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"Are you in pain?" Dennis looked around for a pill bottle. "Where are they?"

"Regular strength doesn't work. And who're you?" Luke blinked groggily over at the kid, his hand throbbing painfully.

"Dennis! Dennis Creevey? Captain Jack lets me do research here!" Dennis started to offer his hand to shake, thought better of it, and dug a bag out of his pockets instead. "Want a chocolate frog? Chocolate naturally increases endorphins release, you know, which is why it makes you feel better! Unless you eat too much of it!"

Wow, this kid was hyper. "Uh, sure. How old are you, anyway?" He couldn't be that old. Why was Jack hiring kids? That seemed...unusual.

"I'm thirteen!" Dennis said, a little annoyed. "I'm just a little short, is all! There's nothing wrong with that!"

"What's a thirteen year old doing in a Torchwood Hub?" Luke raised his eyebrows. "This is kinda a dangerous place."

"Right now, I'm researching the causes of and solutions to lycanthropic transfigurations, on account of the werewolves that aren't werewolves, maybe! And I do cataloguing too," Dennis added, "neither of which are dangerous! I mean, not particularly dangerous! You know, in the grand scheme of things! And you don't look that much older than me! Eighteen?"

"Twenty-one," he corrected, although his lips were beginning to curve upwards in a smile. Dennis seemed like an energetic and fun kid. The way that Luke should have been, had he had better parents.

"That's only eight years!" Dennis said as if it were nothing instead of more than half his own age. "You're a field agent, right? That's way more dangerous than being in here!" And then, because he was naturally honest, he couldn't help adding, "Probably!"

"I don't have anything to lose," he said softly. "The only thing I have is Torchwood. You, however, you probably have a family, don't you? Nah, I got disowned when I was eighteen. The only people to miss me if something were to happen would be Torchwood."

"You have your life to lose! That'd be bad! And I'm sure everybody here would miss you, so there's that, too! Um!" Dennis frowned. "Is asking why you were disowned bad? I mean, you don't have to tell me! I don't want to make you sad when you're already in pain!"

"Rather risk my life for the human race than just die on the streets like I was before." He shrugged. "I scared my mom. She thought I was going to kill her. She was so blind. She didn't care about me, so it was all for the best anyway."

"Why, um! Mmf!" Dennis bounced a little on the spot with the force of repressed questions and then suddenly beamed. "Hey, wanna see something cool?"

"I don't care if you want to interrogate me," he said with a small smile. "But sure, show me something cool."

"I found them while cataloguing, because I was looking up the effects of hypersonics on the limbic and neural systems in xenospecies and someone had put them in with the ELF transmitters for, um, actually, I don't know why they'd do that! Completely wrong! Anyway!" Dennis bounded across to his work area, and dug through a large cardboard box before coming back with something half way between dreidel and spinning top. "Think of a song you like! I mean, really think of it! Go on, it's nothing bad, I promise!"

"What does it do?" Luke wasn't unused to new toys, and he didn't trust them. Likely it was just going to blow up or summon some murderous alien species and he did not want to be blamed for that.

"Aww, it's more fun as a surprise but, here, I'll show you! See, it recognises particular, ah, sort of thought shapes? Um!" He concentrated on the top and then gave it a spin. Immediately, it started playing Surfin' USA to the accompaniment of glowing colours, pulsing in time to the music. "Isn't that cool? That's by the Beach Boys! I was named after their drummer, you know!"

Luke laughed, rather pleased by it. Beach Boys wouldn't have been his choice. Maybe something more along the lines of AC/DC or Metallica. "This song makes me think of California. I wonder if it's really all that sunny. I suppose I'll have to visit someday."

"You could go to Hollywood!" Dennis beamed. "I want to go the Chinese Theatre with all the stars! Plus, they say Los Angeles averages three-hundred and twenty sunny days a year! That's a whole lot of sun!"

"Los Angeles is smelly, from what I hear. My girlfriend used to live there. She says all the pollution gets stuck since there's mountains on both sides." He frowns. "Nah, I'd go somewhere closer to the beach. I think there's a really cool boardwalk in Santa Cruz. That might be fun."

"That's kinda sad! The smell, not the boardwalk! The boardwalk sounds like fun! I don't really know anything about Santa Cruz, though!"

"Sandy beaches, blue skies..." He sighed happily. "I would like that. I think there's an amusement park there too."

"Do they roller-coasters?" Dennis beamed. "Roller-coasters are brilliant! It's like flying, but you don't have to worry about crashing into anything or not being able to steer well!"

"I dunno, probably. I've never been on a roller coaster before. Never been to an amusement park, for that matter."

Dennis blinked at him. "What, really, never?"

"Never. Didn't have any friends to go with, and my mother would never have taken me." He shrugged.

"Could you not afford it? I, I mean, there's nothing wrong that! Lots of people can't! Or, like, if your mum had to work all day, every day?"

Dennis was still giving him 'what, never?' looks.

"Probably could have afforded it. My mother just didn't like me all that much. My father abused me, she neglected me, I didn't have the greatest home life as a kid."

Dennis frowned. "Did, um, did he abuse her too?"

"Nah, he only took it out on me. But he left when I was seven, so I didn't have to deal with it too much." He absently rubbed at the cigarette burns scarred onto his arms.

"That still sucks!" Dennis reached out absently for the top to set in spinning again, this time playing Space Oddity. "People shouldn't have kids if they're not going to be nice to them!"

"I agree. I wouldn't want anyone else to have to go through a bad childhood. Screws you up for the rest of your life, you know."

Dennis fidgeted for a bit, hunched in on himself and frowning and then, with sudden renewed energy, bounced up straighter, beaming. "We should go! Well, not now, now, but when you're healed! It'll be fun! Plus Captain Jack only lets me work a limited number of hours, even though I could totally work more, so I have free time, and having fun is good for recuperation, so I'm sure he'd let you come!"

Luke smiled slowly. "Yeah, that sounds alright. That would be nice. And since I've started Torchwood I've had more money than I know what to do with."

"Awesome!" Dennis grinned. "We'll start on the small roller-coasters and work our way up, so you can get acclimatised!"

Luke laughed at Dennis's enthusiasm. It would be good to have someone so positive bouncing around the Hub.

"Alright, Dennis. I hereby place my amusement park safety in your capable hands."

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omg looove your dennis! <3 he's so cute!