Alex ate all of the strawberries, and the sweetness kicked him with sudden energy. It filled his stomach a little bit, and he almost forgot about the terrible fatigue earlier. Teo sent him a shy smile. 

A question suddenly popped up in his mind. He couldn’t stop himself before he blurted it all out. “Have you done something like this before?” He had no idea why that question, out of all the obvious ones about the strange reason Teo was here for, or literally anything else. 

Teo looked surprised too.  “..oh, yeah.." He answered after a few seconds. "I have, it was actually with yo-”  He suddenly clasped a hand over his mouth. It was obvious that he didn’t mean to say it. His eyes widened a bit, and he hopelessly looked Alex's way.  "No no no, I meant......"

"What?? With me?" What the fuck does he mean..? The level of confusion in Alex's mind was utterly unbelievable. Like what.....and when....

“Um…..kind of….?” Teo knew he was caught guilty. And that he needs to explain by the sharp look Alex was sending him. It was like Alex saw the cogs in his head trying to think of a way to deflate the whole situation, but it was too late.

“Oh my god. Are you fucking serious?!?” Teo flinched at Alex’s furious tone. “So I spent I don’t know how many days paranoid, just because of your little fucking tradition??!” 

“...I...guess…..?” Teo said in a quiet tone. He had nothing more to add.

“A dead fucking smelly disgusting rotting animal as a GIFT???” Alex remembered the empty look in the animal's eyes from before. He hardly suppressed a shudder.

“Well…..yeah, we hunt those to prove our determination. And…..I never questioned it that much, so I hadn’t thought about how you’d react……” Teo looked at the ground. He was ashamed and kicked the ground behind him with one of his legs.

“I’m sorry……” He said. Alex felt a little bad, but he knew he was justified in feeling this way. He imagined Teo, in the woods……like….. hunting a wild animal. Did he use something like a spear? But he remembers a big hole in the deer's stomach…..

“My……uh, clan has been apart from humans for a long time, you know…” Alex returned his attention to Teo.

“Clan? That sounds almost like medieval....” Maybe he beat it with a big hammer…

“Well… kind of, because we’re…….kind of different.”

Oh my god…is he…

“......are you in a cult? Really dude?” Alex was really considering if this guy joined a cult. Animal sacrifices and staying away from society…..yeah, that kinda fits.

No, we’re………ugh..” Teo grunted, it looked like he was frustrated. He covered his face with one of his hands. “I’m…..not like you.”

“.....yeah okay…that explains so much.” Alex said sarcastically. He crossed his arms. 

Teo stayed quiet after that.

Alex sighed. This is getting nowhere.

"Give me your number." Alex went to hand him his phone, but he was confused by Teo's expression.

"My number like......my serial number??" Teo was looking at his phone like some kind of deadly weapon. "Are humans cloning already???"

Teo scratched his face. "....I thought I learned everything about humans nowadays……..even slang and stuff…….." He said it so quietly, Alex didn't catch what he fully said.

"I meant like....your phone number dude." I'm so fucking done...

"........oh. I don't have that." Teo almost searchingly looked at Alex's exposed arms, and clearly wherever his skin was exposed as if he could find a serial number somewhere. Alex internally rolled his eyes. His plan to ask Teo questions even more safely through the phone was clearly canceled.

".....alright. Then, let's sit there." Alex averted his gaze to look to the side, to the direction of the campfire, and the log benches around it. "I wanna.......get to know you, I guess." He hated the way he put the words together. He hated the way Teo hopefully looked at him. But......there was also something else in Teo's eyes. Something he has never seen before in him.

He almost looked...........a little untamed under his friendly facade. I'll keep my distance.

Alex waited for Teo to go first, then he followed. He realized something while looking at Teo's back, slowly walking forward. He's really the only one left. The only one who cares about his existence. This unknown guy who he's known for like 2 days, was the closest person he had in his life.

How pitiful.