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gnashingwailing · 13 days

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nice lol

I'm so happy to see you updating again !! fanboy rambling under the cut <3

THE WAY DANIEL AND MELANIE JUST CANNOT GET ALONG... Yknow what really fascinates me about these two is that they're both kind of similar, internally. Like they are both anxious messes and most of what they're doing is trying to alleviate anxiety in their environments? But they still just can't get on the same wavelength at all (prob because Daniel is terrified of her but can't admit it) ... the difference between how Henry, Peter and Daniel all treat her is on such good display these past two chapters. Peter is sooo much more understanding and trusting of Melanie & her intentions, prob because he trusts Henry's judgment -- and Daniel is very obviously the opposite. Thank goodness she has Henry to be kind to her 😭 but how sad that he can't ameliorate everything ... their patter is unparalleled btw, it's so easy to see how good of friends & how close they genuinely are.

"“Nobody got shot,” she added with faint, wilting hope. “So there’s that, at least.”

He took a deep breath in an attempt to loosen his jaw. “Right you are,” he admitted after a moment, suddenly losing any other words he wanted to say to her on the subject. It was difficult to find a way to say ‘I don’t want you to be threatened with a gun’, when guilt still loomed beside you for something more egregious.

“How’s your leg?” She asked, changing the subject.

“Fine,” he lied, waving her off and ignoring the roll of her eyes. “How’s your hand? Let me see it.”

“Actually fine,” she retorted, holding it out to him. He put too much obvious effort into walking without a limp, and the hand quickly tipped to slip a finger against his side for support.

The man smacked it away with a soft curse before laying those comparatively tiny fingers near the medicine-stained slash. “They didn’t stitch it?” He asked with concern, a frown pulling at his features."

OUGH I want to just repost EVERYTHING they say to each other because it is ALL SO GOOD. The casual intimacy of touch the way she has evidence not everyone is afraid of her ... also extremely cute to me how everybody without medical training sees any injury on her and gets automatically freaked out by it because Big. meanwhile Kendrick is like :) 'oh like from a letter opener!'

also this part was so fucking funny.....

"She waited for a sharp correction, some kind of scolding for her behaviour. Instead he seemed to stammer silently on a few short words before replying with an incredulous, “since when?”"

KING of DECORUM FOR THEE BUT NOT FOR ME. It's also delightful when, even from Melanie's POV, you can see that little bitch (affectionate) is soooo rattled lol

"“It only happened because I needed the dory; if it weren’t for that you can trust I would’ve never been tempted. Not with you.”

Captain Grant stared at her now, his head at a scrutinizing angle and his mouth partially agape with a look she could only label as being either bafflingly insulted or insultingly baffled. Behind her the horn for the dinner call began to sound, the faint sound of cheering adding such a strange flavour to the tension of the moment. His shoulders were so tight she expected his coat to rip around them."

hilarious. A+. no notes. NO i don't want you to touch me ever but what do you MEAN you wouldn't :/ what do you MEAN you're a person with your own preferences that aren't just 'scare me a lot'. the veneer of respect she allows him to maintain granted by this foreign country's military operation being the only thing he has to cling to to feel in control of her/regain some control... and how aware he probably is that she doesn't have to play nice at all... how she's Henry's friend a guy he is not on good terms with at all ... very very good. u could just express ur feelings like a normal guy too tho. she would respect that (hence how quickly she backs off when he becomes visibly angry!)

"There was a moment-- a single, fleeting moment-- when he reached the ground where he turned to look at her, his eyes jumping to hers with an expression at first that looked like it was more human than she would’ve expected, but his gaze dropped almost instantly to look toward a more eye-level section of her body instead. He cleared his throat, calling up to her. “You’re dismissed.”

“Thank you, Captain,” she said politely, waiting for him to salute before moving to do the same, watching his body tense at the motion while he took just the quickest flash of a glance to presumably make sure it was correct."

Like I definitely COULD just be misreading him, but I get the sense that a lot of his snappishness is a displacement behavior for being really freaked out all the time. Too much so to spend more than some moments here and there considering that she's a Person Like Him. The dehumanization thing is something I feel like g/t stories usually extend to the tinies moreso than the giants, and it's fascinating seeing the opposite for Melanie (also. ouch! my heart! even the pile of meat at the end is like. woof. the stress of being perceived as so big. NO THANK YOU!! nobody look at me for a while !!)

anyway I remember you once posting about how it would be if other little guys replaced Henry in The Rescue and like. RIP Daniel u would never make it. u would have a heart attack from anger+stress. u are one of those little prey animals that u can't handle at all lest it simply passes away (on the opposite end of the spectrum I think Lionus and Ed and possibly Kendrick would be most likely to thrive. strong and easily transplanted lads.)

FINAL THOTS I also feel like Grant is probably the guy who is taking the most note about things Melanie says and what they imply about her/where she comes from, given his general distrust of her/people her size AND his closeness to her because of his status as Captain (by which I mean -- other political figures might be incredibly interested in these details from her but they wouldn't have the opportunity for her to open up in any way to them), so his being taken aback by her turn of phrase "gun to my head" is. hmm. interesting! I have to wonder if he realizes this means the place she comes from has . big firearms. and if that really freaked him out :) or maybe his sense of humor just isn't as dank as melanie's <3

either way my poor girl she needs 800mg of ibuprofen a private retreat a massage a blunt a good podcast a whole day spent sunbathing at the beach a cellphone w reception to liveblog this shit to her friends and laugh together a long weekend a hot shower a vibrator an arts & crafts project a good movie a beautiful sunset and to be knocked unconscious for 48 hours so she can sleep without anxiety 👍 looking forward to the angst of her getting none of that and having to swim to her boat (probably with a crowd watching on a clear sunny day knowing her luck) that is PROBABLY all fucked up and PROOOOBABLY had tiny guys doing a tiny home invasion in it. FREE MY GIRL‼️

The Stranding - Chp 69 - The Girl With Two Captains

Ayyyyyyy nice

Here, please enjoy this late night (for me, at least. I like to do this in the mornings usually but today has been a rollercoaster and I felt like I had to do something) update of Melanie, Henry and Daniel working through the aftermath of their Surprise Naval Operation.

Again, not doing this on any kind of schedule, everything is still semi-madness over here, but... I felt proud of what I've managed to accomplish today. Wanted to share something with y'all.

Much love, take care of yourselves and each other as much as you can <3

~ Belle

#hiiii belle it's your fan k i made a tumblr for this finally <3 hi #it COULD have been on 420 but im glad it wasnt because I needed it. for me

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gnashingwailing · 14 days

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@fireflywritesgt LOVINGLY WRITING MY UNHINGED CH23 THOUGHTS AND THEN BURYING THEM UNDER A READMORE. I felt such overwhelming hype when I saw we got 2 chapters in 1 day I truly was ready to throw my phone out the fucking window. TOO MUCH JOY FOR ONE LITTLE GNASH... I hadn't even finished processing ch21......

first off pov Joe when he goes to Calloway's to pick up his cute new tailored fit in 3 days

soooo right from the jump. hey.

"“…’cause he’s way better off than I am, it’ll make it harder for me to leave him or something. That he’s luring me in. I mean—” Joe laughed nervously as he steeled himself in preparation for how the captain would react to his next statement “—if it were a giant treating me the way he treats me, everyone would call me a pet.”

“Well of course they would, Joe. That’s because giants are evil.” The captain said matter-of-factly.

He may as well have poked Joe squarely in the eye. Nonetheless, the bartender continued."

hey. UM. Joe you beautiful idiot who canonically has bad luck and, presumably from reading this very chapter, a terrible poker face. Maybe you should have said. Any Other Thing? GODDD in my heart he's definitely sooo overconfident and drunk like wow I am so smooth :) nobody suspects a thing :) while Calloway is having a conversation with him like uh... just saying, but you know, none of us could stop you from. for example. idk. becoming a giant's pet. we wouldn't like that but it's just a random thing that came to mind just now, unrelated to the really tall really wealthy really powerful guy who is afraid of taking advantage of you by luring you in and giving you things like a giant would and maybe isn't treating you like a person. And you're afraid you shouldn't want it. Like BRO IT IS SO OVER FOR YOU even without Harry literally calling Joe's name 3+ times in the dead silence 😭😭😭😭 And presumably Harry having been waiting around there for a while to see Joe! Loitering in a way we know tinies are on guard about since they all noticed that snatcher back in Ch13!

They're idiots ur honor, so true, but it's all worth it to see Joe get rescued and swoon like a damsel ... I definitely wonder if Calloway observed any of that, and what he might think about it if so. >:) May or may not have been daydreaming and writing bits about how horrifying it would be to give your surrogate kid all this well-meaning advice, see him nearly slip to his death, and while you're hurrying down to try and help him, watching him call out to a walking nightmare for help and then get whisked away by it

I have a pet theory that everything we've seen from Calloway so far has been pretty heavily colored by it being from Joe's perspective when he's having a bad day, and maybe he will be more understanding than we think? Objectively, I didn't think he was being very rude or anything back in Ch 13, when he was speculating on Joe's love life. It rankled Joe, which is understandable, but he 1) he's happy that Joe looks good, 2) he doesn't let Gutters or O'Grady rag on Joe too hard and 3) he just generally seems like an interested father figure would about his kid's love life:

"“Oh, lay off him, Tim. It’s a good borrowing year!” Captain Calloway cut in. “We all have ‘em, we all enjoy ‘em, we all cry ourselves to sleep when they’re over.”

Relief washed over Joe like the warm water in Harry’s sink.

“Though I gotta say…” The captain gave a wry smile as he continued. “…it could just as easily be someone else’s good borrowing year if ya’ catch my drift. Could be he’s got a little sweetheart looking after him. A brick of pure chocolate? That’s practically a dowry."”

Although I may be wrong here, since Ch 21's incident at Tiny Town with the Italian mob that saved him gives us the insight that "[for] the first time in Joe’s entire existence at that, Joe understood what it was like to have a real father." So maybe Calloway is not that nurturing to Joe and not much of a caring dad -- as @remordsposthume's tags so wisely point out:

WTF WAS HE DOING LETTING HIM LEAVE THE BAR LMAO. Calloway's Den of Drunkards confirmed for an "everybody drive home drunk. it's not my problem" bar??? Everyone is processing TAoLaW thru their own cultural lens and. in that spirit. lmfao. I must say. Calloway reminds me of the libertarian redneck dads I've known who just let their kids do whatever. If he was a giant I think he'd let his kids ride ATVs thru the woods drunk. Most probably he would also be ridin around drunk with them. "If you die it's your own damn fault" being his motto is too on the nose LOL. Huge farm dad "I LOVE MY SONS. ONLY HALF OF THEM WILL SURVIVE TO ADULTHOOD BUT I DO LOVE THEM" energy. To Me.

(Btw Harry & Joe processing their parental issues together WHEN <3)

BUT ANYWAY YEAH EVEN IF CALLOWAY WAS THE MOST UNOBSERVANT GUY IN THE WORLD RE: THAT SUSPICIOUS CONVERSATION? YOU WERE LITERALLY BOTH SCREAMING EACH OTHERS' NAMES LIKE LOVESICK ROMANCE PROTAGONISTS RIGHT UNDER THE DREDGE THAT'S STILL PROBABLY GOT AT LEAST SOME NIGHT MARKET CUSTOMERS? HELLO?? @94444 we are on the same wavelength rn

AND MORE ABOUT CALLOWAY... I am very heartened by how you mentioned once, Warren, that you planned to give each character real depth and treat them with sincerity. I feel very interested about when that time will be for Calloway! We know that he takes in kids (or at least O'Grady and Joe scratch that. tag lore be upon me) and teaches them how to sell trinkets. We know that he hates giants. We know he's been horribly injured in a way that led to him losing a hand, an eye, and possibly teeth. Knowing what we do about the risks of being a borrower, and how casually cruel giants are to them, it's not unlikely those last 2 things are related. I'M TAKING YOUR TAGS AND RUNNING AWAY WITH THEM LIKE A DOG W SOMETHING IN ITS MOUTH.

So Calloway knew them for several years as vulnerable kids... then lost them for a year or so... then got them back after they escaped the watchmaker's? I will be interested to see if that trauma means he's more protective of them, or uh, still more drunk libertarian dad about them. Lmao. He seemed like he cared about Joe getting into Tiny Town way back in Ch3 tho at least! (as an aside... interested in who Gutters is, too. He SEEMS to be older than Joe/Tim, but he could also still be a Calloway Kid himself... he seems to defer to Calloway... and/or he could just be some guy embittered about giant/tiny relations. which. fair, brother.)

If the broader Tiny Town culture (such as it is... would word get around about this incident with Joe and Harry, or does news just not travel that well amongst lots of secluded borrower communities? much to consider. it makes sense in a dark way why you would physically mark somebody who's transgressed against society's cardinal rule, in a culture where you cannot generally spread information effectively) would reject Joe for his proclivities... will Calloway, too? Or is it Joe's anxiety making him think that? I'm afraid we already know how Tim would feel. Other than him, Calloway is the person who Joe seems most connected to in miniature society... Although Harry's worry about Joe not spending enough time around his fellow miniatures in Ch22 is at least partially motivated by his own guilt-trip, I think he has a bit of a point! I hope Joe doesn't lose touch with everyone -- or if he does, I hope there will be new friends out there for him, too, who are more understanding.

(LORRAINE WHEN)

Now Calloway aside, OBVIOUSLY THE ENDING OF THIS CHAPTER HAD ME HOOTIN AND HOLLERIN.

“Joe… can we go back to the big, sexy giant part for a second?” <- LIT'RALLY me rereading this chapter 800 times

A snapping turtle is a fantastic little horror for poor Joe to face, woof. Those fuckers are scary enough when ur height is measured in feet. The quick way they snap is no joke. Just want to 👏👏👏👏 about how good this passage is: The turtle’s maw emerged from the waters of the lake like the gaping mouth of some ancient monster that fed on the souls of sailors. The grimy lakewater rushed over its beady little eyes as its beak, sharp as a dagger, flew towards Joe faster than a gunshot. YEAH.

It just!! makes my little heart sooooo happy to see that Joe does have someone who will unconditionally look out for him...!!! Harry has his issues, and they're still learning how to open up about themselves, but he consistently shows up!! :') the thought of him waiting for his man all night ... hoping the dredge would be the place Joe meant ... and then acting sooo fast when he saw a tiny guy fall off of it... what a faithful hound of a [future] boyfriend. Calloway is so right. Joe deserves somebody to look after him. And Joe has done the (forgive me for the loaded meme) girl math on this. One big man is the best possible outcome for him. ONLY THE BIGGEST MAN WILL DO to keep him off of his bullshit as much as possible 👍👍

And OF COURSE god their conversation is just so so so fucking funny. "Thank you" "fuck no I'm not" -> "FUCK YOU" is INCREDIBLE i CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT IT lmaooooo and Harry still being so gentle about receiving this insult and trying to parse what Joe means ... he does listen to Joe, they're definitely not back to square one as drunk!Joe feared, his own issues are just getting in the way! (And Joe's are getting in the way of him seeing thru Harry's facade into what the real issue is! We love to see it!)

"“I meant that. You don’t get to call me handsome until you start listening to me.” He slurred. “You gotta—you gotta want it.”

Joe crossed his arms and scowled up at the beautiful man and his beautiful face as Harry tried to parse what Joe was saying.

“Want it…?” Harry echoed.

“Yeah. You gotta want to be my friend. And screw what anyone else thinks!”"

And did anyone else cackle at how Joe telephone-gamed Calloway's advice to still be in plausible-deniability-land. "You gotta want to be my friend" ok. not what he fuckin said. run that back real quick -> "Not if you’re being open about what you want and everything. That’s how love works, Joe. You gotta want it."

I just adored the moments of insight between them, too. "... Joe knew his real answer was yes – he was just too afraid to say it overtly. He argued and fought and begrudgingly accepted it instead. / What was that saying to Harry?" vs. Ch22 Harry's revelation: "How much of his relationship with Joe was genuine, he wondered, and how much of it was Joe going along with Harry’s suggestions in the name of diplomacy?"

Joe IS acting like somebody who's being coerced! Harry IS being a trustworthy guy by noticing it and checking in once their relationship is definitely turning intimate! It's so fascinating to think in hindsight that every time Joe turned red and embarrassed, Harry was having a thought at the back of his mind like "he doesn't want this. I'm scaring him. He doesn't want me, and he doesn't even know the real me yet. And worse, he can't tell me, because he's afraid of what I might do to him." But he can't SAY all that because it would hurt too much if he said it and Joe confirmed he was actually correct, so Ch22 comes out as a trainwreck where he's accidentally insulting Joe's ability to survive without him. (Side note I KNEW Harry wasn't REALLY considering Joe his landlord. Sad!!! That fucked up scrawny starving guy has squatter's rights and he was doing pretty good all things considered maybe !!!)

The respective issues ~Society~ has given both of them just make it impossible to talk about the root of their problems without baring your guts in a really terrifying way. OOF.

HOWEVER this chapter confirming that homophobia isn't such a problem in tiny society is going to make this eventual conversation betwen them real interesting... Harry like "You don't understand Joe :( there's something really wrong with me... ... I like ... men..." and Joe being like "omg :) :) :) :) :) wait what's wrong with you tho" and then Joe "No you don't understand Harry :( I know this is sick but... I like.. giants... I'm sure you could never see someone smaller than you as anything other than a pet ..." and Harry just ":) :) :) :) oh what no :) Georgie was shorter than me" I hope they can have a good, baffled laugh at how long they could've been snuggling guilt-free. At the end of the angst. <3

#taolaw

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gnashingwailing · 14 days

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Behold! Doctor Herman Avery aka Harry, one of @fireflywritesgt's main characters from their story The Art of Love and War. Be sure to check it out, it's beyond amazing. You won't regret it.

#JDFGJFDGNFGJ BARK BARK BARK BARK ‼️‼️‼️ i love these so much your art is soooo !!!! inspiring !!!!#the one on the bottom right... when ur so down bad for a little guy who just drunkenly called u a big sexy giant............#and he's being so cute and u want to touch him so bad but he's drunk and u are terrified ur interest may be interpreted as predatory......#(but really. you're worried u cannot trust ur own instincts or his own words bcuz ur so convinced u are inherently predatory for ur desires #OH INTERNALIZED HOMOPHOBIA TAG. WE'RE REALLY IN IT NOW #you may not like how you draw him but i find it soooo compelling. he has such a lovely weight to him. he just looks like a big strong guy.#as warren said... his gentle farm animal energy............ 10/10 bet the crook of his neck is real comfy and safe.

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gnashingwailing · 14 days

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Hey Everyone! I'm getting married this year and things are not cheap. I'm hoping to take on some more art after I finish the current batch of commissions and am slowly working at setting up some ko-fi content.

#ooooooo let me commission fanart of my fave fics. ill pay so much more than that for another The Stranding fancam lmao

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gnashingwailing · 14 days

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also @fireflywritesgt I REALLY want to make a supercut of every time Joe has left a conversation by just WALKING OFF REALLY QUICKLY but until then have this meme I reworked for Ch23

also hope you dont mind me immortalizing our chat but this was so so so funny after reading ch 22

#cannot tell you how much i relate to this guy. don't like the vibes here anymore? walking away now #'tiny town if your quick' is my favorite thing i've ever written btw. my magnum opus. i'm hilarious

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gnashingwailing · 14 days

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@fireflywritesgt ok i read your tag on ch21 and i took that as a personal challenge (and then while I was writing this you dropped ch22 and THEN 23 and murdered me. but i'm back now. so)

HELLO Ok fuck yeah hold on everybody take my hand. We’re theorizing about this chapter 🙏 spoilers thru ch23 below

Re: the tag: dare I hope the next story will be set in a similar time/place… i MUST ADMIT despite the significant broader cultural stigma of such a thing. I have often contemplated. Harry and Joe helping with providing socialized miniature healthcare 😭 (maybe to wherever Lorraine lives[?] or knows of?) and when I heard mention of a Tiny Town Hospital… one must wonder how this compares to a Giant Hospital, or to the barber surgeon dens that Joe has presumably had some frostbitten toes cut off at.

OTHER THINGS I’M SPECULATING ABOUT: “certainly, bandits were a problem a borrower occasionally had to face” 🤔 damn that's rough. I do love the sense that there are few overarching cultural norms, whether it's around marriage or language or so on. Everybody is kinda doing their own thing (including robbing each other oof).

I am also VEEEERRY curious about the implications of WHATEVER the tinies that are working in Tiny Town are doing. What kind of mechanized thing could be profitable from a lot of little guys pressing buttons? Or is it maybe not something physical they’re producing? Is it instead a research project? Some attempt at “civilizing” the tiny society for giant colonialism reasons? There’s got to be some kind of output here that is valuable to some kind of giant, but I’m still mystified at what it will be. “Joe wanted to ask him about the four armed giants who stood outside of Tiny Town” YEAH MAN ME TOO‼️ <- secretly delighted this is still coming up because I want to know what it means QUITE BADLY

Joe lamenting that there don't seem to be any libraries, or restaurants, or speakeasies, or any mark of ... art or entertainment? In Tiny Town? I REALLY HOPE Joe and Harry get over themselves and kiss soon so they can TALK ABOUT HOW FUCKING WEIRD THIS PLACE IS???? It made me INSAAANE THAT JOE JUST BRUSHED OFF TALKING ABOUT IT AT ALL 😭 JOE TO HAVE THOSE THINGS. PEOPLE HAVE TO WORK AT THEM. ARE ALL THE PEOPLE IN TINY TOWN JUST WORKING ON PUSHING BUTTONS??? JOE PLS

“Expecting handouts from the bloody giants…” sooo fascinating to hear him voice this, since this whole project is a handout in the absolute best case scenario (given that scraps are worthless to giants), although likely closer to a prison, as Professor Hill called it. Still patiently waiting for his smart and cool wife to explain things to me <3

I hope Joe will deign to really talk about what happened to him… GURL go process it with ur beautiful best friend!! Let him hold you and comfort you and tell you you’re literally so smart and correct and everything you’re saying about ditching the buttons part entirely is literally so beautiful and true!!! Go rock his world with your insights king!!!

Also lmfao Joe is definitely not Irish bcuz his Irish Goodbyes need some SERIOUS work. King of just literally running off when he’s not feeling a conversation anymore.

Me 🤝Joe <- autistically just leaving

He does this so often and it makes me cackle every time. Wait hold on those great meme posts make me want to make a JUST WALK OUT! One.

Absolutely loving the tension of it all… the reveal that Joe was doing watchmaking when he was TWELVE, meaning (if I'm keeping track of time correctly) he got snatched right after he was ABANDONED BY HIS ONLY FAMILY IN THE WORLD, was so artfully done. I had to stop in my tracks and think at the “he’d known O’Grady longer in his life than he hadn’t” and do math and be like “oh fuck.” Maybe this was teased prior and I didn’t pick up on it, but it hit HARD. For some reason I hadn’t assumed he was a kid — but why wouldn’t he be? If little kids are already doing things like crawling into discarded beer bottles. Fuck, Warren, heartbreaking stuff. Bravo. Of course Joe would be as dedicated to going and seeing him as he was Harry in the hospital. He cares so deeply about everyone, but especially his friends. It’s too bad O’Grady is no longer in a place to reciprocate the love Joe gives !!! But of course Joe still would not be ready to throw away the boot knife O’Grady made for him… “a decision that would forever change Joe’s life” btw I can hear ur evil hehe from here. :)

Also btw THIS little detail is one of those things that makes rereading your story so delightful: “They invade our end of the city, take our jobs, show up at our bar… did we invite them? No.” O’Grady was practically ranting. “And when we politely tell them to leave, what do they do?” O’Grady pointed to his bandaged head. “Watch out for them once you get here. They’re not good Irishmen like you and me, Joe.” juxtaposed with the actual breaking news we heard from the radio ? "“AN IRISHMAN AND AN ITALIAN ARE IN THE HOSPITAL AFTER A MASS BRAWL OUTSIDE A BAR ENDED IN A CRACKED SKULL AND A STABBING. NEITHER OF ‘EM HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED YET.”" a fucking STABBING = "politely tell them to leave"? What kinds of things has Joe's friend gotten used to excusing?

And of course I love the moments of solidarity within the tragedy of the newly realized (or at least newly stoked) xenophobia between borrowers. Joe being reminded of how his parents spoke, and how his brother shooed him off, in the gestures of a stranger… you really do a great job of evoking the ways we are all connected to each other. His family is gone, but he still sees them everywhere he looks. [pacing my enclosure and being sooo normal about how Joe has purposefully isolated for a decade and yet cannot help but see the beauty and humanity of his fellow man whether tiny or giant bcuz despite thinking he’s wired wrong, he’s actually wired like all of us who have felt that way for our unusual proclivities. He’s wired for connection with his fellow man. And he’s so wired for it u can feel how much it hurts his heart. Haha I’m sooooo .] The older guy was trying to warn him off crossing a white line into the “Irish ward”, too, right? The gesture was a kindness. And speaking of, does that mean the little tunnel somebody dug is to the Irish district? Or was I turned around and it was the Italian one? Either way — who would be trying to get in here, and why? Maybe it’s just a desperate person, but O’Grady talking about how bad it’d be if they saw Joe, and the need for an ID, makes me think it’s not someplace you can sneak into and integrate with. Just makes me curious as to whether it’ll come up again!!

THIS is also something I'm wondering about -- could the 'output' of Tiny Town maybe be researching, like... ethnonationalism? In the wake of WWI? Those drawn lines separating different 'wards'... do we think Tinies came up with this shit on their own? I doubt it, if someone like Dawson who is immediately assigning people nationalities that we know from Calloway's nobody "normal" in borrower society knows/cares about. HMMMmmmmMMMMM. I'm still reaaaaally curious how much Hill knows about this place and what hand, if any, he had in it. ONCE AGAIN, boys get kissing so you can also get TALKING. I think Harry would have much to say about how pointless it is to hate individuals from other nationalities after everything he saw during the war. Or so I assume, given he had no bad reaction to Joe being Italian.

AND WELL THIS IS LESS THEORYCRAFTING AND MORE “ME WANTING TO WRITE MORE FANFIC ABOUT THEM” BUT I WAS SOOO DELIGHTED THE CHAPTER DIDN’T END WITH HIM LEAVING TINY TOWN AND WE INSTEAD GOT DRESS REHEARSAL 2 OF HARRY AND JOE GETTING SO FUCKING DOWN BAD FOR EACH OTHER AT THE WINDOW & IN THE BEDROOM. YIPPEEEEE <- this was written before ch22 lol pictures taken moments before disaster

“Joe fidgeted for a moment as he fought with himself over whether or not to say what he really wanted to say.” … did you say what you really wanted to, there, pal? 🤨

I'm sooooo glad Joe's books are making more and more appearances... much like Harry I'm endlessly delighted by his culture. I wanna know what shaped his romantic fantasies!!

""Yeah, the ending on this one isn't great. They're cowards. Could've at least said they loved each other." Joe said.

He closed the book and snuggled into the crook of Harry's neck." <- Lmao @ these two guys so allergic to talking about their feelings shit-talking the romance book protagonists while they're literally cuddling in bed and not acknowledging it

Did he own these books when he was a kid? I imagine so, but on the other hand? HEY HOLY SHIT I REALIZED AFTER CH23 SOMETHING I SUSPECTED BUT COULDN'T CONFIRM: if homophobia isn't something borrowers have. Is one of these romance novels Joe owns going to be between two men? Harry is going to get his fuckin world rocked. Him and Georgie stole books from the library before, but I doubt they found any gay romance stuff (still impossible for baby-gay-Gnash to find that almost 100 years later in their rural libraries, lol.) Would this be Harry's first exposure to something like that? Wahhh... hurry up and open up to each other again you need to talk culture ASAP...

I'm also very curious if borrowers would have more taboo novels of their own, particularly giant/tiny stuff. And would Joe have come across any of it? I imagine it'd be extremely difficult to sell things like that without a beating, but maybe in bigger night markets -- and Joe said he's been in lots of very big cities... if his third novel is some really salacious g/t writing that would do numbers here on tumblr dot com I'm going to lose my god damn mind.

#once again. it would be a war crime to try putting this in your inbox. also other people seemed to enjoy it last time.#take my hand fellow TAoLaW enthusiasts. let's make incorrect guesses about where things are heading... together <3 #thanks for the wonderful fic Warren!! it's taking over my brain!!!

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gnashingwailing · 14 days

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How I had visualised some of the night market stalls from Chapter 23 of TAOLAW by @fireflywritesgt.

I imagine it would look like the average pasar malam I'd used to frequent in my childhood, so I took the liberty of giving it a little Malaysian twist.

#the tea candle fire the matchstick stand the pin spit... coooool i love seeing how people visualize borrowers <3 #so cute 🥺 ough using the spool as a stand is sooo inspired too. btw is anyone else terrorized by that “3 days” thing hehe #after. yelling each others' names like two lovesick teenagers at 5am. to Everyone

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gnashingwailing · 14 days

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“How is little Angeline doing?” The doctor asked the strange giant as he groped about in the bag for his tools.

Joe kicked the lancet over to the doctor’s hand, his heart hammering in his chest.

A safe place to be: Part 9 of @fireflywritesgt

#this is so fucking cooooool i've been so delighted to see fanart of this amazing fic

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gnashingwailing · 1 month

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These two have been invading my thoughts for days now so I had to try and draw them. Joe (left) and Harry (right) belong to the talented @fireflywritesgt and their wonderful story "The Art of Love and War". Go check it out!

#GNASHING WAILING CLAWING AT THE WALLS #<- PREV SAME !! THEY'RE SO GOOD AUUUUGHHHH #can't even articulate. i luv them so much. BARK BARK BARK BARK

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gnashingwailing · 1 month

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Ok I didn’t get to send this until ch18 was already out but I can do what I want forever <- (said through clenched teeth w shaking palms) so <3

HARRY CARRIED HIM ALL THE WAY UPSTAIRS AND HE DIDN’T WAKE UP. I’M FINE ABOUT THIS FACT I’M SO NORMAL. OK WAIT OK the fact that Joe rationalized Harry putting him to bed on the pillow as “he forgot about him” is EMOTIONALLY DEVASTATING ME THO… Does he think that little of himself :( is he in denial because being cared about is too much to contemplate :( does he not realize Harry has been giving up his comfy bed for him :( WARREN… THE WAY you can write ONE sentence and it’s so delicious it gives me so much to chew on and stew over… ouuuughhh I’ll never be normal again about these two 😭 <- (THEY WERE NEVER NORMAL ABOUT THOSE TWO TO BEGIN WITH)

He was drawing Harry’s hands!!! He KNOWS Harry’s hands!!! Recognizing him that way at the hospital was so romantic for these two 😭 Joe going through so much to find him and then recognizing him anywhere… AUUUUGHHH gnashing my teeth and wailing and howling at the moon, Warren!!! It’s both so humeral and so heartwarming… the way you write is funny as hell and also really, truly touching. I ADORE the fact that Joe was KIND OF SMUG about finally getting to say those words back to Harry — “Joe relished what he was about to say next “—do you have any idea, Harry? Do you have any idea how scared I was?”” 😭😭😭😭😭💞💞💞 and then getting to scold him while ALSO enjoying his big brown eyes looking at him LMFAO GODDDD. JOE CARES ABOUT HIM SO MUCH!!! I’m so happy he has someone he can care about and be cared about in return!!!!! IM. SO NORMAL

HEY AT LEAST HE WASNT SMILING AT YOUR TINY PERFECT DRAWINGS IN THE ANNOYING WAY GIANTS DO BECAUSE THEY ARE SO TINY AND PERFECT. Wait no I take it back he WAS probably doing that too, Joe was just too embarrassed to notice it. The description of Joe’s ABSOLUTE MORTIFICATION was fucking hilarious btw. “Harry wasn’t done with him yet, of course” “Good? Joe was not supposed to look good. Joe was not supposed to have a self-concept at all!” This had me screaming. STUPID SEXY CHARMING HARRY!!! HATE IS DEFINITELY THE NAME OF THE EMOTION YOU’RE FEELING, JOE, IT IS DEFINITELY THAT ONE AND NO OTHERS. It is ABSOLUTELY not covering up another emotion you cannot put name to.

Btw, I absolutely love the idea that Joe is a hopeless romantic and he channels all of that into his love of romance stories.. I’m sooooooo curious to know what’s in those thangs!! And also: does Harry like romances too, or is he more excited for Joe to read to him?? Furthermore: Are they giant love stories or tiny ones?! If the latter then you just KNOW Harry is eating so good getting to learn about their culture without having to impose on Joe by asking … WAIT I HAD A THOUGHT is the “naming you” thing something that would appear in these kinds of books for tinies … IF IT WAS JOE WOULD PROBABLY TRY TO SKIP RIGHT OVER IT THO… BUT THEN HE’S A TERRIBLE LIAR… SIGH!! Once again every little sentence leaves me dreamy and kicking my feet and clapping my hands from The Implications !!!

OH and I’m also pondering the fact that the dollhouse ladder got moved. Can Joe still climb out of the hole by the radiator without it? Or am I meant to understand that Harry is now just carrying him around to get in/out of his room 😭

The good borrowing gear… wow… this Also gives me many thoughts — he paid for it with a ruby? He was taking perfumes from a mansion? I have been considering how giant things are worth scraps to tinies and I feel like there has to be some sort of fence situation happening, like a tiny is selling to a giant at some point in this supply chain. It’s also deeply fascinating to me to consider that Joe’s labor paid at a giant wage (which of course Harry would do 🥺) makes him unfathomably wealthy in scraps YET ALSO a tiny would not directly trade for giant money, so… quite a complex situation!!! It warmed my heart that Harry was immediately like “oh if you want more really nice clothes that you look so good in. I could help with that. ☺️👉👈”

AND OF. COURSE. ASIDE FROM HOW FUCKING CUTE THESE TWO ARE… All the incredible worldbuilding! The suggestion of class stratification of tiny society (“a fancy borrowing type” to Patches, but “you’re just a borrower (derogatory)” from new-money Tim) … btw mad respect to Patches he can’t afford a last name in this economy and he’s doing anything he can to not think about This Economy 🤝 I get it dude

The “bizarre ritual sacrifice” lol being a shitty bar where people always fight… the idea of Joe just reading his book in the bar to pass the time until two guys start trying to kill each other is suuuch a funny mental image. Reading alone at the bar like a handsome stranger 😌 and then Joe contemplating how different even expressions of violence are between the two peoples… truly delicious worldbuilding. I have also been thinking that Joe probably doesn’t really realize the capacity for violence Harry has, since he is so gentle and mild-mannered.

Agreed that the solidarity moment is truly a highlight in what is already an incredible chapter ❤️ there’s something delightful to me about how the most understanding giant characters (thinking of this guy and the lady in the park) have been older. Solidarity with people who have seen enough to understand how much of a farce, how unfair, society is.

Im so hyped. I’m so fucking hyped

Harry in a Hospital

Part 17 of my story! See the index and content warnings here. <3

The night of the storm had broken something in Joe Piccoli. The ghosts of the doctor’s touch haunted his body the way the shock of revelation haunted his mind, and since that night he had been left mentally reeling, suspended in an emotional free-fall that knew no end. As he sat at the phone table and scribbled, what refused to leave his mind above all else was not Harry’s hands or the way he had carelessly let himself fall asleep in them. It was what had happened after. The way he had woken up in the upstairs bedroom once again, laid out on that pillow, tucked in with the greatest of care. The first time he had fallen asleep there, he had assumed the doctor had simply forgotten him, but now it was clear that on that night he had been deliberately placed there like some small child who had stayed up too late. That night, that realization that Harry cared about him, had left something inside of Joe bleeding. Much as he tried to hide it, he now felt raw and exposed, stripped bare of all pretense. He was a knight without armor. A soldier without a gun. A lion without teeth. Harry had made no mention of that bed the morning after, and Joe was far too proud to bring it up himself. He simply did the walk of shame back to the floorboards and ruminated over what on earth he was becoming.

He wondered if being a pet would be preferable to being whatever he now was as he sat there and sketched. Even his art was betraying him; there wasn’t a single thing lewd or obscene about the hands he was drawing, but he could never allow Harry to see them. He could never allow Harry to see any of his artwork, for he knew what unconscious desires bubbled up to the surface whenever he put pencil to paper. This man, who gave him food and a bed and hot water, who worried about him when he was gone, who cared, was driving Joe mad in a way unlike any other man he had ever met. Harry was safe and yet Joe was afraid. Not afraid of Harry himself, but afraid of what Harry had the power over him to do. What Harry represented.

The uncomfortable realization that he would walk into Hell for Harry Avery followed Joe around like a second shadow these days, so when the phone rang, and Joe heard the news on the other line, that shadow all but smothered him.

“This is nurse Murphy from Toronto General Hospital. I’m calling on behalf of doctor Herman Avery. He was in an accident on his way back to the office, and he wanted me to let you know he is doing well but he won’t be back at the clinic today.” Said the businesslike voice on the other end as Joe’s head spun.

“Accident!? Wait—no—what!? What kind of accident? When will he be back?” Joe spat his rapid-fire questions into the mouthpiece with all the force of a machine gun.

“His motorcycle was struck by an automobile and he was flung into a bush. Luckily he has fairly minor injuries all things considered… don’t worry yourself, Mr. Piccoli. Just mind the clinic for the day and he’ll be back in the morning.” Said nurse Murphy.

Joe, who had greater emotional capacity than the average earthworm, was already worried. Harry in a hospital? That ought to be illegal, Joe reasoned. Doctors shouldn’t end up in hospitals as patients, it was a perversion of the natural order of things. He tried to say something else into the mouthpiece, but all his neurons were firing at once and his brain short-circuited. Before he could say anything further, the nurse hung up on him with an abrupt,

“Good day, Mr. Piccoli.”

Harry had moved the dollhouse ladder from the floorboards to the table last week, which made speaking into the mouthpiece much easier for Joe. The bad news sank into him deeper and deeper with each rung of it he passed on his climb down. Mind the clinic! How was Joe supposed to mind the clinic when Harry was in the hospital? Joe knew very little about what a hospital truly was, but based on his imperfect understanding, hospitals were where giants went to die.

Tossing his sketches aside, he rolled the receiver off of the table and sent it flying from the pulley. As he slid down the cord he could only hope that by leaving it there it would discourage any further calls from coming in. Joe had bigger things to worry about than scheduling appointments, he decided. Joe was going to find this hospital and get to the bottom of this mess, and in order to do that, he would need to bring out the big guns.

The treasure buried at the bottom of Joe’s wardrobe was so rare and so precious that he had pried the ruby out of a sleeping giant’s ring just to pay for it. The boots and the jacket were a dark brown rathide leather, waterproof and allegedly so tough even a cat’s claws couldn’t pierce it. The trousers and the shirt, in khaki and white respectively, were specialty fabric blends, known of only among the miniatures – the former was a tiny’s answer to denim or gabardine, and the latter was a light and breathable spiderweb silk that moved like water. The belt was tanned mousehide, as were most of the gloves, save for the palms made from the skin of a young toad. By far one of the most useful pieces of the ensemble, they offered excellent grip while climbing.

This was Joe’s good borrowing gear, something everyone in the trade owned, and in all likelihood, never wore unless it was absolutely necessary due to its sheer cost. Joe himself had donned this outfit on one other occasion: when he had hit up a thirty-room mansion in search of expensive soaps and perfumes. The jacket was more pockets than anything else, and he had made it out of that operation with handsworths upon handsworths of goods to trade away at Calloway’s, granting him an easy winter.

So expensive, so useful, and so special were these clothes that Joe could not risk wearing or tearing them in anything other than a high-profile job or a life-or-death situation, and Harry being in this hospital, Joe reasoned, was a life-or-death situation. He slipped his knife into the specialty-made pocket in the side of his good right boot and went about gathering his weights and hooks. He packed a book in his rucksack as well just in case he had to sit on another streetcar for half an hour, then climbed up to the kitchen windowsill in search of something to tide himself over on his travels. The toadskin gloves immediately helped his cause as he grappled up and clung to the rim of the half-open tin of Oreo sandwiches on the counter. He climbed in, grabbed a piece of the biscuit, and climbed out again with ease.

With that, he was ready to face the world in search of this hospital – wherever that was.

There was one thing while traveling that miniatures were advised to never, ever do, and that was to travel aimlessly to the center of the city with no destination in mind. Yet that is precisely what Joe did as evening closed in, for as much as the night of the storm had broken him, in other respects it had also emboldened him. If he could survive a rainstorm, he reasoned, then surely he could run off in search of this hospital and come back alive. Even taking the streetcar this time seemed easier now that he wasn’t soaked in rainwater.

If a hospital was a place where giants went to die, then surely it must be conspicuous. All Joe had to do was get some directions. As he walked along and thought, the answer soon came to him in the form of a pair of legs he tripped over as he snuck along a wall in an alleyway. The disheveled tiny who had once been loudly snoring burst to life in a flurry of intoxicated hollering, sending Joe himself stumbling back. Pulling himself together, Joe crept closer to the man he had rudely awakened with all the apprehension of a cat sizing up a nearby snake.

“DAMMIT RUSTY WON’T YOU GIVE ME ONE MOMENT OF PEACE!?” Shouted the red-faced man in a suit that was more patches than suit; then he opened his eyes and added, “…oh. You ain’t no Rusty. I thought you was me brother.”

Joe blinked in utter disbelief at the sight of the drunkard. There was a bottlecap beside the stranger that appeared to have at one point contained a mixture that fell somewhere on the continuum between alcohol and household cleaning product. Where, exactly, Joe couldn’t be sure.

“…no sir, I ain’t no Rusty. Name’s Joe Piccoli.” Joe stooped down to shake the man’s grubby hand.

“Oh, you’re one a’ them fancy borrowing types is ya’? I’m Patches, sir. Don’t got a last name, can’t afford that in this economy. If yer lookin’ for good borrowing you won’t find none here, sir.” The drunkard, Patches, sat up and shook Joe’s hand so vigorously he nearly pulled it off before finally freeing him again.

“I’m looking for a hospital actually.” Joe said. “Where the giants go to die.”

He watched as Patches slouched back again, the gears in his head turning.

“A hospital…” Patches squinted as his brain cells rubbed together, and eventually they generated enough static electricity to light his face up. “Aye, I think I know how to find it, that hospital, but fair exchange is fair exchange. You give me some o’ that good borrowing and I’ll tell ya’.”

Joe wasn’t entirely certain he trusted this drunkard, but Patches was the best, if not the only lead he had. Not wanting to part with his only book written in English, he pulled the Oreo crumb out from his rucksack and showed it to Patches.

“What’ll this get me?” He asked.

Patches’ eyes narrowed.

“If there’s rat poison in that you’ve got yourself a deal.”

Joe’s eyes widened. Even he wouldn’t eat rat poison just for sport, yet for Patches nothing seemed to be sacred.

“I… don’t know what Mr. Christie puts in his cookies, but I wouldn’t rule it out, pal.” He fibbed.

After much consideration, the drunkard accepted his offer.

“Well then it’ll get you over there.” Patches replied, and pointed down to the far end of the alley. “You go out there and turn right. There’s a place on the corner where the giants go to fight, then a special buggy takes ‘em away to die.”

A shiver ran down Joe’s spine. He had seen precious little of giant society, and as time went on, the less he saw the happier he found himself to be. Still, for Harry’s sake he had no choice but to bear witness to whatever bizarre ritual sacrifice this was.

Joe sat at the corner and read as he waited for the action to start. It didn’t take long; by the time he reached the second chapter one giant flung another from the tavern’s doorway and rudely interrupted the main characters’ first meeting. He crouched down low by a façade on the side of the building and watched the four shoes of the two fighters in motion as they swore and shoved each other this way and that. He could feel the shockwaves of their feet from where he sat and cowered, and to his great displeasure he could see that the warring giants weren’t moving away from his hiding place, but towards it. Joe could not see it, but the façade he was hiding in, which extended all the way to the ground, also framed a window above him like an arch. Joe only became aware of the window’s existence when one of the men slammed the other’s head into it as he insulted his opponent’s mother, causing a shard of glass to land a mere inch away from the tiny. Luckily for Joe, and unluckily for the poor fool who was getting his head kicked in, the victorious giant flung his victim to the ground a solid giant’s length away from Joe’s hiding place where he then lay unconscious.

Joe had seen his share of bar fights at Calloway’s, but never before had he encountered violence so brazen, done out in the open for all to see. If tinies like him were to fight like that in plain sight they were bound to be hunted or snatched. His morbid curiosity overtook him as he crept out from the façade to examine the fallen giant. The victor was walking off as if nothing had happened, and now curious onlookers were flooding the scene. With a flock of strange giants closing in, and with no better hiding place, he slipped into the unconscious giant’s front pocket and hoped the beast didn’t wake up while he was in there.

Now in the darkness of the pocket, Joe heard a ringing bell in the distance that grew louder and louder until it was completely deafening. When the ringing stopped, Joe then heard a sea of voices as the gawkers commented on this detail and that detail of the fight, until one voice parted the wall of sound like Moses.

“Ambulance service! Out of the way! Out of the way!” It nagged.

Before Joe could even ponder what an ambulance service was, he found that he – and the unconscious giant – were now in motion, as if suspended in midair. Then, the motion stopped, and there was a strange thunk noise. He could hear movements off to his side, and upon peeking out of the edge of the strange giant’s pocket he could just make out the elbow of another giant who seemed to command this ambulance service. The ambulance giant did not appear to be aware of Joe, and sensing his only opportunity to escape, he slipped out of the pocket and onto the white platform the unconscious giant was now lying on. He plucked a hook from his back and went to work grappling down to the ambulance floor as the ringing bell started up again.

He had chosen a good time to escape, for soon after he reached the floor he heard the unconscious giant spring to life again and unleash a series of insults at no one in particular.

“Stay down! Stay down!” The ambulance giant ordered.

The once-unconscious giant did not oblige, and Joe hid in the darkest corner he could find as yet more titans clashed above him. If this was the special buggy that took the giants away to die, Joe reasoned, he wasn’t sure he wanted to see what happened at the final destination.

Soon the ambulance’s ringing stopped and with it the sickening motion of the high-speed automobile stopped as well. Even the injured giant had quieted down, and finally the doors on the back end of the wagon swung open in annunciation of Joe’s freedom. Smaller wheels moved beside him, which appeared to be attached to the platform the injured giant was lying on. Joe grappled onto the lower frame of the wheeled stretcher and clung there for dear life as the ambulance giant wheeled the injured man out of the van and down a long hall. Then the stretcher stopped, nearly throwing Joe under the wheel in the process, giving the tiny a golden opportunity to retrieve his hook and line and escape into the halls of what he could only assume was the hospital.

Soon he was running down an endless labyrinth of busy feet and white walls. When he came to a staircase that would be insurmountable without throwing hooks around in plain sight and blowing his cover, he stopped for a moment and clutched his chest as he caught his breath. As he gazed up at those stairs and then down at his boots, he wondered what on Earth it was Harry had done to him that had caused him to embark on this ridiculous venture to begin with. No self-respecting miniature in their right mind would ever do something so reckless as this – even Joe at one point used to have limits. Now, here he was, traversing this never-ending maze and wishing he were a giant all the while. How easy it would be if he could just walk right into the hospital, climb straight up those stairs, speak directly to a nurse – whatever it was that a regular visitor would do. Joe, in that moment, couldn’t help but wonder why life had to be as unnecessarily difficult as it was for him.

When he looked up, his heart leapt into his throat as it dawned on him that he was not alone. The spinning of massive spokes behind him caught his eye, and as he turned to his left he was greeted with the right wheel of a wheelchair. Inside of that wheelchair sat a round, grizzled old giant, and Joe froze as the giant looked right at him, then back up to the stairs.

As Joe followed the giant’s sad gaze, something clicked between his ears. It seemed that Joe and this strange giant had a shared grievance in life. He turned back to the old giant with a knowing smile and nodded as the two exchanged a look that seemed to say,

“You too, huh?”

Then a door opened nearby, a nurse rolled a gurney into the hallway, and their moment of solidarity was cut short when the tiny had to flee.

The surgical wing. Administration. The medical wing. Joe had traversed all of these with still no sign of Harry. He was at the end of his rope as he ran down a narrow tunnel without end in search of whatever branch of the maze came next. After an eternity spent running down this hall, Joe stood at a crossroads and turned left into the outpatient department.

Here he was met with two rows of beds on wheels, each with a patient. At the far end of the room, he could just make out a nurse who sat at a desk, silhouetted by the wide open door behind her. In that moment, as he gazed upon these two rows of beds, Joe couldn’t help but marvel at how different this shiny, white hospital was from the dens of the barber-surgeons he was used to.

It would be a profoundly stupid idea for Joe to enter this well-supervised room full of sleeping giants, and he wouldn’t have bothered had he not spotted one very important detail. Joe knew Harry best in bits and pieces; his face, his feet, his hands, and there in a bed to the left, hanging down halfway to the floor, was a hand that Joe would recognize anywhere in the world. Immediately a fire was lit inside him and he traced the nurse’s hawk like gaze, judged the distance between himself and Harry’s bed, and sprinted over to it. Taking great care to stay out of her line of sight, he threw his weighted hook around a bar at the end of the cot and climbed up the frame, enjoying the beautiful traction his specialty-made boots offered him against the painted metal.

Then the nurse’s papers shuffled. For a heart-stopping moment he lost focus and slid back down the line again. When he craned his neck and peered at her from around the bar he was climbing, he could see to his relief that the nurse now had her nose in a book. He let out his bated breath and soon he made it to the end of the bed. He crawled all the way across it, over top of the limp arm, and right up to the ear of its sleeping occupant.

“…Harry.” Joe whispered.

The giant didn’t stir.

“Harry?” Joe said.

He moaned this time. Joe couldn’t see the nurse from where he stood beside Harry, so he could only hope that what he did next wouldn’t blow his cover.

“HARRY!” He shouted, straight into the giant’s ear.

Harry jumped and stirred at the sound, which earned himself a stern shushing from the nurse.

“Whaaat?” Harry groaned.

“Harry, wake up! I’m here to rescue you.” Said Joe.

Harry rubbed his eyes in a daze, then turned to look at Joe. His face gradually contorted in terror as his conscious mind began to connect the dots.

“Joe—what are you—you shouldn’t be here!” He slurred under his breath.

“Neither should you!” Joe argued.

“Yeah, but I told you to—“ Harry kept rubbing at his face as he tried to come up with a coherent sentence, then he gave up and tossed his one good arm to his side. “Joe. What are you doing here dressed like a RAF pilot?”

“I told you! I’m rescuing you! This place is dangerous, Harry. I had to break out the good borrowing gear.” He answered.

“Borrowing… gear…?” The intoxicated giant squinted as he examined Joe, then his right hand clumsily reached around to grab at the tiny.

“Hey—hey! Mind your manners!” Joe exclaimed.

Harry’s movements threw Joe off his feet, and he fell back into Harry’s fingers, though he didn’t stay there for long. Finding the position awkward, the giant soon released him. Reflexively Joe found himself crawling forwards to rest on Harry’s bare shoulder in search of more touch.

“What happened to your other arm?” Asked Joe; he could see it was tied into a sling.

“Compound humeral fracture.” Said Harry. "With a bonus concussion on the side."

“Harry this is not humeral, this is very serious.” Joe chided him.

When the giant only laughed in response, Joe kept going.

“What’s so funny!? Harry, cut it out! I mean—” Joe relished what he was about to say next “—do you have any idea, Harry? Do you have any idea how scared I was?”

That was enough to get the giant to take him seriously, though the shush from the nurse certainly helped.

“I figured you would be.” He said. “That’s why I had the nurse call you.”

“I told you, Harry. I told you those motorcycles are rolling death machines. Did you listen? No. You didn’t.” Joe couldn’t help but admire the giant’s big, brown eyes as he told him off - a practice that was a display of affection in its own right. “Now I had to go all the way over here, to bring you some entertainment.”

“Entertainment?”

Joe pulled the book out of his bag, and he watched Harry’s eyes light up at the sight of the microscopic literature.

“Yeah, I thought you’d like this. You can have any story you want as long as it’s romance, because that’s all I got.” Joe said.

“You read romance books?” Harry was on the verge of laughing again.

“Who doesn’t?”

Joe cracked the book open and began to read, grateful to have his friend close again.

They were three and a half chapters in when the morphine wore off and Harry received word he was clear to leave. Now in the wee hours of the night, Harry lumbered through the door with Joe riding shotgun in the sling on his arm. Harry placed the tiny back onto the telephone table, then hung up his hat and coat. The moment Joe’s feet touched the wood of the table, he went right back to ruminating. He still clutched the book in his hands, and he ran a thumb over the mousehide spine.

“Left in a hurry, I see.” Harry said.

“Huh?”

Harry carefully bent down and picked up the receiver.

“Oh… yeah, I did.” Joe was only partially present as he spoke.

The other part of him wanted to finish the fourth chapter of the book with Harry, but was too afraid to ask. So enthralled was he by calculating the logistics of this task that he didn’t even notice when Harry picked up the sketches he had thrown aside that morning.

“Hm. You’re very good at drawing hands.” The giant commented.

In a timespan shorter than a flash of lightning, Joe’s face turned bright red. Mortified, he looked over to where the giant stood beside him as Harry held Joe’s doodle page between his thumb and forefinger like a postage stamp.

“I’ll take those, thanks!” He said in a voice panicked and shrill.

“Why do you look so stricken?” Harry asked as he handed the sketches back to him. “You’re a very skilled artist. Not many people can draw hands that well.”

Although it would be another nineteen years before the first atomic bomb was set off, one may as well have detonated inside of Joe’s head. His body stood there with its arm outstretched as it clutched the sketches and awaited further signals from his brain. Harry wasn’t done with him yet, of course, because it was that moment that the giant reached out with a single finger and caressed the bottom of Joe’s outstretched forearm. That was enough to bring Joe’s nervous system back to attention, and he snapped his arm to his chest and clutched the paper alongside the book.

“Sorry – I was just admiring the stitching.” Harry said. “You look good.”

Good? Joe was not supposed to look good. Joe was not supposed to have a self-concept at all! As he stood there tongue-tied, for a brief moment he couldn’t help but hate this man in the sling who was smiling down at him. What power that tall bastard had over him now! Did Harry even know what he was doing?

“Yeah, well—don’t expect to see it all the time. These clothes were expensive.” He stammered.

“I could help you get more. There’s plenty of things you could trade in this house, isn’t there?” Said Harry.

“Yeah… I… maybe. If I can find people to trade with.” Joe said.

He couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t say no. He couldn’t stand that he couldn’t say no! He had to do something, say something to reassert some level of dominance over this man who had the audacity to come into his house and tell him he looked good.

“You can’t just go looking at my art, though.” Was what he settled on. “That’s personal.”

“I’m sorry, Joe. I'll pretend I didn't see it.” Harry said.

This was the opposite of what Joe really wanted, of course. What he really wanted was to show Harry everything and for Harry to call it good, so after much internal debate he added,

“…unless you take me upstairs and let me impose my literary tastes on you. Without laughing. Then you can see the other stuff I made.”

Now it was win-win. Joe was in charge, he could keep reading to Harry, and show him his art. Though he didn’t like how Harry smiled at him one bit as the giant beckoned with his good hand for Joe to climb into it, it was victory enough.

Read the next part here!

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gnashingwailing · 1 month

Text

Harry in a Hospital

Part 17 of my story! See the index and content warnings here. <3

The night of the storm had broken something in Joe Piccoli. The ghosts of the doctor’s touch haunted his body the way the shock of revelation haunted his mind, and since that night he had been left mentally reeling, suspended in an emotional free-fall that knew no end. As he sat at the phone table and scribbled, what refused to leave his mind above all else was not Harry’s hands or the way he had carelessly let himself fall asleep in them. It was what had happened after. The way he had woken up in the upstairs bedroom once again, laid out on that pillow, tucked in with the greatest of care. The first time he had fallen asleep there, he had assumed the doctor had simply forgotten him, but now it was clear he had been deliberately placed there like some small child who had stayed up too late. That night, that realization that Harry cared about him, had left something inside of Joe bleeding. Much as he tried to hide it, he now felt raw and exposed, stripped bare of all pretense. He was a knight without armor. A soldier without a gun. A lion without teeth. Harry had made no mention of that bed the morning after, and Joe was far too proud to bring it up himself. He simply did the walk of shame back to the floorboards and ruminated over what on earth he was becoming.