After Pedro managed to squeeze out that Viktor was crushing his ribs to ashes, they separated with some reluctance. They sat on the floor, simply staring at each other for a moment. Pedro had a half-smile, mouth slightly parted as if he couldn't believe that Viktor was right in front of him. Viktor could scarcely believe it, either.

The other man's eyes flickered to the side of his face briefly, widening just slightly, and Viktor had to wonder how bad the scar on his face really was. Pedro's gaze went all over him, pausing on his newly freed arm and on his wrist, where his bracelet lay. He looked like he wanted to ask a million questions, and Viktor couldn't blame him. They had both changed quite a bit in the two months since they had last seen each other. But all he said was,

"You've gotten taller."

"What?" Viktor laughed excitedly, stretching himself up. "Really?"

"Yeah," Pedro returned easily, laying his hand flat on Viktor's head before bringing it close to his own chest. "Used to be here," Pedro got a little smile on his face that Viktor hadn't seen before, "and now you're here!" His hand came back to smack in the middle of Viktor's forehead. Viktor recoiled with a yell of betrayal.

"Aw," he complained, rubbing his forehead with a grin. "Did I really get taller, though?"

Pedro snorted, getting up to his feet. He dusted off his pants - sweatpants like Viktor's that were blue in color - before throwing out a hand to help Viktor up. He took it.

"Nah," Pedro said, patting the teenager on the shoulder when Viktor's face fell.

"One day," he said wistfully.

Vok'Rul, Rukka, and the new alien were watching their interaction carefully. Vok'Rul had a hopeful yet concerned look on his face, probably thinking that Viktor had attacked his friend's pet unprovoked. He looked pretty relieved that things were going well.

"I've got so much to tell you," Viktor grinned at the man. Pedro echoed his sentiment.

"This is Vok'Rul. Well, you know that already, from the pet store. That alien behind him is his sister, Rukka. She's kinda scary, but she's alright." Viktor explained. The aliens tilted their heads when he spoke their names.

"Huh," Pedro hummed before pointing at his alien. "I call this one Blacksmith. I'm not too sure what her real name is, though. She's been teaching me some words. I end up getting the stuff that she can't reach."

"Vok'Rul's teaching me words, too!" Viktor informed him happily.

Pedro's smile grew soft, and he drew Viktor into his side, squeezing his shoulders. "I'm glad you're happy, kid. Is he treating you alright?"

Viktor thought, briefly, of when Vok'Rul spoke to him, angry and hushed in the restaurant at the zoo. He thought about the times when his claws had pressed uncomfortably into his skin in the alien's attempts to grab him when he was struggling to get away. He thought of how Vok'Rul's voice sounded when he had said Kora, Kohgrash!

But there was more good than bad. He thought of the quiet words the alien spoke to him when it was just the two of them, fond and affectionate. He thought of all the times Vok'Rul ran a claw down his cheek, ruffled his hair, and praised him. He thought of how gently the alien held him, even when his injuries likely made it painful. He thought of his promise to stay with Viktor, even though they were of different species, spoke different languages, and had been born on different planets.

He no longer feared for his life, unlike during his time at the arena. There were no sleepless nights in the mansion because he was afraid that it might be his last. There was no uncertainty lingering in his stomach about whether or not he would be fed, watered, or just taken care of. Viktor could go to sleep every night, curled up in a soft bed with a warm blanket, and know that he would wake up in the morning.

Viktor felt safe, despite all the disastrous things that ended up happening to the pair. It was nice.

"Yeah," he said quietly, glancing at the alien occupying his thoughts. "Yeah, he treats me alright."

Blacksmith started showing Rukka and Vok'Rul around. Viktor dragged Pedro behind the trio, chattering his ear off. He told the older man everything that had happened, in as much detail as he could remember.

"You fell out of a tree?" Pedro asked incredulously, picking up his freshly healed arm and squeezing it experimentally.

"I was cold!" Viktor defended himself.

Then, "You've fought how many animals since we left the arena?!"

"It's not my fault! Vok'Rul is a walking curse! He attracts everything bad!" The alien in question looked over his shoulder at him, rumbling a question.

"Still, kid. I've not even encountered another animal since we left."

"I guess it's a bad time to tell you I've been to a zoo."

"...You're infuriating. I've missed you, a lot."

Eventually, Viktor ran out of fuel to speak, having told the man all he could recall. He fiddled with his bracelet, twisting it around his wrist as Pedro digested his words.

"Wow," was all he managed to say after a long stretch of silence, only interrupted by the aliens' chattering. They had finished their short tour and were crowded around a workbench, bent over some pieces of paper. Viktor had no idea what was on them, but he probably wouldn't have understood them even if he did.

"You've had quite the adventure, kid," Pedro reached out to ruffle Viktor's hair. He grinned.

"What about you?" he asked, tilting his head.

Pedro shrugged, flipping his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Not much to say. I was one of the few humans left. Nikolas got adopted first, then it was Ezekiel and Aiko. They were taken together, y'know." Viktor's face screwed up with laughter. "Surprisingly, Zach was adopted out, too. Hope he's doin' alright."

Viktor hummed his agreement, wondering what life was like for the hateful man. He couldn't imagine him as a docile pet.

"Blacksmith adopted me about a month ago?" Pedro said, looking skyward in thought. "Yeah, sounds about right. It was alarmingly easy to get used to this place. Even if one misstep could probably kill me," he joked.

Viktor nodded, suddenly a bit worried about his friend's living conditions. Pedro clapped him on the shoulder. "Aw, lighten up, kid! It's nothing like the arena. Anything is better than that place."

"Yeah," he agreed reluctantly, looking around the workshop. "Just be careful, okay?"

"Sure," Pedro agreed easily, shaking his shoulder just a bit. "Blacksmith wouldn't let anything happen to me, though."

"Kohgrash," Vok'Rul called him over, gesturing for him to come here. "Pora, cho'k."

"Cho'k?" Pedro asked him as they both went over to the alien. Viktor shrugged.

"I think it means cute or something. Don't laugh!" Viktor smacked Pedro's arm as the man's mouth began to curve into a smile.

"I'm not," he choked out, obviously fighting back laughter.

"Kohgrash!" Vok'Rul said firmly, looking a bit scandalized, "Neyk thrr'n."

Viktor huffed, crossing his arms as he shot a glare at Pedro, who looked like he was about to burst. "Flackmmh," he ground out, butchering the pronunciation horribly. The aliens didn't seem to mind. In fact, if anything, it seemed to excite them. Rukka gave her disbelieving huff while Blacksmith and Vok'Rul started chattering with one another.

"What was all that?" Pedro asked, having not been able to follow the conversation.

Viktor shrugged. "I'm not sure what he said exactly, but he told me 'no.' It was probably to stop hitting you," he mumbled, embarrassed. Pedro snorted. "Flackmmh is their word for sorry, I think. Though, they say it much better. I can't get the sounds quite right."

Pedro hummed, "I haven't really tried speaking their language. Blacksmith just tells me what to grab, and I grab it."

"Simple. Vok'Rul just- Whoa!" Viktor was suddenly airborne as Vok'Rul grabbed him around the middle and dropped him on the workbench in one swift movement. "Jeez, thanks for the warning, buddy," he said sarcastically.

Pedro stepped up to the workbench with an amused look on his face. While Viktor would've been unable to see the top of it without standing on his tiptoes, Pedro was easily tall enough to look. "Wonder what these are for," he mused out loud, grabbing some of the papers to bring them closer. Blacksmith gently grabbed Pedro's wrist and pulled it away.

Viktor peered at the papers. He perked up when he noticed his name scribbled on some of them. "Hey, look!" he pointed at the messy handwriting. The engraving on his bracelet was much neater, but he'd recognize the string of characters anywhere. "That's my name."

"Really? You can read it?" Pedro asked incredulously, peering at the papers skeptically. Viktor hummed an affirmative half-heartedly.

"Just that word. It's on my bracelet," Viktor shoved his wrist under Pedro's nose, nearly tipping off the edge of the workbench in the process. Vok'Rul hastily hauled him back on with a murmured "kor."

Viktor looked back at the papers, noticing there were small sketches and designs on them. He wanted to inspect it some more, but Vok'Rul's clawed hands cupped his face, turning his attention onto the alien. The alien stepped in front of him, filling up his entire view.

"Rohsh," Viktor said, a bit bewildered. Vok'Rul smiled at him. Another pair of hands lightly touched his head, and he flinched, tensing.

"It's just Blacksmith," he heard Pedro call. "For some reason, she's taking measurements of your head. Maybe they're making you a hat."

"Real funny," Viktor said through gritted teeth, wanting to jerk away from the unknown pair of hands. Even if they belonged to someone Pedro was fond of, Viktor hated when new aliens touched him. Vok'Rul held his head securely, and short of kicking the alien and throwing an unnecessary fit, Viktor couldn't get out of his grasp.

"Oh, she's got something I've never seen-" Pedro was saying before something cold as fuck touched the inside of his ear.

Viktor let out a startled shriek, jerking his head away as much as he could. Vok'Rul murmured something reassuring to him, but Viktor wasn't listening. "What the hell is that?!" he asked of Pedro, his voice pitched higher than normal.

"Hey, hey, calm down, kid," Pedro said, reaching around Vok'Rul to pat Viktor's leg. "She's not going to do anything harmful to you."

"I know that, Captain Obvious," Viktor sucked in a breath through his nose before expelling it in a noisy rush out of his mouth. "Doesn't mean I want some alien I've known for an hour to poke around in my ear!"

"I think it's a camera," Pedro explained. Viktor could briefly see a flash out of the corner of his eye.

"Why," he said slowly, trying not to jerk away when the device pressed against the shell of his ear, "the fuck do they need pictures of my ears."

Pedro didn't answer, and he imagined the man shrugging helplessly, much as he had done in the arena. Whatever pictures they need of his ear, the pair of aliens got it done quickly. Blacksmith's hands retracted, and Viktor immediately let the tension out of his shoulders, slumping into Vok'Rul's hands.

"Prosh, Kohgrash'mrr," he purred, rumbling affectionately in his chest.

"What?" Pedro muttered to himself, scratching his head. Viktor quickly hopped off the bench, stepping as far away from Blacksmith and Vok'Rul as he was comfortable with. He shuddered, rubbing his ear harshly.

"I don't have weird alien residue on my ear, do I?" he asked Pedro, looking at his hand. There was nothing on it. "It's not turning black? And dropping off? Do I still have an ear?"

Pedro stepped over to him, squinting at his ear. His face dropped into a look of horror, and Viktor felt his stomach swoop in dismay. The man reached forward, slowly.

"Oh, kid," his voice was sympathetic.

"What? What?" Viktor demanded, starting to get really nervous.

"Your ear..." he trailed off, pinching his ear and twisting it painfully. "Is just fine! You little worrywart."

"Oww," Viktor smacked his hands off his ear, throwing a punch that the man easily dodged. "God, you're such a dick."

Vok'Rul and Blacksmith were bent over the workbench for what seemed like hours after that. It gave Pedro and Viktor time to catch up in more depth. Viktor learned that Pedro also suffered from nightmares, though his were more about being unable to fight than they were about the ringmaster, which was the main subject of Viktor's. While Pedro hadn't been an alien's pet for as long as Viktor had, he had gotten acclimated much more quickly than him.

He explained like Nikolas had, that Pink, the pet store attendant, had pushed their tolerance for her species much harder than when Viktor had been there. Viktor wondered how things would've been different for he and Vok'Rul had he been subjected to the same thing.

"Of course," he echoed Nikolas's sentiment, "I wasn't brutally beaten by one of those fuckers."

Pedro's face was twisted with hate, and Viktor smiled slightly in sympathy, a bit dejected by thoughts of the ringmaster. "Nikolas told me he went to alien jail. I sure hope so."

"Jail's too good for him," Pedro returned darkly, and Viktor could see hints of what his opponents had likely faced in the arena.

He also learned what Blacksmith called Pedro when she called him over to the workbench. Viktor lingered by Rukka, unwilling to get snatched up and poked and prodded again.

"Shrrsk," Blacksmith called, jerking her head in a way that reminded Viktor of a horse.

Pedro stood up from where they had seated themselves, close enough to the furnace to feel its warmth (much to Vok'Rul's worry) but not close enough to accidentally fall against it. Viktor heard Vok'Rul laugh, and he felt a smile forming on his own face. "Shrrsk, huh?" Viktor teased.

Pedro shrugged, helping Viktor up and walking over. The teenager stopped by Rukka, who looked incredibly bored. "That's what she calls me. Don't suppose you know what it means?" Viktor answered in the negative.

"I told Nikolas that his alien called him Fluffy," Viktor said. Pedro snorted.

Blacksmith told Pedro something, who only tilted his head at her. She repeated it, gesturing to somewhere that Viktor couldn't see from his spot next to Rukka.

"Hey, kid, c'mere," Pedro said, crouching under the table. "They've dropped something under here. I can't reach it. You're skinny."

Viktor huffed, shuffling up to the bench. He definitely didn't hide behind Pedro for a second before he determined that neither Vok'Rul nor Blacksmith were going to grab him again. He crouched down with ease, peering under the bench.

It was spacious as hell under here. "What the hell, man," Viktor nudged Pedro roughly, scowling. "You can fit under here!"

"I can," Pedro said, "but I don't want to. Hop to it, kid!"

"Ugh, fine. What am I grabbing?" Viktor crawled underneath the bench, squinting in the low light.

"Should look a screw, but pretty wide, and also it's green. It's some sort of tool bit."

He floundered around the darkness for a while before his hands found it, ridges cool and sharp. Holding it up close to his face confirmed that it was green, and he turned around, tossing it to Pedro with a short, "here!"

"Here you go, Blacksmith," he heard Pedro say, likely handing the screw to the alien. Viktor crawled out, dusting himself off. He jumped a little when he felt Vok'Rul's hand pet his hair with a kind, "prosh, Kohgrash!" echoing in his ears.

They were making something, now. In the few hours that they had been here, they had managed to scribble out plans and actually start putting them together. Viktor was impressed. He stood on his tiptoes, gripping the edge of the workbench to hoist himself up a bit further.

The device was a mess of wires, surrounded by a black casing, big and bulky. There were a bunch of small components scattered about the table. When Viktor looked up, he saw that there was a giant magnifying glass.

"Isn't it weird that they have so much of the same stuff as us?" Viktor asked Pedro. Pedro made a noncommittal noise. "Like, roads... buildings... It's all so similar."

"I wouldn't say it's weird, kid. There's probably a bunch of other life that's similar to Earth. Universe is big, after all."

That was a good point.

Hours later, Vok'Rul straightened up with a groan. Viktor, who had been sprawled near the furnace, chatting idly with Pedro, looked over shrewdly. He saw Rukka get up from her seat (she had moved on from standing menacingly in the corner and instead chose to sit menacingly in a chair instead), gesturing outside and generally trying to curb her irritation. She must not approve of whatever it was they were building.

"Think we might be going home," Viktor yawned, looking up at Pedro. "We'll probably see each other again. I've seen Nikolas a couple of times. Plus, it looks like our aliens are friends."

The older man reached out to ruffle his hair, and seriously, why did everyone feel the need to do that? Viktor shooed his hands away good-naturedly, standing up and hugging Pedro tightly.

"See you soon," Pedro promised as Vok'Rul called Viktor over and said his own goodbyes to Blacksmith. They waved goodbye at each other, bittersweet.

Later, as they drove back to the mansion, Viktor sat tiredly on the floor, he basked in the feeling of contentment and happiness. Seeing Nikolas, his dad, and Pedro again was something that he never would've expected when leaving Earth and the pet store.

He tried not to get his hopes up for seeing Earth again, but he couldn't help it. He enjoyed Vok'Rul's presence immensely, and he would've never met all the other humans he knew if he hadn't gotten abducted, but he missed his planet. It would be nice to have the possibility to go home.

***

Vocabulary:

flakmmn: sorry, informal

cho'k: endearment, usually meaning little one, love; usually used for pets or small children

kor: stay

kora: bad or naughty, a light scolding

'mrr: my/mine, usually added onto the end of someone's name (Kohgrash'mrr)

pora: come

prosh: good

neyk: stop, no

rohsh: a friendly greeting, such as hello or hey

thrr'n: hitting