#human!colfax

This is a great question! While we haven't written or drawn anything for this yet, we have actually mused quite a lot on a giant Adrian AU. Here's the premise as we have it so far: As a giant, Adrian was living his life peacefully out in the wilderness. He would often use charcoal to draw things on the sides of cliffs and such, though he was always sure to wipe them away afterwards. Except, traces of his drawings remained once or twice, and caught the attention of some very bad people indeed.

Those people launched a fairly large-scale attempt to capture him and, caught by surprise, Adrian was captured and moved to a facility deep in the woods built for the express purpose of keeping him contained. With the bad humans determined to use him to make money, poor Adrian gets used to a routine of tests and exercises, all while under guard and unable to escape.

Colfax mulled that over. It would explain several things. First, the reason everyone thought giants couldn't exist; if too many gathered in one area, he was willing to bet the world would notice quickly. Second, it explained Sawyer's exuberance towards meeting a new person. Even someone who tended to make very bad first impressions. He still couldn't believe he'd been hugged by a giant. One was enough. "Adrian may yet notice that we're hiding something," Colfax pointed out. "If he pries, should I point him to you for explanation?" 

As Sawyer knelt down and rested his hands on the ground, Charlie stood up alongside Colfax but didn't step off the giant's hands. He sighed at the question, rubbing his face tiredly. He really hoped they hadn't opened up a world of strife with this. "You may as well," he answered with a tone of resignation. "It's not fair to make him feel like secrets are being kept from him." And really, Adrian was a spectacularly kind and responsible individual. It wouldn't be the end of the world for him to know; but Charlie couldn't help but feel that everything was slowly slipping out of his control. 

Sawyer's face immediately lit up at the mention of a potential new friend. "Does that mean I'll get to meet him?" the giant asked excitedly. So many new friends in such a short time would be a record. 

"Maybe," Charlie replied firmly. "If he finds out and there's no other option." He didn't want to get Sawyer's hopes up, because really, it would be best to keep the humans that knew his secret to a minimum. 

Colfax hastily stepped down from Sawyer's hands and turned to watch the giant appraisingly. Something in him found it very remarkable that shy little Charlie was clearly the one in charge between the two of them. They made an odd pair that only perplexed him more the more he thought of it. Honestly, it would be better to put them out of mind. Easier said than done. He doubted he'd be able to shake off the encounter so easily, especially if Adrian ever got involved. "Well," he said uncertainly. "It's been ... educational." 

"It's been fun!" Sawyer agreed, happily oblivious to the fact that it wasn't actually in agreement with what Colfax had said. Beaming, Sawyer used his free hand to ruffle Colfax's hair again. "Come back soon, okay?" Sawyer could hardly wait to see his new friend again, even if he hadn't quite left yet.

Charlie smiled, only slightly exasperated, and added, "Do whatever you feel like, Colfax." He refrained from outright saying Colfax was free to not return if he so wished, knowing that would just spark an argument with Sawyer. Charlie was well aware that he had to pick his battles wisely with his giant best friend. 

Colfax stared for a beat longer at the pair. He still had difficulty believing it despite looking right at them, which annoyed him. If he couldn't trust his observations, what then? He nodded tersely and took a few steps back before turning to make his way back out of the woods and towards civilization.

He had a lot to think about. 

 ------- 

Charlie nodded understandingly at the same time that Sawyer got a thoroughly aghast look and asked, “So soon? But you just got here!” His new friend couldn’t leave just like that, especially since the three of them were having so much fun. Charlie looked on board with it, however, which kept Sawyer from getting his hopes up too high and left him pouting instead.

“Of course, and we really do appreciate you keeping the secret,” Charlie said, offering Colfax a small smile. Looking up at the tall student, and trying to ignore the even taller friend sitting behind him, Charlie asked, “Do you remember how you got here? Need me to walk you back?” He had no idea where Colfax had been when Sawyer “found” him.

Before Colfax could say anything, Sawyer positively lit up at the idea. “I can take him back!” he exclaimed. In a moment both Charlie and Colfax were scooped up off the ground, cupped together in the giant’s hands. Sawyer popped up onto his knees and looked around, trying to remember exactly where he’d stumbled upon the dark-haired human.

Colfax’s eyes were widened, once again, in plain surprise from suddenly leaving the ground behind. He scrambled to right himself on the huge hands, glad that they at least didn’t close around him this time.

He would tell Sawyer that his help wouldn’t be necessary, but had a feeling that would fall on deaf ears, much like many of his insistences so far. It was incredibly irksome and yet not as terrifying as that would seem.

“It would seem I don’t need you to walk me back after all,” he quipped, still in his neutral tone but unable to hold back his sarcasm.

“Apparently not,” Charlie dryly agreed. He sheepishly sat up himself, scooting away slightly to give Colfax some semblance of personal space despite them both being cupped in Sawyer’s hands. He had to admit, Colfax was taking it remarkably well. It was always hard to tell what the tall, stoic student was thinking, and this was no exception; but that itself was incredibly impressive, considering his worldview had to have been shaking by meeting Sawyer. That wasn’t even mentioning the rest of the experience. Yet, Colfax remained as intimidatingly collected as usual.

Not that it bothered Sawyer, one way or the other. “This is faster anyways,” the giant proponed, not really arguing since he was already doing it regardless. Sawyer stood up, causing the humans sitting in his hands to sway slightly. Picking his way through the trees carefully, Sawyer made his way back towards where he had first locked eyes with Colfax. He would put the human further down the path but Charlie would likely get on his case for getting too close to town.

“He’s not wrong,” Colfax conceded irritably. He frowned around them as Sawyer walked, and had to squint as the air rushed past his face. It ruffled his hair and gave him a very persistent reminder of how high up they were, and how fast they were going. It made sense that a giant could cover so much ground, and yet it was quietly alarming at the same time. “Do you know many giants?” he asked Charlie, to preoccupy his mind during the walk and to maybe get to the bottom of the very strange revelation he’d learned that day.

Sawyer was still grinning, of course, and Charlie sighed. It was weird, being with Sawyer and somebody else he knew from class at the same time. His larger friend had been a secret for so long. Some of the initial tension of the idea was still lingering, though Charlie had no doubt that Colfax would keep to his word. “So, um,” Charlie started uncertainly, trying to make small talk despite the odd situation and the fact that he couldn’t read how Colfax thought about it to save his life. “You were coming out here for field work?” It was pretty far into the hills to go just for that, but then again, Charlie knew very little about the details of Colfax’s studies.

Colfax modified his expression from the pointed glare back to his neutral mask to look at Charlie again. “Yes,” he answered simply, having no trouble lying. To admit that he’d gotten himself into trouble via snooping too much was anathema; he couldn’t do it. “I was, however briefly, considering the area for my work,” he clarified. It was the truth, at least, so he never needed to let on that he’d come to investigate Charlie’s forest jaunts. Adrian would likely already never let him live it down.

If Adrian found out. Colfax shot Sawyer a thoughtful glance before asking Charlie, “Does Adrian know?”

The question took Charlie by surprise. “No,” he blurted. “God, no.” He trusted Adrian a lot, but even Charlie’s family didn’t know about Sawyer. It was just such a big secret (in every way possible) that Charlie had never even considered it. “Nobody knows,” Charlie continued. “Well, except you now… and probably all of Greek row…” The small student looked up at the giant with a pointed expression, perpetually disapproving of Sawyer’s escapades with drunk fraternity brothers. Sawyer just chuckled and shrugged. It wasn’t like the drunk guys were going to be able to piece together reality anyways; the way he figured, his existence was just as dubious as ever.

Colfax closed his eyes, keeping composed despite the realization that hit him. Warnings had been right in front of his eyes, all in the form of stupid stories from the frat brothers that wandered too far up the hill. Not that anyone would have expected them to be telling the truth. It was the ironic beauty in the entire arrangement, and suddenly some of Sawyer’s more boisterous reactions made sense.

Sawyer gave a small start, though he was thankful to finally have a chance to explain himself. Leaning down he rested an elbow on the ground and propped up his chin in his hand, so that he could be closer to the humans below. “I was just looking,” Sawyer said emphatically, putting forth his innocence quite plainly, “but I made a noise. And then he saw me Charlie and you’re always telling me how bad that is so I couldn’t just let him go back so I thought he could just stay here until you could come because you’re better at figuring all this out.” The giant sucked in a deep breath at the end of that ramble and looked at Charlie with the biggest puppy dog eyes. Reaching over with his free hand he tugged petulantly on Charlie’s shirt. “You believe me, don’t you?”

“Yes, yes, of course I do,” Charlie softly replied, casually brushing away the giant fingers as he gave Sawyer’s words some thought. Really, the giant had pretty much done the only safe thing, even if it had probably resulted in irritating Colfax. At least the tall student didn’t seem much worse off besides that. Sharing the same apprehension as Sawyer now, about their secret getting out, Charlie turned up worried green eyes to Colfax. “You, ah. You won’t tell anyone about him, will you?” Charlie glanced between Sawyer and Colfax and smiled worriedly. “He might not be the best at first impressions, but I can promise you he’s the sweetest person you’ll ever meet. I just don’t want anything bad to happen to him.”

Colfax sighed, and barely refrained from rolling his eyes. From what he knew of Charlie, the petite student was even milder than Adrian. Adrian probably wouldn’t let it go if Colfax was outright rude to him like he was with most people, so he had to make at least some effort. As it was, he was still irritated with how things had gone, and unsettled that the two of them made all of this seem so normal. “No one would believe a word out of my mouth if I told them,” he said dismissively, tossing the issue right out. It wouldn’t make sense to risk his reputation over one person, even if that person was twelve times the size of the average human.

Charlie sighed in relief, his shoulders slumping as the tension wound it’s way out of his posture. Not that he had expected Colfax to try to tell anybody, because the tall student’s statement was truth, but all the same it was good to hear. “Thank you,” he said gratefully, and his tone was nothing if not genuine.

“Yeah, thanks!” Sawyer added enthusiastically, giving the two of them a grin. With his free hand, which had so far been resting on the ground next to Charlie, he reached up and ruffled Colfax’s hair. Charlie just gave him an exasperated look for that, before turning to Colfax with an apologetic expression plain on his face.

Charlie chuckled nervously at that, looking up at the tall science student with his own flustered emotions showing plainly on his face. “I can’t say I expected it either,” he agreed, questions suddenly bubbling to the forefront of his mind now that Colfax was on solid ground and plainly alright. “What, um. How did you end up with Sawyer?” He asked Colfax, figuring the stoic student would give a plainer answer than the giant behind him, who still looked like he wanted to chime in with what would probably a whole mess of apologetic explanation and defensive reasoning. As it was, however, Sawyer kept his mouth closed and his worried, somewhat curious eyes on the humans on the ground.

Colfax finished fixing up his appearance the best he could before answering. “By pure accident,” he quipped. “I was walking in the woods considering field work and then found myself grabbed up by the impossible.” Despite how unsettled he was, Colfax managed to maintain his trademark neutral tone of voice. He even glanced over at Sawyer once without feeling the need to inch away.

“In truth, I’ve seen you coming up here before. I never would have guessed the reason.”

Sawyer gaped down at him, his fingers still as he stared at Charlie with open surprise. “How did you know?” he blurted, all pretense gone. He knew Charlie was smart, but that was just astounding.

Colfax couldn’t hear Charlie’s words from his cramped position within Sawyer’s hands. The thick skin served as good enough sound proofing that the already-mild British student’s voice became barely more than a mumble in Colfax’s ears, compared to the loud rumble of Sawyer’s voice. Even so, he thought he might understand at least enough of what was going on that it brought him some relief. He kicked at Sawyer’s hands sullenly, trying to remind the giant that he was there and he was uncomfortable and not happy with how things were going at present.

At the kicking in his hands Sawyer’s eyes noticeably widened. Charlie’s nerves became too much and the flustered student stepped forward, twining his fingers anxiously. “Sawyer, please put him down,” Charlie pleaded. Colfax was probably panicked, confused, …not breathing fresh air… the list went on. Charlie knew Sawyer didn’t mean ill, but the giant rarely met new people, and at the very least Colfax had to have been startled. Not to mention Charlie didn’t even know how long Colfax had been out here “getting acquainted” with Sawyer.

Sawyer pouted, but after glancing down at Charlie’s small, panicked, upturned face he couldn’t help but sigh. Not saying anything, and hoping he wasn’t about to get in the most trouble of his life, Sawyer shifted Colfax to one hand. Bringing that hand forward he carefully set Colfax down in the tall grass, pulling his hands back into his lap self-consciously afterwards.

The giant watched with a small, worried frown as Charlie immediately dashed forward. “I am so, so sorry,” Charlie apologized to Colfax, sounding deeply nervous and repentant. The short student leaned over and offered Colfax a hand up.

Colfax took a few slow breaths to calm his heart rate after shifting around in those enormous hands. Honestly, being so easily moved around, with his attempts to get away stifled like they weren’t even there. He wasn’t used to that. He was used to being the tall one, who could intimidate people away with a simple glare.