636 awoke to someone poking her rib cage. Fearing it might be the scientists she shot up from her mat in a panic. The first thing she noticed was her pair of shackles on the ground next to her. The next was Seth’s shocked expression.

“Sorry. I just got bored so I thought I’d wake you up.” He scratched the back of his head nervously and smiled.

636 rubbed the red skin where the chains had been and returned his smile. “Did you take off my shackles?” She questioned.

Seth started twirling around a strand of hay and looked towards the ground. “Yeah sorry about that. I know you told me not to but you looked uncomfortable so I took them off while you were asleep. I was gonna put them back once I woke up but I um,” he met her gaze and blushed, “I didn’t really want to.”

636 blinked at him, not knowing how to respond. She didn’t have much practice talking to people, let alone someone her age. She stared at him and he fidgeted under her gaze. Seth didn’t seem like he was used to a girl paying this much attention towards him. It was like every move he made was done to impress her in the hopes that she’d continue to talk to him.

Seth cleared his throat, snapping 636 out of her trance. “So I know that you don’t like the name sunshine so how about Sunny.” 636 shook her head while holding in a laugh.

“I liked Sunshine better.” She joked.

Seth let out a defeated grunt and flopped down from his sitting position so his back was flat against the ground. “I’m not calling you a name you laughed at.” He mumbled, mostly towards himself.

“That’s okay. I think I’d rather be called by my actual name anyway.”

Upon hearing that, Seth practically jumped back up. “You knew your name this whole time!” The look of complete disbelief on his face made 636 chuckle. She brought a hand up to cover her smile.

“Yep.” She said, emphasizing the ‘p’.

Seth shook his hands frantically. “Well?” He encouraged her to continue. “What is it?” His desperation to know was amusing to 636 to say the least but she shook her head.

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“I can’t tell you.” She turned her head this time to hide her smile. She was not the best at teasing people.

“What? Why?” Seth’s patience was running thin. 636 observed his pupils, that had gone wide and his other mannerisms that showed his annoyance.

“It’s a secret.” Seth glared at her.

“You have to tell your best friend all of your secrets.” He said, completely serious, like it was common knowledge and left no room for argument, but it made 636 confused.

“What’s a best friend?”

“Me. Now stay on topic here.” He grabbed each of her shoulders and forced her to look at him. “What is your name?”

636 matched Seth’s seriousness and erased all emotion from her face. “Table.” She watched as Seth’s face changed from a serious glare to a humorous smile as he laughed. He fell back laughing and pointing at 636 as he struggled to get words out. “It’s not even that funny!” He put a hand over his mouth. “I don’t know why I’m laughing.” 636 felt a bit of pride. She was glad she, too, could make the other break out into a fit of laughter.

“You were messing with me. Wow. Did not think you had it in you.” They both laid back onto their mats, looking at each other through the bars. Eventually, Seth managed to calm down. He directed his gaze to the ceiling, pondering.

“Promise me something.” He returned his gaze to her. “When you do find out your name, I’ll be the first to know.”

“You think I have a real name?”

“Well yeah, you have to.”

636 pondered this for a moment. She had to have had parents at some point, she knew that. She guessed it would only make sense for them to have named her. But her name had been lost once she was brought here.

“Seth?”

“Yeah?”

“Why do you have a real name?” When he told her his name, she got a little jealous. Why did he get one but she didn’t? All she had was a number, what was the number given to him? Why did the doctors give him a name?

“My parents gave it to me so that’s what I had everyone I met call me. Eventually they caught on and figured out that was my name.”

636 scrunched her eyebrows in thought. “You’re from the outside world?” He nodded and 636 had an epiphany. The way he acted made sense now. He didn’t fear the people here because he never had to deal with their cruelty.

“If you promise to tell me about the outside world, I’ll promise to tell you my name. You’ll be the first person I ever tell.” Seth smiled and held out his pinkie finger. 636 just stared at it so he took her hand and made it mirror his and then he linked their fingers together.

“I promise.”