Thirty-Seven (bxb)

Chapter Eight

Not knowing the boy's name proved to be problematic during the first few days of the three living inside the apartment. After Vses and Danny realized they didn't know what to call the boy, and the clear lack of communication skills making it impossible to ask, left them without the slightest of an idea what to do next. It went unsaid that they needed to either figure out the boy's name or give him one.

It didn't help that the kid's communication problem wasn't the only one making its dreadful appearance in the apartment. Talking casually with each other was clearly too much for either Danny or Vses to handle, and trust was a big part of the issue. Neither of them trusted each other enough to remain civil for more than a few seconds. That, and Danny found everything Vses said to be rude and inconsiderate.

The only one who wasn't really affected by the lack of communication was Thirty-Seven, who was so used to not communicating that it didn't bother him to not speak to the other two. But even Thirty-Seven wasn't entirely oblivious to the knowledge that Danny and Vses didn't like each other. Even if he couldn't understand what the two were saying to each other, he knew just enough about body posture and facial expressions to know that they didn't ever seem happy to be around each other.

It seemed like with each passing day; things only worsened between the two. It didn't help that the two of them loved to bicker over the stupidest things. Often, the arguments were over things that Vses simply didn't understand about humans. Danny wasn't the best at considering Vses's lack of knowledge, never stopping to realize that Vses just didn't understand certain human practices.

Especially those involving the bathroom.

Danny wasn't sure how exactly bathrooms worked wherever Vses came from, but he clearly didn't know how common bathroom courtesy worked. The last time Vses just stormed into the bathroom while Danny was in there, Danny threatened to rip him a new one . . . if he even has something to rip that is. Danny wasn't entirely sure of Vses's lower anatomy, and he most definitely wasn't going to embarrass himself by asking. That particular topic was one of the few that Danny deemed was too far and private to ask about.

For now, Danny would simply assume that Vses did, in fact, have something down there, and he would continue to believe so until further evidence proved otherwise. Danny knew that the kid did, but only because of a bathroom misconception. When Danny first showed the kid the bathroom, he seemingly recognized some of the things from Danny's shower set up, because he decided to immediately strip. Danny had been flashed by something that he wasn't supposed to see, but it did confirm that the kid looked normal down there.

But back to the communication problems. With the money that selling the diamonds brought in, more money than Danny ever thought he'd come into contact at one time with, he was able to order a couple of things he thought would greatly assist him in teaching the kid to speak. They would have to wait a couple of days for the items to arrive, though. Stupid two-day shipping almost always turns into three-four day shipping. Until then, Danny has tried his best with what he had at his disposal, which was close to nothing. The most beneficial thing ended up being the television.

When Danny first turned the device on, the kid had been lightly napping on the couch and managed to sleep through the first few minutes of the TV being turned on. Vses had been lightly amazed by the TV at first, but after examining the device for a couple of minutes, Vses had quickly lost interest. But when Danny glanced over to see the kid staring at the television with amazement, he knew that the television could become his greatest assistant in getting this kid to learn simple words. The kid had watched the TV with focused eyes even though he didn't know what was being said.

Danny didn't once think that the kid would even remotely find interest in the TV, but he should have expected it. That was when the whole 'let the kid watch more children-directed shows' idea popped into Danny's mind. Children shows, especially the ones directed towards the younger children, had the cartoon character pause to attempt to get the watcher to respond or reply to whatever they said.

Of course, Vses immediately disapproved of the whole idea. Danny thinks he saw the whole cartoon part degrading. He voiced his disapproval, or he did until he caught the kid attempting to repeat some words. Vses didn't protest the kid's shows after that, much to Danny's amusement.

It didn't take very long for Danny to figure out which type of shows the kid liked and disliked. The really childish ones they initially started with, didn't seem to entertain the kid anymore. After watching a few of them, the kid seemed to lose interest in it, which made Danny move to slightly more mature shows, which caught and held the kid's attention. For now, anyway.

Danny knew it wasn't a good thing to let a kid continuously watch television. It would get him addicted to the laziness that comes with watching television non-stop. Danny decided that he'd get the kid something like a coloring book to get him interested in something other than watching TV. Who knows, the kid could be harboring some amazing magnificent artist abilities, just waiting for the right moment to express itself.

Thirty-Seven wasn't entirely sure what exactly drew him to the screen, but the bright lights and sounds intrigued him enough to capture his attention for what felt like forever. It was likely because he as never seen a device like the one in front of him. It made Thirty-Seven feel very happy to watch the screen. It distracted him enough to not notice Danny getting up and leaving the apartment, leaving him and Vses alone for a couple of hours.

For once, Danny enjoyed a trip outside the apartment, even if it was for nothing but groceries and coloring books. It was a few minutes of genuine peace to Danny. The problem in the apartment was Vses, at least, that's how Danny saw it.

But that peace was ruined in mere seconds when he came across a missing person poster. It wasn't uncommon to see, but it was the person on the poster that made Danny halt in place.

Danny didn't know why he never wondered where the two of them came from, especially the kid. Most kids his age spoke and wrote fluently, but this kid seemed to lack either of those standard social skills.

It made seeing the kid, the one who was back in his apartment, on the poster even more confusing. And all the scarier. It didn't help Danny's peace of mind to not know anything about Vses or the kid. It wasn't like the kid could answer any of the many questions now forming inside of Danny's head about the truthfulness of the missing person poster.

For once, Danny didn't know what to believe anymore.