•••

ELEVEN AND TWELVE SAT SIDE BY SIDE AS THE MAN SAT ACROSS from them, placing two burgers and two fries on the table in front of them, everyone else that was at the restaurant had left, leaving the two kids with the man.

Eleven looked at the man across her and starts eating the food quickly. Twelve glanced towards the girl with uncertainty and slowly grabbed one of the fries, putting it up to his plushies mouth, who was sitting on the table facing him, pretending like the octopus was actually eating, before chewing on the fry himself.

Once Twelve tasted the salty goodness he forgot about 'feeding Ben' and started munching on the food just as quickly as Eleven was with her burger.

The man crossed his arms looking at the kids with a concerned gaze. "Geez. Did your parents forget to feed you?"

Eleven just ignored him and continued eating, but Twelve glanced at the man anxiously, slowly moving his hand to grab one of Ben's tentacles and squeezing it 3 times, before going back to the food.

"Is that why you two ran away?" The man asked again, but not receiving a response, causing him to sigh and look to the side for a second. "They, uh, they hurt you?"

Twelve glanced towards the girl who was still ignoring the man, the boy grabbed his plush from the table hugging it, trying to get the same comfort he got from hugging Five, while continued cautiously eating, trying to ignore the looks the man's sending him every time Twelve fidgets.

The man shook his head in frustration. "You went to the hospital, you got scared. You ran off, you wound up here, is that it?"

Eleven stopped chewing, slowly looking at the man.

"All right," The man said, grabbing the burger out the girl's hand, putting it in the basket, and taking it away, doing the same to the boy. "I'll give this back, all right? And you can have as much as you want. All right? Maybe even some ice cream. But you gotta answer some of my questions first, okay? We got a deal?"

The two kids shared a look, and Twelve shrugged, pursing his lips, before lifting Ben on the table once more and making the octopus dance, wiggling its tentacles, and furrowing his eyebrows as he thought over the man's words.

'What is ice...cream?' the boy thought, he remembered vaguely that Five, Four, and Three said it was really good but never explained what it was.

The man looked at the boy chuckling when he sees the octopus 'dancing', before going back to the main focus. "Okay, let's start off easy, all right?"

The man lifted his hand out to shake, while the kids just glance at it, not knowing what to do. "My name's Benny. Benny Hammond."

Twelve looked towards the man, narrowing his eyes slightly before turning to Ben, his plushie in confusion.

Twelve looked at the guy's hand, Five had said to him it was for greeting or being respectful. Twelve's brows knitted together as his heart ached at the thought of Five. Not knowing if he's alive or not was torture for the young boy.

Benny watched the kids' looks of confusion, grabbing Eleven's hand, causing her to flinch and pull back slightly. "It's okay. I got you. Don't worry. See? Like this." He said, putting the girl's hand in his and shaking it softly. "Nice to meet you, and you are?"

Eleven didn't answer, causing the man to sigh glancing down at their conjoined hands catching sight of a tattoo with 011 on her wrist. Eleven pulled back harshly, scooting closer to Twelve, who was oblivious of the actions, as she realized what happened.

Benny looked towards the boy's wrist, as the boy played with his stuffed octopus and saw the same tattoo just with the number 012.

"Twelve? Eleven? What's that mean?" the man rubbed his face.

Twelve's head snapped up at his name, looking at the man with wide panicked eyes.

"No," Eleven said almost in a whisper, causing the boy to turn to her, the girl catches his panicked state and grabbed his free hand under the table as his other one held Ben.

"Well, I'll be damned. She speaks!" Benny chuckled. " 'No' No, what?"

When the man gets no response he clicks his tongue, grabbing the baskets of food. "All right, no more food then."

Eleven followed the man's movements with her eyes as he stands up with the food. "Eleven. Twelve."

Ben sat back down, "Yeah. What's it mean?"

Twelve looked towards the girl, then goes back to making the octopus dancing, ignoring the conversation, trying to get his mind off Five but was not successful.

The girl pointed at herself, "Eleven." then she pointed towards the boy next to her. "Twelve."

The man turned to the boy, who has yet to speak or open up the man then looks at the octopus in his hands, smiling softly. "Hey, who's this?" Benny asked, gesturing towards the plushie as Twelve looked up.

Twelve looked towards Eleven who gave him a reassuring nod, then back to the man. "B-ben." the boy mumbled, his voice cracked slightly.

The older man smiled that he got the two to speak "That's gonna be easy to remember, isn't buddy." he sighed handing them the food, chuckling as the two start eating quickly once again.

Benny then got up going into the kitchen, leaving the two kids alone.

Twelve sighed sadly as he finished his last fry, glancing towards his untouched burger, then turning to Eleven who still had a basket full of fries as she eats her burger.

Twelve slowly went to grab Eleven's fries, and Eleven raised an eyebrow, slapping the boy's hand away. Twelve leaned back in his seat pouting in hunger, then sat up as he thought of an idea.

The boy grabbed his burger and offered it to Eleven, who stared at him then grabbed it and gave him her fries, causing the boy to slightly smile.

As they ate, the obnoxious rattling of the fan nearby made them stop, Twelve looked towards the girl in a silent plea as she nodded.

Turning, she glares at the fan, using her telekinesis to turn it off, before going back to eating.

Twelve looked out the window, hugging Ben tightly as he sees a kid around his age with black hair, reminding him of Five, sighing sadly as the kid walks past the building.

•••

A/N) I have a massive headache right now like oh my thor, but I hope you liked the chapter!!