#borrower gem

 “Skizz?” She called out to him. “What are you doing?” Skizz jumped and his eyes immediately looked down and widened when he saw Gem.

 “Gemstone? I could ask you the same thing.” Skizz said with a chuckle, kneeling down so he wasn’t so far above her.

 “Just thought it was weird you hadn’t gone inside yet.” Gem said with a shrug.

 “Yeah, turns out I forgot my keys this morning. And since Impulse locked the door on his way out, I got no way to get in.” Skizz sighed and then looked at his watch. “And Impulse doesn’t get home for another two hours. Which means I’m stuck out here.”

 Gem hummed, looking up at the lock on the door. Maybe Skizz wasn’t as stuck as he thought. “Actually, I think I can help!” Gem exclaimed with a grin. Skizz blinked, tilting his head.

 “Oh?” Skizz asked and Gem nodded.

 “Yep. Here, pick me up and I’ll show you.” Gem said.

 Skizz froze at her suggestion. Had he heard her right? “You want me to…pick you up? Are you sure?”

 “I…oh.” Gem paused, realizing what she had just asked Skizz to do. At this point in time, Gem still hadn’t been picked up or held at all, by either Impulse or Skizz. Gem was usually very adamant that she didn’t need the help, preferring to climb and get places her own way. The fact that she had asked Skizz to pick her up without even thinking about it was weird.

 Well…maybe not so weird. She did trust him after all. Though she was nervous about being held, Grian had done it and was fine. Of course he was. And the more Gem thought about it, the more okay she was with Skizz picking her up. Besides, if she wanted to help him, she needed a way up there.

 Gem shushed him gently and Grian frowned. “Just trust me on this Grian, please.” Gem all but pleaded with him. Before Grian could answer her in turn, he was once again pulled along as Gem pulled them out from underneath the couch.

 Grian blinked. This was wrong. “Gem, we shouldn’t be here.” He whispered, glancing around the room. 

 “Trust me.” She said again and Grian was getting tired of Gem not saying anything else. She then turned toward the expanse of the room and did the one thing Grian absolutely was not expecting. She yelled. “Impulse! Skizz!”

 Suddenly, the floor below them started to shake, in the way that it did when humans were walking. Grian’s eyes widened as two humans rounded the corner. He felt frozen for only a moment before he tugged on Gem’s hand and tried to run back toward the couch. Back toward the safety of the walls.

 But Gem didn’t budge, her hand only tightening its hold around his and now Grian was really starting to question everything. 

 “Hey Gem…oh, is that Grian?” The one wearing a yellow I on his shirt said. Grian’s mind went blank, more than it had been lately. The humans’ knew their names. The humans’ knew their names. He turned to Gem but she didn’t seem surprised by this at all.

 Grian’s eyes widened even more when Gem answered back. “Yeah, he’s feeling a lot better but he’s still a bit out of it. I figured now would be a good time for you guys to check on him though.” Gem said. At her words, the two humans kneeled down, so close they could reach out and grab them. Grian continued to pull on Gem’s hand, trying to pull them to safety, but she stayed firm.

 The other human, the one with scars all over his arms, furrowed his brows. “Uh, Gemstone, he looks…terrified.”

 Gem bit her lip and in turn squeezed Grian’s hand even tighter. “I…didn’t exactly tell him about all of this.” Gem admitted.

 “Well no wonder then.” The same human said, wincing.

 “He wouldn’t have come if I did say anything. This was the only way. We need to make sure he’s going to be okay.” Gem said and then turned to Grian. He noticed the bit of guilt in her eyes but it was outshined by her determination and worry. “Grian, I promise you, they’re good. Okay? They were the ones who gave me the medicine that helped you.”

 It took Grian a moment to connect all the dots, to follow along with their conversation. But when he did, he was horrified. “You…you’ve spoken to them before? You revealed yourself?”

 Gem hesitated for only a moment before nodding. “I did it for you. I couldn’t just sit back and watch you die. Not when there was another option.”

 “The other option is death for both of us! Or-Or becoming some humans’ pets.” Grian exclaimed, not understanding how Gem could do this. “Did you even stop to think that there are two of them and two of us? They’ve got one for each of them now!” Grian threw his hands up, though since Gem was still holding on to one, he ended up lifting her hand up as well.

 Gem glared at him. “I would rather become a pet then have to sit back and watch you die!” She pulled their arms back down, tears filling her eyes. “I can’t lose you, Grian. If that meant sacrificing myself so you could have medicine then I was prepared to hand myself over.”

 A throat being cleared pulled their attention away from each other and up toward the humans. There was definitely a mix of emotions going through the two of them. A mix of feeling awkward and sad and horrified were the ones Grian could make out. Which confused him.

 “Hey now, uh, none of that is going to happen.” The one wearing the yellow I said, putting his hands up. “You’re not going to be…our-our pets.” He winced as he said it, sounding awkward.

 “Yeah! We really do just want to help.” The other one chimed in.

 Gem felt her cheeks heat up, forgetting for a moment that they were there. “I-I know that.” She turned back to Grian. “I do know. I’ve been coming back the last couple of days while you’ve been recovering to keep them updated and talk with them.” Her eyes softened. “They’re good. I promise.”

 Grian didn’t even know what to do with the information that Gem had been talking with these humans for multiple days now. It went against everything they were ever taught as borrowers. He still felt like running away and cowering in fear. But the earnest look in Gem’s eyes made him pause.

 “I…I don’t know…” Grian said, closing his eyes and hanging his head. He really was at a loss for what to do.

 “Maybe it would be better if we introduced ourselves?” One of them said and Grian opened his eyes and looked up to meet the human’s. The human smiled. “I’m Skizz. And this is my buddy Impulse.” He wrapped a hand around Impulse’s shoulder, giving him a side hug. “Gemstone here came to us a few days ago and asked for our help and we couldn’t just not.”

 “Why?” Grian asked, speaking to them for the first time.

 “Because we’re not the kind of people to turn someone away in need.” Impulse explained, eyes soft.

 Grian still didn’t fully trust them. “Or because you wanted the chance to grab the both of us.”

 Impulse tilted his head. “Well, if that was the case. Why haven’t we done it already?”

 Grian blinked, not expecting that. “What?”

 “We could just grab you right now, you couldn’t stop us.” Impulse shrugged but his face revealed his true emotions. He didn’t like what he was saying but he knew he needed to say it. “So why haven’t we done it already?”

 Grian…didn’t know what to say to that. His head hurt and not just from whatever remained of his sickness. It was true though. They were here, out in the open. There was nothing stopping the two humans from grabbing them and trapping them. But they…weren’t. And Grian had a feeling, that if he managed to get out of Gem’s grip and run back to the walls, they wouldn’t stop him then either.

 “See?” Gem said and Grian focused back on her. “They had a lot of opportunities to grab even just me. But they never even reached toward me. Not even the first time I showed myself.” She grabbed Grian’s other hand and fully turned him toward her. “So please, let them look you over? Just so we know the medicine is working.”

 Grian searched Gem’s eyes before hanging his head and sighing. “...Fine.”

 “Thank you.” Gem said, eyes shining.

 “Great!” Skizz said, smiling. “We should probably move this to the table then.” Gem nodded and then both humans stood up. Grian tried not to look, turning away. He noticed Gem doing the same. It seemed, despite her trust in them, it was still hard getting rid of certain fears.

 The two humans started to head toward the couch so they could sit and Gem followed far behind, pulling Grian along to head over to the coffee table.

 But as they started to walk, the dizziness hit Grian again suddenly. He groaned and placed his free hand on his head, trying to stop the room from spinning. Gem stopped and looked at him in concern. “Grian? Are you okay?”

 He shook his head, not feeling up to lying right now. His mind had cleared when he had had that freak out over the humans knowing about him. But now that things had settled and Grian was calmer again, the fogginess and dizziness had seemed to come back tenfold.

 He was vaguely aware the humans had come back over, kneeling again to see what was happening. “Should we do this another time?” Skizz asked, looking at Grian in concern.

 Grian, surprisingly, was the one to shake his head. “We’ve already come this far.” He said, after taking a breath. “And-And I don’t want Gem to be as worried anymore. I just…I don’t think I can climb like this.”

 “Well…” Impulse started, biting his lip. “You don’t…have to?”

 Grian blinked, brain too foggy to process things well again. But Gem seemed to pick up on what Impulse meant. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

 “What?” Grian asked, wanting them to speak clearly.

 “I could pick you up?” Impulse said. “And then bring you over to the coffee table.”

 “Oh.” Grian said, now understanding. Gem looked just as nervous as Grian felt at that. But Grian was still thinking about it. “...Okay.”

 Gem’s eyes widened. “Whoa, are you sure?”

 Grian shrugged. He wasn’t really. “No, but you said you trusted them, right?” Gem nodded despite still looking nervous. “Then if I’m going through with this, which I want to for you, then I guess this is what we’ll have to do.”

 He took a few shaky steps forward, toward Impulse and Skizz, Gem finally releasing his hand. He stood tall despite the dizziness hitting him hard and nodded at them. Impulse blinked, not really expecting Grian to agree. “Oh, uh, okay. Right, let’s see…” Impulse sounded just as nervous as Grian felt, which actually put him at ease a bit.

 Impulse reached a hand out and Grian braced himself. But instead of being grabbed, Impulse placed his hand down, palm up, in front of Grian. Grian blinked at the offer. “Hop on whenever you’re ready.” Impulse said.

 Grian stared at the hand for a good few moments before taking in a deep breath and stepping on. It felt weird. The surface was firm, squishy, and soft all at the same time. He made his way to the middle but didn’t really want to stay standing, so he plopped himself down into a seated position.

 When Impulse was sure Grian was secure, he slowly lifted his hand up, standing as he did so. Grian closed his eyes at the feeling, only opening them again when Impulse stopped moving up. “You okay?” He asked and Grian nodded.

 “Uh, did you want a lift too?” He heard Skizz ask Gem.

 “No, but thank you Skizz.” Gem answered, still sounding nervous.

 Impulse went over and sat down on the couch and then carefully lowered his hand and placed it on the coffee table. Despite the ride not being that bad, Grian still wasted no time in getting off the hand.

 Skizz took a seat next to Impulse and Gem was not far behind, coming up and over the edge of the coffee table only a few minutes after Grian was set down.

 As Impulse and Skizz set up, which included opening up google on their phones and searching some things, Gem came up next to him and gently bumped him with her arm. He looked over at her and she smiled. “Thank you for letting them do this.”

 “Yeah, yeah.” Grian said, though he sent her a small smile. “Next time though, please tell me what’s going on ahead of time. I don’t think my heart can take another surprise like this.”

 Gem hummed and grinned. “No promises.”

 Grian snorted but he had expected that. He knew they still had a lot to talk about once they were back in the walls. But for now, Grian decided to put his trust in Gem and these humans. After all, it was thanks to the three of them that he was here in the first place.

 He leaned against Gem and closed his eyes as he waited to be checked over.