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miniscule-meow · 4 hours

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Isabell and the Lads CH 2: The Healing Process (2.6)

Masterpost Wordcount: ~1.7k First Part | Last Part | Next Part (eventually)

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A rhythmic tapping rouses her from her sleep.

Her eyes peel open to find a familiar darkness surrounding her. She could almost convince herself she is back home and that she isn’t living out her biggest nightmare. Almost.

“Isabell?” Zeke’s voice, though gentle, shatters the dream of her being back in the walls, where she belongs. “Are you up?”

“Yeah, I’m up,” she calls out groggily. She must have been in a pretty deep sleep if his footsteps didn’t wake her up before he got to her, she doesn't like the thought of a human being able to sneak up on her.

Isabell sighs, raising her arms in an attempt to stretch, and she’s met with aching ribs and sharply protesting limbs. So that’s how it’s gonna be. As gently as possible, she maneuvers herself into a sitting position, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She has to pause here, the pain in her body has officially caught up with her. She thought there was a chance she could sleep all of this off, but as it stands right now, everything just feels worse. She takes another breath, deep enough for her ribs to flare their complaints. She’s been awake for maybe thirty seconds and she already wants to cry.

Instead, she grits her teeth and stands out of the bed, testing her leg. She doesn’t need to put much weight on it to know that it is not happy. She’ll need to stay off of it as much as possible if she ever wants a chance to get out of here.

Her shelf is still nice and dim, with only a bit of light slipping in around the edges of the curtain. So, the main lights must be on out there. Turning her attention to the curtain wall, she can see Zeke’s monolithic shadow in front of her.

“I’m coming,” she says, hoping he’ll just wait for her. She doesn’t want to see his massive fingers pull back the barrier separating them.

She’s trying not to think about it, but all of this is truly only the illusion of safety. At any point the human could decide that he’s tired of waiting, that he’s tired of her. Every single moment she’s putting so much trust in him. Trust that he’ll be patient, trust that he’ll be kind, trust that he’ll be gentle. It’s trust that she simply does not have, but she has no choice.

She hobbles her way out to the open part of the shelf, clinging to the wall as much as possible in an attempt to avoid putting too much weight on her leg. She’s really going to have to do something about that.

She blinks, her eyes adjusting to the full light of the room. Her breathing catches, seeing Zeke’s massive form kneeling in front of her, his eyes trained on her. Even though she’s been interacting with these humans, seeing them, especially for the first time again, sparks an intrinsic fear inside of her.

Don’t get caught. You’ve already been caught. They can see you. Run. Hide. Escape.

She shoves the thoughts aside. This is her situation. She can’t fix it right now. The humans are helping her.

The rational thought quells her fear meager amounts at best.

“Good morning,” Zeke says, his eyes scanning over her. “How are you feeling today?”

“I’ve been better,” she says, leaning heavily against the wall. “Um, thank you, by the way. For… setting this up for me.” She gestures over to her ‘room’ behind the curtains.

“Of course. I’m glad we could find something that worked for you,” Zeke responds with a small smile gracing his features. “I was going to make some breakfast. Do you want to come out to the living room?”

Does she want to? Does she want to willingly put herself in the palm of his hand? No. Not really. Does she agree anyway, of course. That’s what the human wants, right? At this point, it’s more dangerous to disappoint him.

She nods numbly, and Zeke’s hand rests on the shelf in front of her. She feels as though she’s watching her own actions from behind her eyes, as if she were instead watching a screen. The only way her mind can rationalize a willing interaction with this human is to just disconnect herself completely.

Sure, the humans have been nice so far. But every single moment she spends with them she has to fight every one of her instincts. Her brain’s wiring just won’t stop telling her that she’s in extreme danger. Don’t get caught, don’t get caught don’t get- she’s already been caught. She needs to play by a different set of rules now. But it’s been a lifetime of fear, well deserved fear. One or two reasonable conversations with a human isn’t going to magically undo all of that.

She takes a hesitant step forward, still pushing against the wall of the shelf for support, when the hand in front of her shifts. You were taking to long. He’s run out of patience. She jolts, expecting the hand to lurch forward and snatch her up in an unforgiving fist. Instead, the massive fingers curl in on themselves, and the hand moves in the opposite direction. She looks up, finally connecting the hand to the human, and meeting Zeke’s gaze curiously.

“Sorry. I just- You know that you can say no to me, right?” His brow furrows, his green eyes taking her in. When she doesn’t respond, he continues, “I don’t want you to say yes just because you feel like you can’t say no. That isn’t… that’s not consent. I mean,” he looks away, searching elsewhere for the right words to say, “yeah, before neither of us had much of a choice about anything. It was an emergency situation, and I’m really sorry about all of that. But now you have your own space here and- I’m rambling,” he shakes his head, looking back to her, “I don’t want you to say yes to me just because that’s what you think I want. And I really don’t want you to say yes to me because you’re afraid to say no. That’s… that makes me,” he hesitates, “that makes me feel really gross,” he admits, shaking his head once more.

She hadn't considered his feelings in all of this.

Her being afraid of him makes him feel... gross? How is that even possible. She'd always been under the impression that humans relished in the fear they caused. It never occurred to her that he might be just as uncomfortable interacting with her as she is with him.

Is it possible that she's been so wrapped up in her own feelings that she's completely missed the nuance of emotions from this impossibly large being? It is just easier for her to write off everything from them as fearmongering and manipulation so she doesn't have to consider that they aren't really all that different after all?

But still, this fear that is so deeply interwoven into her being. She's had horrific run-ins with humans. She's seen their cruelty, the inflated ego of having something smaller than them that they can dominate. She's never seen a human like Zeke. Kneeling down on her level, going out of his way to help her feel comfortable, telling her how he feels? This doesn't fit in the box of humans are scary and irrational beings that she has sequestered in her mind. This simply makes no sense to her.

Even if, and it's a big if, she were to take this human at face value, and she were to let herself trust him, it's not like she can just turn her fear off with the flick of a switch. Maybe she doesn't want to be afraid anymore. But can she really turn her back on the one thing that has kept her alive all this time?

She stays hidden because she's afraid of getting caught.

She goes out borrowing because she's afraid of starving to death.

Everything she's needed to do in life, she's done because of fear. Every choice she's made has been based on what outcome she's more or less afraid of.

Now to just say, 'no, fear, I don't need you anymore.' It feels impossible.

She feels herself slipping into a circle of thought. Be afraid, but don't be afraid, but you should be afraid, but you shouldn't be afraid, but you've always been afraid, but you don't have to be afraid anymore.

She will have to try to unpack this later.

Zeke continues, “you can say no, you can obviously also say yes. It’s- I mean, that’s why I’m asking. I want to know what you want. Okay? Do you want to go out to the living room, or would you rather stay here. It’s up to you.”

She looks up at him cautiously. What does she want? She tries to do the mental gymnastics required to figure out what he wants her to want. This has to be some kind of trick, right? What does she want? A human shouldn’t be concerned about that. She fits in the palm of his hand, and he cares about what she wants? Here she is again, trying to fit Zeke into a box of what she understands humans to be, and failing miserably.

“Um, I want… um, N-no. No, I’d actually like to stay… here,” she feels as wound up as a spring, her shoulders tense rigidly. I just told a human no. She looks up at him wide-eyed, terrified she’s made the wrong choice.

Zeke just nods indifferently. It doesn’t seem like he’s upset or disappointed at all. If anything it looks like he relaxes a little bit. “Alright,” he says standing. “I’ll bring you some breakfast soon, okay?”

“Pancakes?” She asks, remembering the warm fluffy clouds he made for her yesterday.

“Yeah, I can make that happen,” he responds. She can’t see his face, but he sounds amused. He could even be smiling, a rarity from him.

With that, his footsteps retreat off into the main part of the apartment. She takes this time to drag herself back into her room. Zeke had been kind enough to put a little electric candle in the middle of the room for her. She flips the switch and the warm light flickers gently in the space. Off to the side, he had left her a bundle of craft supplies. By the time he comes back with pancakes for her, she’s crafted herself a crutch. So, even though she’s still hobbling around, she’s at least doing it with some proficiency now.

#g/t #g/t writing #g/t stories #my writing #isabell and the lads #i know yall probably want me to update literally any other story but this is where the ideas are right now #featured: zeke saying consent is key #and isabell fighting with her fears #hopefully the pay off for all this slow burn stuff will be worth it lmao

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miniscule-meow · 2 days

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Gawwww! They’re holding hands <333~

#THIS!!!!!!!!!!#AHHHH #g/t art #this is everything

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miniscule-meow · 7 days

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A Drunken Giant Pt. 1

Poor little borrower Sai comes to realize that his giant friend Luka really isn't the same when he's downed a few drinks too many.

Funny what being drunk can do to a human's conscientiousness.

~~~~~~~

Sai jerked upright at the sound of the front door slamming closed, his heart feeling like it'd collided with his chest at his shock over the sudden, booming sound. He placed his hand over his sternum, letting out a quick breath to calm himself, scoffing internally.

Geez, it was obviously just going to be Luka, who Sai had thought had learned better than to make such loud noises now that he knew the tiny was around.

Sai rolled his eyes, falling back onto the huge, feather-stuffed pillow beneath him with his arms splayed out wide. In the couple months since he'd first truly met Luka and began to slowly, tentatively expose himself fully to the giant, things had been... pretty great, in all honesty.

Sure, Luka could be a little oblivious at times over how his size difference made some of his actions seem from Sai's perspective, but the tiny had soon learned that his giant friend was more than willing to correct his unwitting mistakes as long as Sai let him know about them.

For the past week, they'd been getting even closer still. It started because a mouse had found its way into the walls - a very unfriendly mouse, to specify - so Luka had proposed that Sai stay with him full time until one of the humane traps the giant bought successfully captured the mouse to be released somewhere suitably far away.

Sai had agreed, albeit reluctantly, but the thought of waking up in his little nest to a feral mouse trying to chew off his arm had more than sealed the deal.

Which was why Sai was where he was now.

Luka had gone out to celebrate something with some of his human friends, and he would be coming back pretty late. Neither of them wanted to risk Sai having to walk across the floors while the mouse was still on the loose, so Luka had helped Sai over to where they both usually slept: the giant's bed.

Which wasn't as terrible of an idea as it sounded like!

Sai had balked the first night when Luka had suggested it, but he'd eventually calmed down after the giant had explained things. The bed itself was king-sized, which meant that there was plenty of room for a borrower next to a human, and Luka pretty much slept like the dead. As in, once he fell asleep, he was more or less as still as a corpse except for the slow and steady rise and fall of his chest.

This all meant that it was perfectly safe for Sai to commandeer the pillow on the other side of the bed, and, along with a soft handkerchief Luka had donated to him for the cause, Sai had been having some of the best sleeps of his whole life.

Now however, Sai couldn't help but feel a shiver of unease go down his spine as he watched Luka finally stumble into the room, the giant's cheeks flushed a dark red and his eyes hazy and half-lidded.

Sai swallowed. He'd... he'd never actually seen Luka drunk before. Not even tipsy - not since the the giant had become aware of Sai's presence in their shared home.

The tiny carefully sat up fully on his pillow, watching with a slow yet undeniably growing sense of leeriness as Luka leaned heavily against the door-frame and peered unsteadily around the room, the giant letting out a hiccuping exhale as he did so. Sai could smell the alcohol on his breath from across the room, and it made his nose wrinkle and his burgeoning trepidation exponentially rise.

Luka's gaze lazily drifted over to the bed, and Sai stiffened when the giant's eyes finally landed on him, the resulting stare feeling like it was pressing down on him with all the weight of a cement brick.

It was too much. All at once, a feeling so damnably chilling and so bitterly, achingly close to having become unfamiliar to him welled up inside of the tiny's chest as he watched Luka's eyes light up with a disproportional amount of drunken glee upon having spotted him. Sai flinched as the giant began to stumble towards him, each step loud and reverberating and so unlike what Sai had let himself become used to - let himself believe would never change.

He shakily got to his feet, taking a hesitant step back, then another as the giant's uneven gait failed to falter at his retreat, the familiar feeling of his own feet sinking into the soft pillow below him now menacing. Just another reminder of how impossible unlikely an escape would be.

"C'mere lil' guyyy," Luka slurred, his arms jerking up in front of himself, his thick fingers - each of which was nearly as wide as Sai's torso and as long as Sai was tall - curling inwards towards his palms in a grabby motion that made a bubbling sort of sick feeling clench in Sai's stomach.

A quiet noise of distress leaked past his lips without him even realizing, but he doubted the giant heard it anyways.

And it was too soon (far too soon) when a large, foreboding shadow loomed over the tiny's form (his shaking form, and when had he begun to tremble?), and he could no longer repress the urge to cower, crouching down and curling in on himself as if making himself any smaller than he already was would somehow make everything go away. It wouldn't. But it wasn't like he had any true options left. His throat had closed up with the thick lump that had formed in it; he wouldn't be able to get a single word out to the giant. No protest. No defense. And he knew with a cold sense of certainty that the edge of the mattress was too far away for him to reach before he would be caught.

(And privately, in the far recesses of his mind that he ruthlessly suppressed, Sai was terrified of the thought of Luka lunging at him if he tried to escape, the giant's gentle-turned-monstrous now uncoordinated hands unwittingly - so easily - crushing the life out of the tiny in his careless, thoughtless grip.)

So it was now, for the first time since the tiny had met his giant, that Sai felt completely and utterly afraid of the other being.

~~~~~~~

Cliffhanger ;DDD

huhuhuhuhuhuhu what will drunken Luka do?

#ah! excellent #fearplay #gt fearplay #i was literally ao stressed reading this (in a good way (in the best way) )#love love love this premise #it takes so much work to build up trust and it can be so quickly stepped back to where they started #so good

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miniscule-meow · 7 days

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pepper & felix

part ten

its tiiiiiime word count: 4.3k

Felix’s breath hitched, his grip on his tea mug slipping.

Tea splattered over the counter as he fumbled to catch it, his heart pounding against his chest. He froze, listening intently for any noise in his otherwise silent kitchen.

Someone had said his name.

It… it couldn’t have been his soulmate. That would be impossible.

“Felix? Can you hear me?”

Cold shock tightened around Felix’s chest, and he blinked rapidly, thoughts racing, trying to wrap his mind around what was going on. He snapped his hands up to his chest, feeling the thrumming of his heartbeat, and tuned into the fuzziness in the back of his mind.

“You… you just said my name.” His words were blank and abrupt, mind racing with thoughts that were too incoherent to form into any reasonable sentence.

His soulmate paused for so long that Felix thought he might have imagined the whole thing; then, suddenly, the timid voice returned.

“I’m— I’m so sorry.”

Felix blinked in confusion. “Why—”

“I’m a borrower.”

The earth stopped spinning.

Felix froze.

“I’m— I’m your borrower. You know me.”

The air was suddenly gone from Felix’s lungs. He struggled to breathe as cold electricity struck his body, crackling and burning and destroying his insides, and he felt as if he might collapse. He was vaguely aware of the warm tea spreading onto the counter, where his mug had been knocked over by his numb, frozen hands.

Memories skipped around his mind, laughing and taunting him. He recalled the feeling of tiny boots wobbling in his palm, and how lightweight they had seemed despite the fact that they were supporting the weight of an entire person. He thought about how wide those gray eyes had been the first night he saw them, on the very counter his tea was now spilling onto. Those had been his soulmate’s eyes.

The air was stagnant as Felix clasped his hands and pressed them to his chest. His heart pounded against his palms; hopeful, terrified, angry.

“...Pepper.”

It wasn’t a question. The chaos in his mind was beginning to quell, dissolving into a cold realization that shook him to his core.

Pepper.

Pepper is my soulmate.

Felix wanted to throw something. He wanted to deny it, wanted to move away and pretend he never met Pepper. He wanted to cheer and hold Pepper against his chest and fall asleep on the couch together, wanted to walk down the street with Pepper on his shoulder and watch the sunset with him. He wanted to cry. He wanted an explanation.

“Felix, I’m so– I’m so sorry that I didn’t tell you before.” Pepper’s mental voice was shaking as he struggled to sort out his thoughts, stumbling over his words. “But, please— we need help. Please.”

“What?” Felix stood up a little straighter at that, his gaze flickering to the toaster, as if he expected to see Pepper approach.

“Alice found me and my sister, and— and she took us.”

Cold panic rocketed through Felix’s body like electricity.

“Wh-what?”

“We’re in her apartment, I— I think—?”

Felix was already across the kitchen, throwing on a coat and scrambling for his car keys. The kitchen appeared to be collapsing around him, but Felix didn’t care, adrenaline overtaking his actions.

“I didn’t want— I’m sorry that I had to tell you this way, I— I—“

“Pepper.” Felix slapped his hands to his chest, cutting the borrower off. “We’ll talk later. Sit tight. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes, okay?”

“…Okay.” Pepper’s voice sounded smaller than ever.

—

Rapid, thundering knocks sounded throughout the kitchen, and both borrowers flinched. Pepper’s stomach dropped into the floor below, and he sat up straighter inside the jar, holding his breath.

To his left, Basil hugged herself. “Is that him—?”

“Alice!” Someone shouted through the door, and Pepper sucked in a sharp breath.

“Yeah,” he muttered to Basil, heart thudding.

Felix knocked again, much louder and more determined. Both borrowers scrambled to their feet at the sound of footsteps approaching– then suddenly Alice appeared in the kitchen doorway, rubbing at her eyes. A moment passed in which she frowned down at the borrowers, contemplative, before she walked to the front door and peered through the peephole.

She immediately opened the door once she recognized her unexpected guest. “Felix?”

“What the hell?” Felix spat, and the back of Pepper’s neck tickled.

Felix seemed, well… angry. His eyes were flashing dangerously as he towered over Alice, seeming much taller than usual as he glared down at the shorter girl. Pepper had never seen this side of him before.

Alice jerked back, eyes widening. “Um— what—? Is everything okay?”

Pepper's heart raced, leaning closer. Despite the fact that the amount of humans in the room had just doubled, the borrower felt significantly more hopeful for his and Basil’s safety. If the humans’ voices weren’t so overpowering, Pepper would have considered calling out to Felix.

“Did you take them?” Felix demanded. Alice stepped back, wavering.

“You… you mean those little guys?”

Felix’s eyes widened at her words, shock and betrayal crossing his face. “So you did.”

“You knew about—?”

Felix shoved past Alice into the kitchen, making the shorter girl stumble in surprise. Pepper’s stomach flipped.

Pepper felt significantly unprepared to have Felix’s gaze on him. The moment Felix locked eyes with Pepper, the borrower’s heart jumped, and he instinctively inched closer to Basil, who was frozen.

Tension filled the air. Pepper’s heart rate quickened, suddenly remembering that Felix knew. Felix knew that they were soulmates, and that Pepper had intentionally withheld that information until he was all but forced to disclose it.

For the first time ever, Felix knew that he was looking at his soulmate.

However, Felix didn’t acknowledge a thing. Relief immediately washed over his face upon catching sight of the borrowers, and he stepped closer, leaning down to see better. “There you are.”

He still towered over the borrowers, but it was easier to see his face from this angle. Felix’s gaze softened as he examined Pepper, then switched his gaze to Basil, eyebrows lifting as he took in the sight of Pepper’s sister.

Basil made a small noise of surprise, inching back, while Pepper was frozen. It suddenly felt as if he couldn’t breathe.

Felix’s soft blue gaze slowly sharpened, glancing between the two borrowers. Something cold and foreign settled over his expression, making Pepper’s stomach twist in alarm.

Tension followed Felix’s movement as he turned towards Alice, who was still lingering near the door.

“What the fuck did you do to them?” Felix snapped, and Pepper’s stomach dropped, staring dumbfounded up at his soulmate.

Alice blinked rapidly, glancing between Felix and the borrowers several times. Her face had gone pale. “...What? You– What?”

“They’re hurt!”

Fire surrounded Felix’s voice, bright and livid. Pepper was suddenly all too aware of the strength underneath Felix’s massive form, boiling with white-hot anger. The amount of sheer power in front of him made Pepper’s heart pound, and he took an uncertain step back, hugging himself.

At Felix’s words Basil held a hand to her face, covering her bruise, and when she glanced at Pepper, her shoulders were tense. Alarm bells were going off in Pepper’s mind, but he ignored them and moved closer to his sister. “It’s okay,” he assured her, although his heart was still racing. “He’s gonna help.”

Alice’s gaze snapped briefly to the borrowers. “They– they were sneaking around your apartment!” Her voice was aghast. “They wouldn’t cooperate, so I had to put them in a jar–”

“They wouldn’t cooperate–?” Felix’s voice rose, and he cut himself off, taking a deep, furious breath. “They’re people, Alice, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

Alice sputtered in protest as Felix whirled around again, reaching for the borrowers. The sudden approach of a hand made Pepper flinch in surprise, especially once he remembered that the hand was connected to a very angry human. Basil gasped, grabbing into Pepper, and for once Pepper didn’t have any comforting words for her.

Felix paused for a moment, gaze calculating. He leaned down to see them better. “I’m gonna open this up, okay?” His voice was firm, his eyes still dark and fiery.

Basil seemed unable to speak, so Pepper forced himself to respond for the both of them.

“Okay.” His small voice wobbled.

Five massive fingers closed around the jar. When Pepper glanced over, Basil’s eyes were squeezed shut.

“What are you doing?” Alice asked, shocked, as Felix began to unscrew the lid. “You’re letting them out?”

Felix closed his eyes briefly, taking a deep breath to steel himself. He ignored Alice and continued, setting the lid down on the counter before meeting Pepper’s gaze. “I’m gonna tilt the jar on its side now,” Felix explained, his usual softness beginning to return to his voice. Pepper nodded again mutely, unable to look at the enormous hand around him.

He and Basil stood up straighter as the glass slowly tilted around them, a shocking display of Felix’s strength. They both wobbled, throwing out their hands and stumbling along, until finally the jar was on its side. Pepper paused at the opening and grabbed onto Basil’s hand.

He didn’t feel entirely comfortable leaving the jar until Felix withdrew his hand and gave them space. Swallowing thickly, Pepper took a small step onto the counter, while Basil did the same. They huddled near each other, feeling smaller than ever as they faced down the two humans in front of them, with no protection. Neither of them dared to speak.

Felix’s gaze lingered on Basil, flickering over her small form. “Hi,” he said gently, voice quieter than before. “I’m Felix.”

Basil’s grip tightened on Pepper’s hand, terrified to be directly addressed by a human. She opened her mouth like she intended to speak, but choked, choosing to shakily nod up at him instead.

Felix’s blue gaze shifted to Pepper, and the borrower stiffened, staring up at him. The room suddenly felt too quiet.

As if to rub salt in the wound, Alice spoke up and said, “How did you know they were here?”

Panic struck Pepper’s lungs like electricity, taking his breath away. He snapped his gaze to Alice, watching her eyes narrow.

“That doesn’t matter,” Felix said dismissively, and Pepper’s heart fluttered in relief. “We’re leaving.”

“You– you’re what?”

Felix turned and met Alice with a furious glare. “I’m taking them back home. You had no right to fucking kidnap them.”

“Kidnap–?!”

“Yes, Alice, you kidnapped them and then hurt them!” Felix’s voice was vicious, and he gestured to the borrowers, eliciting a microscopic flinch from the both of them. “Look at this girl’s face– she’s bruised because you decided to be an asshole!”

Alice turned to the borrowers in alarm, eyes wide. “What? She– I didn’t mean to–”

“We’ll talk about this later,” Felix snapped, turning back towards the borrowers, who had backed several inches away. Pepper’s knees were shaking so much he could barely stand, clutching to Basil’s equally shaky arm.

The human took a deep breath, peering at them both. “Are you guys okay? Can I carry you out?”

In Pepper’s peripheral vision, Basil shifted closer to him, her face pale. Pepper swallowed and spoke up for the both of them.

“Yeah– yeah, that’s okay,” he responded levelly, trying to calm his pounding heart. “Thank you.”

Felix nodded, then reached towards them. The sight of his massive hand approaching made Pepper’s insides turn to liquid, and he fought the urge to back away, feeling Basil stiffen next to him. When the enormous hand landed face-up an inch away from them, Pepper released a nervous breath, taking a step closer.

Tension tugged at his arm, and he glanced to see Basil frozen on the countertop, brown eyes wide and dilated. Her voice was terrified when she whispered, “I can’t. I can’t do this.”

Pepper blinked rapidly, all too aware of the humans’ eyes on them. He had nearly forgotten that Basil had never been carried by a human before… at least, not willingly.

He stepped closer, clutching her arms. “It’ll be okay,” he whispered, heart racing. “I promise. I know it’s scary, but– but we’re gonna get out of here and then you’re never gonna have to interact with a human ever again.”

Basil blinked rapidly, sparing a quick, petrified look at the humans before swallowing hard. “I…” Her voice wobbled, barely audible. “Okay. Okay.” She took a breath, squeezing her eyes shut. “Okay.”

Pepper was immensely grateful that Felix was being patient with them. The human waited as Basil pulled herself together, her voice quiet and shaky as she mumbled to herself, clutching Pepper’s hand.

Somehow, Basil being nervous helped to quell some of Pepper’s fears. When she finally nodded that she was ready, Pepper gently guided her towards Felix’s hand, choosing to take the first step onto the palm himself. Immediately, Felix’s thumb twitched, and Pepper had to suppress a flinch.

His stomach continued to do flips as he stepped fully onto Felix’s hand, wobbling on the soft surface. He refused to look at Felix.

Basil’s eyes shut the moment she stepped onto Felix’s hand, and she grabbed onto Pepper, releasing a tense breath through her teeth. Slowly and carefully, the two borrowers sat down on Felix’s massive palm, clinging to each other. Pepper was uncomfortably aware of how both of them could fit in one hand.

They were tiny.

“I’m gonna move now,” Felix warned. He waited a moment for them to adjust before slowly lifting his hand off of the counter, making both borrowers freeze up instinctively. Basil began to mumble again, reciting comforting mantras to herself, eyes shut tight.

Alice was at a loss for words. Her blue eyes were wide as Felix turned towards the door, the two borrowers held carefully to his chest.

“Bye, Alice.” Felix barely looked at her as he swung open the front door. Alice stuttered something in response, but the door had already slammed shut behind them, reverberating through Pepper’s body. He swallowed.

Felix took a few steps, then stopped, leaning against the wall of the hallway. He took a long, deep breath, briefly bringing his free hand to his face. Silence fell for over the three of them.

Pepper shared a nervous glance with Basil before he peered up at Felix. “Felix– thank you,” he said shakily, relief flooding into his body as he processed that they were no longer trapped in Alice’s apartment. The pain of the evening had shaken him to his core. “I don’t– I don’t even know what to say. Thank you.”

A long moment passed as Felix closed his eyes, steeling himself. Pepper’s stomach crawled with apprehension.

Felix finally spoke, still refusing to look at them. “Are you two okay?” He asked, ignoring Pepper’s gratitude. “I saw some of the bruises, but– is anything broken?”

Pepper and Basil glanced at each other. Pepper focused on the aching pains in his joints, and the pain of the bruises covering his body– but there didn’t seem to be any permanent damage, fortunately. After a moment of consideration, Pepper answered, “Um… no, I don’t think so. We’re okay.”

The human’s shoulders dropped, relief flooding his form. “Good… good.” He swallowed, then began to walk down the hallway, momentarily throwing Pepper off balance. “I can’t believe it… I never would have thought Alice would do something like this,” he admitted hollowly.

Pepper chewed his lip and elected not to respond just yet. His mind was elsewhere.

Felix had yet to mention the soulmate situation. He had barely acknowledged Pepper any differently than usual, and Pepper wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not.

Pepper fiddled with his blue sleeves as Felix began walking down the hallway. “It’s my fault,” Pepper said definitively, a frown crossing his face. “I got– I got overconfident. I didn’t think Alice would see us.”

“She shouldn’t have kidnapped you two, though,” Felix said darkly, cradling them against his chest as he opened the doors to the apartment complex, revealing a parking lot illuminated by moonlight. Pepper blinked up at the purplish night sky, suddenly fascinated. He had forgotten it was so late.

Basil didn’t appear to be as entranced by the stars as much as her brother. She swallowed, placing a steady hand on the massive chest behind them, and suddenly spoke to Felix for the first time. “Thank you. For– for rescuing us.”

Felix blinked down at her. “It’s okay,” he murmured, and Basil nodded, face pale.

Pepper and Basil both tensed as Felix suddenly opened the door of a small, gray car. He held them carefully as he slid into the driver’s seat, albeit awkwardly, and shut the door behind them.

“This might be loud,” Felix warned.

“We know,” Pepper muttered, too quiet for Felix to hear.

The roar of the engine made both borrowers jump, but it quickly dissolved into background noise. Felix paused, eyes calculating as he surveyed the space around him. “You guys okay with sitting on the passenger seat? I’ll drive slow.”

Pepper and Basil shared a glance. Neither of them showed any indication that they knew what a “passenger seat” was.

“Yeah,” Pepper said finally. “That’s fine.”

–

The front door clicked shut behind Felix as he entered the kitchen, flipping the overhead light on with his free hand. The exhaustion of the evening was weighing on all three of their shoulders, leaving them in an uneasy silence, broken only by the sounds of Felix’s footsteps. Felix's hand wavered as he lowered the borrowers to the kitchen counter, and he tried not to be too uncomfortable with how easily two entire people fit in the palm of his hand.

Pepper stepped off first, followed by the female borrower. Her hand was clasped tight in her brother’s, and she wobbled as she hit the counter, as if she wasn’t used to standing on the soft skin of a human hand. Felix could only assume that she wasn’t.

It was hard not to stare at her, and at the dark bruise that covered a large portion of her face. The miniscule details of her facial features were harder to discern under the bruise, but Felix could definitely tell that she was related to Pepper, indicated by the similar slope of their noses and cheekbones. He wondered briefly if she had always lived in this apartment, too.

“Are you guys doing okay?” Felix asked cautiously, and both borrowers twitched. The tension in their shoulders was clear, and it broke Felix’s heart. Once again he found himself furious with Alice, that she would intentionally scar two defenseless people. Would they be able to recover?

“Yeah,” Pepper answered softly, glancing at his sister. She had barely said a word since Felix found them, and Felix prayed that she wouldn’t be too traumatized from the whole experience. His stomach flipped at the idea that somebody could be so scared of him. “I– I’m just happy to be home,” Pepper continued with a weak sigh, dragging his hands down his face. “I can’t thank you enough, Felix.”

Felix nodded. His gaze flickered over Pepper’s small form, and his heart twisted, a flutter of unease finding its way into his body. “Don’t thank me,” he murmured. “It was fucked up for Alice to take you. I’m so sorry.”

Pepper’s sister shifted on her feet, peering uneasily up at Felix through her dark lashes. “What if– what if she tells other humans about us?” She noticeably tensed when Felix turned his attention to her, but continued hesitantly, “We’re supposed to be a– a secret.”

Felix had to lean in a bit to hear her, uncomfortable by how shaky her voice was. It wouldn’t be absurd to assume that this might be her first time interacting with humans, ever. Sympathy flooded into his heart for the girl.

A frown crossed Felix’s features at her words. He hadn’t considered that Alice might share her discovery with other people… in which case, the borrowers’ secret would be broken.

“I’ll talk to her tomorrow,” Felix decided after a moment, chewing his lip. “I really don’t think she’ll tell anyone, but if she does, I doubt they’ll believe her.” Pepper and his sister nodded.

Felix couldn’t fight the feeling that Pepper was avoiding his gaze. The borrower was playing with the sleeves of his blue jacket, face turned down, shifting on his feet like he wasn’t sure if he should stay or leave.

After a moment of consideration, Felix addressed the female borrower, trying to keep his voice soft and polite. “You should probably go rest,” he told her, and she blinked owlishly. “Is it okay if I talk to Pepper alone, for a bit?”

Pepper stiffened, but stayed silent. His sister sent him a sideways glance, a curious expression crossing her face, and she nodded up at Felix.

“Yeah,” she said, a warmer tone filling her voice. “Thank you again, for everything.”

She whispered something to Pepper, far too quiet for Felix to decipher. A minute later she had vanished, disappearing behind the toaster where Felix knew a hidden exit was, and Pepper and Felix were alone. Silence fell over the two of them.

Felix opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly found himself at a loss for words. Pepper was still refusing to look at him, a behavior that made Felix’s stomach twist.

“...Want to move to the couch?” Felix offered after a moment, placing a hand face-up next to the borrower.

Pepper’s gray eyes blinked, and his voice wobbled when he responded, “Yeah… yeah.” He only hesitated for a second before stepping up onto Felix’s palm, hugging himself. Felix made sure to walk carefully when he moved to the living room, not wanting to inflame any injuries Pepper might have endured.

They receded to their usual positions; Felix sitting sideways on the cushion, while Pepper sat cross-legged on the back of the couch. The ghostly feeling of tiny boots on Felix’s palm was hard to ignore, and he ran his hand over the length of his forearm.

Pepper, surprisingly, was the first one to speak. “Felix…” His breath hitched and he closed his eyes, voice breaking. “I should have told you. I’m sorry.” He drew his knees close to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. He looked absolutely miniscule.

Felix hesitated. “How long have you known?”

Pepper avoided his gaze again. “For… for a while. Since we’ve met.”

Oh.

Felix blinked rapidly, brow furrowing. Pepper had known this entire time that they were soulmates?

He thought back to everything his soulmate had told him… that he enjoyed sewing, that he had a sister. Considering how little his soulmate had been willing to share about his life, Felix wasn’t sure how he hadn’t noticed before.

Pepper’s expression was hard to make out in the darkness of the room. A singular orange lamp illuminated the space, casting shadows over the walls, and Pepper looked smaller than ever. The miserable glint in the borrower’s eyes, however, was indisputable.

“I…” Felix couldn’t vocalize his thoughts. He hadn’t known that borrowers even had soulmates, let alone that they can overlap with humans. As much as it hurt to know that Pepper had intentionally withheld this information, there was a small part of his mind that understood. Looking at Pepper, Felix found himself under an onslaught of confusion and fear, and if he had been in Pepper’s place he wasn’t sure how he would have handled it. “I didn’t know that was possible,” Felix finally said, peering closer. “For a human and a borrower to be soulmates.”

“Me neither,” Pepper said instantly, shoulders slumping. “I… I wanted to tell you, I did, but– but it’s just–” He waved his arms out uselessly. “I’ve never even talked to a human before you, and– and it just felt like… too much.”

Felix nodded slowly. He supposed that an unbreakable bond with a human would be unsettling for a borrower who had spent their whole life fearing humans.

“...Your sister’s probably not happy, huh?” He asked teasingly. “How does she feel about it?”

A smile crossed Pepper’s face at the mention of his sister, and he relaxed microscopically. “Well… she’s not the biggest fan of humans,” he explained. “When I told her that we’re soulmates, um… she didn’t take it that well. But, she’s starting to come around… especially now that you kind of saved our lives.” He raised his eyebrows pointedly.

Felix chewed his lip at that, contemplative. “Speaking of that… Alice didn’t hurt her too much, did she? I couldn’t help but notice the, um, bruise on her face. Is she okay?”

Pepper’s features softened. “She definitely got the worst of it, but she’s tough as hell. She’s gonna be okay. Don’t worry.” His lips twitched into a smile.

“Good.” Felix fought the urge to ask if Basil lived here, too. That question could wait.

The human took a deep breath, then spoke again, lowering his voice somewhat. “Listen, Pepper, about us being soulmates… I’m sorry that you were forced to tell me before you were ready.” His voice softened, watching as Pepper’s gray eyes focused on him. “I’m… well, I’m surprised that we’re soulmates, and… I’m not really sure where to go from here… but it’s okay. I’m not upset about it.”

Pepper blinked, his shoulders twitching. “You’re not?”

“I do like you,” Felix continued gently. “I think I understand how the universe decided that we’re soulmates. There’s definitely a lot to figure out between us, but… I’m at least happy to call you my friend. This doesn’t change anything.”

A flush crossed Pepper’s face, and the borrower nodded, leaning closer. “I– I’m glad,” he expressed, eyes wide. “I don’t want things to change.”

“I do wish that I could’ve found out in a less stressful way, though,” Felix added, amused, and Pepper snorted.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Pepper mused. “That definitely wasn’t the most romantic way to tell you.”

Felix made a noise of surprise, flushing, and Pepper laughed. “I’m just kidding.” The borrower pushed himself to his feet, eyes twinkling. “I should probably go check up on my sister, now– but I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

Felix blinked rapidly, a warm feeling in his chest. “Yeah.” He smiled. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

---------

eeeeeeeeee finally !!!!!

thank you so so much for reading!! comments/reblogs are always appreciated (i thrive off them) :D

TAGLIST: @smallsday @compact-katrina @satethesatelite @taters169 @entomolog-t

#ooooooooooooh #g/t writing #g/t #so so so good #one of my absolute favorite things is when a character is so obviously enraged but still so gentle #also basil and peppers relationship is so sweet #ah #fav #all around fav

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miniscule-meow · 8 days

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YO! Thanks so much for reading, this concludes the first drawn chapter. If you’re interested in the written version of this story be sure to check it out on my channel!

#g/t #g/t writing #g/t art #gosh i really like your art style #so so cool

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miniscule-meow · 9 days

Note

Hellooo just wanted to say that you're a really good writer and I really love your stories especially Felix and Charlie's as I read all of the chapters multiples times, love your work 🫶

Ahh thank you!!!!!!!!! 😍😍😍

#thank you so much!#I've been taking like a fair amount of Ls lately so this very much made my whole day #apple speaks #hopefully ill be posting more Charlie and Felix soon!!

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miniscule-meow · 11 days

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Okay so we all probably have heard or read the idea of borrowers playing video games right? Where maybe the bean fell asleep while the game was running and the curious borrower wandered up and saved their game or messed something up in it or even just played it for a bit. Imagine waking up sitting in your gaming chair and the screen in front of you flickers as if someone is playing. You look on your lap and your see this tiny person playing a game, and they are entranced by it. They are so wrapped up in the game that they don’t notice that you’ve woken up. Maybe you watch them a bit to see how well they are doing, maybe when it seems they are having trouble with a puzzle, enemy, or something; you pipe up on how they could defeat it. This probably would spook them and they’d freeze looking back at you, maybe apologizing about playing your game without your permission and such. Perhaps you convince them that it’s fine and, in fact, they can keep playing the game. You both just chill and you watch as they play. Maybe a bond is formed and you two switch whose actually playing the game and whose watching. Now there’s a little gaming buddy who might be a little bit of a backseat gamer, once you two are comfortable with each other.

Or imagine this. You wake up one night to hear sounds on your tv, your old console was plugged in but you swear you turned it off. You go towards your TV and see it’s playing a game, and that there’s two people playing it. You don’t see anyone until you squint towards the floor where the controllers are plugged in. They’re on the floor but something else is on them. There’s a group of borrowers playing the game. Maybe there’s four in total with two on each controller and they’re all playing together. You hear one team shouting at the other that they’re cheating, while the other shushes them and says they aren’t and that team 1 is just bad at the game. Watching them reminds you of playing with friends but they have it a bit more challenging. On one controller, one borrower is moving the analog stick and the other is pressing the buttons. They’re awkwardly sitting on and by the controller in order to do so. Either way, it’s an entertaining thing to watch. Maybe eventually you join them and grab a controller, challenging them to a game. Perhaps since they might be a bit scared you say that if they can beat you in a game that they can keep playing whenever they want and if you win, well they’ll see. The borrowers accept the challenge and team up against you, and obviously you’re gonna either lose or purposely lose, cause why wouldn’t you want little gaming buddies? Or maybe you never reveal yourself but occasionally get new games for them to try and you simply watch from the shadows as they play, until one day they spot you or something and you have to explain that they’re fine and you aren’t mad at them for playing the games. In fact it’s entertaining and you’d be happy to join them or just let them play more.

Either way tinies playing games just seems nice

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miniscule-meow · 11 days

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“Is it okay if I draw fanart of your fanfic?👉🏼👈🏼”

My brother in Christ we shall have a spring wedding

#yuh

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miniscule-meow · 12 days

Text

Isabell and the Lads CH 2: The Healing Process (2.5)

Masterpost

First Part | Last Part | Next Part

Word Count: ~1.9k

Warnings: none? This one is pretty cozy

---

“Zeke it is like, two AM. What are you doing?” Marcus leans against the door frame to their shared office space. Zeke is sitting on the floor, an upholstery staple gun in his hand. Strewn around him are piles of books, scraps of fabric, a pair of scissors, and all of the doll furniture they made today.

“I’m curtaining off part of this shelf,” Zeke responds, nodding to the bookshelf he’s sitting in front of before shooting another two staples into the underside of the shelf.

“Uh, okay?” Marcus says, looking across the scene with visible confusion, “Mystery solved then, I guess.”

“It’s so Isabell can have her own space. You know, something that isn’t a box or a dollhouse,” he gives his roommate a pointed look.

“Alright, that’s fair,” Marcus rubs the back of his neck, pushing himself off the doorframe, “This couldn’t wait until morning?”

“Nope,” Zeke responds simply, placing the staple gun down and picking up the scissors. He cuts a slit in the curtain, an entryway for Isabell.

So far, he’s curtained off a little more than two thirds of the shelf, the smaller section will be left open so she can be easily picked up or dropped off. The larger section of the shelf will get walled off with another swatch of fabric for her privacy. But first, they have to arrange the furniture in there.

Marcus sighs, scanning the floor around him carefully, before looking around the rest of the room. His tired eyes eventually land on where Isabell is sitting, blanket bundled around her on Zeke’s sewing table. He crosses the room in a few easy strides and plops down in the desk chair. His arm rests down on the table shortly followed by his head laying down against the back of his hand. After a slow, lethargic blink he sighs again, looking at her.

“Was this his idea, or your idea,” Marcus mumbles quietly to her. He looks more than just a little silly with his cheek squished against his hand like that.

“Um,” she tenses. If she tells him that it was her idea, then he might be mad at her for causing all this noise at two in the morning. But, if she tells him that it was Zeke’s idea, then he might get mad at Zeke, and then Zeke might get mad at her. Zeke is already frustrated with her anyway; she bit him after all.

So the question becomes, should she make one human more upset with her, or should she have both humans be annoyed?

The room was too big for her to go back to sleep. She could have tried, but they ran the risk of her forgetting where she was when she woke up again. That was something that both her and Zeke wanted to avoid. With the dollhouse and the shoe box both being non-options, this was the best they could come up with. Really, it was sort of a mutual agreement they had.

“Hey, relax,” Marcus mumbles with a tired laugh. Zeke turns, glancing over at them out of the corner of his eye. He looks between them for a moment, likely checking that his excitable roommate is keeping his hands to himself. Zeke points to her, then flashes a quick thumbs up. You good? She nods, Zeke gives one sharp nod in response and turns away, continuing to arrange furniture on the shelf. “Not every question is an interrogation,” Marcus says, oblivious to the small communication that just happened in front of him. “I’m just making conversation.”

“You just like hearing your own voice,” Zeke mumbles, placing the little couch on the shelf. He looks at its position for a moment before switching its position with another piece of furniture.

“Hm. Maybe,” Marcs says, a sleepy grin spreading across his face. He winks at Isabell.

“I’m almost done,” Zeke says, picking up the fabric that’s going to become the outer curtain. “Isabell, do you like how this is set up?”

She peers into the shelf, everything was meticulously placed, not exactly an easy feat for someone of his size. But still, she can’t imagine trying to do it herself. Even if the state of her leg wasn’t quite so critical, moving all that furniture would have been

She hasn’t been here very long, but she’s already seen that Zeke has an immaculate sense for detail. Looking into the shelf, she can see that he really thought through where everything should go. He didn’t just put the furniture in and make it fit, he arranged it for her. She nods her approval, and Zeke uses the staple gun to curtain off her room from the rest of the office.

Why did he do all of this? The question burns at the back of her mind

He could have just left her out on the coffee table. Even if that meant rotten sleep for her, it would have been significantly more convenient for him. Instead, he took the time to clear this shelf, delicately arrange all the miniature furniture inside for her, and curtain it off from the rest of the room. He even thought about how this room doesn’t specifically belong to either of the humans, and how this room gets less traffic than any of the other common areas in the house. It’s their shared office space, so she should have the most privacy here.

Why?

Even though it’s very late. Even though the process woke up his roommate. Even though he himself had just been woken up, and not too kindly at that. Even though she had just bit him. Even though she is so small, and insignificant, and practically a stranger to him.

Why?

“Just let us take care of you,” he said

“It’s just human decency,” he said… That can’t be right. That’s nothing.

What is she not seeing here? What could he possibly gain from helping her. She’s known other borrowers that wouldn’t lend a helping hand without a proper trade first. It’s very clear at this point that these humans are very literally saving her life. If she had managed to get back home, she wouldn’t have had nearly enough supplies to allow her to rest. It’s likely that she could have starved or died from dehydration when her leg decided to give out and not let her go borrowing. Or, her leg could have given out in the middle of a mission, leaving her defenseless against whatever human she was stranded with. Or, he could have gotten an infection and that could have taken her. There are so few possibilities for her where an injury like this doesn’t immediately spell the end of her life.

She can’t repay the humans for this. There is no equal trade for what they’re doing for her.

She observes these humans for a moment. Zeke, setting aside the staple gun, and tidying the books around him. They’ll need a new home since they’ve been evicted for her sake. Marcus dozes beside her, his blonde hair is tied back, but a few wavy strands still fall into his face.

What’s in it for them?

What do they want from her?

These thoughts continue to gnaw at her when Zeke approaches. He looks down at his roommate, asleep sprawled across the desk. Zeke huffs, rolling his eyes, but a small smile tugs at his lips. It’s good to see that they do more than just tolerate each other. They must have been friends for some time- not that she should care about the social relationships of the humans here. She hasn’t even figured out what they really want from her, she shouldn’t care about whether or not they actually get along.

Zeke brings a hand to Marcus’ shoulder and nudges him awake. Marcus groans in protest.

“Go to bed, I’m going to have to listen to you complain all day tomorrow if you try to sleep like this,” Zeke says quietly. Marcus heaves a deep sigh but gets up. He mumbles incoherently as he trudges across the hall to his bedroom. Once Marcus leaves, Zeke turns his attention down to her, lowering himself down slightly so he isn’t looming straight over her.

Her heart skips like it always does when she becomes his sole focus. He moves slowly, full of intention. Zeke’s hands slowly cup around her, before he pauses. He’s only done this once before, to bring her from the coffee table into the office. Earlier today he held her to transport her across the house, but her leg was cooperating enough at that point that she was able to hobble onto his palm herself. She had told him that’s how she would prefer to be picked up, and she stands by that. But with the state of her leg, she doesn’t have much choice in the matter anymore. Zeke hesitates now, seemingly uncomfortable with the prospect of simply scooping her up.

His eyes remain trained on her. He doesn’t say anything, but she knows that he’s waiting for her to confirm that this is alright. She doesn’t see what kind of difference that makes. If she doesn’t let the human pick her up, she’s stuck on this desk. So, she hugs the blanket tighter around herself and gives a quick nod. Zeke closes the distance between them, and gently lifts her into his palms. She has had more than her fair share of human hands lately. She’d like to tell herself that this will be the end of it, but she knows that once she wakes up, tomorrow will be a new day filled to the brim with more interactions with these humans. And the day after that, and the day after that. Until she can make the trip back home. To Zeke’s credit, he moves slowly. If she didn’t know any better, she might even say that it seems as though he’s just as uncomfortable as she is. He pulls back the corner of the fabric wall and hovers his hand next to her bed. She awkwardly scoots herself over, and once she’s on the plush surface of the bed, his hand retreats.

“Isabell,” He begins, then hesitates as if unsure about what he should say. He settles on a simple, “goodnight,” and with that, he lets the fabric go, and she’s plunged into a comfortable darkness. She can hear him leave the room, he clicks off the main light as he goes and what little light was filtering in through the fabric, disappears. She blinks, her eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness, and she takes in her surroundings.

It feels safe. She can almost pretend that she’s back in the walls. She can almost pretend that a human hand wasn’t just here, arranging all the furniture in this space for her. She can almost pretend that said human hand won’t be the first thing to greet her in the morning.

Almost, almost, almost.

Pretend, pretend, pretend.

The reality of the situation is that she’s a complete failure.

She’s been outsmarted, they put her in a DIY dollhouse, and she’s going to have to rely on these humans for, what did Zeke say, a month, before she can really go home. She’s helpless. What kind of borrower is this bad at what they do, it’s all she can think about as she drifts off to sleep once more.

#g/t #g/t stories #g/t writing #my writing #isabell and the lads #i don't like this chapter lmao #but i think it's a necessary evil #so here is is #hopefully i can write something uh actually good soon #hey not every chapter can be a banger some of them have to be cozy and simple right?#this is what i'm choosing to tell myself please let me live in my delusions #bleh

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miniscule-meow · 12 days

Text

pepper & felix

part nine

uh oh word count: 3.0k cw: talk of death and minor injury

Being released from Alice’s hand brought short-lived relief, followed by panic.

Dark, plush walls closed around Pepper and Basil as they tumbled inside the pocket of Alice’s jacket, crying out in surprise. Terror struck Pepper like lightning, cold and sharp, and his heart was suddenly threatening to pound out of his chest.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Pepper swore under his breath, scrabbling for purchase within the dark, cramped space. Felix had held him a few times, but Pepper had never been inside a pocket, especially one that he did not consent to be in. Somewhere to his right, Basil was cursing too, her breathing quick and uneven.

“Fuck! Felix!” Pepper instinctively lunged for the top of the pocket and missed, slipping down the fabric walls. “Motherfucke—”

Both borrowers flinched as Alice spoke, her sharp reverberating around them. “Felix, hey— something just came up. I think I’m gonna head out too.”

Felix’s voice, soft and comforting, seemed so painfully far away. “Oh! Yeah, no worries at all. Want me to walk you out?”

“No, that’s alright.” Alice answered quickly. “But I’ll see you around. And— congratulations.” She laughed lightly.

Felix said something in response, but Pepper could barely hear it over his own heart pounding. His stomach, full of ice, seemed to weigh him down as he struggled to reach the top of the pocket again, Basil at his side, both of them hissing in exertion.

Once again, they plummeted to the bottom of the pocket as Alice moved forward. The pocket swayed with each step, and Pepper immediately fought the dizziness away, trying to focus on Basil’s panicked breathing next to him. Her voice trembled as she spoke. “Pepper, oh my god— oh my god, Pepper, what do we do—”

Pepper continued to shout Felix’s name until his throat was hoarse, but the familiar click of the front door made his heart sink. Felix couldn’t hear him. And now Alice was leaving.

Alice walked briskly, indicated by the rapid swaying of the pocket around them. Pepper’s stomach turned, and he felt Basil grab his shoulder in terror, both of them thrown off balance. His heart dropped. “Shit. Basil, we’re gonna— we’re gonna get out of here, I swear, I—”

He was interrupted by a monstrous noise aside, and he flinched, holding tight onto his sister. It took him a moment to register that the roaring outside must be from Alice’s car.

“Where— where is she taking us?” Basil managed to ask through gritted teeth. Pepper let out a sharp breath, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes.

“I don’t know,” he forced out, heart racing. Unlike Felix, Alice was unpredictable. Pepper knew almost nothing about her, and that realization made his stomach go cold. “I—”

“Fucking humans,” Basil hissed, burying her face in her hands. Her breath hitched. “God, I can’t believe this. I— she’s gonna kill us, she’s gonna—”

“No— she won’t,” Pepper assured, although his voice wobbled. A shaky hand scrubbed at his eyes. “She won’t, Basil, I promise.”

His heart jumped when he remembered that he had his bag with him, and he lunged for it, managing to yank his hook out in the tight space. Basil gasped sharply, scrambling back to make space as Pepper reached up, hook wobbling in his grip, trying to catch it on the lip of the pocket.

He let out a sharp breath as his hook hit something smooth and solid, and with an icy feeling in his gut, he dropped the hook to his side.

“This pocket is zipped shut,” he said miserably, flopping back down. Basil’s breath shuddered.

Silenced by their own despair, the borrowers huddled against each other. Pepper’s stomach was filled with ice, his heart threatening to pound out of his chest with each passing minute. He felt the shoulder of his jacket grow wet with Basil’s tears, and he silently pulled her closer, squeezing his eyes shut.

The drive was short. When the engine of the car shut off, Pepper tensed, tightening his grip on Basil’s arm. Fear flooded back into his stomach as Alice stood up, swaying the pocket with her movement.

“We should have stayed in the walls,” Basil mumbled. Pepper stayed silent.

The next few minutes felt like torture. Both borrowers flinched with every movement, expecting the pocket to zip open at any moment. Pepper ended up shoving his hook back into his bag, praying that Alice wouldn’t think to confiscate it from him.

He held his breath as Alice suddenly paused, the world outside quieting.

Pepper had known that they would be grabbed again, but it still made his stomach lurch to hear the zipper open above them. Both borrowers let out gasps of panic as a hand twice their size invaded their space, swiftly tightening around the both of them, firm and unrelenting.

The world spun around them as they were pulled out. Basil elbowed Pepper painfully as she immediately began to fight back, hissing and swearing.

Alice tightened her fist, pressing Pepper and Basil against each other. They were met with icy blue eyes and a frown as Alice looked them over, and Pepper’s breath shuddered, feeling his own heartbeat against the tough skin surrounding him.

Pepper didn’t want to think about what would happen if Alice tightened her fist any more.

“You two have some explaining to do,” Alice said sharply, eyes narrowing.

Alice’s kitchen was slightly larger than Felix’s. The two borrowers were being held inches above the countertop, which made Pepper’s heart jump with false hope of escaping.

Basil did not stop fighting. She thrashed and kicked in Alice’s grip, while Pepper glared up at Alice, face pale.

“We’re Felix’s friends,” he demanded. His voice shook.

Alice raised an eyebrow. “You can’t be serious.”

“We are!” Pepper snapped, chest heaving against the pressure around him.

The dark-haired human observed their struggling for a moment before digging through a cabinet with her free hand. Pepper barely caught a glimpse of a glass jar before the pressure around him vanished and he and Basil were being dropped inside, earning startled cries from both of them.

Cold, solid glass rushed up to meet them. Pepper let out a shout of pain as he hit the bottom of the jar, hearing his sister do the same next to him. He grabbed his arm, sucking in a sharp breath and squeezing his eyes shut.

The jar clicked as Alice set it down on the counter. Through his blurry vision, Pepper could see Alice placing both her hands on the counter, peering closer at them.

“What the hell are you?” Alice demanded.

Pepper ignored her, helping Basil up. His sister was cradling her elbow in a similar fashion to Pepper, wincing.

A large hand tapped the jar, making them both jump. “Hey. Tell me what you are,” Alice hissed. Basil’s nose scrunched.

“I’m fucking annoyed.” Basil snapped, eyes dark and intense. “You— you just kidnapped us.” She wobbled on her feet and grabbed onto Pepper for support.

Alice’s lips thinned into a line. In an instant, the jar was in her hand, and the borrowers yelped as they tumbled back against the glass.

“All I know is that you two were sneaking around Felix’s apartment and spying on us,” Alice snapped. She rattled the jar, sending jolts of pain through Pepper’s body as he collided with the glass. Unable to keep their balance, both borrowers collapsed into the bottom of the jar, gasping for breath. “What the hell do you want from Felix?”

Pepper groaned, his blood pounding in his ears. Fear jolted through his body like a wave, and he shakily propped himself up on his elbows, squinting at Alice through the glass. “Nothing,” he forced out. To his left, Basil made a noise of pain, clutching at her jaw. “I told you… we’re Felix’s friends.”

Alice rolled her eyes, making Pepper’s stomach twist. “Do you really expect me to believe that?”

“Yes!” Pepper’s throat was tight. “We were just stopping by. We weren’t bothering anyone. We didn’t— we didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You were watching us,” Alice corrected, lip curling. “Why? And what are you?”

Pepper had already turned his attention to his sister, who was sitting against the back of the glass jar, clutching her face. Pepper’s heart sank when he noticed the dark mark stretching from her jaw to her cheekbone.

“I’m fine,” Basil muttered as Pepper leaned closer, panic flashing in his gray eyes. “I’m fine.”

Pepper hesitated. “Basil—”

The jar impatiently rattled again, and Pepper collapsed against Basil, both borrowers hissing in pain. “Stop,” Pepper pleaded, staring up at the human. “You’re hurting us.”

Alice paused, blue eyes calculating. After a second of consideration she sent the jar back down on the counter and reached into the cabinet again, momentarily distracted.

Pepper grabbed Basil’s shoulder, searching his sister’s expression. His stomach twisted at the sight of the dark bruise on her cheek, covering a quarter of her face. Pepper could feel similar bruises forming on his body, spreading from his elbows to his chest to his knees. His heart pounded.

Basil’s shoulders shuddered as she breathed, blearily scanning Pepper’s face. Her brown eyes were wet.

Pepper barely acknowledged the noises above them as Alice screwed a lid onto the jar. His gray eyes were suddenly welling with tears, and guilt rushed up to meet him.

“I’m sorry,” he breathed to Basil, voice wobbling. “This is all my fault, Basil. I—I’m so sorry.”

Basil had warned him not to trust humans. He has willfully ignored her, and now she was paying the price.

He snapped his gaze to Alice as she spoke, her voice sharp. “Felix is sweet.” Her blue eyes flickered between Pepper and Basil, who were stiff and silent. “I don’t know why you were creeping around his place, but he has enough stress to deal with right now without you two messing with him. You’re staying in here until you want to explain yourselves.”

Pepper wanted to snap back and argue, but he glanced at Basil and decided against it. The last thing he wanted was to encourage Alice to shake the jar again.

He bit his tongue and elected to stay silent, huddling closer to his sister. Alice made a noncommittal noise and slid the jar further away until it was tucked next to the wall and a large glass ornament.

“Still don’t want to talk?” Alice pressed. Pepper held his breath, and the human sighed, glancing at the nearest clock. It was getting late.

“Then you’re staying right here tonight,” she decided, stepping back. “You better explain yourselves tomorrow.” She gave them a long glare, making Pepper’s skin prickle, before she turned away, leaving them in the kitchen alone.

Pepper’s shoulders slumped in relief as Alice’s footsteps receded. He swallowed hard, taking several deep breaths before turning towards Basil again. “Are you— are you okay?”

His sister was staring straight ahead, her brown eyes watery. Her jaw clenched, and she muttered, “I’m alive.”

Pepper’s breath hitched. “I’m so sorry. For— for all of this.”

“It’s not your fault,” Basil said stiffly, turning to face him. Her gaze danced over his form, lingering on his neck where he was certain there was a dark bruise. “It’s… I just… I can’t fucking believe this. We're in a jar.”

Her shoulders shuddered with a dry sob, dropping her head back against the glass. “My whole life, I’ve been so— I’ve been so careful. I did everything right, and— and I slipped up once and now I’m in a jar with my brother. We’re both gonna die.”

Misery crept through Pepper’s veins, cold and numb. “Basil, she’s not gonna kill us—”

“Just because you blindly trust humans doesn’t mean I do,” Basil snapped, whipping her head so quickly that she winced in pain. Pepper fell silent, mouth dry. “This girl just kidnapped us and stuck us in a jar and you still think that we’re safe with her? What is wrong with you?” Her words were bitter.

Pepper blinked rapidly, inching away. A flush crossed his face. “That’s not what I’m saying,” he said hotly.

Fresh tears were pouring down Basil’s bruised face. “I just—” she took a deep breath, closing her eyes briefly. “I just can’t trust humans like you can.”

“I don’t just trust all humans—”

“Pepper, we were in her fist, and you were barely struggling—”

“That’s not— I wasn’t— struggling wouldn’t have done anything!”

Basil huffed, turning her face away. She hesitated before bracing a palm against the glass, pulling herself into a wobbly stance. Pepper leaned back, gaze scanning her form for any invisible injuries.

“Let’s just talk about this later,” Basil muttered, weakly twisting around to grab at her backpack. She struggled for a brief second before she retrieved her hook.

Oh. Pepper had nearly forgotten that they had their hooks with them— but what good would they even do?

“What are you doing?” He asked cautiously, vaguely wondering if Basil was going to stab him.

His sister ignored him, squinting up at the lid of the jar. Five thin holes had been punched through the lid, and Basil reached her arms above her head, struggling to latch her hook through one of the holes.

Pepper watched her for a moment, wincing every time she huffed in pain, before he shifted to lean back against the glass. He wrapped his arms around his knees.

Basil worked for a few minutes, wobbling on her toes. She was just tall enough for her hook to brush against the lid of the jar, but it couldn’t latch onto the holes without slipping off. “Fuck,” Basil grumbled finally, throwing her hook to the ground with an angry clatter. She flopped down a moment later, burying her face in her hands.

Empathy flooded into Pepper’s heart at her misery. “Let me try.”

His own hook was still tucked away in his bag, but he elected to use Basil’s hook instead. He picked it up, holding it above his head just like Basil had done.

He had realized quickly what Basil had been trying to do. If they manage to latch the hook through one of the holes, they might be able to twist the lid off themselves. Pepper had little hope that such an unlikely scenario would happen, but they didn’t have many other options.

He stood on his toes, his ribs aching. The tip of the hook continued to irritatingly bounce off the smooth lid, making Pepper growl in annoyance.

He was very aware of Basil’s brown eyes on him. When he failed for the sixth time, she murmured, “I’m sorry for what I said.”

He spared her a glance before stretching up again. “It’s okay,” he said simply.

Basil could swear at him or insult him or punch him, and he wouldn’t blame her for any of it. The terror of the situation was gut-wrenching, and the thought that he might be possible for his sister’s demise made him want to throw up. She had every right in the world to be mad at him.

“I just… I just can’t believe this is happening,” Basil admitted hollowly.

Pepper swore under his breath as the hook bounced off of the lid for what felt like the hundredth time. He finally dropped it to the ground in a similar fashion to Basil, and collapsed against the wall, perpendicular to his sister.

He rested his head against the glass, sighing heavily. “Maybe Alice will tell Felix about us. And he’ll come rescue us.”

Basil went pale, clearly uncomfortable with the idea of another human getting involved. “…Yeah,” she mumbled. “Yeah, I hope so.”

Pepper tried not to think about how Alice had intentionally kept the borrowers from Felix for the entirety of the night. The likelihood of her sharing her discovery with Felix seemed very low.

Basil suddenly sat up straighter, eyes wide. Pepper blinked at her expectantly.

“Pepper,” she whispered. “Felix is your soulmate.” Her words came out in a rush.

He raised his eyebrows, rubbing at his face. “Yeah, man.”

“No, no, Pepper, you can call him right now.”

He stiffened, staring at Basil. Her breathing was quick, her brown eyes blinking rapidly. She seemed just as terrified as him, but her face was brightening with a glimmer of hope.

Pepper’s stomach had gone cold. Panic was already seeping into his veins at the thought of contacting Felix. “No.”

Basil blanched. “What?”

“I can’t— Basil, I can’t tell him, not like this.” Pepper’s breath hitched in panic, and he pulled his knees closer to his bruised chest. “I’m not ready to tell him.”

Basil let out a breath, jerking back in shock. “You’re joking.”

“I’m sorry, I— I can’t—!”

“That doesn’t matter right now!” Basil hissed, running her agitated hands through her hair. “Pepper, please. This can’t be that important. Alice has already hurt us– we don’t know what she might do tomorrow. Please.”

Pepper clenched his jaw, blinking rapidly to stop the welling of tears. “I’ve been so scared to tell him that we’re soulmates, and— for him to find out like this, it’s just…” his breath hitched.

“He’s never gonna find out if you’re stuck in a jar forever,” Basil pointed out weakly. She shifted over to sit next to Pepper, placing a trembling hand on his arm. His shoulders shuddered. “I’m sorry, Pepper, I really am. I know this sucks, and… and it’s just awful, to have to do this. But… I don’t think you have a choice. We’re trapped.”

Pepper met her watery gaze. His eyes fell to the dark bruise on her cheek, stretching from the corner of her eye to the base of her jaw. His heart shattered.

With a sob, he threw his arms around her, pulling her into a hug.

She didn’t speak, only rested her head on his shoulder for a long moment. He could feel the thumping of her heart against his own chest, quick and nervous. His breath hitched as he said, “Okay.”

Basil nodded gently, then shifted back to give him space. Pepper closed his eyes, mind swimming with trepidation.

Would Felix hate him after this?

With a shaky breath, he clasped his hands and held them against his chest.

“…Felix?”

---------

rest in peace alice!

TAGLIST: @smallsday @compact-katrina @satethesatelite @taters169 @entomolog-t

#ahhhhh this chapter got me so stressed #i read it too fast and now i have to wait for the next chapter :(#the lord really gives his rootinest battles to his tootinest cowboys #no but fr fr this was so good #thank you for sharing your work with the internet #i'm rotating your guys in my brain constantly #g/t #g/t writing #g/t stories #ahhhhhhhhh

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