“Thanks again for looking after Isaac and Albert, Virgil,” Logan said as he fell into step beside his friend. “I hope they didn’t cause too much trouble?”

“Nah, it was alright.” Virgil showed one of his rare smiles as he put his phone away. “I didn’t think I would say this, but your rats are fucking adorable. Isaac always hid in my hoodie when I let them out of the cage, didn’t matter if I was wearing it.”

Logan chuckled at the mental picture, but then schooled his expression into something more serious. “That’s good to hear, but I was actually talking about your, eh, ahem… your roommates.”

Virgil instinctively tensed, before forcing himself to relax. It was fine, Logan was supposed to know the borrowers by now, no one was in danger. Though it was hard to get used to it, he had to admit it felt nice to be able to share this huge secret with someone else. Or more accurately, this tiny secret.

“Yeah, everything went well,” he reassured him. “Remus said rats weren’t scary when they were behind bars, and we worked out a schedule so they could avoid them in the room. Though of course, with those three, things always go differently than what you expect.” Logan raised a questioning eyebrow but Virgil just laughed. “You’ll see what I mean.”

A few minutes later they arrived at his house. Virgil let them in and they immediately walked upstairs to his bedroom. He knocked on the door in the ‘do you want to build a snowman’ sequence and immediately a scream pierced the air. Logan looked alarmed, but Virgil just waved him off and opened the door.

No sooner did they step inside or a tiny person sprinted towards them. The beige clothing with hints of red allowed Logan to identify him as the older twin, Roman. The borrower was screaming as he jumped on his foot and started climbing his pant leg. Logan froze, not daring to move lest he threw the bodily trespasser off. Virgil didn’t react beyond a soft chuckle, as if this was a normal occurrence.

A loud, villainous laugh drew Logan’s eyes to the centre of the room, where he saw Albert with Remus on his back. The younger borrower twin held a leaf of romaine lettuce over Albert’s head, prompting the rat to run towards them in a stuttery pace. “I am the rat king!” Remus crowed as he reached their feet. “Fear me, bitches!”

“Remus, where is Isaac?” Virgil asked as Logan was busy picking his jaw from the floor.

“Cuddling in your hoodie with Patton,” Remus shrugged. Albert was nibbling on the lettuce leaf now, looking content. The borrower didn’t seem to notice.

Across the room, a tiny hand appeared from the sleeve of his hoodie. “Hi, Virgil!”

“What are you doing here, Brainy Behemoth?” Roman asked, having climbed up to Logan’s waist and hanging from his belt loops.

“I… eh…” He looked at Virgil, his eyes pleading for help. Virgil rolled his eyes fondly.

“Logan’s back from vacation and he came to pick up his pets.”

“Noooo,” came it simultaneously from Virgil’s hoodie, Logan’s belt loop and the rat at their feet.

“Quickly, Albert! Flee!” Remus shouted. He raised his lettuce leaf as he uttered the command, only to stare in horror at the small stump that was left of it. His gaze shifted from the leaf to the rat underneath him. “How could you?” he whispered.

“Do they have to go?” Patton emerged from the hoodie, kicked puppy look already in place. Luckily for Logan, it wasn’t as effective from across the room.

“Yes, they have to,” Virgil called back sternly. “I told you guys multiple times we’re not keeping them.”

The three borrowers sighed dejectedly. It almost made Logan feel bad about retrieving his pets, but he shook his head. They were his pets, he’d missed them too! “How about we cook dinner together and I’ll take them back tonight?” he found himself saying nonetheless. “That way they can stay a few hours longer. If that’s alright with you, of course.”

“Yeah sure.”

Remus cheered, leaning forward to press a kiss to Albert’s head. Logan offered Roman a hand to put him back on the ground, and then he and Virgil left the room to make plans for dinner. 

Just before the door closed, they could hear Remus’ whisper-shout: “Quick, hide the rats!”

They shared a look and a grin before Virgil knocked on the now-closed door again. “If those rats aren’t there by the time we get back, you’ll take their place, Remus!”

“Thanks, Declan,” Virgil murmured as Declan put down his signature on the paperwork. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Don’t mention it,” he sighed, schooling his irritation. It wasn’t that he minded having a pet around, but he wasn’t exactly jumping in excitement. Whatever, at least it was a tiny. He read somewhere that they were pretty self-sufficient.

“No, I mean it. You’re a literal lifesaver.” Virgil said as he rung him up. “The little guy has been returned so many times, I’m not sure management would keep him up for sale much longer.”

Declan winced. Yikes. Now he understood why Virgil called him to take this one in. Then again, if this one had been returned so often, who knew what kind of trouble the little shit would get up to? 

“Just give me the discount you promised.” Not that he really needed the discount. The pet was dirt cheap for a tiny, and the cage was included in the price. It was obvious they wanted to get rid of it.

Not five minutes later, the cage was strapped in on his passenger seat and Declan was the proud new owner of a tiny. He didn’t look at the little thing, focusing on the road instead. Not much later he was home, where he placed the cage on his living room table, getting a good look at his new pet for the first time. The little guy was sitting on the cage floor, clearly a bit jostled by the transport. Declan took a seat on the floor and looked it over.

“So,” he started, willing his lips into a smooth smile. “Guess it’s just you and me now.” The tiny bit his lips and nodded, seemingly trying to simultaneously look at him and not look at him. “You seem to be a bit of a troublemaker, going by what Virgil told me. But I’m sure you will behave yourself in my house, right?” His smile and voice were saccharine, but his gaze was stern. The little thing cowered and nodded again, crawling backwards a bit. Declan leaned forward, a hand behind his ears. “What was that? I couldn’t hear you.”

“Y-yes, sir,” the tiny spoke, fearfully looking up at him.

“My name is Declan, so you don’t have to call me ‘sir’. What’s your name?” The tiny looked to be a young adult, so his previous owners had no doubt given him a name. If it wasn’t a stupid one, Declan figured he could use the same one. One less thing to spring on the little one.

“I’m Patton, sir.”

“Declan,” he corrected, not unkindly. He should reward good behaviour, after all. “Well then, Patton. Welcome to your new home.” He pushed himself up and then reached out to open the latch of the cage. “I have to prepare dinner now, so feel free to look around for a bit. If you behave yourself I will let you out more often.”

With that, he turned around to start on dinner, deliberately not going back to the living room the whole time. Maybe it was stupid to trust his new pet already, but the last thing he wanted was to catch Patton off guard. He wasn’t blind to how fearful the tiny was so far, and he really did want to get along with him.

When he came back half an hour later, it seemed like he’d made the right decision. Patton was done exploring already and was back in his cage, his back against the bars.

“Dinnertime,” he announced, bringing two plates of food into the room, one significantly smaller than the other. He put the small one down on the table, half a foot away from the entrance of the cage. “Come and eat before it gets cold.”

Patton stared at the food - spaghetti with homemade sauce, Declan’s speciality - through the bars, biting his lip. “I-I’m not hungry.”

Declan paused his chewing to stare at him. “Oh.” Part of him wanted to be indignant - he could’ve said that earlier - but he shushed it. Patton was scared, it was understandable, but he really felt like the little guy should eat something. “When was the last time you ate?” Patton evaded his gaze, which was enough of an answer for him. He faintly recalled reading somewhere that some tinies didn’t like eating where they could see humans for some reason. He reached for the tiny plate and placed it inside the cage after a short warning. “I’ll just leave this here then, in case you change your mind. Let’s watch something in the meantime.”

He relocated to the couch and flicked through Netflix in search of something to watch. Before the first episode of Stranger Things even began to play, he noticed Patton move to the food dish and eat a noodle. He smirked to himself. Seems like he had been right all along.

He was kinda good at this whole tiny-keeping thing, wasn’t he?

~

Declan was decidedly not good at this.

In Patton’s defence, it was quite startling to fall asleep in one place and wake up in another, but did that really warrant this amount of screaming? Okay, granted, Declan had picked him up and waking up in the hand of a literal giant was probably a shitton scarier than just waking up in a different place, but… geez! Wasn’t this guy a tiny? Shouldn’t he be used to this?

Patton was clearly not used to it if all the screaming and struggling was any indication. He looked genuinely terrified, and Declan felt bad now. He had only meant to grab an old shirt for his pet to sleep on, after noticing how barren the cage was and how Patton shivered.

He quickly put Patton down on the table, not wanting him to fall and definitely not wanting to tighten his hold. Patton sprinted away from him, stumbling, before practically diving back into his cage. Declan winced a bit at the seemingly painful landing.

“Patton?” he called tentatively when the tiny didn’t move. “Are you alright?” He took a few steps closer, noticing how the tiny in fact was moving: he was shaking like a leaf.

“I’m sorry!” he cried, looking up at Declan. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Please! I’ll be good! Please don’t hurt me!”

“Patton, hey, shh, shh. It’s alright, I’m not going to hurt you. Calm down please, you’re safe, I promise.” His heart was beating rapidly as he whispered and his fingers twitched. He wanted nothing more than to scoop Patton up and comfort him, but that would likely have the opposite effect. Faintly he wondered how he’d gotten attached to a mere pet so quickly but a larger part was yelling that now was not the TIME, DECLAN, FOCUS!

Not knowing what else to do, he kept whispering reassurances and nonsense until Patton finally calmed down. His heaving sobs turned into small hiccups and his shaking subsided somewhat. He eventually pushed himself up into a sitting position and scooted backwards. Declan took that as a good time to speak up, even though he had no idea what to say.

“Are you feeling better?” he asked eventually.

Patton nodded and wiped at his eyes. “Yes, sir,” he sniffed. “I’m so sorry, I’ll be good.”

Declan bit his lip, wondering about the correct response. He wanted to correct the tiny on his name again, but he felt like that wasn’t the right thing to say right now. “Hey, could you please tell me what I did wrong?” he asked instead. He gave Patton a sheepish smile. “I’m a big dumb human, I have no idea what things are like for you.”

Normally he wouldn’t talk himself down in a thousand years, nor would he admit to being at fault, but… well, he really did feel like a dumb human right now.

Patton shook his head, new tears welling up. “N-nothing, sir. I-I’ll be good from now on, I promise.”

Okay, different route. “What do you think you did wrong?”

“I-I… I don’t know…”

“Then why did you think you were doing something wrong?”

“I-I…” Paton ducked his head. “I didn’t want to get punished.”

Declan swallowed, dread growing inside him. “Why did you think you were getting punished?” Patton just whimpered and put his hands over his head. Declan bit back a sigh of frustration. He knew he shouldn’t rush the tiny but he hated not knowing. “Let me get you some water,” he said instead and moved to the kitchen to clear his head.

He came back with a bottlecap of water, hesitating on how to give it to the tiny. If Patton had freaked out because he’d been too close, then it might not be smart to hand it over directly. However, Patton surprised him by taking the cap from his hand as he went to set it down. He frowned. If it wasn’t him, then what was Patton afraid of?

Suddenly it clicked.

“Patton?” he asked as the tiny took a sip of water. “There is no right or wrong answer to this question, but… Do you not like being out of your cage?”

Patton lowered the cap a bit. “The cage is safe,” he said, with the same certainty a toddler would address the colour of the sky. “If I’m in my cage I won’t get hurt.”

Declan shuddered at the implications of that. “Have you gotten hurt before when you left your cage?” 

Patton nodded, taking another sip. “Outside is dangerous, but the cage is safe.” 

...There were so many implications to that statement. Declan’s mind was reeling trying to comprehend all of them, but he tried not to let his inner turmoil show on his face. Instead he smiled, hoping it didn’t look as forced as it felt.

“Well, in that case I’m very sorry for taking you out of it. I think it’s time to sleep now, so I will go to my room. Do you want the cage to stay here or should I take it with me?”

Patton looked clearly relieved by the change of topic. “Whatever’s easier, sir.”

“Declan,” he corrected with a smile and a wink. “Alright, then I’ll leave the cage here, I think. We can figure out the rest at a later time. Goodnight, Patton.”

“Y-yeah, goodnight… Declan.”

His smile widened to the point where it almost felt sincere, but when he turned around it fell from his face completely. He forced himself to climb the stairs at a normal pace, face and body relaxed as long as he was in Patton’s line of sight.

Once he was in his room, however, he dropped all pretence. “Holy shit,” he breathed as he paced in a circle, hands in his hair. “Holy fucking shit.” This was far more than what he’d signed up for when Virgil called him to take in a tiny. He’d expected a semi self-sufficient pet, a little companion maybe if they got along well enough, but this… He didn’t know what happened to Patton before now but it had clearly left scars. Had Virgil known about this? Oh, that bastard was in for some serious ass-kicking if that was the case!

He flopped down on his bed with a groan and kicked his legs for a few minutes. Once he didn’t feel like he’d explode any second, he turned around and looked at his ceiling. The most important thing right now was deciding how to go from here. He did like Patton, but in all fairness, he’d known the guy for less than a day now and if he really had baggage like he expected, this was going to take much more effort and attention than anticipated. Was he really willing to put so much effort into a pet?

He sighed and rolled on his side. On the other hand, if he returned him it was unlikely that Patton would find a home suitable to his needs. And he didn’t want him be put to sleep either, as Virgil implied the pet store might do. He groaned and kicked again, but he knew he’d already made his decision. Now he just had to not screw up.

He got up and opened his laptop. Maybe he could find a tiny therapist or something.

Roman had bad luck. 

It wasn’t just tonight - he lost count of how many times his brother had laughed at him for his incredible streak of bad luck - but tonight he just had the worst luck ever. He’d just been flying through the woods - minding his own business, racing his brother, the usual - when he’d been snagged up by a hawk from out of nowhere. The foul beast dragged him along for who knows how far until he’d finally managed to free his arm and stab it with his sword.

He’d fallen down then, unable to break his fall due to the rain, until he landed painfully. He didn’t know for how long he laid here now, and he was pretty sure he passed out for a while too. After who knew how long, he registered through the dizziness that the rain continued falling, but no longer on him. He weakly looked up, and the sight of a giant hand reaching for him startled him into motion. He was too slow though, and then he found himself trapped by those giant fingers.

Captured by a human. 

Even with his bad luck, he’d never thought this would happen.

The grip was tight, but luckily loose enough to not break any bones. Getting out of it was nigh impossible, though. Still, Roman wasn’t one to give up, and so he struggled with all his might. The human didn’t seem at all fazed by his attempts, and much too soon they approached a building. Roman gulped when they entered, and the sight of this gigantic world actually stilled his struggles for a bit.

The human didn’t bother taking off his coat and immediately brought him to a room that looked like a kitchen. He rummaged through the cabinets and took out a mixing bowl, which he put Roman in. That sparked a whole new wave of panic - was this giant going to eat him?! A metal net-like thing was put on top before he could fly out, and then the whole contraption started moving. Roman wobbled for a second before he fell down, groaning at the dull ache in his behind.

He looked up through the net as the human put him down again. Their eyes seemed cold and distant, partly obscured by the light reflecting off their glasses. Then they stepped back and closed the door, leaving him in total darkness. Roman shivered. He had no idea what the human was planning and he didn’t want to wait and find out. He had to push the metal net away so he could find an escape. If the human knew anything about fairies then the net was probably made of iron, but Roman figured living with burned hands would be better than not living at all.

He braced himself to push off, mentally preparing for the searing pain the net might bring. He didn’t even get that far, though.

As he jumped and fluttered his wings, he stumbled down just as quickly. He picked himself up, shaking his head in confusion. He felt fine, but for some reason his wings malfunctioned. He traced his fingers over them, as the darkness around him made it impossible to see what was wrong. His breath hitched when he suddenly only felt air. Wh-where… w-what the hell happened to his wing?!

He felt along the edge of the rip until he felt where it connected to the bottom part, which was currently hanging limply. No wonder he wasn’t able to fly, half of his wing was useless!

The thought suddenly got through to him. Oh god no, he couldn’t fly. He was captured by a human who probably wanted to eat him and he couldn’t even fly! As if the human didn’t have enough power over him already, with their size difference! Colourful spots danced in the darkness, and he realized with a shock that he was breathing weirdly. A dizzy feeling overtook him and he sunk to his knees, heaving and panting, trying to get enough air in his lungs. He was gonna die. Oh dear god, he was going to die.

He fell to the side and curled up, tears streaming down his cheeks. He didn’t want to die. He wanted to go back to the forest and race with Remus and braid pretty flowers and dance in the clearings. He wanted to laugh and sing and listen to stories and snack on blackberries. He didn’t want to be here, in this cold and dark cage, flightless and useless, waiting for death.

The panic eventually left his body, leaving an unpleasant emptiness behind. He shivered again, and suddenly realized how cold he was. The air around him felt like an early winter day, and his clothes were still wet from the rain, which wasn’t helping his case. He faintly wondered if the human had planned it like this: to have him die in the cold instead of being mauled or swallowed whole. It would be a merciful way to go, probably.

With his bad luck, however, mercy didn’t last.

Light poured in when the door opened and his container started shaking again. Roman moved sluggishly, but before he could react he found himself once again trapped in a hand. He struggled weakly, but the fingers didn’t budge. He was taken to another room, more dimly lit than the previous one.

The human lay him on his back on a towel, his wings spread out to either side. He tried to sit upright, but two fingers on his chest held him down while the human placed weights on the tips of his wings. Roman tried to push them off but belatedly realized that they were out of his fingers’ reach.

He stared at them for a few seconds, his tired mind trying to piece the pieces together. This didn’t seem like the setup for a meal, so what was the human planning to do with him? He looked around the room and immediately wished he hadn’t.

The walls were lined with butterflies. Big butterflies, small butterflies, butterflies he’d never seen before in his life, all pinned with their wings spread out, their corpses put on a sick display. Roman’s breath hitched and he refocused on the human, who was now leaning over him. Their cold gaze zeroed in on his left wing - the broken one. He choked on a sob when a hand with a wooden stake came into his view, moving with purpose to his wing.

He cried out and kicked instinctively, trying to reach the hand before it reached him. The human’s other hand pressed down on his legs, pressing them against the towel and leaving him utterly helpless.

“Please!” he cried out, tears streaming down his cheeks as he shook and struggled to escape. “No! Don’t do this! Please! Please, no!”

“Please calm yourself,” the human spoke. His voice was stern and smooth, and just a tad too loud. “Panicking will only complicate the procedure.”

Roman didn’t listen, he trashed around as hard as he could. He didn’t manage to escape, but the human did put the stake down, so he counted that as a win. A teeny, tiny win, especially since the human now had two hands free to deal with him. Both hands were now on his body, pressing him down and restraining him to the point where he couldn’t even squirm. He finally laid still, tears streaming down his cheeks and making the human’s face blurry.

“It really is in your best interest to stay still,” the human threatened in a gentle tone of voice, pressing down slightly to accentuate his point. Roman wheezed as the breath was forced out of him. “This should be painless, as long as you keep still. Can you do that for me?”

He certainly didn’t feel like obeying, but if there was one thing he feared more in this moment than dying, it was dying painfully. And if he allowed himself to be brutally honest, there was no chance for him to escape by himself. He was flightless, cold, tired and small - all in all powerless to change his fate. If the human promised him mercy, however small and empty that mercy may be, shouldn’t he take it?

He loathed himself for his weakness, but he nodded, lips pressed together and tears still streaming down his face. The pressure on his body slowly alleviated and he turned his head to the other side. He didn’t want to see whatever the human was doing, so he kept his eyes closed, trying to control his breathing and his trembling. He didn’t want this, he wanted to go home.

He could feel the giant fingers tapping on his wings, could feel the vibrations as they touched him. The human was right, it didn’t hurt, but it was far from pleasant. Was he cutting off the wings, or was he already pinning him down? Would he be hung on the wall immediately, left to starve and dry out as part of a sick display? A collectable, nothing more?

After a while the fingers retracted, and as Roman braced for their return, the human spoke again: “Alright, that should do the trick.” The weights were lifted from the tips of his wings, and his eyes shot open just in time to see the last one removed. His gaze instinctively turned to his left wing after he sat up, despite his fear for what he’d see.

And what he saw was… not… what he expected. His wing was still attached to his body, but the lower part wasn’t… wasn’t his! It was white and slightly transparent, contrasting starkly with the reddish-brown of his own leaflike wings. He tentatively reached out, almost scared to touch it.

“It should hold while you fly, but I suggest you carefully test it out first.” 

He looked back up at the human, feeling a mix of confusion and fear. When the human didn’t make a move, he quickly scrambled to his feet, flapping his wings a few times to test them out. His eyes were drawn to the discoloured patch again. “W-what…” he licked his lips, looking up. “What did you do?”

The human raised an eyebrow. “I fixed your wing, I thought that much was clear by now?” He waited for a second and then sighed. “You know, it’s generally considered polite to say ‘thank you’ when someone helps you out.”

Roman was either very brave or very stupid in that moment - either was equally likely - because the next words out his mouth were: “What are you going to do to me?”

The human rolled his eyes. “I will get you a snack in a minute, and then you can test your wing to see if the glue holds. We can figure out the rest later.”

The tiny spark of hope that had lit up in his chest was immediately doused at those last words. “The rest?”

Logan grimaced and shifted again, trying to find a way to alleviate the ache in his arm muscles. He longed to stretch them properly, but he couldn’t do that with that stupid ‘discipline collar’ around his neck. The torture device attached his wrists to the sides of his neck, leaving him unable to use his hands at all. The store clerks would tell customers that it was to keep him from escaping, but he knew better. He wore this collar as a punishment.

Because he had an attitude.

Because he’d been returned so often.

Because he wasn’t turning a profit.

Jeremy, the clerk on duty when he’d been returned, had put it on him as soon as his previous ‘owners’ walked through the door. That had been three days ago, and it hadn’t come off since.

The ache in his muscles was almost unbearable, but he persevered. There was little he could do, anyway. The clerk on duty was too far away to hear him, and his cellmate wasn’t any help either. Logan scoffed at Patton, who was in the centre of their glass cage, trying to stay seated on top of a ball. Show-off. Goody two-shoes. Human sympathiser!

Logan didn’t know much about the guy, only that he did whatever humans asked of him, even if it meant tattling on Logan. He didn’t even want to help him get the stupid torture collar off, saying Logan just had to apologize to the humans and promise to be better. Had he no pride at all?

Now, he knew Patton had grown up in captivity, so his pride had been long broken by humans. Patton truly believed humans knew better than him, and he genuinely wanted to be of service to them. It was pitiful, really, but it was hard to feel bad for the guy who so stubbornly chose humans’ approval over helping him.

Ironically, out of the two of them, the humans typically chose Logan as their new possession and not Patton. The other borrower - could he even be called that? - was always there in the cage when he was returned, trying to appeal to the humans that walked past their enclosure. Not that many were interested in them. They were much older than the others Logan had seen in this store, and thus they were seen as ‘damaged goods’; unruly pets that their owners wanted to get rid of. The only reason they got any attention at all was that they were sold at a lower price.

“Well well well,” a voice cooed, and Logan looked up with a flinch. An enormous head was staring down at him, and he mentally kicked himself for letting his guard down. These months in captivity had dulled his senses. The human was smiling widely, revealing his large teeth and fogging up the glass in the process. His giant finger tapped the glass a few times, and Logan tried to push himself further into his corner.

Patton waved excitedly at the newcomer, falling off his ball as he did so and earning a loud giggle. “Hello!”

“Well hello there, cutie. Do you mind if I pick you up?”

“Not at all, please do!”

Logan rolled his eyes and turned his face away, not wanting to see the willingness Patton displayed as he got close to the human. It was sickening. Unfortunately, because he wasn’t looking he didn’t see the giant hand coming until it wrapped around him and pulled him up. He squeaked indignantly and immediately started to struggle, but there wasn’t much he could do against a human, especially when his hands were tied.

“Feisty little thing, huh? Is that why you wear that thing?” the human chuckled. “What’s your name?” Logan glared at him, clamping his lips shut.

“That’s Logan,” Patton piped up unhelpfully, drawing the human’s attention back to him. “And the collar is a punishment.” Logan squinted at him, wondering if Patton was trying to make himself look better in comparison or if he was simply trying to be honest. It didn’t matter either way: this human was loud and extra, and he’d prefer to stay far away from this type.

“A little troublemaker, then? Oh, it says here he’s a feral. I guess that makes sense then.” Logan didn’t rise to the bait, and the human smiled at Patton instead. “And what’s your name, beautiful?”

“I’m Patton!”

“It’s lovely to meet you, Patton! My name is Roman.”

“Don’t run off on me, you asshole,” a new voice grumbled, and Logan whipped his head around to see another human coming their way. He gulped, instinctively stopping his struggle to attract as little attention as possible. While Roman was loud and excessive and overall a lot, this new human was positively terrifying. Black lines were drawn around his eyes and smudged underneath them, and black rings pierced the skin of his eyebrow, lip and ears. The look in his eyes was stern and hostile, and Logan involuntarily started shivering when the eyes landed on him. “These the ones you were talking about?”

“Yep,” Roman smiled, raising them up. “Virgil, meet Patton and Logan. I’m taking Patton, by the way.”

Patton squealed and clapped his hands at that, and Virgil rolled his eyes. “Sure, I don’t care either way.”

“Come on, you two match,” Roman countered cheerfully as he held Logan out to him. “You’re both perpetual frowners.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He reached out and Logan let out a little scared noise when the hand gently wrapped around him. Virgil barely looked at him as they walked towards the register.

Roman paid first and Patton was giggling happily the whole time, cheering when the clerk handed him back over to Roman. Then it was Virgil’s turn, and Logan groaned when she took him from Virgil’s hand none too gently. She tapped some keys on the register, Virgil handed her the money, and with that, it was done: he’d been sold. Again. Maybe he should have been used to it by now, but it never failed to make him feel terrified. Terrified and enraged.

“Can you, uh, take that thing off?” Virgil asked when she handed him back.

The clerk - her name tag read Miranda - puckered her mouth in thought. “I can, but I have to warn you, sir. This one’s a little troublemaker. He’s a feral, you see?”

“Yeah, I know,” Virgil shrugged. “Still, can you take it off?”

“Sure. One moment please.” She speedily took him to the back of the shop, her quick steps making his head reel. She gently placed him on a working bank and started fiddling with the collar until it came off. A cry of both pain and relief escaped him when he moved his arms down, reflexive tears springing to his eyes. “Aww, I’ll miss you too, lil’ fella,” Miranda smiled, petting his head. “But try not to cause trouble this time, okay? I know you don’t think so but we really do want what’s best for you.”

Logan turned his head, not dignifying her with a response. Humans had taken him from his home and his family, put him on display like an animal, subjected him to their every whim, and then they had the audacity to claim they wanted what was best for him.

Well, it didn’t matter. He was going to escape, no matter how long it took him, and then those dumb, arrogant humans would never see him again.

Miranda carried him back to the front, and he tried not to shrink back when he met Virgil’s gaze. Those piercing eyes seemed to stare right into his soul, as if the human could tell what he’d been thinking just now. Logan set his jaw and forced himself to stare right back.

Logan grumbled under his breath as he flew across the night sky. His small, batlike wings flapped furiously, reflecting his mood. Why did Roman have to be so… gah, so stubborn?! They had disagreements before but it never went like this.

“You think you’re so smart, huh? Count Miniscula!”

Unsurprisingly, Roman had acted like a child and resorted to namecalling. Logan tried not to let it get to him, but he really hated it when the human attacked him based on his size. Just because he was small didn’t mean he wasn’t right! And Roman resorting to making fun of his height actually meant he had nothing better to bring to the table, thereby proving his point, Logan knew that but… GAH!

“If all you’re gonna do is ruin my dreams then just leave me alone, you blood-sucking pest! Get out!”

And get out he did, if only because he doubted he’d be able to restrain himself. For a brief moment, he had imagined himself dashing past the human’s waving arms and sinking his teeth into his carotid artery. It would be so satisfying to finally make the big goof eat his words, but he knew there would be no going back from there and that was not what he wanted.

So he went out to literally fly his worries away. The anger bubbling inside kept him surprisingly warm in the chilly weather, and it kept him going for a surprisingly long while too. By the time he finally felt himself run out of steam, he was exhausted. His wings trembled from exertion as he landed on the porch, and his breath made little puffs of white appear in the air before him. He shivered a bit, tugging his thin, membrane-like wings closer to his body to preserve body heat.

He trudged over to the little cat door Roman had installed for him. (He claimed that wasn’t the reason, but who was he gonna fool? He didn’t have a cat and he didn’t fit through it himself.) Despite everything, Logan smiled a little at the sight. Yes, Roman could be a royal pain in the ass, but he wasn’t all bad.

He pushed against the flap and his smile fell when it didn’t budge. He pushed again. Had Roman closed it out of pettiness? No, he wouldn’t do that… would he? He knew sunlight was fatal to him, and even if they had a pretty bad fallout last night, he… he didn’t want him dead, did he?

Switching tactics, he instead gripped the edges of the flap and pulled it up. It slipped through his numbing fingers a few times, but eventually he managed. He looked through the opening, which was, in fact, open. Brows pinched in confusion, he slowly reached an arm forward… until he couldn’t go further.

His eyes blew wide and his heart beat faster. His hand was touching nothing but air, as far as he could see, but… there was an invisible barrier that kept him out of the house. Logan’s throat became dry. He knew what this was.

“Get out!”

But it couldn’t be, he had been welcome in this house for years! Hell, he lived here!

“GET OUT!”

C-could it be… Had their petty argument last night revoked his welcome? He banged both his hands against the barrier, trying to find an opening he knew wasn’t there. The weight of the flap pressed hard against his back and he was almost squished between it and literal nothingness.

This wasn’t working. He needed to have Roman let him in again or find another hiding spot before the sun rose! He struggled to escape from the flap and spread his wings, groaning at the soreness in them. He had flown for far longer than he was used to, and by now the muscles had cooled significantly. Still, he’d choose sore muscles over death any day, so he ignored his pain and jumped off.

He flew up to the first floor, landing at the sill of the window he knew belonged to Roman’s bedroom. Once there, he started banging on the glass and shouting, getting more desperate once he noticed the sky had begun to change colour. He really should get out of here now, find a place to survive the day, but he was so tired! He’d flown all night and on top of that

Tears were streaming down his face at this point as he banged on the window with his fists, both numb from the chill by now. “Roman, please!” he wailed, slumping down as the sky got just a tad brighter. He sniffled.

His nest gradually filled up over the years, as he slowly started taking things he didn’t just need to survive. A small piece of paper in a pretty colour, a broken pencil tip, a dusty pair of earrings in a stuffy drawer; they were all treasures that he gave a new home. With over twenty rooms to borrow from, he was safe as long as he didn’t get caught in the act.

One of the rooms he visited most often was the one closest to his nest. The bean there was pretty messy, and he was a klutz in the kitchen. It was incredibly easy to sneak in and take what he needed because the bean was far too clueless and dumb to realize Roman was even here.

And yet, it was that same dumb bean who he was now running from.

He clutched his prize in his hand, having completely forgotten about it but instinctively holding onto it, as he darted across the bookshelf. He didn’t bother hiding anymore – he knew he’d been spotted. But, he thought, he would be fine if he could just get out of here. The existence of borrowers had been a well-kept secret for decades, and no one would believe the bean without proof hopefully. As long as Roman didn’t get caught, everything would work out.

Without missing a step, he stuffed his prize into his bag and grabbed his glider rope in the same motion. He reached the point where his hook was stuck and chanced a quick glance over his shoulder. The bean was uncomfortably close, and he looked frustrated. Roman wrapped his glider rope, no longer than his arm, around the rope attached to his hook and jumped. He’d secured the bottom part earlier, so now he could quickly zoom down to the kitchen counter. Normally he would distribute his weight in a way that slowed him down, but now he didn’t have the time. He braced himself for the moment of impact and felt the glider rope slip from his hands, sending him rolling and gliding across the counter. He used his momentum to get up and speed between the various dirty dishes that were piled up here. The bean quickly caught up to him, but couldn’t grab him \without possibly breaking his own stuff.

Roman smirked and sped up even more. His hidden entrance – still open, luckily – was in sight. This was no longer a life-threatening situation, this was a race. And he was going to win it! He zigzagged the last part of his route, successfully throwing the bean off, and dove into the hole behind the cutting boards. Haha! Sweet, sweet victory!

His elation only lasted a split second.

It seemed he and the bean had different ideas of what the finish line was for their race. Even though Roman was now inside the wall, the bean’s hand followed him through the hole and wrapped around him. With a yelp of surprise, he was pulled back into the light. At first, he was too stunned to struggle, and when he saw the bean’s face he was too scared to do so.

“I finally got you, little thief,” he panted. His breathing was ragged and loud, not to mention uncomfortably close.

That shocked Roman out of his stupor, and he squirmed in the loose grip. “Let me go,” he grunted, trying to push himself up and out of the fist. The grip tightened on his legs and his breath hitched, fear suddenly overwhelming him. He banged his fists on the bean’s hand, “let me go, let me g- whoa!”

The bean had grabbed him by the back of his shirt and released the grip, causing him to dangle precariously. His shirt bit into his armpits and he kicked violently as if to stay away from the floor. He wasn’t usually afraid of heights, but this was a whole other matter!

“S-stop,” he called weakly, unable to tear his eyes away from the ground below.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you fall,” the bean told him. It seemed like he had caught his breath, though he still looked a bit red in the face. All in all, he didn’t look too friendly, and Roman found it hard to believe the reassurances. His breath hitched as he swayed in the grip. “If you give me back what you took from me, I will even let you go.”

Yeah right, like a bean would ever let go someone as wonderful as Roman. Despite his fears, the borrower glared defiantly at his captor. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The bean was unimpressed. “Then I’m sure you don’t mind me looking through that bag of yours.” The other hand reached for him, and Roman tried to kick the fingers away with all his might. Not that it was working, of course.

“Wait, stop, fine! I said fine, just stop!” To his slight surprise, the giant fingers indeed stopped reaching for him. Careful to not shift too much and fall to his death, Roman opened his shoulder bag and took out the strange plaque he had stuffed inside earlier. It was roughly square-shaped, with strange protrusions on two sides and a gap on another. A bunch of pink flowers was drawn on it, and he had planned to use it as decoration for his nest. With a sour face, he held it out to the bean and tried not to flinch as those giant fingers approached again. “Happy now?”

“Quite.”

“Well, then let me go!” Roman huffed, trying to sound more confident than he felt. “You said you would let me go.”

The bean rolled his eyes and lowered him onto the counter. “I would appreciate if you didn’t steal these from me in the future.”

Roman was only half listening. He sprinted away as soon as his feet touched solid ground, eager to create distance between them. Only when he reached his exit did he turn around. “What’s the big deal anyway? You have dozens of those, you wouldn’t miss a single piece!”

“There are fifteen hundred, to be precise,” Logan answered calmly, adjusting his glasses. “And something tells me you have no idea what a puzzle is.”

-

Roman knew he shouldn’t be coming back. He was spotted, and even if the bean had let him go, that fact alone was still reason enough to stay away forever. It wasn’t like he needed to visit this particular apartment, anyway, there were plenty in the whole building. Even if he would never set foot in this place again, he would be able to live a comfortable life.

However!

Roman was a proud borrower, and his pride was stronger than his common sense, hence why he was back here again. He was on the bookshelf this time, hidden from view by a picture frame. The bean – Logan, as he had heard him say into his flat ear box – was sitting at the table beneath the bookshelf, working on that ‘puzzle’ again. The distance between them was much too small to be comfortable, but Roman was at least grateful to be hidden from view.

At times he peaked around the edge of the frame, glancing at Logan and at what he was doing. It seemed like he was recreating the image on the box, but bigger, and the tiny pieces fit together if you put the correct ones next to each other. It seemed like a fun way to pass the time, even if it was a bit boring.

Roman was not interested in that, though. He was only interested in a single piece. His stolen prize lay near a few pieces with similar illustrations, ready to be put together as part of the bigger picture. Or, Roman thought smugly, ready to be taken and make his nest a little prettier.

Logan was posing a problem, though. The bean played with his puzzle almost every evening after dinner, and when he wasn’t playing with it-

Roman ducked a little lower when he heard the chair move, followed by the tell-tale sounds of Logan rolling up his green puzzle mat. He pouted to himself. Now his puzzle piece would be unreachable again, and he’d have to come back tomorrow. He waited until Logan left the room before he came out of his hiding spot, slowly making his way back to the nearest exit.

Maybe tomorrow Logan would leave the puzzle alone long enough.

~

Logan did not leave the puzzle alone. It frustrated Roman to no end, but the bean simply wouldn’t step away from it and let him take his decoration! He only left the table unattended when he grabbed something to eat or drink, and even then Roman couldn’t take it because the table was still in his line of sight!

The borrower wondered if this was still worth it. He’d been coming back for almost a week now, and in that time he’d gotten no chance to take it! Maybe he should just admit defeat here and leave before he did something he regretted. Or maybe he should settle for a less interesting decoration piece to spite the bean for thwarting his efforts.

But there was a stubborn part of him that didn’t want to give up here, and so he came back again and again. He had a sneaking suspicion that Logan knew he was there. The bean never looked at him directly, but he seemed tense and fidgety when he worked on his puzzle.

The suspicions were confirmed on his ninth visit, when Logan walked to the kitchen to grab a snack, before turning back to the table and asking: “Would you like anything?” Roman ducked down in response, not even daring to breathe at that moment.

He didn’t reply.

Logan came back without snacks.

~

On the tenth night, he was spotted. He didn’t know what made Logan suddenly look in his direction – a noise or mere coincidence – but Roman had been a bit too focused on the puzzle to notice the movement. Their eyes locked for just a moment before he dove back behind the picture frame, heart thumping in his chest.

After what seemed like an eternity, the sound of Logan shuffling through the pieces in the box filled the quiet room again. Roman sighed, relieved that the bean had left it at that.

It took twenty minutes before he’d gathered enough courage to peek around the frame again, and this time, he moved just a little further. Logan’s gaze flicked towards him for a moment, but otherwise, he didn’t let on that he’d seen Roman. The borrower waited for a few tense seconds and then slowly lowered his gaze to the puzzle, watching the bean from the corner of his eyes.

They didn’t exchange a word, but Roman didn’t hide behind the frame again.

~

Roman looked down at the picture that was slowly forming on the table below. As Logan put together more and more pieces, the picture started to make more and more sense. Roman’s eyes zoomed in on the pieces with pink flowers on them, which he now knew formed a flower bed around a fountain. His lost prize piece was there, although it no longer held his attention.

No, right now he was focused on the one piece that was missing in that corner, and the gaping hole that it left in the picture. He frowned at the gap, wishing that Logan would hurry up and finish it already. The big gaps didn’t bother him as much because he didn’t know what was supposed to go there, but when there was only one piece missing… Gah, it really rubbed him the wrong way!

Logan was once again sifting through the pieces in the box, taking a handful and throwing them around so he could see what was on them. Roman looked too, even though he could barely see from this distance. He huffed and swung his legs a little. Hopefully, Logan would find the piece with the pink-

The pink flowers!

He gasped as he saw the piece, laying next to one of the bigger piles in the box. There it was! Finally! Logan dug through the piles again, and Roman opened his mouth before he realized it.

“No!”

Logan flinched, clearly startled. “What?”

“Eh…” He gulped, suddenly self-conscious after having the bean’s attention on him after so long. This was the first time they spoke in a long time, after all. He pointed towards the box. “The flower piece is there.”

Logan looked a little closer and frowned. “I don’t see it.”

He should really let this go, should just keep quiet and return to being a spectator (or not return at all). But the piece was right there! If they had it then they could complete this corner and it would finally stop bugging him.

Roman contemplated it a few more seconds, before coming to a decision. “Don’t move.”

He attached his rope and quickly descended. Once he stood on the tabletop, he grabbed his sewing pin for good measure and pointed it at Logan. Logan’s eyes gleamed with amusement, but he didn’t protest as Roman carefully shuffled closer to the box. He quickly jumped over the edge and walked to where he had last seen the blasted piece. It didn’t take long before he held it up triumphantly.

“Behold! The final piece of the flower fountain!”

He swelled with pride when Logan chuckled softly. “Good catch.” He gestured towards the flower fountain in the corner. “Go ahead.”

Roman’s smile fell a little, and he glanced at the gap in the corner. It was… really close to Logan. He swallowed and chucked the piece at the bean instead. “You do it.” Logan raised an eyebrow but didn’t argue, just picked up the piece and put it where it belonged.

Roman climbed out of the box and looked around, hesitating. He could climb back to his spot on the bookshelf, but that would take a little too long for his liking, what with Logan being so close by. Granted, he didn’t believe the bean would actually grab him – he’d had enough chances to do just that, after all – but a lifetime’s worth of instincts was not that easily disregarded. Staying out in the open felt equally daunting.

Two puzzle pieces plopped down near his feet, and he looked up questioningly at Logan. The bean flushed a bit. “I think those should go there somewhere,” he mumbled. “You’re free to find out where they belong if you want.”

Roman hesitantly picked up a piece and studied it, making sure to keep an eye on Logan as well. Warmth blossomed in his chest as he studied the picture on the box and tried to recognise the lines and colours. This had to be the nicest thing about Logan: the bean understood him somehow. He tried to respect Roman’s boundaries and didn’t grab or poke at all – well, safe from their first meeting, but he didn’t think about that much.

Logan kept giving him a choice, and maybe… maybe Roman could choose to trust him.

He attached the piece to one of the edge pieces and grinned.

~

“We’re done!” Roman cheered, a big smile on his face.

“Indeed we are,” Logan chuckled fondly before getting up and walking towards the counter. Roman climbed on top of the box in hopes of gaining a better overview of the large, completed puzzle, but it was no use. The box was only four inches tall, after all, so it was to be expected. “Do you want any?”

He looked up at Logan, who held up a bunch of grapes questioningly. He bit his lips. Logan had offered a few times before, but he had never accepted out of principle. Now, though…

“Why not?” he smiled. “We have something to celebrate, after all!”

Logan’s smile widened and he rolled a grape across the table. Roman jumped down and picked it up, immediately stuffing his face. Juice trickled down his chin and he tried to slurp it up as best as he could. He was aware he looked like a mess, but Logan didn’t comment on it. Instead, he said: “So… what happens now?”

“Hmm?”

“Will you come back?”

He stopped chewing and swallowed. That was a good question. The puzzle was done now, so their fun activity had come to an end. There was still the piece he had wanted to use as decoration of course, but he couldn’t bear to take it now that he knew how fun a puzzle could be (and how frustrating such a hole in the picture was). And while he had accepted the grape, he had no intentions to become dependent on Logan. There really wasn’t anything left for him to do here, so he had no reason for coming back…

But saying that out loud made it sound unpleasantly final. He took another bite of the grape and looked away.

“I… understand if you wouldn’t want to,” Logan said softly, a blush forming on his cheeks. “B-but I did quite enjoy your visits these past weeks. It was… unexpectedly nice to work together with someone on this puzzle, a-and you looked like you had fun as well, so…” He cleared his throat. “I have more puzzles like this if you are interested? If not, I understand but… Just thought I would offer…” His voice got softer and softer near the end, and he looked uncomfortable. Roman got the feeling that this bean didn’t have many friends to talk with.

“Well, if you need my help that badly I wouldn’t mind coming back,” he said airily.