Chapter 28:

Three reasons.

Three reasons had made Aaron choose not to do that to Lou.

  Firstly were his morals and nature that did not allow him to do something so jerky; he just couldn't backbite anyone. Secondly were the strategic restrictions. If he was trying to gain trust for his plan, then snitching on Lou could potentially ruin his good relationship with him. Thirdly came the tiny bit of respect he had for Lou—the only captor who didn't scare him or creep him out, and he'd helped him more than once. Aaron didn't have to put up a harsh act with him like he had to in front of the other two. Lou allowed him to be more like himself, and Aaron appreciated that.

And now Aaron sat on the counter in the bathroom, his fingers lacing together nervously in his lap as he waited for Mommy to turn from where she was working at the sink. He despised anticipation, not knowing what was going on or what could be revealed after a while. His nerves coiled as he waited.

Mommy finally turned, a wet, sudsy soap in her hand. "Let's clean this potty mouth, baby. Shall we?"

Oh no.

"You're not going to..." Aaron was somewhat relieved it wasn't anything too horrid, but he wasn't exactly a fan of inedible soapy objects being forced into his mouth. His bottom lip jutted out in an imploring pout. "But my nose hurts, Mommy," he said. "Did you see how the crayon hit me? It really, really hurt. I'm a baby, remember? I have fragile skin."

  Mommy didn't look impressed, only raising a brow. The unfazed expression on her face disappointed Aaron. He'd expected her to be more responsive to that kind of talking. So he gripped his nose then looked at her again with feigned sadness in his eyes. "It hurts. Do something, Mommy. Make me feel better, please?"

  Mommy sighed then put the soap down and came closer until she was standing just by his knees. Her dry hand caught the back of his head and pulled him to her chest, her arm curling around him as he snuggled up against her.

As much as Aaron dreaded it, he forced his reluctant muscles to move and curled his own arms around her waist, a gesture that had him dangerously close to throwing up.

  Startled, Mommy tried to circle her arm around him further, pushing him closer to her as she ducked lower to press her lips against the top of his head. She nuzzled against his hair and waited sadly for his arms to loosen from around her waist. She didn't want to be the one to break the hug, not when he'd finally interacted with her. As much as she wanted to get over with the punishment, she also really didn't want to get there—she didn't want him to stop hugging her, didn't want it to end.

"Baby, tell me when you feel better. We really need to get this punishment over with, yeah?" She dreaded each word she spoke, and she hoped he wouldn't listen to what she'd just said and hug her a little longer.

  Aaron kept his arms around her, tilting his chin until he could look up at her. "I'm not feeling better yet. Wait more."

"Baby, if you think that stalling will remove the punishment, you're pretty wrong." Mommy cocked an eyebrow, and Aaron understood that there was no messing with her. "I'll keep hugging you for hours, I don't mind. Until you feel better. And when you do, I'll get the punishment done."

  Aaron nodded then broke the hug and scooted further back until he pressed his spine against the wall. Mommy patted his cheek gently, her lips curling into an assuring smile. "Don't be scared, it's just going to taste bad. Just to teach you not to say bad words again, yeah?"

"Scared?" Aaron parroted under his breath. "I'm not scared. I just don't like soap in my mouth. This is heaven for a punishment. I've been through much worse."

  She caught each word he said even though she wasn't meant to, and she understood. And she understood that he was talking about the times with his father, that with much worse he wasn't referring to the spanking; she knew he was referring to the incidents that led to the scars that were embedded in his back.

And she wished that in her hand was a knife, not a soap. And she wished she could kill his father with it right then.

*_*_*_*_*_*

"You're making funny faces, Aar."

"The aftertaste is so horrible." Aaron shut his eyes tighter, his face crumpling like a paper as the aftertaste lingered in his mouth, a torturous mix of sour and bitter all at once even though the soap wasn't even there anymore.

Leo sat on his knees directly in front of Aaron, and he giggled as he watched his facial expressions. Aaron frowned suddenly, his eyes snapping open to find Leo's just in front of him, sparkling with amusement. "You're laughing? I mean, I'm thankful it wasn't anything worse, but I didn't think it would be this bad."

"I know, Aar. I'm sorry."

"Wait... " Aaron narrowed his eyes as he recalled back to the time Leo had gotten punished. "Is that what they did to you too when you got punished?"

Leo nodded. Aaron felt the curiosity that had been burning covertly in him all this time finally cool off. That was what had happened. But as he thought of that day again, he felt like Leo's reaction had been a little worse than it should've been for such a punishment: the sadness was understandable, but Leo had cried and looked so dreadful for a little punishment like this. His behavior back then had made Aaron think they'd done something much worse. Maybe because he has the exact same mindset of a little child, Aaron thought. Maybe that's why he was so sad. "Oh. I thought they did something worse to you. It wasn't that horrible, was it?"

Leo's sparkling eyes dimmed slightly, like what he'd just heard turned off one of the lamps in them. His gaze dropped onto the floor and remained there for a while, but then he slowly looked up just enough to see Aaron through his lashes. "No. Wasn't that horrible, Aar," he said, voice weak, low, like he wasn't even sure he wanted to say what he did. "Just don't like being bad."

Bad. That word again.

Aaron decided he'd rather go around it. The last time this word had been brought up, Leo had woken up from a terrible nightmare and Aaron didn't want to trigger anything again. So he smiled quickly instead, pursing his lips as he prepared to change the subject as fast as possible. "Well, I remember when it happened to you I wasn't laughing. I was being a good brother and making you feel better. Since you're not doing that, I'm just gonna stay here and suffer alone."

Leo listened with wide eyes. A smile gradually broke the sad expression, slowly bringing back the jovial sheen as he shifted and tilted his head. "Oh, sorry, Aar."

He reached one hand to Aaron's head and forced him to lean forwards until he was against this chest, curling his arms around him. Aaron didn't reject it, glad that he'd at least managed to change the subject before it would suddenly turn into another past-memories-mourning-session. He stayed there quietly, but then his shoulders shuddered as the taste intensified in his mouth again.

   Leo patted the top of Aaron's head. "Shh, Aar. It's okay. The taste will go away."

Lou slowly pushed the door of the playroom where they'd put the boys after Aaron's punishment open, and he smiled when he saw them. It was endearing to see that they both cared about each other; they reminded him of Daddy and himself when they were still kids—Daddy had been so protective of him. He'd never let anyone even remotely hurt him. But now, as Lou remembered the fight they'd just had, he realized that things changed overtime.

Leo noticed Lou at the door. "Look, Uncle Lou. Aar is my little brother."

Lou raised his eyebrows. "I thought it was the opposite."

Aaron pulled away from Leo and shook his head. "Yeah, anything you say, big brother. You wanted to color, remember? Show me." He patted Leo's shoulder, gesturing at the table.

Leo crawled closer to it and sat there, then brought out a childish coloring book with various animal drawings and began filling the blank spaces with harsh drags of his crayons. He went out of the lines quite a bit, Aaron realized as he sat beside him. "You might wanna stay inside the lines. Try, it'll look better."

Leo paused all of a sudden, tilting his head as he glanced down at his paper. Then he looked back at Aaron and shrugged. "Like it this way, Aar."

Leo continued what he'd been doing, disregarding the seams. But Aaron caught how—for a mere second—he tried to color neatly, and he failed. Maybe that was when Leo realized he couldn't stay inside the lines, so he just returned to coloring in and out messily like a child.

Leo hadn't even gotten halfway through the one he'd been working on when he stopped, turning to Aaron and offering a crayon. "Want to color? Try, Aar. It's nice. Maybe if you color you'll forget about the taste."

"Um.." Aaron peeked at Lou, who sat beside them yet looked distant like he was far away tangled in his thoughts. Shaking his head, Aaron looked at Leo again. "Not now. Finish the one you're doing. Then I'll do one, yeah?"

Aaron scooted closer to Lou when Leo gave him an approving nod. "Can I ask you something?" he whispered. His voice had been just loud enough just to pop Lou's bubble, making him land back onto reality with a sudden snap of his head towards Aaron and wide, disoriented eyes that stared at him absently, as if just a tiny part of him was still engaged in the thoughts. Lou eventually focused again. He shook his head. "I heard shouting. Was there, um... anything serious?"

Lou wanted to slam his head into the wall so many times when he realized that their voices had been that loud. "Don't worry. It was nothing, baby," he said, shrugging nonchalantly. Something suddenly clicked in, and he turned back to Aaron. "Did Leo hear anything?"

"I didn't let him listen. I gave him the piano."

Lou ruffled Aaron's hair. "Good job."

Aaron wanted to ask Lou if they'd fought because of him leaning towards him more than the other captors, but he bit back the words and decided to stay silent instead. He had a feeling Lou didn't want to talk about it; he'd made it clear through the way he easily dismissed the topic the first time, and he knew Lou was smart enough to dodge his questions again.

So Aaron looked at the paper Leo was coloring, his eyes absently focusing on the way the crayon moved and left behind messy brown strokes along the blank space. His mind drifted.

"You know..." Aaron tore his eyes away from the crayon and looked at Lou for a second. "Coloring isn't really just for kids. I don't know why people think it's just for kids. Adults can color too, it's actually—"

"That's interesting." Lou leant forwards, propping an elbow against his knee and resting his chin on his fist as he stared at Aaron attentively. Aaron felt like the excitement in Lou's voice was closer to mockery. He knew what he'd said wasn't that interesting. Just a little meaningless rant. "Go on, enlighten me."

"I was about to do that before you interrupted me for no reason."

Lou raised his hands in the air. "Oh. There's no messing with you, apparently. I'm sorry for interrupting. Go on."

"I didn't mean it that way- nevermind. I was saying..." Aaron paused to gather his thoughts again. "Coloring is actually stress-relieving, do you know that? There are adult coloring books, like mandalas. They're for adults, obviously, and kids can't really do them. It's too hard for them. But yeah, my friend has one. She showed me, and she said it's actually really relaxing. I told you about her, remember?"

Aaron's shoulders slumped when he remembered her. He missed her so much, missed listening to her voice or watching her eyes. Remembering her made him realize again just how much the captors took away from him when they kidnapped him: his freedom, his education, and the girl he loved. The only good things in his life.

"Um, baby, that was really interesting to hear. But I know all of that. I know mandalas and I know coloring isn't just for kids. And I know it's stress-relieving." Lou watched as a small, quiet oh dropped from Aaron's mouth and he stared at his lap, as if embarrassed that he'd been rambling all that pointlessly.

Lou tickled just beneath Aaron's chin to return his attention towards him. "Doesn't mean I was bored," he said. "You can tell me anything and I'll always listen. I'm your uncle, baby. And in case you're wondering how I know all that, I'm an artist, remember? I know all about colors and drawing. Not sure you noticed, but I'm very passionate about it, and possibly very talented."

Aaron shook his head and he watched the smug smile tugging at Lou's lips. "You should teach yourself some modesty."

"I'll do that when you teach yourself some confidence."

"Excuse me?" Aaron scowled at Lou. He didn't like it when someone called him out about his self-esteem; he knew he wasn't confident. No need for a reminder. "I'm trying, alright?"

"I don't know why you need to try so hard. I mean, you have so many things to be confident about—"

"Don't! Save your breath. I know what you're about to say." Aaron held his hand out dismissively, then smiled, a tight movement of his lips that dripped with mock. "My beautiful eyes. My beautiful smile. My heart. Personality. Yeah, I've got these all memorized in my brain." He jabbed his temple emphatically, eyes wide and brows raised with exasperation. "You don't need to tell me again. You've said them enough."

Lou didn't say anything for a second, but then he slowly brought his hands forward and clapped. "I'm glad you remember them." And he really was glad. Even with the tremendous amount of sarcasm, he found progress in the fact that Aaron could now at least remember the good things about himself. He just wished he'd believe them too. "I didn't know I annoy you that much. I'll shut up, no need to get angry, prince."

Aaron's face dropped, the muscles of his jaw slackening. "Prince?" He shook his head firmly. "No. Just no. Please, please don't make this a thing."

"Make what a thing?"

"Calling me prince. Don't, for God's sake don't. Because that's just stupid."

Lou pursed his lips, shrugging. "But I like it. I think I'm gonna start calling you prince all the time."

"No!" Aaron said. "Don't. Let's just stick with baby and love."

"Wait, so you're okay with us calling you baby and love?"

"Do you really want an answer to that?"

"Um...  nope."

"So you know."

"Of course I do, prince."

Aaron snapped his head towards Lou again, the muscles in his hand contracting at his amused smile. "Stop it."

"Alright, alright. Calm down," Lou coaxed, sighing. He shifted and turned to face Aaron. He could barely contain the laughter in his chest as he watched that dry, annoyed look on his face. "I won't call you that anymore if you don't want to. Who am I to deny the commands of your majesty?"

  Aaron glared. "Are you kidding me?"

"Uncle Lou hates it when someone calls him Loubear," Leo mumbled absently as he continued coloring, completely unfazed by the bickering going on in the background.

A smile slowly broke into Aaron's face as he registered Leo's words, and he looked back at Lou with mischief in his eyes. "You can call me prince if you want to, Loubear."

"You know," Lou said, "I usually hate Loubear. But you're royalty so you can say it."

Aaron shook his head and leant back against the wall. "Has anyone ever told you that you're very annoying?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you get annoyed very easily?"

Leo looked over his shoulder, and he noticed Aaron there slumped against the wall with an upset, annoyed look on his face. He turned fully then crawled closer to him and sat on his knees by his side. For a moment, he waited silently for acknowledgment to his presence. When he didn't receive any form of attention or response, he leant forwards worriedly.

"Aar?" Leo asked, shaking Aaron's shoulder slightly. "What's wrong? Who made you sad?"

  Aaron wasn't really upset; he'd just gotten bored of the conversation. But now, as Leo prodded him over and over, he smiled, his eyes springing over Leo's shoulder to glance at Lou. Aaron pointed at Lou, then looked back Leo with a pout. "Uncle Lou made me sad."

  Leo looked back at Lou, his eyebrows dropping into an frown. What was a simple look turned into a pointed glare, and Leo huffed as he watched Lou chuckle. "Why did you make Aar said, Uncle Lou? That's mean."

Lou shook his head fondly. "He's not sad. He's just messing around."

Leo stared for a little longer, as if contemplating the authenticity of what he'd just heard, then turned back to Aaron for confirmation. "Not sad, Aar?"

"Yes I'm sad," Aaron said as he bared his teeth at Lou in a taunting smile. "He's lying."

Leo turned back to Lou, his eyes disapproving. "Don't make him sad again, Uncle Lou."

There was raw warning within each word and a sharp edge to Leo's voice. Aaron chuckled to himself, and the low sound caught Leo's attention. He looked back, tilting his head, like he hadn't expected him to laugh when he had just admitted to be sad.

During the distraction, Lou laughed and reached over and subconsciously slapped Aaron hard on the shoulder. Painfully hard. "But he gets annoyed so easily and I love pissing him off," he said. "Seriously though, Aaron. You shouldn't let people get to your nerves so easily."

Aaron didn't think Lou realized how hard he'd patted him. Was he starting to subconsciously view him more as... He shook his head and instead responded, "Valuable life lesson."

"What kind of uncle would I be if I don't teach my nephew some important things?"

"Leave him, Uncle Lou." Leo slapped Lou's hand away from Aaron, then strode past Aaron's legs and sat between him and the captor, as if creating a barrier with himself to stop any further bickering. "Don't like seeing Aar sad, please. Daddy's your brother, Uncle Lou. Do you like seeing him sad?"

"Okay, enough," Aaron finally intervened. "I'm alright. Uncle Lou didn't do anything. He's just a little annoying."

The mischief drained from Lou's face almost immediately at Leo's words, and he let out a puff of air through his nose that partly resembled a snort and partly a humorless laugh. The edge of his lips twitched in what seemed to Aaron a sad smile, but it never progressed into a full one. He forced his eyes to lift from the ground until they looked at Leo, one hand reaching out to pinch his cheek. "Oh, Leo. Don't let anyone ever ruin this. Now let's go eat lunch, it's probably ready now."

Lou took the boys down to the kitchen, then he set each on his high chair and left afterwards. Mommy was working on the counters, plating and filling the sippy cups for her boys.

Aaron watched her for a while, but then she was blocked out by Daddy's towering frame filling his vision as he moved to stand in front of his highchair, leaning down to level his eyes with Aaron's.

  Aaron watched as Daddy cautiously brought his hand forwards, slowly letting his fingers comb through his hair. His brown eyes were set on his hand as it went through the black locks, longingly taking in the feeling of his baby's hair against his own skin. Daddy didn't say a word for a while, until his hand gently caught Aaron's head where it'd been last combing through the hair and held him stable as he looked at him with vulnerable eyes.

"Do you hate me, baby?" Daddy asked. His voice, once booming and demanding with its strong edges, was now nothing but a low whisper that Aaron barely even managed to catch. But when he did, he only frowned unsurely. It was jarring to see Daddy so insecure, a certain fear in his eyes glazing over the thunderous dark color, making it instead gloss with insecurity.

I can't even begin to explain to you how much I do, Aaron thought.

But it was his chance to play right. "No, Daddy," Aaron said, his tongue withering as the horrible word sprang off. A small smile crept to Daddy's lips, and Aaron knew that he was fully capable of fooling him right then. "I don't hate you. You care about me, Daddy. My father never cared about me."

For a second, there wasn't a word to be said. Then, without warning, Aaron stretched his torso up and curled his arms around Daddy's neck. Repulsion exploded in him. Pull back. Pull back. Pull back: that was what his brain was screaming but he didn't surrender to his instinct, forcing himself to keep hugging him.

Aaron let his chin rest on Daddy's shoulder. He wanted to take advantage of the captor's vulnerability to gain his trust. He mumbled, "My father used to hit me. But you don't. No one's ever taken care of me like you. I appreciate it, Daddy."

  Daddy was taken aback for a second, but then with a burst of confidence his baby had given him through the hug, he curled his arms around him tightly and pulled him closer to him. It lasted only a second or two before they pulled apart. Daddy turned away with a smile.

Aaron just slumped back in his seat. His chest felt too tight, like someone had dropped something in his lungs, weighing them down. He exhaled silently.

But that was until Mommy pulled a chair closer to him and sat, setting a small bowl of carrot purée and another of rice on his table. She smiled at him then began scooping up the food without preamble and nearing the spoon to his mouth, her eyes trained on him expectantly as she waited for him to accept.

And Aaron did. He took the neck of the spoon between his lips and smiled at her around it, grimacing inwardly as the aftertaste of the soap ruined the taste of the food. He tried to maintain a straight face, but he failed, squinting instead. "The soap. It's... disgusting."

"Oh, I'm sorry, baby. I'll get you water, I think it might make it better." She smiled apologetically at him, then turned and reached for the sippy cup that she'd placed on the table behind.

Aaron took in from her, and as he held it with one hand and drank, he reached his other towards Mommy's hair, grabbing a small, soft strand aimlessly. At first, he only let the hair sift through the gaps between his fingers as he felt it around. But then he smiled, eyes sparkling, and tugged at the ends of her hair. Hard. Too hard.

Mommy let out a small ow then smiled at him: at how he seemed to be fascinated with her hair. It warmed her heart. She didn't realize that his constant interest in her hair was nothing but an act. Gently, she tried untangling his fingers from the strand, but Aaron refused and grasped it tighter in his fist.

"Baby, stop. That hurts."

I'm sorry, Aaron thought. But babies are a lot of hard work.

Eventually Aaron stopped. He continued eating silently until Lou came back into the kitchen, for some reason attracting all attention towards him along.

Aaron watched as Mommy gave Daddy a pointed look, and his eyes dropped to the floor. Then, he effortfully pulled his gaze away from where it had dropped, and forced it to redirect towards Lou with heavy, shameful eyes. "Hey, Lou."

Lou had been in the middle of opening the fridge when he heard that. He just mumbled back inadequate acknowledgement, and proceeded what was at his hand without flicking one glance back at Daddy.

Daddy kept staring at Lou. "You talked to me, so you're not angry?"

"Just because I'm not disrespectful and actually answer when someone talks to me, doesn't mean I'm not angry."

  Daddy walked over to Lou, eyes that were filled with shame pleading for forgiveness. "Lou, please don't be angry with me. I know I messed up," he confessed. But Lou seemed unfazed, and Daddy understood that he was quite upset from the lack of proper response. He hated how his own brother wouldn't look him in the eye, how he was so pissed he couldn't even bring himself to talk to him more than a few words. "Look, you can brush Aaron's teeth when we're done. Do you want to?"

"Me?" Lou parroted mockingly. He quirked his eyebrows, shaking his head. "Why me? So you can come fight me for taking Aaron away from you after that? Yeah, no thanks. I'm not in the mood for another fight."

"Lou. No, I won't do that, I swear. You can brush his teeth after lunch. Please, forgive me."

"Nope."

"Lou, please. I'm so sorry. I'll do anything but please don't be angry."

Lou turned his back on Daddy and walked aside, his lips curling into a mischievous smile as his eyes landed on Aaron. He leant towards his ear. "This is how you make people do whatever you want, baby."

Aaron smiled slightly. He hadn't been able to hear everything they'd said clearly, but he could tell Daddy and him had fought. And now he understood that Lou liked to mess around quite much.

Mommy moved closer to them, her hand landing on Lou's arm placatingly as she urged him closer to Daddy again. She didn't didn't want her boys to hear.

"Lou, come on. He's trying to make it up for you. He knows he messed up." She glared at Daddy for a second. "He wants you to brush his teeth, and he won't attack you for it like he just did a little ago." Her eyes, a harsh mix of anger and warning, found Daddy's and remained there silently reprimanding him for his behavior. "He's gonna control his temper. Because he promised. And he knows his anger ruins things. Remember that night? Yeah. Nothing would've happened if you just could control your anger."

That night. No one spoke after Mommy brought it up. But then, Daddy mumbled my anger saved us and our future that night, and even though it wasn't meant to be heard, Mommy did catch it. She looked back at him sharply, then spoke very quietly; no one heard except Daddy.

"No. It didn't. It killed all of us. And it killed you the most."

Aaron noticed something about Mommy's eyes when she spoke. Something odd, something sinister? Maybe he was overthinking.

  The conversation ended there, with the ambiguity of that night, and the half forgiveness between Lou and Daddy.

Lou took Aaron to the bathroom and placed him on the counter, then reached for his toothbrush. Aaron stared at the cabinet, the same one Daddy had brought out the injection from. He knew he needed to check and take it if he could, but with Lou standing right in front of him, it was impossible. Just when Lou brought out a green toothbrush and made to squeeze some toothpaste onto it, Aaron quickly interjected.

"I don't think the green's mine. I think it's the blue. I remember Daddy brushed my teeth with it the first time."

Lou stared at the toothbrush in his hand for a second. "I think this one's for you. Leo wanted the blue because it's the same color as his eyes."

"Lou, I don't like brushing with other people's brushes. I like to have my own. Please, ask Daddy. Make sure this is mine."

"Alright. I'll ask him." Lou had barely even turned towards the door when he stopped and turned back, bending forwards towards Aaron, his hands landing on the counter at both sides of him and trapping his knees in between. From his cocked brown brows, Aaron could already tell that Lou had suspected he had something in his mind. "I'll be gone for just a minute. Try not to move. And please don't try anything stupid, we all know how that'll end. I'm just going to the staircase and I'll yell down to him. I'm not going far."

  What he'd said didn't scare Aaron, because he was already too determined on at least taking a look. Just when Lou went far into the corridor towards the stairs, Aaron scooted to the edge of the counter and dropped down, immediately turning towards the cabinet.

He sat on his knees by its side, then opened it just a crack and peeked inside, his eyes roaming through the detergents, toilet papers and countless other random things until he caught sight of the glistening edge of a needle shone from beneath pink plastics gloves. Cautiously, he removed the glove until the entire injection was revealed, and he stared at it as he wondered if he should invest the chance and take it or not.

Wait, he thought. Think well

Aaron himself would be very cautious handling it, but he had to hide it in his clothes for now, and he feared he'd actually stab himself with it. And if things went well and he was able to bring it back with him to playroom, hiding it
would be much more difficult than a key.

The thought of Leo finding it and stabbing himself horrified him as a starter pack, and the fact that if Leo didn't stab himself, he'd definitely tell the captors about it. It was an injection, not a key; they were different and he certainly wouldn't just throw it away.

Yeah, Aaron thought. Definitely not taking it now.

He decided he'd try to take it the very same day he wanted to escape. It was safer that way and lessened chances of getting caught. Right now, Aaron wanted to focus on the act he was putting up; he was trying to act like a baby as much as possible. Wasn't that what they wanted? Cool—he'd give them that.

A bratty baby was still a baby.

Aaron almost gasped when he remembered he was still on the floor, and quickly sprang up and clambered over the counter, seating himself exactly the way he'd been just when Lou finally stepped in.

"What have you been up to, you little devil?"

"Nothing," Aaron said, smiling innocently. Lou narrowed his eyes for a second. Then he sighed and held the green toothbrush.

"He said the green's for you. Now open up."

*_*_*_*_*

Afternoon was spent doing nothing much; the captors had put the boys to watch TV, then let them sit in the playpen, occasionally coming to check on them. And now, as the night shade was close to descending fully and veiling the daylight with darkness, Mommy decided it was time for a bottle. Leo was with Daddy drinking his, while Aaron was with Mommy.

  She let him sit in her lap with his head in the crook of her arm; the perfect position to bottle feed him his milk herself. As much as Aaron didn't want to agree, and as much as he wanted to ask to drink the milk by himself—because she had agreed on it once—he refrained any of that and stuck instead on sitting docilely and wordlessly in her lap. She neared the bottle to him, and he took the teat in his mouth, quickly beginning to suck the warm milk as he looked up at her.

  As she continued holding the bottle for him to drink, Aaron reached his hand to her face and randomly began touching her nose and cheeks, occasionally moving to feel around her eyes; a babyish habit he decided he'd try since what was he but a baby for her? Mommy laughed, amused, tilting her head away from his hand. But she failed and instead took the opportunity to nuzzle against his palm. She pecked his hand, once. Twice. A lot.

Aaron felt too much milk gather in his mouth, and even though he was fully capable of swallowing them quickly, he let them seep out until they dropped onto her sweater.

"Oh no, baby. You're dribbling." Mommy didn't look bothered by the little damp spot on her clothes, and angering her wasn't exactly Aaron's purpose. Trust was the aim; he needed them to believe that he was adapting and emerging into the fantasies they created. Because then, seeing as he was slowly behaving more like Leo, they'd hopefully trust him just as much. Mommy brought a napkin and cleaned around his mouth, then quickly continued feeding him. "You're so cute, baby. You're such a good boy. Even though you just dribbled all over me."

She laughed and tapped his nose, and Aaron just smiled up at her. His smile beamed with innocence and an angelic essence from the outside, but he had to battle himself so that the mischief brewing internally wouldn't reach out and contort it into a disgusted frown.

A baby was what they wanted, so he'd give them exactly that.

Aaron knew that escaping was very close. Very.

*_*_*_*_*_*

hii be prepared for a time lapse in the next chap!

Not sure anyone cares but sorry i didnt update yestersay! Turns out i have an ear infection + inflammation in my spinal joints so i couldn't focus enough to proofread. Tysm for reading/voting/commenting! Reading your thoughts makes my day better<33