"

"It's... about a girl," Tristan admitted, looking down at his hands. There was a faint trace of glitter sprinkled across the light brown skin. Had Vyrsa left her imprint on him somehow?

Robin jumped up on the now clean counter to face Tristan. "I'm hardly the one to ask about girls..." he mumbled, a slight blush shading his cheeks. "Not really my area of expertise, so to say."

"I know you're gay, Robin." Tristan chuckled at the mere notion that he wouldn't have picked up on this fact. "I mean, your boyfriend comes by here all the time. And that's kind of the reason I ask... Since you landed a hot boyfriend, I figured you would know how to approach someone that you like. I don't think the gender of the person really matters in that regard."

"Maybe," Robin reluctantly agreed. "I mean, Ty is very hot." A goofy smile appeared on his lips at the mere thought of his boyfriend.

"Earth to Robin!" Tristan called out, which was quite an appropriate remark considering the extraplanetary nature of his own love life. "You can swoon about your boyfriend later. I need your advice before the next customer comes by for popcorn."

Robin shook his head slightly to center himself. "So what is the issue, Tris?" he asked. "You never seem to have trouble talking to anyone. What is different with this girl?"

What wasn't different with Vyrsa? She certainly wasn't like any other girl on this planet.

"She's... not from here," Tristan mumbled, trying to express his dilemma without revealing that aliens were in fact real and among us. That seemed like a bit much to blurt out between popcorn machines and snack displays. "She's just visiting and she needs to go home soon."

"So she's an international exchange student?" Robin asked.

"Something like that..." Tristan figured that was true enough. Vyrsa was certainly here on some kind of exchange. Although more of the interplanetary kind than international.

"And you like her in a... romantic way?"

"I think so... I mean, I like to be around her, and I want to know more about her. But I don't really know how to find a way to spend more time with her."

Robin nodded, seemingly pondering the conundrum for a moment while twisting the lanyard of his cinema-keychain around his fingers. "Just come up with something to do together," he finally suggested, looking up at Tristan with earnest blue eyes. "Studying in the library, getting donuts together, watching a bunny, anything that you think she may enjoy. It doesn't really matter what, as long as it gives you some one on one time."

"Is that what you did with Ty?"

Robin shrugged, a blush rising on his cheeks. "I may have found some excuses to spend more time with him," he admitted, smiling joyously as he reminisced about courting his boyfriend. "To try to figure out if he liked me too."

"I guess I need to do that because I have no clue what she thinks about me right now." Tristan sighed, frustrated about how clueless he was about the object of his affection. Maybe she couldn't even like someone in the way humans did? Maybe her people had moved past such simple emotions? Maybe she was just using him to get to his cat?

"I'm sure you can figure out it," Robin assured Tristan, leaning forward to awkwardly pat the knee of his friend. "Just like I did with Ty. Once I kind of knew, I asked him out on a date."

"And how could I say no to this guy?" A pair of arms wrapped around Robin's chest from behind and a mop of blond curls peeked up above his shoulder. "Hi cutie," Tyler greeted his boyfriend with a kiss on the cheek.

"What are you doing here?" Robin asked. "I thought you were at your aunt's all night."

"Well aunt Donna needed to get some stuff at the mall, so I tagged along so I could see you." Tyler pulled a hand through Robin's hair, making it stand on end. "Are you two talking about me?"

"Tristan was just asking for some advice about dating," Robin explained, returning the cheek kiss.

"Are you dating someone, Tris?" Tyler asked, lifting his eyebrows suggestively.

"Not exactly," Tristan replied. "But there's someone I like and I was asking your boyfriend's advice on how to... approach her, I guess."

"What is her name?" Tyler asked curiously. "Is she... nerdy like you?"

"Her name is Vyrsa," Tristan replied. Realizing the name might sound odd, he added, "She's... Lithuanian." Lithuania was probably far away enough to seem almost as remote as outer space to Tyler. "She likes... Star Trek and Game of Thrones." This was definitely true, as Vyrsa has shown keen interest in both franchises. "She's also into cosplay and stuff." This seemed like a good excuse for her supernatural appearance if his friends would for some reason come to meet his alien guest. "And she really likes cats," he added with a smile because Vyrsa's affection toward Bobby made his insides flutter.

"Sounds just like your style." Tyler surmised while tickling his boyfriend's arm. Robin playfully swatted away his fingers. "Robin and I are meeting up with some friends here on Wednesday to watch that popular space movie... whatever it's called. Maybe you two could tag along?"

A movie date did sound nice if Vyrsa had been a regular girl. But there was nothing regular about Vyrsa. "Maybe..." Tristan mumbled. "Not sure it's her thing though. And she's very focused on her...studies at the moment."

"Who doesn't like space movies?" Tyler asked, aghast at the mere suggestion. "Spaceships, asteroids, aliens, all that jazz!" He emphasized his point by doing a jazz hands move. "You should at least ask her. Surely she can take a few hours off from studying."

Tristan certainly did like aliens or at least one alien in particular. He liked her a lot. But how did one even go about dating an alien? "I'll try to ask her," he mumbled, even if he had no clue how to even present the concept to the glittering entity inhabiting his apartment and thoughts.

A date. A date with an alien princess. The thought was both appealing and utterly ridiculous.

Tristan received no further questions from either Robin or Tyler on account of them having started a make-out session on top of the ticket counter, which meant both their lips were way too busy to talk.

He couldn't help but wonder if alien princesses liked to make out as well.

Author's Note: Robin and Tyler are the main characters in my other story, Sweet Little Birds, which follows their romance (which may actually include study sessions in the library, getting donuts together, and watching a bunny). I hope their cameo here wasn't too confusing to readers who haven't read that story! (Tristan does appear briefly in that story, as Robin's crush from high school who later becomes his coworker, and I decided to borrow him for this story)