the three viruses meeting for the first time? - au anon
I gave you a bit more than you’ve asked for, you lucky duck.
Arin was alone for a while. Not in the typical sense. There were lab coats following him around all day. Feeding him, taking care of him, poking him with needles. It was like having thirty different parents, all watching over you at once.
And there was Brian, who watched him and constantly asked him how he felt. If anything hurt. If he was feeling okay. If he felt ill. Arin always felt fine. Sometimes he felt a little hot, but Brian said that was normal. Sometimes he felt a little lonely, Brian said that was normal, too.
But Arin knew that there was more to all of this than he’d seen. He slept in a tube, liquid keeping him suspended and constantly bubbling around him. He slept in a tube between two other tubes that were just like his, albeit empty.
The day the tube on Arin’s right was no longer empty was an amazing one. Not only was there liquid filling the tube, the same translucent, pale green that filled Arin’s, but there was another something in there. He asked Brian what it was and Brian taught him the word ‘child.’ Later, Brian would teach him the word ‘friend.’
Barry was great. He was strong, though not as strong as Arin, and he liked jokes and talking. And Arin and Barry were allowed to run around and play together in a special room that was just for them. Arin liked that Barry made him feel smart because Arin could explain all the names for things that he knew and all the facts about life and people he could remember. But Barry asked a lot about the outside and he liked to look through windows a lot, which Arin tried to ignore. That’s what Brian had told him to do, so he did.
When Danny showed up, Arin and Barry had both become partial to the word ‘brother.’ They liked it better than ‘friend’ because it felt closer and warmer and safer. Barry and Arin were brothers and Danny was their third. They had been hoping the last tube would be filled for months. And finally, here he was, all dressed in blue and wide-eyed about the world.
Arin and Barry taught Danny like Arin had taught Barry and Brian had taught Arin. They showed him toys and running and lights and floors. They taught him numbers and letters and how to write and draw. Danny didn’t focus as well as the other, too, but they just had to be more patient with him.
Danny listened to Barry talk about the outside a lot. It made Arin nervous because Brian said that’s what he was supposed to feel. Danny and Barry wondered what clouds felt like and if trees were actually as tall as the ones in the books. They wondered what birds sounded like and if cats and dogs actually talked and sang like in the movies.
It took a very long time for Barry and Danny to make Arin curious. But they certainly did and now Arin wondered about outside, too. He mostly wondered why Brian had told him not to think about it and why Brian kept it from them. Why were they not allowed outside? But every time he asked, Brian wouldn’t listen, wouldn’t answer his questions.
The one time Brian got angry with the questions, Arin got angry right back. He fought and he punched and he kicked. Brian had to put him back in his tube early and Brian taught him the word ‘punishment.’
Barry and Danny didn’t like the word very much, but Brian had told Arin he deserved it, and so he sat in his tube and sulked. While Arin did this, Barry and Danny made a plan.
The next day, Arin was allowed out of his tube again and he was in a much better mood. Barry and Danny whispered the plan they had come up with to Arin and, at the first sign of being alone, the three taught themselves how to break a window. They climbed out quickly, leaving behind everything they’d known and let the feeling of wind and sun overtake their senses.
Finally, all three of them learned the word ‘free.’