The Exchange parallel part 5

(calling it complete.  tho it still feels incomplete despite the length.  As with previous chapters, please please please, if you think its worth faving or downloading, leave a comment about what you like and something you think could use improving.)
Arlie listened to the two of them for a little while before sitting back down with Neka.
"They're getting along so very well don't you think?" she said her voice attempting to hold some allure while she batted her eyelashes at him.
Arlie nodded, not particularly liking her attempts to woo him.  He had made it quite plain over the past that while he doesn't mind the company of a woman every now and then, he had no desire to be partnered to any of them.  There was so much superficiality about their behavior he was easily turned off and even revolted by the amount of effort they made to buy him.
He was the head engineer for the ship, how could they think that he wouldn't see through their farces?  He learned long ago to be a good host to those who wanted to visit for various pretenses, but it was wearying to make small talk and be polite.
"So what did you want to talk about?"
"You've been on your own for so long, don't you think its about time you thought about getting yourself a partner?" Neka asked, crossing her legs and holding them while sitting up against the back of the couch.
"Neka," he said, sighing and looking down while shaking his head so that he didn't have to focus on her body, which was rather appealing to him. "How many times do I have to repeat myself? I have no desire to partner right now.  At least, I haven't found anyone to suit my tastes.  Why is that hard to understand?"
"No need to be rude darling, just wondering is all." she said waving a hand at him dismissively. "After all, I thought I'd ask because they're doing so nicely together, can't you tell? Come on," she rose from her seat, her chest swaying slightly as she did so, "lets go watch them for a little bit.  You'll see what I mean."
Arlie knew better than to decline, so he rose to his feet as well, and walked over to the doorway to peek in on the kids.
They had finished their board game, as it wasn't meant to be very long unless you were older, then the rules got more complex and became more like a campaign than a simple children's board game.  Andrea was now in the process of having him play another game, involving a huge mat with several lights.  It reminded him of the small electronic simon game, but on a larger scale, with more buttons that required both of them to jump around and stand on the right places in a certain time.
Lycian found himself panting heavily very soon, even though Andrea seemed perfectly fine and was still jumping from pretend platform to platform, always watching the lights to know whether to get on the spots the game said or to stay off them.
"Come on Lyce!"
"I... I..." he panted heavily, having never been built for activities like this.
"Oh you can't be tired yet... I know, lets wrestle!" she said cheerfully.
"Wha!?" he gasped, staring at her wide eyed. He straightened himself up despite his weariness and held his arms out to block the sudden glomp headed his way
"I'm gonna geetchoo!" she said, lunging right at him, and because there was no resistance, instead of wrestling him as he laid there, she started tickling him like crazy.
He looked at her first with surprise when she said she would wrestle him, and then horror while he was at her mercy.
All he could do is keep wriggling, laughter ringing in the room as she tickled him all over and blew raspberries on him at random intervals.
"St-stop," he said between laughing bouts, nearing the end of his endurance.  The laughter was turning away from being funny and turning into pain.  He wriggled heavily to get onto his belly and crawl out from under her.
"Awwwww, no fun." she said dissapointed when she saw him grimace.  She stopped tickling him and just sat down on his hips and leaned on his upper back as he breathed heavily for breath.  "Sorry if I wore ya out."
"I... fine..." he panted, completely worn out and just laying down on the ground, head on his side as he began to relax.  He felt her hug him from on top of him and giggle before getting off of him.
"Andrea, it's time for lunch. Come on honey." Neka called from the doorway. She then returned her attention to Arlie, "You know, I was thinking about visiting a rather lovely restaurant, would you like to come along?"
"Sure, but I'll be covering myself and Lycian if you please."
"But really, I must insist-" She said, putting her hand to her chest before she was interrupted by arlie.
"And I insist Anka.  I'm sorry, but I have no interest in becoming your mate right now, and if you pay for it, it looks like you're trying to follow the humans and 'date.'" He chuckled at that a little, and walked over to his charge, who was still tired from their play, and picked him up.
"All right.  Would you like to go to a place where they can play while we talk?"
"Actually, I think Lyce here is gonna drop if they keep playing." he chuckled.  "Why not a place where we can relax?"
"All right.  After me!" she said, waving her arm and walking out quickly.
"C-can I stay here please?" Lycian said, fear grabbing at him.  He knew it was unreasonable, but he just didn't want to go out, tired and not adequately covered in his opinion.
"All right.  You probably want to sleep. Go on, i'll be back before you know it.  Knowing how you sleep, probably before you wake up!" he said, setting him down.
Lycian nodded, yawned, and then walked over to his bed while Arlie went out to follow Neka.
--
Lycian woke up to find himself sprawled on the bed, face down with his face pointed to the side. The slight tingling he had been ignoring since the treatment he received the previous day had subsided, and he rose groggily.
"So, you finally woke up?" Arlie said, putting the book he was reading down and out of sight.
He didn't seem to have enough energy to do anything other than gather himself together mentally.  He pushed himself up by the arms up into a crawling position and shook his head briefly.
"Your hair is such a mess." Arlie laughed, getting up from the chair and walking over to tussle his head. "I don't know where you got that trait from.  Come on, I've got lunch ready for you."
He finally managed to nod and then rather clumsily tried to climb out of the bed before being picked up by arlie, still facing down as he got a slight tickle on his sides as he was carried over for changing.
"You..." Arlie said with a silly tone, "are a syngrir!"
Lycian tried to twist to look up at arlie and ask him what that meant, though the word that kept coming to his mind was curmudgeon. He couldn't figure out why, especially when he was just not an early morning person this young.
Arlie had him undressed enough to change and exposed within seconds.  Lycian was only just shaking his head again a little, trying to get himself to wake up as he tried to understand what was going on.  He started to sit upright but was laid back down again.
"Easy there.  We're nearly done and we don't have a lot of time.  You still need to get your lunch and then we'll be seeing more of Andrea." he said, pulling out the replacement garment and getting ready to strap Lyce in. "I never would have imagined you to be the lady's man, specially this young!" Arlie laughed good naturedly for a moment as he brought Lyce up to his shoulders and slung him over his back like he would a piece of luggage.
"Hey! Lemme down!" he said, wriggling while laughing as his ankles were firmly held and lifted himself so his hands were pushing on Arlie's broad muscled back.
"Nope! I caught me a squiggle! And I'm gonna have it for lunch!" Arlie called back, tickling the little feet that were being held for a second or two.
"I norra squiggle! I a magget!" he giggled, pounding a tiny fist and for once, acting his age and not even caring or realizing. He continued to wriggle and try to escape the grasp of his giant brother of sorts until they reached the booster seat and he was brought upright.
He still felt mischievous but didn't want to be a pain to Arlie either, so as he was lowered down, he was set into the booster seat, legs swinging, and feeling rather goofy as he was buckled in.
"All right then, let me grab you some food and then once we've eaten, we can get back to playing, ok?" Arlie said, walking off to the kitchen as he started grabbing the food he prepared earlier but hadn't cooked so it would be fresh once Lycian woke.
Lycian watched eagerly as arlie went to the kitchen, and then as he slumped back against the chair, he asked himself why he felt so giddy.  He felt himself freeze with something akin to a cold sweat, and remembered his students.
Were they all right? Were they still getting substitute teachers or were they getting a permanent teacher there? Did Bill, Frank and Jess get to class on time? Did any of them turn in the permission slips?
He shook his head vigorously at his last question, feeling himself sober with each one being asked.  Why was he being so silly just then? He wasn't five years old, he was twenty five.  He had responsibilities and things that needed his attention.  When did he get to have time to goof around?
Arlie had finished cooking the food and put it on a plate just then, bringing out fortune cookie shaped dough pieces, though by the tell tale holes on one end of them there was a kind of filling to them.
--
Arlie finished cooking his favorite snack for Lyce to enjoy, hoping to help adjust him to the diet that he'll eventually take on, when he took the first steps into the dining room.
He knew something was quite different then.  Just minutes before when he left the room, he really had a hyper giggling boy sitting in that chair, who kept swinging his legs and yet managed to miss hitting anything with them.  Now he saw a child who seemed somber enough for a funeral, looking downcast and focused at the same time.  From what he could tell by his expression, especially his eyes, something was wrong.
Arlie paused for a second, not sure whether he should feign ignorance and stay jolly, or ask him directly.  It was then that Lyce looked up, probably having smelled the food he thought, and decided to walk on over to hand him his meal.
He set the plate on the table in front of Lyce, smiling a bit, to test his reaction.
"There you go, a good finger-food for when I was your age!" He said, going over to the other side of the small table and pulling out the book that had been written in Lyce's former life, taking care not to let him see.  It wasn't a matter of fear, for while he didn't read often, he did enjoy a few books, but he wasn't sure if his charge would let it get it to his head if Arlie were seen reading it.
"Thanks..." lycian said quietly, reaching out with his hand to grab at one of the bobs, and blew on it once or twice before slowly nibbling.
'So, he wasn't exaggerating when it said his mood changed quickly' he thought to himself, and then out loud, "All right... out with it, what's bugging you?" He tried to ask in a way that sounded concerned, but didn't want to alarm him.
"Arlie," Lyce started to say, pausing as if he was mustering the courage to ask something.  He put down the book back in its out of sight place, and gave him his full attention. "Is my class coming ok?"
Arlie looked at him genuinely confused.  He saw Lyce's eagerly expectant yet worried face and realized he was asking something he thought was really important.
"You don't know do you..." he said quietly, as if something had been confirmed, slumping back into his seat, back arched against the seat so he was upright, but not as tall as he could be, reaching up to quietly eat the second piece on the plate.  He gave a very quiet sigh as he thought some more.
Arlie was just about to ask what the boy meant when he got his answer without being asked.
"I used to be a teacher... high school math.  We were just about to cover parabolas in freshman classes and graphing exponentials with juniors." he said, ending with a wistful sigh.
"Oh, I thought you were an author." Arlie said, finally managing to figure out what to say.
"I was!  I think its because I published my first book that I was pulled into this... whatever that made me like this." he said, making a wide gesture encompassing himself to emphasize the point and then reached for two of the snacks at once with one hand, bringing the second one, which looked like it was going to fall right out of his hand, to his off hand as he became more interested in his food.
Arlie wasn't sure what happened there.  The boy went from being giddy and goofy to sad, and now he's acting... He wasn't sure whether it was really carefree, but it wasn't the sadness he had before.  There was almost a seriousness to what he did, that he wouldn't take things lightly.
"Son," he said out of habit, having heard adults call him son often, but watched as Lyce froze when that was said and then looked at Arlie with attentiveness, but his face and eyes showed a kind of horror that few could understand wasn't associated with fear. "Sorry, I'll stop calling you that."
Lyce's face visibly relaxed, and his posture grew more limber as he continued to munch, though slower, and still giving Arlie what appeared to be his fullest attention possible.
"I don't really know anything about what's been done back on your planet, but know that we don't like leaving anything unattended.  If you had a class, you can be sure we have someone replacing you, at least for a while." he said with a small smile.  "Still, you must have taught them well if you care."
"Since when does someone go into the teaching career wifout caring?" he said with a chuckle.
Arlie wasn't sure how to answer that question, considering how some people could teach extremely well, but not have that much of a connection to their students among humans.  He opened his mouth to answer, when there was a chime coming from the main room.
"Ah, they returned I think, but why so soon? I hadn't called for them..." he said, muttering to himself as he got up to answer the door.
Lyce finished eating his food, having only a last piece on his plate.  He grabbed it and nibbled and realized for the first time what it tasted like.  He had been so focused on his concerns the flavor hadn't even reached him.
The dough itself was crispy and reminded him of the breading on fried chicken.  The filling inside was a fine paste, and yet the paste itself seemed to act more like a piece of extremely tender meat that tore easily. The flavor reminded him of the sweet n sour sauce that he would have found in the chinese restaurants back home.  When combined with the spicy flavor that was subtly added into the dough, he actually found himself addicted to the taste, even though he was starting to feel quite full.
Next thing he knew, he was staring at his sticky, empty hands when he got a tap on the shoulder.
"Heya! You feelin any better?"
He felt himself jump a good foot in the air and turned around quickly to find Andrea standing to the side and slightly behind him.  This time, her hair was in a ponytail, and her outfit was changed.  She now was wearing a t-shirt and shorts like he was, and had she not had her hair shorter, he would have found himself not knowing what gender she was.  It was then that he asked himself whether he really cared.
"So whatcha thinkin bout?" she asked.  Her head cocked to the side slightly.  For a brief moment, he forgot about the tickling she had given him a while ago and thought, 'she's kinda cute.'
"I... just my classroom." he said with a slight sigh, unbuckling himself despite the sticky hands and sliding himself carefully off the chair, landing on the ground with a small thud.  He walked out from under the table and headed right for the bathroom to wash his hands, andrea following.
"Classroom? What, you weren't done with school?" she asked innocently as he pulled up a booster to stand on so he could reach the sink.
He sighed as he pushed the somewhat heavy block in place and then looked at the sink, seeing no knobs to turn.  He wondered then if it was motion activated and put his hands under the faucet.  Sure enough, water began to flow.
"I was a teacher... I woke up here yesterday and," he paused, trying to keep himself from pulling into depression over what he missed. "I'm just worried about my class, how they're doing and stuff." He left a good portion of his concerns about what they were doing and how he was really going to adjust to this life out of the equation.
"That's too bad... I hear we've been up here for bout a week."
"What!?" he half yelled, finishing having washed his hands he quickly turned to face her, but so quickly he splattered some water on her face.  Immediately his face heated up and he found himself trying to stammer out an apology as he tried to reach over for a towel to help dry her off, his vision turning watery for a reason he could not explain.
"Heh, you sure get worked up 'bout stuff.  Need to take it easy sometimes!" she said with a smile and heading out of the bathroom, but not before grabbing him by the wrist and taking him to his room so they could sit down.