#tiny remus

Janus was completely fine. He loved being trapped in a bottle from human littering, in fact, it was one of his favourite hobbies. He especially loved when the currents and tide started dragging him towards shore, leaving him ready to be discovered by a human, or a bird or something similar. Either way, he was screwed.

You’re probably wanting context right now, huh?

The first thing to say is that it was absolutely not Janus’ fault, no matter what may have been said. He did nothing wrong. Someone had insulted his tail, he had a right to attack them! The only problem was that this person happened to be about ten feet long, to Janus’ three inches. He didn’t even scratch them that much, just on the eye, and they had another one of those!

They didn’t seem to see his point of view, for some weird reason, and instead chased him closer to shore than he ever really wanted to go, and stuffed him into a plastic bottle that a human had thrown into the sea. He had been there for a few hours, and was starting to get hungry. If a predator didn’t kill him, hunger was sure to at some point.

His beautiful fanned out tail was uncomfortably scrunched in the bottle, and he was starting to get claustrophobic. The currents picked up, and the waves above got rougher in what Janus recognised as a storm. Just his luck, so many things tended to get thrown to shore during storms, and he would very likely join them. Just as he finished thinking that, the currents picked up and he was pushed up into the waves above. He could see the dark sky, covered in clouds, in between getting violently thrown around in the bottle.

Water was spilling out, and then filling back up from the waves. Janus wasn’t scared when he started thinking about how, if he got deposited onto the beach, the water could spill out and might never fill up again, leaving him to dry up.

Luckily, that’s not what happened. The tide left him in between a few rocks, and, while he passed out on impact, he didn’t die. The bottle stayed mostly upright, and he woke up to a human’s face staring down at him. He darted to the bottom of his plastic prison and stared up.

They said something, but he wasn’t listening. This could very well play out smoother for him if he pretended that he wasn’t sapient. He would rather be silently studied than interrogated any day. The human grabbed the bottle around the top, near the opening and Janus was lightly thrown into the plastic

The walk back to what was presumably the human’s house was tense, the human seemed nervous if the steady shaking of their hand was any indication. Janus sat in the bottom of the bottle and stared up. The human looked down at him as well, some sort of emotion on their face. He couldn’t decipher if it was concern, pity or curiosity.

None of the options really bode well for him, the first two would likely lead to them keeping him because of worrying that he could get hurt again out there in the world, and the third probably meant constant observation and studying, maybe dissection. He just let his fear show on his face. It wasn’t hard to pretend that he didn’t know what was going on and that he was just a simple animal, he just had to let instincts take over. They had to believe he was a dumb animal, they had to.

Their hands were shaking as they fumbled to put a small metal thing into their door, before going in. He immediately froze upon a sound that he had only ever heard described by other tiny mer. Large merfolk always seemed to roll their eyes at the fear of the creature, but based on the way the bottle was hastily raised in the air upon the predator’s arrival, the human knew the danger it posed

“No, bad kitty, down! This isn’t for you!” The beast jumped onto a countertop near him, taking a swipe at him with its paws. The human held him higher and yelled at the cat.

They put his bottle on a high up shelf, before going somewhere with the cat. The cat didn’t return with them, so he let himself relax just slightly. The bottle was picked up and set down on a lower surface whilst the human leant down to look at him

“Sorry about that, little guy, Sock gets a little excited around new things. My name’s Patton!” Janus just stared blankly, still letting his fear show.

The human- Patton- just frowned slightly “Can you understand me?”

He stared still, never taking his eyes off of them. They weren’t as big as some of the people he knew, but Gods, were they very large. Also, what sort of creature walked on two legs? Not even Crabs did that. It was mostly birds that did that, and he didn’t really think that humans were birds, to be quite honest.

They grabbed the bottle with an apologetic face, and Janus darted to the bottom. He was taken into another room, with a large tank full of water. Janus stared at it, floating lower in his own water. Was the human going to put him in there? He didn’t really know how to get out of his bottle, he had gotten slightly bruised just from getting stuffed in, and he had tried so many times to try squeeze himself out before the storm.

Patton set him down on a table, as they looked through something. They came back holding something sharp. Janus tried to figure out what that would be used for, a sense of dread welling up in his throat. They got closer, and Janus bared his teeth at them, crouching at the bottom of the bottle.

Patton frowned “I’m just going to use this to cut the top of the bottle away so you can get out, okay? No need to worry” Their voice was calming, but Janus wasn’t very reassured, all it would take was one wrong move...

He pushed himself into the ‘floor’ and hissed at the approaching object. Patton stopped for just a moment before carrying on with sawing at the plastic, occasionally pausing to check on him. Janus pretended not to notice, instead staring at the knife with a (mostly) faux fearful expression, though he still kept a watchful eye on the human in his peripheral vision

They eventually managed to saw it off, before picking up the bottle and going towards the tank

“I’m just going to pour this in here, and you can stay there a while, okay?” It wasn’t much okay to Janus, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He was slowly poured into the larger tank and immediately hid from the giant in some plastic plants.

He could still hear the human, though slightly muffled through the glass. They were talking into something like they were having a conversation, and Janus made the startling revelation that they were somehow talking to another human and telling them to come and see him.

He stiffened. Getting out of this may be harder than he first anticipated. He could swear he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, in the room next to his tank, but when he looked out again, nothing was there. Another human soon arrived, immediately going to the tank

“Oh My Stars..” They were staring at him with excitement in their eyes. Janus went further into the fake plants, baring his teeth at the human. They leaned closer, nearly pressing their face into the side of the tank

“You really found a miniature humanoid creature, and it seems to have adapted to aquatic life, which would definitely explain how we’ve never found something like it before..” They carried on rambling, and Janus mentally cursed to himself

Of course the human called a scientist. Although, their ramblings did make Janus think. Did humans really only come in one size, no larger humans and no tinies? Now, that was strange. He had assumed that his fish half would be the only interesting part of him, but apparently not

Eventually, the humans left him alone and in the darkness of the night. The only light was coming from a lamp a few metres away, and that was rather dim compared to the lanterns under the sea

He heard a sound to the left of the tank and turned towards it quickly, scared that the cat could be back. What he saw confused him, as he had already concluded that such did not exist, or at the very least, regular-sized humans didn’t seem to know of it.

A him-sized human was getting closer to the glass prison. He watched them curiously as they climbed to shelf next to the top of the tank and looked down. He swam up there, and peaked his head above the water

“You know, you can stop the act now, the humans are gone” They were talking with a small grin on their face

Janus grinned back “Well, why would I do that? It’s so much more fun to pretend to be a mindless animal. Besides, you are human, are you not?” he leant his arms on the lip of the tank, displaying his sharp teeth in a smile

They smiled back, still looking exactly like a tiny human

“I’m not, actually. I’m a borrower! Humans don’t know we exist, but we have to stay in human houses to survive, and borrow food and stuff from them, hence the name”

Janus nodded “Speaking of names, what happens to be yours?” he asked, leaning a little closer.

“I am Roman” They stated, bowing from their shelf “And you?” They turned their attention back to Janus

Janus grinned “Such a nice name, bit of a shame that I won’t tell you mine” He watched them sputter for a moment, before carrying on

“I mean, if you keep visiting me, I might just consider it. I imagine it will get terribly boring, having no one to talk to until I manage to escape” He floated backwards lazily, looking up the few inches to where Roman was staring at him. Their face broke into a grin

“Well then, I might just have to carry on visiting. Until then, what can I call you?”

“You may call me-” He was cut off by the sound of human footsteps a few rooms across, getting closer. Roman immediately hid, and Janus went back under the waves and pretended to sleep. He kept his eyes open just enough that he would still know what was going on, but anyone watching him would think they were closed

It was the second human, he noted, not Patton, and they appeared to be writing something down, mumbling to themselves

“At least it’s not nocturnal, that would be a pain. It would be really annoying if we couldn’t observe it... it seems to have the lower half of a betta fish, and the top half appears sufficiently human, though it does have gills.. We may have to perform tests to find out what it can and cannot safely consume and how long it can stay out of water” They carried on rambling to themselves, and Janus was left wondering if they would ever leave.

A quick glance to Roman’s hiding spot showed that they were still as stone, barely even breathing whilst the human was in the room. Janus was very glad that there was more peace between small merfolk and the larger merfolk. He couldn’t imagine having to hide every time a larger-mer swam near him, but he was pitiful of Roman. He understood why they hid, however, humans were known for their hatred of the unknown.

Even if a human didn’t hate a non-human, that didn’t mean they were safe to be around. Not with their curiosity and want to know more. In a way, he was doing the same thing as Roman, hiding behind a disguise instead of behind a picture frame. After about ten more minutes of the human studying him, they left and Janus got back up and swam to the top of the tank

“I thought they’d never leave, now, what was I saying?” He leant back on the edge of the tank, staring up at Roman with a smile

They smiled back, though a little more nervous, eyes flickering to the door again. Suddenly, they got a mischievous glint in their eyes

“You were just about to tell me your name” They looked smug at their attempt of tricking him

“How about no. But you did remind me, I was gonna give you a nickname to call me by, but how about you think of one” He didn’t want Roman to figure out his name before he could dramatically reveal it

Roman turned from him in mock offence “Well, since you are so rudely withholding your name, I shall dub thee Deceit!” Janus rolled his eyes, leaning closer

“Why are you so dramatic?” They held a hand to their chest with a gasp

“Me? Dramatic? Never!” They were failing to conceal a grin and Janus pushed himself backwards into the water, feeling himself about to yawn

“Alright, I’m gonna go to sleep for real now. Remember to visit if you ever want to know my name” He said, as they opened a hole in the wall and walked through it.

For the second time, he woke up to a human face staring at him. He hid in the plastic plants again. He didn’t even like the plastic plants, they felt like a mockery to him

First humans pollute the ocean with chemicals and plastic, and then, when they had fish, they refused to even use real plants, only the same things that were killing aquatic life. The human was Patton this time, looking at him with concern

“Hey there, lil’ guy, don’t be scared, it’s just me. I brought food! I don’t really know what you eat, so it’s just fish food, but I hope you like it! I know you probably don’t understand me but I do want you to be safe”

Janus held back a scoff, still staring at the human as they sprinkled something vaguely food-smelling into the water and gently encouraged him to eat up. He hesitantly grabbed one of the flakes and took a bite, only to drop it in disgust

How could anyone ever eat that? He swam away from the foul attempt at food and crouched in the plants, hiding again. His brain started wandering to his underwater friends.

Remus was a ‘regular-sized’ octopus mer, and absolutely loved grabbing him from behind to freak him out, either with his tentacles or hands

Virgil was a shadow mer, meaning he had magic. He could conjure storms sometimes, only in highly emotional moments and when doing spells, and he could change his size. He couldn’t really get smaller than Remus, but he could get bigger, about 60 ft tall. When he was that large, Janus was barely noticeable against him, and could rest on the very tip of his finger, although Virgil always proclaimed that was ‘too dangerous’ because he was too small to be noticed and could get hurt

In such cases, Remus would hold him and tell Virgil what he was saying, the size difference making him too quiet to be heard by the giant mer. Janus definitely preferred him at normal size, and he was pretty sure that Virgil preferred it as well.

Janus was pretty sure that, if Virgil found out who stuffed him in the bottle, the mer who condemned him to this fate of glass walls and fake food would get what was coming to them. Remus would likely try to strangle them and Virgil would likely strike them with lightning or such.

Patton sighed at his lack of co-operation as the food-flakes sank to the bottom of the water. They went to the other room, where human no.2 was sat down. Janus could only hope their notes would never spread

--

Roman didn’t expect to see a merperson in real life. He thought such only existed in the movies Patton and Logan would watch together, and even then, those mermaids were human-sized. He was both upset and overjoyed when Patton walked into the house with a borrower-sized fish person

On one hand, the mystical creature he was so fascinated by was *his size*, but on the other, they had been captured by a human; a fate worse than death. They were pulling the same trick that he was taught, playing dumb, faking that they weren’t sentient

He could admire that they could keep up the act even with the humans staring at them all afternoon. It was nightfall, and after he had checked that the humans were either sleeping or otherwise preoccupied, he ran towards the mer

They talked for a while, Deceit (very rudely) refusing to give over their name, before they both went to get some sleep. Roman borrowed some bread crumbs before that, though, and watched his new friend float in the water from a small hole in the wall

It had been so long since he had had anyone to talk to, and now there was someone trapped behind glass, but still seeming to want to be his friend. They had actively told him to come back to see them. Sure it was more ‘I’m gonna withhold information if you don’t talk to me’ but it still counted

Patton, immediately upon waking, went to Deceit again, giving them fish flakes. Roman grimaced in sympathy, he had tried those before, they didn’t taste that nice. Logan was in the other room writing notes and Roman turned his attention to him

There were pages upon pages of notes, which Roman didn’t think was a particularly good thing, especially given Deceit’s obvious reluctance to give important information to the humans. Both humans would be leaving to go to ‘work’ soon enough, leaving Roman and Deceit in the house alone.

With the cat, unfortunately, but that beast was being kept in Patton’s room as long as Deceit was in the house. That was another good thing that came from their arrival; he could borrow without getting attacked. About an hour later, both humans had left the house, and Roman set out on a quest to Logan’s room, where the notebook was being stored.

There were a few things he could do to destroy the notes if he wanted, but he eyed the inkpots on the shelf that his exit lead out to and grinned to himself. The notebook was in perfect range to get ‘lightly splattered’ with a full pot of dark blue ink

The notebook was closed, so if he was to do it right at that moment, the ink would spread over all the pages and dry them permanently closed before Logan got home. And, the best part was, that it would look like an accident. It would seem like Logan’s fault for leaving such valuable notes under a shelf full of ink. He pried the inkpot open and tipped it over, watching it cover the galaxy patterned notebook, before running back into the tunnel system he lived in, and navigating to the living room, back to the shelf where he had talked to Deceit the night before

They immediately swam to the surface to greet him, leaning on the edge of the tank

“Hello, Roman. Could you just not get enough of me? You saw me just last night” They had a teasing grin on their face as their tail swished through the water

“No, I just thought you should know that Logan no longer has any of his notes on you, courtesy of yours truly” He bowed, before looking back up and grinning. Deceit looked shocked, which was quite a change from the relaxed, calm façade they usually wore

“Really? How’d you manage it? I assume the humans might have a hard time figuring out what happened if you were too over-the-top, but I somehow doubt you were, as dramatic as you appear to be” They tapped their chin in thought, tail swishing in the water behind them

“I just staged a small ‘accident’ involving an entire pot of ink and his notebook” He grinned back, sitting down

“Weren’t you worried about the humans coming back and finding you before the ‘accident’ was done?” They were seeming concerned for him, as they leaned closer

“No, they’re gonna be gone for a few hours yet, and we have the house to ourselves. Now, do you want some better food than those fish flakes?” Deceit nodded, looking down at the fallen flakes distastefully

“Oh, absolutely, but first, why don’t we just talk for a while?” They started floating lazily, looking like they were checking their nails

“Sure! But what should we talk about?” he wasn’t very used to being able to talk to people, he had moved out from his parents home ten years prior and hadn’t met any borrowers since. Deceit was a surprise he had ever seen one, even if they weren’t exactly a borrower

“Anything, say… what do you do in your day to day life?”

Roman proceeded to explain the life of a borrower, and explaining how risky it could be and times he had nearly gotten caught. He started explaining how the cat made it doubly dangerous, to which Deceit winced in sympathy, before the sound of the door cut him off and he had to run and hide.

He forced his breathing to shallow out for the second time as Deceit dropped back into the tank with an audible splash. Roman’s heart dropped. The human had probably heard that and would probably start investigating why Deceit was trying to get out of their tank, leading to Romans’ discovery

Luckily, that’s not what happened, instead Patton, as he was the one who walked in, just walked over to the fish tank and sat down, leaving Roman to fret about the possibility that the human may be able to see him. This wasn’t like the night before, when it was dark and his own silhouette would be nearly indiscernible from the picture frame he was hidden behind

Patton may very well notice him if he stayed there any longer. But... he could also get noticed if he moved. He felt tears well up in his eyes and blinked them back. He hesitantly peaked over to Deceit’s tank, seeing them hiding again. At least they had that in common.

The human sat there for too long, forcing Roman to stay still as the figurines on the shelves. It was maybe half an hour later when Roman was able to move again, immediately dropping to his knees and crying. Deceit swam up to the top of the water again

“Roman, are you okay?” they whispered, eyes flickering to the open door that the human had gone through. Roman shook his head, trying to steady his breathing out as it was getting harder to do so. Suddenly he felt himself get splashed with cold water, and snapped out of his dilemma. Deceit was staring at him, looking concerned

“Roman, get a hold of yourself. I can’t have you dying of stress on me, okay? I-I think you may have to leave for now, just until tonight, it’s too dangerous” They quickly went back to their relaxed, ‘don’t care’ attitude “And, I can’t loose my one source of entertainment whilst I’m stuck here, of course. That’s the only reason,”

Roman nodded emptily, waving slightly before opening the entrance to the wall. Once he was out of the open, he slumped against the wall, and started crying again. He could hear the human walk back in a few minutes later, muttering something about a storm outside and sounding confused

Roman didn’t know why he was talking about a storm, their little device in the kitchen was saying that it was supposed to be sunny that day, and for the rest of the week. Storms weren’t mentioned. Just as he thought that, a clap of thunder sounded. Roman wondered what that was about, the humans’ device was almost never wrong.

He walked back to his home, finding it was the same lonely, depressing place he had left it. He had tried to make it homey, but he didn’t have many materials at his disposal. He had borrowed some lost fairy lights, and strung them up in his home, and the sections of the wall surrounding it, but they didn’t do much other than adding a dim glow to the dark walls. He had borrowed some paper and coloured pencil lead, and hung some drawings up next to his bed for a splash of colour, but they got irritating after a while

He sighed, listening through the wall to see if the humans were close. Patton was probably still with Deceit, and he couldn’t really imagine how they must be feeling, getting so closely observed by a human.

He slumped down on his bed, a single small blanket he had managed to sneak into his home, and started thinking. Would the humans start looking for tiny non-mers? Would they try and find him? What if Deceit finally cracked and told them everything, including Roman’s existence?

He shook his head, Deceit wouldn’t do that to him. He started drawing, first a snake, then a mer-person that looked suspiciously like Deceit. The picture was hung above his bed, and he laid down and stared up at it

--

Virgil was Furious. Janus had not come back from his swim around the reef all night, which, naturally, made him worry. Then, a mid-size mer came back into the reef, clutching at their eye. Virgil recognised them as having only moved nearby a week before, so they were immediately a suspect

Everyone else already knew not to mess with Remus or Janus. He swam over to them, feigning concern for their injured eye

“What happened? Are you okay?” Remus was trailing after him, looking ready to strangle them if necessary

“Some stupid little betta-mer tried scratching my eye out. Got ‘em back though”

They seemed way too smug for having done something to someone not even a tenth of their size

“Oh, and how, pray tell, did you do that exactly?” He subtly started growing his body about an inch every few seconds, pretending to be interested and supportive of whatever they had done

“Stuffed ‘em into a bottle and let ‘em float to shore. Probably got washed onto the beach with last night’s storm, eh?” They were laughing. They were laughing about hurting Janus. He felt a low growl build in his throat as Remus snuck behind them and restrained them. Virgil grew to full size, voice distorting

“You shouldn’t have admitted to that. You hurt my friend, and now I’m gonna hurt you,” He grabbed them as Remus let go of them.

They left with a few bruises and possible broken bones, and Virgil was confident that they wouldn’t have the audacity to come back. He cried for a while, before surfacing slightly at nightfall. There were no humans on the beach, luckily, but there also weren’t any signs of Janus.

A quick spell showed that he was there for a few hours at least, earlier that morning. Luckily in a rather deserted portion of the beach, but he wasn’t there anymore, which meant that he had been found. Virgil reported back to Remus, who was looking around underwater

“Nothing?” they both shook their heads, and Virgil went back down to normal size, sitting on the sand

“What if we never find him? What if- what if humans are torturing him right now and we won’t be able to help because they’re on land and we’re too big to be transported unnoticed-” Remus cut him off, wrapping a tentacle around his mouth

“It’s only been a few hours, he can’t be too far” Virgil pried the tentacle from his mouth

“Humans have him, Re, what are we meant to do?”

Remus thought for a moment “Do you know any spells that can show if someone has been near someone and how recently? Would that work?”

Virgil thought on that “yeah… yeah that might work”

The next morning, a giant Virgil went close to the surface, but far away from the beach itself. He started muttering the spell, Remus perched on his shoulder, and there was a small purple glow as a storm started above him, travelling to where dozens of humans were previously enjoying the sun and warm weather. He blacked out for most of the next hour, whilst the storm was still going on, but Remus filled him in on the fact that there was a lot of lightning and that his eyes were glowing a neon purple.

And that he looked powerful, but that was practically a given for a shadow mer. Once the storm was done, humans started flooding the beach again, and Virgil discreetly watched from a distance, at normal size. He helplessly scanned the beach and all the people on it, but none of them were glowing.

He stayed there for a few more hours, him and Remus looking around. A flash of light caught his eye in a mostly empty portion of the beach. He turned towards it to see one singular human looking around where Janus was presumably found. Based on how they were glowing, they were likely looking for more tiny mers.

They had been close to Janus sometime in the past three hours, and here they were snooping around to try find more tiny mer. Virgil, after pointing the specific human out to Remus, grew to full size and swam closer to them, staying carefully under the waves, before he was sure that this human was the only one that could see him

Once he was sure, he started rising, baring his teeth at the human, who was attempting to back away and instead tripped on a couple of rocks on those stupid two legs they walked on

“Where. Is. He?!” He demanded, slamming his hands down on the beach next to the fallen human as Remus crawled on the beach in a similar fashion, scowling

The human stared and stammered a few moments before speaking “I- who?”

Virgil growled, leaning closer “I think you know exactly who I mean, human. I know you have him”

They paled, starting to sit up “He- I don’t know what you are talking about” Remus crawled to behind them and restrained them, starting to drag them into the ocean

They struggled, eyes going wide and panicked. Virgil followed the two under the waves and seized hold of the human, concentrating his magic into their body. Their body accepted the magic, desperate to not drown, which meant the human was now Virgil’s and would have to do everything told of them. Virgil wasn’t very comfortable using such types of magic, but he would use any means necessary to bring Janus back

“I shall ask you one more time, where is he?”

They held their mouth closed with one hand and used the other to hold wire frames on their face. Remus used a tentacle to try and pry away the hand, but failed. He turned to Virgil

“Why don’t we take their breathing for a few seconds, get them really scared?”

“That could work, but if they drown then what are we gonna do? They’re our only lead on him, Re”

Remus grinned “That’s the thing, they have absolutely no reason to withhold this information from us unless they’re protecting another human. We have someone else to threaten if this one doesn’t co-operate”

The human’s eyes widened at that “Okay- I’ll talk. My roommate found your friend on the beach in a bottle and brought him back to help get him out, but I requested that we keep him in our home as I wished to study him”

Virgil growled “What is your name, human?”

The name fell out without the human meaning for it to it seemed “Logan. I am Logan”

Virgil put on a sickly-sweet smile “Well, Logan, I have a question for you”

Logan nodded, albeit hesitantly

“What made you think you were allowed to do that?”

“Wh-what?”

“You heard me, what made you think that you could ‘keep’ someone, simply for your own curiosity? What made you think that was an okay thing to do?”

The human struggled to keep their mouth closed, but Virgil glared and barked out an order to speak, squeezing their torso slightly.

They shook and explained that they were simply too curious and how they ‘had never seen a tiny person before, let alone one that was half fish’ and how Janus was ‘an important discovery for the scientific community’

Remus looked seconds away from wrapping his tentacles around their neck and squeezing until the life left their body. Virgil was doing the same

“Do you really think that justifies keeping someone captive, or are you just spouting any excuses you think may save you?” He released his grip on them, letting them float in the water. They, smartly, didn’t attempt to swim away, though Virgil did catch them looking upwards a few times

They stammered for a few moments before staying silent. Virgil could feel a small section of their emotions and rage bubbled inside him again. Guilt was on the forefront, but fear was still present. Virgil didn’t think they had the right to feel guilty, simply because someone had called them out

Virgil doubted that they would feel as guilty as they did had he not threatened them. Virgil was snapped out of his silent anger by thunder overhead and realised that he may not have regulated his anger very well

Remus had perched himself on Virgil’s shoulder at some point and the human was staring at him. Virgil glared back, baring his teeth at them. They flinched, and Virgil made sure that he didn’t feel guilty; this was the person who had taken his friend, after all

He grabbed the human once again, going up towards the surface, and depositing them on the now-empty beach. He didn’t really understand why humans didn’t enjoy storms, but he was certainly thankful for that little oddity. Virgil smirked down at them

“Here is how this is gonna work, okay? I will make me and Remus here look human, and you will take us to your home, we will collect Janus and you will tell no one that you saw us, or of our existence, you understand? If you are cooperative, I might consider relinquishing control of your soul. If not, then, well, pray you’ll never have to find out what I can do” He left the threat open to interpretation, hiding the fact that he didn’t actually have a threat in mind

They shuddered nonetheless, although did ask a question

“Am I allowed to tell my roommate? This would be rather hard to explain otherwise” They smoothed out the fabric dangling from their neck, which was now extremely soaked, just like the rest of them

Virgil and Remus looked at each other, before turning their attention back to the human

“You may tell your roommate and no one else. I suggest you start getting your explanation ready in your mind” He added a bit of command to his order of only telling the roommate. He didn’t need his secrets exposed to the whole world.

As an afterthought, he added “And I strongly suggest you don’t let your roommate share what you tell them. I wouldn’t take very kindly to that, as you might possibly guess. And, I don’t think that would be very good for you. If I relinquish control, I can seize it right back if you do the wrong thing, you know” He added force into his words, emphasizing his point

Logan nodded, not making eye contact.

Virgil put his hand to his shoulder and let Remus climb onto it, before channelling magic into his friend and changing his tentacles into a pair of human legs. He then did the same to himself, shrinking down and scowling at the feeling of two legs and the fleshy, soft texture of them.

Once Virgil gave the word, Logan started leading them towards their house

--

Logan didn’t enjoy the merfolk's company very much. First, they threaten him, and then they drag him underwater. He could admit that it was partially his fault for not giving them the information they wanted, but he didn’t want them to hurt Patton.

When he got dragged underwater, his body and mind went into a state of panic, which he was pretty sure was their plan because then he had no choice but to accept the magic that was offered if he wanted to survive. Even though he could breathe after that, his chest was tight and it was extremely difficult to disobey the giant mer. He had to physically restrain himself from answering their questions right away, but that seemed to just annoy them.

The octopus mer tried ripping his hand away from his mouth, but Logan remained stubborn. They suggested taking away his ability to breathe underwater, and Logan tensed slightly, until the giant mer denied that idea. That was good, they hadn’t figured out that he wasn’t the only human involved.

Until they did. Logan would like it to be clear that he did not forfeit information because he feared they would realise that he was disposable to them, but because he was scared that they would hurt Patton. They clearly had some way of finding out who had seen their friend, if the way they singled him out was any indication.

He stuttered out an explanation, making it clear that he was to blame, not Patton. Patton had only wanted to help, after all. They growled at him, forcing him to share his name against his will. He really didn’t like the feeling of his body obeying to an outside force instead of his own mind. He stared up at them, as they now showed a terrifying sharp-toothed, very obviously fake, grin

“Well, Logan” They said his name in a sort of mockery, and the feeling in his chest tightened, almost suffocating. He had a feeling it was their magic keeping him in check. “I have a question for you”

He nodded, swallowing thickly

“What made you think you were allowed to do that?”

“Wh-what?” He didn’t expect that, more on the lines of ‘how would you like to die?’ but, then again, they probably wouldn’t be able to find their friend without him alive, unless they waited for Patton to show up, and they already had control over Logan.

“You heard me, what made you think that you could ‘keep’ someone, simply for your own curiosity? What made you think that was an okay thing to do?” He tried to keep his mouth closed, without a direct order to answer, it was a lot easier, until the giant ordered him with a quick squeeze of his torso

Logan started nervously rambling, not really listening to what he was saying, but needing to make an excuse. No matter what he said, the mers seemed to get angrier. The octopus mer seemed quiet in a way that made Logan think that they may have been planning a murder

The giant mer let go of him, but he didn’t swim away. He doubted that they would very much like him escaping

“Do you really think that justifies keeping someone captive, or are you just spouting any excuses you think may save you?” Logan looked down and the mers stared at him for a few seconds

The giant one was looking extremely furious, eyes glowing and mouth twisted into a snarl. The octopus mer floated up and latched onto their shoulder as thunder boomed overhead, above the waves. The giant snapped out of their seeming trance, and glared at him. Logan flinched, trying not to think about all the things they could do to him

They grabbed him, taking him to shore and ordering him to take them to his and Patton’s home. He made sure he was allowed to tell his friend, but he was rather unsettled by the threats they used against him. While his main goal was to make sure Patton was safe from them, he would very much also enjoy getting rid of the magic swirling around his soul and forcing him to do things

Once they told him to start walking, he could not stop until they commanded him to, which they did just about halfway through the journey.

“Tell me, human” They spat the word, but it was better than the tight, suffocating feeling in his chest when they used his name. He shuddered “Do you regret your actions. Before you get any ideas, I now command that you can’t lie to me”

Logan looked at them, finding them only marginally less intimidating now that they were a reasonable height

“I- I really do..” he stuttered, not looking at them. The octopus mer seemed quiet, which for some reason seemed weird.

Logan got close to the house and started unlocking the door, hearing Sock’s insistent meowing from Patton’s bedroom window. He tuned that out in his mind, not regarding it as important until the octopus mer grabbed his arm

“Don’t tell me that’s what I think it is” They warned, and Logan stayed silent for a few moments

“It’s a cat...”

They both stared at him with varying degrees of anger

“You have a cat, and you have been keeping a tiny mer in the same house?! Just when I thought you couldn’t get any worse” The, previously giant, mer glared at him and then at the white-footed cat in the window, baring sharp teeth at the creature

Logan just lead them into his house, immediately getting greeted by Patton, who seemed worried about his absolutely soaking wet clothes and self, before noticing the two behind him

“Oh, who are they?”

“Patton, may I talk to you in private?” He cast a nervous glance to the mers, who were both glaring at the humans with malice

The octopus mer was the one who gave permission

“Oh, go ahead, just show us where he is, and then knock yourself out. Preferably not metaphorically” Logan pointed them to where the tiny mer’s tank was located, shaking slightly and trying to smooth out his wet clothes

“Logan, who are they?” Patton sounded a little more forceful, and Logan cast a nervous glance to the doorway

“Patton- their friend- we- we took their friend, Patton- they want revenge and they- they did something to me, Pat, I’m scared” He was whispering and he wrapped his arms around himself like a frightened child. Patton put a hand on his arm and looked at him with a concerned expression

“What did they do to you?” Patton’s voice was soft and full of concern, a nice contrast to the harsh words and tone used by the mers. Logan shook his head, he didn’t even know where to begin. The fact that they gained possession of his soul? The fact that they were threatening to kill him? The fact that they could make him do anything and he couldn’t do anything about it

His roommate pulled him in for a hug, and Logan, for once, didn’t pull away. They could hear the mers in the other room conversing, sounding different, not threatening at all. Just sounding like worried friends. He couldn’t hear their words. He looked down.

In the mers minds, he had probably deserved everything they did to him; he had stolen their friend away from them, and had tried to keep information on his wrongdoings away from them

-

Janus had been floating for a while after Roman left. It was terribly boring with no borrower to talk to. Patton had been in and out of the room holding his tank, and in between human visits, he would catch glimpses of a figure wearing a red cloak, running along ceiling beams and going in and out of tunnels in the walls.

Janus didn’t call attention to that, he understood Roman’s need for secrecy. When the second human, ‘Logan’, finally arrived back at the house, there were other people with them. Janus froze, until he heard a familiar voice and two familiar faces walked through the door

They immediately ran over to him and fretting

“Oh, thank the stars you’re okay, I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t” Virgil leant down to look at him in the tank

Janus smiled, before frowning

“You both have legs”

Remus grinned “Don’t worry Jan, my beautiful tentacles will be back the minute we get back to the sea”

“How did you guys even find me?”

“We used a sort-of tracking spell, to see which had been near you and how recently, and we used some... persuasion to get Logan to bring us here” Virgil explained, wringing his hands anxiously. Janus raised an eyebrow

“What exactly do you mean by persuasion? Last I checked, you could barely talk to a person to help you with something, let alone persuading anyone of anything” He teased, splashing him

Virgil winced “...You know that dark magic I was researching the other week?”

“You didn’t”

“He did!” Remus nodded enthusiastically

Virgil put his hands up, face going red “I know, and I’m not proud of it but I did what I had to do to get you home. They wouldn’t give us any information, and what was I gonna do? Politely reason with a human for however long it would take, whilst you could’ve been, I don’t know, tortured or something?”

Janus nodded, he could agree with that. If he had the power to help one of the other two whilst they were in trouble, he would use any means necessary to get them back

Patton walked in with an obviously forced smile “Well, I think it’s time you should leave. I’m sure you’ll want to go back to your homes, and, uh, stuff” They seemed in a hurry to get the mers out, likely nervous that what horrible thing happened to Logan would happen to them too

Virgil gathered some the water surrounding Janus into an orb and hovered him above his hand. Janus floated idly, as his friends and him walked out towards the ocean

Janus’ thoughts started to wander to the borrower who still didn’t, and never would, know his name. His mood got a little more sombre at that. The miniature human would still have to scavenge for food in a human house. Janus had achieved his own happy ending, but would Roman?

They got under the water and Janus allowed himself to swim freely through the reef with his family.

A few months later, a human woke up without the tight feeling he had grown used to being in his chest, and felt free for the first time since that day, whilst a borrower looked mournfully at the ocean through a window.

Everything was back to normal.

~~~~~

“Yes?”

Logan was a distinguished man. He worked with science, was accomplished in that he has provided self-sustaining light for winter time work hours. Hell he’s on the edge of a breakthrough in studying how to mimic the constant heat a dragon scale gives off, even when detached from the body.

He was not, however, a distinguished gay. And that meant the smooth voice combined with the pretty mismatching brown and yellow eyes and the gorgeous scales covering half a face resulted in Logan letting out an undignified squeak, Remus snickering from where he was hanging on his arm.

“Hello pretty witch man, I’m Remus, and this is my very gay-for-you boyfriend, Logan! We wanted to ask about your powers.”

The witch raised an eyebrow, looking between them before stepping aside with an amused smile, clearly inviting them inside.

Logan was a little too busy trying to recover from his embarrassment to protest, he only needed a few answers and a demonstration of magic, surely nothing that would take long enough to be inside the little cottage the witch resided in.

“I’d hate for you to make yourselves comfortable, to what do I owe the discontent of your company?” he asked, voice like silk and settling the flustered hunch of Logan’s shoulders.

The witch’s words contradicted the relaxed nature of his posture and the pleased smile on his face, but Logan guessed there was an explanation behind that.

“I’m a little confused by your phrasing mixed with your body language, but I’ve come here because my boyfriend-” 

“and Logan too! You’re just as curious,” Remus interrupted, pinching Logan’s cheek and forcing his head to move before Logan batted his hand away in fond irritation.

“Yes, I am also curious, but let me finish, love. We’ve come because we are curious about your rumored magical ability. I find myself skeptical, but Remus believes you genuinely possess something as arbitrary as magic.”

The witch hummed at Logan’s explanation, moving to sit on a chair, crossing his ankles and settling his hands in his lap, one on top of the other and palms up.

“I haven’t been cursed to speak in opposites, I have figured out years ago how to reverse it,” he spoke, watching them with clear curiosity.

Logan felt a blush creeping up his neck at the attention, and he had to take a moment to compose himself.

“Forgive me if I find that hard to believe,” he says, hooking two fingers around Remus’ collar when he moved to mess with something that had caught his interest.

The witch’s smile turned amused, eyes going to Remus as he leaned against Logan’s hold, trying to at least get a closer look at whatever it was.

“I don’t understand the disbelief, so I’m offended. You don’t want proof, no?” he asks, huffing a small laugh through his nose when Remus managed to choke himself by tugging too hard against Logan’s grip on his shirt.

“Yes, proof would be preferred. And a few questions about the scale growth too, if you don’t mind,” Logan said, regarding Remus with a fond smile when he eased back, rubbing at his throat as he eyes the shelf of plants with a pout.

“I can’t do a spell for you, something complicated that will take days to complete?”

Logan took a moment, making sure Remus was okay before he looked to the witch again with a grateful smile.

“That would be amenable, thank you.”

The witch nodded and stood from his seat, going over to the shelf of plants and stepping up on a stool to grab a jar of…

Logan wasn’t entirely sure what was in that jar, but it was liquid and had a soft blue glow.

“Don’t drink this, it’s extremely dangerous and you won’t like its effects,” he said, popping off the glass top to pour about a quarter of the jar’s contents into a cup.

Before Logan could grab the cup, Remus took it from the witches hand and downed the entire thing.

“Remus-” Logan started reaching out to snatch the cup only to pause when the blue glow started to encase his boyfriends body. He blinked and then a much smaller Remus was in the witch’s hand.

“Well, I was definitely expecting him to drink all of what I poured,” he said, lifting his hand to get a better look at the tiny Remus who seemed to be readjusting to his new size.

“Woah, I’m small! This is so cool, I should definitely freak Patton out, he’ll think I’m a mouse or something! A mastermind mouse out to make his life miserable!”

Logan heaved a fond sigh at his boyfriend’s excitement, shifting closer to get a better look himself.

“Yes, but he also might set out traps, dear, I don’t think either of us want you to be dead,” he pointed out, reaching out and plucking Remus from the witch’s hand, settling him in his own.

“Fascinating,” he muttered, watching his boyfriend as he struggled to stand on the uneven surface of Logan’s palm.

“I’m upset you think so, I would hate to bring out more once that wears off if you need more proof.”

Logan looked at the witch, ignoring Remus as he wiggled around in his hand.

“I think this is proof enough, honestly. Thank you, though. I’m very curious as to how this was managed though, what was in that liquid to accomplish the shrinking effect?”

Before the witch (Logan really needed to get his name) could answer, Remus spoke up excitedly.

“Logan! Logan you could swallow me whole. That’d be hot as hell, oh my God.”

The witch spluttered, then started laughing, a gloved hand reaching up to cover his mouth as he giggled.

Suddenly, all coherent thought was gone from Logan’s mind and judging by the sudden stillness in his hand, Remus wasn’t much better off.