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[liberatedpet]

Jeroen was bored. He kicked at a book on the floor, where he'd discarded it. It wasn't anything interesting anyway, just another book he didn't know enough English to read. He kicked at it again, a little more viciously, then pulled his foot back at Walt moved to investigate the book

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[coffee_sir]

Ianto didn't have much of anything to do either. However, he wasn't sighed about it. He wandered into the rec room, wearing a waistcoat and tie for no particular reason, the shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a cup of coffee in hand. Noticing the book on the floor, Ianto bent to pick it up, smiling lightly at the boy and his dog.

"Hello," he greeted. "Nice dog."

[liberatedpet]

Jeroen looked up at the voice. It was unfamiliar, but he'd been getting better at dealing with unfamiliar, so he smiled at the man. "Hallo," he said, then after quickly translating in his head, "thank you."

[coffee_sir]

Hearing the accent in the boy's words, Ianto paused as he put away the book, glancing over at him. "Are you from the Netherlands?" he asked, managing the question in Dutch easily enough.

[liberatedpet]

Jeroen's polite smile widened, growing considerably warmer. "Ja," he said brightly. There were people who spoke Dutch on the island, but never enough, really.

[coffee_sir]

"My friend taught me," Ianto explained easily, though he knew some Dutch before Daniel had ever started muttering it under his breath. "Some," he amended. "You been here long?"

[liberatedpet]

Jeroen counted the months in his head quickly, even though it wasn't really required. His birthday was in a month. "Seven months," he said, holding up seven fingers in case the number was wrong.

[coffee_sir]

Ianto didn't have to do the math in his head. It was like breathing. "Me too," he said with a small smile. "Did you make friends?" he asked, wondering to himself. The boy couldn't possibly have taken care of himself all this time.

[liberatedpet]

Jeroen nodded, fingers rubbing through Walt's fur. "Even girls," he offered.

[coffee_sir]

Ianto's eyebrows rose at that. "Wow," he said. "That's impressive. Must have been desperate," he teased gently, remembering how kids at this age were.

[liberatedpet]

Jeroen nodded solemnly, completely serious. They had kept talking to him.

[coffee_sir]

Ianto grinned a little more and took a sip of his coffee. "Still, girls are better than no one," he said. "You go to school?"

[liberatedpet]

Jeroen nodded. "I take English." He said, a little proud. His English wasn't great, but he understood more than he spoke.

[coffee_sir]

"Are you good at it?" Ianto asked, switching back to the language in question with a light grin. "You take anything else?"