A series of slice of life type fics where Jimmy is a borrower living with Grian and Joel in a college dorm.
Every fic in the Bad Boys Borrower College AU in chronological order! Will be updated with every new fic posted.
First Meetings Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | AO3 - How Jimmy met Grian and Joel.
Plush | AO3 - It's been weeks since Jimmy has gotten any sleep and it's really starting to affect him. Grian and Joel notice and try to help.
A Sewn Surprise | AO3 - Grian and Joel try to teach themselves how to sew, in order to surprise Jimmy with some new clothes. But it isn't going well.
Studying | AO3 - Grian is having trouble studying so Joel suggests Grian have Jimmy around to help him out.
Betwixt | AO3 - During one of their weekly movie nights, Joel finds a movie about borrowers called The Secret World of Arrietty. They decide to watch it.
Warmth | AO3 - Jimmy wants to go to class with Grian and Joel.
Quaff | AO3 - Grian and Joel decide to celebrate their first semester ending by drinking some beer. Jimmy has some questions.
Lost | AO3 - Skizz gets lost within the walls of the dorm building.
Coveted | AO3 - With spring break approaching and Grian and Joel packing, Jimmy decides now is a good time to head back into the walls to prepare for the following weeks alone. He is stopped by Grian and Joel.
Sweet Tooth | AO3 - Joel and Jimmy arrive at Joel's home and Jimmy tries something sweet for the first time.
Stuck | Epilogue | AO3 - It's the second day of spring break and Jimmy is left alone for a bit as Joel and his parents go to the store. As Jimmy explores more of Joel's room he finds something that he wished he hadn't...and in the worst way possible.
Eepy | AO3 - Joel and Jimmy get back from break. Grian is there waiting for them, wanting to make up for his two weeks without seeing Jimmy.
Chocolate Square | AO3 - Joel lets Grian know about Jimmy's sweet tooth by showing him and Jimmy eats his chocolate a bit too fast.
Childhood Friends | AO3 - Jimmy always thought it was weird how close Grian and Joel were despite only meeting a month before he met them. Turns out, Jimmy got the origins of their first meeting wrong.
Birthdays | AO3 - Jimmy has never celebrated his birthday before. Grian and Joel change that.
Not Just a Drunken Dream | AO3 - Jimmy goes to class with Joel and Grian, but as the humans are running late, they are a bit less careful and Jimmy ends up on the floor of the busy hallway.
Fortunately, he is found and picked up before he can be crushed.
Unfortunately, it wasn't by Grian or Joel.
Abandoned and Found | AO3 - Skizz is ten years old with a father who hates him. One day, his father tricks him and leaves him to be found and caught by the human kid. It's a death sentence, but thankfully, Impulse is a lot kinder than Skizz had been anticipating.
Fault Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | AO3 - It's been two days since the incident where Jimmy fell out of Joel's pocket and Joel is completely blaming himself for what happened. When Tango wants to hang out with Jimmy, Joel is just barely containing his anger and jealousy on top of everything else.
Comfort From the Storm | AO3 - Jimmy has learned to love the annual thunder storm the college gets. Tango, on the other hand, is terrified of storms. Jimmy decides to do something about that.
All the Snacks | AO3 - Tango learns that Jimmy hasn't tried a lot of things when it comes to food. So Tango decides to change that.
Lost Doll | AO3 - Jimmy regretted going to the Halloween party with Grian and Joel. As he insists on getting back to their dorm on his own, he gets found and mistaken for a doll.
Coltland Gentry G/t au where not only does Ryland get hit with the amnesia drug for threatening to sabotage the mission, but they also shrink him to be extra safe.
Colt and Court find out about Ryland being forced to go and when demanding they release Ryland doesn't go to plan, they instead offer to go with him instead. It takes some convincing, but Stratt eventually lets them go (She doesn't really have a choice).
Cut to Ryland waking up on the Hail Mary, tiny and not knowing who he is or the two giants who woke up days before him. He's freaking out, for obvious reasons. Colt and Court are also freaking out because they knew about his size but not about the amnesia, and now they have to convince Ryland to trust them. Which is easier said than done with the size difference involved.
Summary: Ryland and Colt Grace are borrowers, though Colt is really the only one who does the actual borrowing. A few weeks into living in their new home, Colt convinces Ryland to come with him for a quick borrowing trip.
But then Colt's string snapped as he was climbing.
Ryland heard the crack of bones breaking.
And then the human came home.
Warnings: Injury, broken bones, fear, and non-consensual touching/grabbing
Word Count: 5201
Part 1 | Part 2 | AO3 Link
This chapter is probably my favorite so far! It's also the longest so far because I had a lot of fun writing it lol. The prompt I used for this chapter was handout! I hope you guys enjoy!
Ryland hadn’t really meant to fall asleep but after the amount of stress he had been in the entire day, it was only natural that his body powered-down. He only came too when the sound of the door opening jolted him awake. His head flew up from where it laid on Colt’s bed and his back protested slightly as he sat up straight. The position hadn’t been the most comfortable but that just went to show how tired he had really been.
He looked at Colt first, still asleep, before he looked over toward the door. Tom had entered the room again and his clothes were different this time. Before, he had been wearing a rather nice looking jacket over a white shirt with some black slacks. Now, he was wearing what appeared to be silk pajama bottoms and not much else.
Ryland felt his cheeks heat up as he realized this, turning away with a slight cough. He could hear Tom chuckling as he walked further into the room and Ryland knew he was doing this on purpose.
He jolted at a sudden thud and turned back around to see that Tom had fallen back into his chair, staring at Ryland almost lazily, though his eyes were a bit too alert for that. “Took a little nap?” Tom asked with a teasing smirk. Ryland ignored him, rubbing at his eyes and stretching his back a bit.
“How long was I out?” He asked instead of answering Tom’s question. Tom shrugged.
“Not sure when you fell asleep but I’ve been gone for about three hours. It’s six right now.” Tom answered and Ryland nodded. He’d fallen asleep pretty fast after Tom had left. At least it hadn’t been too long. Though it seemed like he hadn’t missed much. He glanced back over at Colt. Everything was still the same. Still stable, but still asleep. Ryland had to wonder just how long a ‘while’ was.
He felt a sudden warm gust of air ruffle through his hair and he turned around, only to yelp in surprise as Tom’s face was right there. He had moved, silently somehow, so that his head was resting in his arms on the table. He wasn’t close enough that Ryland could reach out and touch him but he was definitely closer.
Tom’s eyes were moving up and down his body again and Ryland tried not to react to the look, though it was making him pretty uncomfortable. Why did the human keep doing that? He looked away, hoping that might dissuade Tom from his staring. But it ended up backfiring on him because he didn’t see Tom’s hand move toward him until it was too late.
A finger, as thick as his entire body, poked him in the side and Ryland squealed in surprise, flinching back. His head whipped over towards Tom again, though it was almost hard to see his face with his hand now so close. The finger, unfortunately, didn’t retreat and instead was joined by a thumb as both digits pressed against him. Tom’s pointer finger on his back and his thumb pressed firmly against his chest. He tried pushing the offending appendage away but, of course, it was no use.
Ryland was sure Tom could feel how fast his heart was beating. Being so helpless like this, unable to get away, was terrifying.
“T-Tom-” Ryland cut himself off to yelp as Tom’s fingers trailed down, now on his stomach. Ryland felt frozen in place. Why was Tom doing this?
“When was the last time you ate?” Tom asked and, for a moment, Ryland’s brain blanked.
“W-What?” He stuttered out and Tom sighed, rolling his eyes.
“You know, eating? When was the last time you did that? I can literally feel your stomach eating itself.” Tom said, pressing his thumb ever so slightly more into his stomach to show his point. Ryland’s breath hitched.
“I, uh…this-this morning?” Ryland had to think about that for a moment. So much had happened today already, he almost forgot that he and Colt had shared a quick meal before his brother had convinced him to come borrowing with him. “This morning.” He said again, more confident.
“Hmm, well we should probably fix that then.” Tom said and then, the fingers around his middle were joined by the rest of Tom’s hand as it wrapped around him and lifted him up. Ryland’s eyes went wide as his stomach somersaulted at the sudden movement.
“Wait! Wait, I don’t-”
“Your brother will be fine.” Tom said, cutting him off and somehow reading his mind. Ryland blinked, body tense and frozen as Tom lifted him up to eye level. “You can leave him for two seconds, he’s not gonna wake up for a while. Meanwhile, you need something to eat.” The hand he was in dropped a bit lower, to chest level, as Tom started out of the room.
“I’m really fine, seriously.” Ryland said, squirming a little in the grip, hoping to convince Tom to take him back. Being away from Colt right now was making the anxiety in his chest come back. Although, that could also just be from this entire situation, who really knew at this point?
Tom ignored him and instead walked the familiar short distance back into the kitchen. Ryland felt another somersault in his stomach as Tom lowered his hand down to the counter but he was very happy when he was released from Tom’s grip. He stumbled slightly as he made contact with solid ground but managed to not fall over. He let out a small sigh of relief.
Tom started moving around the kitchen, looking through the cabinets and fridge for something to eat. Ryland shifted on his feet, his nerves high. “Can you not do that again?” He surprised himself by saying. Tom’s eyes snapped over to him and Ryland tensed.
Tom raised an eyebrow. “Do what again?” He asked like he had no idea what had Ryland so tense. He had to know though, right?
“The…the touching? And grabbing?” Ryland clarified.
Tom blinked, letting out a small hum. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” Tom asked.
It was Ryland’s turn to be caught off guard. He rubbed at his chest a bit but not because it hurt. The phantom feeling of touch just hadn’t gone away yet. “No, I’m fine.” Which was true, if you didn’t account for the years off his life the entire thing took from him. But physically, he was okay.
“Oh, good.” Tom grinned and leaned against the counter, towering over Ryland. “You had me scared for a second there, Ry-Ry.” Okay, the nickname was better than sweetheart at the very least. It was actually close to what Colt called him, funny enough.
“Right, but it was still…” Ryland trailed off, trying to find the words. Uncomfortable? Terrifying? Dehumanizing? All of the above? Ryland sighed. “It was…a lot. Too much.” Ryland wrapped his arms around himself, trying not to think too hard about it.
Tom was silent for a long moment, enough time for Ryland to be worried, but then he spoke. “I guess I did let my curiosity get the best of me.” His words were a bit low, almost like he was mumbling but not quite. “But also, I can’t keep my hands totally off of you.”
“What? Why not?” Ryland asked, and okay, his body was starting to hurt from how much he was tensing up. It couldn’t be helped though, being in the presence of a human. And one Ryland still didn’t understand. It really seemed like Tom was all over the place and that was just confusing.
“Well, how else would you get around?” Tom asked and Ryland wanted to argue, he really did. He was a borrower, after all, and borrowers found ways to get around that humans would never even think of. They had to, really.
But Ryland stayed home, within the walls, a lot. He still didn’t know the layout of Tom’s home and the very idea of climbing back up that string, after what happened to Colt, kept him from ever wanting to do that again. He felt helpless, admitting it to himself, but he wasn’t in any sort of state to be traversing Tom’s place by himself.
And Colt was even less so.
It seemed Tom had taken his long silence as an answer. “See. It really can’t be helped.” Tom said with a shrug and Ryland frowned. No, it definitely could be helped in some aspects at least.
“How about…a compromise?” Ryland suggested tentatively. Tom raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t say anything. Ryland took that as a sign to continue. “The…uh, holding can’t really be helped, yeah. But, maybe you could…ask? Beforehand?” It seemed like a reasonable request. It would still be weird but it might help the whole thing be less terrifying if he knew it was coming.
Tom seemed a bit taken aback by Ryland’s suggestion, which was very confusing. Seriously, what the heck was with this human in particular? But Tom hummed, his fingers tapping against the counter not too far away from where Ryland stood. “...Alright. I can work with that.” Tom said and Ryland let out a small relieved sigh.
“Thank you.” Ryland said and watched as Tom smiled a bit before turning and going back to looking in his fridge.
It took another minute of rummaging but Tom finally produced a glass dish with tinfoil on top. He placed it on the counter, well away from Ryland thankfully, and then grabbed a sticky note off the fridge and scanned it over. He then reached over and turned the oven on with the press of a few buttons.
When Tom took the tin foil off the glass container, Ryland couldn’t help his curiosity as he stepped a bit closer to get a better look at it. It appeared to be a lot of veggies drizzled in some sort of sauce, with what looked like some sort of meat spread over the top. Whatever it was, it looked really good. “What is it?”
Tom smirked. “Smoked salmon, fresh from Alaska, with veggies drizzled in a balsamic glaze.” Tom opened the oven door and placed the food inside of it. “Alexa, set a timer for…” He trailed off and looked at the sticky note again. “25 minutes.”
“Timer set for 25 minutes.” Ryland jumped as a woman’s voice spoke up from…somewhere. He knew what an Alexa was, but it had still caught him off guard. He should have known that someone like Tom would have one though.
“It looks good.” Ryland said. It looked too good.
Tom grinned, once again leaning against the counter. He really seemed to like towering over Ryland. “It is. It has to be. I wouldn’t eat it otherwise.” Tom let out an exaggerated sigh. “I’d actually prefer something a little less lean but my dietician is being so strict right now.” He huffed as he complained but Ryland was a bit too confused to offer any sort of sympathies.
“Dietician?” Ryland asked out loud and Tom nodded.
“Yep, unfortunately, I wasn’t born with this perfect body.” He leaned back and motioned towards his abs, reminding Ryland that he was still very much naked from the waist up. Great, he hadn’t needed the reminder. “I had to work for it.”
Okay, so a dietician was someone who worked out the diet for you. Probably. That’s what Ryland summed up anyway. Ryland didn’t really understand diets but that was mostly because borrowers like him barely ate enough in the first place. He was sure the practice made a lot more sense for humans.
“Right.” Ryland said, trying hard not to stare directly where Tom was pointing.
Tom smirked, teasing. “You can look sweetheart, I don’t mind.”
“I’m good, thanks.” Ryland said, a bit higher pitched than he would have liked. He turned his head, placing a hand over his mouth, hoping it hid the red on his cheeks. Tom laughed, so he assumed he had failed.
“Have you ever had salmon?” Tom asked after settling down from his laughter.
Ryland really hadn’t been expecting the question. He let out a small hum. “Oh, uh, no.” Though Colt was very good at borrowing, even he couldn’t manage a borrow like that. Not to mention how the risk of something like that didn’t equal the reward.
“I think you’ll like it. You seem like a salmon kind of guy.” Tom said and Ryland wasn’t really sure what that meant. What about him screamed salmon?
But, right, that was the other thing. “Tom, really, I’m fine.” He didn’t really know how to feel about being offered food from a human but it was leaving a sour taste in his mouth. Just a bit. The salmon seemed expensive and obviously special if it was made specifically by Tom’s dietician. He didn’t want to take that from him either.
Tom raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t eaten since this morning. You wouldn’t take more than a bite anyway, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Ryland bit his lip. It wasn’t just about that. He just…didn’t want to take a handout. Besides, he had gone a lot longer without eating, he could hold off until he managed to get back into the walls.
Whenever that would be.
“I’m okay, really.” Ryland said, hoping Tom would just leave it at that. But he didn’t. Of course he didn’t.
“So…let me get this straight.” Tom seemed a bit ruffled, annoyance and confusion mixed onto his features. “You’re perfectly fine taking my food from under my nose, but not when I’m actively offering it to you?” He didn’t seem mad, exactly, just exasperated. “How does that make any sense?”
It took Ryland a second to process what Tom had just said, but when he did his eyes went wide. “W-Wait, how did you…?” Ryland trailed off as Tom rolled his eyes.
“You guys call yourselves borrowers. The name kind of speaks for itself.” Tom said and, okay, yeah, fair enough.
So Tom had already figured out they lived in the walls and took his food, and some other things, in order to survive. Cool, no big deal, that was totally fine.
It wasn’t, really, but at least Tom didn’t seem mad about it?
He…did bring up a rather valid point though. Why was Ryland willing to borrow food from Tom but not take that same food from Tom’s hands himself? Well, okay, not the same exact food, but it was the same principle of the matter. Why was it different?
Was it actually different?
“Wow, I really got you to think with that one, huh?” Tom spoke through his thoughts and Ryland looked up at him. He was wearing that smirk again, the one that bordered on the edge of teasing. Ryland sighed.
“...You make a good point.” Ryland admitted and Tom’s smirk turned into a full on grin.
“So you’ll accept my dinner invitation?” Tom asked.
“Yeah, alright.” Ryland said, giving in. “Thank you.” He added on, not wanting to forget his manners this time.
“Of course.” Tom said and then, as if on cue, the timer went off. Ryland blinked. Had it really been 25 minutes already?
“Well, that was fast.” Tom said what Ryland had been thinking. “Alexa, stop.” The alarm timer turned off and Tom grabbed some oven mitts before taking the food out of the oven. Ryland could see the steam coming off of it and decided to not move any closer toward the very hot dish. Tom turned the oven off and threw the oven mitts onto the counter, toward the opposite end of where Ryland was standing.
“It’s gotta cool for a bit.” Tom said and Ryland nodded, having already figured that out. “So, how long have you been living here?” Tom asked, so suddenly that Ryland felt startled by the question.
“Oh, uh…” Ryland bit his lip. He still wasn’t used to this. Talking to a human, telling him things about them. But Tom already knew the most important bits, had worked it all out himself already just based on their species name, so it really shouldn’t be difficult for Ryland to just fill in the missing pieces a bit. “About three weeks?”
Tom blinked. “Only three weeks?” He seemed surprised. “Huh. Where did you come from then?”
“I’m…not really sure.” In human terms, Ryland wasn’t even sure where they were now. “It was an apartment, uh, not as nice as this place. It was small, an older woman lived there.” It had been a good place for what it was. The old woman didn’t have the best eyesight and left a lot of things out. Colt had a great time borrowing there and had managed to get quite the haul several times. “She had to be moved to a care home though, so Colt and I decided to head out as well.” They didn’t know when another tenant would move in so it was the better option to move rather than wait around and see.
“Okay…but how did you even get here?” Tom asked, curious and confused and Ryland understood. It wasn’t like borrowers moving house was the same as it was for a human.
“Her grandson came by to help her move. So Colt and I snuck into his bag and hitched a ride with him.” Ryland tapped on his arm a bit as he remembered the journey. “We weren’t in there for very long. He went straight to a hotel. Colt and I explored a bit and we thought about staying at the hotel but it didn’t seem very viable. So we decided to try to find another human to hitch a ride on…” Ryland trailed off, realizing where his story was going.
He had only seen Tom briefly when at the hotel room. But his room had been the nicest they had seen and he’d had so many bags that him and Colt decided to go with him. When Tom checked out, he hadn’t handled any of his own bags, including the one Colt and Ryland had been hiding in. It had been done by someone else, both when loading it into the car, and then the plane, and when putting it into Tom’s place. From there, the two had scurried off into the walls, not seeing Tom at all during that time.
Tom stared, taking the story in. “Wait, so you…” He stopped, trailing off. “Huh, so you’re from San Francisco.” Tom said instead. That sounded right, at least, Ryland was sure he had heard that name before while living there.
“Yeah, I guess.” Ryland said with a small shrug. He was just glad Tom wasn’t mad about the two of them sneaking into his luggage. He supposed if he wasn’t mad about them living in his home though, he wouldn’t have been mad about that, but Ryland could never know when it came to humans and their sense of privacy.
“That’s quite the journey you went on then.” Tom grabbed a plate from the cabinet as he said this and then grabbed a fork to start transferring a small portion of the food onto it for Ryland. “For someone so tiny, at least.” Tom let out a small chuckle at his own words.
Ryland nodded. He was sure the journey itself had been nothing for Tom. But for Ryland and Colt, it had been the furthest they had ever traveled. They never would have even considered it if they still had family to go and visit. But as it was, both of their parents had since passed away. There was nothing for them anymore in San Francisco, so no real reason to stay.
Tom slid the plate over and Ryland looked to see Tom had given him a small piece of the salmon, though small was relatively speaking, it was the size of Ryland’s head. There were also a couple of the veggies on there, drizzled in that balsamic glaze Tom had mentioned before. Ryland took a step closer to it and then after a bit of hesitation, stepped onto the plate itself. Tom had put the food in the center of the large plate, so it was the only way Ryland could even reach it.
He picked up the salmon, very aware of the fact that Tom was staring at him. He tried to ignore it as he gave the salmon a once over. It looked good. It smelled even better. But the best part was how warm it felt in his hands.
Warm food was a luxury they couldn’t afford. By the time they borrowed food left out, it was cooled way down and it just wasn’t safe to start a fire within the walls of a building to try and cook anything.There was nowhere in Ryland’s memory where he had ever had food that was warm to the touch, that had steam rolling off of it in waves. This would be his first time having a proper human meal.
He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat at the thought, getting a bit choked up by it all. He wasn’t about to cry in front of the human…not again. Not for something like this, at least.
Ryland brought the piece of salmon up to lip and took a bite.
His first thought was, of course, how warm it was.
The next was the flavor.
Ryland was used to the bland flavor of stale bread. Or the overt saltiness of chips. He was not used to the flavor profile that this salmon was providing him. It was almost too much, if he was being honest, but also too good for him to stop.
“Like it?” A voice asked as Ryland swallowed his first bite. Ryland jumped, almost forgetting Tom was there, somehow. He looked up at him, seeing the grin on his face. Ryland could only nod.
“Yes, yeah, it’s really good.” Ryland praised and then went in for another bite.
“I knew it. I knew you were a salmon guy.” Tom said and then finally turned to his own portion and started to eat. Ryland wasn’t really sure if he was a salmon guy in particular, but he couldn’t argue. He loved it and if that made him a salmon guy then he wasn’t going to say anything about it.
The two ate the rest of their dinner in silence. Ryland finished off his salmon, which was already more food than he was used to in one sitting, but he wanted to try the veggies as well. He almost cried right then and there at the freshness of them. Cooked veggies were so much better than old cold ones, that was for sure.
Ryland couldn’t finish it all, which he felt bad about, but he was full and really couldn’t stomach another bite. Being full was a new feeling but one that felt…good. Satisfying.
He hoped he could share this feeling with Colt, once he got better.
He bit his lip, his thoughts now back to Colt. They hadn’t been away for very long but Ryland was still worried. What if he had woken up while he was gone? What if he was alone and scared and freaking out-
Ryland shook his head and took a deep breath. There was nothing good that came out of spiraling like that. Besides, Ryland was done eating and Tom was wrapping up, he would be back at Colt’s side within the next few minutes.
Ryland jumped a bit at the sound of a small clang and focused back on Tom. He had put his fork down in the dish, the dish itself now empty. “Hmm, delicious as always.” Tom commented out loud and then placed both his dish and Ryland’s dish into the sink. “So, do you regret taking my ‘handout’?” Tom asked with a smirk, leaning forward a bit in Ryland’s direction.
He blushed. “No. It was really good. Uh, thank you again.” Ryland said and watched as Tom’s smirk turned into a more genuine smile. Ryland couldn’t help but smile back.
Maybe Tom wasn’t so bad.
But just as he thought that, he was reminded of their first interaction.
“What’s in it for me?” Tom had said that before helping Colt and Ryland winced as he remembered. What had that been about, anyway? Why was Tom acting so different from then? Right now, he genuinely seemed like a nice guy. Maybe a little touchy and straight-forward, but even so, he was nice. He had promised to do better in the touchy-grabby department anyway.
So what had that been about? And why was Ryland so suddenly filled with dread at remembering?
“Alright, I know you want to get back to your brother.” Tom said, standing up straight and stretching a bit, his toned muscles flexing alongside the motion. Again, Ryland looked away. “So…can I pick you up?” Tom asked and Ryland felt a little relieved that he was being asked. It seemed like Tom really was listening.
But that was only confusing Ryland even more.
“Oh, yeah, but can I just…climb onto your hand. Like the first time?” Ryland asked. He really didn’t feel like getting grabbed again so soon. Not if he could help it.
He watched as Tom frowned, eyebrows furrowing. And for a terrifying moment, Ryland thought he was going to say no. But then Tom sighed. “Alright, I guess.” He said and placed his hand palm up near him.
Ryland hesitated a lot less than before but he still did hesitate. This was only his third time being in Tom’s hand, after all. And he still didn’t know what to make of the human. Dinner had been nice, sure, but he’d had to promise something to him in order for him to help Colt and that was…well.
Ryland was confused.
At this point, it almost felt like his permanent state of being, alongside the anxiety and tense muscles.
He settled on Tom’s palm, once again sitting down. He still flinched when Tom’s fingers curled in a bit but they didn’t close all the way which Ryland was grateful for. Tom raised his hand, still a bit too fast for Ryland’s liking, and walked back over to the office and Colt’s temporary bedroom.
Ryland sighed in relief when he saw Colt was still asleep. He wanted his brother to wake up but not without him there. He didn’t want his brother waking up alone.
He slid off of Tom’s hand as soon as it came into contact with the table. He heard Tom hum as he took his hand away. “I just realized you need somewhere to sleep too.” Tom said.
“Oh, uh, I mean, I’m fine. I was just going to stay by Colt’s side anyway.” Ryland said. Sure, it hadn’t been the most comfortable sleep but he didn’t need his own bed.
Tom seemed to think differently.
“Yeah, no. Like with the food, I’m not gonna let you decline this. You need to sleep just as much as you need to eat.” Tom said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
Ryland felt a bit of unease swirl around in his gut. Tom was acting worried about him once again and it still didn’t add up with what had happened earlier.
“I’ll go get you a blanket, that should be plenty for you to use as a bed.” Tom said and then turned to walk out of the room. Ryland bit his lip and then gained the confidence to yell out.
“Wait, Tom!” Tom stopped in his tracks and turned around, a look of surprise on his face. Ryland shifted his feet, fidgeting with his hands. “I…what, uh, what did you mean by earlier?”
Tom blinked and crossed his arms, tilting his head a bit that almost gave an innocent look to him. “You’re gonna have to be a bit more specific. I said a lot of stuff earlier.”
Ryland bit back a groan. He decided to rephrase his question. “Why did you…ask for something before you helped Colt?” He paused, his heart beating too fast in his chest. “What did I promise you?” He asked this question lower, almost not wanting to ask it at all. He was scared of the answer.
Tom was silent for a long moment.
He was being stared at, looked up and down once more and Ryland hated it. It put him on edge, Tom’s silence was putting him on edge.
And then Tom smiled, the intense expression clearing up and it was almost like it hadn’t been there in the first place. The human waved his hand in the air. “Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s not important.” His grin was easy-going and kind. “Just focus on your brother for now.”
Ryland felt like he just experienced whiplash.
He stood there, staring up at Tom. The human’s kind smile didn’t waver and his words seemed alright but Ryland didn’t miss how he didn’t answer why. Why had he asked for anything in the first place?
“Right.” Ryland said, his voice practically a whisper.
Tom hummed. “Seriously Ry-Ry, don’t get into your own head about it. I promise, you’ve got nothing to worry about.” Tom’s words were a bit teasing but no more malicious than their entire dinner conversation had been. Which had really been not at all.
Ryland was still confused and hesitant, but Tom’s words were, at least, a bit reassuring. “Okay.” He said, his voice a bit louder this time.
Tom grinned and then turned back around. “I’ll be back in a sec with a blanket.” Tom said and then he was out of the room.
Ryland let out a small breath before returning to Colt’s side. He checked everything and when nothing seemed changed, he settled and found Colt’s hand again, squeezing it ever so slightly.
Tom did return a moment later, setting up the blanket for him in a way where it almost looked like a nest. He had also come back with some water in a dish in case Ryland got thirsty during the night, which the borrower did appreciate.
Maybe his question had been a fluke? It really did seem like Tom cared and he wasn’t being malicious. He was nice, Ryland had actually kind of enjoyed their time eating dinner together. Maybe he really did have nothing to worry about.
Tom retired for the night, telling Ryland he would check in on them in the morning. Ryland watched as he closed the door, leaving him and Colt alone once again.
There really wasn’t much else for him to do except sleep but Ryland found himself staying up anyway. He watched the rise and fall of Colt’s chest, finding comfort in the fact that it was still moving despite everything.
“Please wake up soon.” Ryland whispered to Colt. Maybe his brother would be able to make heads or tails of Tom because as it was, Ryland was completely at a loss.
For right now, he chose to believe that Tom had good intentions.
It was the only way he could let the anxiety slip away long enough for him to finally fall asleep.
Hi Arc! Do you think Pt.5 of the BBBCAU is coming out soon?
My original plan was to try and get back into the au after July was over. And I still do want to do that because I had a lot planned for it, but also I am very much into PHM and all it's corresponding crossovers at the moment. As you might have seen, I have two ongoing multi-chapter fics and a few other ideas for more once I wrap those up. I honestly haven't felt this inspired to write in a long time (the last time I was this inspired was when I first started the bbbcau) and I want to ride it out as long as I can.
So, right now, I can't promise exactly when I'll get back to it. I don't want to abandon it and I'm not planning to but I just honestly have no motivation to write for the au at the moment.
Again, this isn't me abandoning it. But it is definitely on hold for the time being.
Summary: Simon finds himself alive, missing an arm, and still on the sub. But outside of his prison is music and a voice promising him safety. Despite himself, he decides to believe it.
Or; Simon ends up on Erid, somehow only 5 inches tall.
Warnings: Lots of blood and injury, hearing voices, and panic
Word Count: 3707
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | AO3 Link
This chapter gave me a little bit of trouble but for the most part I'm happy with how it turned out! I'm also very excited about this chapter in particular, which you will see why in just a moment. So, I hope you enjoy!
“...Okay, just…give me a second.” Simon rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m…processing.”
“Take all the time you need.” Grace said and Simon let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Grace had been nice and courteous so far but now met with the actual size of him, face to face, Simon couldn’t help the fear that creeped in. He didn’t look up toward Grace, instead keeping his gaze low, staring down at his one remaining, blood stained hand.
He really did have a lot to process here.
He still hadn’t properly processed the fact that he was out. Part of him was still expecting to wake up, back in the sub, surrounded by a sea of blood. But that part of him was dwindling with every second that passed. With every word Grace spoke.
Besides, he didn’t think his mind, or even the creature’s mind, was creative enough to come up with something like this.
Rock-spider aliens? Being on a planet? Currently being only 5 inches tall?
Simon’s head felt dizzy with everything he had just learned.
Or maybe it was the concussion.
Either way, no matter how crazy it sounded, Simon had chosen to believe them. Even though each new piece of information he had learned had made that harder and harder to do, actually seeing a glimpse of one of these rock-spider aliens was hard to ignore. Actually seeing Grace, too, was really hard to ignore. Simon could still feel his presence towering over him and he pointedly continued to look down.
It had helped that Grace hadn’t known his name. Of course, he could have been lying, the hallucinations could have gotten smarter but, really, Simon couldn’t find it in himself to doubt too much. Doubting too much would only cause him to spiral and he did not need that right now. Not when things might finally be looking up for him.
And besides, didn’t he deserve a break? After everything?
He was just so tired.
He sighed and clenched his fist, feeling some of the dried blood on his hands start to flake off. He opened it again, staring. He wanted to reach out with his other hand, run his fingers over his palm, scratch off the rest of the dried blood, but he was stopped by the fact that there was nothing there.
He still hadn’t really processed that either.
He was gonna need more than a few extra minutes to deal with that though. He reached up and gripped the place where his arm now just ended. He ran his fingers over it. The skin was jagged there, scarred over and almost feeling…cauterized. Which of course, just like everything else, didn’t make sense.
It didn’t hurt. Not really anyway. It throbbed a little under his touch and if he thought about it too much but honestly, his head hurt worse.
He dropped his hand and leaned forward a bit. He couldn’t help it as his eyes darted up for a brief moment before quickly falling back to the sub floor. The other thing he still needed to fully process. The fact that he was, somehow, only 5 inches tall.
Just like with his arm, that was going to take a bit longer than he currently had to process.
He couldn’t even begin to grasp what would have caused him to shrink. The creature? The blood? The radiation exposure? There were a lot of variables but not a lot of answers.
His head throbbed.
“Alright.” He spoke out loud and grabbed hold of the chair with his one arm, hoisting himself to an unsteady stand. If he didn’t move on with things now, he could very well be here all day. He let out a small breath, preparing himself, before forcing his eyes to drift up towards Grace once more.
Yeah, still terrifying.
“Simon okay now, question?” Someone asked, Simon wasn’t sure if it was Adrian or Rocky, having realized that the translator was using the same voice for the both of them.
“Uh, no, not really.” His hand moved through his hair, wincing when it caught on some knots formed there by dried blood. “But, again, I’m choosing to believe this and all of you so…yeah.” He was making a choice. And he would stick with it unless things proved different.
He looked Grace in the eyes, barely keeping himself from flinching. “And I really just want to get the f*** out of this ship.” More than anything else right now, he wanted out.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s completely fair.” Grace said and then Simon noticed him tense a bit. Simon was a bit confused until Grace spoke again. “Uh, can I…offer you a hand?” He asked, almost hesitant.
It was Simon’s turn to tense as his gaze snapped over to Grace’s hands. He shivered at the thought of the hand being anywhere near him, let alone touching him or grabbing him. Grace’s hand was bigger than Simon himself, it would be all too easy for Grace to close him in, trap him.
But Grace asked.
He didn’t just do it. He asked and was patiently waiting for Simon’s response. Almost like Simon was the one in control, when really that couldn’t be the furthest thing from the truth.
“I, um…” Simon glanced around but he knew there was really only one way out. “Yeah.” He said, letting the word hang thick in the air.
Grace gave him a nod and Simon did his best to prepare as Grace’s hand started to move. He was expecting a lot of things. The hand to wrap around him, to scoop him up, to pinch him between fingers…
He hadn’t expected Grace’s hand to stop in front of him, palm up and fingers outstretched, but not coming any closer. It took Simon a moment to realize what Grace meant by this, waiting there like he was. He was waiting for Simon to put himself in Grace’s hand.
His heart beat wildly in his chest as he took a step closer. He couldn’t help as his gaze kept going back and forth between Grace’s face and his hand, as if he was waiting for Grace to change his mind and just grab him anyway. But Grace let out a small hum. “It’s alright, I’ll be careful.” Grace caught him off guard a bit but his words made the tension in his shoulders relax, even just a little. He blinked away some tears and gave a firm nod.
If he was choosing to believe in Grace, then he had to choose to trust him too.
Trust…was never an easy thing for him to give out. His body ran on survival and adrenaline, not the soft touch and kindness of others.
But he could try.
He found that he wanted to try.
Simon reached out and placed a hand on Grace’s fingertip before he could stop himself.
The contact was warm. Simon knew it hadn’t been very long since he’d had human contact. Before the sub, he’d had plenty. Rough hands pushing at him, shoulders decking him against a wall, a small hefty pat on his back as he stepped foot into the sub for the first time…though even that last one had been rough. Simon was not used to gentle touches. The last time he remembered a touch that would fit in that category was…from his mother, years and years ago.
The warmth and inherent gentleness of Grace’s touch reminded him of his mother’s.
Simon felt like he could cry again.
He held back though as he looked up to meet Grace’s eyes. They, too, held a warmth in them that equaled the one of his touch. He smiled and Simon felt his own lips start to mimic Grace’s expression.
And then things went to hell.
Grace flinched, a look of pain making the smile on his face disappear. “Ow! What-?” Grace yelled out and Simon’s attention snapped back toward their point of contact. His eyes widened as the blood that had covered his hand writhed between the two of them. It came together in a sharp line, solidifying in a way Simon didn’t think was possible. It had stabbed into Grace’s finger and was still moving further inside.
Simon tried to wretch his hand away, to pull back the blood before it could infect, but his hand was stuck. The blood was keeping them together.
Simon felt like he was going to be sick.
He was vaguely aware of the translator sparking to life with a sharp and frantic tone but Simon was too busy watching helplessly as no matter what he did, the blood continued to travel into Grace.
“I-I can’t-” He heard Grace say. “Simon?”
Simon wished he could answer, but he felt frozen in place. Ice cold fear seeped into his body as the blood wound its control back into him and, now, Grace.
F***, he should have warned them. He should have realized things couldn’t be over just like that. The blood was alive and there was still plenty on the sub. There was still plenty all over Simon.
What was it going to do?
The blood cut off, finishing its journey into Grace’s skin. The blood on his own hand was gone, though there was still plenty further up on his arm.
Things stilled for a moment. Simon felt like he couldn’t breathe.
Simon.
No.
So tired.
No!
We will help.
F***, F*** no!
You are in control.
And then, all of a sudden, his vision became red and he felt himself being thrown backwards. He landed with a large thud onto a cool surface, his head snapping back and hitting the floor before he could try and stop it.
His vision went from red to black as his consciousness faded.
***
It felt like a blink, how quickly consciousness came back to him. He groaned as his head throbbed and he knew the hit he had taken wasn’t going to help his concussion. In fact, he was surprised he was even awake at all, what with all the head trauma he’d had over the course of his time in the sub.
He couldn’t stay down though, not after what had happened. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, the task a bit more awkward to do with just one hand. His body protested but he ignored it. His skin was tingling and blood rushed in his ears but he could just barely make out the sound of sharp music.
He opened his eyes and froze.
The first thing he saw was the submarine on the table in front of him. But it was…small. About a foot in its length, just like Grace had told him. The table itself was a normal sized table and Simon was more or less eye level with it from where he was sitting.
Had he-?
Before he could complete the thought, a voice interrupted him.
“Simon?” Something touched him and Simon flinched back, jerking his body away from the contact. He looked to see the source and paused when he saw a teal colored rock-like spider. Adrian? Or Rocky? Either way, unlike before where the Eridian towered over him in size, they now were only a little taller with him sitting down.
They didn’t move closer but their claw remained outstretched toward him. They didn’t have a face but somehow Simon was still able to make out the fact that they were concerned.
“I-I-” Simon tried to sputter out but he was cut off by a very angry tone.
“What Simon do to Grace, question!?” Two frantic thuds against the ground followed the voice and Simon snapped his eyes over toward the other Eridian. Again, they had no face, but they didn’t need one for Simon to feel the pure anger and panic coming off of them in waves.
“W-What? I don’t-” He was cut off again, by himself this time, as he looked down and choked on the words instead.
Because held awkwardly in Rocky’s claws was an unconscious Grace.
An unconscious Grace that was only 5 inches tall.
“F***.” Simon’s whole body was shaking. If he wasn’t already sitting on the floor, his legs probably would have given out.
The blood had done that.
There was no other explanation. Not after what Simon had witnessed.
Somehow, the blood Simon was still very much covered in had forced its way into Grace and had done that to him. Shrunk him. Simon found himself staring, he couldn’t stop himself. Grace was just so small. Had he really been that tiny? It was almost hard to comprehend, even with the evidence right in front of him. Grace looked…fragile. Like a stiff wind could blow him away.
Like a single hand could crush him.
“What Simon do, question!?” The brown colored Eridian yelled again and took a step closer, causing Simon to flinch back again and snap his eyes off Grace to instead focus on the threat in front of him. He felt cornered and he tensed, bracing himself while waiting to see what happened, his one hand forming into a fist at his side.
But instead of the Eridan jumping him or attacking him or really any number of things, the teal colored one moved in front of Simon. Putting themselves between him and the brown one. “Rocky! Calm down! Simon hurt and confused too. Don’t think Simon knows what happened.” So Adrian was the teal colored Eridian. Good to know.
Rocky’s back claw dug into the ground. “But-”
“It does not help to yell.” Adrian said, voice noticeably calmer. “We will figure it out. Do not take it out on Simon.”
Simon watched as Rocky’s tense body slumped a bit and Adrian let out a melody that the translator didn’t convert into words.
Despite that though, the air in the room still felt charged.
Simon, of course, understood why. They’re problem had just changed rather dramatically, after all.
“Simon okay, question?” Adrian turned and asked him and Simon blinked openly in surprise.
“What?” He asked and Adrian tilted their carapace a bit to the left.
“Adrian asking if Simon is okay.” They clarified and Simon couldn’t help the way his brows furrowed. Why were they asking him? Grace was the one they should be worrying about.
“I don’t…I-” Adrian continued to look at him, which was a strange feeling when knowing the Eridian didn’t have eyes, and Simon swallowed the forming lump in his throat. “I’m fine. Sorry.” He didn’t know what he was apologizing for. Everything, probably. Yeah, everything sounded about right.
“Did Simon do it on purpose?” They asked, and even through the translator, their tone stayed gentle. But Simon still felt himself tense up, sitting up straighter.
“No! No, I didn’t-” Adrian cut him off.
“Then Simon no apologize. It out of Simon’s control.” Adrian stated, like it was really that simple.
Control.
Simon shivered at a memory just out of reach.
A sharp note rang out and both Simon and Adrian’s attention focused back on Rocky. He seemed to be adjusting his hold on Grace, all the while shaking with worry. “Rocky can’t keep hold of Grace.” Rocky said and the worry even came through over the translator.
Adrian moved away from Simon and was now at Rocky’s side. “Understand.” Simon’s ears picked up on a low humming and it took him a moment to realize it was coming from Adrian. “Put Grace on bed. Can wait for Grace to wake up there.” Adrian said and Rocky nodded their carapace before slowly moving over toward the bed in the corner of the room.
Simon stayed where he was, just watching as Rocky gently placed Grace on top of the bed. He was, once again, struck by how small Grace was as he slipped out of Rocky’s hold. Rocky’s limbs went back down on the ground once he was sure Grace was alright, but Simon noticed the way Rocky’s claws opened and closed a few times as they settled.
“Is…is he gonna be okay?” Simon found himself asking, looking at Adrian. It was weird that Simon had woken up so fast, despite his concussion, but Grace hadn’t.
“Grace heartbeat steady. But we wait for Grace to wake up and check for sure.” Adrian said and Simon nodded.
“Simon shaking.” Adrian said and Simon startled as Adrian placed a careful claw on his arm. The contact, just like with Grace, was warm. Simon hadn’t even realized he was shaking until Adrian had pointed it out. “Simon okay, question?”
God, how many times was Adrian going to ask him that? If they kept it up, Simon was going to break down.
“Not…not really.” Simon said with a small wince.
“Is okay for Simon to not be okay. Lot has happened.” They lowered their claw. “Plan time. Simon go to clean room to clean self. Adrian will get you new clothes from Grace’s biodome. Rocky will watch Grace.” Adrian shifted their carapace to look between the two of them. “Good plan, question?”
Rocky let out a low hum. “Good plan. Good, good, good. Rocky mate the best.” Rocky said, though without as much enthusiasm as the words implied.
A plan. A plan was good. It gave Simon’s mind something else to focus on than the ever rising panic pushing at the corners of his mind.
Simon went over what Adrian said. He assumed the ‘clean room’ was a bathroom of some sort. Which, Simon glanced around, he assumed was the door off to the side of the much bulkier one. Simon glanced down at himself with another wince. A way to get clean sounded way too good right about now. “Yeah, good plan.” Simon echoed Rocky.
“Good! Simon can go in clean room and leave dirty clothes outside. Adrian will dispose and bring Simon new ones.” Adrian said and Simon nodded along. A part of him didn’t want to let go of the clothes he was wearing. He had so little already. But, at the same time, these clothes were so fully drenched in blood, there was just no saving them.
Besides, if the blood really did do all of this, then it was best to just get rid of it.
“Okay.” Simon felt a bit numb as he used the edge of the table to help himself stand up. He took a step away from the table and wobbled off balance. A limb offered itself and Simon took hold, only realizing once he was steady that he was holding onto Adrian. Looking down, Simon realized the top of Adrian was about level with his chest. A sharp contrast to their size difference before, even if Simon had only caught a glimpse of them when he was still small. “Thanks.”
He let go, feeling more confident and made his way over toward the ‘clean room’. He ignored the way Rocky followed his movements and pointedly put himself in front of where Grace rested. Rocky didn’t trust him. That was fine. Simon wasn’t really sure he trusted himself that much either.
He opened the door and, sure enough, it was a bathroom. He glanced behind him but when neither Eridian said anything, he entered and closed the door.
His hand stayed on the doorknob and his forehead met the door as he took in shaky breaths. Everything was happening too fast. Simon barely had time to think. To react. In the quiet of the bathroom, away from prying eyes (even if, again, they didn’t actually have eyes), Simon found himself just breathing.
In and out. In and out. In and out.
The air was clean. Unlike in the sub, or on Eden, or in the prison. It felt fresh.
In and out.
Simon peeled his head away from the door and started taking off his clothes. He winced at the state of them, it being worse than he thought. He tried not to think about it as he stripped down. It was also…a lot more difficult to do this with just one hand. Simon found himself wrestling with both of his top layers.
But he managed. He stared at the offending pile of clothes, stinking of blood and other fluids Simon didn’t want to think about. He swallowed thickly and grabbed the pile before opening the door just enough to stick his arm out and look through. He glanced around, wondering where to put it. “Uh…”
“Can set it down on ground. Adrian will retrieve.” Adrian said and Simon nodded, letting them drop to the ground in front of the door before retreating back into the bathroom.
He turned around, facing the bathroom fully. It was bigger than any bathroom Simon had been in before. There was a lot of empty space in the center, whereas the bathrooms Simon was familiar with had always shoved the sink, toilet, and shower so close together it felt claustrophobic.
It was also cleaner than anything Simon was used to. It was white tile all around. If the bathrooms on Eden or the prison had ever been white, you certainly wouldn’t be able to tell. He walked over to the shower and opened the door, taking it in. It seemed like a standard shower, nothing he wasn’t used to, unlike everything else.
He sighed and got in. He mentally prepared himself for the spray of cold water and braced himself as he turned the dial. He winced as the cold hit his skin and he started scrubbing the blood off as fast as he could, so he could get out as soon as possible. But then the water did something that he hadn’t expected.
It started to warm up.
Simon froze, movements halting as he simply let the warm water fall onto his skin. He found himself closing his eyes and putting his head under the water. The warmth on his face and scalp was unlike anything he had experienced before.
There were no warm showers on Eden.
Simon could no longer hold back as a sob escaped him, his chest heaving erratically. His tears mixed together with the warm water falling down his cheeks and he didn’t bother to try and stop it.
Alone in the bathroom, Simon, for the second time that day, broke down.
Summary: Ryland and Colt Grace are borrowers, though Colt is really the only one who does the actual borrowing. A few weeks into living in their new home, Colt convinces Ryland to come with him for a quick borrowing trip.
But then Colt's string snapped as he was climbing.
Ryland heard the crack of bones breaking.
And then the human came home.
Warnings: Injury, death mention but no death, broken bones, and fear
Word Count: 3132
Part 1 | AO3 Link
It's friday, so you know what that means! I'm so glad you guys are liking this fic so far! Because, I'm gonna be honest, this fic is so self-indulgent lol. Even more so than my bloodymary g/t fic. You know how they say write the stuff you want to see? This is pretty much the definition of that.
The prompt I used for inspiration on this chapter was trust.
It really was crazy how fast the doctor had gotten there. The human had let her in and, to her credit, she had barely reacted to seeing Ryland and Colt. Her eyes went a bit wide but she did nothing else to indicate her surprise. Ryland wasn’t really a fan of yet another human knowing about them, but if it saved Colt he couldn’t argue with it.
The doctor leaned forward, looking Colt over. “Do we know what happened, Mr. Ryder?” She said after a moment, standing up again and turning to look at the other human. Ryder, apparently.
“No, but he probably does.” Ryder pointed at Ryland and soon both of their eyes were on him. Ryland swallowed the lump forming in his throat in an effort to clear it.
“He-Colt, he fell from, uh, about six feet. I-I heard a crack when he hit the ground. I think it-it might have been his back.” Ryland explained and at least he was talking in full sentences this time. The doctor took in this information and nodded.
“Alright.” She turned to Ryder. “I’ll need some space to work.” She said and Ryder nodded.
“I have an office, should be cleaned up. You can set up in there.” Ryder said and the doctor nodded.
Over the course of the next few minutes, the doctor followed Ryder into the other room and set up before coming back and carefully lifting Colt up, taking him into the room. Ryland’s heart threatened to jump out of his chest as the doctor moved him. She seemed careful enough but just the image of his brother in a pair of human hands was…it was not a fun sight.
He also didn’t like the idea of being separated from him. But when he asked if he could come, the doctor had said no and left it at that. He, realistically, understood. She needed to focus and him being there would probably just be in her way. But still, knowing Colt was alone with a human was making his skin crawl.
It took him a few moments to realize he was in the same boat.
Ryder had come back, also apparently not allowed in the room where the doctor was working. He was looking at something on his phone but his eyes quickly lifted from it and honed in on Ryland instead. He looked him up and down and Ryland held back a shiver. It seemed like he was about to say something but then his phone rang. He cursed to himself but answered it, turning his back to Ryland.
“Heeeey, Gail. What’s up?” Ryder started out of the kitchen and Ryland could just barely see him turn to walk up the stairs. Ryder’s voice faded out and Ryland was no longer able to hear him.
Ryland relaxed a little, thankful to not have to be near the human anymore. But his anxiety was still high as now it was a waiting game, to see if his brother was going to be okay or not.
He didn’t go anywhere. He barely moved from his spot on the counter, only shifting slightly to be in a more comfortable position. He didn’t want to risk missing out on anything, so he stayed where the humans knew where he was.
He stayed like that for four hours. Four hours of nothing but anxiety fueled thoughts. And then he heard the sound of a door opening and footsteps. He strained to listen as a pair of voices started to speak. “He’s in stable condition.” The doctor spoke, her voice getting louder as both her and Ryder entered the kitchen. Neither seemed to be surprised that he was still there.
“Good, good.” Ryder said. “What’s the recovery looking like?”
The doctor took out a tablet, tapping a few things on it. “He fractured his back in three places, so he’ll be down for a while. Months, most likely. And then he’ll probably need to relearn how to walk again, but he should be able to walk again.” Ryland listened with rapt attention to the doctor. Colt was alive. He was okay. He’d be bedridden for a while, which he knows Colt will hate but he would be back to normal. Eventually. It was the best news Ryland could have gotten.
“I’ll also need to come by fairly regularly, just to check in and make sure his recovery process is running smoothly.” The doctor continued and Ryder frowned at that.
“How often?” He asked and the doctor looked back down at her tablet.
“More often during these first couple of months, less often after that. I’d say a good next visit should be in about a week.” She said and then looked back at Ryder. Ryder…didn’t exactly look happy at that but he sighed and nodded.
“Alright, pencil that in then.” Ryder said and the doctor nodded, tapping a few more things on her tablet.
Ryland was getting antsy now. The humans continued to talk over him and while it was good information regarding his brother, the only thing he wanted to do right now was see him. So, he gathered up the courage and cleared his throat. He regretted his choices a bit when both humans turned to look at him but at this point, he was sort of used to it. He let out a breath. “Can I see him? Please?”
The doctor looked between him and Ryder. “He’s still asleep. He won’t wake up for some time but I don’t see why not?” She ended the sentence weird, continuing to look back and forth between him and Ryder. Mostly at Ryder, it seemed.
“I’ll see you next week.” Ryder said instead of anything else. He put on a brilliant smile but it was clear he was all but kicking the doctor out now. Still, she didn’t react. She just nodded and left. Ryder stayed where he was as they heard her gather her things and leave through the front door. With the sound of the door closing, silence rang out between them. Ryland shifted on his feet, once again finding himself alone with the human. And it didn’t seem like a phone call was going to save him this time.
Ryder looked him up and down. The smile never left his face but it did change. How exactly, well, Ryland wasn’t sure. He just knew it wasn’t the same smile he had given the doctor. “You want to see him?” Ryder asked and Ryland blinked in surprise before nodding rapidly. Ryder’s smile grew a bit wider and Ryland didn’t really know why until the human stepped closer and reached a hand toward him.
Ryland couldn’t help it, he let out a small scream and cowered. His fear of humans hadn’t just gone away because they had saved his brother.
“Whoa, hey, what’s with all that?” Ryder’s voice rang out and Ryland looked at him. His hand was resting on the counter now, just a few inches from where Ryland was. He looked at the hand for a long moment before glancing up at Ryder’s face. He didn’t look angry, more…amused than anything. “I’m not gonna hurt you. Would be a pretty big waste if I did, seeing as how I just spent a lot of money on a doctor for the other one.” And, well, yeah, the human had a point.
“R-Right.” Ryland stuttered out, feeling a bit embarrassed for his reaction. “Sorry.” He felt the need to apologize.
Ryder let out a small laugh. “It’s alright, sweetheart. Now, do you want to see him or not?”
Ryland blushed a bit at the pet name. Not really knowing how to respond to that, he focused instead on the question. And the answer was obvious. “Yes, please.”
Ryder hummed and his hand inched forward. “Then you gotta trust me.” He flipped his hand over so it was palm up and motioned with his head for Ryland to get on. Ryland gulped, trying to pull back his nerves. At least he wasn’t being grabbed, this whole situation definitely could have gone a lot worse. He had to be grateful the human was even helping in the first place.
He had helped Colt. He was letting Ryland see him. He could honor his wish for trust. At least…for now.
Ryland took a step closer toward the human’s hand, feeling his chest get tight. Just because he decided to give some trust over, didn’t mean it was any less frightening. The hand itself was bigger than him, could comfortably fit both him and Colt and there would still be room left over. It would be very easy for Ryder to close his hand and trap him within.
Ryland groaned, shaking his head of those thoughts, and just…went for it. He stepped onto the hand, doing his best to keep himself steady on the uneven surface. He made his way to the center of the palm, knowing he would be more secure there and then sat down for the extra reassurance.
The hand was warm, he could feel the heat emanating off of it. His hands came to rest on the skin, curiosity overtaking his fear for a moment. And then the human’s fingers curled in slightly and Ryland felt his body tense. But they didn’t come any closer, thankfully.
“There we go.” Ryder said and that was all the warning he got before the hand was moving. Ryland tried not to look over the edge of the hand as he was being lifted higher into the air. He wasn’t scared of heights but, well, being moved like this was pretty disorienting.
Thankfully the journey was a quick one. Ryder walked into the room and Ryland chanced a glance over the hand to see if he could see Colt. Sure enough, he was there on the desk, laying down in some sort of makeshift bed with tiny tubes connecting him to a much bigger machine. Ryland didn’t know what any of it meant, it was actually quite scary seeing Colt like that, even though he knew the doctor said he was going to be fine.
He briefly had to wonder how they had things small enough to use on Colt but that thought quickly went away when Ryder started to lower his hand. As soon as his hand hit the table, Ryland practically flew off and ran to Colt’s side. He looked him over, hesitating with his hands over him. He looked pale but better, if he ignored all the weird tubes in his body. His breathing appeared steady and his face seemed relaxed. Ryland felt like collapsing in relief but instead he carefully gripped Colt’s hand as tears fell down his cheeks.
“You’re going to be alright, Colt.” Ryland said in a low voice. “Everything is gonna be fine.” And it was nice to see that he, too, believed it when he said it. It really was all thanks to the human that Colt was even alive right now.
Oh. Right. With everything going on, he hadn’t actually thanked Ryder. He hadn’t thanked the doctor either. He winced at his lack of manners. The doctor would come back, so he would have to thank her later. But Ryder…
Ryland looked over and, sure enough, Ryder was still in the room. He sat on a chair practically right up to the table and though he held his phone in his hand, he was staring at them. He didn’t seem like he was trying to hide it either. Ryland didn’t really care for that but he couldn’t blame Ryder for it either. He’d probably act the same, if their roles were swapped and he was the human who had found a tiny person.
Ryland shook his head. Right, he needed to say thank you. “Um, I just wanted to say thank you, Mr. Ryder. For saving him.” Ryland said.
Ryder’s response was immediate. “Tom.”
Ryland blinked. “Huh?”
Ryder, or Tom, he supposed, smirked. “You can call me Tom. No reason to be so formal, sweetheart.”
Again with the pet name. Ryland couldn’t stop the heat in his cheeks. “Oh, well, uh, thank you, Tom.”
Tom hummed and leaned forward a bit, his head now being supported by his hand with his elbow firmly on the table. “So, I take it he’s your brother. Colt, was it?” Tom asked, looking at Colt briefly before his gaze returned to Ryland.
“Oh, uh, yeah. Yeah, we’re twins.” He was sure that was pretty obvious. They were very identical, but Tom seemed to appreciate the extra information.
“Right. So, then, sweetheart, what’s your name? Or do I have to keep calling you sweetheart?” Tom asked with a teasing smirk and Ryland raised one hand up, the other refusing to let go of his brother’s hand.
“No! No, that’s okay. Um, I’m Ryland. Ryland Grace.” Maybe the pet names would stop now. Hopefully.
Tom hummed. “Grace, huh?” His gaze drifted over to Colt. “Ironic.”
Ryland squeezed Colt’s hand a bit tighter. “That’s not-the string he was climbing down broke. Colt’s usually the one who’s good at this.” He felt the need to defend his brother. Colt was good at what he did. It wasn’t his fault that the string happened to give out.
Tom raised both of his hands. “Sorry, sorry.” He was laughing a little as he said it, negating the apology a bit. “I didn’t mean to offend.”
Ryland hummed and opened his mouth to say more, what he wasn’t actually sure, when he felt movement. He practically gave himself whiplash turning his head back towards Colt as his brother moved a bit in his sleep. Ryland waited with bated breath to see if Colt would wake up, but he quickly settled back down again, still asleep. He sighed but reminded himself that the doctor said it would be a while.
“So, what are you? Can’t say I’ve ever seen, or heard of, tiny people before.” Tom suddenly said, leaning even more forward. Ryland tensed at the questions, sure he had revealed them but there was still a line, right? But then again, maybe he owed it to Tom to tell him, seeing as how he helped Colt and all.
“Well, uh, that’s a good thing. We’re supposed to stay…unknown.” Ryland winced at his own words. He really had risked a lot by doing, well, all of this.
It was all worth it though, for Colt.
“I could have guessed that.” Tom scoffed slightly, leaning further back in his chair. “Otherwise, the news of you little guys would be all over.” And Tom was right, if the wrong person ever found out about them, then that was it. Their existence would spread like wildfire and then…who knew what would happen.
Ryland had a pretty good idea and it was not something pleasant.
“You, uh, aren’t…going to tell anyone about us. Right?” Ryland hesitantly asked. Tom had already told the doctor, which again, Ryland couldn’t argue with. The doctor was needed in order to save Colt. But hopefully, that could be the end of it.
“Wasn’t planning on it.” Tom said simply and Ryland relaxed a bit. “Unless something comes up and another specialist needs to come in or whatever.” Okay, that was fair enough.
“They won’t say anything either?” Ryland asked and Tom waved his worries away.
“The doctor signed an NDA. She’d be sent to prison if she ever spoke of anything she saw here.” Tom said and Ryland’s eyes went wide. Prison? Well, he supposed it was a good incentive to make sure she didn’t say anything. But still. “So…are you going to answer my question? Or are you going to keep leaving me in suspense?”
Ryland blinked before remembering what exactly it was that he had asked. “Oh. Right.” Tom wouldn’t tell anyone and he deserved to know at this point, right? “We’re called borrowers.”
“Borrowers.” Hearing the name of his species come from the mouth of a human was all sorts of wrong but Ryland ignored the feeling it gave him. “Interesting.” It was then that a ding came from Tom’s phone. He looked at it and sighed before standing up. Ryland couldn’t hold back his flinch but Tom didn’t seem to notice.
“Welp, as much fun as it is to watch someone sleep, I’ve got some work to do.” Tom typed a few things on his phone and glanced back at Ryland. “I’m assuming you’re gonna stick around?”
Ryland nodded. “I’m not leaving Colt.”
Tom hummed. “Figured. I’ll be back later.” And with that, Tom exited the room, closing the door behind him with a soft click.
Ryland let out a long breath, finally feeling like he could relax. The humans were gone and Colt was going to be okay. Ryland felt a bit of his anxiety ebb away.
His thoughts still raced, of course, about his brother and about Tom, but they were at least quieter than before with Tom now out of the room.
He squeezed his brother’s hand again and got comfortable. He’d be here when Colt woke up. He’d make sure of it.
***
Tom closed the door and paused briefly before locking it, just for good measure. He knew the borrowers weren’t going anywhere but still, he felt better doing so.
Borrowers. Tom rolled the name around in his head. It was pretty on the nose. Telling. He gathered a lot of information just from the name of their species alone. He thought about writing the name out on a sticky note but decided against it. He didn’t want some random person seeing his note and questioning him on it.
Not that anyone would, no one questioned the Tom Ryder, but better to be safe than sorry, he supposed. Besides, he doubted he’d forget something like that any time soon.
He looked down at his hand, rubbing his palm with a thumb. Holding one of them had been something else entirely. He could still feel the tiny weight, could still see how small Ryland was in comparison to his own hand.
He wanted to experience that feeling again. Holding someone like that, knowing they were completely reliant on you…it was a very powerful feeling. But not in the same way that Tom was used to. Tom was used to feeling powerful, he was a famous movie star, after all. He had the fame, the money, the looks in order to get whatever he wanted. To make people do whatever he wanted.
But this was…different.
A good different, Tom decided.
Tom hummed to himself as he looked back at his closed office door again before turning away and heading up the stairs. He’d have plenty of opportunities to have one of them in his hands again.
Summary: Simon finds himself alive, missing an arm, and still on the sub. But outside of his prison is music and a voice promising him safety. Despite himself, he decides to believe it.
Or; Simon ends up on Erid, somehow only 5 inches tall.
Warnings: Lots of blood and injury
Word Count: 5282
Part 1 | Part 2 | AO3 Link
The new chapter is here! I am very excited to get this one out! I hope you enjoy Grace's POV of all this because we got back to Simon for the next chapter (which will be equally as fun lol). The prompt I used for inspiration was survive. I hope you guys enjoy!
None of which were going to be answered by standing around and freaking out about the fact that a potential human had been found in Erid’s orbit. Or the fact that they were, apparently, only 5 inches tall in size. Grace looked down at his own hand, the other one coming to rub at his palm without permission.
Grace and Rocky, after Grace had mostly gotten over his shock, had wasted no time in following Orion out of the biodome. Grace put on his xenonite suit, way less bulky than the first one he had ever put on to see Rocky’s ship. It clung to his skin like a loose jumpsuit, the Eridians having all but perfected malleable xenonite.
Rocky didn’t bother taking his xenonite suit off, knowing he would just have to put it back on again. They exited his biodome through the airlock system and then walked the familiar path towards the research center. It was where the space elevator shot up into the sky and where the Eridians had figured out how astrophage worked. It was also where they learned about Grace and his own needs to properly care for him. Grace had gotten very familiar with this building during his first few months on Erid. Specifically, one room that he’d had to stay in until the biodome had been completed.
That was where they were headed now as Orion took them to the airlock that separated Grace’s old room and the rest of Erid. Adrian was waiting for them outside of the airlock, digging their claws into the ground and perking up a bit as they finally rounded the corner.
“Beloved!” Rocky was quick to scuttle over toward Adrian and bumped his carapace with his mate’s. Adrian leaned into the touch too, but less enthusiastically. “Grace and I came as fast as we could. What’s all this about a tiny human?”
“And are we sure they’re human?” Grace asked. It’s not like he didn’t believe Adrian and the other Eridians but the thought of a human being so small…well, it was impossible. Right? But Adrian just moved their carapace in the mimic of a nod.
“They look human. They…look like you.” Adrian said and Grace sucked in a breath. “They stand on two limbs and have only one heart. They…also speak English.”
Well, if that wasn’t confirmation enough, Grace wasn’t sure what was. English. The probability that a species light years away from Earth would develop a similar language was next to nothing. They had to be human but that really just left more questions than answers. “They really are human.” Grace said in slight, dizzying awe.
“Yes. The only real difference is their size and…they seem to be missing one of their top limbs.” Adrian said carefully and Grace stiffened.
“They’re…missing an arm?” Grace asked. Now there could be a lot of reasons someone could be missing an arm. Perhaps they were born with it or it had happened in a previous accident-
“Yes, they appear to be in some pain because of it.” Adrian cut through Grace’s thoughts like a blade and Grace swallowed thickly. A recent accident then, that was not good. “They are hurt and scared and so I thought it best to call for the two of you.” Adrian said, a slight low tone to their melody.
Grace nodded and Rocky nudged their carapace against Adrian’s once more. “We’ll help them, don’t worry my beloved.”
“We should get in there. The longer we wait, the worse their injuries could get.” Grace said and Adrian nodded, turning to press a button that started the process of opening the airlock.
“There are a few other things I should mention before we head in there.” Adrian said as they waited for the airlock to open. “The vessel they came in, as far as I can tell, was not built for space travel.”
“What? What do you mean?” Grace asked, confused.
“The metal it’s made of is weak and the ship is all but bare, in regards to things needed for safe travels within space.” Adrian continued to explain. The airlock doors hissed open and the three of them stepped inside. The door closed behind them and Adrian pressed another button to start the atmosphere exchange.
Grace frowned as he thought over what Adrian said. “That’s weird.”
“Also, more concerning, is that, well…” Adrian paused for a moment. “The vessel is welded shut, with no way in or out.”
Grace felt like every new piece of information he was learning was worse than the last. Because what do you mean the human was trapped inside. Why was it like that? What was going on?
Again, it only produced more questions than answers. Grace was itching to get a look himself, to try and figure everything out. To ask the human what was going on.
It kind of hit him suddenly that he was about to speak with another human for the first time in many, many years.
Grace swallowed back the bile that threatened to come up at the thought as the airlock system completed the process and finally opened the door into the room. As Adrian and Rocky stepped inside, Grace took a moment to quickly take the xenonite suit off and hang it by the door. He then pressed a button nearby and the lights within the room turned on, allowing Grace to actually see the room.
His eyes honed in immediately on the ship that sat on the table and his eyes widened at the look of it. “That’s…a submarine.” He pointed out.
“Not know word.” Rocky said but Grace was startled to hear the familiar voice of the translator come through with more simplified words. It made sense though, that Adrian would have set up the translator in order to speak with the human inside. He bit his lip.
“A submarine is a ship built for underwater travel.” Grace explained. “It's definitely not built for being in space.” It made Grace wonder how the human inside was even still alive. How had he survived being in space in something so totally not built for it?
He didn’t know but he was almost desperate to find out at this point.
“Yes, yes, yes, just as Adrian said. Is strange.” Rocky said, wandering around the sub itself to get a better read on it.
Suddenly both Adrian and Rocky perked up and the room was silent for a moment. “Yes, yes, yes, Adrian mate Rocky and Friend Grace here as well.” Adrian responded to something Grace couldn’t hear. The human must have spoken but of course, with the thickness of the ship and how small the human was, Grace couldn’t hear it.
“What did they say?” Grace asked.
“Tiny human ask who else was here. Grace can not hear tiny human, question?” Adrian asked and Grace nodded. Sometimes other Eridians didn’t realize what Grace could and couldn’t hear. They’re hearing was much better than Grace’s after all and it was hard to figure out just how limited it was when they had never experienced it before. “Ah, Adrian fix.” Adrian walked over to the computer that was still translating and moved the microphone attached closer to the sub. They then proceeded to press a few buttons on the computer itself.
“Okay. All fixed. Tiny human can speak now and Grace hear.” Adrian said as they stepped away from the computer.
Grace waited with bated breath.
“Uh…hello?” Another voice, not the one provided by the translator, but a real human voice came from the computer's speakers. It was deep, which was almost strange given how small the guy was. But despite the gruffness of the voice it still came off as soft spoken, like he was nervous. Which, given the situation, made a lot of sense.
Grace steeled himself before answering. “Hello, my name is Grace.” Better to not overwhelm the guy too much with his full name. He had enough to worry about anyway. “I’m a friend of Adrian, the one you’ve been speaking to. What’s your name, if you don’t mind me asking.” He figured introductions were the best way to start this, ease the other human into it.
It was silent for a bit too long, to the point Grace was about to take back his question, thinking that the tiny guy really did mind. But before Grace could, a voice once again came through on the speakers. “S-Simon. My name is Simon.”
Grace sucked in a breath. He really hadn’t known what he had been expecting but the name was just so human. Normal. This really and truly was another human he was speaking with. One that, for some reason, just happened to be 5 inches tall.
“What’s going on? Where am I?” Simon asked and even through the computer Grace could tell his voice was strained. Grace bit his lip, trying to figure out how to explain, well, all of this.
“We found your sub in Erid’s orbit, that’s the planet we’re on right now, and so some Eridians went to go get you.” Grace paused, he already felt like he was doing a bad job of explaining. “Uhh…oh! Eridians are the intelligent life on this planet. They…basically look like sentient rock spiders.” He let out a little laugh. “I promise they don’t look as scary as that sounds.”
“Rocky and Mate Adrian not scary! Promise!” Rocky chimed in and Grace couldn’t help but chuckle at his best friend.
“We’re…on a planet?” The way Simon had said that had flags raising in Grace’s mind but he wasn’t sure why.
“Yeah, Erid. It’s in the 40 Eridani solar system, which is about…uh, 16.3 light years away from Earth.” Grace winced, wondering if he should have revealed that part. He wasn’t sure where Simon had come from or how he had gotten here but there was no way to predict how he would react to the realization that Earth was so far away.
Simon was silent again and Grace assumed he was processing everything. “Hey, I know that’s…a lot. But we’ll do our best to find you a way home, if that’s what you want.” The Eridians had already offered to send Grace back to Earth, which he had declined, so he was sure they could modify it so they could send Simon back home.
“I…I don’t-” Simon started but cut himself off. His voice was a bit off and the computer picked up on Simon breathing rather heavily.
“Simon?” Grace asked, hoping the little guy wasn’t about to have a panic attack. If he had one now, there wouldn’t be anything they could do to help.
“...I’m fine.” Simon said after a long moment. “I’m fine. I…why do you sound different than Adrian?” Simon asked suddenly, and it seemed like he really wanted to change the subject. Grace went along with it.
“Oh, I’m not an Eridian. I’m human. The first and only human on the planet Erid.” Grace paused. “Well, I guess I’m not the only one anymore.” The realization seemed to hit him again, that he was no longer alone as the only human, but much harder this time. So much so, tears started to well up in his eyes. He wiped them away before they could fall and before Rocky or Adrian could notice. It was just crazy to think that…that another human was within reach again.
He had long since accepted the fact he would never see another human again. He had been more than okay with it, even. He had Rocky and Adrian and all the other Eridians. He had more people who cared about him on Erid than he ever did back on Earth.
But suddenly, he was faced with another human, albeit one who was very small. But that didn’t change the fact that Grace…might not have been as okay as he had first thought.
That was something to think about at a later time though. Right now, there were more important things to worry about than some…minor realizations of his.
“A human and…Eridians. On a planet called Erid. Alright.” Simon really seemed to be processing everything now. His voice was thick with emotion. “Okay, this is all…okay.” The microphone picked up on some shuffling. “I’m-I’m choosing to believe all of this. I…you better all be…real.” His last sentence trailed off a bit, like he lost his nerve halfway through.
Grace knew it was a lot. He was just happy that Simon was willing to trust them on this. “We’re real. I promise.” He reassured him. “Okay, now that we’ve got all that cleared, how are you doing? Adrian said they saw you in some pain?” Grace kept his voice low.
“What? How did…how could they see that?” Simon asked, sounding like he was on the verge of panicking again. Grace was quick to explain.
“Eridians don’t see like humans do. They use a kind of echolocation, so…they can pretty much see through walls.” The lack of privacy had been something Grace had gotten accustomed to but he was hoping Simon wouldn’t mind.
“...Oh. Right. I…guess that makes sense?” He didn’t sound so sure but he continued. “I’m…pretty sure I got a concussion. And some bruises and scrapes as well.” Simon listed out his injuries, Grace taking a mental note.
“Okay, and uh…” Grace hesitated in asking but it needed to be asked. “What about your arm?”
“...Adrian can see that too?” Simon asked, though he sounded more resigned at this point.
“And Rocky!” Rocky chimed in, like he wanted to remind everyone he was still there. Adrian placed a claw on him and did the Eridian version of a gentle shush. The two had been pretty quiet up until this point. They probably knew how important it was for Simon to talk to someone human.
“Y-Yeah, they said you didn’t have one and that it appeared like you were in pain because of it?” It was obvious since Simon was coherent and talking that it wasn’t bothering Simon as much as having an arm freshly ripped off should have. Which meant it was probably a previous injury that still gave Simon a bit of trouble every now and again.
“...A little bit. It’s closed up though and it really just aches, so, it’s…probably fine.” His voice went close to a whisper at the last couple of words, the microphone barely picking it up. Grace blinked at Simon’s word choice, his earlier thoughts a bit scrambled.
“Is it a…recent injury?” Grace asked, even though that didn’t make any sense with it being closed up.
“Very recent.” Simon grunted out. “I don’t know what’s going on but…but somehow it’s closed up.”
Okay, forget everything Grace had thought before. This was just getting weirder and weirder.
He still had so many questions and he could have stood there all day asking Simon all about himself. Not just about his injuries but about how he had gotten into the sub in the first place, why it was welded shut, how was he so small-
But Grace’s thoughts were cut off by a sudden knock and Grace turned to face the clear xenonite wall. On the other side was Orion, who Grace was only now realizing never followed them into the room, and Tonk, who was holding something in their claws. “We procured a device to open the vessel!” Tonk said, lifting up the item in their hand. It was a power saw, or at least, the Eridian equivalent of one.
Right, first and foremost, they needed to get Simon out of that sub. Then they could properly check him out and get him healed. And then Grace could ask all of his burning questions.
Adrian perked up and started heading toward the airlock door. “Amaze! Adrian will go get. Grace and Mate Rocky keep tiny human Simon company. Will be back in 300 seconds.”
“Of course.” Grace said, watching as Adrian exited through the airlock.
“Uh, what was all that about?” Simon asked and Grace realized that the translator hadn’t picked up on Tonk’s words at all.
“Oh! Adrian is going to go get something to help, uh, get you out of there.” Grace bit his lip before he started to ask his too many questions. He’d have time for that later. “Just a warning though, Adrian said you were welded in there and the only way to get you out seems to be cutting the thing open.”
“Yeah, I figured.” Simon said. “I don’t really care what you have to do. I just want to get the f*** out of here.”
Grace was a bit startled by his language but didn’t comment on it. “We’ll get you out. I promise.” Grace was making a lot of promises today, it seemed. But he really did mean every single one.
“Rocky promise too! Tiny human Simon will be free and safe, safe, safe!” Rocky chirped from Grace’s side. Grace smiled and placed a hand on top of Rocky. He was thankful for the backup in reassuring Simon.
“...Thanks. Uh, about that though.” Simon started and Grace let out a small hum in question. “Why do Rocky and Adrian keep calling me tiny human?”
Grace blinked. Oh.
Oh, no.
“Uh, Simon? How tall are you?” Grace asked, hoping he was able to keep the growing panic out of his voice. Simon seemed confused, maybe a bit annoyed at Grace completely ignoring his question, but he answered.
“Like 5’ 10”?” Simon answered and Grace sucked in a breath, realization hitting him.
“Tiny human Simon lie. Simon only-” Grace cut Rocky off.
“Rocky! I don’t think-” It was then Grace’s turn to be cut off by Simon.
“I-I’m not lying! Why the f*** would I be lying about that?!” Simon said and Grace winced at his tone.
“I know you’re not!” Grace was quick to reassure. “I know you aren’t lying. Rocky didn’t mean it like that, it’s just…” He hesitated. “Uh, I don’t…really know how to tell you this.” Grace started, racking his brain for a way to ease this new information to Simon.
“What? What is it?” He sounded panicked again and Grace winced at the knowledge that it was his fault.
“Well…from our perspective your sub is maybe only a foot in size. Meaning you couldn’t be more than…5 inches tall…” He let his words hang in the air for a moment. “I mean, we haven’t properly measured you yet but that’s the estimate.”
Simon was silent for a long moment.
So long, in fact, that Grace was starting to worry.
“Simon?” Grace asked and that seemed to snap Simon out of it.
“...You’re really saying that…I’m…” Simon trailed off and Grace found himself nodding despite knowing Simon couldn’t see him.
“Yeah. I’m assuming this isn’t…normal? For you?” Grace asked.
“No, no it’s not.” He heard Simon groan through the speakers. “But none of this is f***ing normal, so…” Simon let out a shaky sigh. “How…how tall are you?”
Grace winced. “Uh, 6 foot.”
Simon was silent again.
“F***.” Simon’s voice was a bit muffled and Grace could just picture his head in his hands. “Okay, yeah, sure, why the f*** not! It wasn’t enough it had to take my arm but it had to f***ing shrink me to! That’s just…f***ing awesome.” His voice got so loud that Grace could almost hear it coming from the sub itself instead of the speakers. His voice waned at the end though, growing quiet.
“I’m sorry, Simon.” Grace didn’t know what else to say. He didn’t know what Simon’s been through but what Grace did know already wasn’t painting a pretty picture. Being welded into a ship, losing his arm, being shrunk…it was a lot. “I promise, we aren’t going to hurt you. And we’ll do our best to figure this out. There…there has to be a way to get you back to normal size.” Grace could figure it out, he had already figured out one almost impossible problem, what was one more?
“…Thank you.” Simon said after a moment and Grace smiled softly. They would figure it out.
“Adrian entering airlock now.” Rocky spoke up again and Grace could hear the hiss of the inside changing atmospheres.
“Right, once Adrian comes back in we’ll be sawing your sub open. We’ll be careful but it’s probably going to be a lot.” Grace wanted to prepare Simon as much as possible because the idea of a power saw bigger than his ship was no doubt terrifying. He took a step closer toward the sub, wanting to get a better look at it and maybe find a weaker point to start at.
His nose was immediately affronted with the smell of something metallic. His nose scrunched up in disgust but the smell was eerily familiar. It was then that Grace noticed the splatters of some sort of liquid all over the ship, something that Grace had thought was simply the paint job before he had gotten closer. It looked dried up and Grace almost reached out to scrape some off before he thought better of it. If he didn’t know any better, he would think it was blood.
Grace didn’t have time to think on that further though, as the airlock opened up again and Adrian came through with the power saw.
“Adrian back! Ready to open ship, question?” Adrian asked as the door shut behind them. Grace stood up straight, away from where he had been leaning a little too close to the sub.
“Simon? Are you ready?” This was affecting Simon the most, after all. He should get the say of when to start. Even if getting out as fast as possible was the best option for his health.
There was silence, but just for a moment.
“Let’s get this over with.” Simon said, sounding like he was gritting his teeth in preparation. Grace nodded, understanding that this was the kind of thing you couldn’t really prepare yourself for.
“Mate Rocky open ship.” Adrian said and Rocky scuttled over to them to take the power saw from Adrian’s claws. “Mate Rocky has steady hands. Simon safe with Rocky.”
“Yes, yes, yes! Rocky steady. No hurt Simon.” Rocky said as he fidgeted with the power saw. Grace assumed he was getting it to the correct settings.
The computer picked up on a low hum and Grace assumed it came from Simon.
“Alright, Rocky’s gonna cut near the middle, so try and move closer to the front of the sub, if you can.” Grace said, watching as Rocky set up near the table and carefully adjusted the sub so it was facing the right direction. “Let us know when you’re ready.”
There was some shuffling that the microphone picked up on before Simon’s voice came through again. “...Ready.” Simon said and Grace had to ignore the way he didn’t sound ready at all. But they had to do this. He gave Rocky a thumbs down and took a step back as the power saw came to life. Rocky started the incision into the ship and sparks flew as it sliced, the power saw easily cutting into the weaker metal.
It really brought attention to just how unsafe it was. Especially as something they had found in space.
Again, once everything was settled, Grace was going to have a lot of questions for Simon.
Before Grace knew it, the saw had completely cut through the ship and Rocky turned the saw off, stepping back. The sub, now in two halves, laid tilted at opposite angles but were otherwise steady. Grace moved closer and was hit with that same metallic smell as before but much stronger this time. Grace slapped a hand over his nose and had to swallow down a small gag as he moved closer to look inside the sub itself.
His eyes went wide as he realized that metallic smell really was blood.
It was hard to deny when the inside of the ship was absolutely dripping with the stuff. It was almost as if it was leaking right out of the walls and floors but that wasn’t possible, right?
Right?
But then how was there this much blood on both the inside and outside of Simon’s sub?
Speaking of Simon, a small bit of movement had Grace’s eyes leaving the blood and moving onto the small form huddled near the front of the sub.
Grace’s hand dropped away from his face in shock, no longer caring about the blood smell hitting his nose. His eyes went wide as he took Simon in. Look, it was one thing to know he was talking to someone so small. It was another thing entirely to actually see Simon there, all five or so inches of him, moving and breathing and just being alive. He met Simon’s eyes and felt guilty over how much fear was in them. It made sense, of course, but Grace still hated the idea of anyone being afraid of him.
“Simon?” Grace kept his voice low, trying not to scare Simon anymore than he already was. Simon’s chest seemed to pause when he spoke, before starting up again, moving up and down much faster than before. Grace winced. “It’s okay! It’s okay, remember, we aren’t going to hurt you.” Grace hoped the repeated reassurance would help. He couldn’t imagine what Simon must be going through right now, being faced with a giant.
Adrian took a step closer, startling both Grace and Simon as both of their gazes snapped over to them. Grace wasn’t actually sure how much of Adrian Simon could see but Adrian was taller than the table and he must have been able to see enough because Simon’s eyes somehow went even wider. “Is real. Simon is safe. Adrian Rocky Grace promise.” Adrian said and, surprisingly, Simon seemed to relax, just the tiniest bit.
He took in a deep breath and Grace’s gaze fell back on him. “...Okay, just…give me a second.” Simon rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m…processing.”
Grace nodded. “Take all the time you need.” As he let Simon do that, Grace took the opportunity to look around the sub a bit more. It was a bit hard to see without leaning in closer but Grace didn’t want to startle Simon, so he kept his distance for the moment. His eyes fell back on all the blood but he forced himself to look at the other aspects of the sub itself.
He noticed that Simon seemed to be leaning against a console, one that he assumed was used to steer the sub. On the opposite end, and in the other half of the broken sub, there was a small, albeit busted, computer in the corner and a button that was just in the middle of the wall. There was also some sort of screen on that side but it was currently blank.
Most things in the sub were off, which made sense considering Rocky had sawed the thing in half. But there was still one light left on. A little green one in a strip where at the top it said O2. Oxygen. And Simon had only had one bar left.
Grace bit his lip as other worrying things became apparent the longer he looked. Like the lack of food, water, or other necessary supplies. The sub itself was pretty barren and busted up, not to mention again, all the blood. Combining that with the fact that the sub had been welded shut, well…
“Alright.” A tiny voice sighed and Grace honed back in on Simon, who was using the broken chair in order to help himself stand. Grace took in Simon completely, noticing his tattered clothes that, like the rest of the ship, was also covered in blood. But, Grace was quick to notice, the blood was mostly all on Simon’s left side.
The side where his arm was missing.
“Simon okay now, question?” Rocky asked, taking the initiative this time and startling Grace out of his observations.
“Uh, no, not really.” Simon gripped what was left of his left arm. “But, again, I’m choosing to believe this and all of you so…yeah.” He looked up and met Grace’s eyes. “And I really just want to get the f*** out of this ship.”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s completely fair.” Grace also wanted him out of that blood soaked sub as soon as possible. It couldn’t be good for him to be surrounded by so much blood. Grace’s hand twitched and he realized there was only one real way to get Simon out. “Uh, can I…offer you a hand?” He asked, hesitant.
Simon seemed to get what he meant immediately and his gaze snapped toward his hands. Grace suddenly felt really self-conscious.
“I, um…” Simon tore his gaze away, looking at nothing. His eyes closed for a second and then they were back on Grace as they opened again. “Yeah.”
Grace nodded and went slow, knowing how much trust Simon was giving him to do this. He let his open hand hover outside of the big hole in the sub. He really should be wearing gloves for this but Grace figured if he didn’t touch anything in the sub, and washed his hands afterwards, he’d be fine.
He waited patiently with his palm up for Simon to initiate the contact. He didn’t want to grab him or restrain him, so he decided this was for the best. Simon looked at the offered hand, his eyes darting back and forth between it and Grace’s eyes. Grace smiled reassuringly. “It’s alright, I’ll be careful.” He said and Simon seemed to pause for a moment before giving a firm nod.
Grace held his breath as Simon reached out with his one arm and, oh so carefully, made contact with his finger.
The touch was feather-light. Grace could barely even feel it but that didn’t negate the warmth he felt at the contact. Simon seemed to feel it too, because he looked as frozen in awe as Grace himself felt. Grace offered him a smile and Simon’s lips started to quirk up in response.
And then something stabbed at Grace’s finger.
“Ow! What-?” Grace tried to snap his hand back on reflex but found he couldn’t move. His eyes widened as he watched Simon also try and take his hand back, but for some reason, his hand stayed firmly on Grace’s finger.
Something red connected them, a line that came from Simon and had embedded itself into Grace’s finger. It was hard to see but Grace swore he saw it moving. Simon was looking at it too, face ashen.
“Grace okay, question!?” Rocky yelled, coming up next to Grace. Grace wanted to answer but he wasn’t even sure what his answer would be.
“I-I can’t-” Grace tried, still pulling at his whole arm in order to take his hand back, but whatever had him wasn’t letting up. “Simon?”
Simon looked horrified, more scared than he had been when seeing Grace for the first time. Grace didn’t know what was happening but Simon’s expression was only making Grace panic more.
There was another stabbing pain in his finger and the red disappeared. But before Grace or Simon could react to try and separate again, there was a very sudden flash of red taking up his whole vision.
Grace felt himself being thrown backwards, hitting the wall hard and crumpling to the floor in a heap, his entire body tingling with sharp pain.
The last thing he heard before fully losing consciousness was Rocky crying out his name.
Quick update, chapter 3 of My Miracle, Your Curse is done! And quite a long one too, sitting at 5200 words.
The plan is still to post it on Wednesday, even though I am really excited to share it lol. But I want to try and get some good progress on chapter 4 before posting, so I have to hold myself back.
I am really excited for this chapter and the next one. It'll be apparent why once you see what happens but oh boy it's gonna be good.
Summary: Simon finds himself alive, missing an arm, and still on the sub. But outside of his prison is music and a voice promising him safety. Despite himself, he decides to believe it.
Or; Simon ends up on Erid, somehow only 5 inches tall.
Warnings: Mentions of blood, injury, and death
Word Count: 2217
Part 1 | AO3 Link
Bonus chapter! Bonus chapter! I've made some great progress on chapter three, so I decided to post chapter two a bit early. We're still setting up this chapter but it's all gonna be worth it.
The prompt I used for this chapter was promise. I hope you guys enjoy!
Adrian waited, maybe not so patiently, at the base of the space elevator. They paced back and forth and clawed at the ground, stopping the motion as soon as they realized they were doing it. Great, they had left some marks in the ground. Adrian made a mental note to fix it and then placed the mental note in the far reaches of their mind, because right now there were more important things to worry about.
Adrian hadn’t really known what to expect when their radars had picked up on something entering Erid’s orbit. At first, they had thought it was a simple asteroid, a piece of space rock that had broken off of a much bigger moon some light years away. They had even considered that it could have been a part of Grace’s ship, a small bit of debris that they had somehow missed.
But the readings had been weird and so Adrian made the call to send up two Eridians in order to obtain it.
Tonk and Orion had been chosen, having been a part of the original team that had met up with Grace and Rocky when they had first arrived many years ago. It had certainly been a while since they’d had to use the space elevator again but Adrian couldn’t help but feel like this was important.
The readings were eerily similar to the ones that had picked up Grace’s ship.
Adrian didn’t know what that meant but they didn’t want to leave the thing up there and never find out. So the space elevator was turned on once again and prepared for use. And now Adrian just had to wait for their space team to return with what was hopefully nothing.
Adrian had a sinking feeling that it was nowhere near nothing.
The sound of the elevator whirring to life had Adrian at full attention again. They listened as Tonk and Orion grew closer, coming back down the elevator. As the doors opened up, panicked notes hit Adrian at full force.
“Adrian! Adrian, it’s a vessel!” Tonk was flailing a bit, two arms waving in the air.
“There’s something alive inside, we can hear the heartbeat!” Orion was the one holding the vessel, being delicate with his hold and barely moving despite the way he sounded.
Adrian was taken aback by the sudden onslaught and it took a moment longer for them to really process what they were saying. “What? A heartbeat?” Was the thing Adrian decided to focus on. The two moved their carapaces in a quick nodding motion, though Orion’s was still more subdued.
“Listen, listen!” Tonk said and Adrian did just that, honing in on the vessel and listening inside.
There was, indeed, a heartbeat, and breathing, and movement. The noises the creature was making painted a picture that Adrian wasn’t sure they even believed. But there it was, right in front of them.
“It looks like Grace.” Adrian said their realization out loud and the two other Eridians nodded sharply.
It was a human.
A tiny human, only 5 inches tall, though that was just an estimate. Grace had never mentioned anything about humans coming that small, but it was hard to deny that everything else about them screamed human.
“We need to get them to the right atmosphere.” Adrian held out their arms and Orion handed over the vessel as gently as they could. “Prepare Grace’s old room.” The two Eridians nodded and quickly went off to do just that. Meanwhile, Adrian was as careful as they could be, holding onto the small human vessel, as they made their way toward the airlock that led to Grace’s old room.
It was the room Grace had stayed in when he had first landed, so not only was it fitted with a human atmosphere but a bed, table, and some other things that made Grace feel more at home while he had been cooped up inside. When Grace’s biodome had been completed, they had decided to keep the room running, just in case.
Adrian was glad for that foresight now. They set down the vessel to quickly get into their xenonite suit, before picking it back up and moving through the airlock. Once Adrian was actually inside the room, they placed the vessel onto the table. They tried to be as careful as possible, but the tiny human inside seemed to have been caught off guard by the movement still. Thankfully, they hadn’t fallen.
Adrian scanned the rest of the vessel, looking at the thing more clearly. It seemed bulky and bare, made from a weaker metal than Grace’s ship. It didn’t appear to be made for space travel…which only raised more questions, considering they found the thing in space. But, maybe most importantly, as Adrian was quick to take notice, there didn’t appear to be a way in or out of the thing. It seemed welded shut.
How was the human meant to get out of a welded shut ship?
Adrian decided to tuck that question away for later, knowing they weren’t going to like the answer. They focused back on the human, taking a closer look at them. They really did look like Grace, though Adrian noted the lack of noise coming from their left side. It took them a moment to realize it was due to the fact that they didn’t have a left limb.
The human inside winced and grabbed at their lack of arm and Adrian realized how serious this had just become. They needed to get them out of there. “We need a way into the vessel.” Adrian said, focusing their notes toward the Eridians on the other side of the xenonite wall. “The human appears injured, we need to get them out as soon as we can.”
Tonk and Orion noted that they heard and Adrian listened as Tonk ran off in order to find a solution. Orion stayed behind to continue monitoring the room. Knowing that was now being taken care of, Adrian listened back into the ship, only to let out a sharp tune when they realized the human was no longer moving but pressed up against the side of the ship. “Hello? Tiny human?” Adrian tried to ask before realizing that the human inside probably wouldn’t be able to understand.
They needed Grace’s old translator and, thankfully, the computer had been left within this very room. Adrian grabbed it off the top of the bed and brought it closer to the table. They set it up and pressed the spacebar to activate it. “Hello, tiny human alright, question?” Adrian made sure to speak slowly and simply. They wanted to give every chance to this tiny human to understand them.
“H-Hello?” A voice, one similar to Grace’s, spoke up within the ship. Adrian perked up at the sound of their voice and even more so when they saw that the tiny human was moving again. Though they seemed a bit startled.
“Yes, yes, yes! Hello! Tiny human alright, question?” Adrian waited, listening closely. They needed to know the extent of the human’s injuries, to help as best as they could. But they weren’t expecting what they heard next.
“Is…Is this real?” The voice was quiet, soft and broken and Adrian realized a few things all at once.
“...Yes. Is real.” Adrian said, keeping their tones low, thankful the translator picked up on it and did the same. They tapped their claw against the ground in thought.
“Promise?” The human’s voice shattered Adrian’s hearts.
“Adrian promise. Adrian is real. Tiny human safe. Promise.” Adrian was quick to reassure. And then the tiny human started to cry, leaking water from their eyes just like they had seen Grace do many times. But it was unlike anything Adrian had ever heard from Grace. This tiny human was sobbing so hard that Adrian feared for their health even more.
Adrian, despite having spent plenty of time with Grace, felt ill-equipped to help. They needed experts and Adrian knew exactly who to call for. They paused the translator. “Orion, go get Grace and Rocky.” Adrian looked into the ship, where the human was still crying. “As fast as you can, please.”
As Orion was quick to follow the order, Adrian felt themselves crumble, just a bit. They reached over and turned back on the translator. “Adrian promise. Tiny human safe.” They repeated. “Friends coming soon to help.”
Adrian didn’t know if the human inside the ship was listening anymore, or could even hear them with their crying, but Adrian hoped their words brought them some comfort at the very least.
All Adrian could do now was sit and wait for Grace and Rocky to show.
***
Grace smiled, content, as he watched the simulated waves. The Eridians were getting much better at replicating the actual ocean. Grace could barely tell the difference now, though the differences he did notice he never mentioned. He liked that he could tell it wasn’t quite the same, he liked the reminder that he wasn’t on Earth.
Grace reached over towards the small wicker basket and grabbed for one of his ‘me-burgers’. He found it funny how the Eridians who brought him his food continued to wrap them up like a hamburger from McDonalds. Grace never said anything about that either. He peeled back the wrapper and took a bite. It wasn’t quite the same as an actual hamburger, the meat tasted more like pork than beef, but it was still good.
Grace just tried not to think too much about the ‘me’ part of it all.
“Watching you eat is so disgusting.” Rocky sang from next to him. Grace turned away from the water and towards his best friend, who was curled up on top of the blanket they had set up on the sand. Grace laughed.
“We’re having a picnic, Rock. You knew what you were getting yourself into.” Grace said and then pointedly took another bite. Rocky shivered and made a series of notes in disgust.
“That doesn’t make you eating any less gross!” Rocky huffed. Grace laughed again. They’d had this conversation more times than he could count at this point. He knew Rocky wasn’t all that serious, otherwise he wouldn’t look so relaxed. In fact, Grace had it on good authority that Rocky actually liked watching him eat. It stemmed from when Grace had almost starved to death when they had first arrived on Erid.
Grace took another bite but Rocky didn’t say anything about it again.
As Grace finished up he stood and stretched and watched from the corner of his eye as Rocky did the same. “Hmm…wanna play some chess?” Grace asked, looking down at Rocky.
“Yes, I would love to beat you for the 56th time in a row.” Rocky’s notes held amusement and Grace rolled his eyes. He bent down and gathered up the blanket.
“Hey, I was pretty close last time!” Grace tried to argue his case as he and Rocky walked side by side towards Grace’s house.
“No you weren’t.” Rocky’s straight-forward tone had Grace laughing again.
He hadn’t known, while back on Earth, that anyone could be this happy. He surely never thought he would be, especially when he had woken up alone on the Hail Mary 8 years ago. But living here, on Erid and with his best friend, Grace couldn’t be happier with how his life had turned out. He wouldn’t trade it for anything.
“Oh, Orion is here.” Rocky suddenly said and Grace paused and looked behind him. Sure enough, Orion, named for their black color with dots of white that vaguely reminded Grace of the Orion constellation, was making his way down the beach and towards them.
“Hey Orion.” Grace greeted as he finally reached them.
“Grace, Rocky, I need you to come with me right now!” The panicked notes immediately put both Grace and Rocky on edge.
“What? What’s going on?” Grace asked, setting the blanket down by his stairs.
Orion fidgeted with his claws. “Our radars picked up on something in our orbit. Adrian ordered for us to go and retrieve it and…” Their melody trailed off for a moment.
“And?” Rocky asked with two urgent stomps.
“And it was a ship.” Orion sang. Grace felt like his heart stopped at that moment.
“A…ship?” Grace felt his breathing pick up at the thought. “What kind of ship?”
“Not sure. It doesn’t seem like a ship built for space but…there was someone inside. A human.” Orion’s notes were quieter at the reveal and Grace suddenly felt dizzy.
He hadn’t realized he had collapsed onto the sand until he heard Rocky yell his name. “Grace! Are you okay?” Rocky came over and Grace put a hand on him. Even through the xenonite suit, Rocky’s touch was a comfort.
“I-I don’t know.” His eyes went from the sand back up to look at Orion. “It’s really a…human?”
Orion let out a low hum. “Yes, they look like Grace. But they are…tiny.”
Grace’s eyes went even wider. “They’re a child?!” Grace immediately shot up, startling Rocky a bit.
“No, no! At least, we don’t think so. No, they are only 5 inches tall, at estimate.” Orion explained quickly at seeing Grace’s reaction.
Grace’s mind blanked for an entirely different reason this time.
Summary: Ryland and Colt Grace are borrowers, though Colt is really the only one who does the actual borrowing. A few weeks into living in their new home, Colt convinces Ryland to come with him for a quick borrowing trip.
But then Colt's string snapped as he was climbing.
Ryland heard the crack of bones breaking.
And then the human came home.
Warnings: Injury, death mention but no death, broken bones, and fear
Word Count: 2737
AO3 Link
I am so excited to share my Coltland twins borrower au with all of you! I love the Coltland twins and they are so fun to write as borrowers. I hope you guys all like it!
I used the prompt free fall to inspire this chapter, of course. I also took some liberties with Tom's home layout and such. Just to let you guys know lol.
“Come on, Ry!” Colt did not whine, thank you very much. He just raised the pitch of his voice a bit to really drive home how much he wanted Ryland to do this. “The human isn’t home, it’s a calm morning, and I only need to grab, like, two things. It’s the perfect opportunity for you to come with me!”
Ryland groaned and ran a hand over his face. The two of them had been going back and forth on this for the last hour now and Colt really wasn’t letting up this time. And, unfortunately for Ryland, the constant asking was starting to work.
The thing was, Ryland Grace was not a borrower. Or, well, no, he was a borrower, obviously, but he wasn’t actually one who went out and did the borrowing. He never was. When their dad took him and Colt out on their first borrowing trip when they were 12, Colt had taken to it like a moth to a flame. He had loved using his hook and string to climb, loved swinging around and making big jumps, and loved the fact that he could finally help provide for his family.
Ryland on the other hand, had been terrified the whole time. He was constantly on edge and skittish, looking around and just waiting for one of the humans to appear. It was good to be cautious, his dad had said, but not to the point where it hindered the actual borrowing itself. So, while Colt had continued to go with their dad on borrowing trips, Ryland had stayed behind with their mom and learned how to make things out of the stuff Colt and their dad brought home.
It worked out well, especially when the two headed off on their own. They made a great team, Colt borrowing everything they needed and Ryland making use out of them.
But Colt was always trying to get Ryland back out there, at least once or twice, just to experience the thrill. And probably to show off his own skills.
“Also, we’ve only been here a couple of weeks, you really should get a lay of the land. Just in case anything happens.” Colt said, finally pushing that last little bit that had Ryland slumping in defeat.
“Alright, okay! I’ll go with you today. But just today!” Ryland added on before Colt got too excited. But Colt was already pumping his fist into the air.
“Yes! I’ll go grab my spare borrowing gear. Get ready, we gotta head out soon.” Colt said and then headed into another room to do just as he said. Ryland watched him go, a small smile on his face. He couldn’t be too upset if going out made Colt this happy.
When Colt said soon, he really did mean soon. It was only minutes later that they were heading down the tunnels. Ryland was still messing with the borrowing bag, trying to make it rest at his side in a way that didn’t feel like it was in the way. “If you keep messing with it, it’s never going to adjust.” Colt teased, falling into pace with Ryland.
Ryland sighed but left it, hanging onto the strap instead, similar to how Colt was doing so. “These tunnels are long.” Ryland had noticed when they had first arrived at this place. But he didn’t quite know to what scale the home was actually at. Colt was the one who had actually looked around the place and told Ryland it was perfect. He trusted Colt enough to make the right call about it.
“Just wait until you see the actual loft.” Colt said, stopping at a seemingly random part of the wall. But looking a bit closer, Ryland could make out the frame of an entrance. “It’s huge. I honestly don’t know why one human needs so much space, especially one who’s barely home, but whatever. Better for us, anyway.” Colt pushed at the wall to open the little makeshift door a crack, taking the precaution and looking around, just in case. Ryland was glad to see he was still being careful.
A moment later Colt was nodding to himself and pushing the door all the way open. He stepped back, allowing Ryland to go first. Ryland hesitated a moment, but again, he trusted his brother’s judgement. He steeled himself and walked through the door.
Ryland couldn’t help but stop and stare at the expanse of space around them. The house was huge. Bigger than he had ever seen. The exit out of the walls had led them to a high shelf in the midst of the living room area. There were a lot of things on display too, so much so that Ryland felt surrounded by it. And then, beyond the shelves they were on, was just so much more space, it was hard to believe this place was even real.
“I told you.” Colt said, coming up to stand next to him.
Ryland wasn’t even sure how Colt managed to navigate somewhere this big, but he was sure he was about to find out. He turned to Colt but something else caught his attention. Colors, and lots of them, all over the walls. Ryland blinked. “Are those…post-it notes?” He asked, trying to get a better look at them. Despite how far away they were, it seemed like all the notes had at least something written on it.
Colt followed Ryland’s gaze. “Oh, yeah, the human is weird. He’s always leaving himself some sort of note.” Colt shrugged and waved it off. “It’s not too important. What is important is getting to the kitchen.” Colt turned around and headed back into the walls, Ryland followed despite his confusion.
“Wait, we’re going back into the walls? What was the point of coming out this way then?” Ryland asked, making sure the door was closed behind them.
“So you could get a feel for the overall layout. You can’t really see any of the living room from the kitchen.” Colt answered, starting down the tunnel once again. Ryland followed, he supposed that made sense.
“Do you ever even use that entrance? It doesn’t seem like you can get anything good from there.” Ryland remembered how high up they were on the shelf and also how everything up on said shelf was much too important, and much too big, to borrow.
“I use that entrance all the time! You’d be surprised how much stuff the human leaves just lying around.” Colt said and then proceeded to list them out. Of course Ryland remembered most everything Colt brought back home with him. He had no idea he had gotten that battery because the human had left it on that same shelf they were on and, after a few days, never bothered with it again. So, Colt had taken it and it was currently being used to power some low-energy lights they had brought with them from their old home.
The walk this time was a lot longer and there were a few inclines that had Ryland feeling like they were going up a floor. But that didn’t make much sense, wasn’t the kitchen on the bottom floor? He got his answer when they finally made it to where Colt wanted to go. He opened the door, not even bothering to look first. Ryland was about to say something until he saw where they had ended up.
They were on top of the cabinets in the kitchen. From where they were, way back against the wall, Ryland could barely make out any part of the kitchen itself. So, it stood to reason, no one would be able to see them from up here, not until they got a lot closer to the edge, anyway.
“There is no way this is the best way to get to the kitchen.” Ryland said instead, following Colt as he was already moving toward the edge. Ryland slowed down a bit, not moving as close as Colt was. The sight was making him a bit sick.
“It is, actually.” Colt said, starting to unfurl his hook and jam it into the wood of the cabinet. Ryland could see marks there from when Colt had made this trip previously. “I tried finding a way to get me right on the counter, just like our last place, but it’s full of wires and plugs and way too much tech for it to be a safe passage.”
“Huh. This guy must have a lot of money.” A futuristic kitchen, a mansion for a home, and the excessive use of post-it notes was a large tell of that.
Colt scoffed. “You have no idea.” He said it in a way like he knew for sure. That didn’t make a lot of sense though. But before Ryland could ask about it, Colt took a step back. The hook was firmly in the wood and the string was hanging down. Ryland took a careful step forward, just enough to see the string reach all the way to the counter.
He turned to Colt. “You really don’t expect me to go down there, right?” Just looking down that far was making his knees feel weak.
Colt rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe you’re scared of heights, as a borrower! You know how ridiculous that sounds, right?” Colt asked, and yes, Ryland was very much aware of that. But there was also an important distinction to make.
“I’m not scared of heights. I’m scared of falling.”
Colt stared at him. “It’s the same thing.”
“No, it’s not!” Ryland argued. Colt let out a small laugh, this was not the first time they’d had this conversation, and shook his head.
“Alright, if it makes you feel better, I’ll go first.” Colt reached down, getting a good grip on the string as Ryland stood there.
“It really doesn’t.” Ryland watched as Colt waved him off with a free hand before that same hand was gripping the string again. He climbed over the edge of the cabinet and was now in the position to start moving down. He looked up at his twin.
“I’ll be fine, I do this like, every other day. It’s no big deal.” Colt reassured before he started down. Ryland bit his lip. The fact that Colt did this so often was a bit reassuring, but Ryland would still be worried until Colt actually reached the bottom.
Ryland stood on the edge of the cabinet, fidgeting with the handle of his bag as he watched Colt’s slow descent. It really was a long way down but at least Colt wasn’t rushing down all willy-nilly.
A small sound caught Ryland’s attention in that moment though and his eyes focused on the string rather than his brother. He didn’t see anything at first and almost waved off the sound. Until he heard it again and this time, he saw the source.
His blood ran cold.
Some ways down, but already above where Colt was still climbing, the string was beginning to tear. The sound Ryland was hearing was the faint sound of individual threads snapping apart. Slowly at first but quickly picking up speed.
And Colt wasn’t even halfway down yet.
“Colt! Colt, the string!” Ryland yelled, not knowing what else to do, knowing there was nothing he could do.
“What?” Colt looked up but it was in that moment that the last thread of string snapped.
And then there was a scream, Colt’s or his own he didn’t know, and then Colt was falling and falling and falling-
And then Ryland heard a crack followed quickly by deafening silence.
“Colt!” Ryland screamed again and quickly dug through his bag for the other hook and string, trying desperately to keep his tears at bay and doing a terrible job of it. He wasted no time in jamming the hook into the cabinet and sending the string flying down. He didn’t even let it settle before he was climbing down, much faster than Colt had done so, but Ryland couldn’t find it in himself to care.
“Colt!” Ryland yelled again as he reached the bottom. He left the string hanging there and ran to his brother’s side, kneeling down and quickly feeling for his pulse.
There was one, faint but there. Ryland let out a small sigh of relief, his brother was still alive but his relief was short-lived as he took in the state Colt was in. He still wasn’t moving, Ryland’s hands hovered over him but he dared not to touch him again. He had heard the crack, he knew what that meant.
Colt had broken something.
And by the looks of things, he had broken his back.
Ryland felt like crying. He already was and it still didn’t feel like enough. His back. His back. Ryland didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t move him like this, not without making things far worse. He couldn’t fix him because Ryland didn’t even know where to start. And even if he did, there was no way they had the resources to fix something like this.
He choked back a sob as he realized there was nothing he could do.
Except, it was at that moment, from the other room came the noise of the front door. There was the sound of muttering, but nothing Ryland could actually make out. But that didn’t matter, what mattered was that the human was home.
Ryland looked down at Colt, his mind racing.
It was a bad idea. A horrible idea, really. But, if Ryland was being honest, he had already made up his mind the second he realized the human was home. There was one thing he could do to help Colt. It was stupid and could just end with them both getting killed but it was their only chance. It was Colt’s only chance to actually survive this.
The answer was clear.
“Help! Help me, please!” Ryland yelled as loud as he could, making sure he would be heard even from the other room.
There was a sound from the other room, like something had fallen, followed quickly by a loud voice. “What the hell!?” Ryland’s heartbeat kicked into overdrive as the human ran into the room…with what appeared to be a sword in his hand???
“Who the hell-!?” The human cut himself off as his eyes honed in on Ryland’s form. He watched as the human’s eyes went from Ryland to Colt and back to Ryland. Slowly, he lowered the sword. “What the f***?” The human said, a bit more subdued this time.
This was a lot, Ryland almost felt frozen where he was still kneeled at Colt’s side. Having the human’s gaze on him was even more terrifying than he had ever imagined. But he had to do this, he had to save Colt. He took in a shaky breath. “Please.” Ryland winced as his voice cracked. “Help him. He’s…he fell. And his back…” Ryland trailed off. He couldn’t even complete a sentence. He wasn’t sure if it was due to the human watching him or his despair at Colt’s condition. Probably both.
The human looked between the two of them again, eyebrows furrowed. And then he spoke. “What’s in it for me?”
Ryland’s breath hitched. “What?” His voice cracked again.
The human raised an eyebrow. “What’s in it for me?” He simply repeated and Ryland knew he was breathing much too fast now.
The human wanted something from them. He wouldn’t help otherwise it seemed. But what could Ryland promise? What did he have that the human didn’t? “A-Anything.” He blurted out, not knowing what else to say.
Both of the human’s eyebrows raised up this time. “Anything?”
Ryland nodded rapidly. Anything, anything to save Colt. “Yes, anything, just please-” The human raised a hand, cutting Ryland off. He watched with wide eyes as the human dug into his pocket and grabbed his phone. He tapped on it a couple of times and then brought it to his ear. He didn’t take his eyes off Ryland the entire time.
“Gail? I need a doctor who won’t ask any questions. One who deals with broken bones and…precision.” He said into the phone. Ryland felt like he was holding his breath as a faint voice on the other end said something. “Perfect. Send them to my place.”
The voice said something else and the human made eye contact with Ryland. Ryland couldn’t help but tense up. “...I’ll tell you later. Just get that doctor here. Now.”
Summary: Simon finds himself alive, missing an arm, and still on the sub. But outside of his prison is music and a voice promising him safety. Despite himself, he decides to believe it.
Or; Simon ends up on Erid, somehow only 5 inches tall.
Warnings: Mentions of blood, injury, and death
Word Count: 1349
AO3 Link
It's finally time! Gtjuly is finally here! This is the first chapter of my bloodymary g/t fic, which I am very excited about. It's a bit of a short one but the coming chapters will be longer.
I used the day 9 prompt Miracle as inspiration for this chapter! So I hope you all enjoy!
He hadn’t expected to wake up again, when blood had filled the sub so completely and he was forced to rip his own arm off, he thought that had been it. He hadn’t wanted to go, of course, he had wanted to live. But by the end, he had more or less accepted his fate. Accepted the fact that the blood ocean was going to take him.
So waking up almost felt more like a dream than real life.
He felt himself breathing. He could feel his heart beat in his chest. He didn’t want to open his eyes though. It could be another trick. He didn’t want to open his eyes and see red. Or…or nothing at all.
But eventually, Simon’s need to know for sure won and slowly, he peeled his eyes open.
He was on the sub.
Simon blinked, swallowing thickly as his eyes scanned the small space. It wasn’t filled with blood and those weird…growths? Tendrils? Whatever they had been, those were gone too. But the damage to the sub was still very much there. The radio was busted and dripped with leftover blood, the window was still cracked, the chair was basically folded in half…
But it was all still there.
Simon used the wall behind him and stood on shaky legs. He groaned as his head throbbed and lifted a hand to rub at it. He glanced over at the wall and, somehow, the last light for his oxygen was still on.
Nothing was making sense.
Was everything that had happened to him some hallucination? Had any of that been real? Was this real? Simon groaned again as another throb of pain flared up, but this time it came from his left shoulder. He looked down at it.
His left arm was gone.
Simon’s breathing became erratic as he clutched at where his arm used to be. It throbbed but it wasn’t bleeding. It seemed closed up but Simon was more worried about the fact that his arm was gone in the first place. What was going on? If his arm was gone then everything that Simon remembered had actually happened. But if that was the case, how was he still alive?
Simon didn’t have much time to think about that though as the ship suddenly lurched. Simon stumbled, clinging to one of the pipes so he didn’t fall over. He just barely managed to keep himself up right but now his thoughts were on what that was.
Was he still in the blood ocean? Was that…creature back? Simon ran over to the camera button and pressed it.
Nothing happened.
Simon blinked and pressed it again. And again. And again and again and again-
He hit the button hard when he came to the realization that it was broken, slamming his fist into it several times. His breathing was still coming out heavier than normal and in the back of his mind he knew he should be trying to be breathing less, to save his oxygen, but he couldn’t stop. How was he supposed to navigate if he didn’t have his f****** camera?
He turned back around and went over to his controls. The entire console was dead, not a single green number or red light turned on. No matter how many times he thrusted the handle forward or turned the dial. He really was completely screwed.
The ship lurched again and Simon hung on tight with his one remaining hand on the console in order to keep himself steady. The movement almost had him slamming his head right into it but he just managed to stop himself from furthering the concussion he was sure he already had. His eyes darted around the dark sub, wondering what he could do, wondering if there was even anything left he could try.
He had somehow gotten another chance. And he desperately wanted to live.
Simon turned around and once again looked over the entirety of the sub. He tried to think but his head was still throbbing, making it a difficult thing to do. The only sound he could hear was the beating of his own heart, his quick breathing, and…
And…
Music?
Simon blinked, straining his ears. He had to be hearing things, there was no way he was hearing music of all things. That was impossible, that was crazy-
He heard it again, a string of notes, a melody, distant but there.
Simon glanced over at his radio but it wasn’t coming from there, the thing was still busted and the light remained firmly off. But if it wasn’t coming from his radio, then where was it coming from?
Was it…coming from outside?
Simon carefully walked over to one of the walls and shakily placed his ear to it, listening. It was hard to make out from the thick layers of the sub but the music was a bit more clear like this. And it definitely was music. Not any kind that Simon was used to, it seemed to flow and stop in strange ways but it was, undoubtedly, music.
Simon stayed like that for a moment, just listening to the tune. His eyes welled with tears as he just took a moment to be.
How long had it been since he had simply rested?
The music turned a bit sharper, a bit faster and there were other noises that followed. It sounded like strange thuds, a lot of them in quick succession. It almost sounded familiar and Simon racked his brain for what it reminded him of. Footsteps? But of someone with more than two legs, like some sort of animal. Or maybe a group of people? But it was also too heavy to be footsteps. They fell hard against the earth and, with him up against the ship like he was, Simon could feel the slight shake of the sub in tune to each thud.
But if they weren’t footsteps, then what were they?
Simon didn’t have the chance to think more on that as another sound cut through the music and thuds. Something that caused him to jump up, his eyes snapping open.
A voice.
“Hello, tiny human alright, question?” The voice said in a strange tone. Simon’s breathing once again became erratic and he snapped his head over to the radio. But the voice hadn’t come from there, it had come from outside the sub.
“H-Hello?” Simon croaked out, his voice barely above a whisper. His throat hurt, probably from him coughing up blood earlier. He was worried the voice wouldn’t be able to hear him but he was proven wrong.
“Yes, yes, yes! Hello! Tiny human alright, question?” The voice repeated and Simon blinked, finally processing exactly what the voice was saying. Tiny human? What? He shook his head, now was not the time to be focused on the voice’s choice of words.
“Is…Is this real?” Simon asked instead of answering. He needed to know, he desperately needed the voice to be real and not a hallucination or-or a trick from that creature.
The voice was silent for a moment and Simon pushed his ear back against the wall in order to hear better. “...Yes. Is real.” The voice was slower now.
Simon’s cheeks felt wet. “Promise?” Simon’s voice broke on the word. He needed this, he needed the confirmation.
“Adrian promise. Adrian is real. Tiny human safe. Promise.” The voice, Adrian, said and Simon finally broke down, silent sobs making his shoulders shake. He was still leaning against the side of the sub as he curled in on himself and cried.
Some part of him told him this could still be a trick. That Simon was dead or close to it. That he was still in that blood ocean and the creature had him in its grasp and was toying with him.
But Simon wanted this to be real so bad. He held onto the voice, to the promise it made, and felt his chest fill up with hope once again.
Alright, since gtjuly starts tomorrow, here is my upload schedule for it!
I, unfortunately, wasn't able to get to all the prompts but that's mostly because the prompts I did write for ended up being longer than I originally planned. Since I was basically picking and choosing prompts to do, and both of the multi-chapters fics I decided to do don't have the prompts in order, I decided to post a bit differently this year.
So! Instead of posting every day, I will be posting 3 days a week for the entire month of July! Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!
Monday - A oneshot
Wednesday - Bloodymary g/t au
Friday - Coltland twins borrower au
There may also be some bonus updates as well depending on how writing continues to go for me in the month of July itself.
So July 1st we start off with the first chapter of my Bloodymary g/t au! I'm very excited to share all these fics with you and I hope you guys like them!
Not sure if any official prompts will be released this year but regardless if they are or not, here are some prompts for you all to enjoy! Can't wait to see what everyone makes with them!
Since gtjuly is right around the corner I thought it was about time to do this again! So please send me a word and I'll respond with a sentence that it appears in!
Just like before, if your ask doesn't get answered, either it was a double with someone else's or the word didn't appear in any wips. Just thought it would be easier to not answer them if that's the case.
are the g/t july stories you’re doing going to be for multiple fandoms or just bloody mary?
They are all Project Hail Mary related, except for one but that's a fic I wrote a while ago and just never posted for Hermitcraft.
I basically have two multi-chapter fics that have come out of these prompts, one of them is bloodymary and the other is a coltland twins borrower au with mostly people from The Fall Guy. I am...pretty much all in on PHM at the moment lol. Hopefully you guys like them, I'm very excited to post them!
