Thirty-Seven (bxb)

Chapter Twelve

After eventually calming down the teary-eyed Thirty-Seven and coaxing him back to bed, Danny pushed Vses towards the living room, leaving the bedroom door cracked ever so slightly. Words couldn't describe how panicked he had been when the two pulled that disappearing stunt. He would have to ask Thirty-Seven why he had been hiding in the closet and why he didn't come out when Danny searched for him. That would wait until morning, though, because Danny needed to interrogate Vses first. If Vses thought the conversation had been dropped, he had another thing coming.

"Can we talk about where you went now?" Danny had to admit that he had been a bit harsh earlier when Vses returned, but not knowing where the strange man was had been more frightening than it should have. When he first encountered the peculiar duo, he would have been happy to get rid of them, but now . . . the thought of one of them disappearing and never coming back sent terror down his spine. Even though he had only recently met them, Danny couldn't help but feel like he had always known them, like they were always there. He would question it later; right now, all he wanted to know is where Vses had snuck out too.

Vses hesitated for a moment, wondering if the human would be hurt if he knew the true meaning behind his nightly ventures. He feared the human would freak out if he knew that he was trying to get his vessel and return to his planet. While he wasn't losing hope in regaining connection with his ship, he started questioning his will to leave. While the human residency is not horrible, it wasn't his home. He was admittedly growing attachments towards the human, but this planet was where Danny belonged. The same couldn't be said for the child. Vses could only hope that Danny could comprehend that.

"Well?" Danny urged. "Are you going to tell me now?"

"I was attempting to regain connection with my vessel, which regrettably failed," Vses sighed. There were many defects that he was beginning to notice with the well-approved vessels. He would forewarn the issues . . . should he ever manage to return to his home planet. "I will reattempt contact again later."

Vses watched Danny, hoping he would take his words lightly and not yell at him as he had earlier. The thought of upsetting Danny made Vses uncomfortable, something he knew wasn't good. How was he supposed to leave when he was harboring these strange feelings for the human? Vses knew that the longer he remained with the human, the more the feelings would continue to grow before they eventually got out of hand. Would he even be able to leave at that point? What would occur if he is unable to regain connection to his vessel? This area was not safe for the child, entirely too close to the underground facility for Vses to feel comfortable. Staying long term was never going to be possible, and yet, leaving felt . . . wrong. But staying wasn't an option. Vses was conflicted.

"You're planning on leaving?" me.

Danny knew that the strange alien and even more abnormal teenager would eventually walk out of his life just as quickly as they walked in, but that couldn't stop the dread of them leaving from creeping into his body. They were strangers, but even that didn't seem to control the new urges from forming. A single kiss and suddenly the thought of them leaving seemed catastrophic. Danny felt as though his emotions were on overdrive with the sudden feelings.

Vses had predicted an unpleasant reaction from Danny, but after hearing the hurt in his voice . . . it was different than anything Vses could have imagined. All he could think to do was pull the human male into his arms, wrap him in his warmth, and hope it brought him some comfort. It was his way of saying, I'm still here. Everything seemed to halt as Danny struggled to process what was happening, how he ended up in Vses' embrace. He thought about pushing him away, creating distance between them, but that thought didn't last. All it took was Danny pulling his head away from Vses' chest. Vses' mysterious gaze was intoxicating; his inhuman eyes seemed to call to him. Danny made his move without thinking, placing his lips on Vses'.

It had been as incredible as the previous kiss, only this time he was able to bask in the moment. In this glorious moment. Danny had never been interested in kissing someone before then. And yet, he found himself wondering if kissing Thirty-Seven would have the same effect on him, a thought he quickly shut down. The boy couldn't even talk in complete sentences; with his limited knowledge, would Thirty-Seven even be capable of a relationship? Would they even be around long enough for that question to ever have relevance?

He needed to stop thinking about it. Why was he even worried about it since they were going to leave him anyway? Knowing this, he pushed himself away from Vses, immediately missing his warmth. After creating a gap between the two of them, he waited, knowing the non-human would remember his previous question.

"Eventually, yes." Something about receiving a short answer angered Danny, who longed for a more detailed explanation about not only this but everything else. About how Vses knew Thirty-Seven, who Thirty-Seven really was, all of it was being kept from him, and he thought he deserved answers.

"Why?" Without asking, Danny had a feeling it had something to do with the missing person's report he had found. But what if there was something more to it?

Vses sighed, hesitating for a moment. Was telling Danny really the best option? If they left and those pesky experimenters found Danny, he would be in danger. Keeping him in the dark was the safest option for him, and yet, he knew the human deserved to know the truth. What other human would take in two strangers, especially ones that looked like him and Thirty-Seven, and allow them to stay? Vses wasn't sure that there was another human like Danny out there, which is why, despite the risk, Vses entrusted the truth to Danny. He told him everything, about where he was really from, why he was on Earth, how he discovered Thirty-Seven, everything up to that exact moment.

Danny didn't know how to react to it all. Some of what Vses told him was flat-down frightening. To think that there were people out there looking for Thirty-Seven, people who had horrible intentions for the sweet teenager. If staying meant that terrible fate for Thirty-Seven, then they needed to leave. Even if it would hurt, Danny would rather they disappear from his life if it meant that Thirty-Seven would finally get to experience life outside of a cell. He wanted to hit himself for acting so selfishly earlier without knowing anything; he had truly known nothing.

"That's why we have to leave, not today, but soon," That is if Vses' ship ever decides to be found. Danny could do nothing but nod since the mere thought of them leaving hurt, but he knew better than to let those thoughts linger. Leaving was what was best for them. Danny would move on and forget about them both . . . eventually. Maybe he'd one day regard this entire encounter as a dream.

He knew revealing everything was the right thing to do, but something still hurt inside him. When the time came, would Vses be able to leave Danny behind? Was he willing to snatch the only world Danny has ever known away from him, from the life he was blissfully living? Was he prepared to ruin Danny's life over his own selfishness?

Listening through the cracked door, Thirty-Seven finally understood everything. His presence was dangerous, especially if those scientists were looking for him like his savior believed they were. Would leaving this place truly stop it all? Thirty-Seven didn't like the idea of leaving Danny behind, and it didn't seem like he was the only one.

"I'm going to go check on Thirty-Seven,"

Hearing this, Thirty-Seven quickly darted back into the comfortable warmth, pretending to be unconscious. The door creaked slightly as Danny peeked into the room. He seemed to fall for his fake slumber as the entrance was soon returned to its cracked state. Sitting back up, Thirty-Seven wrapped the warmth around him, wishing it wasn't the blanket but that it was Danny and Vses.

Because being alone reminded him of how things had been before, reminded him of life in a cell. Of how life would be if they managed to recatch him, a fate he was scared to even imagine.

He wrapped the warmth around him tighter, finding it was not enough to replicate the comfort and security he had discovered from the two males. The strange liquid began to pour from his eyes again as he wished the two could come to comfort him, to save him from his mind. With how attached he was to them now, Thirty-Seven didn't know what he would do without them, a thought that was as frightening to him as the thoughts of returning to life in a cell.

To a life that was not worth living.