Thirty-Seven (bxb)

Chapter Eleven

It was during the middle of the night that Vses snuck out of the apartment. Both the human, who insisted he should be referred to as Danny, and the child, were sleeping peacefully when he left, unaware of the fact that for the third night in a row, Vses was sneaking out. He headed to the same place he's gone each night, a small field outside the city.

For the third night in a row, Vses found himself standing in the middle of the field, staring up at the stars. If someone were to see him, they'd assume that he was stargazing. But he wasn't stargazing; he was trying to regain contact with his vessel. Night after night, his attempts failed, slowly making him more and more frantic. That vessel was his only way back to his planet; without it, he would be trapped on Earth until either one of his kind came in search of him, or he was killed.

Vses stayed in the field for hours, trying, again and again, to send a single signal to his vessel. After his attempts failed, Vses dejectedly left the field, planning on returning the next night to try again. Just as the sun started to rise, Vses returned to the apartment, unaware of what had been taking place.

When Danny first woke up, everything was fine. He got off the couch, groaning about the pain in his back, cursing as he walked into the bathroom to do his regular morning routine. He prepared his morning cup of coffee and waited. Every other morning, after hearing Danny moving in the other room, Thirty-Seven would have walked into the kitchen, dragging the blanket he had claimed as his own behind him. That was when Danny knew something was wrong. After waiting for a couple of minutes, Thirty-Seven had yet to migrate into the kitchen. Danny traveled into his bedroom, staring with his mouth agape at the empty bedroom. Vses wasn't in his usual spot on the floor, and Thirty-Seven wasn't in his bundle on the bed.

Had they left at some point during the night? Danny didn't think so. Something was wrong; something had to be wrong. Danny immediately started calling out for Thirty-Seven, looking underneath the furniture and in each room. His panic only worsened as he continued to search with no prevail. After running back and forth between the few rooms and still finding neither Vses nor Thirty-Seven, Danny truly started to think that they had just left. At least, he thought that until Vses walked in through the door, the two of them making awkward eye-contact.

"Where have you been?!" Danny shouted at Vses, the thirty-minutes he had spent searching for him only for Vses to walk in like nothing was wrong. "Is the kid with you?" Danny asked, looking behind Vses, hoping to see the kid hidden behind Vses. But he wasn't there, and the confused look on Vses face made it clear that he didn't know where the kid was either. Danny didn't wait for Vses to reply, immediately returning to his search around the apartment, running out of places to look.

"You lost him?!" Vses asked, following behind Danny, who flinched at Vses's accusation. Danny stopped in front of his bed, turning around to confront Vses.

"It is not my responsibility to watch him! You're the one who left the apartment! How are we to know he didn't try and follow you to wherever you went?!" Danny screamed, hoping he was getting his point across to Vses. Maybe Vses didn't understand that even though it had only been a few days, Danny had already developed a fondness towards the two of them. "Where did you even go, huh? What was so important that you weren't able to stay here?"

"I was-"

"It doesn't even matter because-" Vses pulled Danny towards him, effectively silencing him by forcing his lips onto Danny's. Danny's hands automatically rose to Vses's chest, intending to push him away, but the longer that Vses's lips were on his, the less Danny wanted to push him away. Danny's fingers grabbed onto Vses's shirt, pulling himself closer, intensifying the kiss. Vses would have wrapped his arms around Danny if the closet door didn't get shoved open. Standing in the closet doorway, the one place that Danny had failed to look, was a teary-eyed Thirty-Seven. Thirty-Seven dropped his blanket, running straight towards the two of them, crashing into their sides. Thirty-Seven wrapped his arms around the two of them, holding onto them tightly.

Nothing was said as Thirty-Seven just held onto the two of them like his life mattered on it. He had no idea what to think when he woke up, and his savior was nowhere to be found. A strange feeling had taken over, and all he could think to do was hide. But his savior was back now, and that was all that mattered. Even if it didn't explain the weird embrace, the savior and the guy had done moments before leaving the small space.

Danny couldn't help but wrap his arms tightly around Thirty-Seven, relieved to see that he was okay. During the thirty minutes that Danny couldn't find him, the worst possible thoughts popped into his head. The concern that something terrible had happened to him had left him in a panicked state. Vses hesitantly wrapped his arms around them, finding a unique type of comfort from embracing the two of them. He had never done such a thing to anyone before, the lip-thing that is, and even now, as he hugged the two, he felt the urge to do it again, not just to Danny, but to Thirty-Seven as well.

And he wasn't the only one who felt the same way. Even though Thirty-Seven had no idea what the embrace meant, he wanted to be apart of it. Danny found himself longing to kiss Vses again, too, thoughts of Thirty-Seven mixed into the urges as well, leaving all three of them a confused mess.

But for now, they would continue to stay in the embrace, all three of them needing the comfort of being in each other's presence. Some more than others.

A/N:

kiss-kiss.