Psalms 144:1-2 There is only one strong, safe, and secure place for me; it’s in God alone who gives me strength for the battle. He’s my shelter of love and my fortress of faith, who wraps himself around me as a secure shield. I hide myself in this one who subdues enemies before me.
Get A Kingdom Perspective
Don’t quit. You are seeing things through the eyes of a worldly viewpoint. God is right…
Warnings: Fear, panic, kidnapping, keeping/treating people like pets, threats, and unwanted touching/grabbing
First Chapter (here) || Next Chapter
Summary: Roman has been pleading with his father for a pet human of his own ever since Logan received one a year ago. Now, the day has arrived that he’s worn his father out and agrees in giving him his own. Roman is far too excited about this new arrangement. Virgil, on the other hand, is less so.
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Roman entered the throne room as the guard opened the door for him. His father sat atop his throne with a resigned and slightly annoyed expression. He already knew what Roman had come to ask. So, Roman didn’t waste any time. “Father, I feel as though I am responsible enough to take care of my own human.” The king sighed.
“Roman-” He started but was cut off.
“I am eighteen years old! I can take care of a simple creature!” Roman argued. The king ran a hand down his face.
“Roman-” He was cut off once more.
“Please, you gave Logan one!”
“He is older than you.” The king spoke, trying not to out right glare at his son. Roman huffed.
“But I’m still mature! You trusted me with being a knight, you can trust me with this too!” The king groaned, tired of having this conversation. It had been going on since Logan had gotten a human.
“Alright!” He finally said and Roman paused, blinking in confusion.
“Wait, really?” As the king nodded, Roman grinned.
“Thank you father! You won’t regret this, I’ll take good care of them!” Roman exclaimed, bouncing on the heels of his feet in sudden excitement. The king sighed once more.
“I hope so. You will be in charge of training it after all.” Roman nodded and the king dismissed him, promising he would get his human in a few days. Once Roman left, he turned to a guard. “Send a message to Dee that we need a new human, as soon as possible.” The guard nodded and left to relay the message.
Of course, Dee was not too happy to receive this message.
“Oh, get another human, Dee.” He mocked in a high-pitched tone, pulling spell books and ingredients off the shelves. “As if dimensional travel was as easy as a parlor trick. Hardly a worthy use of my powers, playing fetch for yet another stuck-up prince.”
Despite his grumbling, Dee got to work. He began to uncork bottles, pouring the contents into a large cauldron that sat in the middle of the room. With a puff of violet smoke the mixture began to bubble, the contents writhing around until all at once they stilled. Slowly, out of the darkness a vision emerged, the picture as clear as if Dee was looking through a window. Here was the human world, and the sorcerer could watch the little things scurry about their lives.
“Let’s see…” Dee drifted a finger through the image, causing the view to change as he swept over to another part of the human world. It was critical to find the right target, someone who wouldn’t put up much of a fight or alert others. Dee had made that mistake once. Good lord, the screeching was obnoxious. It was as though the tiny creatures had never seen magic before.
“Here we are.” Dee grinned, spotting a lone human past the edge of town. It was one wearing dark clothing, and seemed to be paying no attention to its surroundings. Perfect.
Taking another vial in hand, Dee poured it on the surface of the image until the vision had a faint green glow. Having now opened the portal, Dee pushed up his sleeve and reached his arm into the depths.
For the human, of course, this was a very frightening sight. Virgil was just minding his business, walking home from class, when all of a sudden the sky above him seemed to glow green.
“What the heck?” Virgil frowned up at the clouds, watching them twirl around the green glow in a circular formation. Had the aliens finally come for him?
Virgil’s eyes widened when a giant hand began to appear out of the light, descending upon him.
“I was joking!” Virgil yelled, running away from it at top speed. He abandoned his backpack to try and gain speed, but with a whoosh Virgil felt himself get whisked up into the air. He screamed, watching the ground disappear beneath his feet as he rose 100 feet, 200, 300-
Virgil blinked, momentarily blinded by the green light. As his vision came back, a giant humanoid face filled his vision, looking down at him with what was almost a predatory grin. Virgil opened his mouth to let out another scream, but just as he did the giant blew some red powder into his face.
“Shhh.” The Giant said, watching as Virgil began to choke down some of the powder on reflex. Whatever it was had to be some sort of drug, and within seconds Virgil passed out.
“There we go.” Dee purred, watching the human fall asleep. He placed it on his desk, closing the portal with another droplet from the vial and watching the contents turn back to their normal grey color. Satisfied, Dee placed the human into the cage that had been provided by the messenger and rang the bell for another servant boy.
“For Prince Roman.” Dee instructed, handing over the cage and noticing the way the boy gawked at the contents. “Don’t get any funny ideas.”
“Y-yes sir.” The servant boy nodded, hurrying down the hall.
Roman paced back and forth in his chambers, wondering when his human would arrive. He was so excited. Finally, finally, he would get his own human! He had wanted one ever since the tiny race had been discovered by Dee and their father had given one to Logan. Roman, for whatever reason, had not been gifted one at the time. Making Roman angry and even more jealous of Logan.
So not only will his brother be the king but he would be the only one with a pet human? Like Roman was going to let that happen. Thankfully, this last year of begging had finally gotten him what he had wanted. His own human.
A knock on his door had him sprinting to open it. A servant boy appeared, holding out a cage towards him. Roman grinned as he spotted the tiny creature that lay within it. He took the cage, quickly thanked the servant boy and closed the door. He was much too excited to prolong this any longer.
“My very own human!” Roman couldn’t help but say out loud. He set the cage on the desk, taking a closer look inside. It appeared the human was sound asleep, which Roman would have to fix here soon. But he also couldn’t help but notice the difference between this human and the one Logan had. The darker hair and clothes for one. He wondered if this human would act different?
Well, only one way to find out.
He opened the cage door and scooped the human up into his hand. He gently prodded its side. “Wakey wakey little human.”
Virgil let out a slight groan, his head pounding as though he had been drinking all weekend. The surface underneath him felt...strange, like some sort of weird heated leathery bed. The voice that had spoken vibrated through his head, sounding much too loud and only increasing his headache.
Slowly Virgil sat up, cradling his head and feeling as though he had had a very strange dream. Something about aliens and giants. It was utterly ridiculous, and yet it had felt so...real.
Virgil opened his eyes, only to realize that it had been no dream. A different giant face filled his vision, looking much younger than the previous stranger.
“AHHH!” Virgil screamed, attempting to scramble backwards but finding he only bumped into fingers as large as himself.
Roman frowned. “No, no, none of that.” Why was it screaming? Logan’s didn’t scream. Oh, wait, the poor little guy was probably a little spooked, waking up on his hand and all. Whoops. Roman gave his human a gentle smile. “It’s okay, you’re safe. There’s no reason to scream.” He pet the top of the human’s head with a finger.
Virgil ducked, feeling the Giant touch his head. “What? What the hell? What’s going on? Who the hell are you?” He felt his chest rising and falling rapidly as his breaths became shallower, his anxiety skyrocketing.
Roman frowned at the human’s tone but grinned as he raised his free hand and did a little bow. “I am Prince Roman and you have the honor of being my human!” Roman grinned once more, unable to stop himself from looking over the human once more. These creatures were just so amazing.
“I- your human?!” Virgil repeated incredulously, disbelief almost making it come out as a laugh.
“Of course! My brother has his own pet human and now I have mine! You!” Roman explained. He pulled out his chair and sat at his desk, still holding his human in his hand. He used a finger to give the human a little poke in the side.
Virgil paled, feeling a bit ill at the idea of being this guy’s pet.
“No!” Virgil exclaimed, flinching away from the poke. “No, you- you have no right to just rip me away from my home and- and imprison me like this! I don’t care how entitled you think you are, take me back!”
Roman frowned, a bit shocked at how his human was talking to him. “Well, we’ll certainly have to work on that mouth of yours.” Roman said, they couldn’t have any of that while they were out and about. Training a human might be harder than he thought it was going to be.
Roman placed the human in the cage and locked him in when he decided that getting food for the two of them would help. “I’ll be right back with some food, little guy. And then we can start training you.” Roman wanted to get training started right away, especially if it was going to take more work than he thought. He needed to prove he was responsible enough to keep this human.
He sent one last glance at the human before heading out of the room and towards the kitchen.
“NO!” Virgil screeched at the retreating figure. He wasn’t sure if the Giant could hear him, but it made himself feel better at least. Virgil ran over to the front of the cage, tugging on the lock as if it was going to make a difference. He tried sticking his hand in to pick the lock like he’s seen in movies, but all that happened was Virgil’s hand got scraped along the inner mechanisms. “Let me out of here, you stupid mother-!”
Roman walked along the corridors happily. He was just so excited to spend time with his human, it was going to be great! Well, once they fixed the talking back problem at least. As he continued towards the kitchen, he noticed a familiar face walking in his direction. He grinned. Perfect, he had been wanting to gloat about this.
“Why, hello there Logan.” Roman greeted, stopping him in the hall.
“Roman.” Logan gave his brother a tert nod in greeting. “Where are you going this evening?”
Roman smirked. “Just getting some food for me and my new human.”
For once, Logan looked visibly startled by this news. “Your ...what?”
Roman feigned surprise. “Oh, you haven’t heard? Father finally got me my own human.” Roman grinned smugly.
“I, no, I had not heard that.” Logan put a hand to his chin, concerned. “Are you quite certain you’re capable of caring for such a delicate creature? Subtlety has never been one of your strong suits.”
Roman gasped in offense. “Of course I can! I am just as responsible as you, thank you very much.” Roman huffed, crossing his arms and turning his head.
Logan gave his own huff, annoyed at Roman’s behavior. “Well, when you have any questions or concerns on the matter, my door is always open.” Logan pushed his glasses further up his nose. “After all, I am quite experienced in that department.”
“I’m sure I won’t need any help.” Roman said but soon after he turned a little back towards his elder brother. “Though...just curious, did your human scream the first time you got him? Or talk back?”
“...oh no.” Logan groaned, shaking his head softly. “Roman, what did you do?”
“I did nothing! He just started screaming as soon as he woke up! That’s hardly my fault.” Roman huffed once more.
“Well, obviously you did.” Logan said, turning to leave. “Because mine certainly didn’t scream.”
“I didn’t do anything!” Roman repeated. It was kind of disheartening to find out that Logan’s didn’t scream though. He’d have to figure that out on his own it looked like. “Whatever. You’ll see, my human will be so much better behaved than yours!”
“We shall see.” Logan’s reply was brief, the older brother not even sparing Roman one last glance before he disappeared behind the corner.
Roman grumbled as he found his way to the kitchen. Stupid Logan, thinks he’s so much better than him. He’ll show him who’s really responsible. He grabbed a serving of dinner for himself and a smaller plate for his human before heading back up to his room.
“I’m back!” Roman called out as he entered. The door shut behind him and he sent the human a smile as he placed the plates of food down on the desk next to the cage.
Virgil only glared at him, deciding to give him the silent treatment briefly since his voice still felt sore from all the screaming he had done in Roman’s absence. He looked at what the Giant had brought, noticing what seemed to be some kind of giant steaming bowl of rice and meat to accompany it. Virgil gulped, wondering how big a creature had to have been killed for that food. Certainly something far larger than Virgil.
“Now, here is your portion.” He opened the cage and slid in the small saucer, full of a few pieces of rice and chicken that the cooks had made specifically for the human. “Eat up, you’re gonna need the energy.” Roman closed the cage door before digging into his own food.
Virgil shuddered at the noise of a Giant eating so close to him. Even if he were hungry, he wouldn’t be hungry now. Roman hadn’t even given him any silverware, just expecting him to eat out of the dish like a barn animal. With a grimace Virgil realized that was how he was currently being viewed.
Virgil walked over to the provided dish, and with a slight grunt he pushed it over and spilled the contents on his cage floor. He turned to Roman with a glare. “I don’t want your stupid food, I just want to go home.”
Roman’s eyes widened at what the human had done and he sighed, setting down his silverware. “Bad human.” He said, trying to sound harsh but not too harsh. “And you are home. Forget about wherever you came from, this is your new home now.” Roman spoke.
He opened the cage door and picked up the fallen food to throw it away. He then filled up the plate once more with some food from his own plate before setting it back inside the cage. “Now eat. And if you do that again, I will have to resort to punishment.” Which Roman didn’t want to do but knew he would have to if his human kept acting like this.
Virgil’s eyes widened slightly, not exactly eager to find out what Roman meant by ‘punishment’. He remembered who he was talking to, and decided perhaps it might not be best to directly antagonize Roman. Still, if he just sat around being complacent there was no way he was getting out of here. Virgil vowed to be the worst ‘pet’ around.
“I’m not hungry.” Virgil insisted, stepping around the bowl and closer to the front of the cage. “And this will never be my home!”
Roman sighed, rubbing his temples. This was definitely going to be harder than he thought. He turned towards the human, giving him a stern look. “Just eat.” He commanded.
“No.” Virgil stood strong, crossing his arms to hide the way his limbs had begun to tremble at the look Roman gave him. “I told you, I don’t want it. I don’t want any of this! I’m not just gonna let you sit there and try and treat me like some pet just because you’re some giant freak. I’m a human being, I have rights.”
Roman slammed his hands against the table, the stern look now filled with annoyance. “Alright, we are setting up some ground rules. One, no talking back. You are not going back to your original world. This is your home now. And you have no rights here, seeing as you are a creature that is below my kind.”
Virgil’s entire body shook when Roman hit the table, scaring him so profusely that he was startled back into silence.
Roman was happy to see his scare tactic seemed to have worked. “Two, you are to listen to everything I say. I am your owner and therefore I know best.” Roman looked down at the human once more. “That being said, you need to eat.”
Almost mechanically Virgil reached down, plucking up one of the grains of rice in his hand. The entire thing was bigger than his palm. At the sight of such an abnormally large food Virgil’s stomach twisted even further, and he knew he couldn’t eat this. Virgil looked at Roman’s face, suddenly reminded of a school yard bully. Virgil’s grip around the rice tightened, his face twisting into a snarl.
I’m going to die for this. Virgil thought distantly, before disregarding this thought and flinging the grain of rice out of his cage at Roman.
Roman sat there in shock as the grain of rice hit him in the face. He blinked and looked down at the human with disbelief. “Seriously?! What is wrong with you!?” Roman groaned, why was his human being so much more difficult than Logan’s!
He suddenly sat up straight, looking at the human. “Fine, punishment it is then. I warned you.” He opened the cage door and grabbed the human within, taking him out.
Virgil’s eyes widened, his heart rate shooting through the roof as he began to imagine all the forms of torture Roman might have in mind for a ‘punishment’. Indeed, Roman’s grip was already tight around Virgil’s body, leaving it difficult to breathe as his elbow was crushed painfully into his side.
“Wait!” Virgil begged, all recklessness beginning to fade. “Wait, dude, I’m sorry, please I won’t do it again.”
Roman paused, looking down at the human with narrowed eyes. “You won’t?” He knew he should probably just punish the human but he really didn’t want to do that. If he could get away with not, then Roman would count that as a win.
Virgil shook his head adamantly. “Promise.” He definitely didn’t plan on throwing rice at a Giant again any time soon.
“...Alright. But this is your last chance. Next time there will be punishment.” The human wouldn’t learn any other way. He placed the human back in the cage, closing it once more. “Now, please eat something at the very least.”
Virgil sat down next to the dish, rolling another grain of rice in between his hands. It felt a bit sticky, and Virgil really didn’t want to put it in his mouth. Regardless, it seemed he didn’t have a choice. Roman wasn’t going to let him skip this meal. So, with a grimace, Virgil bit off a chunk. He felt the rubbery texture with his tongue, wincing as it sank like a rock into his stomach.
Roman smiled, happy to actually see his human listening to him. Finally. “That’s a good human!” He praised and turned back to finally finish his own meal.
Virgil closed his eyes, trying to block it all out as he quickly scarfed down the rest of the rice. He tucked his knees into his chest, hugging them tightly as a terrible aftertaste was left in his mouth from everything that was happening.
Roman finished up and took the plate from the cage, piling it on with his own dirty dishes. He set it off to the side, knowing a servant would come in later to grab it. He then turned his full attention onto the human.
“So, I almost forgot to ask but do you have a name? Because if you don’t I could always give you one!”
“Yes I have a name.” Virgil spat, loathing the idea of Roman trying to give him a new one. It’d probably be something stupid, like Princey or Spot. Virgil shifted slightly, turning away from the Giant. “...it’s Virgil.”
“Virgil…” Roman repeated, getting a feel for the name. “Hmm, yes, I think that suits you perfectly!” How fortunate that the human already had a well fitting name. “Now! I think it’s time to do a bit of training before we have to head to bed.”
Virgil frowned, thrown off by the mention of training. He had thought that training would just be getting him to shut up. Was he going to actually be expected to do something? Virgil hated to work hard under any circumstances.
“We’ll start with something simple.” Roman opened the cage door but didn’t reach in to grab Virgil this time. Instead, he tapped on the table in front of him. “Come here Virgil.”
Virgil winced, the thud of Roman’s tap feeling like the sound of a gavel at a trail where Virgil had just been declared a dead man.
Virgil shook his head, curling in on himself more to try and hide the way his chest ached. “Leave me alone.”
Roman frowned. “Virgil. Come.” He tried again, tapping once more. He had seen Logan do this with his human many times. Logan didn’t even have to say anything for his human to understand what he meant and come to him. So why wasn’t Virgil doing it?
“I said leave me alone.” Virgil growled, his voice breaking slightly as he placed his head on his knees.
Roman sighed. “Fine, we’ll save that one for later.” He reached in and grabbed Virgil, setting him down in front of him.
Virgil gasped, falling onto his back. He propped himself up onto his elbows. “What is your problem? I said I wanted to be left alone.” Of course, it didn’t seem Roman cared what he wanted.
“You’ll be left alone once it’s bedtime. But I want to get training started at the very least, since it’s clear you’re going to need a lot of work.” And he needed to be able to do this. For his own sake. Roman helped Virgil to stand up.
“Let go of me!” Virgil pushed away from Roman’s fingers, standing on his own. “I don’t need your help.”
“Right.” Roman muttered sarcastically with a roll of his eyes but otherwise ignored him. Now that Virgil was standing, he could give his command. The simplest trick in the book. “Now, sit.”
“I’m not a dog.” Virgil’s hands clenched into fists at his sides. “Stop trying to treat me like one. I know English, you know. You don’t have to be so rude and brash about your stupid ‘training’.”
“Well, how else am I supposed to do this in a way you would listen?” Roman asked as he raised an eyebrow. “And what did I say about talking back?” Roman narrowed his eyes slightly, moving his hand a bit closer to Virgil to try and scare him.
“I wasn’t talking back.” Virgil quickly stepped away from Roman’s hand, looking nervous as he quickly tried to justify his words. “I was suggesting.”
Roman hummed, taking his hand back. “Well, maybe when you actually start to listen, I will be more inclined to speak less ‘brashly’. But as of right now…” Roman pointed down. “Sit.”
“Well, maybe if you spoke less brashly, I’d be inclined to listen.” Virgil raised his voice into a mocking tone to imitate Roman. “Oh Virgil, would you be ever so kind as to please have a seat over here? But of course.” Letting his voice drop to its normal octave, Virgil took a seat with a smirk. He hadn’t dared to disobey again, but he figured his point still stood.
Roman gave Virgil a deadpan look. “Okay, for one, I don’t sound like that.” He had made his voice much too high. “Second, that is far too many words for a simple command. My brother can tell his human to do something without even speaking words! I want you to be able to do that eventually as well.” At least Virgil had sat down, though Roman didn’t feel very proud of that fact.
“Well your brother sounds like a jerk.” Virgil pointed out. “I mean, c’mon, I can understand you perfectly fine. It’s just rude to not use your words.” Not to mention demeaning. “Even kids know to ask for something when they want it.”
“Well, you aren’t wrong about my brother. He can be pretty jerky sometimes.” Roman said, thinking back to all the times Logan was indeed a jerk. “But see, here is the thing you don’t seem to quite understand.” Roman leaned forward.
“You, Virgil, are my pet. You were caught in that silly world of yours and given to me to prove my responsibility by training a creature as strange as you. If I fail, not only will I be a disappointment to my father but you will be taken away from me. And you do not want that.”
“I think you and I have different ideas of what I want.” Virgil sneered, although he couldn’t help but lean back slightly when Roman got closer.
“Look, I can tell that you currently do not like me. But you will learn to soon enough and get used to how things are. What you can’t get used to is death, which is what my father will do to you if I fail. That, or some experiment for our court sorcerer. Either option is bad though.”
Virgil paled, spooked by what Roman had threatened. “I...you’re bluffing.” Virgil tried, but inside Virgil knew this was no bluff. His knees knocked together slightly.
“I wish I was.” Roman said solemnly. “Now, if you want to have a full and good life, I suggest you actually do as I say. Because I promise, I will take good care of you.”
“I…” Virgil clutched his head in his hands, overcome by an existential crisis. Was that what he wanted? To live a long life as some Giant’s pet?? Constantly looked down upon, commanded, scolded for having an opinion.
“No.” Virgil’s groaned, shaking his head back and forth. “No no no no-”
Roman sighed, running a hand down his face. Apparently, this was not happening today. “Alright. Looks like we’ll continue this tomorrow. Time for bed.” He grabbed Virgil and placed him back inside the cage. He then took the cage and placed it on his bedside table. Just in case.
Virgil felt himself flung about as the cage moved, coming to rest once more. He clambered to his feet, once again feeling desperate enough to ask.
“Please, just let me go home.” Virgil begged, sitting near the front bars. “Find another human, one who’s better than me.” Silently Virgil scolded himself for even suggesting someone else take this torture for him, but he’d do anything to get out of this prison.
Roman just shook his head. He did feel a little bad about it when Virgil begged like that but he knew with enough training and time that Virgil would grow used to him. Would probably even like it here! Just like Logan’s human. “Get some rest Virgil, we have a busy day ahead of us.” And with that Roman quickly went into his closet to get dressed before sliding into bed, blowing out the last candle and plunging the room into darkness.
“I hate you.” Virgil muttered, making sure he was loud enough to be heard.
Roman hummed into his pillow. “You won’t for long.” Was all Roman said before his breathing evened out.
No. Virgil shook his head, glaring at the source of Roman’s breathing in the darkness. He would always hate Roman. Even if he was here for years, even if Roman broke him, even if he became a shell of the person he was now…
Warnings: Fear, panic, kidnapping, keeping/treating people like pets, threats, unwanted touching/grabbing, and crying
First Chapter || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter
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Training was over in an hour, thankfully but Roman still had no idea how he was going to punish Virgil. He didn’t want to hurt the guy but maybe that would work best…
His answer, however, came in the form of the maid, who gave him Virgil’s hoodie back. Roman grinned. Perfect.
Roman entered the room, eyes landing on Virgil immediately. “Virgil.” He greeted, his face void of emotion.
Virgil’s head whipped around, eyes widening. It seemed Roman was still mad after all. Virgil had hoped that he might have calmed down in his time away, but there was no such luck.
“I...I’m sorry.” Virgil began apologizing, scooting back in the cage as if it would do him any good.
Roman hummed, stepping closer. “While I am glad to see you apologizing you still need to be punished for your earlier behavior, so!” Roman brought out the hoodie from behind his back, waving it in the air. “I am taking this away from you until you start behaving.”
Virgil almost sighed in relief, thankful he wasn’t getting any sort of physical punishment. Honestly just waiting around had been torture enough.
“I’ll behave, I promise.” Virgil said, standing up and reaching out for it.
“Nuh uh.” Roman held the hoodie far above Virgil. “You have to show me you're going to behave. Then you can get it back.” Roman walked over to his bedside drawer and dropped it into it for safekeeping.
“I- but- you promised I could have it back!” Virgil felt his hands clenched into fists, his entire form shaking.
“That was before you misbehaved. You will get it back if you can show me you deserve it.” Roman said, crossing his arms. He was not going to let up on this issue.
“I told you, I told you I have no reason to trust you!” Virgil stormed forwards. “Your promises mean nothing, you’re just a dirty stinking liar and a manipulative snake.”
Roman gasped in offence. “Excuse you! I am neither of those things. I am sorry I did not give you your hoodie back but you only have yourself to blame. What, would you rather I have given a more physical punishment?” Roman asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Once again, you will get it back. Just as soon as you show me you are willing to listen and follow the rules.”
“You also told me I’d get it back the first time you took it from me.” Virgil muttered, crossing his arms. But Roman was correct, this was still a better punishment, if only marginally.
“Well, we are going to be training again. If you do well, maybe you’ll earn it back within the hour.” Roman sat at the desk and opened the cage. Once again he tapped on the desk. “Come here Virgil.”
Virgil made a silent deal with himself to behave, reminding himself that this was not for Roman. He still hated Roman with every fiber in his being, but if he wanted his hoodie back Virgil would have to play the Giant’s stupid games.
Keeping his head down and his arms crossed, Virgil sulked out and onto the desk.
A small smile appeared on Roman’s face at this but he didn’t let his hopes up too soon. “Now sit.”
Virgil grit his teeth, feeling a bit of himself die as he slunk to the floor and crossed his legs.
Roman’s smile grew a bit bigger. “Good Virgil. See? It’s not too hard.” He pet the top of Virgil’s head. “At this rate, you’ll get your hoodie back in no time.”
“I’d better.” Virgil muttered, ducking his head between his shoulders.
Roman ignored him and thought of another trick to do. “Hmm, Virgil?” He held his finger out in front of Virgil. “Shake!”
“Wow, real original.” Virgil stuck his hand out, feebly meeting Roman’s own. It felt so strange touching such a large fingertip willingly. Virgil was quick to give a ‘shake’ motion before pulling his arm back as if it burned.
Roman only hummed in response. He wasn’t going for original anyway, not yet at least. He was happy that Virgil was listening to him though. “Now back in the cage.”
Virgil groaned, getting up and retracing his steps back inside. He sat down on the cage floor for good measure. “Can I have my hoodie now?”
Roman thought for a moment. “Not yet. Now come back over here.”
“I was just over there!” Virgil protested. “Why’d you even make me walk back in here?!”
“This is training. It doesn’t have any real purpose except to teach you the commands.” Roman explained with a stern look. “Now come here.”
“But I already know the commands.” Virgil argued, pushing himself up and stomping back over. “I’m not a dog, you don’t have to teach me what words mean, you’re just having a power trip because you’ve got leverage.”
“Well, if you know the commands then why don’t you do them. I am trying to get you used to doing said commands. That’s what training is.” Roman held out his hand. “Now climb on.”
Virgil’s eyes widened, backing up a few steps. This was certainly a new one. He froze, unable and unwilling to quite literally put his life in Roman’s hands.
Roman’s eyes narrowed. “Now Virgil. Climb on. Do you want your hoodie back or not?
“I….” Virgil looked up at Roman’s face and gulped slightly, looking back down at the palm before him. “You’re gonna drop me!”
“I will not!” Roman said, taking great offense to that. “I know how to keep a handle on things.” He scooted his hand closer.
“Now climb on, I will not ask again.”
“Roman, I can’t.” Virgil insisted, retreating again as he wrapped his arms around himself. “I’m not even trying to be, like, disobedient or whatever, that’s just not something I can do.” His shoulders tensed as he shook his head. “No, no I can’t. I won’t do it.”
Roman faltered for a moment. He bit his lip as he looked from his hand to Virgil. “And why can’t you?” His voice was soft instead of demanding.
“It’s too much.” Virgil shook his head again, looking back and forth between Roman’s face and his hand pleadingly. “I- I don’t even know you! I’m just ripped away from my life and suddenly you just expect me to, to throw away my life and be some sort of hamster dog for your amusement and- and it’s not fair!”
Virgil began pulling at his hair, his expression becoming crazed as the sheer overwhelming emotions of the past 24 hours became unbottled. “None of this should be possible! This is insane! What did I do to deserve this, huh? I didn’t cause trouble, I stayed in my lane! Why am I being punished?!”
Virgil fell to his knees, his breathing coming in choked sobs as his eyes watered.
Roman’s eyes widened, unable to do anything but watch Virgil break down. What...What was he supposed to do?! He didn’t know how to handle this! Oh, he was starting to feel bad too. Why though? Oh geez, well he had to do something.
He reached a hand towards Virgil but stopped himself, thinking that might only make things worse. He looked towards the drawer and bit his lip in hesitation before running over to it and grabbing the hoodie. He walked back to Virgil slowly.
“Virgil, it’s okay. Here, will this help?” He placed the hoodie down in front of him. Please stop crying.
Virgil tried to calm himself, feeling himself on the brink of a panic attack. The brink? We’re already there, buddy. He tried to steady his breathing, focusing on breathing deeply. He looked around for five things around him, trying to ground himself. Most of these only served to heighten his anxiety. The cage, the giant desk, his….his hoodie!
Like a life ring Virgil clung to it, burying his face into its familiar softness and breathing in the faint but still present smell of home. Now easing out of his panic, Virgil’s tears turned to regular, flat-out sobs into his hoodie, letting all his emotions out. He loathed crying in front of others, but the way Roman kept watching him like a hawk it was kind of impossible to avoid.
Roman winced but Virgil seemed to be doing a little better at least. Note to self: Don’t take Virgil’s hoodie away. It seemed to help him more than he had realized. But he still wasn’t sure what to do. They definitely couldn’t continue on with training, that was for sure.
Maybe he needed help...ugh, Roman couldn’t even believe he was even considering it. This whole thing was supposed to prove to Logan that he could do this on is own but...looking at Virgil he had to admit that he needed help. With a sigh, Roman carefully scooped Virgil up and placed him back in the cage, closing and locking it up.
Virgil let out a high-pitched noise of surprise when he was moved, but other than that he didn’t react he certainly didn’t lift his face out of the hoodie. He had no desire to be told how red and puffy his face looked right about now.
Roman winced at the noise but ignored it for the most part. “I’ll be back later, alright?” And with that, Roman headed towards Logan’s room.
Virgil peeked up, noticing Roman was truly gone. He let out a dry chuckle, wiping the remaining wetness from his face.
“I guess that’s one way to get back a hoodie.” Virgil’s voice was a bit hoarse, but as he slipped the garment back on he felt much more at ease. He pulled the hood over his head, hoping to hide from the world forever.
***
Roman didn’t even bother to knock as he barged into Logan’s room. “Logan!”
Logan jumped, looking over his shoulder from where he sat as his desk. Patton sat to his right keeping him company. “What is that matter with you?”
Patton flinched at the sudden outburst, ducking more towards Logan and keeping a wary eye on the giant he knew to be Roman.
Roman sighed, looking away. “I…” Roman groaned, he couldn’t believe he was doing this. “I need...help.” Roman mumbled, not looking at his brother.
“I see.” Logan’s tone turned softer, reaching out with one hand to comfort Patton while maintaining eye contact with his sibling. “How can I be of assistance?”
Patton settled down a little as Logan’s hand came over to him. He still watched Roman intently though.
Roman sighed. “I don’t know what happened but my human suddenly just...broke down. And all I was doing was trying to train him! And they were simple commands! I don’t understand why he just started crying like that!” At this point, Roman was pacing back and forth.
Patton couldn’t help but wince at the knowledge that the other human had broken down. Poor kid must be just terrified. Patton wished no one else had to face this like he had. He, himself, had had a few breakdowns in the past. He shook just thinking back on those times.
Logan winced in sympathy, knowing how lost he had felt when Patton had breakdowns. They were certainly not uncommon in the first few weeks; after all, it was an extraordinary change for such a tiny life form to come here. The adjustment period had been brutal.
“What commands? And where is he now?” Logan asked, sounding concerned.
Roman stopped pacing to turn to Logan once more. “Just the simple ones! Come, sit, go back in cage, and climb onto my hand.” Roman listed. “I left him in my room in the cage for some alone time. I’m hoping he’ll calm himself down…”
“It’s likely.” Logan nodded. “But I think I may see your problem. Climbing into a hand isn’t exactly a ‘simple’ command. It’s quite a feat of trust for a human and takes time. Even Patton struggled with it as well.”
Patton nodded his head at that, remembering when Logan had first asked him to do that. He had been terrified. Grabbing was one thing but being asked to do it of your own will? Patton couldn’t do it for a long time.
Now though, he barely even thought about it anymore.
Roman paused. “He did?” He hummed. “Well, that makes me feel a bit better about things…”
“You have to take things slow, Roman.” Logan instructed. “Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is trust. If you truly want things to work out you should really try bonding with your human before you try training.”
“Wait, what? You mean you didn’t just jump right into training?” Roman was basing everything he did off of Logan, after all.
“Of course not.” Logan shook his head. “I needed Patton to trust me first. Truly my first goal was to get him to open up; whatever happened with father and Dee scared him silent.”
Patton shivered, not even wanting to think about those other giants. He pushed that very far back into his mind.
Roman frowned. “Oh.” Well then he was doing this very wrong. “Well...how did you bond with uh, Patton then?”
“Food, mostly.” Logan shrugged, giving Patton a gentle comforting squeeze as he felt the human’s nervousness. “As well as respecting boundaries. Although later on I found that one of the most effective tactics was touch, surprisingly.”
Oh that was not good, Patton could help but think. Just cause he was responsive to touch did not mean the other guy would be.
“Hmm, alright. I can work with that!” Roman grinned. “Thanks Lo!” He ran out of the room, heading first towards the kitchen.
Patton looked where Roman had gone before looking up at Logan. “Um...Do you think it’ll actually work?” He asked Logan.
“I’m not sure.” Logan hummed, looking down at him. “But hopefully he’ll approach things with a gentler touch now.”
“I hope so.” Patton said. At this point, that was all he could wish for the other human.
Warnings: Fear, panic, kidnapping, keeping/treating people like pets, threats, and unwanted touching/grabbing
First Chapter || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter
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Roman stood in front of his room, a plate full of small treats he had gotten from the kitchen. He took a deep breath and entered the room, his eyes immediately going to Virgil as he closed the door behind him and stepped forward. “Virgil?”
Virgil gave him no response, other than ducking his head a little lower so his hood hid his face.
Roman sighed, but he hadn’t been expecting an answer. He set the plate of food off to the side and took a seat at the desk. He racked his mind for what he was going to say before finally breaking the silence.
“Virgil, I am...sorry.”
That certainly got Virgil’s attention. He hadn’t expected Roman to apologize; he thought the Giant was far too self-absorbed for something like that. Virgil turned towards him, raising an eyebrow as if waiting for Roman to continue.
And Roman did. “I wasn’t taking your feelings into account. I should have realized all of this would be new and terrifying to you. And I should have respected your boundaries and not jumped into the whole training thing within the same hour I got you. I’m sorry.”
“Uh...thanks.” Virgil paused, one question still on his mind. “Are you gonna take me back?”
Roman winced. “I’m sorry but no. But!” Roman was quick to continue. “I promise I’ll take good care of you here. And I-I won’t hurt you and I definitely won’t take your hoodie from you again.” Roman said, biting his lip as he awaited Virgil’s reaction.
Virgil let out a sad sigh. He had expected as much, but it still hurt. At least he got to keep his hoodie. And if Roman was truthful about him not getting hurt, he wouldn’t need to listen to all of his stupid commands for fear of punishment.
Of course, there really was no reason for Virgil to trust him.
“...whatever.” Virgil muttered, pulling his hoodie tighter around himself.
Roman sighed at that but at least he was doing a little better. But now to try and make him a bit happier. Roman smiled warmly and brought the plate of food over. He had gotten a lot of sweet things for them both, thinking that would be good. “Hey Virgil, would you like a cookie? Or perhaps a brownie?” Roman said, motioning towards the plate for Virgil to look at.
“A cookie isn’t going to bring me home.” Virgil said offhandedly, looking away from Roman and pulling his knees up to his chest. He placed his chin on them, sulking.
“W-Well, maybe not but...it’s really good.” Roman tried, taking a bite to show Virgil. He hummed at the taste. The kitchen staff made the best chocolate chip cookies.
“I don’t care.” Virgil shook his head.
Roman whined. “Come on, please Virgil, I’m really trying here!” He just wanted his human to be happy here.
Virgil turned to glare at him. “I don’t like sweets.” He deadpanned.
“What?” Roman furrowed his eyebrows. “Who doesn’t like sweets?! Logan’s human likes sweets.” Roman countered.
“Well, I’m not ‘Logan’s human’.” Virgil put air quotes up to emphasize his point, shifting around to face Roman again. It was weird, talking about another person like that. He wondered how many other humans were kept prisoner here. How broken they were.
“Who’s Logan, anyways?” Virgil asked, trying to find a distraction from his depressing thoughts.
“Oh, well, he’s my older brother. Next in line for the throne.” Roman explained. “He got his human not too long after our sorcerer discovered your little world.”
The word ‘sorcerer’ caught Virgil’s attention, and distantly he remembered the whole magic portal thing. Not aliens then, but magic.
“What is this place, anyways?” Virgil asked, looking around.
Roman smiled. “Well, this is the Sanders Kingdom!” Roman gestured to the space around him. “And we’re at the heart of it.”
“That means nothing to me.” Virgil reminded him.
Roman frowned, putting his hands down. “Well then, why did you ask?”
“I dunno, I’m just trying to make conversation.” Virgil shrugged. He always hated small talk. “I meant more like, what is this world. Why’s everything here so giant?”
Roman raised an eyebrow. “We aren’t giant. You are just small.”
“Not the way I see it.” Virgil retorted.
“Well, like I said, you are tiny. Of course you see it that way.” Roman rolled his eyes but he slowly realized that Virgil was actually conversing with him! That was progress, right? He looked back down at the plate of sweets. “Are you sure you don’t want one?” He tried once more.
“No, I don’t want your pity sweets, Princey.” Virgil rolled his eyes.
Roman’s lips curved up a little. “Princey?”
Virgil glanced up, noticing how the nickname had had the opposite intended effect. “...don’t read into it.” He muttered. After all, it was supposed to be an insult.
“Too late.” Roman said with a grin, moving the plate off to the side. “Alright, no sweets then.” Well, that didn’t seem to work. What else had Logan said again? Food, boundaries and...touch! Right! Maybe that would get Virgil to open up a bit more.
Roman opened up the cage and reached in a hand to gently ruffle Virgil’s hair.
Immediately Virgil ducked away from the touch, scrambling backwards on the cage floor and eyes wide from the slight scare. What the hell?
Roman’s face turned gentle. “It’s okay Virgil.” He reached in more and scooped Virgil up into his cupped hand, bring him closer to himself. “I’m not gonna hurtcha, remember?” He resumed his petting.
“I don’t care, put me down!” Virgil insisted, cringing as he felt Roman’s fingers rub along his back.
Roman paused, frowning in confusion. “You don’t...like this?”
The sheer absurdity of Roman’s statement made Virgil stop struggling. “Why the hell would I like this?”
“W-Well Logan said his human likes it! He even said it helped a lot during the beginning when he was trying to bond with his human.” Now Roman was just confused.
“Stop comparing me to Logan’s human!” Virgil insisted, looking profoundly agitated. “Not all humans are the same, you know.” Indeed, the idea of anyone liking this sort of thing was bizarre. “And stop trying to ‘bond’ with me, it’s weird.”
“...They aren’t?” Well, that wasn’t very good news for him. That meant everything Logan had told him was probably wrong for his human. Great. Now he didn’t even have the choice to get help or not. “And I will not stop, I want you to like me! I’m trying my best here!”
“I told you, I hate you.” Virgil hissed. “And that’s not gonna change because you manhandle me and try to force-feed me sugar.”
“I did not force-feed you.” Roman pouted. “And come on now, hate is a strong word. You can’t really mean that, can you?”
“I do.” Virgil glared at him. “What, you’re acting all nice now and suddenly I’m supposed to forget that I’m being held against my will in a different dimension?”
“Wha- I said I was sorry!” Roman exclaimed. “I was just trying to do what my brother did...but it turned out that my brother had done things differently. So now I am trying to make up for everything!”
“Just stop trying to do what your brother does and take me home already!” Virgil yelled.
“I can’t!” Roman yelled, rubbing his free hand down his face. “I was the one who asked for a human. My father would never let me live it down if I even tried to take you back. Besides, taking you back is literally impossible without the court sorcerer and my father would just not allow it.” Roman explained.
“This is your home now. You are going to have to get used to it.”
“No!” Virgil covered his ears, head pounding slightly from Roman’s volume. “Never! I’m never going to get used to the place, I hate it.” He shook his head. “I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.”
Roman sighed and just watched Virgil sadly for a moment before placing him back in the cage and locking him in. Nothing Logan had said was working. Now what was he supposed to do? Should he go talk to Logan again? That would at least give Virgil some more space. Which it looked like he needed.
Roman stood up. “I’ll be back by dinner time, okay?”
Virgil let out a small growl, giving Roman the bird again.
Roman ignored the rude gesture, turning and leaving his room. He walked the halls deep in thought, until he came upon Logan’s room once again. Like before, he didn’t bother to knock as he opened the door and walked right inside.
He said nothing as he went straight to Logan’s bed and flopped on top of it, groaning into the mattress.
“It seems I need to acquire a lock for my door.” Logan commented, looking up from his studies as Roman came in.
Patton jumped as Roman entered the room once more and in such a short amount of time too. He was still near Logan as he read, trying to read along but now all his attention was focused on Roman.
Roman lifted his head up to look at Logan. “Nothing worked.”
“I beg your pardon?” Logan raised an eyebrow.
Roman got up. “Everything you said about how you bonded with Patton? I tried all those things and nothing worked! He even said that he hates me!” Roman flopped onto the bed once more.
Patton sighed, knowing this would probably happen. These giants seemed to think all humans could be dealt with the same. Though, he supposed he couldn’t really blame them for that, before the other human, he had been the only human here after all.
“Roman, it’s hardly been an afternoon.” Logan turned around in his chair to face his brother head on. “You cannot expect a rapid change. Adjustment takes time.”
Roman groaned, lifting himself so he was sitting criss cross on the bed and looking at Logan. “I know but he even told me he doesn’t like sweets, he doesn't like touch, and even said he would never like it here! I don’t know what to do.” Sure, he was impatient but if nothing ever worked, Virgil would never adjust.
“You need to be patient, give him some space.” Logan insisted. “In the meantime I suggest you try and find positive alternatives. If he doesn’t like sweets, what other food does he like? Or perhaps there is an activity he would enjoy that the two of you can do together when he’s better acclimated to his surroundings.”
Roman nodded, slowly getting off the bed. “...Alright. I’ll keep trying. I’ll take your advice and go train a little more, to give him more time alone.” He started heading towards the door before pausing to turn back to Logan. “Um...thanks again.” He said.
Logan nodded. “Anytime. Although it’s prefered if you knock, in the future.”
Roman chuckled. “No promises.” Roman said before leaving and heading towards the training fields.
Patton only relaxed when Roman was gone. He looked up at Logan. “Roman seems...impatient.” Patton said, settling on that word. That poor human, he could only imagine how much fright Roman had already given him. Though, it also seemed like he had a lot of fight, if Roman’s words were anything to go by. Something Patton never really had.
“He gets it from father.” Logan sighed, turning back to the desk. “They both expect immediate results.”
Patton hummed at that piece of information.
A few moments later, Logan’s door opened once more, a figure strolling inside. “Logan.”
“Roman, what did I say-” Logan paused in his accusation, turning to see who had entered. “Oh, hello father.” Speak of the devil. It seemed barging into his room was another trait his family members shared.
Patton’s eyes grew wide and he did his best to hide behind Logan’s hand.
The king nodded to his son in greeting. “I just came to tell you that we are having a celebratory dinner tonight for your brother getting his human. I expect both you and your human to be there tonight.”
“It seems awful early to host such an event.” Logan raised an eyebrow, helping shield Patton with his hand.
“I want to see how Roman is doing with his human.” The king said. “Better to catch it early if I made the right decision or not.”
“It’s hardly been a day.” Logan countered. “You should give it time, the human needs to adjust. A large crowd is only going to provoke it.”
The king shook his head. “I’ve already made up my mind and the preparations are already in motion. The dinner is happening tonight. Now, do you know where Roman is at?” The king asked.
“He just left to train.” Logan sighed, knowing he could not dissuade his father now but also knowing this was a horrible idea.
The king nodded and left to go find his other son without a word.
Patton inched around the hand, making sure that the king was gone before sighing with relief. He would much rather have Roman barging in than the king. He winced at the sudden wave of memories and pushed them away. “So...guess we’re going to a dinner tonight?”
“It seems that way.” Logan pushed away from the desk, putting his palm flat on the desk.
Patton didn’t so much as hesitate, climbing into Logan’s awaiting palm.
Logan went over to his bedside dresser, setting Patton atop it. He opened up the drawer where Patton’s various garments were kept. “I suggest the light blue for tonight.” Logan said, not sparing him another glance as he ducked into the adjacent dressing room to ready himself.
Patton nodded and jumped into the drawer. He looked through his clothes until he found the shirt Logan had suggested. He changed quickly and looked at himself in the small mirror Logan had put in here with the rest of his clothes. It was a slightly nicer outfit than he usually wore, since this would be a formal dinner. It wouldn’t be Patton’s first either.
But that didn’t make him any less nervous. Especially because he knew the king and the sorcerer would be attending. Not to mention all the other giants who would be there. Patton shivered at the thought but there was nothing he could do.
He waited for Logan at the bottom of the drawer, since he couldn’t get out by himself.
Logan returned shortly after, still adjusting the cuffs of his dark blue shirt as well as the emblems that adorned it. He carefully grabbed Patton, lifting him out and closing the drawer.
Patton shifted slightly but otherwise didn’t move in the grip. He perked up as he thought of something. “Does this mean I’ll see the other human?” He asked Logan.
“I suppose it does.” Logan mused, having not thought about it much. He was admittedly quite curious about this other human.
“I wonder if I’ll get to talk to him…” Patton mumbled to himself. Though, if this dinner was like the others, than he would be by Logan’s side the entire time. Which meant he probably wouldn’t get to talk.
“It’s possible, although I doubt it with all the dignitaries that will be present.” Logan reminded him, coming over to take a seat on his bed. He leaned back against the headrest, adjusting his hands so Patton was cupped between his palms. “Why the interest?”
Patton shrugged, looking down. “It’s just...been awhile since I’ve seen another human.” He said softly. And it really had been. It had to have been at least, what? A year now? Patton couldn’t believe it had already been so long. But at the same time, it almost felt like a blur.
Logan rubbed his side comfortingly with his thumb. “Perhaps we can arrange a meeting between the two of you at a later date.” Logan offered. “Without all the pompousness that comes with these events.”
Patton leaned into the touch and smiled up at the giant. “Thanks Logan. That would be nice.”
“Of course, Patton.” Logan smiled back at him. “After all, I’m just as curious to meet this new individual.”
“Yeah...I wonder what he’s like.” Again, Patton thought back to the clues he had gotten from Roman speaking of him. He was scared for sure but also not willing to give up without a fight. Patton couldn’t help but admire that.
***
Roman walked back to his room, wiping the sweat off his face with a towel. He really did need that. And hopefully now Virgil would be a bit more calmed down. As he walked, a figure came from the opposite direction. Roman stopped when he realized it was his father.
“Ah, Roman. There you are.” The king spoke.
“Father.” Roman greeted, wondering what his dad could want.
“I just came to inform you that we will be having a feast tonight to celebrate you getting your human.” Roman grinned at that but it slowly left at his father’s next words. “I expect you and your human to be there.”
“M-My human has to come too?” Roman asked, biting his lip. His father nodded.
“Yes, I want to see how things are going so far. That shouldn’t be a problem, right?” The king asked, raising an eyebrow at his youngest son. Roman rapidly shook his head.
“Of-Of course not!” The king looked at him for a moment longer before nodding.
“Good. I suggest you go and get your human ready then.” And with that, the king carried on. Roman groaned into his hands as he continued to his room. This wasn’t good, this wasn’t good at all! How was he going to get Virgil to behave for him at the dinner?
He entered his room, his mind still racing and his eyes locked on the cage. Okay, maybe he could just convince Virgil to be good, just for tonight, until things got better between them. Hopefully.
“Um, Virgil?” He called out to the human, coming closer to the cage.
“What?” Virgil glared at him, more out of habit than anything else.
“Okay, look. I know you hate me right now but my father is hosting a dinner tonight and expects me and you to be there. I really need you to behave tonight, please.” Roman practically begged, sitting and leaning down so he was more eye level with the human.
“Wait, what?” Virgil’s brow furrowed in both confusion and fear. He could barely handle Roman, let alone a whole room of Giants. “Why do I have to go?”
“Well, half the celebration is technically about you. And also my father basically demanded it and I can’t really argue with him.” Roman sighed. “Look, I’d rather this not happen either but it is. And I need you to be on your best behavior. Can you do that?”
“I don’t have a best behavior.” Virgil assured him.
“Well create one then, because if my father sees you are misbehaving he might just take you away. And remember what I said would happen if he did that?” Roman raised an eyebrow, hoping scaring Virgil would work for this.
Virgil paled, remembering exactly what Roman had threatened would happen. Virgil doubted he could even misbehave in front of a bunch of giants if he tried; he’d probably be scared out of his mind the entire night. Still, Virgil couldn’t help but push his luck.
“What’s in it for me?” Virgil raised an eyebrow.
Roman blinked. Well, he hadn’t been expecting that. “Uh, well, what do you want? Other than going home.” He hurriedly said that last part.
“Well I want to go home.” Virgil hadn’t been expecting that to work, but he had to try anyways. Still, Virgil took a moment to think about it. He looked around, not wanting to waste this opportunity. Roman seemed to be pretty desperate about this. “But let’s see…”
Oh great, Roman did not like that look Virgil had gotten. He was desperate, sure, but there were some things he just couldn’t do or give. Hopefully Virgil would choose something relatively simple.
“Alright, here are my demands.” Virgil raised three fingers. “I get my clothes back, you get rid of this stupid cage, aaaand...you have to do whatever I say for a week.”
Roman furrowed his eyebrows. “Okay, well, I can give your clothes back.” He was going to do that anyway. “But I can’t do the other things.” The cage because, well, he needed to keep Virgil somewhere while he was out so he wouldn’t escape. As for doing everything Virgil said for a week...yeah, not gonna happen.
“And just why not?” Virgil stood up, crossing his arms. “I think they’re perfectly reasonable.” ...kind of. Okay, maybe the last one was just to mess with Princey.
Roman sighed. “Alright, how about a compromise then.” Roman couldn’t believe he was doing this. “I can’t get rid of the cage completely. But if I’m in here with you, I’ll leave it unlocked. The only exception is at night.” Roman said. “As for doing what you say...I’ll do a single day but they can’t be outrageous demands or have to do with letting you go or already established rules.”
“Man, you’re really sucking the fun out of this.” Virgil huffed. “I just don’t see why you need to keep me locked up. I mean, if you’re telling the truth about all that sorcerer stuff… there’s really nowhere for me to go, anyways.”
“While that may be true, it is a precaution. You’ve made it quite clear that you hate me and I don’t want you running off on me.” Roman crossed his arms. “I think my revisions to your demands are more than fair.”
“Okay, well, I haven’t tried running off on you yet.” Emphasis being on ‘yet’, of course. Virgil simply hadn’t tried anything because the opportunity hadn’t presented itself. “How about this: you lose the cage, and I promise not to run off.”
“Uh huh.” Roman said, giving Virgil a deadpan look. “I don’t believe you.”
“And why not?” Virgil gave him a shocked expression, putting a hand to his chest. “I have been nothing but honest with you this whole time. Brutally honest, in fact.”
Roman groaned and rubbed a hand down his face. Why did Virgil have to be so difficult. “Alright, you wanna know what would be in it for you if you behaved at the dinner tonight?” Roman asked and then got real close to the cage. “You don’t die.”
Virgil gulped, feeling his legs shaking a bit as he took a step back. It seemed he had pushed Roman a bit too far.
“That seems like a pretty good deal, don’t you think?” Roman asked, before sitting up straight again.
Virgil scuffed his foot, knowing that Roman was right but still hoping to gain something in the long run. He was beginning to accept the fact he might be stuck with Roman for a while, but that didn’t mean he had to lay down and be compliant.
“...I think your revisions are fair?” Virgil tried tentatively, giving Roman a nervous smile as he held out his hand.
Roman looked at Virgil for a moment. He wanted to say no, tell him he should have taken it when he had the chance but Roman paused. He was still trying to get Virgil to like him and doing that would probably do the opposite. If he did this, maybe he could earn some points in Virgil’s mind.
He sighed and opened the cage door, reaching in to grab and shake Virgil’s hand. “Alright. Deal.”
Virgil watched in slight trepidation as his hand disappeared completely within Roman’s own, scared for a moment that Roman would flinch and break his arm. However, Roman’s grip was gentle enough, and a moment later Virgil’s hand was released.
Warnings: Fear, panic, kidnapping, keeping/treating people like pets, threats, and unwanted touching/grabbing
First Chapter || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter
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Roman woke up the next morning, a little later than usual as the events from the night before had been a bit draining. He stretched as he sat up and looked over at Virgil, remembering they had plans to have lunch with Logan and Patton. Smiling, Roman started humming to himself as he went to go get ready for the day.
He was still humming as he came out, smoothing out his tunic as he came over to Virgil’s cage. He bit his lip in thought for a moment before deciding to just pick the cage up with Virgil still asleep, bringing it over to place it back on the desk. Only then, did he try to wake Virgil up. “Virgil?”
“Five more minutes.” Virgil moaned, pulling his blanket closer.
Roman rolled his eyes but allowed Virgil the few extra minutes as he silently made his way to get breakfast. When he came back, he figured enough time had passed. He placed the plate of food onto the desk. “Alright Virgil, it’s been five minutes.” He said with a smirk.
“...ten more minutes.” Virgil pressed his face into his makeshift pillow.
Roman shook his head. “Nope, time to get up! We’ve got a busy day ahead of us!” He opened the cage door and tugged the blanket off of Virgil. Not only did they have the playdate today but Roman also wanted to go to the tailor. To fix the clothes that didn’t fit Virgil.
“No thanks.” Virgil insisted, tugging the blanket back over himself.
Roman huffed and tugged the blanket off of him again, this time taking it out of the cage so Virgil couldn’t get to it.
“Hey!” Virgil protested, finally sitting up. “I was using that.”
“Not anymore,” Roman said, setting the blanket off to the side and moving some food onto Virgil’s plate. “I said it was time to wake up. Here.” Roman set the plate in Virgil’s cage. Today breakfast was an omelet filled with cheese, meat, and veggies.
“How the heck am I supposed to eat this?” Virgil looked at the messy meal before him that was certainly far from finger food.
Roman looked from Virgil to the food. He shrugged. “Just use your hands like normal. It’s fine.” Roman took a bite of his portion after he said this.
“I’m not an animal.” Virgil deadpanned. “That’ll be a huge mess! You’re using silverware, don’t you have some human silverware around here somewhere?”
Roman paused. “Uhh, no actually. We don’t.” He hadn’t even thought to get some. “But, uh, it’s fine! Here, look, I’ll show you.” Roman put his silverware down and with slight hesitation picked up a piece of omelet between his fingers and popped it into his mouth. It was a little messy, sure, but it worked.
“That’s just one piece.” Virgil goaded him on. “I’ve got a whole mess of an omelet here. C’mon, prove it. Grab the whole thing and prove to me how exactly you expected me to do this.”
Roman glared down at the human but he was not one to back out of a challenge. And Virgil’s words definitely sounded like a challenge to him. Without another word, Roman grabbed the entire omelet and started to eat it. Several pieces of the stuffing fell off and into his lap but Roman ignored it as he finished up his omelet. He wiped his mouth and hands off with his napkin and smiled smugly at Virgil.
“That is how I expect you to eat it.”
Virgil was dumbstruck for a moment before he burst out laughing. “Oh my god I did not expect you to go through with that, you looked like an idiot!”
Roman gasped in offence, placing a hand over his heart for the extra dramatics. “Rude!” Roman exclaimed. He huffed and pouted, crossing his arms. Though he didn’t want to admit it, he probably had looked like an idiot. “But I did prove that you can do it, so now it’s your turn.” He smirked.
Virgil wanted to insist he wasn’t hungry, but the growling of his stomach said otherwise. “Fine.” Moments before grabbing the food he paused, realizing that it would suck for his hoodie to get dirty and Roman to insist it get washed again. Virgil took it off, tying it around his waist instead.
Wanting to get this over with and feeling exposed in just his t-shirt, Virgil took up the food and tried not to make as much of a mess of himself.
Roman couldn’t help but grin as he watched Virgil eat the food. Okay, yeah, if Virgil looked like that while eating the omelet than Roman definitely looked like an idiot while eating one. He had to admit, it was pretty funny looking. But he kept his laughs to himself.
“Alright, there.” Virgil ate less than he could have, not liking the way Roman was just watching him the whole time. Virgil took a step back, looking down at his hands. “You got a napkin or something?” Virgil would use those hoodies, but something told him that wouldn’t be such a good idea.
Roman chuckled and ripped a corner of the napkin to give to Virgil. “There you are.”
Virgil took it, wiping his hands off. Then he put the napkin on his plate, and put his hoodie back on properly.
Roman grabbed the dirty dishes and put them with his own. He then turned back to Virgil. “Well, we have some time before we have to meet with Logan and Patton.” Roman said. He thought for a moment on what they could do before then, when he remembered something Logan had said before. If he wanted to bond with Virgil, they needed to do an activity that Virgil liked. And since Roman wasn’t sure what that was, he decided to ask.
“What would you like to do before then?” He asked with a small smile.
“...I think I’ve made it pretty clear what I’d like to do.” Virgil raised an eyebrow.
“Besides that.” Roman rolled his eyes. “Like, a fun activity we can do or a game or something. Just to pass the time.”
“Oh! Here’s a fun idea!” Virgil snapped his fingers. “Let’s play the ‘send the human home’ game.”
Roman groaned. “Come on, Virgil! There has to be something you want to do, other than that.” Roman leaned against his elbows on the desk. “I mean, I’m a prince. If you have a game or activity in mind I can get the supplies we need for it in a snap.”
“I get it, you think you’re a big deal.” Virgil rolled his eyes. “Well newsflash, I’m not exactly thrilled at the idea of playing board games with my captor.”
Roman ignored that last part. “Well, we need to pass the time somehow.” Roman huffed. “What about something like...chess? Chess is fun.”
“Chess is for nerds.” Virgil countered. “Why don’t you just go do your own thing again and leave me alone?”
Roman gasped. “Chess is a game of strategy. It’s not for ‘nerds’.” Roman put the word in quotes, because while he knew Virgil was insulting him, he wasn’t quite sure what the word meant.
Roman stood up. “That’s it. I have to show you how great chess is now.” Roman walked over to a lower shelf in his room and pulled out his game of chess. He brought it back with a smile. “I’m guessing you want to be black?” Roman asked as he started to set it up.-
Virgil paused, watching Roman pull out what was, to him, a life-sized chess set. Virgil knew how to play chess as his brother had taught him back when they were kids, but it had been a long time since Virgil played a match.
“I already know chess, I just don’t want to play.” Virgil stubbornly leaned back against the far most bars of his cage, crossing his arms.
“Come on now, it’ll be fun.” When Roman was satisfied with the set up, Roman grabbed Virgil out of the cage and set him on the other side of the board. Since he was white, he made his move first and then looked at Virgil expectantly. “Your turn!”
“I think you and I once again have different definitions of fun.” Virgil huffed. “I mean, how do you even expect me to play? These pieces are like as big as me.”
“They aren’t that heavy. Just push them.” Roman said. “Or, if you really can’t move them, just tell me where you want them to go.”
“Uuuuugh.” Virgil let out a groan, hating to do things. He glanced at the board, wondering how long Roman would make him do this.
“Just one game, and then we can stop. I’ll even leave you alone for the rest of the time before we have to go.” Roman promised.
Virgil paused, having taken into account the move Roman had made. It was just a simple pawn move, but if Roman were truly that stupid….well, Virgil’s luck might just be turning around.
“One game.” Virgil hid his smirk, climbing up into the center of the board. “Then we’re done.” He held out his hand for a shake to make it official.
Roman grinned, glad he had finally gotten through to the human. He shook Virgil’s hand. “Deal.”
Virgil went over, surveying the line pawns to make sure he grabbed the right one. Each one stood up to Virgil’s chest, and it was with a strained grunt he pushed it forwards one space.
Roman grinned as he watched Virgil, not paying much attention as he moved another pawn.
Virgil’s smirk grew, eyes widening at his dumb luck. He couldn’t believe Roman was actually this stupid. He strolled over to the square H-4, tapping with his foot. “Roman, could you be a dear and move my Queen here?” After all, it’d be near impossible for Virgil to move the larger pieces himself.
Roman frowned. “Uh, sure?” It wasn’t until he actually moved Virgil’s queen that he realized what had happened. “...no way.”
“Check. Mate.” Virgil’s grin was equivalent to that of a shark. “Fastest possible win in chess, only two moves. You have to be playing black and your opponent has to be an idiot.” His brother had tricked him with it once, and Virgil was certainly happy to pay the favor forward.
“But-I-that’s…” Roman stuttered, looking from the board to Virgil. “That’s not fair!” He pouted.
“Life’s not fair.” Virgil was reminded of that fact every day he spent trapped in this world. He hopped off the board, shoving his hands into his hoodie pocket. “Face it Princey, you lost. No rematches, we shook on it.”
Roman groaned but Virgil did have a point. “Fine.” Roman said, admitting his defeat. “I’ll leave you alone then until it’s time to go.” Roman scooped Virgil up and put him back in the cage, closing and locking it.
“I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” Roman said, before heading down to the training area to get some exercise in.
Virgil’s victory smirk faded only slightly when he was put back in the cage. He sighed, pulling up his hoodie and going back to try and get a few more hours of rest. While he was asleep it was easy to forget everything that was happening.
At least chess was alright.
***
When Roman came back a couple hours later, like he had said, he found Virgil asleep. “Seriously Virgil?” It was almost noon.
“I need my beauty sleep.” Virgil insisted, tiredly rubbing his eyes.
Roman snorted at that but didn’t otherwise comment on it. “Well, are you ready? Cause it’s time to go.” Roman opened the cage door.
“Go?” Virgil frowned, still waking up. “Go where?”
“Um, to the playdate?” Roman raised and an eyebrow and smiled a little. “You’re going to meet Patton today, remember?”
“Who’s Patton?” Virgil muttered to himself, eyes widening as it all came back to him. “Oh! Patton. Right.”
Roman chuckled. “Man, you are really out of it.” Roman reached in and picked Virgil up before letting him sit in his open palm against his chest. “Are you excited? Because I’m excited.” It’ll be adorable seeing the two humans interacting with each other, he was sure.
“I mean, I guess I’m excited.” Virgil shrugged. More so he was curious. He had a lot of questions about Patton, but he’d rather ask the human directly than try and get Roman to tell him. “More like...interested? Nervous? I dunno.”
Roman hummed as he walked through the empty halls. “I guess that makes sense.” He smiled down at Virgil. “It’ll be great though! You’ll see.”
They came across Logan’s door and just like all the other times, he didn’t bother to knock as he just walked in. “We have arrived!” He exclaimed, throwing his free hand in the air for a dramatic entrance.
Unlike before, this time Logan was ready and waiting for him. “So I’ve gathered.” Logan smirked, waving him over to a table in the corner set for lunch. A large display of food was waiting.
Patton turned at the sound of Roman and couldn’t help but smile as he saw the other human in the giant’s hand. He was so excited to meet this human. To interact with someone his own size for the first time in a year.
Roman grinned at his brother and rolled his eyes as he saw that Logan had everything already prepared. He went over to the table and set Virgil down. His eyes landing on Patton as he started to walk closer. He grinned. “Patton! This is Virgil! Virgil. Patton!” He introduced them.
“Um...hi.” Virgil waved awkwardly, now able to actually talk to the guy.
Patton grinned as he came closer until he was standing right in front of Virgil. “Hello! It’s...It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Roman couldn’t help to ‘aww’ at the sight of the two humans.
“Yeah, it’s nice to meet you too.” Virgil dropped his voice to a whisper. “This is...so weird.” He chuckled, referring to the two giants hovering over them.
Patton chuckled as well, shrugging. “Heh, you get used to it.”
Virgil didn’t ever want to get used to it.
“Virgil,” Logan tried out the name, making the human jump. “Is that your name, or a given name?”
Virgil winced, not really eager to talk to another Giant. “It’s...my name.” Virgil answered, glancing only briefly at Logan.
“Well it’s a pleasure to formally meet you Virgil.” Logan considered sticking out his hand, but thought better of it after remembering the human’s lack of training. “My name is Prince Logan.”
“...uh huh.” Virgil gave him a terse nod.
Roman nudged his brother. “Aww, come on. You don’t have to be so formal. It’s just Virgil.” Roman chuckled.
Patton glanced up at the giants before turning back to Virgil. “How are you doing? I know last night got a little...rough.”
“Yeah, no, I’m fine.” Virgil rubbed his arm. “You...you didn’t have to do that, you know.”
“Oh, I know. But I just couldn’t leave you like that.” Patton sighed. “I’m just sorry it didn’t work.” Patton wished he could have done more.
“No, it’s fine.” Virgil shook his head. “Don’t beat yourself up about it.”
Virgil looked at Patton, all of his questions bubbling to the surface. Now Virgil was almost afraid to get answers. “Patton...how long have you been here, anyways?”
“13 months.” Logan answered for him.
“I didn’t ask you.” Virgil hissed, glaring up at the giant. Logan’s eyes widened in surprise.
Roman frowned at Virgil. “Virgil. Be nice.”
Patton shifted a little. “Um, Logan’s right. It’s been just a little over a year now.” Patton said, almost not believing his own words. It had been so long, to the point he had trouble remembering his old life.
“Over...over a year?” Virgil’s mouth felt dry as he repeated what Patton had said. Over a year. A whole year’s worth of life, wasting away as Roman’s plaything. Virgil’s stomach became a twisted knot at the thought.
“Perhaps we should actually start lunch.” Logan suggested, noticing the tone was getting tense. He reached for one of the sandwiches himself, knowing he had limited time to socialize before returning to his studies.
“Brilliant idea!” Roman exclaimed, grabbing a sandwich for himself as well. He turned to the humans. “You two can grab whatever you like.” He said pointed towards the many plates of food.
Patton nodded and that was all the permission he needed to start heading over to pick and choose what he wanted. “Come on Virgil!” He motioned for the other human to follow him.
“I’m not very hungry.” Virgil admitted, having lost most of his appetite, but he followed just the same.
As the humans went off to get some food, Roman leaned towards Logan. “Hey, Lo. Uh, mind if I ask you a few things? About human care and stuff?”
“By all means, ask me anything.” Logan nodded, always eager to teach.
As the giants began to talk to one another, Patton lead Virgil in between the dishes. At this spot the giants were out of sight and Patton hummed thoughtfully as he looked at all the options.
“You’ve really been here a whole year?” Virgil repeated, keeping his voice down so the Giants wouldn’t overhear.
Patton paused before nodding slowly. “Um, yeah. I guess so.” He let out a small humorless chuckle. “It’s been so long, I can barely remember what our world is actually like.”
“Man you’re bumming me out.” Virgil’s face contorted into a grimace. “I mean, what, these guys really expect us to live the rest of our lives as some sort of pets and be happy about it? That’s insane!”
“Yeah…” Patton trailed off. “But, I mean, it’s not so bad. Logan is really nice and Roman seems to be learning. You-You just have to give it time and then it’ll be okay.” Patton sent Virgil a small smile, turning away to grab a bit of a sandwich.
“Patton…are you sure you’re okay?” Virgil looked at his fellow human intently.
“I-I’m okay. It’s just-I’m not used to another human being here. I’ve been the only one this whole time.” Patton admitted.
“That’s terrible!” Virgil said earnestly. “You must have been so miserable. Haven’t you ever tried to do anything about it? Tried to escape?”
Patton’s eyes widened. “No! I-Do you know how much trouble I would be in if I tried something like that?” Patton shook his head, not even wanting to think about it. “No, no it wouldn’t be good. Besides, I...I like being with Logan and I wouldn’t want to end up with someone else if I tried to escape…” Patton trailed off, looking away from Virgil as he took a bite of his food.
“How can you possibly like this?” Virgil asked incredulously. “He parades you around, he keeps you in a cage. You’re not even a person anymore, you’re just a- a lapdog that can talk!”
Patton wanted to argue but he knew Virgil was right. “I know...but Logan takes care of me and if it weren’t for him I don’t know where I would be.”
“You could be home.” Virgil insisted. “Don’t you have people back there who have been missing you? A family or something?”
Patton looked at Virgil for a moment before lowering his head. “...No...I don’t.”
“...oh.” Virgil winced, embarrassed. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay, you didn’t know.” Patton said, biting his lip. “Do...you have anyone missing you?” Patton asked tentatively.
Virgil shifted on his feet. “I mean, I had classmates.” Virgil shrugged pathetically. “They...they might have noticed.” They wouldn’t care though.
“I’m sorry.” Patton said, sensing Virgil’s sadness. “Maybe...Maybe we were meant to come here. So we wouldn’t be alone anymore!” Patton tried, smiling a little.
“What? No!” Virgil shook his head. “It probably just made us easy targets. You’ve gotta snap out of this thinking, Patton. It’s dangerous. Do you even want to go back?”
“Yes! I mean, well, I-I think I do?” He sent a glance in Logan’s direction, despite being unable to see him. “M-Maybe?”
“Patton.” Virgil grabbed Patton by the shoulders, turning him back to face him. “You and I can escape this. Together. We can go back to Earth and have each other instead of depending on some giant creep for companionship.”
Patton had to admit, that did sound nice. “H-How though?” The giants were almost always around and when they weren’t, they were put into a cage.
“You’ve been around for ages, you must know something.” Virgil bit his lip. “Or, does Logan, like, trust you? Maybe you can ask him some questions, figure a way out of here. Discreetly, obviously.”
Patton fidgeted with his cat hoodie around his shoulders. One of the only things he had on him when he came to this world. “I...I can try?” It was true that Logan did seem to trust him. Getting information could be fairly simple for Patton.
“Great.” Virgil breathed a sigh of relief, glad to have Patton on his side. “I believe in you, I know you can do it.” Virgil wasn’t actually sure if this would work, he’d hardly known Patton an hour, but at this point it was looking like Patton was his only shot.
“I hope I can.” Patton said quietly. “Now you should probably eat something, kiddo.”
“...Sure thing.” Virgil took up his own bit of sandwich staring at it thoughtfully. “But Pat?”
Patton blinked. “Uh, yeah?”
“If we really get the chance to do this, we’re gonna have to run.” Virgil took an angry bite. “No hesitation, no looking back, nothing. Got it? Think you can handle that?”
“I-I...Y-Yeah.” Patton said, despite being incredibly unsure of himself. He took another bite of his sandwich.
“Good.” Virgil nodded. “I’m counting on you.”
“Wait a moment.” Logan cut his brother off, noticing the humans had been gone for a while. “Patton?”
Patton perked up and immediately headed out from behind the dishes and towards Logan. “Right here!”
“Ah, there you are.” Logan smiled, giving him a pat on the head.
Virgil cringed, watching the scene from afar. Perhaps this might be harder than he thought; Logan seemed to have Patton whipped into shape.
Roman watched this with a smile before looking around for Virgil. “Virgil? Are you there?”
“Where would I have gone?” Virgil pointed out, but he begrudgingly came back all the same.
“Just making sure.” Roman chuckled before turning back to Logan. “Anyway, thanks for answering my questions. That should really help me out.”
“Questions? What questions?” Virgil glanced between the giants, paranoid as to what they might be planning behind his back. He had been tuning the princes out completely while instructing Patton.
“Oh just a few questions on how Logan took care of Patton and whatnot.” Roman answered with a shrug.
Patton blinked and looked up at Logan, wondering what kind of answers he had given.
Virgil glared up at Logan, but the prince just calmly took a sip of his tea.
“Well, this has been pleasant,” Logan announced, finally setting down his cup. “But I really must return to my studies.”
Roman huffed. “Already? It seems like you’re always studying nowadays.”
Patton couldn’t help but agree. More often than not, Logan was studying. Even Patton thought it was a bit too much sometimes.
“Father’s due to leave the throne within the year.” Logan explained. “He’s becoming senile. My advisors suggested I be prepared, so I’m studying while I still have time to myself.”
Virgil looked Logan up and down. He was going to be king? Really?
“Ugh, fine. I guess we’ll see you later then. There are some things I need to do as well, I suppose.” Roman turned to the two humans, giving them a grin. “You two say goodbye now, alright?”
Patton nodded and moved a little away from Logan to be next to Virgil. “It was nice to meet you!”
“See you later, Pat.” Virgil nodded, giving Patton one last knowing look.
Patton bit his lip but gave a subtle nod.
Roman grinned. “You two are just so cute.” He scooped Virgil up into his hand, holding him close to his chest. “Welp, I’ll leave you to your studying. But we definitely have to do this again. The humans really seemed to enjoy it.” Roman rubbed Virgil’s back with a knuckle.
“Don’t do that.” Virgil leaned away from the touch, glaring up at Roman.
Logan watched the two of them with a raised eyebrow, noticing Virgil’s unease. “Best of luck.”
“Bye!” Patton said with a wave as Roman sent a wave back and left Logan’s room.
Warnings: Fear, panic, kidnapping, keeping/treating people like pets, threats, and unwanted touching/grabbing
First Chapter || Next Chapter
—————————————————————————————————-
Logan found himself still lost deep in thought after his encounter with Roman, nearly getting lost on the way back to his room. He entered, looking at the cage on his desk in a new light. It felt so strange thinking there was another human in the building. Should he say something?
The eldest son sat down at the desk, reaching over to open the cage before pulling his studies close to him once more.
Patton perked up a little when Logan entered the room. He smiled a bit but it dropped when he noticed something was off about the giant. Not by too much but enough for Patton to notice. He wondered what could have happened? Logan hadn’t even been gone that long.
His cage door was opened but Patton didn’t dare leave the cage. He knew to wait for the command to do so.
After all his scrolls were aligned Logan tapped a spot on the desk near himself, calling Patton silently to his side.
Seeing the signal, Patton jumped to his feet and quickly got out of the cage and to where Logan had tapped. He was now near the giant’s hand, looking up at him.
Logan gave Patton a tired smile, pleased with his eagerness. Absentmindedly he began to pet Patton on the head, trying to focus back on his studies.
Patton hummed in contentment as he was petted, leaning into the touch slightly. He wouldn’t have thought-several months ago-that he would ever like being pet like some, well, pet, but Patton had grown to enjoy it. It was the only form of touch that he ever got anymore, after all.
Patton looked up at Logan again with a frown. Figuring at this point it was alright for him to speak, Patton did so. “Is something wrong?”
Logan paused his hand motions, turning to look at Patton. He was quiet for a minute, still debating whether or not to tell him.
“...it’s nothing.” Logan shook his head, running his fingers across Patton’s soft hair once more and gently down his back. Logan was not a physically touchy individual by nature, but he had noticed Patton had a fondness for it.
Patton hummed, not sure if he should push it or not. It clearly wasn’t nothing, that much Patton could tell. But he didn’t want to make Logan upset by asking about it more.
...Maybe one more time couldn’t hurt. He definitely wasn’t going to push his luck after that. “Are you sure?”
Logan chuckled humorlessly. It seemed every day Patton became more adept at reading him like a book.
“It seems Roman got a human as well today.” Logan caved, knowing Patton would find out eventually regardless.
Patton’s eyes widened. “Oh.” He looked down, starting to gnaw at his lip. Another human had been taken and brought here? To become a pet just like Patton had become? Patton couldn’t help but feel bad for the poor soul. He knew as well as anyone how terrifying it was, especially at first. Patton winced as he remembered the training he had to go through and just hoped that the other human would listen for his own good.
“Indeed.” Logan noticed Patton shared his nervous energy about the subject, albeit not for the same reasons. Logan turned back to his homework, quill resting in the margins. “I’m a bit...concerned as to how that may be going.” Logan admitted.
Well, Patton didn’t like the sound of that. “Why?” He had never met Roman officially-he had only ever seen him talking to Logan from a distance-and while Logan complained about his brother sometimes it was never too often. Was Roman not good?
Logan tapped his quill absentmindedly. “How do you think Roman would behave, given the circumstances?” Logan didn’t answer Patton’s question, instead asking one of his own.
Patton bit his lip, remembering the sorts of complaints Logan had made about Roman in the past, and how Roman had acted the few times he had seen him. He winced. Oh, that poor, poor human. “I can...see why you’re worried.” That just made him more thankful he ended with someone like Logan. While rough in the beginning, things were pretty good for him now.
“Indeed.” Logan didn’t even notice he was repeating himself, too lost in his own thoughts.
He shook his head lightly as if to clear his brain. “I suppose I shouldn’t question father’s judgement.” He murmured, more to himself as he tried to focus back on his work. That was the council’s job, after all.
Patton didn’t say anything else, looking off in space as he thought about some other human, being taken from their world and being treated like a pet. With Roman especially, Patton was worried for the other human’s mental state.
Of course, seeing how broken he was now and how little he questioned things anymore, he supposed he wasn’t one to talk.
***
Roman woke up bright and early the next morning, grinning as he saw his human fast asleep in the cage beside his bed. He quickly got up and got ready for the day before coming back over to the cage. He looked at Virgil inside, frowning for a minute as he remembered everything the little guy had done and said.
Again, this human was going to be a challenge. But he could do this! Without Logan’s help too. He just might have to be a bit harsher when it came to things. Maybe then Virgil would listen to him.
He picked up the cage and moved it back over to the desk. “Virgil? Time to wake!”
Virgil groaned, his head hitting slightly against the metal beneath him as the cage was transferred. What time was it? As he slowly woke up and remembered what was happening, Virgil knew it was far too early to be dealing with Roman again. Without even turning to the Giant prince he lifted his finger and gave Roman the bird.
Roman gasped in offense at the crude gesture. Was he really going to have a problem with Virgil already. “Rude! I suggest you put that finger down unless you want punishment.” Roman spoke with a glare.
Virgil was tempted to just lift his other finger instead, but he didn’t want to push his luck. Instead Virgil sat up, feeling his backache from laying on a hard surface all night. He glared through his bangs at Roman, not bothering to push his hair out of his face.
“Now, I am going to go get us breakfast. While I’m gone you will change into these clothes.” Roman opened the cage door and put in some neatly folded human clothes he had gotten while getting ready. He then closed the cage back up. “If you aren’t awake and dressed by the time I come back, there will be punishment.” With that, Roman sent one last look to Virgil before leaving the room.
Virgil froze. It was definitely too early to deal with this sort of dilemma. On the one hand, Virgil did appreciate being able to change himself, he didn’t want to get punished, and something told him sooner or later he’d end up in these clothes anyways.
But on the other hand...Virgil tucked his hoodie closer around himself. It was one of his few comfort items. He was very fond of it and felt quite anxious at the idea of losing it in this Giant realm. In fact, the idea of losing any of his clothing made him nervous. He’d likely never find human clothing like this again if he stayed trapped here.
Virgil went over to the pile to see exactly what he was dealing with. It looked like some sort of medieval getup, with brown pants and a white tunic. Virgil cringed; not only was the tunic white, but it was short-sleeved as well. There was no way Virgil would ever be comfortable in such clothing.
Glancing at the door, Virgil made up his mind. He quickly changed into the outfit Roman had provided, cringing at the way it chaffed. As soon as the ensemble was on Virgil threw his hoodie over it, taking the rest of his clothes and folding them carefully in a pile at the back of his cage.
Roman came back into the room with a plate full of eggs, bacon, and toast. He put the plate on his desk and then looked into the cage at Virgil. He frowned when he saw the old overshirt but realized that Virgil had put on the clothes he had asked. He couldn’t really fault him for Roman not being specific. He smiled warmly.
“Good job Virgil but I need you to take that overshirt off as well.” Spotting the pile of clothes in the back, Roman opened the cage and reached in, grabbing them and pulling them out.
Virgil’s eyes widened, quickly coming closer to the cage opening. “Wait! Give those back!”
Roman set the old clothes on the desk to deal with in a minute before turning his attention back to Virgil. “Um, no. These are filthy. Now give me the overshirt.” Roman held out his hand in front of Virgil expectantly.
“They’re not filthy, they’re fine.” Virgil took a step back, hugging his hoodie protectively. “Please, just let me keep them in here. It’s not like I don’t have space.” Virgil looked around the fairly large cage, taking note of the fact he was the only thing inside right now.
Roman tilted his head before realizing what Virgil was thinking. “Oh. No you’ve got it all wrong. I’m just taking them to get cleaned, you’ll get them back.” Roman reassured. After all, there would be no point in throwing away perfectly good human clothes. Especially when they took a while to make or find.
Virgil felt only slightly relieved at this knowledge, as his anxiety still reminded him how easy it would be for his clothes to get lost or ripped or otherwise destroyed.
“I don’t feel comfortable without my hoodie.” Virgil admitted, rubbing his arms self consciously. “I want to keep it on.”
Roman frowned. He hadn’t realized how much Virgil liked his overshirt, or ‘hoodie’ since that’s what he kept calling it. “Well, that doesn't change the fact that it’s dirty.” Roman hummed in thought. “Would you give it to me if I promised I can give it back to you in an hour?” Roman asked.
“I have no reason to trust you.” Virgil regarded him with suspicion. “You’re still keeping me captive.”
Roman hated how difficult Virgil was being. “Look, you can either give it to me yourself or I will take it off of you. Which one would you rather happen?”
Virgil bit his lip, thinking it over. He had no doubts that Roman would actually follow through with his threat, and he didn’t want to risk his hoodie getting ripped.
“...one hour.” Virgil repeated. “Then I get it back?”
Roman smiled, seeing that Virgil was giving in. “I promise.” He held out his hand for the hoodie.
Virgil sighed. “Fine.” He quickly removed his hoodie, tossing it out of the cage before he could talk himself back out of this. Immediately Virgil wrapped his arms around his chest, feeling exposed and out of place.
“Nothing better happen to it.” Virgil warned.
Roman grinned as he moved it with the other before gathering them all up. He stood up. “Nothing will.” He went to the door just in time to catch a maid. He handed her the clothes and then whispered.
“Tell them I want the overshirt back within an hour.” He then got an idea. “And I want at least five more of these made or found.” The maid nodded and left with the clothes. Satisfied with that, Roman went back into the room.
Looking at Virgil, he did look quite weird without his hoodie on. He walked back over to the desk and just like the night before, put a little bit of food on a smaller plate for Virgil. He then stuck it in the cage. “Eat up.” He said and then started eating his own portion.
Virgil rolled his eyes, but the smell of food was quite tempting. He looked over the options, realizing that toast might be the easiest to stomach. And the easiest to eat considering he didn’t have any silverware. He grabbed a smaller bit of the bread and began nibbling on it halfheartedly.
Roman smiled as he watched Virgil eat. Glad he actually was with no fuss this time. They both ate in silence and when they were done (or had eaten all he would in Virgil’s case) he stacked the plates on top of each other for the maid to take later.
He then clapped his hands together. “So! Are you going to be better for me today?”
Virgil just gave him a shrug. He had no plans to cooperate, rather the opposite actually, but for the time being he was also cautious of the fact that angering Roman might mean not getting his hoodie back.
Roman hummed at the shrug. Fine, he could work with that. “Well, we are going to do a little bit of training before I have to go to my knightly duties. So…” Roman opened the cage door and then tapped the table like he had done the night before. “Come here Virgil.”
Virgil glared at him, hating how condescending the command was. He didn’t want to cooperate and lose his last shred of dignity, but he also didn’t want to die. Suddenly struck with inspiration, Virgil smirked and took a slow step forwards.
Roman perked up at the sight of Virgil beginning to move. “There we go, come on Virgil, that’s it.” Things already seemed to be going better than last night.
Virgil paused, lifting his next foot even slower than the last.
Roman enthusiasm slowly died as he realized what Virgil was doing. He groaned. “Virgil, please don’t do this.”
“Do what?” Virgil asked innocently, continuing his slow pace.
Roman took in a deep breath before trying again. “Okay. Virgil, come here at a normal pace.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Virgil paused briefly to lean on the bars of the cage, inches away from stepping out. “This is a perfectly normal human pace.”
“You and I both know that is not true.” Roman said with narrowed eyes. “Virgil, I am serious. If you are not over here in the next three seconds, you will be punished. No getting out of it.”
Roman took a deep breath. “1.”
Virgil didn’t test his luck, quickly scrambling out of the cage and nearly tripping over himself in his haste to go where Roman had indicated.
“Good human.” Roman smiled, reaching a hand over to give Virgil some pets on the head as a reward. “That wasn’t so hard, right?”
Virgil ducked, trying to avoid Roman’s touch as he gave him an irritated growl. “Don’t patronize me.”
Roman ignored him, taking his hand away. “Now, can you sit for me?”
“I can.” Virgil confirmed, making no move to do so.
Roman’s eyes narrowed. “Virgil, sit.”
“Roman, ask politely.” Virgil retorted, holding his ground.
Roman practically growled. “That’s it!” He grabbed Virgil in a fist, bringing him up to his face. “Why do you have to make things so difficult for yourself, hmm?” Looks like a punishment was finally in order but what should he do…
Virgil yelped, paling a few shades as he realized how irritated he had made Roman. He gasped, feeling his ribs get painfully squeezed in Roman’s grasp. Against his will he began to shake with fright.
“Let’s see…” Roman’s thoughts were cut off when there was a knock on his door. A voice then called out.
“Prince Roman! You are needed at the knights training field.” Roman groaned, not realizing how late it had gotten. He sighed.
“I’ll be right there!” He turned back to Virgil. “Don’t think this means you are getting out of this. Your punishment will happen when I get back.” Roman put Virgil back in the cage before heading out.
Virgil groaned, slowly picking himself off the cage floor. His sides felt bruised. Tenderly Virgil rubbed them, checking for any damages. He glanced at the door, already dreading Roman’s return. He had definitely pushed it too far. What kind of ‘punishment’ did Roman have in mind? Virgil began to shake again, his mind already supplying endless possibilities, each more terrible than the last.
Virgil curled in on himself, squeezing his eyes shut. Now more than ever he wished he had his hoodie back, if only to offer the illusion of comfort before the storm.
Warnings: Fear, panic, kidnapping, keeping/treating people like pets, threats, and unwanted touching/grabbing
First Chapter || Previous Chapter
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Just as the trio had fallen asleep, there came an insistent knocking at the door.
Roman groaned, eyes opening slightly as he glanced over at the door. Who on earth was knocking at this time at night? He got up, being extra careful not to jostle the two humans and went to open his door, cracking it open just a tad. “Hello?”
“Ah, Prince Roman.” The royal sorcerer gave a low bow. “I hate to disturb you at such a late hour.”
Roman tensed, going from surprise to a strong glare in under a second. “What do you want?” Roman growled out.
“There was a mistake in my spellcasting.” Dee explained, attempting to use his silver tongue. “A catastrophe in my lab, quite a mess as you can imagine. And those poor humans were caught in the thick of it- mainly hallucinogens, you understand- and when they came to the wretch-er, charming little vermin were spouting off lies about me left and right.”
Roman continued to glare at him. “...I see. Well, we must inform Logan of this immediately.” He closed moved out into the hall without opening the door much more than it already was and closed it behind him. He gave Dee a tight smile. “Shall we?”
“I’ve already informed Logan.” Dee assured him. “After all, my loyalty lies first with the throne. King Logan sent me here to clear their tiny heads.”
Roman narrowed his eyes. “Right, well, I hope you don’t mind but I want to speak with Logan first before I do anything. Just to make sure.” He motioned again for Dee to walk in that direction. There was no way he was letting Dee have his humans.
“Prince Roman, while this is an urgent matter, the King has asked not to be disturbed.” Dee took a step forward. “Stand aside so I can complete my orders.”
Roman only stood up straighter, moving so he was blocking the door even more. “No.”
“Roman.” Dee put a single gloved hand on Roman’s shoulder, giving him a sickeningly sweet smile. “You really don’t want to do this.”
Roman pushed Dee’s hand off of him. “I’m not letting you get your slimy hands on them again.”
Dee paused, taking in Roman’s demeanor. It seemed the giant was going nowhere anytime soon.
“Very well.” Dee straightened up, taking a step back. “Have it your way.”
Without warning Roman was suddenly thrown to the side, pushed by an invisible force as Dee directed the shadows in the hall to overthrow the prince’s balance.
“Gah!” Roman cried as he was thrown to the ground. He hit it with a large thud. “Help! Guards! Logan!” He started shouting.
Dee pushed his limbs forward, and a large gust of wind blew open the heavy double doors.
Virgil jolted awake, shocked by the sound of the doors slamming open. He paled, recognizing the intruder as he strode in like he owned the place.
Thomas too, jolted awake at both the sound of the door and at Virgil moving. He stared into the darkness, realizing with dread that the giant coming into the room was Dee. And, looking around, Roman was nowhere in sight.
Roman stood up and-knowing he had no chance to stop Dee as long as he had his magic-ran quickly towards Logan’s room, passing several guards on his way, who he pointed in the right direction.
Dee paused, for a moment too shocked to continue forwards. “...Thomas?”
“You stay away from my brother!” Virgil shouted, getting in front of Thomas.
Dee’s expression fell back into its signature smirk. “If you two are so close, I can certainly oblige keeping you together.” He lunged forwards, taking the two into a tight grip of his fist.
“Ah!” Thomas cried out in pain as he was shoved against Virgil and Dee’s fingers. He did not miss the feeling of being confined in the slightest. “Let-Let us go!”
“No!” Dee squeezed tighter, feeling the human’s forms crush together in his grasp. “I am never letting you go, never again, you hear me? You are mine. I decide your fate, I am in control, and I. will NOT. be SILENCED!”
With this last phrase Dee’s voice had escalated to a roar, pounding through the human’s ears. The room became darker, the shadows swirling around under his command and with it came a howling wind. The sorcerer cackled, reveling in his victory. At long last, he finally had his human back.
Thomas grit his teeth hard, Dee’s grip making him unable to cover his ears. The giant screaming made them screech with pain and he had to shut his eyes in order to take it. Even so, he wouldn’t be surprised if his ears were now bleeding.
“Dee…” Thomas tried after a moment. “Please, take me but at least-at least let Virgil go.”
“I’m not giving up leverage so easily.” Dee sneered, his voice tainted with a dark echo as his true form continued to be revealed. “Your little brother here will be just another pawn to keep you in line, suffering the consequences for your transgressions should you try to escape me twice.”
“You’re insane!” Virgil screeched, trying to bite Dee’s fingers but lacking a good angle.
“No! Don’t hurt him!” Thomas shouted, practically begging. “Please, he doesn’t deserve this!”
“ENOUGH!” All three heads turned to see a furious Logan standing in the doorway, surrounded by many members of the castle staff as well as his brother.
“Ah, your royal highness, I-” Dee frantically tried to disguise himself, reeling back the dramatics and tucking the humans behind his back.
“Chancelor Dee, royal sorcerer, chair of all magical proceedings at the regal council,” Logan listed off the various titles held by the slimy snake of a man as he strode forwards, “by the power vested in me through the royal blood of the Sanders line, I hereby denounce you of your position and revoke your magical privileges.”
“NO!” Dee screeched, the shadows and wind dissipating rapidly and leaving only the shell of a man who fell to his knees, begging at the king’s feet. “Please, your highness, have mercy. This is not how it appears-”
“Spare me the theatrics.” Logan rolled his eyes, waving a pair of guards over. He got enough dramatics from his brother. Holding his hands outstretched, Logan caught the humans when the guards forced Dee’s hands open, painfully yanking them behind the former sorcerer's back.
As Thomas found himself in Logan’s hands he let out a long sigh of relief and clung to his brother, still shaking from the entire affair.
Patton looked at the scene worryingly from Roman’s hands. And Roman wasted no time when everything was done to be at Logan’s side. He leaned in close to the humans. “Are you okay?” He whispered.
Virgil found himself low on breaths but he managed a nod. Hopefully just some bruising.
Thomas also nodded and Roman let out a sigh of relief. He looked to Logan. “You gonna banish this snake yet or what?” He asked, eyeing Dee.
Logan nodded, turning to the prisoner with an ice cold gaze. “For your crimes against the throne and its affiliates, you are no longer welcome within our borders. You shall be escorted to the northern mountains where you to live out the rest of your days in solitude and never to disturb another person, human or giant, as long as you live.”
“And if you do,” Roman added, getting in real close. “I’ll personally make you regret it.” He threatened.
“oooOOooh, the spoiled brat’s mad I touched his toys.” Dee sneered, having no use for his charm anymore.
Virgil grit his teeth, feeling the urge to punch him as his fists clenched at his side.
Roman, feeling much the same, handed Patton to Logan and then reeled back his fist, punching Dee straight in the face.
“Whoa!” Patton yelled, not having expected that.
Dee looked just as shocked, his nose already bent to the side and beginning to bleed.
“...ow!” Dee said incredulously.
“Roman, I thought we agreed violence was unecessary.” Logan murmured, keeping his voice down while there were whispers from the crowd behind. “That being said, I support your decision.”
“HIT HIM AGAIN!” Virgil yelled, the notion causing Dee to flinch back in preparation.
Roman rolled up his sleeve. “With pleasure.”
“Roman, I think that’s enough.” Patton said, despite the fact he liked seeing Dee get punched the first time.
“Stop!” Picani seemed to agree, hastily rushing forwards. “Stop this at once, your highness. You have a reputation to uphold.”
Roman huffed but put his arm down, crossing his arms. Sometimes he really hated being the prince. He looked to the guards. “Fine, then. Just get him out of here!”
The guards did as requested, hastily dragging the injured Dee away from the scene of the crime.
“In the morning we will release the call for a new royal sorcerer, or sorcerous I suppose.” Picani explained. “But in the meantime… off with you!” Picani waved at the crowd that had gathered, dispersing them.
“That...was stressful.” Thomas admitted and Patton went over to check on them.
“You can say that again.” Roman huffed. He turned to Logan. “At least that’s over with now though. He won’t be able to hurt them anymore.”
“Indeed, and with him taken care of I know I shall rest easier.” Logan gave a yawn.
“I know it has been an eventful evening, but perhaps it is best you all head off to bed.” Picani suggested gently, leaving the decision up to the king.
“I agree.” Logan nodded. “Some rest will do us some good.”
“Yes, I believe it will.” Roman said, he turned to the humans. “Come on you two.” He motioned for Virgil and Thomas to climb on but they hesitated.
“Roman.” Patton got his attention. “Can we stick together? For tonight, at least?” Patton asked and Roman blinked.
“Oh! Uh...Logan?” Roman asked, looking at his brother.
“Where, Patton?” Logan looked to the humans in his hands. “Would the three of you like to accompany myself, or Roman?”
Patton looked up the giants. “...Both of you?” He asked.
“Both? Uh...I mean, I’m down for a sleepover.” Roman turned to Logan.
“It seems a bit juvenile, but I think it’s appropriate.” Logan agreed. The bed was certainly large enough.
“I’ll increase security outside this door and make sure you’re not disturbed.” Picani said, giving a bow. Logan gave him a nod of thanks.
Roman waited until Picani was gone to speak. “So...how do we do this? Do we all share the bed? Sleep on the floor?” Roman suggested.
“Share the bed.” Virgil voted. “That thing’s like an ocean, there’s plenty of room.”
“You have a point, Virge. Even with all of us on it, there will still be plenty of room.” Roman looked to his bed to make sure and nodded. “What do you say you Royal Bookworm?” Roman nudged Logan.
Logan rolled his eyes good-naturedly, walking over to the four poster. “I’ll take the right side. The three of you can have the middle pillow.”
“Sounds good.” Thomas spoke, while Patton squealed.
“Yay! Sleepover!” He exclaimed. Roman chuckled and made his way over to the bed, smoothing it out slightly and then motioning for Logan to get in.
Logan set the humans down, settling in himself. “Everyone comfortable?”
“Yeah.” Thomas said with a smile, snuggling into Virgil. Patton, on the other hand, was already in the middle of climbing up to Logan’s chest. He settled down with a smile.
“Now I am.”
Logan’s heart leapt up his throat, looking down at Patton fondly as he placed his palm gently over the tiny human.
“You coming, princey?” Virgil teased.
Roman smiled and rolled his eyes fondly as he got into bed as well. He settled down and laid on his side to see the others better. “Everyone all settled in?” Roman asked.
Thomas nodded and Patton hummed happily into Logan’s chest.
“Yup.” Virgil confirmed, nestling closer to his brother.
“Goodnight then.” Logan spoke aloud into the darkness, earning a chorus of ‘goodnight’s in return.
Yes, the evening had been filled with frights, as had most of the human’s separate lives through the giant world. But all three had experienced joys here as well. No matter what the morning brought, be it a new foe, a way home, or perhaps even the news this would become their permanent residence, the group was unafraid, because they were ready to face any challenges that arose together.
Warnings: Fear, panic, kidnapping, keeping/treating people like pets, threats, and unwanted touching/grabbing
First Chapter || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter
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Roman took his hand back with a grin. “Great! Now, we need to prepare for the dinner tonight. Which means we need to get you some nicer clothes.” He hummed for a moment as he walked over to the lower drawer of his dresser. He kneeled down and opened it, revealing to him an abundance of human clothing he had issued for over the months.
Ever since Logan had gotten his human and he had been begging for one of his own, he had asked the tailors to make him some human-sized clothes as well. Just to be prepared for when he did get his own. And now he could finally use them!
“Virgil, what’s your favorite color?” He asked as he shifted through all the outfits.
Virgil was surprised he was even asked. “Black.”
Roman rolled his eyes. He should have expected that answer, seeing what he had already been wearing when they met. He looked Virgil over and shifted through the clothes. He was trying to look for something mostly black but with just a splash of color. He didn’t want his human to be entirely dreary.
Roman grinned when he came upon a black button-up jacket, black slacks, and a dark purple undershirt. Perfect. He grabbed a tiny pair of black dress shoes as well and stood up, closing the drawer with his foot. He walked back over to the desk, setting the clothes down on the table for Virgil to look at and take. “Here we go!”
“Where did you get those?” Virgil frowned, noticing the ensemble seemed much more human than the medieval world around them.
“Well, sometimes our tailors make the clothes, other times we get them from your world. These ones happen to be from your world.” He had a nice mixed collection in his drawer. “Do you like it?”
“Wait, you stole these?” Virgil climbed out of the cage to come over and inspect the garments.
Roman furrowed his eyebrows at Virgil’s accusation. “Well…” He supposed a human would see it like that. “We didn’t take them from any humans. Our sorcerer takes them from some shops he’s found in the human world.” That’s what he had heard, anyway. “You don’t need to worry about it.”
“I’m gonna worry about it anyway.” Virgil raised the shirt, looking at it in slight disgust. “That’s still wrong. And humans own those shops, so really you are taking from humans.”
Roman pouted. “Well, blame Logan for that then! He was the one who said his human preferred to wear clothes from the human world.”
“It seems I should blame Logan for a lot of things.” Virgil muttered, liking Roman’s brother less and less. Of course, it was a fair observation clothing-wise. Virgil had hardly been wearing these giant-made clothes a day and it was driving him crazy.
“Yes.” Roman agreed, wanting as much blame to stay away from him as possible. “Now, go ahead and get dressed. I’ll be right back.” Roman grabbed some clothes from his dresser and headed into his adjacent changing room.
Virgil was quick to change into the clothes, not wanting Roman to come back while he was in the middle of dressing. It was admittedly nice to be back in ‘real’ clothes, even if they weren’t his. Of course, it was clear to anyone that these clothes were not his own. The pants were alright but the shirt sleeves billowed past his wrists. The jacket had the opposite problem where his arms barely fit and the buttons wouldn’t close. Huffing about looking like an idiot, Virgil discarded the jacket entirely and stubbornly put his hoodie back on.
Roman came back out, dressed in some formal casual clothes. A black pair of pants with a white top and red jacket. He walked over to Virgil but frowned when he saw the jacket discarded off to the side and Virgil wearing his hoodie. He sighed. “Virgil, that isn’t going to work.”
“Well, the stupid jacket doesn’t fit anyway.” Virgil gave it a kick for good measure.
“It didn’t?” Roman picked up the jacket and looked it over. “Hmm, well, we’ll have to get it tailored later on then. I might have another jacket that’s more your size though.” Roman went back over to the drawer and looked through it once more after putting the other jacket back. He came across a similar looking jacket, also from the human world, though this one was a light grey and had no buttons. Roman stood and brought it to Virgil. “I know it’s not black, but this one might actually fit you.” He held it out to him.
“That’s not gonna fit me.” Virgil argued, knowing just from looking at it that it would be as ill-fitting as the dress shirt.
Roman frowned. “Just try it on. You can’t wear that hoodie tonight.” If Virgil showed up in that, he’s not actually sure what his father would say. But it wouldn’t be good. He set the jacket down in front of Virgil.
“Well why not?” Virgil stubbornly didn’t acknowledge the jacket before him, instead keeping his gaze on Roman.
“This is a formal event. And that hoodie doesn’t exactly scream formal.” Roman explained, lifting an eyebrow.
“This is about as formal as I get.” Virgil informed him. Indeed, it was rare Virgil ever wore a pair of dress pants this nice. Of course, it was also rare Virgil went to any event that could be considered ‘formal’. “I keep the hoodie.”
Roman groaned but what could he do about it? He didn’t want to do something that might make Virgil hate him more. He took the jacket again and looked at it and Virgil. “Fine but at least…” he trailed off as he placed the jacket over Virgil’s shoulders. “There. Does that work?”
Virgil inspected his outfit, trying to gauge what he looked like without a mirror. “Y’know I think that just made it worse.”
Roman looked him over and winced. “Okay, yeah, no jacket.” He grabbed it off of Virgil. “Fine. I suppose it’s just the hoodie then.” Hopefully his father wouldn’t say anything.
“Guess you’re just gonna have to get used to the fact I’m a fashion icon.” Virgil teased, knowing that his fashion sense was equivalent to a flaming dumpster fire. Virgil just preferred clothes that were comfortable, dark, and kept him covered. If they could make him disappear in social settings that was a bonus.
“Okay. Clothes are out of the way and we still have a little time before the dinner.” Roman said as he sat down at his desk. “Time to go over what you can expect from the dinner.”
“...great.” Virgil’s tone was sarcastic. He began fidgeting with his sleeve, already anxious as he began to think of the reality of it all. “Let me guess, there’s like a million etiquette rules I need to know?”
Roman smiled a little. “For me? Yes. But you don’t have to worry about nearly as much.” Roman chuckled slightly before it fell into a sigh. “No, just...you’ll be expected to stay by me the entire time. And you aren’t allowed to speak unless you are spoken to.” Roman started.
“Well it’s not like I’ll know anybody else there.” Virgil pointed out. Or that there would be anywhere for him to go. Virgil could’ve guessed the no speaking rule, but for his own sanity he pretended that was because he wasn’t royalty and not due to the fact he was human. “How...how many people will be there, anyways?”
“Not...too many.” Roman bit his lip. “It’s a special dinner, so only nobility will be there. My father and brother and his human will be there. And I’m sure there will be several lords and ladies and dukes and whatnot from our kingdom…” Roman trailed off.
“I’d say about thirty people at the most.” He answered finally.
“Thirty.” Virgil’s voicebox squeaked as he repeated the number, a hand coming up to grip his hair. “Heh, great.” Even the mention of another human being present wasn’t exactly good news. It wasn’t as though Virgil could talk to them anyways, and it would likely just depress Virgil even further to see someone else trapped here. Still, at least he wasn’t the only one, so maybe he’d get slightly less stares?
“It-It shouldn’t be too bad.” Roman tried to comfort Virgil. “But there is...something else.” Roman rubbed the back of his neck.
“What is it?” Virgil narrowed his eyes, not liking the way Roman hesitated.
“Okay...so...There’s going to be a part of the dinner where they expect Logan and now me, to show off what our humans can...do.” Roman said lamely. “Which means...you will have to listen to me and do a few, uh, commands like before.”
“Oh, hell no.” Virgil shook his head.
“Look, I know but you have to. If you don’t, my father will get angry and trust me, none of us want that.” He shivered just thinking about it.
“Can’t you just say I’m “not trained yet” or something?” Virgil insisted, gritting his teeth even as he said it.
Roman shook his head. “My father doesn’t understand how all this works, much like I did before I spoke with Logan. You won’t have to do a lot though, definitely not as much as Logan’s human. You’ll probably just have to do the basic commands I already taught you.”
“That’s a lot of ‘probably’s and ‘maybe’s and uncertainties there, Roman.” Virgil pointed out, feeling his panic rising. What, now not only would he have to deal with good old social anxiety, as well as the natural fear of a room full of giants, but now he was facing performance anxiety as well?!
“I don’t want to do it, Roman.” Virgil pressed on. “It’s demeaning and stressful and frankly I’d probably freeze up on the spot anyways. You better think of a good excuse for your dad because I’m not doing it.”
Roman’s eyes widened. “But you said you would behave! We even shook on it! Please, Virgil. I’d rather you not do this either but you have to I-” He was cut off by a knock at the door.
“Prince Roman? Your presence is required for the dinner.” A servant spoke through the door. Roman groaned.
“Tell them I am on my way!” He called back out. He heard the servant leave and he looked down at Virgil with slight guilt and pity. “Sorry Virgil but this is happening. It’ll be okay though, I promise.” Roman stood and scooped Virgil into his hands.
Virgil struggled briefly at first, but as soon as he got a glance at the distance to the floor he changed tactics. Virgil gripped onto Roman’s finger, terrified of a fall.
“Don’t you dare drop me.” Virgil warned, although his threat might have held more weight if he wasn’t white as a sheet.
“I won’t.” Roman reassured him before heading out towards the dining hall. He walked a bit slower for Virgil’s sake and made it to the dining area with half the guests still standing and chatting. His father came up to greet him.
“You’re late.” He briefly glanced down at Virgil in Roman’s hands before going back to Roman.
Roman put on a smile. “Yes, sorry father. Lost track of time.” The king hummed but turned away from him and towards his guests.
“Everyone! May I present Prince Roman and his human, our reason for celebrating tonight!” A polite clapping echoes across the hall.
Virgil trembled, feeling overwhelmed already. A few dozen giant eyes peered at him across the room, making him feel especially small. He wanted nothing more than to curl further into his hoodie and die. Of course, the eyes were only the first overwhelming thing about this place. The lights were too bright, the smells were too strong, and everyone was so loud that if Virgil wasn’t so afraid of falling he would have dropped Roman’s finger in favor of covering his ears.
Roman curled his hand a little tighter in comfort around Virgil as he felt him shake before nodding to the guests and sitting across from Logan-who of course was there, probably had gotten there early too-and to the left of his father. As the guests were taking their seats, Roman turned to Logan. “Hey Logan.” He carefully set Virgil down on the table as he greeted his brother.
Virgil felt the table beneath him trembling as various Giant nobles took their seats. He looked up in front of him to finally put a face to Logan’s name. Virgil shuddered, finding the Giant’s calculating gaze already upon him.
“Hello Roman.” Logan returned his brother’s greeting, not attempting to hide his curiosity.
Looking back at the table, Virgil’s eyes widened when he saw a tiny- well, not tiny he reminded himself, just normal sized- figure sat near Logan’s hand. It was another human being! And yet, despite all of this craziness, they seemed almost...calm. Was he okay? Almost subconsciously Virgil began to walk towards him, drawn to the only familiar thing in this mess up scenario.
Patton couldn’t help but openly stare at the other human. It had been so long since he saw someone his size. It almost seemed unreal to him. And then his eyes widened when Virgil started walking.
Roman’s eyes widened as well and he was quick to put his hand in front of Virgil and scoot him back towards him. He looked around to make sure no one saw anything, thankfully, everyone was still getting settled.
Patton winced but knew it was for the best that Roman had done that.
Logan raised an eyebrow at the human’s behavior, realizing that this event might be a bigger disaster than he originally thought.
Thankfully Virgil snapped out of his trance the moment he was touched. He wanted to send a glare back at Roman but knew that it would be in his best interest to listen to all those rules Roman had mentioned.
Despite this, Virgil couldn’t stop gazing across the table at the human curiously, noticing the human was staring right back. Who was he? What was his story? Virgil realized now that he had never even heard his name. Oh jeez, he did still have a name, right?
Patton smiled a bit and waved at the other human when he noticed he was looking at him again. He looked to be doing alright...well, physically anyway. He looked absolutely terrified though. Patton couldn’t blame him.
The king took his seat as everyone settled down to look at him. “Thank you all for coming to this, I’ll admit, bit of a last minute dinner.” Some guests chuckled. “But I can assure you, the food is as good as ever. Now, let us eat!” As if on cue, a wave of servants came out with dishes upon dishes of hot food. Placing it in front of everyone.
Roman nodded to the servant in thanks but he was distracted by Virgil. Remembering that he had forgotten to tell him he would have to eat off of Roman’s plate. Hopefully he’s figured it out.
Patton already knew what to do, of course, and came over to sit between the plate and Logan and waited for the giant to push his serving to him.
Logan did so, portioning out the meat and vegetables accordingly so that Patton got enough and it was easily manageable.
Virgil watched this exchange, eyes widening in realization. Oh, hell no. Virgil turned back to Roman, already shaking his head. He’d rather go hungry for the night, and honestly with all the sounds of chatter and eating around him he didn’t think he could stomach much anyways. This whole scenario made him a bit queasy.
Patton dug into his portion, still watching the other human. He watched as the gears in his head turned and then he turned away from the plate of food. Oh...Patton sighed, remembering the feelings of his first dinner well. Though, at least this human didn’t have to deal with all that grabbing. He shivered at the memories, taking another bite of food.
Roman was portioning out food for Virgil when he noticed Virgil’s behavior. He bit his lip and snuck a glance at his father, who was thankfully busy eating. He scooted Virgil to sit between him and the plate, like Logan’s human was and then leaned down to whisper to Virgil. “Look, you don’t have to eat anything right now but just, like, pretend or something. Please.”
Every muscle in Virgil’s body was tense from being moved and the new proximity he had to Roman, but it was with no small amount of surprise that Roman’s words registered in his brain. If Virgil didn’t know any better, he’d say Roman was being almost respectful.
“...fine.” Virgil agreed in a hushed tone, reaching out for a small bit of what looked kind of like a carrot. He nibbled on it cautiously, finding it acceptable.
Logan cleared his throat, wanting to keep attention away from Roman for the time being. “So, father, I overheard our neighbors to the East will be meeting next week to discuss the revised alliance.”
The king nodded, barely looking at his son. “Yes, they are. It should be a relatively simple engagement though.” The king took a drink from his cup before turning to Roman. “So, Roman. How have things been going with your human?”
Roman’s eyes widened but he quickly put on a smile. “Oh, things have been going splendidly. But of course, what did you expect.” Roman fake chuckled.
The king raised an eyebrow. “Oh? So you have a few things to show off to all of us today?” The king asked and Roman’s smile became a little more strained.
“Absolutely.”
Virgil gave Roman’s arm a subtle smack.
Roman ignored it as his father nodded at him and turned back to his food. Roman let out a small sigh and leaned down again. “I’m sorry, I panicked!” He whispered. Though, he couldn’t have just said ‘no’ either.
“And what exactly do you think I’m doing?” Virgil hissed, beginning to panic himself. “Think of something because I’m not gonna be showing anything off.”
Roman mentally groaned and stuck another forkful of food into his mouth. This could only end badly.
They all continued to eat as the chatter drifted from different ends of the table. It wasn’t long before everyone had finished eating and the king cleared his throat. The chatter died down and everyone turned to the king. “Alright everyone, time for our formal dinner tradition. Roman? If you would.”
Roman gulped and quickly tried to think of something. “Uhh, shouldn’t Logan go first? You know, save the best for last and all that.” Roman chuckled nervously. The king stared at him for a moment before turning to Logan.
“Alright then. Logan?”
“As you wish.” Logan sighed, pushing back from the table. He walked down the length, past the various overdressed and over eager royals to stand at the opposite end of the table, facing his father. Once there he tapped the tabletop right in front of him.
Patton stood up and quickly made his way over to Logan. Though the table was very long and it still took him a few minutes despite fast walking. When he made it to Logan, he stopped and looked up at him to await the next thing. He was used to this whole ‘performance’ thing, after having to do it for months.
Logan gave him a small smile, purposefully oblivious to the various looks and comments that the crowd gave Patton. He had never enjoyed this particular ritual, although he was never a fan of any meaningless form of entertainment.
Of course, now Logan was faced with a difficult choice. He glanced back to where his brother sat. There were a number of simple enough tasks that Patton was able to accomplish that would amaze the stupid onlookers regardless. Therefore, should Logan demonstrate all of Patton’s skills, in order to go above and beyond and allow Roman’s performance to be lackluster? Or, should Logan keep his routine simple and keep the bar relatively low for the new human?
Then again, it seemed every task Logan thought of would be strenuous on the poor human. Logan sighed, knowing he could only do so much to ease the process along. After all, father still wished to be entertained, and Logan didn’t wish for Patton to be harmed either.
“Excellent work.” Logan finally praised, sticking his hand out for a shake.
Patton waited no time in sticking his own hand out, letting it grab onto one of Logan’s fingers.
Logan shook it gently, then turned Patton back towards the crowd.
“Would you like to say hello?” He asked, turning the command into more of a polite question.
Honestly, no, Patton didn’t. But he put on a smile anyway. “Hi everyone!” He said, waving. Roman couldn’t help but smile at how cute Logan’s human was.
“Don’t forget your manners.” Logan said, giving him the cue to bow.
Patton faltered slightly, not believing he had almost forgotten but he kept his smile on and bowed like he had been taught to.
“Aww!” The chorus of obnoxious cooing made Logan aware that this had done its job. Satisfied, Logan put his palm down on the table.
Patton climbed on, once again with no hesitation.
“Nicely done.” Logan praised softly, holding Patton close to his chest as he walked back to his seat. He sat down, putting Patton back on the table and petting him as a form of praise.
Virgil’s jaw felt as if it would drop to the floor. He was expected to do all that?! He had expected to like, sit down or something and just be a degraded little dog. Did Roman seriously expect him to walk down in front of all those people? What if someone grabbed him! Or pushed the table!
And the other human had done it all so easily. Virgil cringed, watching him get pet like a little prized puppy dog. It was all so...sad.
Patton smiled up at Logan before turning to look at the other human. Waiting to see what he would do.
The king nodded at Logan before turning to Roman. “Alright Roman. Your turn.”
Roman nodded slowly, wondering what on earth he was supposed to do. Welp...this could either work or end horribly. Roman stood up and bowed towards the crowd. “Good evening everyone! I am glad you all could make it. This dinner if incredible special, as you know, I have just received my human yesterday! Having said this, I must admit that he does not know too much yet. But he will in time! I am happy to say though, that he does know a few tricks that we will show to you now.” Roman took a deep breath and looked down at Virgil, smiling sweetly and hoping Virgil would just listen to him.
“Stand!”
Virgil took a deep breath, feeling all eyes turn to him. He tried to tune them out, focusing on the human across from him and ignoring the way he was still being pet. Man that was weird to watch.
Slowly, on shaky legs, Virgil stood.
Roman grinned. Okay, this was good. If Virgil kept this up they might make it out of this. He held out his hand for Virgil. “Shake!”
Let’s get this over with. Virgil turned to Roman, quickly touching his palm to Roman’s before he could psyche himself out of this.
Roman shook his hand gently before letting it go. Okay, they could do this! “And sit!”
Gratefully Virgil collapsed back to the tabletop, breathing a sigh of relief that it didn’t seem like Roman wanted him to do that whole routine like Logan had done.
“And that’s it everyone! Thank you!” Roman bowed towards the crowd.
“That was it?” The king spoke up and Roman froze, grin slipping from his face.
“Well, I uh….” Roman bit his lip. “He is...still learning.”
“Seems like he should be able to do a bit more than just that.” The king said, looking straight at the human. Roman bit his lip nervously. Well, what did he do now?
Virgil gave Roman a warning look, letting the Giant know his patience was wearing thin.
Thankfully, Logan stepped in. “Father, it’s hardly been a day.” Logan reminded him sternly. “It’s impressive that Roman got the human to do anything other than cower. That’s more than you accomplished. You just don’t understand the meticulous details that come with such a task.”
The king stared at Logan for a few moments, on the verge of glaring before he huffed. “I suppose that makes sense. But it was still too short. Roman.” The king turned to Roman. “At least make the thing walk into your hand, that’s simple enough, right? Then you can be done.” The king leaned back in his chair, waiting for it to happen.
Oh...crap.
“Um, well, you see…” He trailed off, looking down at Virgil.
Virgil glared right back at him, growing nervous in the back of his mind. There was no way Roman could really force him to do it...right?
“This is exactly what I was talking about.” Logan huffed. “That is by no means a simple task, it can take weeks, even months, to gain enough of a bond to accomplish such a feat.”
The king ignored Logan. “Well?” He asked Roman, raising an eyebrow. Roman gulped.
“Um, father, I really think Logan is right in this instance-” The king cut him off.
“You told me that you could handle this, Roman.” Roman faltered.
“I can! I just-”
“Then do it.” Roman grit his teeth, looking from his father and then down to Virgil. He let out a sigh and placed his hand down next to the human.
“Climb on.” His boisterous crowd voice was gone.
Virgil froze, the overly loud room quiet for once as all attention was focused solely on him. His heartbeat pounded in his ears, drowning out everything else. Virgil’s eyes were hyper focused on Roman’s palm. It wasn’t that complicated of a request, really. Just a few steps and it would all be over. Virgil would have behaved, the dinner would be finished, and he could at least escape all these prying eyes.
...so why couldn’t Virgil do it?
Virgil took a few nervous, tiny steps in the opposite direction, beginning to tug on his hoodie sleeves.
“Father, this is ridiculous.” Logan broke the silence, turning to the king.
The king ignored his eldest son and continued to watch Virgil like a hawk. Roman bit his lip and moved his hand closer to the human, nudging his legs slightly. Come on, Virgil.
Patton was watching this whole thing, memories of his own experiences coming back to him and was on the edge of his seat as he continued to watch the other human. He hated seeing the poor kiddo like that and something in him just screamed at him to help. He acted on instinct, not thinking as he ran away from Logan and into the center of the table.
“Hey everyone! Uh, wow, dinner sure was great today, huh! My portions were a little small though!” Patton giggled nervously, falling back on his old love of telling puns.
...What was he doing?
Virgil’s jaw dropped, shocked at the human’s sudden interruption. He was far from the only one.
“Patton!” Logan gasped, hurriedly grabbing Patton off the table and holding him close to his chest. Though a few dinner guests were amused by Patton’s uncharacteristic outburst, father was not one of them.
“Logan! What the hell was that!” The king yelled, his attention off of Roman and his human for a moment.
Roman was frozen in shock, just staring open jaw at Patton in Logan’s hands. The human had never done anything like that before. What the heck had gotten into him?
Patton cowered in Logan’s hand, staring wide-eyes at the angry king’s face. Maybe that hadn’t been the smartest thing to do...
“I...I’m not sure.” Logan admitted, holding Patton closer and rubbing a finger down his back. He frowned, wondering what Patton had been thinking. Even back when Patton was new he was usually so quiet at events.
Virgil flinched, backing away from the angry king and the rest of the ruckus that seemed to have broken out. Had...had the other human been trying to protect him?
“Well, I hope you plan on punishing him for this!” The king yelled at Logan before turning to Roman and rubbing a hand across his face. “Roman, please hurry this along so we may all leave.”
Roman gulped and looked down at Virgil. He had thought for a moment his father would be distracted enough to not make them do this but looks like they had no such luck. He had no choice at this point, the king was already angry and making him angrier would be very bad. “Climb on.” He told Virgil again. Begging him with his eyes to do so.
Patton shook uncontrollably at the kings words, everything else deaf on his ears. No, no he couldn’t be punished. Not again! He thought he was done with all of that!
“It’s alright.” Logan murmured, his heart aching as Patton became inconsolable.
Virgil processed all that had happened. He really, really didn’t want to get into Roman’s hand. But it seemed he didn’t have a choice by now. He could fight it all he wanted, but one way or another he would end up in Roman’s hands anyways to get back to the room.
Virgil looked up at the terrified human in Logan’s hands, feeling extremely guilty. That human had done that just for him. Virgil loathed the idea of someone else getting punished, but he certainly wasn’t going to let that sacrifice be in vain.
So, with a deep breath, Virgil climbed onto Roman’s palm.
Roman let out a heavy sigh of relief as he lifted Virgil into the air. “Ta da…” He said weakly towards the guests and his father. His father grunted.
“Finally.” The king stood up. “The two of you are dismissed. Please deal with your humans accordingly.” Roman bowed and wasted no time in running out of the dining room and towards his own room.
