Fin didn’t remember when he started eating the fruit, he just knew that they were delicious and that he wasn’t going to complain about this place’s trees doing something more interesting than losing their leaves. Tossing another one into his mouth he began to wonder just how late he’d been up the previous night. Normally the tiredness didn’t catch up to him so quickly and his remedies for the fatigue were more effective, but this evening it seemed as though they were taking far longer than usual to perk him back up. Despite the confusion, he felt oddly relaxed as he sat on the snowy ground beneath the tree. He vaguely wondered if there was something about these odd little fruits that interacted with his physiology differently than they would with a human. Leaning against its trunk, his eyes slid closed.

“Hello? Are you alright?”

Fin blinked, disoriented, head swimming as he registered the slightly gangly young man crouching in front of him.

“Huh?

A concerned frown creased the stranger’s face, seemingly confused by his reaction. “Are you alright?” he asked a second time.

“Yeah, yeah just tired. Stayed up too late last night.” Fin took another bite of a partially eaten fruit as he spoke. “You should try one of these, they’re really good.” He held out a bright red palmful, though the stranger didn’t take him up on the offer.

“Drowsiness is a sign of hypothermia.” The man’s voice was flat as he stated this fact, scanning Fin for any other symptoms. Surprisingly, he seemed unbothered and barely affected by the cold despite how egregiously underdressed he was for the weather. “You need to get inside.” Maybe it’s a side effect of whatever substance he was on. Definitely seemed possible.

With little apparent interest in what the other man was saying Fin tossed the fruit into his mouth, leaning against the tree and beginning to doze.

“Is it…is it the APPLES?” Utter bafflement colored Ronan’s speech.

“Apples? Yeah I guess so.” The alien’s voice sounded oddly contented despite what should have been an unpleasant predicament, the side effects did nothing to deter him from taking a bite from another.

“STOP EATING THEM!” Ronan’s voice rose several octaves as he slapped it out of his hand.

“Hey!
Alright. If it means that much to you.” He rolled his eyes dramatically and with a small feat of sleight of hand pocketed a few of the tinier ones for later. The boy seemed nice enough. Pushy, but nice enough.

“Where do you live? I’m driving you home.”

Fin struggled to remember the “address” Rowan had told him. Several times. It was hardly his fault that humans did things like this stupidly. I don’t remember. It’s on the map here. He pulled out his phone and mumbled into it long enough for it to spit out an address.

“Alright. Good enough. Come on.”

All but hauling the other man to his feet, Ronan reluctantly supported him on the walk to his car.

Fin broke what should have been a silent ride with a string of slurred jokes, at least a few of which elicited a snort from his driver despite his obvious discomfort with the stranger. It’s not like he could have left him to do…whatever happened when hypothermia got bad but that didn’t stop him from feeling immense relief when they pulled up at his apartment building. With three sharp knocks a young woman opened the door, pulling a burst of surprise from the young man.“Rowan? This is your roommate?”

Managing to suppress a sigh at her inebriated friend, Rowan opened the door further. “Come on inside if you like, I’ll make tea.”