But Wilbur continued, voice still startling serious. “What if when you had found us in the woods, me, Techno, and Phil, it was because we had gotten lost when exploring the woods at our new size. What if the human house we told you we lived in was actually owned by us, as humans.” Wilbur’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Would you still trust us? Trust me?”

 Tommy started squirming in Wilbur’s hold. This was going too far to only be some joke. Wilbur…Wilbur was serious, wasn’t he?

 “Wilbur?” Tommy asked, matching Wilbur’s low whisper. “Are you human?”

 “…Yes.”

 That simple answer caused Tommy’s heart to skip a beat. A million thoughts entered his mind about how and why and what were they going to do to me-

 He didn’t even realize he had tried to get up until Wilbur hugged him tighter, keeping him trapped in his arms. Tommy’s breath caught in his throat.

 “Please don’t run Tommy, please, the last thing we’d ever want to do is hurt you.” Wilbur said, face in his hair as he held him close to his chest. Tommy froze, allowing himself to be held and breathing in deeply.

 “Why?” Tommy managed to get out, though his voice was barely above a whisper.

 “Why what?” Wilbur’s voice matched Tommy’s, as if any louder would scare Tommy off.

 Tommy had a lot of questions he could follow up with, but he settled on what he thought was the most important one. “Why have you been shrinking yourself down and-and hanging out with me? What are you…” He trailed off when the next question got caught in his throat.

 “Nothing. We aren’t going to do anything to you, I promise. The shrinking was an accident at first. After that, we decided to explore a bit with it, though we got a bit too in over our heads going out into the forest. That’s when you found us. We didn’t even know borrowers existed until you showed up.” With one arm still around Tommy, he used the other one to pet Tommy’s hair in a soothing manner. 

 “I…I did think you guys were weird. Not knowing anything about outie borrowers and all. I just-I thought it was an innie thing.” Tommy said, feeling heat rise to his cheeks at the fact that he hadn’t realized sooner.

 “It was a reasonable assumption.” Wilbur chimed in. “After all, who would think three humans had shrunk down?”

 “Right.” That made him feel a bit better.

 “And we kept coming back because we liked you, Tommy. I mean, you took in three strangers and gave us food and helped us back to our house. And the more we visited the more we started to love you.” Tommy gasped at that. Love? They…loved him? Wilbur chuckled and he could practically see the smile on his face. “We love you, Tommy. I love you. There’s no plan to-to lure you into being our pet or whatever. We want you, but not like that. We want you as part of our family.”

 “Family?” Tommy asked softly. 

 “Family.” Wilbur confirmed again and Tommy finally relaxed. He was still terrified of the idea of Wilbur, Techno, and Phil being humans but he also trusted them despite those fears. 

 “You doing okay?” Wilbur asked and Tommy answered by turning over in Wilbur’s hold and hugging him back, burying his face into Wilbur’s chest. He nodded.

 “Yeah.” And surprisingly, he really was. 

 “Good. I’m really glad.” Wilbur said and it sounded like there had been a huge weight lifted off his chest. “Would you want to come and visit while I’m human-sized?”

 Tommy tensed at that but Wilbur was quick to reassure him. “It’s okay, you don’t have to. This is all up to you. You just let me know when you’re ready. And if you never are, that’s okay too.” Tommy relaxed again.

 “I need to think about it.” Tommy said, face still pressed against Wilbur’s chest, making his voice muffled. But Wilbur heard him all the same.

 “Of course Toms. Until then, we’ll continue to hang out just like this, okay?”

 “Okay.”

***

 Tommy was nervous, that much was obvious. Even Wilbur had been able to tell, so it had taken some convincing to tell Wilbur that he was ready. Ready to finally see Wilbur as a human. 

 As the two walked toward the human house, Wilbur kept glancing at him, making sure he was okay. “You sure about this Toms?”

 Tommy groaned. “Yes you b****. I’m sure.” And he was. He might still be terrified of the idea but he knew Wilbur would never hurt him.

 “Alright. Just remember, you’ll be in charge. I won’t so much as touch you unless you’re okay with it.” Wilbur explained and Tommy nodded, a small smile appearing on his face. He never thought he’d have a say in the presence of a human but here he was.

 They went into the walls of the house and around the winding tunnels before popping out into what Tommy could only assume was Wilbur’s room. Everything was far bigger than he was used to and simply imagining Wilbur being able to use everything was weird. He noticed a guitar in the corner of the room and wondered if Wilbur played. He’d have to ask him at some point after this.

 Wilbur led Tommy to the middle of the room before backing a bit away until he was practically touching the wall at the other end of the room. It made sense though. If Wilbur was about to grow, he didn’t want to be near Tommy when it happened. “Ready?”

 Tommy nodded, not able to find his voice. Wilbur nodded back and then closed his eyes. It looked like he was concentrating rather hard.

 Suddenly, a light filled the room and Tommy turned away from it, not wanting to go blind. It died down a second later though and when Tommy turned back, Wilbur was kneeling down, human-sized

 Tommy’s breath caught in his throat at the sheer size difference. It was not only terrifying but weird to see Wilbur so big. He had to crane his neck up to even see Wilbur’s face and the human was currently not even at his full height. Tommy took a step back on instinct and watched as Wilbur’s eyes softened.

 “Hey Toms.” Wilbur said and even though he was trying his best to keep his voice low, it was still a lot louder than what Tommy was used to. “It’s okay. It’s still me.”

 Tommy took a moment to steady his breathing. Wilbur was right. He was still him, no matter his size. He trusted the human.

 It’s just, well…a lifetime of being terrified of humans wasn’t an easy thing to simply get rid of.

 “I know.” He said, voice surprisingly normal. Tommy was proud of himself for keeping the shakiness out of it. “It’s just…a lot.”

 Wilbur chuckled softly. “Yeah, I bet. But you’re doing great, King.” Tommy smiled a little at the nickname. “Remember, I won’t move unless you give the okay.”

 Tommy nodded. He knew it would be so easy for Wilbur to take everything back. To not listen to Tommy, to-to grab him and lock him away. But Wilbur stayed where he was, only moving a bit so he was off his knees and sitting down on the floor. Despite that though, Tommy wasn’t ready to have Wilbur come closer.

 So instead, he glanced around the room, taking more of it in. However, in the end, his gaze once again landed on the guitar. This time though, Wilbur noticed. “I can play something if you want?” He asked and Tommy nodded. He’s never really gotten to listen to music before, maybe it would take his mind off of his fear.

 Wilbur reached over and grabbed his guitar, situating it onto his lap. He strummed a few chords before messing with the bits on the top before strumming it again, apparently satisfied this time. “Any requests?”

 Tommy blinked. “Uhh…”

 Wilbur paused. “Oh, right.” He chuckled sheepishly. “I’ll just do one of mine. How does that sound?”

 Tommy nodded again, a bit more excitement in the motion this time. Wilbur smiled before the strumming of the guitar started.

 It was beautiful. Tommy had never heard anything like it. It was soft and calming and slowly but surely, as the song continued, Tommy felt himself relax more and more.

 He glanced up and noticed that Wilbur seemed to really be in it, as his eyes were closed and his head bobbed slightly forward and back. He wasn’t paying attention to Tommy at all and that made Tommy feel slightly better.

 The borrower took a few steps forward before even realizing what he was doing. He paused. Part of him wanted to scurry back, stay as far away from the human as possible but the other part, the one that was growing larger by the second, wanted nothing more than to be close to the man he saw as a brother figure.

 As the music continued to put him at ease, he listened to the latter part of his mind and stepped closer. And closer. He looked up as he continued to walk but Wilbur’s eyes were still closed. That only fueled him more and he finally made it close enough to touch Wilbur’s leg.

 Now, at that moment, he could do a lot of things to get Wilbur’s attention. He was pretty sure even a simple touch would cause Wilbur to look down at him but instead, Tommy gripped the fabric of Wilbur’s pants and started climbing.

 He felt the muscle underneath him tense and the music suddenly stopped but Tommy didn’t falter. He lifted himself up onto Wilbur’s knee and met eyes with the human, who was currently looking at him with awe.

 “Hey.” Wilbur said softly, smiling at him fondly.

 Tommy felt warm at how soft Wilbur was being, so of course he answered with, “hey b****.”

 Wilbur laughed out loud, almost knocking Tommy off balance. “Sorry, sorry.” Wilbur said as his laughter died down.

 Tommy rolled his eyes and took a seat on top of Wilbur’s knee. “Can I hear some more?”

 Wilbur blinked before looking at the guitar still in his hands. Tommy must have caught him off guard more than he thought. “Oh, yeah, of course.” His eyes got fond again. “Anything for you, Toms.”