– I said… Ace and Gene are so.. strong, so powerful… and I? I only…

– You only hear everything, see everything, smell everything? You only can communicate with humans as if you were one of them? Listen, Eric. Maybe they are powerful and all, but look at them! They scare people with their behavior and appearance! And you? You are… cute. You never scare anyone. Even with your mask.

– My mask that I can’t even hide!

– I already told you, I‘m working on it.

– You should do something about my limbs as well!

– Really? Are you saying that you know better than I do?

– No but…

Ace hates when someone wakes him up, and Paul does it constantly! Can't he decide for himself when to wake up? Maybe he is getting back at Ace for keeping him up at night. Oh well. At least Ace doesn't have to go to work.

There was nothing to do. No inspiration for drawing, none for music either. In situations like this, he needs to go for a walk with Eric! They do it almost every day, but it‘s still never enough! Changed out of his jammies into his suit, he left the house through the window, hiding his antennas and mask, and headed to Bruce's house. But no one opened the door. So Eric wasn't home? Weird, where was he? That meant the next stop was the library where Bruce worked, he'd definitely know where that half-alien-fox was hanging out. But...

So, at Peter's... Okay. No problem. Ace would have even traveled via the wires, but Peter's ship wasn't connected to the city's power grid. So, on foot it was! Ace did want a walk anyway. On the way, he noticed the unfinished building. Actually, it constantly caught his attention. Were they ever going to do something with it? Maybe Ace and Eric could privatize this place, so they'd have somewhere to hang out in secret from Gene?

"Since Ace is here, Ace can assess suitability as a place for Eric and Ace... Ace and Eric will... live here!"

Ace returned all his features because the disguise made him uncomfortable, then confidently entered through the window (his favorite way) and looked around. Good. Just needed a little cleaning. Had to check the second floor too. He went upstairs but saw no ceiling or roof. Well, one floor was enough. Ace wandered around a bit and finally decided to check the view from up there. He climbed onto a partially collapsed wall and didn't see anything remarkable. Well, that meant it was an inconspicuous place, no one would find them! Yeah, he'd have to show Eric... Damn, was it just Ace, or was someone really staring at him? He slowly turned his head to the right. Oh dear.

"Ouch!!! What's so funny?! You see?! I'm bleeding! It hurts!"

"Human’s face is funny! So funny!"

"You should help instead!"

"No, Ace is a villain. Ace only help friends!"

"You look like a villain! You're just... scary..." Takes tissues from his bag and wipes his elbow. "How did you do that?"

"What?"

"Well... you have 4 arms! And those things on your head..."

Oh shit, Ace forgot! What to do now? This... boy will tell everyone now!

"Uh, Ace... well..."

"And why does Ace talk so weird?! Are you an alien?!!"

How did he know?!

"How does the human know?!"

"Pff, have you even seen anyone else? You don't look like them!"

"....Ace is not allowed to talk to strangers."

"Then let's get acquainted, so it's allowed? You're Ace, and I'm Vincent."

"Vincent? Vincent isn't afraid of Ace?"

"No, well, you're scary, but I love everything scary! And if you're really an alien... that's so cool!"

"Vincent is small... Ace's human is bigger, what's with Vinc... Vin... Vinnie?"

"Huh..? What do you mean? I'm 13, how else should I be? I'll be 14 soon, by the way!"

"14 soon? What does it mean?"

"14 years old, I've lived in this world for almost 14 years. And you?"

"Ace... don't know..."

"You don't know when you were born?"

"Not so long ago... probably..."

"And how old is your... human?"

"Ace don't know, Ace never asked..."

"And you don't know your birthday?"

"What?"

"Birth... day... um... Well, mine's August 6th, and yours?"

"..Ace will ask Paul... the human..."

....

....

"Will we be friends?"

"Vinnie want be friends with Ace? But Ace is alien!"

"I won't tell anyone! Really! I promise, pinky promise!"

"Pinky promise?"

"Yeah, don't you know what that is? Show this finger... yes, like this, see, I gave you my promise that I won't tell anyone, I'll never break it!"

Now Ace has another friend! Though he doesn't know yet what this Vinnie can be like...

I'm also happy to announce that my AU now has its own tag, #hyperspaceexit, and a special tag for chapters only, #hsechapter, if you want to reread anything, you can quickly find it.