His stomach is what drove him out of the listless fog he had found himself in. Hungry and feeling less like he'd fall over if he stood up, Viktor managed to choke down a couple of pieces of jerky from Pedro's own supply. The man offered him silent support, only speaking to let him know that he was there for him. Viktor was glad he was.

Viktor explained, with stuttering pauses, why he was afraid of leaving Vok'Rul. His words were jumbled, all over the place, but Pedro just nodded along, passing him his dish of water when the words wouldn't seem to come out.

"He was just so... still," Viktor whispered, barely audible over the machinery working in the background. "I thought I was too late." It had been unnatural to see Vok'Rul lying so stiffly. His chest had barely moved with his breaths, pulse barely there.

"He's still here, kid. And he'll come back. That guy loves you," Pedro's voice was so full of confidence and surety that Viktor would be an idiot to not believe him.

When he had finished speaking after what seemed like hours, he felt a bit better, just as he had when he had spoken with Nikolas.

"Thanks," he mumbled, glancing at Pedro briefly. "Sorry for getting all..." he gestured vaguely, making a noise of derision in the back of his throat.

"Don't apologize," Pedro told him sternly, nudging him with his shoulder. Viktor didn't even flinch, which he thought was a plus. "You're only sixteen, kid. I wish you hadn't gone through what you did."

Viktor shrugged helplessly, a bit uncomfortable. There was no changing the past, and bemoaning about it was going to solve nothing. Still, it was nice having someone angry on his behalf.

"C'mon," Pedro said, suddenly standing up and dragging Viktor to his feet whether he liked it or not. "Let's go take a walk. You're so pale. Does Vok'Rul not take you outside?"

"He doesn't like when I climb trees," Viktor grumbled, following after Pedro reluctantly.

"Do you know their word for outside?" Pedro asked. "I usually play a fucked up game of charades before Blacksmith gets the hint."

The thought of speaking to Blacksmith, even if she had no clue what the word kora meant for him and had just been trying to get him to calm down, made Viktor ill. He did know the word for outside, but it was nothing he could pronounce, so he mutely shook his head.

Pedro sighed an "ah, well," before he patted Viktor on the shoulder and left him standing bereft in the middle of the warehouse while the man went and mimed at Blacksmith. It didn't take too long before she got the hint - Pedro must do this often - and they were herded outside soon after. Viktor still had his harness on, but Blacksmith had no leash to go along with it.

Viktor had been too relieved at the prospect of going along with Vok'Rul to even notice that the alien hadn't brought along a leash. Ugh, he was such an idiot, sometimes.

The weather, like almost any other day on this planet, was mild. It was the perfect temperature.

They sprawled out on the scratchy, brown grass, looking up at the yellow sky. There were no clouds, but the sun was so small that they could sit comfortably out there for hours.

"How far away you think that sun is?" Viktor asked. He felt Pedro shrug beside him.

"Dunno. Not too much of a science man. I don't think I know how far away our sun is."

"I think it's like, 93 something miles away. Million, maybe."

"Sounds far."

"That's the point, dummy. If it's too close, we'd boil alive. Too far, and we'd freeze," Viktor turned to look at him skeptically, a smile playing on his face. "I think it's called the Goldilocks zone."

"Were you a space kid, Viktor? You're either a dinosaur kid or a space kid, so which were you?" Pedro propped himself on his elbow to level an arched brow at him. Viktor felt his face redden under the scrutiny.

"So what?" he scoffed to save himself the embarrassment.

"I bet little you would be jumping for joy if he had known you'd be on an alien planet," Pedro laughed. Viktor shared his amusement, grinning. His fingers found his bracelet, twisting the band around his wrist.

"Maybe if I had gotten to this point without all the freakouts and new scars, it'd be pretty cool," he muttered, just a bit self-deprecatingly. Pedro nudged him roughly, almost painfully.

"None of that, kid. You were dealt a shitty hand. You can't do shit about that, and it sucks. But you can do something about how you handle it. And I think you're handlin' it well," Pedro said, face and tone serious. Viktor stared at him for a long moment before he nodded.

"I can do that," he nearly whispered.

"Good," Pedro collapsed back onto the grass, staring back up at the sky. Viktor followed his lead, turning his face back to the yellow hues of the atmosphere.

After a few more minutes of basking in the warm sunlight, Viktor felt his eyes slide shut. He yawned loudly and turned onto his side, pillowing his face with his hands. He heard Pedro shift to glance over at him. He could practically feel the smile on the other's face. He cracked open an eye to glare at him. "Quit staring. I'm sleeping," he snapped playfully.

Pedro held up his hands in surrender. "Sure, kid. I'll wake you if anything happens."

Viktor grunted in acknowledgment, listening to the idle sounds of the whirring machinery in the warehouse behind them, the faint chirping of fauna, and Pedro's shuffling as he got comfortable again. The soothing sounds, coupled with his emotional exhaustion and the warm sunlight, soon made him drop off.

He woke up to the feeling of being carried. Wakefulness shot through him like a bullet, and he jolted in their hold. Their grip tightened fractionally, and the alien rumbled soothingly at him.

Vok'Rul.

Viktor glared up at him, a frown marring his features. "Neyk," he told him petulantly, struggling out of his grip. He landed a bit awkwardly, a small shiver of pain zipping up his arm. He brushed it off, easily. He's had worse. Still, he rubbed his arm to soothe it.

Vok'Rul cooed something at him apologetically. He heard Blacksmith laughing in another direction. He flinched at her voice. Viktor nearly jumped out of his skin when Pedro came up out of nowhere and clapped him on the back, helping him to his feet.

"I thought you were gonna wake me up," Viktor said sourly, brushing off some of the grass that stuck to his sweater. He glanced up just in time to see Pedro shrug, a sheepish smile on his face.

"I sorta fell asleep, too. I only woke up when that car pulled up. Your alien flew out of the car to get to you," he explained.

Well, Viktor thought. Hopefully, Vok'Rul had been as miserable as he had been.

He looked over his shoulder at the alien, who was looking like he kicked his favorite puppy. Viktor felt his resolve soften and crumble. Still, he crossed his arms over his chest. "He didn't need to trick me like that. I'm not some animal," Viktor huffed.

"Worked, didn't it?" Pedro replied cheekily. Viktor punched him.

"Kohgrash," Vok'Rul sighed a rebuke behind him. Viktor could hear the alien every time he moved, jewelry clinking against one another. He started walking up to the humans.

"I don't wanna hear it! From either of you!" Viktor suddenly said. Pedro's grin was still plastered on his face. "Let's just go inside."

Viktor darted away from any pets or kind touches Vok'Rul wanted to bestow on him, still a bit miffed and betrayed that he had left him with an alien he had met once. While he was glad to see Pedro again, Kac or Rukka would've never picked him up and yelled at him. He heard the alien make a sad noise behind him. Sucks to suck, Vok'Rul, he thought with a scowl.

Blacksmith and Vok'Rul chatted for a while before they wandered over to the workbench they had been at the last time as if pulled in by an unknown force. It didn't even seem like they were aware they were walking over until Vok'Rul started fiddling with some of the small electronics. Their topic of conversation changed abruptly, going from something almost understandable to Viktor (they were talking about the weather or something. He had heard the word ground in there somewhere) to an incomprehensible ramble of gibberish.

Pedro noticed him frowning in confusion. "What are they talking about?"

Viktor helplessly shrugged, gesturing vaguely with a flip of his hand. His arm protested at the movement slightly, and he hoped he hadn't managed to fracture the damn thing again. "Not sure. I thought they were talking about the weather, but now they're on something else completely different. Probably whatever device they're building."

"Don't even get me started on that," Pedro groaned, rubbing his hands together against the heat of the furnace. Viktor had opted to stay away from that thing. The sun had managed to bake him a little bit. He didn't need to get extra crispy. "Blacksmith has been up so many nights working on that thing. I can't even get close to see what it is. She keeps shooing me away."

Viktor snorted, getting a sly look on his face. "Who's the animal, now?" he teased. For a moment, the other man was still. Then, Pedro launched at him, locking Viktor's head under his arm. "Agh!"

He pushed against the other's arm to no avail, and soon enough, knuckles were harshly digging into his skull. "Ow, fuck! Pedro, stop! Mercy, mercy!" he begged.

Rubbing the top of his head when Pedro released him, he half-heartedly glared at the man. Pedro just shrugged. "Don't dish out what you can't take, kid."

"You're like, a foot taller than me!" Viktor protested, looking at his hand. "I'm bleeding," he wailed. He was not bleeding.

"Big baby," Pedro laughed, slinging an arm over his shoulders.

"Shrrsk!" Blacksmith was suddenly right in front of them, and Viktor flinched. Almost subconsciously, he shifted himself behind Pedro. He kept his eyes down, just enough to look demure but high enough to see any sharp movement. It was sickening how quickly his body fell into old habits.

A low snarling filled the air, and Viktor whipped his head up to see Vok'Rul's face twisted into the most frightening expression he's ever seen on the alien. Every single tooth was visible, lips twisted into a vicious sneer. His eyes were lit up with fury.

And it was aimed at Blacksmith. The lights of the warehouse winked off his jewelry in a way that reminded Viktor of fire as he stalked over to the smaller alien. She looked surprised, confused, and mostly terrified.

He snarled something at her, looming over her threateningly. A strangled whimper escaped her in response.

"What's going on?" Pedro dared to breathe, frozen in place. His arm snaked behind him to grip Viktor's, pulling him more firmly behind him. He was tensed, body coiled in a way that made it seem like he didn't know what he wanted to do more: protect Viktor or jump in and help Blacksmith.

"I don't know," Viktor whispered. The last time he had seen Vok'Rul like this was when that alien with the papers had smashed his face into the floor a couple of times. It dawned on him, then. "Oh. Actually, I might know."

"Care to share?" Pedro said through his teeth. Viktor opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the scene unfolding in front of them.

Blacksmith postured in a submissive way, stuttering something out. Whatever she said didn't seem to please Vok'Rul very much, considering he started growling even louder at her. However, before things started escalating, even more, he took a step back, breathing deeply. He still looked at her with fury in his eyes.

"Kohgrash," he said tightly. Pedro's grip on him tightened, but Viktor shook it off, reassuring him with a whisper that it was alright. He tentatively walked over, making sure to give Blacksmith a wide berth. She was still slightly cowering under his weighty gaze.

Vok'Rul crouched, inviting him closer with a spread of his hands and a small, forced smile. Viktor stepped up to him, warily looking at Blacksmith. A sharp searing pain suddenly shot up his arm.

"OW, fuck!" he yelled, quickly yanking his arm out of Vok'Rul's grasp. His expression got thunderous, but he quickly wiped it in the face of Viktor's pain.

"Flakmmn, Kohgrash'mrr'k," his voice was gentle and hands even gentler as they stroked some of his hair out of his eyes. When Vok'Rul's eyes moved back to Blacksmith, they grew flinty and hard. Like Earth's Sun. He snapped something at her viciously, and she quickly responded fearfully. He heard the word kora in her explanation and couldn't help the flinch that wrestled its way out of his body.

"Kora?!" Vok'Rul hissed at her, quickly bringing his hands to cover Viktor's ears. He twitched again.

"I can still hear you," Viktor said, finally starting to piece together the puzzle. "Vok'Rul, it wasn't her fault."

But Vok'Rul wasn't listening. Despite his gentle hands cupping his face, he was still seething at Blacksmith. Pedro had since crept a bit closer but still kept his distance from both aliens. He looked just as confused as he did before, but Viktor could see some realization creep into his face at Viktor's words.

"Vok'Rul," Viktor said, a bit louder, bringing his hands to Vok'Rul's and pulling them away. "Kas tih," he said, thinking quickly. He pointed at Blacksmith and said, "Prosh. Kas tih."

Vok'Rul frowned and stared at him for long enough that Viktor started to worry that he had gotten the words mixed up.

"Pedro," he hissed. "Hug her, right now."

"What? What are you telling him? Why-"

"Do it!"

"Okay!" Pedro walked over to the cowering Blacksmith, latching onto her side in one of the awkwardest hugs he's ever seen. Pedro was tall enough that he came up to the middle of her torso.

Vok'Rul grumbled his displeasure but wasn't snarling at Blacksmith anymore, so Viktor counted it as a win. He stood up, carefully bundling Viktor into his arms. The alien jerked his head toward the table, rumbling something that Blacksmith was eager to obey. She quickly patted Pedro on the head, who retracted his arms from around her swiftly, and rushed over to the table.

"What was that all about?" Pedro muttered to him, coming up to the workbench after a few minutes had gone by without another fight.

Viktor hesitated, looking over Vok'Rul's arms to peer down at Pedro. "I think I might've fractured my arm again when she dropped me," he admitted, lifting his arm up. It didn't hurt quite as bad as it had the first time he had broken it, but it certainly twinged whenever he used it. Or when overprotective aliens squeezed it.

Pedro frowned, eyes full of concern. "Does it hurt now?" Viktor shook his head a little.

"Not really. But I'll probably be making another trip to the vet," he sighed, thumping his head back onto Vok'Rul's shoulder and poking himself with the small chain of jewelry draped over it. "I just got that cast off, too."

Pedro sighed, reaching up to pat Viktor's foot consolingly. Viktor kicked playfully. He missed.

"So he was just protective?" Viktor nodded, a bit embarrassed.

"I guess so."

Pedro smiled at him kindly. "See? He loves you," he teased.

Viktor scoffed, kicking again. "Shut up, man!"

Vok'Rul huffed something at him quietly, shifting him to his other side with a rustle of jewelry. Viktor couldn't kick Pedro from here. What a spoilsport. He frowned when he noticed Vok'rul shaking his left arm out slightly. "Vok'Rul tih?" he asked, pointing to his arm.

"Ka Vok'Rul tih," the alien corrected him gently and then a bunch of other words.

"A yes or no would've worked," he mumbled, reaching forward to push up the alien's sleeve himself. It was a little difficult with all the jewelry, but he managed. He frowned at the maroon skin.

The bandages had come off somewhere in between the rush to teach Viktor words and the sullen, bored musings the pair had. Viktor hadn't gotten a good look at it, and had frankly forgotten all about it, the thought of the alien having been left with visible wounds was not something that would've passed through his brain. The only time he had seen an alien with a scar had been on the ringmaster, who was nasty all the way through. Why would Vok'Rul, the complete opposite of him, ever have any scars marring his skin?

And yet.

There were two long slices across his arm, right where the snake creature had bitten him. Viktor felt guilt resurface. If he hadn't been so hasty ripping it off, Vok'Rul would still be unmarked. The scar tissue was raised, a dark purple. Whereas the ringmaster's had been a lighter purple, almost matching his red skin tone in hue, Vok'Rul's was much more recent and thus, darker.

"Flakmmn, Vok'Rul," he mumbled guiltily, brushing his fingers over the rough scars. They were gnarled, much thicker than the smoother skin on the rest of him.

Vok'Rul shushed him, pressing his cheek on the top of Viktor's head and squeezing him in the shadow of a hug. He murmured something Viktor couldn't quite decipher, only catching a couple of words like 'me' or 'okay.' The alien shook his sleeve down, bringing up his hand to drag a claw against Viktor's own scar from that incident. He said something, this time more firmly.

Viktor let out a dry chuckle, "Yeah, guess we match."

Blacksmith spoke up then, hesitantly and voice dripping with respect. She said Vok'Rul's full name instead of the nickname she had been calling him before. Vok'Rul's expression shuttered into his political mask - as Viktor liked to call it - and he spoke curtly to her. She dipped her head, once, before holding something out to him.

Viktor squinted at it. It looked like an earbud, just a little bit. It was black in color and curved into a crescent shape. It was tapered at one end, leading into what looked like a silicon earpiece. On the other end, the device was round and thick. Lights flickered and pulsed on it.

"Uh, what the hell is that?" Viktor asked.

"What? I can't see it from here," Pedro said, a curious frown on his face.

"It looks like a wireless earbud. Maybe Vok'Rul wanted to listen to music or something." Even Viktor wasn't too convinced with his answer. It sounded flimsy. It didn't even look like that thing could even fit in Vok'Rul's ear. It was way too small.

"Keti, Kohgrash," Vok'Rul said, dragging the teenager's attention back to the earbud. Vok'Rul held it up to him to look at. Any attempt at grabbing it to further inspect it was intercepted, much to his disgruntlement. "Whf ta trsk-" he started, then said a word with the most clicks in a row Viktor's ever heard.

"Uh, no, I can't say that," Viktor replied dryly. "What's it do?"

Vok'Rul repeated the word a couple of times, but when it became clear that Viktor wasn't going to replicate it no matter how many times he said it, the alien moved on. He tilted Viktor's head to the side, slightly, before carefully - and Viktor meant carefully; the alien took his sweet time - placing the small, silicon part in his ear.

It was wildly uncomfortable. Any attempts Viktor made to adjust it were thwarted, so he had to sit in Vok'Rul's arms with cold, hard metal digging into his ear.

"It's for you?" Pedro's skeptical voice was muffled with the earpiece in. Viktor could hear faint whirring and beeping coming from it.

"Guess so," he replied, equally skeptical.

Blacksmith's fingers moved toward his face unexpectedly, and he flinched back into Vok'Rul's shoulder. He heard the alien growl something at Blacksmith, who whimpered a strangled apology. She must have told him how to turn it on, because a moment later, Vok'Rul's claws were gently pressing against his skin, and Viktor heard a click.

The earpiece started whirring much louder, then. A bit startled by the noise, Viktor reflexively reached up to pull it out, but Vok'Rul's claws wrapped around his wrist, pulling it away.

"It's loud," Viktor complained, raising his own voice to hear himself.

Vok'Rul started speaking to him, and the whirring got even louder. It started emitting a high-pitched whine, and Viktor cried out as the sound got nearly painful in his ear. It reached a crescendo before a loud pop could be heard. Viktor yelped and flinched at the noise, quickly using all his strength to break Vok'Rul's gentle hold to grab the device out of his ear. It smoked slightly in his hand.

Vok'Rul took the piece, dropped it in Blacksmith's outstretched hand, and pet the top of Viktor's head comfortingly. Viktor rubbed frantically at his ear, willing the high-pitched ringing to go away.

"Jesus, you alright?" He heard Pedro ask. Or thought he did.

"Huh?" he said loudly, squinting at the man.

"I said," Pedro repeated, cupping his hands around his mouth to yell up at him, "Are you okay?"

"Oh. Yeah. I think so," Viktor said, pulling his hand away from his ear with a frown. He was already starting to get his hearing back on that side. "First they take pictures, and now they're trying to blow my ear off," he joked. But Pedro didn't smile back. He was looking at the smoking device with a thoughtful frown.

Whatever he was thinking about, the man didn't deign to share with Viktor. Not that they would've had the time to do so. Vok'Rul gave a great big sigh. Viktor, and apparently Blacksmith too, if that wary look in her eye was anything to go by, was a bit worried that Vok'Rul would start biting her head off again at the obvious failure.

However, he must have calmed down enough with Viktor unharmed in his arms, because he said something almost kindly to the smaller alien. Viktor watched her wilt with relief.

"You need to be nicer to people who are doing stuff for you," Viktor told him sternly.

"Seconded," Pedro gave his two cents.

Viktor was set down on his feet and immediately pulled into a hug by Pedro. The older man almost squeezed him to death. "What's brought this on?" he squeaked out, patting the man's bicep weakly.

"Just worried about you, kid," he mumbled into Viktor's head. "Last time I saw an alien angry like that was the-" he stumbled slightly, voice unable to say the word for a moment, "-the ringmaster. And that never ended well."

Viktor was silent and simply hugged Pedro a bit tighter. They all had their trauma, spoken or otherwise.

"I'm okay," he reassured him. "We're both okay, now."

"Yeah, guess we are."

***

Vocabulary:

flakmmn: sorry, informal

'k: little, usually added onto the end of a name or object

kas tih: it's okay

keti: look

kora: bad or naughty, a light scolding

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

neyk: stop, no

prosh: good

whf ta trsk: can you say/can you repeat, followed by a word. Used for teaching children how to speak