#sortofstreamerau

“Vitus and Dabria have been amazing with their kids, adopted them even,” the woman driving said. Ian didn’t care, he’d fight if they tried to adopt him. He wanted to go back to his mom eventually, she needed him. He just had to get through four years of this stupid system. “Here we are!”

“Great,” he said. She gave him a look, but he didn’t care. If she wanted him happy to get ignored by his guardians it wasn’t going to happen. She hopped out of the car and started checking her watch. “You can just go, I can get to the door on my own.”

“Well, I’ll be calling in an hour to make sure you’ve gotten there so don’t run off!” He just nodded as she climbed back into the car. She almost rushed off before Ian grabbed his stuff. All the keepsakes his mom hid from his step dad. The only things he wouldn’t let them send ahead.

He stared up the path to the huge door. The giants would probably just say he’d shown up when he hadn’t to avoid a problem. He could probably run off now, but he didn’t have anything he’d need to survive. He grimaced, but started up the small slope to the door. He was a bit shocked to find a doorbell at human height. He had been positive he’d have to try shouting or just wait until they decided to check. He pressed the button and realized he made a horrible mistake.

Tremors that knocked him off his feet came close. The sound of the bell hadn’t even stopped yet. He stared at the door, it would open out and smack into him. He still had to recover from the last time his step dad needed ‘stress relief’. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the inevitable pain. He yelped when cool air washed over him.

“Oh, I’m sorry I was so excited to meet you I didn’t soften my steps,” a warm voice said. He slowly opened his eyes and stared into rubies. The giant woman leaned forward and her ebony hair blocked Ian from sight. He was trapped as she reached down to him. He tensed for the fingers to grip him, but the hand rested next to him instead. “You are Ian, right?”

“Uh, y-yes I am,” he said. He climbed to his feet and just stared at the hand near him. He didn’t know what she expected. He just stepped back to try and look into her eyes again.

“Oh, would you rather walk on your own? That’s fine.” He noticed a shift in her expression that made him nervous, he planted his hands on her skin before she could pull away.

“N-no, it’s fine.”

He pulled himself onto her palm and turned back to grab his bag. Her other hand had already appeared and pinched it between two fingers. His face fell, his things would probably be crushed now. The huge fingers came to a stop just next to him and she put his bag down. She was shocked to see it in perfect condition. He grabbed it and pulled it close, preferring not to risk another close call.

The hand underneath him tensed. He watched the huge fingers curl up over his head. He wasn’t used to being held like this. His old friends would just grab him when they were walking around. The hand was brought higher and higher as she stood to her full height. He gasped as she cupped her hand to her chest. He could hear her heart as she turned and let the door shut behind them. It was a lot quieter than he usually heard doors in giant homes.

“It’s nice to meet you Ian, I’m Dabria,” she started. “We have most of what you could need set up on this floor. If we’re missing anything just let us know.”

“Sure,” he answered.

Dabria continued taking him through the house. She pointed up the stairs explaining that's where she and her husband slept. She was bigger than any giant he’d seen so far, he didn’t want to see the husband anytime soon. She talked about offices for them on this floor so they could work where it was easier to be reached. Ian just nodded along, it wasn’t like it meant much to him. 

“This is the giant room we have set up where you can stay if you want,” she said. 

He frowned. She would probably drop him on the bed and he’d have to risk getting hurt to get down. He didn’t say anything and waited. She opened the door and held her hand away from her chest. He tried not to groan as her fingers flattened. He was left in shock by what he found.

“Currently Rhys and Ash are using the small spaces towards the back of the room. We set one up for you here,” she explained. He stared in awe at the small area they made for him. It was almost empty except for a bed. None of his things they sent ahead were there. “We had the others put your things in the human size rooms though. If you’d rather stay here just let us know and we’ll move everything over.”

He didn’t get a chance to ask questions before her hand was pulled close to her heart again. She walked out of the room and into their living room. He sighed, the human rooms were here so they could keep an eye on them probably. As her fingers flattened out again he almost screamed seeing the other giant in the room.

He couldn’t see the face of the giant, but he had white hair tied back just by his neck. Ian was terrified for the man to turn and face them, he looked tense. He wasn’t ready for angry giants, he couldn’t be sure they weren’t like his step dad. The man started to stand and Dabria took a step closer.

“Vitus, is everything ready?” Dabria asked. 

Vitus turned and emerald eyes were locked on Ian instantly. He panicked at the stern look of the other giant. He took a step towards them, he didn’t want to imagine what this one would be like when he was on the ground. The giant offered a hand and Ian wanted to refuse, but knew he wouldn’t get much of a say. He walked off of Dabria’s palm and into Vitus’s, clutching his suitcase tightly.

The rougher hand let him walk a bit easier. He made it to the center quickly before sitting down. He didn’t want to fall on his face while the hand moved. The fingers around him curled up and he shuddered. He was brought close to those piercing eyes and waited. This is where he finds out how ignored he gets or if he’s getting a giant version of his step dad.

“It’s nice to meet you Ian, Rhys and I were making sure everything was set up for you,” Vitus whispered. The hand he was on started moving and he was shown a small human size living room. It looked almost identical to the one the giants were standing in. “The door to your room has your name on it. There’s a buzzer there that lets us know if you need us.”

A finger was held in front of his face and he followed it to a button on the wall. It was the first time he noticed the weird bracelet that was on Vitus’s wrist. He’d seen them before, his friends’ parents had them for when humans stayed over. They never actually wore them though. He absentmindedly reached out to it. Vitus just smiled at him, the giant seemed a lot nicer than Ian first thought.

He carefully climbed off the rough palm. He expected Vitus to stop him and decide this was a joke. Instead he made it to the small living room and looked around. He found a few doors with names, but one that had his. He made his way over and opened the door. He expected it to be just as empty as the spot in the giant room. 

He found the room filled with his things. It had new stuff too. The bed had new clothes, a new phone, even a new suitcase on it. The room had its own television, and shelves he could put all the things he kept close on display. He looked out the door and the two giants had moved from the opening. It felt like they paid close attention to everything he’d sent over. He took a few more steps inside and noticed a tablet sitting on the desk too.

He didn’t get to look at it before a salmon haired man had walked into the room. He walked up and stared into Ian’s eyes. The pink color made him think the man wore contacts. The man placed his hands on Ian’s shoulders and wore a somber expression. Ian tensed, this had to be where he got some awful truth about these people.

“I’m sorry to say you have an awful sibling now, Ash is a stick in the mud and doesn’t want-” the man started. A hand came out of nowhere and smacked the back of the pink haired man’s head. Ian looked up at the taller person who’d followed the other in.

“Rhys, don’t scare him. I’m Ash, it's nice to meet you,” they said. They held a hand out and Ian took it shakily. They seemed to frown at him and he didn’t know why. They looked like they were going to say something else, but Rhys pushed them away a bit.

“Come on, you’re just mad cause I ruined your time hanging out in your room with Alessia. What did mom and dad say again? Not until you’ve moved out?”

“Rhys if you mention they were in my room I’m telling them about the way your tv actually broke,” a feminine voice said. He was shocked by how authoritative she sounded when she was so much shorter than all of them. She had almost blue hair and brown eyes.

“I give, I give,” Rhys backed further into Ian’s room and away from the three. Ian just sighed, it looked like he’d been brought into a place easy to be forgotten about. “So Ian, excited to try living with giants? You know the stories are true, they stomp around and are always loud and-”

“Rhys!” Ian’s eyes had gone wide as Rhys spoke. He hadn’t heard any stories, but he didn’t want that world again. Loud, stomping, and angry was the worst thing he could get from this. He hugged his sides, the healing bruises flaring in pain. Arms slowly wrapped around him, but he didn’t want to see who would hurt him.

“Hey,” it was Alessia. He could maybe fight her off. “Rhys is being an idiot, that’s not going to be how things go here. They’re quiet and nice, I’ve heard Vitus raise his voice once because he thought someone was in trouble. I mean they let me stay here just cause I was dating one of their kids and my parents were moving.”

He didn’t believe her. It would be easy enough to tell a lie, but he wanted to lean into the hug. He hadn’t been held in a long time and it felt nice. Another hand touched his shoulder and he jumped. He snapped his head towards the person, finding Rhys looking guilty. Alessia might not be lying after all.

“I’m sorry, Ian. It was a bad joke. There’s been other kids in and out who always come in talking about the stories. I was just kidding, really. Mom and dad are good people,” Rhys said. His voice sounded different, more sincere. Ash put a hand on his head and ruffled his hair. Their hands were big, bigger than his step dad’s.

It took a while, but once he calmed down the four talked for a while. Dabria came in with some food for them. He was shocked it was actual human sized food and not pieces of giant food. That’s what he got when he ate over his old friends’ houses. He was going to ask about the extra dish, but Rhys ran up and grabbed two. He looked up at Dabria’s face before going to a door Ian hadn’t even noticed.

He tried to watch what Rhys was doing, but Ash and Alessia tried to distract him. All he managed to see was the name on the door, Mira. Rhys came back out and joined the rest of them with one of the plates. The other person made him nervous, they must be hiding for a reason. He didn’t know how to find out more though.

It got late enough the other three nearly pushed him into the room with his name. It felt weird to have a room like this. It had so many things, the tablet on the desk was blinking. He walked over and sat down to look at the thing. It was locked with his birthday, he laughed at that. He put in the code and found a note from Vitus staring at him.

It wasn’t long, so he figured he’d read it then rather than waiting for the next day. It was more normal than he expected, just welcoming him to their family. It listed rules, curfews and stuff like that. Then it got a bit more direct. It mentioned how he knew that Ian hadn’t gotten help he needed before and Vitus wouldn’t let that happen again. The tablet had an app that attached to that weird bracelet, he could reach either of them any time. They even made it so he could specify who he was calling.

He blinked as tears hit the screen. He hadn’t felt that seen in a long time. He tried to wipe his eyes dry, but the tears wouldn’t stop. The letter didn’t have much more, just that they knew he’d been hurt before coming there and would leave him bandages in the morning. He locked the tablet and brought it with him to the bed. He curled up not expecting to find people who cared that much about him.

The next morning he was aching. He thought for sure the day before was a dream, but the tablet was still in his hands. He unlocked it again smiling at an update that the others all went out, but the bandages were there. It seemed like these people weren’t going to risk him being forgotten. He started to change, but left his shirt off to go grab the bandages. He tried to start treating it, but a scream distracted him.

“No, no, no,” the girl was shaking her head. Her lavender hair looked like a tangled mess and her pink eyes were looking through him. “Th-they started too. W-we need to get away. I…”

She ran over and grabbed him. Her hands were thin and she was shaking. She started to pull him towards the open door. It took him a minute to realize it was the one Rhys slipped into the night before. He grabbed her hand, but that seemed to make her worse. She started trying harder to drag him along. He scooped up what he could of the bandages before following her to the room.

She slammed the door and started pacing around. She kept muttering about a way out. Not letting it be dark again. He took in the room, it had nightlights in every plug and a pretty intense computer setup. He didn’t know what was going through her head, but he didn’t like how terrified she was.

“You’re Mira right?” he asked. She jumped and seemed to see him for the first time. She took a step back from him, like he was the danger now. “I’m Ian, I, uh, just got here last night. I guess you weren’t up for meeting people?”

“Y-you.. They took you. They hurt you. They’re trapping us. We need to go, run. The others. Where are they!?” she shouted. Ian did the first thing he thought of and approached her. He grabbed her hands and looked into her eyes.

“No one who lives in this house hurt me. These are from another human. Can you help me treat them?” He let her hands go and waited for her to respond.

She reached out and touched one of his bruises. Even if her hands were small it was clear she saw it wasn’t a bruise from a finger. She nodded and brought him over to her bed. She took the bandages he’d dropped and started to wrap his sides. It felt nice to actually take care of what that guy did to him. They sat in silence for a long time once she finished.

“You have a cool computer, do you play anything?” he asked. She looked at him with wide eyes and nodded. She went over and pulled up a game he had tried once or twice. She held out a controller to him and he smiled. “Co-op sounds fun.”

They were there for hours and she eventually managed to calm down. He left at one point to grab his shirt, he grabbed the tablet too just in case. She even said he should leave the door open. He heard the noise of others coming into the house. She leaned into him when the sound of the giant door opened. She was terrified of them, but lived here anyway. There had to be something good about this place.

“They’ll probably catch us either way,” they sighed. He knew Ash had believed all the warnings the other kids said. He did too. That’s why he was doing this. Piss off the giants enough they get sent back to wait for new foster parents. Best part of the system was they actually tried to keep Rhys and Ash together.

He climbed onto the counter and smiled at the cookies that were left out to cool. Dabria left so it was just their foster dad and he barely looked at them. It should be easy to steal one of these things and get away. He grabbed Ash’s hands and pulled them up to stand next to him. If they were lucky she’d get mad and demand they leave. If they were unlucky, well Rhys chose not to think about that.

“See told you it would be worth it,” he grinned. Dabria made chocolate chip and sugar cookies. It was weird that she just happened to make the kinds they both loved. 

“I’m still not sure this is a good idea, what if they get mad,” Ash shivered. Rhys grabbed the taller human’s arm and started dragging them towards their goal. “They could make it so we can only get around if they let us.”

“Then we tell the people who put us here and they take us away again. Simple.”

“And what if they don’t take us away Rhys. They left us with those last ones for a while.” Rhys flinched, the pain of his punishments still fresh. They were right it took forever and it was all the more reason to do something to start it now.

“Just trust me Ash, when have I steered you wrong?” The groan from his sibling made him smile.

“You mean just today?” They laughed and Rhys smiled back at them. It would be fine.

“We’ll be fine. The guy doesn’t even seem to look at us anyway. Probably just agreed to take in humans to make his wife happy.”

A shadow fell over them and Rhys immediately regretted his words. He looked up and the man he just spoke about was looking down at them with a frown. Ash pulled him behind them, the older one always tried to protect him. Half the time they got in trouble was his fault. Another one to join that list. The giant sighed and the two flinched.

Painfully slowly the man crouched down to be at their level. Green eyes stared at them and Rhys almost wanted to poke them so they could run. One of the massive arms lifted and he felt Ash’s grip tightened. Rhys stared at the pale fingers, expecting them to go straight for him. Instead the hand kept moving over them. Rhys buried his face in Ash’s back, they were probably getting put under a cup or something.

Instead of his fears being realized the smell of the giant cookies came to rest in front of them. Rhys peeked around Ash and saw one of the huge sugar cookies placed on the counter in front of them. A chocolate chip cookie came to rest next to it. He looked up at the giant and caught the faintest hint of a smile. He had to be imagining it.

“A snack isn’t a bad idea,” Vitus said. The voice was still loud, but had a hint of kindness. Rhys gave him a suspicious look, he didn’t trust this. They’d take a piece of the cookies and then get punished for it. “You two take what you want and I’ll eat the rest so Dabria can’t tell.”

“Why?” Rhys asked. Ash’s grip on his arm tightened. That would be how they get punished. It was too late to stop it though. “Aren’t you mad that we were trying to steal cookies?”

The chuckle from Vitus made Rhys shiver. It had to be a bad sign that he was laughing. Ash stepped back a bit. They didn’t have escapes from here that didn’t put them closer to Vitus. The two were trapped and it was Rhys’s fault. He pressed his face into Ash’s back again to try and hide the tears that were starting from his stupid plans.

“I don’t think I can blame you for stealing some of these. They smell good,” Vitus smiled. Rhys froze, that didn’t make sense. He heard another sigh and the shifting of fabric. He didn’t know how Ash was standing so firm against this. It had to be because they were taller, if Rhys were taller he could do a lot more. “You happen to be wrong. We both wanted to take in kids, human or giant, that needed a good home. We’re not going to make it impossible to get around because you did something that upset us. We want you to feel safe here.”

Rhys poked his head out again. The giant had moved his arms to rest against the counter. His head was resting on top of them, furrowed brows making him look angry. Ash seemed to relax so Rhys got a bit of his confidence back. He stepped out from behind his sibling staring up into the emeralds watching them. He stepped forward to be standing next to them.

“Then why do you always glare at us or avoid us?” he asked. Ash squeezed his arm, it seems like they wanted to ask that too. Vitus had a bitter smile take over his face.

“I know I can be scary. I didn’t want to make adjusting for either of you worse,” he said. Rhys started laughing, it just seemed funny. A giant that was bigger than any he’d seen had been worried about scaring them. Ash slapped his arm but he couldn’t stop laughing. He almost screamed when a huge finger touched his head, but the ruffling of his hair made him calm a bit. “Well I guess making you laugh is good.”

“...You were watching us climb up here weren’t you?” Ash asked. Rhys gasped he hadn’t considered that. The finger on his head disappeared. He looked at the giant’s face, almost shocked to find a smile on it.

“I guess I was pretty obvious.” Another chuckle escaped the giant, this time it wasn’t as terrifying. It almost felt nice to hear. “I didn’t want either of you to get hurt.”

“Thank you. For the cookies too.” Ash smiled and took some of the sugar cookie placed near them. The smile on Vitus’s face made Rhys start to consider him in a different light. He grabbed some of the chocolate chip cookie placed by him and smiled at the taste.

“Dabria makes good cookies…” 

Another laugh from the giant in front of them. He stood up to his full height. The way his shadow cast over them felt a bit less scary now. Vitus placed a hand next to the two of them. They stared at it unsure what he wanted from them.

“Why don’t I get you away from the scene of the crime? We can watch a movie while you have your snack if you want,” he offered. 

Rhys thought it over for about one second before grabbing Ash’s arm. He walked towards the hand dragging them along. He climbed on and pulled them up with them, settling on the strange leather surface. Dabria had held them before, but her hands were softer than Vitus’s. He curled his fingers over them before picking up the two cookies and walking away. Ash leaned closer to him.

“Fine, this time you didn’t steer us wrong. Maybe these two won’t be so bad,” they whispered. Rhys smiled, he agreed. The last time they stole cookies had been a lot less nice.

“You may just be right. Guess that means you’ll have to listen to me next time too,” he laughed. Ash pushed him a bit. He almost missed the smile that seemed to get even bigger on Vitus’s face.

“Aww finally losing your fire, little doll?” they crooned. She flinched at the words. She opened her mouth to speak, but the fingers around her tightened and squeezed the breath from her. “Don’t you dare talk back to me this time. No one is going to save you. Not when your dumb friend handed you to me himself.”

“What?” she squeaked out. The fingers tightened again, she was sure her bones were about to break.

“What was his name again? Corus? He told me all about how he got you away from the ones who’d save you just to give you to me. Did you really think a giant would marry someone like you? A little human who can barely look in his eyes?”

She felt tears roll down her face. Of course Corus didn’t want to actually marry her. It was all to get her trapped again. She felt her heart start racing when he appeared in the room. Corus looked at her with disdain. She felt her heart breaking as he walked up close enough to see her clearly.

“Stop playing around and get rid of it already,” Corus said, his voice cold. That ignited something in her heart, she squeezed her eyes shut before getting ready to scream.

“Let go of me you damned monsters!” she screamed. 

The feeling of the fingers squeezing her disappeared. She was on something soft and a warmth radiated from nearby. She slipped her eyes open a new bout of panic taking over when she found Corus staring at her. She started to scramble back desperate to get away. His eyes widened and a hand blocked the path behind her. She started to struggle breathing.

“Woah woah, calm down deep breaths. In,” he said. He took in his own deep breath pulling her hair forward. He let his breath out and blew the hair back in response. “And out.”

She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t even think. He was there and his breath kept washing over her. Spots started to coat her vision, she had to get away. She started to sob as she tried to get a breath. Her head was spinning.

“Ok not working, how about… can you tell me five things you can see?” She shook her head, she couldn’t breathe or speak. “Please, just try.”

“I…” she wheezed. His eyes were pleading with her. “I see your eyes… th-the pillow… your shirt… your arm… a-and your hands.”

“Good, good. How about four things you can touch?” She nodded and was able to get the smallest breath more.

“The pillow case, my shirt, my hair… your hand.”

“Three things you can hear?”

“My heartbeat, your breathing, the birds outside.”

“Two things you can smell?” She smiled a little bit.

“Your morning breath and the body wash you use.” He laughed a bit before looking serious again.

“One thing you can taste?”

“...oranges, my mouth tastes like oranges.”

“Great, did that help at all?”

“I can breathe again…a bit.” He nodded before pulling his hand from behind her. She was able to calm down more now that he wasn’t touching her anymore. She backed away a little more, guilt grabbing her heart when he looked hurt.

“It was a pretty bad one this time then?” She nodded, he sighed and it made her shiver. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“You’ll hate me if I do…” She wasn’t sure he’d hear her, but he moved his face just a bit closer. She hugged herself tightly, terrified of what he could do rather than would do.

“I wouldn’t hate you even if you left me for being a giant. You can tell me Mira.” His voice was quiet too, it was almost reassuring. She nodded, closing her eyes again.

“They had me again… they were crushing me in their grip. I couldn’t believe my bones weren’t  broken yet. Then they…” She trailed off, she couldn’t say it to him. She didn’t want to lose him even if she just saw that cold face staring at her.

“What did they do, Mira?” She started crying as she tried to force the words out.

“They told me you.. That you just wanted to get me away from everyone and would never want to marry someone like me. A human like me. Then you were there and just looked at me like I was trash and asked why they hadn’t…” She started sobbing and had to try and calm herself. “Why they hadn’t crushed me yet…”

Mira heard the fabric shifting as Corus moved. She curled in on herself, sure he’d be grabbing her to get rid of her. He kept trying and she kept thinking he’d just kill her or get rid of her eventually. She felt as his weight left the bed and tried to act stoic. She can’t be upset when he gets tired of being seen as a monster. She heard him moving more, she hoped he wouldn’t grab her tightly.

Warmth radiated off the hands approaching her. She tensed at the sound of his weight hitting the ground. She relaxed a bit as a finger touched her, tensing more than before as she felt another on her side. He pinched her gently before lifting her to a sitting position. She had her eyes closed still, but he put a finger under her chin and held her face up. She knew he wanted her to see him. She felt his sigh and peeked open her eyes before he spoke.

“Mira,” he whispered. He had a smile before coming closer. He was everything around her. “I would never let that happen. If you were in danger like that I’d do whatever it takes to save you from it.”

She leaned her head into his finger. He wrapped his hand around her and lifted her off the pillow. Her heart was racing, all the possibilities running through her mind. He brought her up to his face and slowly placed a kiss on her. She gasped, a blush spreading over her face. He didn’t give her a chance to say anything pulling her down to his chest and over his heart. This sound was relaxing more than she could ever admit.

“How about I make some breakfast? You said you liked the way I make french toast,” he asked.

“No, no!” Rhys called. She gasped as he screamed from the giant finding him. She covered her ears to miss where he got placed after.

“Now who’s next?” The voice sent shivers down her spine. The heavy steps knocked her off her feet. She yelped a bit. “Oh, what was that?”

She tried to crawl away and hide again. She didn’t want to be found. A heavy step landed next to her hiding place making her shriek. She climbed to her feet and tried to run but a huge hand appeared to block her. Fingers pinched her sides and she was pulled out from beneath the couch. She had been positive she was safe.

“Oh, must be a rare one with such bright hair,” he said. She tried to act scared, but couldn’t stop laughing as Vitus rubbed his nose against her chest.

“No!” she shouted. Her laughter made it sound more like a shriek. She pushed against his nose and fingers until giant slender fingers slipped her from his hold.

“Another one for jail then,” Dabria laughed. Mira pouted as Vitus nodded.

“Just one little human left to find.” His smile knocked her pout away.

“Ash run, he's gonna find you!” 

“Better hurry Vitus, don’t want one of those pesky humans reaching the goal.” Her laugh made Mira start laughing again. Dabria and Vitus were fun to play with. 

Dabria dropped her into her palm and held her close. The fingers curling over her felt safe. She never understood how her parents found this dangerous. Mira was set down next to Rhys in the ‘jail’ for their game. A bunch of pillows piled up on a table with some human sized snacks and drinks. Rhys had already made himself comfortable, splayed out in the center of the pillow pile.

“You’ve been captured by the evil giants too?” he asked. She made the best serious face she could.

“Yes, Ash is our only hope. They need to reach freedom,” she answered. Dabria chuckled as she walked away. Mira grabbed one of the drinks set out for them and sat down next to Rhys.

“Where are you little human?” Vitus growled out. She smiled again.

“Your dad is great. He really plays into the scary giant thing.”

Rhys sat up using his elbows for support. He smirked at her. He had been bragging about hide and seek with his dad for weeks. She had to beg her parents to let her play with them. They thought the giants would be too much of a risk. Vitus and Dabria were so nice. They even told her to just use their names.

“I told you this would be the best hide and seek. Should have listened to me sooner,” Rhys flopped back down. She punched his arm.

“I tried,” she whined. “My parents kept saying it was too dangerous. They always say giants are dangerous and I should avoid them. They only agreed when they saw you and Ash were totally fine. They still think your parents might be dangerous.”

“I mean, I know you said you were from an all human town, but is it really that big of a deal?” 

Mira sighed before putting down her drink. She didn’t know how to explain it to him. Rhys grew up with giants around him. She thinks giants are cool. They’re so big, but stay careful for humans. Her parents always say to be cautious though. There’s no telling when a giant might change its mind. She made a face before leaning back and resting her head on Rhys.

“There you are!” Vitus called. Rhys and Mira laughed as Ash called Vitus a monster.

Dabria brought Ash over to the ‘jail’ and set them down. She smiled as Vitus walked over and hung an arm around her shoulders. Mira didn’t see how her parents could think people like this were dangerous. They laughed as Vitus crouched down to be closer to their height.

“Well Dabria, we caught all the humans now what?” he asked. Mira widened her eyes, she didn’t know there was something after they were caught.

“Hmm,” Dabria started, she crouched down to look at them too. “I think we’ll have to torture them with a movie while we make dinner.”

“I think that’s a perfect punishment for trespassing little humans.” Vitus reached out and carefully ruffled the hair on each of their heads. Mira stared up at the two in awe. Her parents always just moved on once the game was done.

Vitus stood back up and started to pick out a movie. Rhys was extremely vocal about which he wanted to watch. Once it was on both of them left and Mira tried to focus on the movie. She had seen it plenty of times already though. Her parents left her watching movies or shows on her own a lot. When she was home alone she didn’t have much of a choice.

“Hey Rhys,” she said, he hummed in response. “I don't think it’s that big of a deal, but my parents do. They always say a giant could change in a second and decide to hurt you… I don’t think it’s true…”

“Oh,” he whispered. Ash moved her over to lean on them. They wrapped an arm around her in a half hug. They knew her parents were out a lot and she got left alone. Neither wanted to tell Rhys, he thought she was lucky to have her parents there still.

Vitus frowned as the three human kids stopped talking. He walked over to watch Dabria working on human size food. He couldn’t believe her skill with such small ingredients. He sighed and she stopped to look at him. She had a knowing look in her eyes.

“It’s like we thought, isn't it?” she asked. He nodded and she went back to cooking. “It’s not that surprising, they moved here from an all human town. Most of the humans there have some horrible views on giants.”

“She doesn’t and I’m worried,” he said. “Her parents might push it so she’s scared of us.”

“No, I think we’ll be ‘not like the others’ to them. I just hope she doesn’t get like that.”

“Why do you think that?” She smiled at him.

“They called a few minutes ago to ask if Mira could stay the weekend while they handle a business trip.” Vitus’s eyes widened. He never expected that.

“Well, I guess we’ll be seeing a lot more of her than we thought. I’m a bit relieved. She seemed almost too adult when she walked in today.” Dabria nodded, she’d been almost too formal when she introduced herself. Even explaining her hair was natural since she knew they would be curious.

“I can take over for a bit if you want to tell them she’s staying for a few days.” Dabria shook her head.

“I think the giant monster who had been hunting them should talk about his prize.” 

He laughed, pushed off the counter and made his way back to the three humans. They wound up in a pile all together. He smiled seeing how happy they looked. They seemed so comfortable and relaxed. They didn’t even react as he moved to sit on the floor behind them. He grabbed the remote and paused the movie. The three looked back at him, two with pouts, one just curious.

“Mira, your parents called and said they have a business trip this weekend,” he said. She dropped her pout and seemed to get weirdly somber. “They said you could stay with us while they’re gone.”

“Really!?” she shouted. She climbed to her feet and slipped on the pillows to climb over to him. He offered her his finger for balance. She was so small next to him. Her excitement seemed to die down. He swore she looked about to cry. “I-is that really ok?”

“Of course,” he smiled and scooped her up. He brought her close for a hug, holding her over his heart. “You can come here whenever you want. You can stay over too.”

He pulled away and flattened his hand on the pillows. She climbed off and he smiled at her. He set the movie to play again and rested his folded arms on the table. He placed his head there and watched the movie with them. Rhys freed himself from the pile the three had formed and came to rest against his arms.

She took a look at the time and her eyes went wide. She’d lost herself again. She looked over at the kids, Rhys was sitting there calmly. It didn’t suit him. She stretched a bit before standing and sliding her chair back. She stood and started to walk over to him. He looked up at her as she approached, he had a far too innocent look on his face.

Dabria crouched once she was next to the table Rhys was sitting on. He had a mess of toys, books, and papers around him. She still had to make sure he’d done his homework. She smiled as he started to grab a few papers and held them up to her. She had to squint a little, but he’d been busier than she realized.

“Do you think I can be an artist like you?” he asked. She was ready to melt when he said that. She reached out and grabbed the paper between two of her nails. She brought the drawing close, it was great when she knew he’d never had the time to try before. She gently placed it back down, his little face was filled with nerves.

“I think you can, it looks great. Although…,” she reached forward and ruffled his head, “you are remarkably well-behaved tonight. What have you been up to?”

“I’ve been sitting here all day, I’m not doing anything.”

“I see…” She narrowed her eyes and the problem became obvious. “Wait, where’s Ash?”

Rhys smirked and Dabria knew exactly what he’d been up to. She sighed, struggling to hide her smile. She reached out and curled her fingers around her small son. He started laughing as she lifted him off the table. She kept him in a loose fist as she started searching for her other child. She had no idea where Ash would be.

“I guess I have a little human to find,” she laughed. Rhys was laughing harder in her hand. She brought her hand up to her chest and uncurled her fingers. She smirked as Rhys’s pink eyes shined up at her. She started to tickle his stomach. “Maybe my little prisoner can tell me something. Where should I be looking?”

Rhys’s laughter echoed in the room as she tickled him. He started pushing against her finger so she pulled back. His face was red, but the smile was clear. She brought him up close and pressed her nose against him. She tried to look stern as he caught his breath. He was enjoying this.

“They might be in here somewhere still,” he wheezed. She hummed before pulling him away and cupping her hand to her chest. He was squirming, she couldn’t help her smile as he did. She could remember when he was terrified of moving when they held him.

Dabria stood still and surveyed the room. Ash didn’t usually hide anywhere she’d have to move something so she didn’t need to check anything on the side of the room. She kneeled on the ground, holding Rhys a bit more tightly. She put a hand down on the ground and flattened herself until she could see beneath her desk. Ash wasn’t anywhere to be seen. She made a small noise that had Rhys giggling.

“I guess I’m in the wrong place?” she asked. 

Rhys just laughed so she knew she was right. She sat back on her knees and looked around, there weren’t many places in her office with access for them. She looked down at her hand again. She was growing a bit worried, she could have hurt them. She started to climb to her feet when a small yelp caught her attention.

She looked down and saw Ash on the ground near her side. She looked over them, happy to see a small smile on their face. She used her free hand to grab them and pull them up to her chest. She opened her hand with Rhys and set Ash down with him. Rhys started laughing as soon as Ash was set down. They started rubbing their eyes.

“Are you done with work?” they asked. She smiled and rubbed their head a bit.

“Yes, I’m done for today,” she said. “Where were you?”

They looked around, they seemed to just be waking up. She was ecstatic to see them calm too. She hated how defensive they’d been at first, how scared they were that either of them would be hurt. They realized where they were and looked at Rhys before pushing them down. Rhys only laughed loudly after they did that.

“...will you be mad?” they asked. 

“Not if you were safe the whole time,” she whispered. Ash leaned on the fingers she had curled up next to them.

“...pocket…” She tilted her head. They weren’t in her chest pocket. She looked over herself, she had on her smock. The low pockets at the bottom.

“In my smock?” Rhys sat up and looked a bit more serious. 

“You weren’t moving,” he added. She knew he was defending them. She wasn’t mad though.

“I was tired, I like sleeping near you.” 

Ash’s voice was quiet enough she barely heard them. She felt tears brimming in her eyes. She had no idea they felt that comfortable with her. She couldn’t believe they preferred to sleep near her. She started to bring them up to her face. Both of her kids looked a bit tense. She pressed them against her cheek.

“You could have asked,” she breathed. Her voice cracked from how overwhelmed she was. She pulled her hand back and curled her fingers to cover her kids. She slipped her smock off, taking extra caution as she slipped it over the hand with her kids.

Dabria stood back up before finally bringing Ash and Rhys close again. She uncurled her fingers, finding both looking at her with wide eyes. They were unbelievable kids, she was happy to be the one taking care of them. She brought her hand to her chest, keeping them snugly against her heart.

“Are you both tired?” she asked. She felt the two moving around as she started to walk away.

“Yes,” Ash said. They never wanted to hide the truth.

“I wouldn’t want to leave them alone,” Rhys said. He was always trying to hide how he felt. 

Dabria made her way to the couch before carefully laying down. She pulled her hand up a bit so it wasn’t pressing right against them. She heard quiet ‘oh’s before they both relaxed. She let her hand settle against them again. They’d been well behaved, tomorrow she’d spend the day on things they wanted. 

“Hey Ian,” she said, as soon as the call came through.

“Hey,” he chuckled, he was nervous. “How are you?”

“Ian, what’s on your mind? Talk to me!” She was putting on a begging act to get him to talk. She heard the deep sigh and knew she’d got him.

“I…Mik wants to tag along today. He’s worried since you don’t know if this guy is really human. He’d rather you get mad at him grabbing you and leaving than freeze up with a stranger… I would rather him go too.” He added the last part hastily.

“Ian… You and I both know I’ll be fine.” She could hear the lie in her own voice. Ian definitely heard it too. “I’ve been talking to Corus for months, there’s no way he’s a giant. He’s a human. He understood the stuff I’ve mentioned that only humans would. So there’s no reason for M-Mikhail to come with, at all.”

“Mira… you know he won’t hurt you. He’s like a really big brother. It’ll be fine. I’d go too and we’ll stay far away, even leave if he’s a human. Please?”

“Ian, trust me, I’ll be fine. I have to get ready anyway. I'll keep you updated, promise.”

She hung up quickly, trying to steady her hands. She had to get over everything for at least her family. They had giants in their lives and she couldn’t just ignore them. She could at least see them and keep going instead of freezing up. She closed her eyes and took some deep breaths. She had to get ready and go to meet Corus. A human that didn’t know her history was going to be a fun change. He said he moved here a few months ago. Plus he seemed to get the whole no control and hands thing too which was nice. It helped that he was cute for sure.

Corus was antsy as Delphia helped to fix his hair. He was hopeless with fashion, but couldn’t risk looking like a mess today. He’d been counting the days to this meetup, Mira was great. He’d planned this day since they first did a video together. She had been so nervous at first, he never expected humans to be what got her comfortable. Delphia stepped away and seemed to be happy with her work. He stood up and turned to face her, pulling his shirt down again.

“How do I look Del?” he asked. She studied him for a minute.

“Like a mess, but I’ve done all I can. I can’t hide your natural messiness,” she laughed. He acted like she’d shot him, his tongue hanging out of his mouth and a frown on his face. He smiled quickly though, today was too important.

“Thanks again. I don’t think I’d have ever been ready for this without you.” He pulled her into a hug and she patted his back before pulling away.

“Did you do what I said?”

“I told you she’s a giant, it won't matter. There’s no way I misunderstood. She's funny, amazing, kind, I’m sure she’s beautiful too. This will be great.”

“Corus, neither of you ever asked and you set all of this up. Please tell me you listened at least. I thought Ash was a giant after talking with them. It would have been awful if I didn’t know Alessia was human and only planned for giants.”

“Don’t worry Del, I did listen at least. I made sure to pick the park to meet so there’s no chance of trouble from a building. I also planned for us to get food at one of the new places that have every table set for humans and giants. Nothing can go wrong.”

“Just be careful, and don’t be too grabby if she is a human. She may not spend a lot of time around giants when she’s a streamer.”

“I know-” He planned to say more, but his phone beeped. Her stream ended which means he has to go. He waved quickly before running out.

The park wasn’t far and he wanted to be early. He picked a bench that was about midway for either size. He hoped she was a giant, but he wouldn’t change how he felt if she were human. He had every intention to ask her on a real date today. If she said no then they continue on as friends, but he was hopeful. He stared at his phone waiting for the message that said she was on her way.

Mira did one last thorough check in her mirror. A simple black shirt with jeans. They were just two friends meeting, although she definitely wouldn’t mind misunderstanding and this being a date. She pulled her phone out and snapped the picture that would seal her fate. The first image she’d be sending of herself to someone outside her small circle in years. She typed out a quick here’s how I look today before sending. She almost screamed when she got a picture back. Corus sitting in the park, he looked great. She shoved her phone away before her doubts could stop her.

She had called a car to get her there. It wasn’t too far, but walking near giants was…a lot. She was lucky she didn’t have to go out around giants basically ever. If only the ones her family knew could leave her alone. She knew they meant well, but after the way Ian and Mikhail even became friends she didn’t want to risk knowing any. At least Ian felt safe around one and that one would go with him to meet and greets. She shook her head to clear her thoughts as the park came into view.

She hopped out quickly with a quiet thank you before rushing to the human side of the path. She just had to reach Corus before another giant showed up. If another human was around then the giant was less of a risk. She made her way to their meeting spot, panic hitting her when she noticed the large feet up ahead. She felt her breathing start to grow rapid, she just had to get to the spot and wait. She’d message Corus and he’d show up and she could be ok. It almost never mattered who it was, a human made her at least able to handle being near giants. She took a chance to look up, if it was Mikhail she was going to kill Ian.

She almost screamed when she got a look at the giant face. The face that was supposed to be meeting her. That should be on the human bench that was too close to the giant feet. She couldn’t breathe, tears started to pour from her eyes. She was shaking and couldn’t get her legs to move. The giant would see her, know it was her, and grab her. She had to leave, she needed to leave. She watched in fear as the giant foot ahead of her lifted slightly slamming back down. She yelped as she fell back, staring up in fear as the giant head slowly turned to look down.

Corus was starting to get nervous. She had said she lived close, she shouldn’t take too long. She hadn’t sent him anything, maybe she was a human? Close for them usually was a lot slower than giants. He tapped his foot, freezing when he heard a small yelp. He looked down and saw a human knocked over, he must have scared them. He kept his eyes on them as he turned and kneeled to check on them. They had strange hair, bright…lavender?

“Mira?” he asked excitedly. He was honestly confused, he was positive she was a giant. How did Delphia always know these things? He reached forward planning to help lift her back to her feet, but he noticed her shaking before he touched her. Did he almost hurt her? He changed plans, stopping with his hand just a bit above and ahead of her so she could use it to get up. “Are you ok?”

He felt small hands against his fingers, the gentle pressure of pushing against him. He took the hint pulling his hand back. He tried to smile at her, to look gentle. He knew some humans still had nerves around giants, but he could manage this. He didn’t know if he should try to get lower or if that would make her upset. He just wanted a chance, she was perfect and he didn’t want her to hate him. He pulled his hand completely away putting it on his knee. She was still shaking. He hoped she wasn’t crying.

“Hey, uh do you still want to go get lunch?” he tried. That seemed to set her off, he watched as she jumped to her feet and started backing away. “Mira I-”

She was running. He couldn’t go after her, it would only make things worse. He just sat there staring at the little human he desperately wanted to turn around and come back. He just watched as she ran out of the park, was he that bad? He pulled out his phone planning to message Delphia. He took another glance at her and saw the worst thing he could imagine. Mira was running into the human street with a car coming right at her. He acted without thinking.

Mira kept hearing the voices of back then. Talking around her how she was cute and her new sibling would be so happy. The awful month trapped with barely any food and water. Different memories as she kept her world barely together. Bruises that had faded burning with pain. She just ran, she had to get away from here as soon as possible. She wouldn’t let another giant hurt her like that. They were awful and painful and she just had to get away.

Next thing she knew there was a blaring horn and bright lights. She froze as she saw the car coming at her. She was going to die, she couldn’t get her legs to move. Then she was in something warm and firm that felt familiar and awful. She started thrashing immediately, she hated this. This was a bad thing, this was something to hurt her. She started crying before her world filled with light again. She was shaking as soon as she found the giant blue eyes staring down at her. She was frozen again, a giant had her. She’d be trapped again.

Before she even had time to think there was yelling. Then another hand that moved her in a way that made her feel even worse. Then she was wrapped in arms, arms her size. She slowly turned towards the body that pressed into her and saw a face she knew. Ian was here. She grabbed him tightly, shaking only a little less. She took a careful look around, hand they were on hand. She grabbed him tighter, her shaking getting to a worse level and her start. She was pretty sure he said something, but her heart was pounding in her ears. Giants had them, giants would hurt them. Giants would trap them and torture them and kill them and the giant was moving.

She pulled Ian as close as possible. He was supposed to be with a good one. He was still a kid. Then he was pulling her and she was forced to follow. Ian took her to the ground, they had to run. She pulled on him, but he pulled her back. He started leading her somewhere. This was Ian, he was good, he was trustworthy. She followed him, stumbling over her own feet as she moved. Ian would only lead them somewhere good.

“Why were you holding her?” the man asked. His green eyes looked like he could burn right through him. Corus tried to watch what happened with Mira and the other human, but this man stepped in front of him. “I asked why you were holding her?”

“Sorry if you missed it, but she almost got hit by a car,” Corus answered. The stranger’s gaze softened slightly before flaring up again.

“I highly suggest you do not contact her again.” Corus tried to look around them, but they put out a hand to hold him back.

The stranger glared at him, but he wasn’t about to walk away. She ran like he was some monster, nearly getting hit by a car doing so. She seemed terrified when he was holding her, but she had nearly died. He was at least going to check on her. Hopefully they could work something out, maybe another chance. He at least wanted to stay friends even if she had a problem with giants usually. He sighed before finally turning away, the stranger just glaring after him the whole time.

Ian’s hold helped ground her a lot. It took almost the entire walk home, but she seemed to start coming back to the present. She slowly loosened her death grip on Ian and he smiled at her as she did. He kept them walking, he even kept them from being close to the giant paths. He was too good to her. By the time they reached her home Ian was barely holding her hand, she’d pulled the contact away. He waited patiently as she opened the door for them, then helped her inside. He sat her down on her couch and then took a spot next to her, pulling her close so her head rested on his shoulder. They stayed like that for a long time before she felt safe to even think again.

“...I’m glad you both came even though I said no,” she whispered. She felt the arm around her shoulders tighten before starting to rub her arm.

“To be honest, Mik had said he couldn’t let you risk it. Especially not with how you reacted to just trying to meet him. I didn’t disagree,” Ian admitted. She curled in on herself a bit more, leaning into the hold of someone who made sense. Someone her size. “Mira what happened?”

“I was fine and then I got there and there was a giant where we were meeting. I was going to message him, but then I looked up and it was him…” She had to take deep breaths to stop from crying. He’d been terrifying. The images in her mind holding a sneer and reaching to pluck her from her life. “Then I fell and he heard and he looked. Then his hand was there and I was running. Then bright lights and a honking horn and then his eyes. Then another hand then arms then you then the ground. Now we’re here…now I’m barely sure this isn’t some nightmare and I’m still there.”

“It’s ok Mira, I’ll stay until you feel safe again. Do you want me to call the others too?” She nodded into his chest.

He excused himself to walk outside, and make the calls. She knew one was to Mikhail too. She should thank him, even if Corus was safe she never would have managed to say anything. She would have had to rely on him deciding to put her down or call a human for help. If he even knew any humans. Every thought she had made things worse, he could have taken her. It could have been just like back then. Ian came back in and had her lay her head in his lap. At least she had a family that was the right size to help.

“Del, it was awful,” Corus whined. He hadn’t known anyone else to call or even talk to, going straight to Delphia. She was with her partners right now, but he couldn’t just sit on this. “She saw me, acted like I was going to-to kill her or something. Then almost got herself killed and some other guy showed up, grabbed her out of my hand and sent her off with someone who could have been a complete stranger to her. The guy then acted like I’d committed some awful act for even bothering to look at her. He basically threatened me not to reach out again.”

“I was getting worried that might happen,” Delphia sighed. He barely heard the soft voice of Alessia over the line. “What was the handle for her streams again? You never did tell me…”

“I wasn’t telling you cause she hides who she is. I was hoping you’d wind up meeting her so I thought it would be best.” He sighed. Delphia was asking for a reason he didn’t think he’d like it. He flopped onto his bed before he answered. Something about this made him feel like he’d be upset. He could hear Ash’s voice now too. If they were speaking up it had to be pretty bad. “I was meeting PinkEyedMiracle.”

“I knew it,” Alessia’s voice came through loudly. For someone so tiny she never failed to almost blow out his eardrums. “Look none of us can or will get into it, but there was no way that was going to go well. We grew up with her and it’s been like this for most of her life now. She can’t even face Vitus and Dabria who basically raised her. I’ll try to get her to at least be willing to talk to you, but I can’t promise anything. Delphia’s got to do us a favor now bye!!”

He had no time to respond before the line was dead. He stared at the phone for a while before deciding to open his chat with Mira. She didn’t seem to have blocked him yet. He scrolled up through months of chats, to the very first messages about working together. He needed to find where he messed up so badly. How could he have thought someone that terrified was a giant like him? How does he fix it?

It was a bit later than he wanted it to be, but he found his first clue. She said she hated going out lately. Everything in this town was so combined she was always on edge. He’d laughed and said he felt the same. That one still was a simple miscommunication. She was worried a giant would do something, he was worried he’d mess up and hurt a human. It was a clue, but definitely not an answer.

The next message was after they played a game offline together. She seemed really nervous and asked him about ten times if she could admit something. She’d said she was always terrified of the other size. She didn’t say which, and they had just played a horror game as humans escaping a giant together. He slapped his hand to his face, that one was pretty obvious. She said having him there was the only way she got through that game. He thought she’d meant being so small was terrifying, something he related to.

After that night there were so many obvious signs. She was terrified of meets after she heard about how bad things went for the human streamer NervousGamer. She wouldn’t meet this guy her friend had basically become brothers with because his size made her anxious. Of course he was a giant, maybe that was who pulled her from his hand. He tossed his phone on his desk, if he kept going he’d just see how blind he was. How was he going to fix this?

He rolled onto his back and stared at his ceiling. He could just leave it, that’s what that guy said to do. Alessia said she’d try to get her to talk to him. He sat up and stared at his phone. He could call her… He could maybe message her at least. Apologize for today and offer to make it up to her. Although what could she have been through to cause such a bad reaction? He groaned before reaching for his phone and staring at the last message in their chat. A picture of her before the meet up, the opposite of what he saw. She looked happy and confident, he wanted to see that face in person. He had to say something.

Mira spent the night curled up with her family around her. A group of kids who’d lost the people around them taken in by a couple with a soft heart. She loved Vitus and Dabria, even if they were giants. They had saved her, gave her a home where she still knew people, and they never made her talk to them. They were probably the only giants she could handle anymore. They were the only ones she knew wouldn’t do anything.

Alessia had her in a hug, Ash holding them both. The two were supposed to spend the night with their girlfriend, Delphia would have stayed here if she were human. Rhys and Ian were laying on each other on the couch, they fell asleep watching the movie they’d all put on. She slid out of the hug, smiling as Alessia rolled over snuggling into Ash. She carefully stepped out of the room taking a moment to breathe. She needed to think about things.

She had to check things, she had a lot she was supposed to do yesterday. She turned on her computer feeling a pang in her heart. She didn’t know if she wanted to see him say anything. She opened her chat app and saw the bubble she was dreading. She checked her email and posted an update while the bubble seemed to grow bigger on her screen. She hated this, she should get someone else to open it. She was running out of things to do and no one else was awake. She clicked the bubble, looking at a much longer message than she expected.

CorBuster: Hey Miracle, I kind of figured you may want me going back to your name on streams. Sorry I scared you so badly, guess I should have been more obvious I was a giant. I know some humans are pretty nervous. My best guess is I almost stepped on you when I tapped my foot. I was sure you were a giant, but that doesn’t excuse that I wasn’t paying attention. I’m sorry I grabbed you too, I hadn’t planned to go after you I swear. I just saw you heading towards the street and the car coming. I had to do something, I probably could have done something else if I thought about it for more than a second.

If you’re willing could we talk? On the phone or online or even chat like this. I just… Look I really like you and had been planning to ask you on a date officially last night. I don’t plan to push it or anything, but I would like to stay friends. Finish the games we were playing on and off stream. Fuck I might delete this before you even see it. This is stupid that guy told me not to bother you again, but I can’t just forget this. I don’t know why I’m even writing this part, I’ve typed this whole message like six times and deleted it all. I probably won’t even send this. I’m pretty sure the sun is coming up, I hope if I do hit send you think about it. If I don’t hit send I guess I hope you message me….asdfkajfwoihfasklj;nfv;llkjaf

She couldn’t help but laugh at the end. He had done that a lot in their talks, passing out because he stayed up too late. It was part of why she started talking to him more. She didn’t want him to hurt himself just to try and be popular online. She checked the time stamp, he sent it two hours ago. She could just pretend she never saw it, let him wake up and probably delete it.

Alessia had said she thought it was worth talking with him. She couldn’t even start to think of how to start. She had a panic attack and nearly died to desperately get away from him. It wasn’t easy to say she had a horrible fear of giants and actively spent her life avoiding anything to do with them. The only ones that she could even speak to were Vitus and Dabria, but that had to be done one at a time while she was hidden in her home. She can’t remember the last time she actually looked at one of them.

She sighed as she read the message again. At least she could handle telling him that it wasn’t exactly him that caused it. It didn’t help that she could still picture him only as the human she’d imagined. The giant yesterday felt like some horrible stranger. It was probably the only reason she could even stand to think about entertaining this idea. She started to type out a message.

PinkEyedMiracle: Look it’s…a lot to explain, but it wasn’t your fault. The only thing that happened was I should have asked if you were a giant before agreeing to meet you. Let’s just finish our current stream plans and call it done.

She hit send and tried to relax. She didn’t like that her hands were already shaking. That giant could never get near her again, Corus wasn’t that giant. Mikhail had put her down after getting her out of one hand. The giants aren’t bad, they aren’t going to do what the other did. They aren’t going to ignore it if she were to disappear. She had to keep repeating it in her mind as she slowly curled in on herself. A ping sounded and she jolted upright.

CorBuster: I’m willing to listen. Mira I don’t want to lose you even if we just keep being friends. Can’t you tell me what’s going on?

PinkEyedMiracle: Even if I tell you it won’t matter. No offense, but I’ve been through it plenty of times. Besides, I don't want to type out everything and have it sitting there where I can see it again and again.

CorBuster: Let’s video chat, just one time please. Just one chance.

PinkEyedMiracle is typing…

PinkEyedMiracle: …fine…

Corus was vibrating, she had agreed. He could barely wait, hitting the call and waiting for her to answer. She answered, it was so funny how they felt the same size right now. She didn’t look like herself. She seemed small, scared, like the person he’d known couldn’t possibly exist. This wasn’t Mira, the person he learned about slowly over months. This wasn’t PinkEyedMiracle the famous streamer who kept millions entertained almost daily. This was someone completely new. He wanted to know this Mira, this one felt more real.

He watched her as her face seemed to twist when it met his eyes. He wanted that to be the bright smile he’d seen for months. How could he fix this? Did she hate the idea of being with giants? It could be that she had a bad ex or something. He just wanted to keep his friend at least. He had an idea that may backfire, but it was worth a shot to get her to loosen up.

“So,” he started, she jumped and he felt an ache in his heart. “Giants suck. They’re all loud and grabby, and uh big.”

Mira chuckled at Corus’s attempt to help calm her down. That smile that had been something she was so excited for lit up her screen. He looked so human like this. Nothing that made it seem like he was a giant, like he could grab her and lock her away. She had to take deep breaths to push away those thoughts. He cared about her and she cared about him more than she ever thought she could about a giant.

“Look Corus, I…” she tried. She has to explain so much. A lot is horrible. “It’s probably easier if you just go back like sixteen years to find the articles about it. Although none of them mentioned much on the humans, just the poor giant kid who had their life ruined.”

Corus wasn’t sure if she meant for him to do it now, but she wasn’t continuing. He did look it up, a giant kid who had their life ruined and humans were involved. There weren’t many stories about that overall. There was one that came up that took place in this town. She had said she grew up here. The headline alone made him pray that he was horribly wrong. Human girl found with giant sibling after missing for over a month. He clicked the link, the images were all of the giant child and their family. It didn’t look like a single human was even spoken to or directly about.

He started reading and he felt himself getting sick. A giant couple had recently started to adopt orphaned humans. The first the couple took in had supposedly been doing fine and they took in a second. The second had lost her parents to an accident that happened between humans and giants. The girl hadn’t been seen after spending a day with her new family, a large assumption was she was healing. The giant couple claimed they hadn’t even reported her missing because they wanted to keep adopting humans. They were sure she’d come home when she was ready.

“Mira is this-” he tried to ask. He didn’t want to keep going if it wasn’t her.

“Keep reading,” she cut him off. He nodded.

The article didn’t go into much detail on what happened to the humans. It barely mentioned even their status after they were found. It did mention the first human child had been found deceased. Their second child was found after a concerned parent of her friend forced himself into her new home. He started searching and calling out for her when he noticed the couple’s child eyeing a box with a fierce look. The child tried to stop him, but he had forced them aside. He lifted the box, tearing it open and finding the girl. Reports on the human girl said she was emaciated and screamed in fear as the giant who found her went to hold her.

Apparently his wife had come along and took the girl to the hospital. Then the concerned father started searching through the boxes the child kept in the room. The other adopted human was found along with a number of missing humans from the town. All of them deceased. The giant child was charged with murder and sent to serve their sentence in a giants only prison. They were added to the human risk registry banning them from locations that humans lived unless their surviving victim spoke up for their growth. The child’s parents desperately apologized and wanted forgiveness from the human they had meant to take in. He couldn’t read anymore as it just turned into trash about how humans ruin the lives of prominent giants. Seemed like the one who wrote it was just a prick.

“Were you really the one who survived?” he asked. Mira looked up at him with a fiery anger that felt out of place. Anger was probably better to feel about that though.

“Yes I’m the one who barely survived some sicko locking me in a box after my parents were killed,” she seethed. “I don’t care what you say I will never state they deserve to be around humans again. There’s no way anyone like you could understand what that was like for me!”

“Mira I-”

“It’s easy for all of you to say move past and I can’t hold onto it forever! You didn’t fear for your life every day. Hear how people casually discussed you running away or hiding from them like it was just inevitable!”

“Mira… please let me-”

“Go ahead tell me how you think I’m just some cruel size focused bitch. I already heard it all before. You can take all the-”

“Mira!” She seemed to see him again, bright pink eyes filled with fear. He felt awful, he scared her again. “I don’t think you should be over it. I want to punch that person who did all of that and then personally thank your friend’s parents.”

“...what?”

Corus was the only giant outside of Vitus and Dabria who didn’t think she had to change. Delphia and Mikhail knew there was something, but she made the others promise never to tell them. She didn’t want to have them face the comments she’d heard before. Vitus and Dabria heard it all before and they swear these giants wouldn’t think like that. She wanted to believe them, but no one she’d met felt that way. It’s been years and there were others she told, humans always understood and giants always said they were different. The worst giants said she should just get them off the registry, they were only a kid when it happened. So was she…

“I well I think what you went through was awful and wish I could have stopped it. I can’t see where anyone would think you should just get over this,” he said. She watched as he rubbed his neck, cameras made giants so deceptively human. “If people have been saying that to you then I think they’re just focusing on the wrong part. That kid’s life was ruined because they treated people like trash and hurt them. That couple claiming they had no idea seems off too.”

“I need to go,” she said and shut her computer down. She nearly jumped away from the thing. He didn’t mean that, he was lying to her. He just wanted her to believe him so he could keep her like they did. She didn’t even realize she kept backing away until she hit the wall, sliding down and hugging herself. Alessia ran in, she was probably eavesdropping. She held Mira quickly trying to soothe her. It wasn’t panic, this was something else. It was like he actually understood… “He didn’t say I should be over it…”

Corus didn’t have any time to try and stop her. The call ended before he processed what she said. He wanted to know more, more about what that kid did to her. He started searching, he couldn’t find much on any of it. It was like someone made sure all of it was gone. He found one thing though, the couple that had taken her in had their contact information up. He typed out a professional looking email asking for details on the old incident. They replied in seconds with a number happy to take his call immediately. He didn’t wait either, relieved when the line connected.

“Hi, it’s a pleasure to hear someone looking into this again,” Mrs. Ambul said. She sounded almost hopeful, he couldn’t help the way it made him upset. She was probably hopeful that her child would be let loose around humans again.

“I was looking for some new content when I came across the old article. It seemed like the focus was mostly on how someone had invaded your home and ruined your child’s life. Can you give me some details?” he asked. He tried to sound curious despite the anger he had burning inside thinking about Mira’s face. She had expected to be rejected and blamed for something there was no way she controlled.

“Oh well, our child had some strange interests. They thought it would help the humans if they stayed somewhere dark and quiet, like a way to grow up. The first human child we took in had a history of running away and the second had just lost her parents. We had no reason to assume a story that came from a book would cause such trouble.”

“According to the article, there were a number of other deceased humans found alongside the two adopted. Ones that had been going missing from the town for an extended period. Can you tell me more about that?”

“Well there seemed to be a bit of miscommunication in that original article.” He heard forced laughter, he had a bad feeling about this. “Those humans had all been homeless and snuck into my child’s room for warmth. They frequently complained it was too cold so we had a heater in their room year round. The humans got stuck and no one knew they were there, nothing like you’ve heard.”

“I see.” He was going to be sick with his next line. “This adds up to a lot of what I found. Do you think you could connect me with your child? I have a lot I need their take on. A lot that if heard I might be able to get public opinion on their side.”

“Oh well that’s wonderful, unfortunately they aren’t allowed to interact over the phone or internet outside of their giants only community. I can give you their address and let them know you plan to come by maybe today?” The joy in her voice made him want to scream. He couldn’t though, he had to hold back and keep this up. He would probably wind up punching this kid in the face though.

“Tomorrow may be better.”

The woman spoke too quickly for him to hear, but he got an email with an address and the line went dead. He stared at it for a while. That reaction from Mira wasn’t someone who’d been misunderstanding a child’s antics. Their kid was almost ten at the time too. These people made him sick and he would get to the bottom of how anyone could think this was normal. Another email came in from the woman with a list of names. Others she spoke to before they spoke to the human who lied about her child. Things were getting clearer now. The first bits of a plan formed in his head as the dread settled in his gut.

He sighed before pushing away from his desk, he’d need Delphia’s help with all of this. He grabbed his phone and sent her a message. He may need her to contact that podcast friend of hers. That list of names is long and it makes him have a feeling there’s a lot more that got hidden. First he’d need to get some kind of recorder. He wasn’t risking his phone failing on him out there. He got a call after a minute, a bit shocked to see a number he didn’t recognize.

“Hello?” he asked as he answered. He hoped it wasn’t someone telling him Mira hated him.

“Cor, it’s me. I’m with that podcast friend of mine now. My phone’s being used by him for something. What’s up?” Delphia’s voice came through. He smiled, this had to get done.

“Look, long story short I found out about something that makes me sick. I don’t want to explain how I know, but can we meet and talk? Can you both come here? I want to get information on this and it’s a lot I can’t do it on my own.” He heard muffled voices on the other end. Delphia was probably asking, it seemed like she was agreeing. She always had his back.

“Ok we’ll be over in a bit. We weren’t far anyway. Although my friend said if you waste his time you’re paying for what he’d been out here buying.”

“Tell him I’ll do it anyway. Let yourself in when you get here, I’m going to be on my computer searching for some things.”

As soon as they were off the phone he went searching. He found article after article about how an innocent young giant was punished because a human made up lies. Each person on that list had written one, a number of them had petitions to get the giant removed from the human danger registry. Sob stories about reuniting them with their parents. He was ready to go hunt each one down and teach them a lesson. How could they see the way she reacted to giants and think she was just holding a pointless grudge?

Something else started to eat at his mind, she said her parents were killed, but the article mentioned an accident. It would have to be close to when that first article was written. He started searching for information on that. He was coming up with nothing until he widened the search area. He found an article, Tragedy at the Human Roads. It was small, but had more than enough information. A giant collapsed and fell on a human road, causing a number of deaths. The article had a picture of human survivors and it may be a much younger version, but he saw Mira.

He jumped when he heard his door open. This was worse than he thought, he just hoped he could do something about this. He couldn’t make her less scared or anything, but he could make sure that the humans hurt finally got the attention they deserved. He turned to his door waiting for Delphia and her friend. When they walked in he jumped up, it was the guy from yesterday. He was just as stunned, staring daggers at Corus. This wasn’t going to be easy to get help then. Delphia clapped, making them both look at her.

“I guess you two have met, Corus, this is Mikhail, Mikhail Corus,” she introduced them. Corus went back to his computer, closing the article on the accident and pulling up the main one he’d found on the creep of a kid. He stepped back again looking at them both.

“Obviously you already don’t like me, but just read these articles I found. I can’t just ignore all of this,” he explained.

Mikhail narrowed his eyes but approached the computer. Delphia leaned over his shoulder to read along. It wasn’t long before she had tears in her eyes and was backing away. She didn’t have the heart for all of this. Mikhail just kept reading, moving between each article slowly. Corus was getting worried he was actually on the side of the family that let humans like Mira suffer. Mikhail turned to face him once he reached the last article Corus had pulled up.

“What are you planning to do about this?” he asked. His voice sounded somewhat like when they met the day before. An anger thinly veiled under an air of decorum.

“I was curious after this, so I called the family from the article. They talked about how the human who survived misunderstood and how their child was being wrongfully punished,” Corus started.

“Are you intending to take their side in this?” Mikhail raised an eyebrow. That anger seemed to come forward more.

“I want to get the truth and have it reach as many people as possible. The last person the kid’s mother spoke with wrote an article a few years ago. I think if we work together we can make sure the truth about this kid gets out so there’s no risk to humans at all from them. A number of the articles spoke about reconsideration for the sentence. I have some ideas on how to help humans who deal with this too.”

“Corus, I need you to tell us, does this have to do with Mira?” Delphia asked. He knew the look in her eyes, he couldn’t get away with hiding it. He stiffly nodded and the two shared a look. Delphia turned back to him with a strength he didn’t expect. “What’s the plan?”

Mira hadn’t handled the call well. She shouldn’t have even spoken to him. She should have made up some excuse for all of this instead. Alessia had spent the whole day petting her head. Vitus came by at one point, the others had to talk to him. She couldn’t get over how loud he was with each word. He was trying too, but it was too much. Her mind kept thinking of a hand grabbing her, putting her somewhere she can’t escape. Of a single move that would end the lives of everyone around her. His steps as he left made her shake.

“Mira… this time it’s worse than normal isn’t it?” Ian asked. She nodded. Ian was supposed to go to a store with Mikhail today, but she panicked when she saw Ian walk towards his feet. She was going to ruin their relationships like this. Delphia had been on the phone with Ash a lot too, she was making them put things off.

“You guys should go, I’ll be fine,” she said. She was still shaking, this was the first time she’d been held since then. Then she spoke to him and he empathized, it left her mind a mess. She felt a squeeze on her hand and followed the arm up to Rhys’s eyes.

“We’re not going anywhere,” he said. “It’s just like when we were younger, extended sleep over. Maybe we can convince Dabria to get us a giant candy again. That time Vitus was so mad, but he never did anything. He said we looked too happy for him to really be angry at us.”

The others laughed, but Mira just smiled. She remembered that day differently. The giant candy and eating bits of it they handed to her. The others passed out from sugar crashes while she stayed up nervous and anxious. Vitus coming to check on them, shaking in fear when she saw the anger on his face. He hadn’t seen her awake, his hand coming in towards them. She could barely breathe as he took the candy from them. She heard him murmur then walk away, a tense moment that ended with her crying herself to sleep in fear he’d come back.

“Aww I thought for sure they were kidding when they said NervousGamer was a human,” a voice said. He turned to face them, a bit intimidated with the way they towered over him. He swallowed, he’d been around giants long enough to know when they were too quiet for another one to hear.

“Heh, it’s true I’m a human. I announced it when I started. I don't know why so many thought it was a joke,” he laughed. He didn’t like it when their hand came closer and their fingers started to wrap around him. It wasn’t like the others who were just excited.

“Well at least I can prove to my friends I met you.” Their smirk made his blood run cold. He looked to the guards who were supposed to keep him safe. They weren’t even looking his way.

“H-how dare you! You can’t just ta-” His words were cut off as the fingers gripped him tighter and one started to cover his face. He managed to look over his shoulder and see the guards hadn’t even heard his yell. They were mostly here for him and none of them were focused on the human in the room of giants.

The giant shifted their grip so he was forced to curl up underneath the fingers. They shoved their hand somewhere, probably a pocket. He was screaming and trying to kick to get attention. Someone had to notice he was gone, the next giant in line would. Then they’d shut things down and find him he’d be fine. He just had to rely on someone noticing. He flinched when the giant started to move around a lot, it wasn’t like walking.

“Excuse me!” they called out. He could feel tears starting as the terrible reality he was in set in. No one was going to notice. “Isn’t this where I meet NervousGamer? He’s not here, did I come too late?”

“Oh,” he heard one of the guards say. It was the one who dropped him from just a bit too high earlier too. “Human took a break, I’ll put up a sign. You can wait or come back later.”

“Aw, I was looking forward to meeting him. I don’t have time to wait. Thank you for telling me, sir.”

He went limp as he felt the giant start to walk away. He tried to move his head when he felt them use their thumb to pet him. He knew some giants were like this, he should have been more careful. Not only is he screwed, Mira won’t ever trust a giant again when he doesn’t come home. He could hear the footsteps of giants all around him as the one kidnapping him left. He was fucked.

“Stop!” He heard someone call. He thought he knew the voice, but he wasn’t sure. The giant holding him kept going, they might have sped up he couldn’t tell. “I said stop. How dare you try to kidnap someone!”

Ian started squirming again. He had hope. Someone did notice that they took him. The grip didn’t tighten, it seemed like they didn’t want to kill him or hurt him too badly. He could feel it as they picked up speed again, this time he could hear heavier footsteps coming closer. The one holding him was pulled back and he was let go, falling a bit deeper into the pocket. Of course the giant who tried to kidnap him kept their pockets full of stuff he’d never climb to the edge like this.

He screamed when a hand entered the pocket again. He could only assume it was the same person trying to take him, maybe with empty hands the one who noticed assumed it was a mistake. Ian started kicking and trying to fight back, but the hand didn’t stop. It finally started to wrap the long fingers around him and he felt ready to be sick. These fingers were definitely longer and the skin was a rich brown rather than the pasty white that had grabbed him. He desperately hoped they were a good person and not someone else planning to take him.

“Hey, just cause you’re some famous podcaster or whatever doesn’t mean you can go around harassing people!” the guard from earlier shouted. The fingers grabbing Ian moved faster, but there was still significant care in how they seemed to handle him. “You can’t go accusing people of kidnapping either. The human streamer just took a break and this person just missed the chance to see it.”

“If you want to remotely not be considered an accomplice to attempted kidnapping I’d call the authorities now,” the new giant growled. He heard some more footsteps coming up and his heart started pounding. He was still in the pocket and he couldn’t make his voice work. They were going to leave him with the one taking him.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” a new voice yelled. He knew that one, it was the nice guard who said they’d come by to help him to the break area later. “The guest didn’t go anywhere, I was supposed to pick him up in twenty minutes. What the hell did you let happen?”

“It’s just a human who cares if it ran off,” the cruel guard said. Ian couldn’t get the thoughts about Mira out of his head. Is this how she thought all giants acted?

“I’d like to leave, I'm going to miss my bus,” his kidnapper tried. He still couldn’t make his voice work. This was awful. The hand he was in tensed for a moment before pulling him out sickeningly fast. The hand turned quickly leaving him on his back and staring at the ceiling. His chest was heaving. He had been positive he’d never get out of the grip of the one who took him.

“Tch, all of this over a dumb human, just have them give it an apology and let’s move on.” Ian mustered all his strength to glare at the guard. It wasn’t easy to hold it with the way they were looking at him.

“That’s it, both of you are being taken in for this. I have a sneaking suspicion this wasn’t a lucky chance for our would be kidnapper here.” The kind guard’s face hovered above him with a look he couldn’t understand. “Sir, do you feel safe going with the gentleman who stopped this to the break area?”

Ian turned to look at the face of his savior. The green eyes staring at him almost made him think of his dad’s. He nodded, positive his voice wouldn’t work. The stranger pulled him close to his chest as he walked away from the scene. It was the first time Ian noticed how big of a commotion it was. He could see the phones being held up, so much for keeping this incident quiet from Mira. The giant carrying him stopped by the area he’d been taken from and picked up the bag that he’d put off to the side as giants started grabbing him.

Everything moved in a blur as the giant walked. They reached the area that his parents had dropped him off in and sat at a table far in the corner. The giant lowered his hand to the table, waiting with a look of concern until Ian finally climbed off. He stood and walked away, which admittedly terrified him. He didn’t want to be alone right now. All the stranger did was go to the area with human sized refreshments. He came back with way too many, but Ian greedily drank from the water bottles he was offered.

“Are you alright?” the stranger asked. He looked up at him almost shocked by the look he was giving him. It felt like how Ash and Rhys looked when he said he’d go alone. “I should have stepped in sooner. I assumed you’d told the staff it was fine to be handled like that. I’m sorry it got that bad.”

“It’s,” he stopped to cough a bit before trying again. “It’s my own fault. I should have probably said something. At least not have come alone.”

“Some fans are like that. I know it’s not the same, but I’ve had human fans climb into my pockets or bags before so I’d take them home and they could stay with me.” Ian actually appreciated the look of disgust that crossed the giant’s features. “It’s a disgusting preference some have to want to own or be owned by someone they idolize. I’m happy to help you handle giants any time, I can’t imagine other humans would be a great deterrent.”

“Actually, my parents are giants. I just tried to prove a point to someone, show giants are safe and I guess it backfired a little. My name’s Ian by the way.” The giant grimaced but offered a finger out to him.

“My name is Mikhail, you can call me Mik. I only let my friends do that so you have another giant you can rely on at least. I’m at these things a lot for this area especially after all. I hope at least you and your friend know that not all of us want to treat humans so poorly.”

“I do, she just has been through a lot. Have we met before?” Ian felt safe with Mik. He was kind and saved him from being kidnapped. It would have been easy to just ignore the little human getting taken away.

“I think I’d remember a human like you. I do run a podcast called ‘What the Ghoul?’ you may know my voice from there. Also, I can be pretty sure they’re going to need you to stay for a while you may want to call your family. I’ll stay with you as long as you need though. I just can assume it’s already gotten around.”

They shared a look as they both remembered the sounds of the pictures being taken and the phones held up. Ian knew he was right and slowly pulled the bag Mik had retrieved closer. He could feel the buzzing already. He pulled out his phone and had way too many calls and messages to handle. As much as he wanted to call his parents first, he knew he had to tell Mira. He pulled up her chat and smiled at the picture of her in a shirt from her favorite podcast. He hit call before the name on the shirt registered in his head and looked back up at Mik. The ringing stopped and he could already hear the panicked attempts at her speaking.

“Mira, Mira calm down,” he started. “I’m fine I promise, the guy who saved me is my friend. His name’s Mikhail, you might even like talking to him. He runs your favorite podcast.”

“Just come home please? Alessia said she’d come pick me up from my place. You can’t trust a gi-,” Mira cried.

“Mik’s my friend. I have to hang out while they deal with things. I’m going to call mom and dad. I promise I’m ok Mira. I also promise no more events like this alone ok? Go with Alessia. I'll make sure to answer any message you send, promise.”

“I’m guessing that’s who you tried to prove a point to?” Mik asked as soon as Ian hung up. He started searching for his dad’s number. His mom would want to stay by Mira if she can right now, even with how scared she is. He hit call and looked up at Mik again.

“Yeah she’s actually my sister…” Ian waited for the disgust and annoyance that people usually had towards her. Mira had no idea how much they noticed. Mik just looked sad. The ringing stopped before Mik could say anything else.

“Ian! Are you alright? Where are you? I’m on my way already. I'll come to wherever you’re waiting, stay away from crowds!” his dad panicked. He had an idea and put the call on speaker.

“I’m alright. I’m in that break room you dropped me off in this morning. My new friend is staying with me, he’s the one who saved me.” Ian looked at Mik expectantly and got a look of shock back.

“Uh hello, I’m happy to stay with Ian as long as needed…”

“See you when you get here!”

Ian hung up the phone. He didn’t want to have to hear the panic or the lecture he knew was coming. He grinned at Mik, but grew worried when he couldn’t read his expression. Mik folded his arms on the table and lowered his head so he was closer to Ian’s level. Ian hadn’t expected to feel as uncomfortable as he did from that. His mom and dad talked to him like this all the time, it should be fine. He just tried to keep his smile on and act like nothing was wrong.

“You know that it’s ok to be scared,” Mik started. Ian flinched, he didn’t think he’d been obvious. “I’m guessing whatever your sister went through already had you nervous and you ran into two giants that were treating you like nothing. If you want I can sit somewhere else to keep an eye out until your dad gets here.”

“No, no I’m fine. I’ve been around giants my whole life. It’s just like meeting messed up humans, it happens,” he tried.

His smile was shaking and he hoped Mik couldn’t see it. Mik moved so only one arm was cushioning his head. The other now had his hand out and moved towards Ian. There wasn’t a place he could go, he was going to be grabbed again. He shut his eyes and hugged himself waiting for the long warm fingers to trap him again. It didn’t come, he could feel the heat of the hand though. He opened his eyes and saw Mik looking at him with deep sadness.

“I don’t think you noticed, but when I tried to shake your hand you just ignored it. It’s ok to be scared, Ian. You don’t have a reason to trust me, or any of the staff here right now. If anyone thinks you’re overreacting I’ll make sure to speak up if you can’t.”

He didn’t want to cry. He didn’t want to be scared. If he started being scared he couldn’t do anything to help Mira. The hand near him had him panicking even if Mik made him feel safe. The idea of someone else showing up and taking him wouldn’t leave his head. He started sniffling and soon he was wailing. The hand near him moved a bit closer and he tensed again. Before Mik could pull away Ian latched on to a finger and cried into it.

“I can’t be scared, if I’m scared how do I help Mira?! Except maybe she’s right to be so scared! No one was going to notice!” he screamed. “I was going to be taken and never see my family again. I couldn’t fight back, I couldn't speak. Even when you stopped them I thought for sure that they were going to be believed and I’d just never be seen again.”

The finger he latched onto bent as the hand around him moved. Mik was careful as he started to scoop Ian into his palm, all the fear he felt forgotten as he cried. Mik saved him and even made sure he called his family. He was safe right now. He knew that Mik was moving, but didn’t care much of what he was doing exactly. He only figured it out when he was pressed against a cloth that had something hard behind it. A comforting beat was coming from the hard wall and he realized Mik was hugging him to his chest.

“Just let it out Ian, I’ll make sure you get home. We’re friends now. I'm someone you can call if you need help. You can still act like you aren’t scared to your sister. You can let me know when you’re scared.”

Ian was pretty sure he couldn’t feel it, but nodded into Mik’s chest. He didn’t get why he cared so much when they just met, but he didn’t care. It was nice having someone here right now while this just happened. He was terrified of everyone, he wasn’t even sure he’d feel safe with his dad. It was the first time he ever saw giants as dangerous and he never wanted to again.

When she was finally alone in her house again, she curled up on herself. She should stop relying on them each time she panicked. Eventually they’d think she was too much and should just get over it like those giants she’d spoken with. She didn’t want to lose them. They were the only humans she knew, she’d stopped going out after everything. She did school online, got a degree online, started streaming because her life was online. Streaming had probably been a mistake, it opened her up to a number of giants. She thought she’d gotten better though. She could say things to Vitus and Dabria when they came by sometimes.

It felt like she had a set back once Ian almost got taken. An overzealous fan and crappy security had her brother nearly disappear on them. It was like the small bubble of safety she started to believe in popped. It could happen again and humans couldn’t stop it. She knew Mikhail had seen it and stepped in, that they wound up close by the end of the day. She couldn’t get past Mikhail’s size though. He could do the same thing to Ian, Delphia could do it to Ash and Alessia too. Rhys spends a lot of time with her too, they could all just disappear one day because of giants and she could never hope to save them.

She jumped as she felt the heavy steps of a giant on her street. She desperately wanted them to pass by quickly. It’s been sixteen years, why couldn’t she be better? The steps grew close and she felt herself shaking, please make them go away. They stopped for a minute, but she felt the step as it entered her yard. Vitus promised Dabria would wait a few days to come by still. She hugged herself tightly, please be a mistake, please leave. She screamed when a soft tap sounded on her door, she covered her mouth quickly. The giant would know she’s here, the giant could get her.

“Mira…” she recognized the voice. It was loud…too loud. She wanted to keep pretending he was human, it was the only reason she’d managed to get somewhat stable again. “Sorry for dropping by like this, I just wanted to make sure you knew. I’m doing a big stream tomorrow, I think you might want to watch. I have some others helping me, it’s not a game, it's something more important.”

She couldn’t make herself talk. She wasn’t sure she could even watch something he did. She said she wanted to finish the things they were doing, but hearing his voice made her question her resolve. She had felt his steps, it shook everything around her when he walked. She pulled out her phone, staring at the name she’d used for comfort for months. She typed out a quick message, a promise to try and hit send. His phone, his giant phone, played a noise. She could hear the sounds of fabric as he moved. It made her flinch, it was so much, how could anyone her size handle being around this?

“Trying is great, it’s perfect. I hope you manage it, I’ll uh message you after,” he said. She could picture the face he was making, she wanted the comfort the image used to bring. He helped her before, he didn’t know he was then. If he knew she was human how would he have felt when she started admitting her fears?

The footsteps started again, they were fast this time. Had he been slow for her? He was gone so quickly, she couldn’t believe he’d approached so slowly. The world was quiet and she stayed curled up where she was. She couldn’t get the sounds out of her head. The steps, the movement of fabric, it put her back in that place. She was waiting for the muffled voices and the talk about how she must have run away. The way the comments sounded so fake, like they knew where she was and they didn’t care. Her body ached as if the ‘games’ were happening only yesterday.

She climbed to her feet after a few hours of horrible memories playing through her mind. She was careful and slow as she moved, like a hand was about to shoot out and grab her. She managed to reach her room, then her bed. Collapsing on the mattress and curling up again. She wanted today to be over, to get back to the way she was feeling before she’d gone to meet Corus.

She took the time to read through messages. A number of comments of support for her unplanned hiatus. Well wishes from humans and giants alike. There were some comments from humans and giants saying pointless things. Other streamers jumped to defend her from those ones. The most vocal was Corus, he even kept the information he knew secret from what she could tell. Why did he have to be a giant? Why did she still want to reach out to him? Why did he have to be someone she got attached to so deeply? She let tears start falling, she hated her stupid heart and that Corus was a stupid giant. She cried until exhaustion finally pulled her into a nightmare filled sleep.

The next morning she woke up to hands shaking her. She blinked away the sleep shocked to see Rhys back. He dragged her out of bed without a word and pulled her out to her couch. His laptop was hooked up to the TV and she just gave him a strange look. He turned away and pulled up a stream, the one Corus told her about yesterday. It wasn’t like anything he’d done before, he was sitting with another person in more of a talk show set up. She opened her mouth to say something, but Rhys silenced her.

“Hey everybody!” Corus started his stream. He was more anxious than the first time he had a stream, but this was important. They put a lot of work into this. “Today’s stream is a bit different. Thanks for waiting while we got it all set up, first I want to introduce Mikhail.”

“We’re also recording this for What the Ghoul!’s news episode this month. Corus found something that needed a lot of attention. Corus if you’d like to start,” Mikhail said, gesturing to him. He took a deep breath before turning back to his camera, Delphia was there. Ash, Alessia, and Ian were there. This has to go well, it has to make it clear what none of them knew.

“Let’s start. First I know you guys know I moved recently, well I started searching the history of my new home. I found an article that made me sick to read. We’ve added links in the description, but it’s a hard read. The summary is a ten year old giant had decided they could treat humans like toys and this allowed a number of them to die. Survivor’s of the torture were traumatized, but that’s not the part that made these articles sickening. The whole tone of it was how humans ruined the life of this giant, but they killed people. I did more research, a number of reporters followed up contacting the giant and the survivors, but each time they said how the giant had been misunderstood. The giant was a kid who didn’t know any better. I don’t know about all of you, I knew not to lock people away at ten years old.”

“Following that, we have something to play for you all. Together we went to visit this ‘innocent child’,” Mikhail used air quotes as he spoke. “We recorded the conversation, we had to say some sickening things to get the person to open up to us now sixteen years later. We learned a lot of horrible facts from this and we’ll be playing this now. We do want to just get to the meat of this subject so we’ve fast forwarded. For anyone curious in hearing us play awful roles the full recording is in the description as well.”

“Ha, you think that story my parents told about not knowing was true?” the crackled voice started. Rhys grabbed Mira as the shaking started…it was them. “They knew the whole time it was why they started adopting humans. Humans from bad backgrounds running off was easy enough to assume. Especially when they live with giants. I wasn’t supposed to touch the last one though. They said she was pretty high profile and important because of how she wound up needing a home. I couldn’t help it, she looked so doll-like.” Those on and off camera flinched from the cruel laughter that started.

“I was enamored in a second, she was even better than the ones I’d grabbed off the street. Even better than the first one my parents brought me too. She had so much faith in giants, it was amazing. She didn’t bat an eye as I put her inside the lunchboxes I was using. Even after my parents came in and realized I’d already decided to keep her, they kept up the act just in case she got out and ran to them. They were going to give her right back to me. It was what they did with the first one they adopted. She didn’t realize she wasn’t getting out for a few hours, the quiet begging to go to her room was great.”

“So what did you do while you had her?” It was the first time anyone else’s voice had been heard since the recording started. She sat up straight, Corus had asked what they did to her. He said he understood, how could he ask that?

“I’d had plenty of practice with the others.” She shrunk back as the voice that haunted her started up again. “I managed to pull her joints out of their sockets a lot. It was a ton of fun. She kept begging to be let go promising to leave. She didn’t realize I wanted her to stay and keep begging and crying. Eventually she started to get boring though, she stopped reacting as much. I was pretty close to just shutting the box and not opening it again. I would have kept playing with her if she screamed for me like the one who ripped open the box. You said she’s still like that? I should ask my parents about another care package.”

“Care package?” Someone else, she couldn’t place it. That sick laughter had her hide her face in Rhys’s chest.

“Yeah, they knew it would be boring out here. They grab homeless humans, sometimes claiming how they are trying to ‘atone’ for me. Then they pack them up and send them here. Kind of funny how little they look into things you get sent from human inclusive towns while on the registry.”

“Ok I can’t do this anymore.” It was Corus again, was he sick of just listening to a monster? Did he plan to join in?

“Corus wait-” Mikhail’s voice sounded he must have been the one she couldn’t place, but wasn’t this the one Ian trusted? Why was he there? The sound of fighting played out. She flinched each time a crash sounded.

“You think you get to play with people like fucking toys!?” Corus sounded angry now, hadn’t he been on his side. “Where are the care packages you mentioned?! When did they start? How long have you been torturing people you sick freak!?!?”

She heard the sound of punching again. There were a lot of crashes and she could hear yells. She managed to look at the screen again, Corus seemed a bit bashful. She couldn’t help the bit of a laugh that escaped staring at his face. Mikhail seemed exasperated, how long was there a fight playing out? She heard Mikhail’s voice scream out stop, but the fighting wasn’t stopping. Corus was…violent.

“I’ll tell you everything just get him off me!” her tormentor screamed.

“He’d likely stop if you let us know where the humans are…” Mikhail sounded different. He was cold and cruel, nothing like how he’d sounded seconds before.

“They-” There was the sound of impact again. “They’re in my room, in the closet under the blankets!”

“Corus keep them handled until I get the humans.” She heard footsteps as she could only assume Mikhail walked off. There was the sound of struggling before running footsteps sounded out. “Corus go, we don’t have time. They’re all in bad shape. I’m not sure how they’re even alive.”

“It’s hilarious how far they’ll go when they don’t want to die.” The sick laughter sounded again, but it was cut off abruptly.

“You honestly think it’s funny to torture people. I’m going to make sure you pay for all of this, your parents too,” Corus spat. There was the sound of footsteps again. “Oh Mikhail, turn off the recorder, they don’t need to be on this.”

The recording ended and there was silence from the two giants on screen. Mira couldn’t help the need to grab Rhys’s shirt. There was a horrible feeling of hope that this time it might be different. That the people saved might get taken seriously. They won’t have giant reporters calling and making them relive it only to blame them for being scared. They can be afraid of giants and not face the years of constant hate mail and begging from that monster’s parents. Vitus and Dabria said they were still coming. One of the giant’s on the screen cleared his throat, she jumped leaning deeper into Rhys.

“That wasn’t my best moment,” Corus admitted, “but that was the start. We got the humans that monster had been sent to the hospital. They will need a long time of care, but they’ll survive. We contacted all the reporter’s the parents had contacted. Each one had tortured the survivor from the incident sixteen years ago. They believed the lies that a human just hated a misguided child, they never once listened to the words the survivor said. Once the police arrested their parents and the person we visited, we played them the recording. Each has refused to comment outside of, it’s hard to see the lies.”

“I’ve offered to allow each of them on my show to discuss the reason they blindly believed the criminal and then shamed the victim,” Mikhail added. “There was one thing they did have to say after that. They blamed it on the fact the victim had a traumatic experience prior to this. It was easier to blame her trauma than to believe a child or a whole family was that sick.”

“So exposing all this wasn’t our only goal here.” She didn’t know when, but she had grabbed Rhys’s hand and squeezed with all her strength. She couldn’t explain it, but she was getting more and more scared of the hopeful feeling she had. “We’ve set up a fund to help humans who need it who are scared of giants. There’s a lot of resources out there for giants nervous about humans, but the fact humans have every right to be scared or nervous seemed to have gotten lost. All the money we’re making off this stream and any listens to Mikhail’s podcast will go straight to that new fund.”

“I’ll be doing a week of streams coming up on Flower Oracle, along with some multiplayer games with PlantProtectors,” Delphia said as she walked on screen. Mira saw Alessia and Ash in her hands, they looked happy. It was probably the first time she ever managed to see the three of them. She smiled seeing it, but the bit of warmth it brought faded when the darker thoughts invaded, how easily Delphia could change. “NervousGamer and GodlyAdvice will also be running events this week. Our goal is to get this up and running as fast as possible. Things have to go both ways. Here on we’ll be taking questions from the chat about what we learned and why we got involved.”

She squeezed Rhys’s hands again. She didn’t think she could handle it if questions came up. She tried to speak, but she saw the first one pop up. It was about her, well her as a streamer. Does this have anything to do with PinkEyedMiracle’s recent break? All the questions coming in were about her and her career. Why isn’t she part of this? Is she the cause of this? Is she the human survivor? Is she one of the humans that was sent there? Is she part of the giant’s family? Is she the giant? Rhys pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

“Do you want to answer these?” he asked. She stared at the phone. The memories of those calls right after everything, the times Vitus and Dabria would be fighting for her after an article ran. She shook her head, Rhys smiled at her and put the phone away. “That might be better.”

“Actually, we didn’t ask PinkEyedMiracle, just like you guys none of us know too much about her outside of her streams,” Corus started. She actually pulled away from Rhys leaning towards the screen. For the first time since this event started she could only see the person she’d started to open up to. “We didn’t want her to feel obligated to jump in on this when we were sure a number of questions like this would pop up. Once she’s back we plan to ask her to run some streams for our new charity too.”

Rhys tapped her shoulder and tilted his head when she turned back. She nodded at him and he started typing on his phone. She watched a chat message appear from her account. Sorry I’ve been sick, I’m always happy to help a good cause. Let’s chat about it after the event! She sent Rhys a look that met his trademark innocent smile. He did this when she first joined her family too, stealing her login information to talk to Vitus and Dabria for her. He was a better brother than she’d ever say.

“...can we turn this off? I-I don’t think I can listen to them answer questions,” she asked. Rhys nodded, going to close the laptop. They froze as a commotion on screen sounded. Corus had stood up, he was shaking. His chair was pushed back and knocked over. Mira started shaking as she saw the angry giant on the screen. It seemed the part of her that kept him human in her mind was finally losing the battle.

“Alright, we’re ending the stream. I don’t know what’s with all these questions that seem to be pushing the blame. After everything we showed you, it’s sad you’re like this. You heard how they felt torturing her. Are you like them, do you think humans aren’t worth it? Mods, I want these people banned. I don't care how much of my audience you make up, I won't have anyone who looks down on or belittles humans here!” Corus shouted.

Mira stared at the screen until the stream ended. A giant actually got upset over humans being blamed. She never thought it was possible, they all would just turn on humans eventually. She walked away from Rhys shutting herself in her room. She slid to the floor, now that she wasn’t next to Rhys everything came flying back. That first night there, when the giant meant to be her sibling held her too tightly. When they put her in a box and she tried to laugh it off like it was fine. When she realized they hadn’t even said anything to her and she begged to get out.

Her mind raced as the following days played again. Waking up to a hand grabbing her and pulling her up too fast. Feeling nauseous and trying desperately not to be sick. Given next to no food or water, constant pain as they treated her worse than a doll. The day she finally gave up and how they hadn’t opened her box for three days. When she begged for food and water after that. She could still remember the panic when a larger hand came at her, she didn’t care who it was, it would mean more pain. Giants just treat humans as they please and they always will. Any giant could turn on a human in an instant, there’s no way to defend yourself.

She had the awful images that plagued her everyday pass through her again. Ash and Alessia stuck somewhere as the giant they claim loves them makes them suffer. Ian given away by Mikhail for being too much trouble. Vitus and Dabria throwing Rhys away or locking him up for expecting their care. A new one now, Corus showing up here again. Pulling her out as she screams and begs, locking her up just like when she was young. She fell to the side, laying in a ball as she poorly fought off the images in her mind.

She vaguely heard a door open, she couldn’t put together why she did or how long ago she’d heard it. Then there were steps, heavy earth shaking steps. She started shaking again, attention was brought to it all again. She’d be contacted, targeted, told how she was wrong for her fear. The steps were getting closer and she started to openly sob. Were the thoughts she had finally coming true? The steps halted too close again, she started crawling. She was desperate to hide from this giant. If she wasn’t easy to find they might go away, she might get to stay here. She jumped when the steps went to her backyard, no no no they were staying. The way her world shook as they sat nearly had her screaming.

“It’s me, little one,” a female voice said. She knew that voice…Dabria. Dabria is here. Where is Rhys? He was here, where did he go? Door, she heard a door, did he leave? Please be safe, if she gets caught and he doesn’t that’s fine. “Take deep breaths. You’re safe around me.”

Safe, safe, safe! How could she be safe? It wouldn’t take much for Dabria to turn on her. One wrong word or move and she’s done. She started crawling again, curling up as small as she could under her desk. Just wait for the giant to leave and things will be ok again. She can find Rhys and they can be safe. She needs to get the others too, they aren’t safe. Ian…Ian wasn’t on the stream! Where is he? W-would Dabria know? She had to find Ian.

“W-where’s Ian?” she tried. Her voice was quiet and she felt sure the giant near her would miss it. Instead she heard shuffling of fabric. Screaming when an eye appeared in her window. Red like blood, definitely wanted blood. She was shaking worse than before.

“I’m sorry little one,” Dabria said. She heard the shuffling again as the eye disappeared. “I had thought I heard you say something, but it wasn’t clear for me. I meant to get closer to hear you better not to scare you.”

Giants are liars. Dabria is lying. She wanted to find her, that was all it was. She wanted her to lock her away. The part of her not wrapped in panic and memories seemed to wake up then. Vitus had saved her, Dabria took her to the hospital. They fought each time a new article came out about the prejudiced human. Never touched her and even added a human house onto their own for her. She kept repeating the things they did for her until she managed to breathe normally again. She took a deep breath.

“Where’s Ian?” she called out. She squeezed her eyes shut expecting the shuffling again. It never came.

“He was with the others this morning, he didn’t want to be on camera. They made sure we were watching too little one.” She shivered, Ian was with giants and she couldn’t protect him. She couldn’t do anything if they turned on him. W-would Dabria or Vitus save him? Were they really good giants after all? “It was why I decided to come see you. We learned a lot we hadn’t known.”

They were mad now. They were going to make her pay for the kindness. She bit her lip to keep her sobs quiet. The giant seemed to be waiting for something. Maybe for her to come out? She wouldn’t make it easy even if she couldn’t get herself to climb to her feet. Instead a loud and pained sob rang out around her. Why would Dabria be sobbing? She’s mad isn’t she? For everything they did for her and she had been overreacting and should be over it. She should just be used to giants again already.

“I’m so sorry we never knew how horribly you were treated for that month,” Dabria cried. Mira’s shaking started to die down, the giant was sorry? “We assumed it was just you were locked away, maybe grabbed roughly, and starved. We never knew they tortured you like that. We would have done more to get you away from giants then. Found a human only town and helped you get there. I’m sorry we hadn’t done enough for you, please Mira if we can do anything more tell us. You’re our daughter, we want you safe and happy, even if it means we never even speak to you again.”

How could giants be kind like this? She could still see the one falling in front of her, crushing so many people. She could still see the sick smile that the kid had every play time. She couldn’t think of a single time Dabria and Vitus looked at her badly. They’d gotten angry, but their faces were always soft and loving. She didn’t want to keep being scared, she wanted to be able to face giants who cared about her. She was slow as she crawled out from under her desk.

She was moving slowly as she got to her feet. She felt like a newborn fawn, barely able to stay up. She had to keep reminding herself of the good things Dabria did. The kind ways Vitus sheltered her. It was the only way to take each step as she moved forward. At the window she heard a gasp, but forced herself to ignore it. She was panting, the idea of looking outside inducing a new bout of panic. She wanted to see her face, she could barely remember the way she felt before the accident and torture. She wanted to see Dabria and Vitus as her family again, not as giants or monsters. She was close to them before her parents died, they took her in every time she was left home alone. She held her breath as she finally turned her head up and up and up to meet Dabria’s eyes.

She fell to her knees as she stared into the giant red eyes. Dabria’s face came closer, she couldn’t stop her flinch. Dabria paused but continued to move closer, she could see the concern on the giant’s face. She was searching Dabria’s face, trying to find the hint of malice. There wasn’t any, just love and worry. They both just stared at each other for a long time. Dabria didn’t have a way to help her and she couldn’t move anymore. She almost wanted Dabria to stand and start walking to scare her into moving. The worry eventually morphed to a warm smile, she let out the breath she’d been holding as Dabria leaned away again. She was still hunched a bit looking into the window.

“You look well Mira,” she said. Mira couldn’t help the shaking that started, hearing a giant and watching one talk were two separate things. She slowly hugged herself as she stared up. It was Dabria, she was kind, she was good, she wouldn’t hurt her. “How can I help you?”

“I-I-I,” she tried, the words wouldn’t work. This giant…this person took her in and cared for her like her own child. She can at least say something while in her house. While somewhere that would take more effort to be reached from. She felt tears hitting her arms, she didn’t know she started crying. She watched the sadness behind the warm smile grow, why couldn’t she start to trust them? “I want…”

“Mom!” Ian’s voice called out.

Mira was snapped out of her thoughts as a fear crept in. Ian could be held against her. She watched as that sad smiling face turned away and faced her brother. She watched that huge arm move forward, her heart was pounding too loudly. She realized with horror that the sound wasn’t her heart, but footsteps. Another giant, she can barely handle the one that she wants to see. The hand came back and there was Ian, he was safe. He was brought to Dabria’s face hugging her nose.

“Ian, are you here to check on Mira?” Dabria asked, if he answered she couldn’t hear it. Just wait for him to get away from the giants then it’ll be fine. “Who is this? I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“I’m Corus, nice to meet you,” Corus said. It was so loud, she fell further. She couldn’t take her eyes off of Dabria and Ian though. She saw those huge eyes gaze towards her for a moment, a flash of understanding following. She saw the smile change before she returned her gaze to Corus.

“Nice to meet you, you were the one who started the fundraiser and all today?” She couldn’t see his reaction, but she saw Dabria soften. Her gaze switched back to Ian who seemed to have gotten comfortable against her face. “I think it’s best you head inside and I get going.”

She couldn’t hear Ian respond again, but felt her heart stop as the fingers curled in around him. Dabria is good, she’s good, she won’t trap him, she’s good. She couldn’t get the panic to die down as the hand started to move, stopping on the ground. She felt like she could breathe again as the hand opened completely again and Ian climbed off. She watched him run inside, snapping her eyes up again as Dabria moved.

She felt like she was watching a living mountain. Dabria and Vitus were both taller than most other giants. Before everything they had held her and she felt safe because of their size. She wished it could be like that again as she watched the face she’d been staring at go up until she couldn’t see it anymore. She watched as Dabria stepped over the human size house Mira lived in panic settling on her again. It would be so easy for Dabria to have an ‘accident’ like the one that took her parents. She jumped to her feet. She needed to get Ian.

She ran out of her room, barreling into her brother as he’d been about to enter her room. The two fell just in time for Dabria’s step to hit the ground over the house. She was holding him tightly as she waited for the footsteps to fade. Only one set, Corus was still here. She pulled herself and Ian up, he tried to make her stay still. He rubbed her head, that was the first time she’d seen a giant step over anything human in so long. She couldn’t help the assumption it would turn out badly.

Ian managed to get her up and to the couch. How were they so calm with her? Their lives included giants and none of them minded she was like this. She was hugging him tightly, she couldn’t break the image in her mind of a footstep landing closer. Crashing through her home and stealing the people she cares about again. There was the sound of shuffling again, a thump and she expected more to follow from Corus. He must be taking Dabria’s spot, she would never manage to stand like she did for her.

“Mira,” his voice was quiet now, almost like a whisper, “Ian should be able to let you know everything. I hope you’re not upset with what I did. I had a bad feeling after we talked, you deserved better and that creep deserved a lot more punishment. I’ll… I’ll be home all week, if you want to try talking again.”

She looked up at Ian, he had a calm smile on his face. The footsteps started, they were so fast. It almost sounded like he was running from her home. She furrowed her brows before pulling Ian closer. She can’t stop worrying he’d be taken, he’ll suffer like her. She knows he has people to protect him. Vitus and Dabria would kill any giant who dared to hurt him, but she couldn’t back away from her thoughts. They were worse when he’d been gone and everyone else was on that stream or with her.

“Where were you?” she whispered. Ian forced them both to be sitting and made her look at him. He looked so happy, she’d need to stop calling him when she panicked.

“I was hiding out in Mikhail’s hair the whole time,” he smirked. Her eyes went wide and he laughed. “I didn’t want to be on stream, but if they needed me I wanted to be there. I had a feeling you’d have a bad reaction to me being held, so I just hid in his hair. Corus brought me here after so we could be sure.”

“Sure?”

“Sure you were ok. Corus started panicking after he told you and got worse when Alessia said she sent Rhys to make sure you watch. He didn’t want you panicking like when you met him.”

She turned to stare out the window. He’d been gone for a while already. Why was this giant doing so much, caring so much? She just kept staring, Ian eventually got up and walked away. She couldn’t even think of why he would. At least, until he shoved a plate of food in her hands. She looked down at it, when was the last time she had eaten? She ate quietly, Ian typing away on his phone. This was the worst time she’d had since they saved her. How were they all ok with her like this?

“I don’t get it…” she murmured. Ian looked at her with his eyes wide, he’s always an open book. “Why are you all always here? Always ready to help me… I won’t even talk to the people you care about…”

Ian stayed silent and she understood. They were probably sick of it too. Ash, Alessia, Rhys, Ian, Vitus, and Dabria. She knew in her head that they were her family, but every time she heard Vitus and Dabria talk she was scared. Each time Ian, Ash, or Alessia talked about the giants they knew she panicked. Rhys has nearly closed himself off from giants to make sure she has someone. They should stop, she can learn to handle this on her own. She jumped when Ian’s hands held her cheeks.

“You’re an idiot. You’re my big sister, why wouldn’t I be here when you need me? We all care about you, Mikhail and Delphia do too. Corus was the one who went to them, turns out he knew Delphia and her podcast friend. He asked for help, they found out it was connected with you and took it further. The entire time Mikhail and Corus were getting that recording and the creeps handled, Delphia was starting that charity,” Ian explained. She pulled away, placing the food down and walking away from him.

She heard him sigh, but he didn’t approach. She just wound up watching as he took the dish back to her kitchen. She couldn’t put together how to feel, they were helping do all of that. They saw the articles and heard the claims that she’d been misunderstanding a child. There wasn’t a comment made about how she should have spoken up for them. She walked back to the couch staring at her hands thinking about everything. How could she respond to this?

“Mira, I’m heading out,” Ian called. She looked at him and waved, still not sure she could believe it was worth it to keep all of this going. She could so easily shut them all out. “Oh by the way, I think you may be making progress. You called them people.”

Ian left as she stared with wide eyes. She always called them people didn’t she? She tried to think of when she’d last spoken about giants to someone. She didn’t call them giants all the time…did she? Had she stopped seeing them as people at some point? Is that why she couldn’t stop seeing Corus as a human, he was a person to her? The idea she’d made them something other made her feel disgusting. She never meant for that, but she must have if Ian felt it was worth commenting on it.

She had to be sure. She pulled up her chats with everyone. Everyone that she would have a reason to reference others. Ian was first, each time he brought up Mikhail she just called him a giant. She switched to Alessia, then Ash, always calling Delphia a giant. She checked with Rhys, every time they spoke about Vitus and Dabria she called them giants. Not even their names usually. She pulled up the chat she had with all of them. She had to know for sure. She sent them a simple message, just asking how she refers to Delphia, Vitus, Dabria, and Mikhail all the time.

Each of them answered with what she was dreading. She’s always called them giants, even if it was about them together it was humans and giants. She tried to think of how she felt when she was staring at Dabria. She had to tell herself she was a person. It wasn’t something that felt normal or natural. Ian added she called them people today so she should be happy. It had to be progress, but he didn’t get it. She never knew she wasn’t calling them people. She had somewhere else to check, a journal she kept since moving out here alone.

She dropped her phone on the couch and bolted to her room. She ripped the book out of the drawer she kept it in, flipping through the pages. Every mention of them, she said giants. Sometimes she even called them monsters, how could she have done this? She should have known better, she needed to do something. Her home felt stifling, she grabbed her coat running outside without a second thought. That was apparently her mistake.