Part 4 where Bruno holds the borrowers for the first time ? 🤫
Anon were you looking at my drafts?😯😏
Thank you to @guaxinimraccoon for this art! You did a wonderful job! (I commissioned them! Just look at my babies!)
Species Swap AU: What if Briar was a human (named Bruno) and the kids were borrowers (named Lilac and Juniper)? Read other parts here: (part 1) / (part 2) / (part 3) / (bonus AU comic here)
Main story and AU meet
Main story “A Borrower at the end of the World” can be found here!
Word count: 4,600ish
***
The early morning sun shined through the windshield and woke Juniper up. It was cheerfully bright, he groaned as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stretched. When he sat up and let his vision finally come into focus, his heart stopped.
A massive lump of flesh sat just out of reach. He had never been so close to a bean’s hand. He could feel the heat radiating from the skin. Juniper was shaking like it was freezing.
A gigantic hand lay beside him, connected to an arm as thick as a treetrunk, which extended up and over the plastic armrest which concealed most of the bean’s body.
Too close! Too close! I have to get away! Juniper shakily tried scooting away from the large hand. Juniper was just about to start screaming and running when he remembered Lilac.
He looked around desperately, where was his sister? In his panicked mind he almost missed her.
Then he spotted two little arms wrapped around one of the titanic fingers.
Ice ran through the boy’s veins as he crawled his way to Lilac. Every cell in his body told him to run away, but his need to protect his sister took over any rational thought. “Let go of her, you gigantic oaf! You monster!” Juniper shouted as he pulled his sister out from under the giant’s hand.
Lilac whined as her brother forced her to let go of the warm finger and yelped when Juniper pulled her into his arms. She was fully awake now, and thoroughly confused.
Bruno was so startled by the sudden noises beside him and feeling tickling sensations on his hand. He reflexively pulled back his arm and sat up. The giant unfortunately sat up so quickly that he smacked his head on the car roof. He emphasized the impact with a quick shout, which made Juniper jump at the sheer volume of the exclamation.
The air around the giant hand was sucked along with it as it was pulled away. Juniper wavered in his stance, almost tripping in the process. Still the boy backed up, holding the squirming five year old in his arms. He fervently looked for a way out. They were trapped in a car with a bean and there was no escape.
Lilac looked around, startled and unsure of what was happening as her brother backed away from the giant staring at them, trying to recover from his own rude awakening. Juniper didn’t realize he was getting too close to the edge of the seat and was about to fall off.
“Woah, woah, careful–” Bruno reached out at the edge of the passenger’s seat, blocking them from falling. If they did get closer to the edge, he would have caught them.
Juniper panicked as another gigantic form loomed behind him and over corrected, running forward and immediately tripping on the uneven soft surface. Juniper fell onto his shoulder with a shout. Lilac screeched as she tumbled out of her brother’s arms, landing on her butt. Her head spun as she looked up at the towering giant above them, who had his hands up like he was just as surprised as they were and didn’t know what to do next.
“What was that?” Bruno asked, wide eyed.
“What do you mean ‘what was that?’ Do you have rocks for brains? You tried to grab us!” Juniper was on his feet immediately, shouting at the giant and pointing an accusatory finger towards Bruno’s titanic face.
“You were both about to fall off the seat–”
“— Because you grabbed her–”
“—I did not–”
“Did so! You were holding my sister in your giant, monster hands!”
Bruno froze. Memories of the previous night crashed into his mind. “I didn’t– No…well, I did, but I-I was just— She– your sister, was about to have another night terror and I was trying to calm her down– and then she grabbed my…” Bruno looked at the fuming boy, red in the face, ready to hurl more insults the bean’s way. Then he looked down at Lilac, she stared back at him with wide, innocent eyes. She had no fear in them, just confusion, like she didn’t know what he was talking about. That shut the giant up before he dug his own grave any further. Bruno pulled himself as far away from the children as possible in the tight car, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have– I shouldn’t have touched you, Lilac, I won’t do it again.”
“You better not,” Juniper snapped.
Bruno ran a hand down his tired face, “I-I’m gonna go outside for a bit…” He grabbed his glasses that were resting on the dashboard and used the hand crank to roll down the window a few inches. “If you need me, you can always–”
“We won’t,” Juniper muttered, but Bruno still heard it. The giant’s face turned into a frown for a split second, before becoming neutral again. But it was long enough to startle the borrower boy into shutting up.
Bruno sighed and turned his back to the kids. He grasped the car door handle and sat there for a moment. The subtlest shiver came to his shoulders, like the tension was building in his monumental back. The giant man opened the door, his shifting weight rocked the car as he left, and closed it as softly as possible. He tried his best not to scare the kids, but it seemed much too late for that.
When the bean’s thumping footsteps faded away, Juniper finally found the ability to breathe again. The tension in his small body lessened and his heart was almost a normal rhythm.
“Junie?” Lilac’s soft voice cut through the fearful haze in the boy’s mind.
Juniper was instantly brought back to reality and rushed towards his baby sister, almost tripping in his hurry.
Juniper landed on his knees in front of her and cupped her face in his hands, “are you alright? D-did he hurt you?!” He pulled at her arms and legs, checking for broken bones, scratches, bruises, anything, but found nothing. “This was all a mistake,” Juniper was suddenly on his feet and began pacing and pulling at the roots of his hair, “A very bad, bad mistake. We shouldn’t have come. I shouldn’t have let you or that behemoth convince me to let us come. We don’t even know where the hell he is taking us!” He was spiraling now, thinking of every possible horrible thing the bean could do to them. “This must be his master plan, to trap us and keep us like pets or eat us—“
“Junie!” Lilac pulled at her brother’s sleeve, forcing him to stop, “it’s okay! I’m fine!”
“How can you say you’re fine?! He was holding you in his gigantic hand! He could have crushed you!”
“He was?”
“You don’t remember?” Juniper couldn’t believe it.
Lilac shook her head, “not really.” She paused for a long time concentrating, “I don’t know, but I remember feeling… warm. Warmer than I have in a long time.”
Juniper huffed, exasperated, “Of course you felt ‘warm,’ that giant freak practically radiates heat all the time!”
Lilac scoffed, “You are so mean to Mr. Runo.”
“Wha— I am not—“
“Are so! You call him mean names all the time.”
“I do not--”
“You called him stupid.”
“Well—“
“You said his feet could destroy a whole borrower house yesterday.”
“So–”
“You called him a monster today. A few times.”
“Why are you keeping track?”
“And I heard you say that he has an awful voice that shakes the earth.”
“Well, it’s not like I don’t say things that aren’t true.”
“But it’s not true!” Tears filled the child’s eyes. “He’s nice, Junie. He’s so nice.” She shook her head adamantly, “all he’s done is help us.” She began to cry.
Juniper paused, “Hey,” he bent down to her level and wiped away her tears, “Lilac, d-don’t cry–”
“You are so mean to him.”
“But–”
“No, butts!” Lilac huffed, “Mommy always said, ‘if you got nothing nice to say…”
“…Don’t say anything at all,” Juniper finished lamely. He sighed and scratched his neck. Maybe he had been too harsh on the bean— Bruno. Lilac wasn’t hurt and that’s all that really mattered.
“You have to tell Mr. Runo you’re sorry.”
“What?! No way—“
She pulled at her brother close by the shirt, he could feel her hot breath as she whispered into his ear, gritting her teeth, “You will apologize to him when he comes back or else.”
Juniper got a chill up his spine as he pulled away, she spoke with the same cadence and irritation as their mother once used when threatening punishment for the kid’s misbehaving. (Though her voice was much higher.)
“O-okay…” When Juniper pulled away, he half expected to see their mother sitting there, but instead Lilac was doing her best attempt at a glare. He let out a hesitant laugh as he looked at his little sister, “when did you become so bossy?”
“When you decided to be a big butt-head,” Lilac countered with a giggle and a quick shove in the chest.
“Oh yeah?” A devilish smirk grew on his face as poked her in the stomach, eliciting a series of giggles until she breathlessly begged for him to stop. Juniper looked up towards the window Bruno left open. “Where is that bean anyway?” he asked, “The guy’s been gone a while.”
“Do you think he’s lost?” Lilac worried.
“No,” Juniper rolled his eyes, “how can you lose a guy that big anyway?”
***
Bruno never wandered far from the car. No matter how angry the children were. No matter how much they hated him, he made a promise to keep them safe.
He locked the car door behind him, not to keep them trapped, but as a cautionary move. There probably weren’t other beans out there, but he didn’t want to risk someone hijacking his (stolen) car and finding two tiny, defenseless children in the passenger's seat.
The windows were left slightly open for three reasons. One, so they could call out for him. Two, if they really needed to get out of the car, they could use their hooks and climb out. Juniper had tested that out the day before they officially left because he didn’t like the thought of being fully trapped in a confined space with a bean. The third reason was just to give them much needed fresh air, since the air conditioning was broken in the truck.
Bruno sat in the dirt beside the car, leaning up against the tire. His head down and his arms resting on his knees. His body refused to move from the spot, unsure if he should take a walk into the woods to relieve some of the tension in his body or just get back in the car, get back on the road. He just froze and wallowed in his misery.
The man felt like shit. He probably looked like it too, if the constant smell of BO (from lack of bathing) had anything to do with it. His clothes were tattered and torn. His shoes and socks had holes. His long, curly hair was twisted in matted knots. He slid a calloused hand down his jaw and felt his stubby patches of beard. He hadn’t shaved in a while either.
He definitely looked like the shell of the man he once was. He felt like it too. Bruno used to have everything, money, fame, now look at him. A man long past his prime, just trying desperately to get home. Praying that his family would survive long enough for him to see them again. There was so much uncertainty in the world now. Who knows how long it will take for him to get there, they were going to run out of gas soon and would have to abandon their (“borrowed”) truck, find a new one. Or have to walk the rest of the way there, Bruno’s legs ached at the very thought.
Then a thought occurred to him: I’d have to carry the kids. Bruno gulped.
Juniper’s terrified eyes and shouts echoed in his mind. Over the past few weeks the boy’s insults were really getting to Bruno. The almost constant accusations of being a monster. Juniper’s worries that Bruno might suddenly turn on the children or hurt them accidentally, was really getting to the bean.
How can I help or even protect them if they don’t even want to trust me? He lamented to himself.
He knew on some level, this was a bad idea. Traveling with beings smaller than his hands could be dangerous to them. Not just him posing a threat, but the entire outside world too. Bruno wanted nothing more than to help them, his intentions were pure, but it seemed that every action he took was wrong. It was one screw up after another.
Bruno grasped at his arms, digging into the skin with his nails. He took two children away from their home. He forced them to trust a man 40 times their size to keep his promise of protecting them. He was taking them to a place they had never even heard of. No wonder they were terrified.
Maybe instead of taking them with him, he should have helped them search for other borrowers. Who knows, if he found borrowers once, maybe he could do it again? Or at the very least he could have stayed in that abandoned house with them until another borrower came along.
The bean looked to the sky for the right answer. He should just turn around, use what’s left of the fuel to bring them back to the house where they first met and search for someone else their size who could take care of them.
Bruno absentmindedly rubbed his pinkie finger. The ghost of Lilac’s two inch figure lingered there, wrapping her little arms around the digit.
The man was selfish. He knew it was selfish, to want something that just wasn’t possible. He wanted to be trusted. He wanted to be helpful. He wanted the kids to want to be with him, to maybe even stay with him. He wanted to be a hero.
He should have made Lilac let go of his finger when he had the chance, even if that meant she would cry, at least her brother would have woken up and taken care of it. Then they wouldn’t be in this mess of a situation. Their alliance was precarious enough as it was. Now he was sure he broke all the trust either kid had left in him. He broke one of the first rules given to him: don’t touch the borrowers.
His stomach hollowed out and he curled in on himself, leaving a big pit in his chest.
Those kids will probably never want to see me again. Bruno buried his face in his moon-sized hands, and I can’t blame them… I could never blame them.
Bruno was used to being seen as a villain. But never a monster.
***
“Mr. Runo!” Lilac cupped her hands around her mouth to amplify her small voice, “We need you!”
“Don’t shout,” Juniper tried to shut her up, “He’ll come back eventually! Stop!”
She twisted out of his grasp and yelled louder, “Mr. RUNO!
It sounded like a barely audible whisper, but the second Bruno heard Lilac’s call, his spine instantly straightened. The hair on the back of his neck was standing on end as he shot to his feet. Moving faster than he had in years.
The kids could see his large frame casting a shadow on the window. They could hear as he fumbled for the car keys at his hip, cursing in Spanish when he nearly dropped them in his urgency.
He finally unlocked the door, but he pulled it open so quickly the air in the car moved with such force that the children almost fell over.
Juniper worried the door might get pulled off its hinges. A terrible reminder of the power this creature— bean held over them. Yet they chose to trust and spend their time with him.
“What is it, what’s wrong?!” Bruno’s wild eyes scanned each child for injury or distress. Juniper had the same nervous features as usual and Lilac was more wide eyed, but unharmed.
“We’re fine,” Lilac squeaked.
Bruno released a hefty sigh and sat down. The car rocked at the entrance of the 6’7 man and the suspensions creaked. Both kids tried to stay steady on the chair as the whole world around them jostled.
Juniper started sweating, this was just another reminder of the weight under Bruno’s giant shoes. One wrong step and the kids would be nothing but a stain on the floor. Juniper tried to shake that horrible thought out of his mind.
Bruno rested his head on the steering wheel, taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart. He couldn’t take much more of this stress so early in the morning.
“Are you alright, Mr. Runo?”
“Yes, yes I’m fine. I just need to catch my breath.” Bruno sat up a bit and waved them off, “you just scared me is all.”
“Sorry,” Lilac looked down guiltily.
Bruno turned to face the children, shaking his head, “there’s nothing for you to apologize for. In fact…” he licked his lips and looked towards Juniper, who stiffened under the scrutiny. “Listen, Juniper, I’m–”
“I’m sorry,” Juniper shouted.
Bruno’s jaw went slack, that was the last thing he ever expected to hear.
The boy waited a moment for any response back. But upon seeing their giant’s dumbfounded face, he continued, “I-I shouldn’t have shouted at you earlier.” Lilac elbowed her brother. He grunted, but continued, “And I didn’t mean it when I called you a monster. Or an oaf. Or said you were stupid. Or that you could squish us under your fat boots. Or that you smell worse than a horse’s as–”
“It’s okay!” Bruno stopped the boy before he dug himself into a deeper hole, “I understand. You were just trying to protect your sister, I’d be pretty scared too if I were you.”
“Really?” Juniper was sceptical.
“Of course,” Bruno said seriously, “I’d freak out too if I woke up next to “moon sized hand.” Bruno smirked as he repeated Juniper’s words from two nights ago.
The boy grimaced and looked down in shame, “I’m sorry about saying that too.”
“No. No, I should be the one apologizing." Bruno took a deep breath and looked at each of the borrower children in earnest, “I’m sorry, Juniper. I’m sorry Lilac. I overstepped your boundaries. I won't do it again.”
“It’s okay,” Lilac said.
“It isn’t really,” Bruno muttered. “If this is too much for you, either of you, just say the word and I will drive you back to that house. I’ll help you find other borrowers or a permanent living situation. You’ll never have to see me again.”
Juniper looked down and shrugged, “There’s nowhere else for us to go.”
Lilac nodded. “Mommy said we might be the last borrowers out there… before she died.”
“And our father has been missing for three years now. He’s probably dead too.”
The kids weren’t normally so open about their lives before the bean came into the picture or about other borrowers, so Bruno hung onto every word.
Bruno sighed out all the stress and worry in his body. It looked like the kids were going to stick around a bit longer. “Can we start over?” He asked. The man really wished he could rewrite how they met. No terrifying the kids. No pissing off Juniper or his name calling anymore. Start off right and not deal with the consequences of their fear for no reason other than his stature. But time machines were not readily available to them, so he settled for this.
“Huh?” Juniper looked at the bean like he had sprouted a second head.
“You know, pretend like nothing happened this morning that was scary or awful. Say that we woke up right now and are starting the day just right. How’s that sound?”
“I guess we can try,” Juniper rubbed the back of his head. He thought this was a dumb idea, but figured he’d at least play along to appease the bean and for Lilac’s sake. No matter how much they pretend all the shit didn’t happen, it sure as hell did. The terror of it all was still fresh in his mind.
“Okay!” The young girl smiled, “Mr. Runo, you gotta put your hand here, just like this morning!” Lilac pointed at the spot where his hand was the previous night. A large indent still permeated the blanket that once held the hand’s weight.
“Uh…” Bruno didn’t anticipate this request, he was so caught off guard that his brain seemed to stutter. Before he fully registered what he was doing, he quietly guided his large hand to lay beside the children. He gave them a wide birth of space between them and the appendage, waiting for what came next. He eyed Juniper to see if he’d protest, but the boy didn’t move.
When Bruno fully rested his hand where it had been that morning, Lilac squealed and bounded towards the huge appendage.
Juniper tried to grab her, “Lilac! Get back here.” He wasn’t quick enough.
She stood beside his thumb and placed both hands on the joint. Lilac began shoving and pushing on his thick skin, “Flip your hand, Mr. Runo! Flip it!”
Just like the night before, it seemed Bruno couldn’t help but adhere to the whim of this two inch child. He carefully turned his hand so the palm was up.
Lilac then did something neither Juniper nor Bruno would have ever expected, she climbed up onto the massive hand. She had a bit of trouble doing so, but as soon as she put her full weight on his palm, Bruno was completely frozen. Too scared to move or risk accidently hurting her.
It didn’t help that she began exploring his hand. Tracing his life lines with her minuscule fingers and testing the squishiness of his palm. It tickled, but not in an unpleasant way.
Bruno was frozen, he looked between the two kids for what to do next. Juniper felt like he was going to be sick. Lilac laid out on the wide palm, she was attempting to make little snow angels in his skin. Even with her arms and legs stretched out as far as she could reach, she didn’t make it to either end of the palm.
“Come on Junie!” Lilac waved her brother over and patted an empty spot on Bruno’s skin next to her, “Come up here!”
“N-no, I’m okay.” Juniper shook his head.
“Please?” She used her best attempt at puppy eyes.
"You don't have to if you do want to," Bruno finally spoke up in his defense.
"He's not gonna do it ‘cause he's scared."
"I am not!"
"Are so!"
"Shut up," Juniper shouted at his sister as he marched over to the giant hand. Before he could really think about what he was doing, he jumped onto Bruno's palm. He almost tripped on the unexpectedly squishy surface. His arms swung round to keep balance. Lilac giggled at her brother’s struggle till he glared at her, immediately shutting her up.
Bruno stared in amazement, he currently held two lives in his hand. They (on some level) trusted him enough to hold them. His heart almost leapt for joy out of his chest.
They had only been on his palm for a few minutes before…
“Up!” Lilac said as she raised her short arms, grasping by motions, “pick us up Mr. Runo!”
Bruno looked at Juniper, “is that okay with you?”
Juniper numbly nodded.
“Okay,” Bruno seemed skeptical that Juniper was really okay with this. “You can stop me at any time and I’ll put you down immediately, I promise.”
Juniper nodded again. He just wanted to get it over with.
Vertigo gripped Juniper's stomach as the passenger's seat dropped away. He let out the softest of gasps as they rose higher. The world spun slowly as the giant carried them up and over the arm rest. Then they stopped in front of his titanic frame. Bruno held them at chest level, and raised his other hand just below their platform as extra protection in case one of them fell.
“Closer,” Lilac commanded. Bruno did as he was told, guiding his palm to just below his chin. The bean had to cross his eyes to see them properly.
Juniper might have laughed at Bruno’s ridiculous face behind his glasses if the boy wasn’t so nervous. He had never been picked up by a giant before and he had never been so close to a bean before, he wasn’t sure how to feel. He fidgeted with his hands and tried to think of anything other than the fact they were being held so close to the giant’s mouth. The bean could eat them right then and there.
Bruno noticed the boy’s weary glances at his mouth, now that they were so close he could properly read his worried expression, he raised them a little higher and closed his mouth.
Juniper felt a little better when they couldn’t see the bean’s mouth. He focused on the large eyes staring back at them. Juniper never realized how startlingly beautiful eyes could be, it was especially apparent when they were on this scale. He could see the golden flakes scattered in Bruno’s green eyes and watched the pupils dilate. The long lashes that could be used like rope, moving with every blink.
On Bruno’s part, he had never gotten the chance to see the kids this close before. He saw that both of their eyes were brown and they had splashes of freckles along their cheeks and arms. He noted the way their boots just barely left little indents in his skin and the bulky stitching on their clothes that could have only come from them “borrowing” bean made thread and cloth.
Lilac smiled from ear to ear. She stood on the squishy surface and attempted to walk towards Bruno’s face.
Juniper stayed where he was standing, fidgeting with his hands. He was still nervous to be held by a bean, but it wasn’t as bad as he originally feared it to be.
Bruno’s eyes widened and every muscle in his body froze completely. He even refused to breathe or risk accidently pushing Lilac down.
Then two tiny hands grasped at his crooked nose, she patted it for a moment before extending her arms and giving her best attempt at a hug.
Suddenly, the spell the giant had been under broke. Bruno let out a sigh he had been holding, the breeze from his nose rustled the kids' hair and clothes.
Lilac laughed with her sweet musical giggle as she wavered a bit in her stance, but she held fast to his nose. She was exactly where she wanted to be. She nuzzled the bridge of his nose with her own nose, a common gesture among borrowers to those they cared about.
All the worry and sadness Bruno had felt over these past weeks washed away. To think these children, only a few inches tall, would trust him enough to hold them after everything they had been through told him everything he needed to know.
If Bruno could bottle up the sound of Lilac’s laughter, the joy he felt, or the trust Juniper was giving him, he would. He would do anything to keep this feeling. For these little moments.
He would do anything for these kids.
***
I'm alive! I finally had a bit of time to finish this chapter that had been rotting in draft hell for too long.
I also got my first adult paycheck and you know what I did instead of buying myself a nice dinner? I commissioned the lovely @guaxinimraccoon to draw art for this chapter! 😍🤩🤩🤩🤩 I love it so much I literally can’t stop staring at it! 🥹🥹🥹
💬 0 🔁 10 ❤️ 149 · Commission for @tea-potato-gt!! Had a blast with this one, I'm a sucker for drawing comfort and fluffy g/t 😭😭 You can c
