Roll had tried everything he could think of to make Dim budge from the box corner, or pull a smile, say something, but to no use. The beetle was firmly settled in that position with the most defeated expression he ever had, this made the pill bug extremely worried, he had never seen his big friend like that.

The twins had arrived to the circus when Dim was already tamed and friendly, they didn't understand much of English but they knew he would gladly cover their mischief if it involved PT or some rude audience who disrespected Rosie.

Yeah, Rosie... she surely would be super worried as much as his brother, but for now they were ok, the Trevor human wasn't bad, he even left some fruit and nut pieces for them, but Dim didn't eat a thing.

"Why doesn't he eat?" Trevor had noticed the beetle not even tasting the food, and he had tried everything he could find that would be suitable for a bug in his house.

Every word was pain for the tiny insects, in the end Roll looked up and screamed a bunch of words in his native language, they couldn't be heard or understood by the child, but he saw something odd.

The pill bug was holding its antennae and... waving the little legs up and down, Trevor then whispered "Too high?"

Finally! This didn't hurt! Roll nodded, relieved, then thumbed up. Trevor widened his big brown eyes and ran in William's room to get a magnifying glass and check if he had gone insane.

No.

The small bug was thumbing up!

"You understand me??" Roll tilted his head, not getting what he said. But Dim could understand... If he would move, of course.

But still, the human had understood their pain and lowered his voice, that was a huge step forward.

"TREVOR!" William's voice came from the other room, he entered in their current one, visibly angry. Roll could finally see his face, not black like Trevor's, with brown short hair too and brown eyes, but the skin was kind of pink. Oh well, he was of a grayish blue, bugs had infinite colors, so there were different colored humans too, apparently.

"I told you one million times not to take my things!"

"Shhhh! Don't shout! You're hurting them!"

"Huh?"

He glanced at the box where the pill bug and the beetle were, then groaned in annoyance "I told you to free them somewhere, your mom won't allow bugs here"

"She's your mom too"

"No she's not. Now get rid of those before I feed them to Nina or squish them"

That word, he understood. Roll hid under Dim who glanced up with fear and started breathing heavily for anxiety. They were done for. At least that's what they thought, before Trevor got between William and the cardboard box, angrily looking at the older boy "No! I'm keeping them until I know what's wrong, they're smart. If you don't want to be a brother, be that way, but don't ruin what makes me happy!"

"You're mom already ruined what made me happy!"

"Not her fault if your mom ran away from you and Daddy with someone else!"

William stood there, gritting his teeth and tears forming in his eyes, Trevor had widened his own and covered his mouth

"W... William... i...!"

But the older boy already ran in his own room and slammed the door shut. Trevor sat on the floor, filled with guilt for what he said. While Roll hadn't understood much, Dim had understood the situation a little bit, he still didn't move but when Trevor came back to the box, he looked up with sad eyes.

"I didn't mean to..." Trevor sobbed, he tried being a good brother but a thirteen year old boy with a trauma was not easy to heal for a six year old one.

Dim felt bad about the giant yet small kid, he was still scared about the surroundings and he still thought Rosie didn't want him anymore, but both him and Roll could now tell he wasn't bad.

When they heard footsteps approaching, Trevor immediately closed the box and pushed it under his bed, Dim yelped for the sudden movement, catching Roll with his forelegs.

They listened carefully as now another voice came from outside, feminine. Most likely Trevor's mother and William's adoptive mother.

"You know you mustn't say that to your brother..." she said, not angry though.

"I know, but he was being mean and i didn't thought about it. Why does he hate me?"

"He doesn't hate you, he's angry and sad, it's not easy for him to find strangers in his life... Maybe the vacation spent all together was a bit too soon"

Dim listened carefully to all that. Apparently Trevor's Mom and William's Dad were together now, but the older boy didn't want that change in his life...

He felt sympathy, even if he acted mean before.

"Meow" the cat had trotted inside and went close to the box. Dim feared again for his life but Trevor immediately called her over and gave her pats before throwing a small ball so she could chase it away.

The beetle sighed in relief, he wasn't a bad kid.

He wished he could say thank you, but he couldn't be heard.

Later on, once the mom got out, Trevor pulled the box out "You ok?" He whispered, this time Dim nodded as well. Trevor extended his pinky finger towards him to gently, very gently pet the beetle, who felt how skin was for the first time in his life, weird, but not bad.

"I was worried... Yeah, that was mom. She loves William too but she says it'll take some time... I love Daddy, even if he's not my real dad"

Roll grasped a very few words but got the point, more or less. Dim looked down for a moment before settling down, he was tired.

Trevor wanted to not keep them in the dark, so he made some holes in the cardboard to let light come in the box, before going to bed after saying goodnight.

Dim felt safer with some lights around, he was tired, so was Roll, who crawled on his back "Tired" the pill bug said.

"Same..." Dim spoke, peeking of a hole to look at everything he could see.

The room was huge, but a lot of things had letters on, this gave him an idea, he would try speaking to the boy tomorrow.