#I warned ya'll

[ruubesz-draws]

If Godzilla can wear shoes (in Fortnite) then he can wear heels :)

Hahahahaaa... I warned you guysss

I saw these and... I had to...

(Godzilla figure image from here) (Heels clashing image from Tiktok @stormigee)

[kousagi7hikari]

Moshang Pigmalion AU

Shang Qinghua was burnt out. This was a fact that only became obvious to him when his… friend? Biggest critic? Shen Yuan had pointed out how his usually crappy sculptures had somehow gotten worse. Shang Qinghua finally had to admit that maybe he’d been working too hard. But he was a starving artist! What was he supposed to do?

Luckily, he’d managed to finish a commission that would give him a couple month’s rent and food, so he could take a much-needed break.

But his fingers still itched. Even though he’d taken this time off to rest and recover, he simply had to make… something. So, he decided to make something for himself.

He had plenty of chicken wire and just enough clay, so he started sculpting a man. 

As he molded and scraped and smeared and carved, Shang Qinghua felt a little better. This piece was just for him, after all. He created it without worrying about putting it in a tiny art show or desperately trying to sell it off. 

After all, who hadn’t thought about creating their perfect man before? 

He’d lost track of how long it took for him to make this piece, but when it was done, Shang Qinghua felt a flutter of pride.

He was tall, muscular, with pecs you could get lost in, hair that flowed down his back like water, an icy stare that could drop the room a couple degrees, and… Shang Qinghua glanced at the place between his legs that he’d covered with a sheet. 

He’d taken life drawing classes! Why was this so embarrassing?

As he looked over his creation, Shang Qinghua sighed. It was fun to create for himself, especially to create his ideal guy… but he was just clay. Clay and chicken wire.

The buzzer to his door snapped Shang Qinghua out of his reverie. 

“Finally!” He sighed with relief. He’d forgotten how long ago he had placed his food delivery order.

He probably looked like he'd rolled around in a mud pit, so he was thankful he’d requested the delivery person to just leave the bags. However, when he arrived at the door, the delivery person was still there.

“Can I help you?” Shang Qinghua asked through the crack in the door, held shut by the chain.

“Uh, yeah, I just need you to sign the receipt.”

Shang Quinghua knew for a fact that he’d never had to sign a receipt with these people before, and he’d used the same method of payment. Immediately, red flags started popping up. “Are you sure? I don’t usually have to sign.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, it’s a new policy.”

Bullshit. “I didn’t get any email or notice about this.” Shang Qinghua said, trying to be as firm as he could. “Can I please just have my food?”

Suddenly the delivery person took a step forward, grabbing the door, trying to open it further.

“You can have it when you get out here.” He snarled.

Immediately Shang Qinghua realized he was in serious danger. His eyes flicked to the hat the man was using to hide his eyes and noticed it had no logo on it.

This guy wasn’t the food delivery person, and Shang Qinghua would rather not find out who-or what-he was. 

“Y-You need to leave or I’ll call the police!” He left out the fact that his cell was in his studio.

“I don’t think you-” The man suddenly stopped, looking at something behind Shang Qinghua.

Before he could even ask what he was looking at, Shang Qinghua was aware of a presence behind him. Now the terror he had tried to hide from this assailant showed clearly on his face.

Someone was in his home who had not been a moment ago.

Before he could scream, a hand reached over and grabbed the door frame with a worrying “CRACK!”

The intruder leaned over Shang Qinghua, his long, dark hair spilling onto his shoulder from above.

“He said…” A voice Shang Qinghua had never heard before growled. “Get lost.”

The assailant, now stark white, gently placed the bag of food back on the ground, took a few steps back, then bolted back down the street.

Shang Qinghua remained frozen in place as the hair and the presence retreated. Even without turning around, he knew he was still there.

“Aren’t you going to get that?” The voice asked.

Shang Qinghua swallowed the fear (and possible vomit) creeping up his throat and nodded. He undid the chain to retrieve his food, then closed the door again, leaving it unlocked in case he needed to make an escape.

He took a shaky breath and turned around to face the intruder.

The food promptly dropped to the floor.

Standing before Shang Qinghua was the man he had sculpted from clay. He had the same long hair, though it was now black as ink. His skin was pale, but now flushed with life. His piercing gaze chilled Shang Qinghua to the bone, and his… No!! He didn’t dare look! Even though he was now wrapped in the sheet, looking like he’d just stepped out of the shower.

“You…” He managed to squeak out. “You’re my…”

The sculpture waited for him to construct a sentence, a raised eyebrow indicating he’d rather not wait all day.

“How… are you alive?” Was the question Shang Qinghua finally settled on.

“You made me. And then I was awake.” He said.

“Okay, fair…” Shang Qinghua murmured. “Um… What’s your name?”

The sculpture looked deeply unamused. “You didn’t give me one yet.”

“Ah…” Shang Qinghua whispered. “Would you… like one?”

The man gave him an undeniably clear “what do you think?” face.

Shang Qinghua reached into his mind, back to when he fancied himself a writer back in high school. He had even typed up an outline for a book. Something with demons and cultivators and stuff. He remembered one character he’d made as a sidekick to the main character, a powerful general, one who-just like the man before him-he’d made just for him.

“Mobei Jun?”

Mobei Jun seemed to consider this for a moment before nodding, and turning away. “You should eat.”

Shang Qinghua quickly scooped up the bag of food, checking to make sure nothing had spilled, then followed Mobei Jun into his kitchen. He’d have to text Shen Yuan later. “What was that one story where the artist’s sculpture came to life?”

[rawkghoulsupreme]

Just like Papa!

Part II to this coming very soon.

I apologize for nothing

Inspired by this post @onlybattles

[megsdoodletag]

slapped some quick colors on the little oddball squad juno collects as a teen, just so i could See them

they'll all get proper portraits and lore posts probably at some point but feel free to ask about them in the meantime

[blametheeditor]

When In Rome

Prequel

What's better than borrowers? Having a shrunken human to show the ropes.

Content warnings: Cursing. Trapping someone against their will.

Is this incredibly self indulgent? Yes, yes it is.

_______________________________________

Eggs wasn’t even doing anything. All he was doing was lying on the floor in the office, waiting for their resident borrowers to appear from the walls. You know, the standard beginning to a Saturday night technically really early Sunday morning. 

And then poof, the desk suddenly towered over him like a building, the ceiling so high above his head it seemed like there should be clouds moving over it, and the security door was big enough to let someone the size of a skyscraper casually stroll through. 

The mechanic stays frozen for a good moment, still lying on his stomach, staring at the small mouse hole that’s sitting in front of him. The same one that’s supposed to be no bigger than his palm and hard to spot when he’s standing up. That one that he now has to look up at as it stands as tall as a grand doorway. 

Oh he is definitely going inside there to explore.

And only to explore, thank you. There’s no blinding terror slowly crawling through his veins at the thought of someone walking into the office while he’s lying on the ground only a few inches tall, no sir not at all! What do you take him for, someone who can’t handle suddenly getting shrunken down to the size of a borrower? Psh, as if. 

That being said, Eggs doesn’t waste any time gawking at his new surroundings, quickly standing up before darting over toward the mouse hole. Because if there was anything Fritz and Caleb made clear, it’s the fact just how dangerous it is standing on the floor where humans who are unaware of certain tiny Eggs Benedict won’t be watching where they step. 

And now he’s imagining a giant shoe crushing him… 

Focus, he needs to focus. And besides, the only people inside the restaurant right now are certified trusted borrower handlers. Everyone should be watching where they step. He’ll be fine. 

Or, at least he’s 85% sure he’ll be fine. Because the moment he looks inside the mouse hole, the one he’s watched Fritz and Caleb use to enter and exit the walls, he is greeted with nothing but pure darkness. And the two borrowers are not known to carry around miniature flashlights and headlamps. 

Eggs looks back at the office. Decides he will not be greeting a giant no matter what certifications they possess, because if the wheeling chair towers over him that much, then he can imagine just how big everyone is now in comparison. Like hell he’s letting Mike get his hands on a shrunken Eggs, literally. 

With that, he takes three steps into the walls before stopping, blinking rapidly in the hopes his eyes will adjust. After a minute of staring into the void, he doesn’t see anything even begin to take shape. No wooden beams, or wall insulation, or even his hand currently sitting two inches in front of his face. 

Which is lame. He’s wanted to know what it’s like traveling through the walls ever since he met their resident borrowers! How can he do that if he can’t see! 

Welp, time for plan B. 

“Fritz!” Eggs yells into the darkness, cupping his hands around his mouth for maximum volume. “Caleb! I summon you!” 

Silence. And he thought they were friends. 

“Fritz! Ca-!” 

The youngest borrower’s name becomes a shriek when a hand suddenly taps his shoulder. He’s not proud to admit it, but he jumps as high as Jeremy does before whirling around. Sighs in relief when the sliver of light shining through the mouse hole hits Fritz’s face. 

“Eggs?” the teenager breathes. 

Said mechanic straightens his shirt before clearing his throat. “I forgot you’re tiny ninjas.” 

Fritz stares at him. What, does he have something on his face? “You’re our size.” 

Right! The whole suddenly tiny thing. “That I am! Cool, right?” 

“How?” Fritz murmurs, more concerned than enthusiastic. 

“Humans aren’t supposed to shrink, are they?” Caleb softly pipes up, the kid stepping into the light so he isn’t a disembodied voice that could’ve been a tiny Funtime Freddy who was put inside the walls strictly to mess with him. 

“No, humans aren’t supposed to,” Eggs grins. “I was just waiting for you guys and then poof, tiny town!” 

“Poof?” Fritz repeats. 

“Poof,” the mechanic confirms as he accentuates the word with jazz hands. 

The two borrowers share a look before looking back at him to openly stare. Then Eggs finds himself staring back because holy shit he can actually see them now. 

Not that he couldn’t before! Like he knows Fritz has red hair and he’s the taller one, and Caleb has brown hair and he’s the shorter one, but he never realized the older of the two has freckles, or that the bear the younger constantly carries around is supposed to be a gold color. The most he notices when he holds them in his hands are how dusty they are. 

He also notices the overwhelming need to squeeze and shake them as cuteness aggression threatens to take control. But it hasn’t happened yet. 

“So,” Eggs smiles as he claps his hands together, wincing when it echos and makes both borrowers jump. “Since I am now borrower size, can I finally take you up on that offer for a house tour?” 

Caleb immediately brightens at the question while Fritz only looks more concerned. “We can finally show you our bags!” 

“And your hook,” Eggs agrees with the youngest. “Don’t forget about your promise on showing me how you climb up counters.” 

“And yours on teaching us on how thimbles are supposed to be used,” Caleb grins. 

“Guys,” Fritz quietly interrupts. “I think we should let everyone else know before we do anything else.” 

Eggs’ want to avoid encountering giants at all costs is crushed when even Caleb straightens up at the suggestion. “We should let them know.” 

“I mean should we?” Eggs asks. “I’m with you guys! We don’t need them when they can’t join the house tour.” 

“But we don’t know how you shrunk,” Fritz murmurs, and suddenly Eggs is being hit with the full potency of the teenager’s puppy eyes. If they were hard to fight against before, now it’s impossible to. Scott and David are lucky they’re too small to be seen properly. “And we don’t know when you’ll grow back or if you will.” 

“It’s also really dangerous when humans don’t know there’s a borrower around,” Caleb pipes up. 

Good points, good points. However, the minute they tell giants capable of crushing him with their shoe, he guaranteed won’t be allowed out of their sight. They’ll also want to pick him up before either trapping him inside a pocket so he can’t get into trouble, or thoroughly inspecting him because he managed to accomplish the impossible. 

Look, he trusts his coworkers as much as the next guy, and all of them a certified borrower handlers who know how to properly hold someone smaller than their finger without breaking something. But you can not tell him that Mike won’t immediately demand to check him over for injuries, or that James won’t do doctor things, or that Jeremy won’t ask to hold him and then Eggs can’t say no. 

And technically he can’t say no to any of them. Not when it would literally be impossible to make them listen to him. 

Suddenly, Caleb grabs his hand before gently tugging on it to earn Eggs’ attention. “We’ll tell them you’re small, and then we’ll give you a house tour.” 

The mechanic takes a deep breath, flashing a grin. “Well then what are we waiting for!” 

With the proclamation he is more or less ready to face someone a hundred times his size, Caleb turns away from the mouse hole and proceeds to lead Eggs into the suffocating darkness in which he’s confident he will never see light ever again. 

He gives walking through a walls a solid 5/10. Great for delaying the inevitable meeting of a giant, but way too dark to truly enjoy the sights it has to offer. 

“Holy shit it’s dark in here,” Eggs comments, his grip on Caleb’s hand tightening out of fear he’ll lose his guide. His free hand blinding searches for a wall to at least give him a sense of where he is. “How do you guys not constantly run into things?” 

Instead of finding a wooden beam, Eggs’ hand gets grabbed. And that earns a shrill shriek as whatever the hell it was quickly recoils away. 

“Sorry!” Fritz’s hushed voice frantically apologizes, allowing Eggs’ heart to settle at the realization it was the teenager and not some random entity that’s come to steal his soul. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you!” 

“It’s fine,” the mechanic wheezes, hand on his heart trying it’s hardest to burst through his chest. When he finally manages to get his breathing under control, he then waves his hand out to try and locate Fritz. This time he only jumps when it’s grabbed again. “I was not expecting that.” 

There’s a moment of silence as a breeze ruffles his hair. "You can’t see that?” 

“What, see what?” Eggs asks. “Describe it to me.” 

“I was waving my hand in front of your face,” and hey, even though it’s dark, he can still sense the smirk on Fritz’s face! 

“Uh, no. It is pitch black in here, I can’t see anything.” 

“Really?” Caleb’s disembodied voice asks, confirming the other hand Eggs holds is still the youngest borrower. Or is it... “Humans can’t see in the dark?” 

“Borrowers can?” Eggs fires back. 

“Yes,” the two say in unison, both sounding amused as all hell about this discovery. 

The only person who apparently can’t see in the dark huffs. “Well no need to brag about it.” 

“No bragging,” Fritz replies as Caleb tugs on Egg’s hand to continue their journey through the walls, this time with all three of them linked together. Honestly he feels a lot better knowing where both borrowers are, especially with the only footsteps he can hear being his own. “Just stating the facts.” 

“How do humans walk in the dark?” Caleb asks, effectively distracting Eggs from the clearly superior tone coming from Fritz. He is definitely going to make sure the borrower doesn’t turn into a mini David, but for now he turns his attention in the vague direction of Caleb. 

“Lots of lights. Like street lamps for outside, and hallway lights for inside, and flashlights so we can carry light with us if those aren’t working.” 

Fritz responds by shivering. “I’m glad the lights here aren’t super bright.” 

“And that they all turn off at night,” Caleb agrees. 

Eggs stares into the darkness as it dawns on him why they hate light. Remembers all the times they’ve just appeared from the shadows after realizing it was one of the few humans they trusted who walked into the kitchen or office. Might have completely forgotten about the fact they have to hide from everyone else, so used to the two happily waving up at them to say hi. 

Honestly, he can’t say he blames them, not when people like David exist. And thank fuck the business man had more important things to do tonight then mingle with the commoners. 

Oh shit! “So you guys don’t use any light?” 

“Not inside the walls, but we do keep a fire going at home,” Fritz says instead of crushing Eggs’ dreams of actually getting to see the borrower’s house. He’d still take the tour even if it was in complete darkness and he’s only told about what’s in front of him, but this makes it way better. 

Suddenly they’re stopping. And then the ground starts to tremble. 

“What the fuck is that?” Eggs demands, his head whipping around in the attempt to find anything that could be making the ground shake. It’s not continuous, either. No, it starts and stops rhythmically. Almost like- 

Holy shit those are footsteps. 

“I’m pretty sure that’s James,” Fritz says. 

“I think so too,” Caleb agrees before gently tugging on Eggs’ hand for attention. “Would it be okay if we told James first?” 

James. Partner in crimes James. Doctor James. Giant James. 

Between all of his coworkers, James might actually be the best option. Because Mike will guarantee pick him up to make sure he didn’t manage to break any bones, and Jeremy will be impossible to say no to no matter what is asked. Scott would be a death sentence. Which leaves James as the winner by default, and Eggs either getting thoroughly inspected or immediately being pocketed. 

...on second thought maybe he would prefer Mike. 

“Sure,” Eggs forcibly smiles. He is doing a terrible job of hiding his nerves if both Caleb and Fritz squeezing his hands in reassurance gives any indication. “Just, uh, question. How do you know it’s not, say, Mike?” 

“Mike’s footsteps are a lot slower.” 

“Though it might be Scott, sometimes it’s hard to tell him and James apart.” 

Eggs’ eyes grow wide. “What are my footsteps like?” 

“Very bouncy,” Fritz says, and he can hear a smile in the teenager’s voice. “We can always tell when you’re walking down the hall.” 

“Hey!” 

“It’s a good thing,” Caleb giggles, distracting him as Fritz lets go of his hand. “It means we don’t hesitate to always find the nearest exit to say hi.” 

And doesn’t that just make him all warm and fuzzy inside. Especially with how genuinely scary it was to feel the ground shake like there’s an earthquake. 

Eggs’ want to pull Caleb into a hug is hindered as something is suddenly shoved into his free hand before he’s essentially slapped as his eyes are hurriedly covered. Too chaotic for even him to keep track of, Eggs decides to hold what feels like a fabric something close as he shuts his eyes to avoid them getting poked out by a finger. Flinches when light not blocked by what he assumes to be Caleb’s hand hits his eyelids. 

“Dude, nice save,” Eggs praises, genuinely appreciative of Caleb’s quick thinking. He’ll take getting slapped around over getting flash banged any day. He does not want to know how long it would’ve taken for his eyes to recover if he got hit with a face full of light after being in complete darkness for several minutes. “I owe you one.” 

“Owe me one what?” Caleb asks as he carefully takes his hand away. Even though Eggs’ eyes are closed, he can’t help flinching from just how bright is it. Imagine if they just trapped customers in pure darkness for a good five minutes before they come into the restaurant, then no one will ever complain how dim it is. 

“Anything you want,” Eggs grins. Takes a moment to gather his courage before gently, gently opening his eyes, blinking rapidly against the burning sensation of his retinas catching on fire. But hey, he can at last make out a dark blob he assumes to be Fritz looking out of the walls! “You’ve got a life debt over me. Those are sacred and you use them as leverage over whoever owes you.” 

Now that Eggs can see, he realizes a few things, that being Fritz is apparently holding a piece of plaster aside so he look out into the hallways, and that the thing he was handed was none other than Fredbear as its soulless eyes stare directly into his soul. And Eggs’ eyes are watering from the pain, not from Caleb trusting him with his single most valuable thing in his possession all in the name of ensuring the human under their care didn’t go blind after being a borrower for less than thirty minutes. 

He’s quick to hand the plush bear back over, Caleb beaming as he accepts it. “Now you’ve got two life debts for letting me use him for emotional support.” 

The kid giggles softly before abruptly cutting himself off as a deep thump echoes through the hallway, and now Eggs wants nothing more than for Fritz to seal them away in darkness again. 

Instead, the teenager slips out of the walls through the crack, turning to hold the plaster away as he gestures for them to follow. “It’s James, he’ll start walking this way any minute.” 

There’s no stopping a bit of terror creeping through him. But this is James. Someone who always watches where he steps whenever he’s at this restaurant. Someone Fritz and Caleb trust wholeheartedly despite the man being a doctor. He’ll be fine, he’ll be fine! 

Taking a deep breath, Eggs steps toward the crack. Gives Caleb a smile as he lets the kid’s hand go so he can carefully shuffle his way out of the walls. Groans when the light attempts to blind him all over again once he’s completely out of the darkness. 

The moment he can open his eyes again is the moment his lungs stop working. Because even though the office had loomed over him, it did nothing to prepare him for the hallway. The same one he walked through thirty minutes ago just like James had, and now it stretches for miles. The opening to the main room looks blurry from this distance like it’s a mountain rather than a simple doorway. 

Eggs then looks down to find the checker floor pattern starring back at him. Except this time he stands with both feet on a single black tile instead of having to balance on one foot so his shoe doesn’t touch any of the other squares. 

Fuck he’s tiny. 

Movement to his right catches his eye, making him focus on the office- 

“Are you fucking with me!” Eggs blurts out, unable to help himself. Unable to decide if he should be angry, or in awe. “The office is right there! Weren’t we walking for a solid five minutes!” 

He whirls on Fritz and Caleb wearing sheepish yet thoroughly amused looks, neither of them surprised that the doorway into the office is literally twenty feet away. “Welcome to being borrower size.” 

“How do you guys get anywhere!” the mechanic exclaims. “You always just appear, and yet-!” 

Eggs’ rant is cut off as the ground jumps, then jumps again. He turns back to the office, backing away slowly as a shadow moves, getting bigger until a tennis shoe steps into the hallway. The very same that Scott constantly bitches about because it’s not proper dress code and that he’s tapped with his own converse to try to annoy James. 

It’s now the size of a bus. And it causes the floor to shake. And then another matching one suddenly joins it as they carry something big into the hallway. 

Eggs looks up, up, up as he tries to find James’ face. The only issue is that the man doesn’t stop walking, those catastrophic shoes stepping toward them as he exits the office. So as Eggs is forced to lean back to try and see the giant in his entirety, the ground seems to explode, leaving him falling onto his back with a suppressed scream from losing his balance. 

At least lying down he can finally see James properly. Watches as brown eyes miles above him glance toward the wall. Stares as a smile spreads across the towering being’s face as the shoes stop instead of continuing on. 

“Hey guys,” the man rumbles like a fucking storm cloud. “Decided you didn’t want to join Eggs-?” 

Eggs sees the moment James realizes there’s something wrong with what he’s looking at, admittedly fascinated as the monumental expression slowly shifts into one of confusion before bursting into one of recognition and alarm. 

Before he can say, do, or think anything, James is kneeling down way too quickly for someone of his size to be. A giant should be slow and need a minute to do something as simple as turning. But this one makes Eggs’ clothes rustle strictly from the speed of its movements. It also makes everything shake again as a knee hits the ground. 

“Eggs?” sounds like a god is about to smite him. And then a hand is reaching out to grab him. 

Fight or flight instincts finally kick in, and Eggs scrambles to his feet with the sole intention to run, only to find himself stopped by a hand on his arm. 

At first he is genuinely confused until he looks up to see Caleb watching him worriedly, having completely forgotten about the borrower. Both borrowers, Fritz skidding to a stop in front of them with both hands held out. 

“James wait!” 

Rather than grabbing the teenager instead, the hand big enough to grab all of them straight up stops before sheepishly pulling away to reveal James looking properly chastened. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have tried to grab. I was just...” 

James wears a defeated look as he fails to find the right word, opting to simply sit and wait for what they have to say. And that single handedly makes all of Eggs previous terror wash away at the realization that despite being a literal giant, it’s the ones smaller than a finger with all of the power. 

He’s still not letting anyone pick him up, though! 

“Surprised, bewildered, letting your inner kaiju come out?” Eggs suggests. 

It’s weird seeing James’ fascination and worry attempting to battle each other on a billboard sized face. “Sometimes the Godzilla in me just can’t be contained.” 

A tugging on his sleeve has Eggs looking down at Caleb’s questioning look. “What’s a kaiju?” 

“And a Godzilla?” Fritz joins in as he glances between everyone. 

James and Eggs share a look. “How have we not shown them any movies?” 

“Think Scott would give us permission to bring a DVD player in?” 

“We don’t need permission,” Eggs waves before grinning down at Caleb. “We’ll show you what a kaiju is next week, deal?” 

The kid nods. “Deal.” 

James clears his throat, the giant earning all of their attention. “As for this week, how did you manage to break every law in biology and physics?” 

“Hey, they broke every scientific law way before me, so why can’t I join them?” Eggs demands. 

James stares at him. “You have no idea how you shrunk.” 

The mechanic shakes his head. “Nope! Waiting for Fritz and Caleb one minute, and then poof, tiny town.” 

The borrowers look up at James for an explanation. Because how they understand it, doctors know everything when it comes to the human body, which means out of everyone it should be James who can tell them what ‘poof’ means. 

This day, however, they’ve managed to stump the doctor as he openly gawks at Eggs. And then the hand is back, except this time it’s a closed fist with a single pointing finger. 

Because it’s clearly not going to grab him, and it’s moving slow enough he could easily run away from it, Fritz doesn’t command the giant to stop and neither does Eggs, admittedly curious about what James is planning. 

Honestly, he should’ve known what was going to happen, but his own fascination over the fact it’s a giant hand left him blindsided as he’s gently poked. Well, it felt gentle, but there was enough force to make Eggs stumble back. “Hey!” 

“This is real,” James confirms. “You somehow managed to shrink yourself.” 

“And I’ll do it again!” Eggs proclaims before turning back toward where he’s pretty sure the entrance back into the walls is. “But now that we have that out of the way, Fritz, Caleb, and I have a house tour to get to, so see you later!” 

“Not so fast,” the giant murmurs, the single poking finger suddenly turning into two as they pinch the back of his shirt, effectively stopping Eggs in his tracks. Strictly from the fact he’s literally trapped and no other reason. “I think it would be a good idea to let me look you over to make sure there aren’t any adverse side effects for suddenly being two inches tall.” 

Eggs crosses his arms to hide his shivers. “What if I don’t think it’s a good idea?” 

“Should we actually be worried about that?” Fritz asks, genuine fear in his voice. 

Eggs shoots a glare up at James, gesturing toward the teenager in the silent statement of ‘look what you did’. 

“It’s always a good sign when someone is talking and moving around normally. However, there could be possible strain on your body and therefore you might need to take it easy.” James fixes Eggs with a pointed look. “It would also be wise for us to inform Cawthon and the others.” 

The mechanic starts the impossible task of escaping from a giant, twisting around to try and yank his shirt away from the fingertips, digging his heels into the ground. “You can’t make me!” 

“What’s wrong with telling the others?” Caleb innocently asks. 

That manages to pause Eggs’ half dramatic half serious escape attempt, glancing up to meet James’ knowing look hovering over him like the moon. 

Then the doctor smirks. “Oh, he just doesn’t want to bruise his ego.” 

The mechanic’s jaw drops. “Excuse-!” 

He shrieks as the fingers suddenly let go, leaving him falling to the floor in a heap. “No, no, I completely understand. I mean, having to tell them you have no idea how you shrunk? That this mastermind of a prank wasn’t something you orchestrated? Your pride wouldn’t be able to handle such a blow.” 

“I’m not Harrison,” Eggs snaps as he quickly stands up in order to kick the fingers. “My pride doesn’t bruise that easily!” 

“Could’ve fooled me,” James shrugs. 

The mechanic points an angry finger up at the giant. “Alright, that’s it, you’re taking us to Scott and that’s final!” 

Without another word, the fingers turn into an offered hand waiting for him to step on. 

...well shit, now he has to. 

Before he can even think about stepping up onto a fingerprint, Fritz is walking over James’ middle finger. “Need any help up?” 

“Nah, I’ve got it,” Eggs grins as he quickly joins the teenager. 

He notices two things the moment he steps onto the hand. One, balancing on someone’s finger is not as easy as it looks, and pinwheeling his arms does nothing to save him from tumbling forward with a yell. Two, he hadn’t realized how cold it was until James’ warmth washes over him as he lays on his back in the giant’s palm, too scared to move or else he’ll fall again. 

Along with James hovering above fighting to keep the amusement off his face, both Fritz and Caleb lean into his line of sight with worried expressions. “Are you okay, Eggs?” 

The mechanic huffs. “Show offs.” 

“Here,” Fritz grins as he offers a hand, helping Eggs up until he’s standing. Even with help though, his knees buckle as the uneven surface dips from his weight, forcing him to sit back down and contemplate pulling Fritz down to join him. “It’s really hard to balance at first, but you get used to it.” 

“It’s easiest with James,” Caleb adds, which earns the doctor a narrowed look. 

James only smirks. “Steady hands are in the job description.” 

Eggs telling the giant where exactly he can shove the fact he’s got steady hands becomes a breathless gasp as the hand suddenly lifts up, gravity trying to flatten him against the palm. That’s when Fritz quickly sits down, the teenager’s grip on his hands becoming tight and face going pale. But when he catches Eggs’ look of concern because that can not be a good sign from someone who’s been held dozens of times, he only flashes a smile. 

“Might want to hold onto something.” 

“Hold onto-?” 

Eggs’ words are stolen by James standing. If he thought going up a single story was bad, going up ten has his stomach twisting from vertigo. He doesn’t dare look over the side of the hand, only reaches out to grab Caleb’s arm before pulling both borrower’s close. 

There, now no one can fall off! 

James’ raised eyebrow says the giant doesn’t understand he is the equivalent to a roller-coaster without seatbelts. “Everyone alright?” 

“Dude,” Eggs berates. “You’re giant.” 

The doctor stares at him for a moment before letting out a quiet ‘ah’ that ruffles their hair. “I promise to be careful.” 

“You better be!” 

As if trying to prove he is careful, the hand’s suddenly moving closer to the giant until his palm is held right next to his chest. And honestly, that does make Eggs feel a hundred times better having a giant wall next to them instead of a mile long drop on both sides. 

Then the doctor starts walking, and Eggs swears his teeth chatter with each one. 

“How do you guys sit on our shoulders?” he breathes. 

“I blame Caleb,” Fritz halfheartedly grumbles, looking like he’s rather enjoying the impromptu pile. 

“It’s fun seeing things the way humans do,” the youngest confides. “Everything looks so small.” 

“You know what Caleb, if you ever want to stand on my head, you just say the word.” 

Fritz goes so pale it almost seems like his freckles will jump off his face at any moment, a perfect contrast to Caleb looking so excited he just might explode. “Really?” 

“As long as someone else is around to spot you,” James rumbles before the kid’s poor brother has a heart attack. 

It seems to work, Fritz breathing out a sigh of relief as Caleb beams. “Okay!” 

“Spotting for what?” 

Eggs goes very still at the sound of Scott’s voice as it rumbles just as much as James’ does. Looking toward his left, he sees their supervisor sitting at a table as he reads over something and definitely a giant. And a certain shrunken mechanic just promised to let Caleb do something extremely dangerous. 

It’s not too late to run, is it? 

“Something to do with climbing,” James responds as he continues walking toward the imminent danger instead of running far, far away. “But there’s something else you should know about.” 

Well great going, James. He just managed to set off every one of Scott’s alarm bells, the man’s attention turning away from whatever he’s working on to focus on James and his handful of borrowers. 

Even though Eggs knows Scott can’t really see who exactly James holds from their current distance, but he swears the oldest is staring right at him. 

“What happened?” Scott asks, more confused than angry. Which is good, very good, they’d like to keep it that way. 

Instead of taking one for the team and just telling their supervisor Eggs is tiny before immediately taking those who have a house tour scheduled directly to said house, James walks straight to the table Scott’s sitting at before setting his hand down. 

It only takes a moment for Scott’s eyes to widen. "Eggs?” 

You know what he likes most about Scott? The fact the man isn’t grabby. Unlike certain doctors. But there is no way in hell he is getting off this hand. So he gives a winning smile as he holds his emotional support borrowers closer. “Heeeey, Scott. So, funny thing, I somehow got shrunk down to borrower size and now they’re going to show me their place, okay bye!” 

“I’m sorry, you just shrunk?” Scott murmurs, shaking his head in disbelief. 

Eggs nods his own head. “Yep! Just poof, tiny town.” 

The man glances up at James, then between Fritz and Caleb before staring at Eggs again. “Are you hurt?” 

You know what, this is going a lot better than he expected. “Nope! Fritz and Caleb immediately found me, then we hailed James down together.” 

Scott then gives a look. “Has James looked you over yet?” 

Fuck! “He doesn’t need to, I’m fine.” 

“There hasn’t been any noticeable concerns,” James begins. And then the hand they’re sitting on is suddenly tilting, earning a laugh from Caleb, a gasp from Fritz, and a scream from Eggs as they’re all slid onto the table. “You can assume what his response was when I first brought up checking him over for potential side effects.” 

Before Eggs can shove Fritz and Caleb away to scramble back onto the hand and demand a ride to anywhere but here, his only chance for escape is taken away at the same time Scott leans down to get a proper look at him. 

Again, it’d be fascinating watching someone’s face twist into different expressions if he wasn’t the center of attention. But at least there’s still no hand reaching out to grab him. 

They have a staring contest for a good minute. Up until Scott forfeits by looking between the two borrowers Eggs is still hugging close for security reasons. “Has he been good for you two?” 

“Hey!” 

“He has,” Caleb grins, Fritz wearing a giant smile of his own. 

“Good,” sounds rather foreboding as Scott focuses on him again. “You let me know if he gets into any trouble.” 

“I’m a great borrower, thank you,” Eggs pouts. “And I don’t need some “doctor” to tell me if I’m not allowed to do a house tour or not.” 

“Did you just air quote my title?” James rumbles from somewhere behind him. 

“Well I’ve never seen a certificate!” 

“You didn’t ask for one when I bandaged your finger last week.” 

“So you’re admitting to medical malpractice!” 

“Humor me,” Scott cuts in, earning a suspicious look as Eggs tries to use Caleb as a shield. “Let James check you over, and then I will personally take you wherever it is you want to go.” 

Ooh, a personal escort from Scott. Not even Mike would be able to intercept them. 

Actually, speaking of Mike. “Where’s Mike and Jer?” 

“Mike’s teaching Jeremy how to repair an arcade machine.” The giant then hesitates. “I’ll make sure he asks to pick you up.” 

“Deal!” Eggs exclaims, not wanting to pass up the deal of a lifetime. 

Scott breathes a sigh of relief that ruffles their hair before sitting up, rubbing a tired hand over his face. “You’re lucky I don’t put you inside a jar and call it a night.” 

Both Fritz and Caleb suddenly tense, the two not even breathing as Eggs is left to try and figure out why he also instinctively tensed up. 

Because Scott won’t actually put him inside a jar. David definitely would, he even put Fritz in one for a bit, but no one else would do that. Scott’s teasing, he always threatens to sic Mike and Vincent on someone, this is just a topical threat! 

Yet Eggs can’t help imagining sitting in the bottom of a jar, pounding on the glass as the others just watch him. Maybe even flick it once or twice just for the fuck of it. 

Physically shaking away the thought from his head, Eggs elbows Fritz, smirking at the fearful look. “Even if Scott did put me in a jar, it wouldn’t be able to contain me for long.” 

“No it wouldn’t,” the giant begrudgingly agrees. 

The borrower’s fear doesn’t immediately disappear, but he does become a little less tense. Caleb for his part let’s his curiosity show past the terror as he looks up at Eggs. “How would you get out of it?” 

“When in doubt, ask Jeremy for help,” the mechanic smirks as he reaches behind him. “But, if he’s not around, a bet ten bucks the glass wouldn’t be able to hold up against a wrench banging on it for very long.” 

With a flourish, he reveals the wrench he never goes anywhere without. Because mechanic secrets 101, if it’s broken, 99.9% of the time it’ll work once it’s given a good whack. It also works surprisingly well for keeping murderous animatronics in line! 

While he was expecting a round of applause, he didn’t anticipate Caleb and Fritz staring at his wrench with wonder. 

“It’s our size,” Fritz breathes and right, right. He kind of forgot about the fact that even though he’s shrunk, they’ve always been tiny. 

Caleb reaches a hand out before hesitating. “Can I hold it?” 

“Of course,” Eggs agrees, passing the wrench over to the kid before gently pushing the two borrowers away so he can stand up and brush his hands off. He then turns to them with a smile, grabbing his screwdriver as well to offer to Fritz. Because that’s the only tool Funtime Freddy’s wary of, the rest give the wrench the proper respect. “Tell you what, you guys chase each other around with these while James does “doctor” things.” 

The teenager copies his brother, reaching out to accept the offered screwdriver before hesitating. He ends up grabbing it, though, staring at it with wonder. If Eggs knew he was going to mysteriously shrink with everything on his person getting downsized as well, he would’ve had cooler things on him! Or at the very least kept a few screws and bolts so they can properly cause property damage. Imagine trying to unscrew something you can’t even see. 

It would’ve been the perfect prank! They’ll just have to plan for next time. 

“Now go forth and cause chaos!” 

“Scott, can you tell us what these do?” Caleb asks, effectively cutting off what was guaranteed going to be a long lecture about not running around with tools and causing chaos. 

The giant looks absolutely torn between the want to answer and the need to discourage everything fun. But it’s impossible to say no a borrower, the man nodding his massive head with a pained look. “I can. Just no running with them.” 

“Wait a min-!” 

Eggs’ words are stolen away when he’s suddenly plucked from the table, his shirt going taunt around his neck as his feet are lifted several inches off the ground. “You can let them run with scissors later.” 

At James’ voice, he realizes who had the audacity to pull him away, literally, from making Scott’s life a living hell. But no amount of kicking and squirming stops the fingers that managed to snag his shirt from carrying him over the table to set him down right by the edge where the doctor stands. 

Eggs crosses his arms as he’s let go once his feet touch the ground. “That was rude.” 

“You agreed to a check up,” the giant shrugs as he kneels down, putting them fairly close to eye-level. “How do you feel physically? Any soreness or fatigue?” 

Other than the crick in his neck from having to constantly look up to talk to giants? “No, I’m not sore or anything. Definitely not tired. More like I chugged a monster.” 

He didn’t think such a feeling was a weird one, but James’ eyebrows raise. “Did you have a monster earlier, or is it just adrenaline?” 

“Oh it’s definitely adrenaline.” 

“Anything else I should know about?” 

Eggs thinks it over for a moment. “I’m actually really hungry. Like more than I usually am. We’re making pizza tonight, right?” 

“We are,” James says, his eyes looking his patient over for a moment. “Mind if I check your pulse?” 

The mechanic shrugs. “Sure.” 

He expected a stethoscope. What he didn’t expect was for a hand to appear, fingers looking like they’re going to pinch his shirt again. As it gets closer, he starts to get worried James will try to do it to normal way by grabbing his wrist. But then the fingers twist, and Eggs stumbles away from the thumb suddenly held against his chest, only to be stopped by the finger against his back. 

He can’t help a shiver go up his spine at how trapped he is. Getting his shirt snagged is one thing, but James can just pinch him in order to lift him off the table. Maybe even drop into a pocket or hand over to Scott. Maybe even use just a little too much pressure and then his ribs are broken. 

That would definitely get James’ medical license revoked, right? 

Eggs takes a deep breath. Reminds himself this is a professional borrower handler. James knows how to hold someone, his ribs will be fine. Besides, they’re not even pinching him. More like just keeping him in one spot. 

Despite the internal psyching himself up, he knows for a fact his heart is beating way too fast, though. Especially as James gives a knowing look before focusing back on his watch to time the pulse. Finally after an entire minute, the fingers move away from his chest, the relief short lived as they then lift his arms up. 

“Woah, I didn’t give permission for a full physical!” 

“I’m checking for any signs of discoloration, as well as any limitations to your movements,” the giant rumbles. “Mind telling me what exactly happened when you shrunk?” 

Eggs decides to try and be as difficult as possible, going completely limp and flopping over James’ thumb as a small huff ruffles his clothes. “So I’m laying on my stomach in the office, watching the mouse hole for when Fritz and Caleb arrives. And then I blink and bam, the desk is towering over me.” 

James’ brow furrows. “‘Bam’ as in you felt it happening?” 

“No, I didn’t feel anything. Not nauseous, not like I was getting squeezed. One second I’m a little under six feet, the next I’m a little under three inches.” 

“And you absolutely didn’t eat, drink, or touch anything that you were unfamiliar with.” 

Eggs shrugs. “I mean I don’t think I did, but who knows what kind of sentient mold has been growing in that office.” 

James tilts his head. “Point taken.” 

“So am I good to go, doc?” the mechanic asks, ducking under the fingers to take a few steps backwards. He would like to do more important things, thank you. 

Their resident doctor almost seems to pout. “You should at least let me document your current weight and height-” 

“I’m hearing things that aren’t necessary,” Eggs interrupts. “I’ve got a clean bill of health, and I intend to use it!” 

He then turns on his heels, intending to race back over to where Scott is clearly enjoying himself and therefore it needs to be stopped. The moment he lifts a foot is the moment his other one is grabbed, ending with him yelling as he falls onto his stomach. And then he’s getting dragged back towards James. 

Eggs immediately attempts to claw at the table. “We still don’t even know how you broke every law of matter conversation known to man.” 

“Oh and you think you can solve it?” Eggs demands, twisting around so he can kick at the fingers pinching his ankle. 

“We also don’t have a timeline for how long you might be-” 

“La, la, la, I can’t hear you!” Eggs sings, complete with plugging his ears. When the giant only gives him a flat look, he turns toward Scott. “Scott! James is trying to use me in the scientific method!” 

Immediately his ankle is freed, letting him stumble to his feet to book it. “I am not. I just pointed out that while he seems to be fine, we have no information regarding what caused this, and how long it might last for.” 

Scott glances between the doctor and the would be unwilling participant to anything concerning using him for figuring out the how and why of him shrinking. Would it be nice to know this isn’t permanent? Of course it would be! But he’s, possibly, only going to be a borrower once, and he is going to use this time how he wants to. 

That means the poking and prodding are going to be kept to a minimum. He is also being taken on a house tour as promised. And then he will experience the wonders of a pizza a thousand times his size. 

“Is he okay?” Scott settles on, doing nothing to stop Eggs skids to a halt next to a concerned Fritz and an excited Caleb. 

“Are you okay?” is asked at the same time as “Look what we made!” 

Man, he really missed hanging out with someone his own size. Giants suck. “No side effects! Now show me what Scott got wrong.” 

As Fritz turns his attention to the giants, Caleb shows him an honest to God bolt. It’s a bit bigger than what Eggs is used to, and definitely a lot shinier, but it’s an actual bolt. 

“That’s cool as hell,” the mechanic praises. “How did you make a bolt?” 

“With the extra foil we had!” Caleb beams. The kid digs his hand into the bag sitting by his feet before offering a thin piece of shiny material. “Fredbear helped me get the shape correct.” 

Eggs takes the material to flip over and see the duller side. Feels like he’s been slapped in the face when he realizes it’s aluminum foil. And yet it’s not flopping around or crinkling from his fingers. No, if he tried to fold this, it’d take a good amount of strength to try and manipulate it. 

“I forgot you guys carried this around with you.” His eyes wonder over to the bag he has never seen Fritz go anywhere without, always slung over the teenager’s shoulder just like Fredbear is always in Caleb’s arms. And suddenly he wants to do nothing more than rifle through it like a raccoon. But he holds himself back, instead clearing his throat before casually suggesting “Can I see the hook you guys use?” 

The one he’s watched Fritz throw high above his head to latch it onto a table or counter before both climb up the string tied to it like it’s nothing. The one he’s asked to look at previously but was nervously declined, including looking at the bag itself. Both of which he respected, because the borrower’s will never be forced to do anything they don’t want to. 

Caleb immediately turns to his brother. “Can he look at our hook, Fritz?” 

Even though the older is still listening to whatever’s being rumbled above their heads, he immediately looks over to answer. And this time, instead of trying to hold the mentioned item as closely as possible, Fritz nods his head in assent. “Sure, just don’t throw it or swing it at anyone.” 

Eggs blinks when he realizes he definitely would’ve challenged Scott with it, and yet Fritz managed to beat him to the idea first. Maybe he can find something else to defend against giants, but that’s for later! For now he’s quickly nodding his head to promise it will not be going off to climb down the table or to fight giants. Watches in awe as Caleb digs through the bag again before revealing- 

“Holy shit it’s a paper clip?” Eggs can’t help blurting out. 

Both borrowers look over what had been declared as a climbing hook since day one with newfound interest. “That’s what it’s called?” 

It definitely can’t be used to hold papers together now with how bent out of shape it is, but now that he finally looks at it instead of watching Fritz and Caleb climb up whatever the cliff of the day is, it’s clear that’s a paperclip. A mangled one that was either extra small or got cut in half, but one none the less. And yet it’s a little longer than his forearm. With a long thread that looks a lot closer to rope then something to sew clothes together with. 

After he stands a good minute with his jaw on the floor, Caleb offers it over to him. The moment Eggs takes it is the moment it really hits home how small he is. Having James hold and pinch him is one thing, but holding a paperclip that could easily hold his weight is another. 

Because the paperclip is hefty. He can’t imagine throwing this thing more than a few feet, not to mention an entire football field and directly above him on top of that. 

Never mind tiny ninjas, borrowers are super humans. 

“You’ve got to show me how you throw this thing around,” Eggs says. “Ooh, can we climb something!” 

“I would prefer if you didn’t,” Scott interrupts, making Eggs jump as he turns to see the giant scowling down at him. “Just because I agreed to take you wherever you wanted to go doesn’t mean I agreed to letting you potentially break your neck.” 

A shiver of fear races up Eggs’ spine. “I can still go on a house tour, right?” 

Scott seems to think it over for a moment, his expression slowly turning into one of reseolve. “You don’t need to climb to get there, do you?” 

“No,” Caleb answers. “It’s just behind the cabinets in the kitchen.” 

“On the floor,” Fritz clarifies as his hands clench and unclench nervously. “There’s nothing in our house that’s dangerous.” 

Scott raises an eyebrow as he turns back to the mechanic. “Is that where I’m taking you?” 

Well shit. Eggs forgot about the part where, you know, the giant needs to carry them. “I mean, you did agree to take us wherever I wanted.” 

The giant silently relents, placing both hands palm up onto the table. As Caleb immediately climbs on, Fritz picks up his bag off the ground before holding a hand out to Eggs. Right as he starts to offer the hook back, the teenager gives a smirk. “Want a hand so you don’t go tumbling this time?” 

“Oh ha, ha.” He whacks the hand away to confidentially walk up to the one big enough to hold all of them. “I won’t go-!” 

His first step onto the fingers, and Scott twitches, sending him falling forward with a yell. And this time the hand turns against him, a thumb almost immediately pinning him down. Which is good, because he’s holding a paperclip that could impale him. But it’s also bad because it’s Scott. 

Case and point, the hook is taken away with a rumbling “Are you okay?” 

“No,” Eggs wheezes, trying to keep his panic down about the fact he’s currently trapped for an undetermined amount of time. “My pride has been shot.” 

Fritz appears at his side, his mere presence making the finger disappear so the borrower can help him sit up. “Are you hurt?” 

“No,” Eggs grumbles as he brushes himself off. “I’m fine.” 

“Good,” and he hears the smile in the teenager’s voice. “Guess you still can’t balance on hands.” 

“Hey it wasn’t my fault this time! Scott twitched!” 

The giant nudges him in retaliation. Or is it to check to see if he’s actually fine? Or is it just because the need to poke your shrunken coworker is a natural phenomenon? 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you trip,” Scott murmurs, meaning it’s a combination of guesses two and three. “You’d think I’d be used to the feeling of someone walking on my hands by now.” 

“No need to beat yourself up, Scott,” James says. “We all know it’s hard to keep your hands steady at such an old age.” 

That makes Eggs grin as Scott aims a flat look toward the doctor. Pats the nearest finger for attention. “No one blames you for it. By the way, have you gotten more grey hairs recently?” 

“You’re pushing it,” the giant warns, and Eggs is quick to become a model hand traveler, sitting crisscross as Fritz and Caleb copy him. 

“Ready when you are!” earns a sigh, but the hand lifts away from the table as Scott stands. 

And then they’re off to the kitchen! He’ll have to say, having two hands cupped together is definitely better in terms of not making them feel like they’ll fall to their deaths at any second. There’s also no Mike’s that appear to try and delay their journey. No Jeremy’s spawning in or James’ attempting to snag one of them. Except for the one nudge, the hands offer nothing but warmth and comfort. 

10/10, would take Scott’s offer to act as borrower chauffeur again. 

“James, would you mind-?” 

“Of course not,” the doctor smiles, opening the door to the kitchen. 

“Where am I putting everyone down?” Scott asks. 

Fritz twists himself to look around the kitchen. Lifts an arm up to hesitate for only a second before pointing beyond the hand. “By the sink, please.” 

Scott’s footsteps jostle Eggs to the core, his stomach getting left behind as the man kneels. This time when the hands are set down, he doesn’t hesitate to accept Fritz’s offer for help, leaning heavily on the teenager as he carefully walks off the palm. 

Once he’s safely on the ground with no tripping this time, he turns around to see Scott towering over them, the perspective once again slapping him in the face. It doesn’t help that James stands a few feet away, a living skyscraper that could walk closer at any moment. 

Eggs waves at them. “Okay see you later bye!” 

“Just a moment,” Scott says, placing a hand between Eggs and the cabinet. Which manages to startle him because again, giants should not be able to move that quickly, but it’s better than having his shirt snagged. “You three are just doing a house tour?” 

“Scoooot,” Eggs whines. His shove at the hand to try and get it to move only receives a twitch back. “You don’t need to worry about us. We’re literally just going into the walls." 

His words do nothing to ease the giant’s concern. Should he have put clingy giants higher on his list of worries? 

“It’s…i-it’s a straight walk there,” Fritz begins, his hands tightly clenched around the strap of his bag. “No turns or inclines. We’ll just show him our room and then bring him right back.” 

“That sounds like it’ll give us plenty of time to make pizza,” James chimes in. 

Scott still looks like he wants to give into the temptation of sticking Eggs in a jar, but hand slowly lifts away. “I’m less worried about him getting lost or hurt, and more-so him causing trouble.” 

“I mean that is my specialty,” the mechanic grins. “But I know being tiny is their specialty, so I’ll listen to the experts!” 

Finally a smile pulls at Scott’s mouth. “I mean it, if they report back saying you caused any trouble, I’m handing you to Mike.” 

Eggs tries to swallow the lump in his throat. “Heard. And I want pepperoni on my pizza.” 

“Heard,” James calls back as the giant walks out of sight, though it’s impossible to not know where the doctor went with the ground jumping with every step. 

“We good to go, then?” 

A finger appears to nudge him into Fritz, both of them nearly toppling over as Scott fights to keep a grin off his face. “Don’t make them regret taking you anywhere.” 

He’ll take that as a yes. “Hurry, before he changes his mind!” 

Caleb is more than happy to take Eggs’ hand to lead him through a small crack in the wood. Good news, Scott doesn’t attempt to stop them. More good news, it feels like a literal weight comes off his shoulders as he starts walking through pure darkness, unable to help feel anything except relief to be somewhere impossible for a giant to watch or grab him. 

“Now I know why you guys hate leaving the walls,” Eggs shivers. “Giants are terrifying.” 

“Humans can be a lot sometimes,” Fritz admits softly behind him. “But we trust you.” 

“And it’s fun being carried,” Caleb quietly gushes. “It would’ve taken us forever to get here, but a human does it in seconds.“ 

Eggs stares into the darkness thoughtfully. “Who do you like carrying you the most?” 

“Jeremy,” they say in unison. 

“…yeah that tracks.” 

Caleb giggles as something elbows him in the stomach. This time he doesn’t jump a mile high. “So how have you liked being a borrower so far?” 

“It has its ups and downs,” Eggs muses. “I can do without the giants, but I’m excited about food big enough to last me for a year.” 

“That’s one of the best parts being friends with humans,” Caleb agrees. 

“Especially because it’s always warm food,” Fritz adds, the teenager sounding a little farther ahead of them, as well as longingly. 

Before Eggs can ask about why specifically warm food, there’s a sound of a match being struck as a ball of light appears. The closer they get, the more it grows until it reveals Fritz kneeling in front of a small fire. 

Caleb lets go of his hand to grab something off of what looks like a table, giving it to his brother who lights it before giving it back. It’s then taken around to room to light birthday candles standing in four different corners. 

Once everything is lit, Eggs finds himself standing in the middle of a space about the size of his apartment’s living room, with something he can confidentially say is a table on one side with some kind of chest, the other sits a nest of fabrics all piled together. 

This is by far the coziest room Eggs will ever have the pleasure of seeing. 

“So, uh, welcome to our home,” Fritz introduces as he stands up, brushing his pants off. “It’s not much but...we don’t need a lot.” 

“Dude this place is awesome,” Eggs replies. “Show me everything.” 

Caleb immediately pulls him over to the table he now realizes is cardboard, offering him a genuine thimble seat in order to sit down so he can be laden with several items. 

“This is our water jug, and our crumb basket, and the candle we use to light the lamps, and our match for the fire, and-” 

The kid keeps going, naming things that are passed to Eggs who doesn’t dare put anything down, though Fritz starts taking a few items once the pile gets too tall at the same time he starts passing his brother things from the bag. Like the button claimed as a tray for ‘breakfast in bed’, and a needle so small he can only imagine how it would be microscopic if they took it to James and Scott to show, and don’t let him forget just how useful aluminum foil is when it comes to holding both water and food. 

He never realized how resourceful the two are. But then again, they can’t exactly just go to the nearest store to buy a few items. Anything they want needs to be made by hand. Or found underneath a cabinet after someone accidentally kicked it. 

“And here’s your wrench back.” 

Eggs is admittedly confused when he’s handed something made for him get passed over among everything else. Once it registers what was said, he’s immediately passing it back to Caleb. “Oh I can’t take this back. You’re an honorary mechanic now! And every mechanic needs a wrench.” 

The kid’s eyes grow wide. “I can keep it?” 

“Are you sure?” Fritz asks, already in motion to pass Caleb the screwdriver to give back to Eggs as well. 

“Very sure,” the mechanic smiles. “Who knows! Maybe you’ll come across a screw your size one day.” 

The teenager winces. “W-We won’t be able to use them-” 

“They also make great impromptu hammers,” Eggs adds. “Or maybe they can help twist the foil you guys use. You’re creative, I bet they’ll help you with something around here.” 

Despite Caleb absolutely beaming, Fritz turns the screwdriver in his hands nervously. “You don’t need these?” 

“Trust me, I’ve got dozens of tools back at Afton Robotics. Those were just my backup tools for my backup tools. I won’t be wrenchless anytime soon.” 

Finally the teenager relents, holding the screwdriver close with a look of pure awe. “Thank you, Eggs.” 

“Can we watch you use them properly when your human sized again?” Caleb asks. 

“Of course,” Eggs promises. “You can even be on my head while I show you how to properly destroy an animatronic beyond recognition.” 

That earns him a wrinkled nose from Fritz and a silent gasp of excitement from Caleb. Which means his work is done here! It only gets better when the younger begins to put everything away, starting with tucking the wrench into the nest of fabrics like it’s a stuffed animal. See this is why he’s an honorary mechanic. 

Too bad Fritz immediately protests. “It’s not allowed in the bed!” 

“Why not!” 

“Because you’re going to flop around in your sleep and whack me with it!” 

“Uh skill issue,” Eggs coughs. 

Fritz sputters. “You get woken up by a button hitting your face!” 

“See, I don’t need to worry about such a thing,” the mechanic tuts as he gestures to the buttons on his uniform. “As you can see, they are usually too small. Therefore, skill issue.” 

The teenager narrows his eyes. Shares a look with his brother. Turns back to Eggs as a button the size of his head is passed over. 

Oh shit.

Eggs jumps out of his seat before booking it into the darkness. “Let’s talk about this!” 

“You’re small enough to get hit with one now!” Fritz taunts, not needing to raise his voice above a whisper as it echoes through the passage.

And because a. humans can’t see in the dark like borrowers can, and b. have silent footsteps, Eggs has no idea if Fritz is gaining up on him. All he knows is he is running straight and not stopping until he can bribe a giant into saving him. 

Either Fritz is going easy on him, or Eggs is just that good, because he manages to make it to the crack before his pursuer catches up, letting him stumble blindly into the light. 

It only takes a moment for his eyes to adjust and see Mike towering over him and looking thoroughly amused. 

Fuck. “Heeeey-” 

Eggs’ greeting is interrupted by the sight of Fritz quietly bursting out of the cabinet, button in hand with Caleb standing behind him with a giant smile. 

Never mind, he’ll take Mike. “Help-!” 

His call turns into a yelp as Fritz tackles him. Which is normally works out pretty well for Eggs because he’s a professional at wrestling. Not to brag or anything, but he is the wrestling champion on the entire Benedict family when it comes to winning against his siblings. 

He forgot about the fact borrowers are apparently super human. Within seconds, Fritz has already pinned him. And even though the teenager frees his arm to grab the button that landed next to them, no amount of shoving from Eggs will ever be enough to make the younger lose his balance. 

And then, without any warning, Fritz is suddenly two inches tall and crouched next to the button of Eggs’ uniform identical to the one being held that was meant to whack him on the head. 

Glancing down to see Caleb looking absolutely minuscule standing on the floor to his right and completely unharmed from the sudden giant, Eggs focuses back on the borrower sitting on his chest looking thoroughly pale now that the person previously threatened can now put him inside a jar as retaliation. 

Eggs smirks. “Guess I’ll never know what it’s like to get whacked on the head by a button.” 

In response, Fritz throws it at his head, hitting him right between the eyes. “Now you do!” 

[mechazushi]

After the Fall {AN ACTUAL SHORT STORY THIS TIME} [Kaiju No. 8] (Could be considered as possible Ep11 spoilers; interpreted artistically)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Kafka Hibino." Captain Mina Ashiro started, "No. Kaiju Number Eight. I am taking you into custody." She leveled her gun to him. Her voice as steady as her hands, taking care not to let an ounce of sadness that had filled her soul melt her outward resolve. The companies were distraught and heavily wounded. Most of the infrastructure in the training area had been reduced to ash. An arched border line had been etched into the pavement around them. One side was mostly intact with spider cracks in various locations. The other side was a pale, dusty mess. No surface from the border and beyond was traversable with all of it being splintered, jutting, and uneven.

At the peak of the arch stood a half dissolved monster, melting back into a man. When the flecks peeled off and drifted into the remnants of the wind, a face began to emerge. Kafka Hibino, the former member of the Third Division had ousted himself as the elusive Kaiju Number Eight. He stood stone still, letting fragments of his alter form slough off as he never took his eyes off his captor. He wanted to think he knew what she was thinking, that this is just protocol, that there was no place in her heart that harbored ill will or intent. Mina wouldn't use her gun against him, right? They could still be friends, that he could still fight for his spot at her side.

He couldn't tell. Mina was unreadable as ever and Kafka couldn't blame her. He had been reprimanded enough times to know that this was just how she had to be in front of others in the Division. Her place wasn't a position where she was afforded the leeway to be physically emotional. Emotion was considered weakness, and she had to be strong for the others. To the officers, she was being seen as a strong captain, standing against a Daikaiju threat. It didn't matter that this was Kafka, that everyone had seen that it was Kafka who made a harrowing choice to save the lives of thousands. All they saw now was a monster, no matter how human and familiar its face was.

"Hoshina. I need you to cuff him." Captain Ashiro commanded. Hoshina heard, but was refusing to act. He couldn't bring himself to look at the situation in front of him. A man he trusted, a man he had considered as a friend and compatriot, was confirmed to be a threat to the world. Hoshina wasn't sure at the beginning what Kafka's circumstances were. He knew that things were off, but he chose to ignore them. The whole reason for letting Kafka join as a cadet was so Hoshina could investigate him, and he failed to do even that. All because he couldn't look past his smile. How could a man with a smile so bright and genuine ever be a threat to others. He didn't believe it, refused to believe it. He wasn't going to slap cuffs on a man that didn't have a threatening bone in his body.

But was he a man? Everyone saw Kafka gain impossible speed. They all saw Kafka, as a kaiju, blast into the sky and launched the bomb to a safer distance. Was Kafka a kaiju now because he was strong and dangerous? Or was he still a man because he understood sacrifice? Kaijus didn't need to deal with pesky feelings. They didn't have to worry about what others thought of them. All there was in kaiju minds was to eat and destroy. Kafka could express emotion, and has expressed desire outside of destruction. If Kafka knew that others would turn and run in fear if they knew what he was and what he could do, why did he do it anyway?

"Hoshina." Captain Ashiro commanded again, dislodging her Vice Captain from his thoughts. He still didn't want to do this, still choosing to believe in the man behind the monster's mask, but it wasn't a good idea to make the Captain repeat herself. Reaching into his side pouch, he dug up one of the plastic handcuffs that most officers are issued with. They were issued with the intent that defense members might encounter people taking the opportunity for ransacking during invasions and could preform arrests until the offender could be picked up by proper authorities. Hoshina walked up to Kafka and held the industrial zip-tie in his hands. Every neuron in his skull felt like it was screaming in retaliation, making his hands hesitate in the action of placing Kafka under physical arrest. He almost wanted to laugh. Did anyone here actually think that these meager restraints could hold back a person with a registered fortitude rating? Kafka slowly held out his wrists in front of him, looking like a toddler that was expecting a ruler to come down on them in punishment.

"It's okay. I know." Kafka whispered imperceptibly to him. His head was bowed solemnly, but he looked at Hoshina as his face remained ever reassuring. He almost felt like slapping the look off of him. How dare he act like this. How dare he try to be apologetic and caring for others in this situation. Why couldn't he be an asshole and run, fight, do anything to save himself. For god's sake, why can't he be selfish. Having to deal with a daikaiju on the loose would have been less gut wrenching than having to send a fellow soldier to an uncertain fate.

"Captain Ashiro, I can explain-" Reno Ichikawa was shouting as he came barreling over the fallen debris as nimbly as possible. Following behind at a much slower pace was Kikoru Shinomiya.

"Save it Officer Ichikawa!" Ashiro barked at him, "Telling by your outburst at this time of all places, tells me you have some knowledge on this as well." she holstered her side arm now that Kafka had been successfully restrained.

"You too, Shinomiya. Hoshina told me about his suspicions about how you managed to neutralize the honju at the acceptance trials earlier this year and with you showing up behind Ichikawa here, I can assume that you're in on this too." She began to wordlessly direct those around her and made moves to stand behind Kafka and Hoshina.

"Okonogi, send several vehicles over to the training area. We have multiple wounded and a lot of tired soldiers that I think would rather drive than walk back to barracks. Leader Ebina, gather some of your people and start marking a path through the rubble so we can transport the wounded."

"Roger that, Captain. Do you want me to send an armored vehicle for Kaiju Number Eight?" replied Okonogi. Captain Ashiro looked hard at Kafka, now back to appearing completely human and in the plastic cuffs. Hoshina was looking right at the captain. Blood had stopped dripping down his face minutes ago, but it was still clear that he wasn't in any shape to fight anything more powerful than a mouse right now. She took in the fact that his hands were placed gently on top of Kafka's limply curled fists, a sight that Kafka couldn't pull his eyes away from.

"No. Leave the armored vehicle for now. We might need it to be fueled and stocked for whatever happens tomorrow." Ashiro replied back after serious consideration. With most of the Division looking the way it did, and the person most capable of going head to head with a daikaiju of small size looking like death warmed over, she acknowledged the fact that Kafka; or Kaiju Number Eight, she hadn't stopped her brain from fluctuating between the two, hadn't taken the opportunity to bolt for the hills. She figured if he was going to try anything, he would have as soon as she leveled her sidearm at him. In the bright moonlight over head, she could see the person she once considered a friend chuckle noticeably.

"Thanks for that, Captain Ashiro. Those trucks don't have the best air condi-"

"Save it. I don't want to hear another word from you tonight." Captain Ashiro commanded. She could clearly see the word's effect on him as he visibly flinched at her sharp tone. As the officers around her got into position and steadied their hands on their rifles, she pointed her finger off over Hoshina's shoulder, indicating that they should start moving. Kafka's feet regretfully began to shuffle around to face the direction he was supposed to go in, but when he tried to take an actual step he hissed loudly and nearly collapsed to his knees onto the pavement. Hoshina didn't think for a second as he rushed forward to catch him before he landed, propping himself under Kafka's broad chest and grabbing his shoulder to keep him balanced. The chorus of six safety switches all clicking off in unison could be heard behind the two of them.

"Shit- Sorry, sorry! Knees were locked." Kafka said, glancing over his and Hoshina's connected bodies.

"Sorry." He added, seemingly addressed to no one in particular.

'Maybe that was addressed to all of us.' Hoshina thought as he helped Kafka readjust to his feet. Once he felt okay enough to walk, he began to move forward at a sluggish pace. It was clear to Hoshina that he wasn't walking slow on purpose, and that it really must have taken a lot out of him to propel himself into the air and sucker punch a twenty kiloton yoju bomb into the lower stratosphere. Hoshina kept a hand on Kafka's upper back as he gently guided him through the path Ebina's team had marked earlier. With the moment they were in being as quiet as possible, save for the occasional echoing crash of broken rubble hitting the ground all around them, Hoshina took a second to think.

'I mean, when you think about it, that should be enough to knock the wind out of anyone capable of doing that in that sort of situation.' He stunned himself with the words in his head. How could he even try and logic out what a man with the power of turning into a Kaiju was even qualified to accomplish? This whole situation was absurd and he hated it. He hated everything in that moment. He hated Kafka for putting himself in danger, he hated Captain Ashiro knowing she was only doing her job, he hated himself because he was the one who told Kafka not to get attached to others on the job because God only knows what could happen and here he was, feeling attached knowing damn well that he was going to feel like shit because he was basically loosing the best damn thing this Division had going for it!

Hoshina couldn't writhe in his personal hell for much longer as the group had made it to the busted doors of the training grounds. The remnants of his fight with Kaiju Number Ten as well as debris from the explosion had all been pushed to the sides as best as possible. A few tents had been erected to preform triage and separate the barely scratched from the mortally wounded and treat them appropriately. A rotating convoy of open air trucks and military jeeps were set up at the far end of the street carrying the tired and lightly wounded to somewhere else on base for rest, if it was available for most. All activity seemed to slow, almost stopping in some areas as Kafka led his paltry parade showcasing his imprisonment through the masses. It almost felt like a display of a man being condemned. Okonogi pulled ahead of the line in her own commandeered jeep and pulled it to a stop in front of Kafka and Ashiro. The captain told the six behind her to grab a vehicle for themselves and follow close behind, before wordlessly hopping into the passenger seat of the car. As Hoshina hopped in the exposed backseat, he could hear Kafka groan and hiss as he settled into the spot on the bench next to him.

"Hssssss, haaaa, hoooo. Wow, sitting down. A novel idea. Who knew?" Kafka talked exhaustedly as he fumbled with the lap belt using his restrained hands.

"Miss Okonogi, not to presumptuously assume your driving skills, but you mind being careful and avoiding potholes and barricades on the way to my cell. I'm gonna take a nap." Kafka's head slumped unceremoniously against the metal bar framing the back of the jeep and immediately started to breath heavily, almost as if he was asleep already. His closed eyes meant he didn't get to see Mina's irritated glare she sent his way before she took the clipboard that Okonogi brought with her. Hoshina rested his elbow against the car's sidewall and placed his face in his hand, staring at an unaware Kafka.

'He's asleep. This no good, dirty, rotten, lying, mutant Kaiju bastard is asleep?' Hoshina thought angrily. As he felt the car move forward and tuned out Captain Ashiro and Okonogi's conversation, he realized all he could think about in that moment was him.

'A man saves an entire base and this is how we thank him.' Hoshina's inner monologue continued. He knew he wasn't the only one here who felt like this, and when the news got out in the morning he was sure lots of others were going to have mixed feelings on this as well. Arresting him was for the best, he knew that as well. Good intentions or no, human or no, it didn't change the fact that Kafka can become a kaiju. The whole purpose of the Divisions was to eliminate kaijus. The fact that Kafka was allowed to breathe, let alone sitting in the back of a car with the two most powerful people on base at rock bottom of their best, spoke volumes about how crazy and fucked up these circumstances were. Protocol was kill on sight, and Kafka knows this. Yet here he was, sleeping the rest of his freedom away.

'It wouldn't be hard, either.' Hoshina thoughts continued, 'I may not be able to put up a good fight at the moment, but we can assume he's mostly human right now. He's asleep and tired, which means he's vulnerable' He played with the tip of the handle connected to his sword. 'I could end it all for him right now and he wouldn't be wiser.'

But he wouldn't. Hoshina couldn't lay any hand on him with deadly and harmful intent behind it, now and forever. Monster or Human, it didn't matter anymore. Nothing could ever change the fact that Hoshina had one percent of trust in this man right now. And he wondered if Kafka could feel that too, because why else could he be so blissfully asleep right now.

'He's not going to be like that for long.' Hoshina thought bitterly. The protocol was kill on sight for honju and yoju, yes, but that stopped at daikaiju. they were killed like any other threat, but whatever that was left of the body after the fight was sent off for research. Research and experimentation. Hoshina knew that it was a snowball's chance in hell that the leaders of the Defense Force were just going to let them keep Kafka on base, but were they going to let Kafka stay alive and intact? Hoshina could feel his heart be poisoned and start to cramp up at the thought. He had to look away for a moment , lest tears started to mix with the blood and stain his cheeks even more. It took several sharp breaths and a solid minute of mental filing to help his chest feels normal again.

Hoshina tried to take another look at the mystery that was his fellow soldier. A face as still as a forest pond, covered in already healed scratches. Light from the moon created soft shadows on his eyelids and neck. flickering and shifting in tandem with the shakes and jolts coming from the moving jeep. His worker's tan looking more pronounced than it usually did. Kafka looked stoic and peaceful, which created a stark contrast to the unearthly and demonic visage Hoshina has associated with Kaiju Number Eight. It was an awful situation Hoshina found himself in.

On one hand, he wanted to come across the bench and hold him. Whisper calmly in his ear that everything was going to be okay. That he won't have to worry about whatever that's going to come for him in the morning. On the other hand, he wanted to be the one that was being held. To have all those sweet and empty promises whispered back at him, to be told that things would be fine for him too. Kafka won't have to leave the base, that this whole kaiju transformation business was just the concussion talking, and the base will be back to operational in no time at all.

None of those things were going to happen. The base reconstruction was going to take forever, Kafka was going to have to leave, and nothing was going to be fine. Hoshina turned away again, feeling the chest tightening again and wanted to keep his tears to himself for the time being. He couldn't cry now because there was a superior officer present and didn't also want to wake Kafka. He couldn't cry in the morning because he needed to be strong in the face of whatever decision that was to come down on his officer's head. As the first shifts of color indicative of the approaching dawn began to brighten the night sky, Hoshina tamped down every bit of emotion he had to let out later into the first few minutes of however much sleep he was going to get in those twilight hours.

This was going to be a rough few months, wasn't it?

[morningstargirl666]

Oh yeah, chapter 28 is going to wreck you.

[the-arcade-doctor]

RUSSIAN ROULETTE! Another ScreenShot Game by JOTA'S Arcade!

[frostkingoftheapocalypse]

//.

[heartcarabinerz]

Do not fight with me anon, don't crowd my inbox, I don't give a fuck about gwiles, and I know your gonna keep cussing me out and calling me slurs, go touch grass nigga.

[theroyalthrones]

Gameplay Again!!

I finally tried the PandaSama ChildBirth Mod! Most if not all are clips from the interactions that come from it.

[clovercrafted-txt]

Title: Forwards (To Anywhere and Everywhere)

Fandom: Rain World Rating: Mature

Warnings: Major Character Death, Mild Gore, Canon-Typical Suicide, Mental Health Issues, Toxic Relationships, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm

Characters: No Significant Harassment, Chasing/Grey Wind, Seven Red Suns, The Hunter, The Rivuet

Summary:

There’s a life out there, outside of this box, this birdcage, a life Sig has longed to grasp in his hands, to tear from the cold death grip of those who made him, those who abandoned him, a life he longs to live so utterly joyously that his creators would probably drop dead and pass from the world just with the shock.

It’s a life not meant for him, for any of them. And he’s tried. He’s tried and he’s tired and he’s so over failing again and again, so done with asking endless questions, thundering towards a goal he has no belief in. Is it really so bad to want to leave? Is it really so awful that he wants to live?

~

No Signigicant Harassment finds himself stumbling through life with a very long list of regrets following him. But with a little help, a desire to give his creators a middle finger and a need to fix his mistakes, somehow he finds himself becoming the first of his kind to cast away their can and walk the world. What he does with that new found freedom is yet to be seen but he's sure he'll fuck it up somehow.

[blametheeditor]

A Little Bit Goes A Long Way

Run Down: To be faced with your own mortality, would it change you for the better, or worse? David never thought he'd have to answer such a question.

Content Warnings: Cursing. Death scenes. Slight gore. Mentions of death and murder. Peril. Calling someone 'it' or 'thing'. Experiments. If you're new to this household, only happy endings, but certainly a roller coaster

*Cough cough*

______________

One minute, David is storming into the kitchen to demand why it’s taking twice as long as usual for food to be delivered out into the dining room. 

The next, the suited man is nearly sent flying back into the hallway from the swinging door slamming into him. Barely gets out of the way in time before a shoe as big as a bus stomps on him. Feels his limbs lock up and refuse to move as he slowly realizes what’s in front of him. 

He’s still in the kitchen of Fazbear Entertainment Center, all too familiar with the layout he changed around after signing paperwork that made him the sole owner of this franchise restaurant, as well as the faces of those he hired who were competent enough to keep their jobs for more than a week. He had opened the door a few feet away only a few seconds ago. 

And yet, somehow, everyone and everything currently tower over him. David couldn’t move the door a single inch now no matter how hard he tried. A rolling counter has wheels that are as tall as him and easily provides a place for him to hide. Chefs and waiters seem more like skyscrapers than people he signs paychecks for. 

That’s not the worst part. The sounds of people talking and food being made are so loud it makes his head feel like it’s going to split open. Simple actions such as walking within ten feet of him cause earthquakes that shake him to his core.

David can’t help but stare. He can’t look away despite knowing he could be killed at any moment if he doesn’t get to safety. Feels himself begin to tremble as it becomes harder and harder to deny what’s in front of him is real. 

Even though it’s impossible for someone to suddenly shrink, there’s no denying the proof before him. Unless he’s simply having an incredibly vivid dream, or hallucination, or something because this can’t be real. 

“Are those pizza’s done?” 

“Careful, how many times do I have to tell you-!” 

“Door!” 

David feels the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and in that moment dives under the service cart that stands beside him. Groans from his ungraceful landing before staring in horror as the door opens and someone steps directly where he had been only a  few moments ago. The thought of what would’ve happened, the idea this isn’t a dream and that could’ve been the end decides he’ll be treating this like it’s life or death. 

The business man tries to ignore his heart thumping painfully against his chest as he watches the bustling kitchen, catastrophic giants unaware of his presence. Reminds himself he can’t get stepped on while he cowers under the service cart. He’s safe, at least for now. Unless someone realized what happened and are searching for him. Or the cart gets moved. Or something gets dropped and- 

“Nope,” David murmurs as he closed his eyes to block out the world, clenching his fists to focus on something other than the constant trembles through the ground. 

Those kinds of thoughts are not helpful. He needs to think about finding a safe place, then figure out a plan on how to get his proper height of six feet. But safety’s first. 

...where the hell would he be safe at a size where shoes can crush him like a spider. 

Taking a deep breath in the attempt to calm his nerves, David opens his eyes one at a time. Forces himself to look at the layout down at the ground. Ignoring the fact everything that’s familiar is now deadly, just focusing on places he can run and hide without putting himself in danger. 

Going anywhere near the door is completely off limits. But if he travels further into the kitchen, there’s potential for a safe place to at least wait until the restaurant closes. Such as the toe kick space under the counters, though there’s not much depth to it and someone could spot him from the right angle. There’s small space under the ovens that goes as far back as the wall and seems to have the most cover, but he wouldn’t know if it’s too hot to stay down there. Out of everything, the pantry might be the best option, with plenty of shelves to hide under, and he’d be the farthest away from any possible incidents prone to happen in busy kitchens. 

With that settled, now he just has to figure out how to get there. There’s no cover between where he is now and the pantry door, just a full mile of open air in which he’d be completely vulnerable to dropped items, shoes, and being spotted. 

An involuntary shiver runs down David’s spine at the thought of someone seeing him. That would open an entire can of worms, especially if it’s realized he’s human instead of a pest. Getting killed is one thing, but there’s no telling what someone would do if they get their hands on him. It could range from making him pay for screaming at them because they weren’t doing their job right, to selling him to make a quick buck. 

A glance is sent toward the wheels of the cart he’s currently using as shelter. Because while this could be moved, it doesn't necessarily mean it will be. It had been put here for a reason. He can’t remember if this is normally here every other day, meaning it’s a toss up if it’ll get moved again. 

Which one’s better, then? Taking a chance out in the open, or hoping no one moves the cart? 

...what if he moves the cart? 

David stares at the large wheels for a moment before walking closer, willing to at least give it a try no matter how ridiculous the idea seems. If this actually works, he’ll take it. Though, he does hesitate to actually touch the wheel once he’s close enough to see just how filthy it is. Flinches when it dawns on him he’ll be covered in dust and dirt by the end of this ordeal. 

He sighs long and hard with the reminder of yet another earthquake it’s either this, or an almost guarantee of getting crushed. Grits his teeth and tries to shove at the wheel with all his might. Growls when doesn’t budge, changing his position only to end up with the same results. Meaning he did that for absolutely nothing. 

David looks back out at the kitchen. Narrows his eyes when he realizes the large island is closer to him than the pantry. And if he runs from the island to the counter...he’ll be covered for almost the entire walk. 

It’ll be a lot more work, and shoes are constantly walking between all of the counters, but it’s certainly safer. 

Now there’s three options. He doesn’t like any of them, but he hadn’t asked to get shrunk so these are the cards he’s been dealt with. As shitty as they are, he just has to make the most of them. 

Honestly, taking the long path to the pantry seems like his best bet. It almost seems like he’s been taking too long, so he needs to- 

His train of thought is lost when he sees a pair of shoes suddenly begin to walk toward him. And then words are booming through the air almost directly above. 

“Hey, is the cart claimed?” 

Fuck. 

David freezes. Almost screams when the wheel beside him is suddenly turning, scrambling to get a safe distance away. Feels his blood run cold when the entire thing begins to move. And then David starts running. 

He runs after the cart. If there was time to think, he might’ve recognized that as the worst thing he could’ve done, but adrenaline had taken control. The only thing he knew was that his only shelter was being taken away, and there was nothing he could do about it except follow. 

It could’ve ended with him getting caught under a wheel. With it stopping abruptly and him slamming into it. Getting left behind and ending up underfoot from someone walking past. 

None of those happen. Somehow by some miracle David stays with the cart before almost colliding with the underside of the counter. As soon as he hits the wall, he collapses, legs trembling so harshly it’s impossible to stay standing. Arms and chest aching after taking the brunt of the impact. 

But he made it. He made it and that’s all that matters. 

The business man pants, choking on air a few times. Takes a few minutes to slow his breathing and calm his racing heart. Makes the promise to fire every single person on staff for not realizing someone’s peril despite it happening right in front of them. It would be seen as unfair, and he could be sued for a lot of money considering he most likely wouldn’t be able to prove anything, but the thought makes him feel a lot better considering everything. It’d also be worth it. 

David doesn’t know how long it takes to recover, just that it’s dangerous for him to stay any longer. So despite the fact his limbs are still shaking, he carefully pushes himself to a stand. Absolutely refuses to take off his suit jacket even though that would make running easier and help keep him from overheating. Like hell he’s loosing an expensive piece of clothing. He might be shrunk and fighting for his life, but he still has standards. Would rather die with dignity over living with a tarnished reputation. 

Call him shallow and egotistical. The train of thought was able to calm him down, however. Distracted him from the thundering footsteps walking right past him as he walks under the cabinet's toe kick. Hoping its true purpose is rarely used. Unsure if he should be glad he’s short enough he doesn’t have to worry about hitting his head on the overhanging wood, or miffed that he’s shorter than four inches tall. 

The conundrum is forgotten as he turns a corner and becomes face to face with clog, one that’s not blocking his way, but the toe of the shoe so close David could walk forward and shove at it. 

Of course that wouldn’t do anything. The owner of the shoe wouldn’t even notice the attempt. With such a catastrophic object that he’s been terrified of ever since shrinking just staying in one place, it’s almost a slap in the face just how small he really is. He’s not even the size of a mouse that can easily clamber over the shoe. More like a large insect that would need to laboriously climb if it blocked his path completely. 

...he didn’t even think about that. Giants are terrifying, but what if he encounters animals at this size? There’s no shooing away a rat or crushing a roach beneath his shoe, they’re now threats to him instead of nuisances. 

Good news, as long as he doesn’t leave the restaurant, he should be perfectly safe. He ensured all pest had been eliminated on the first day, and has an exterminator on speed dial whenever someone reports having seen so much as a shadow creeping along the ground. 

As for the giants, he can hope he doesn’t have to interact with one anytime soon. 

“Is an oven finally open?” 

“Everything that was cooking the previous round is done. Did you forget to pull the pizza’s out?” 

Part of David wants to yell about how much those he hired are dumbasses to not check if something was left in the oven. The other part slumps in relief as the person standing at the island quickly leaves. The only condolence is the fact it doesn’t smell like something’s burning. 

He needs to focus. Forget about what’s happening around him, concentrate on getting somewhere safe. Fire everyone later. 

David looks across the vast distance from where he stands to the line of cabinets that connect to the pantry. This time, there isn’t a service cart to act as cover as he runs across. It’ll just be him, completely exposed. 

He already feels himself begin to shake at the thought of making such a risky move. His muscles protest at running the large distance in which the only time he’d be able to stop is when he gets to the other side. 

What if he doesn’t make it? What if someone walks by and never notices a miniscule figure? What if they do notice and trap him inside a jar? And what happens if he stays here? The toe kick is only four inches deep, that’s not enough space to guarantee safety. 

David steels himself before carefully leaning out from under the counter. Looks up to barely make out the timer’s on the oven saying there’s ten minutes left. Glances at his left where the pantry sits, door shut tight with the lights currently off. Checks his right to see this area of the kitchen void of stomping shoes. 

Go.

He doesn’t hesitate, knowing this might be his only chance, and sprints. Without a single look back to make sure no one’s coming. There would be nothing he could do, so he runs. Never slows down even as his legs burn from overexertion and his lungs send sharp pains through his chest. 

Then the ground starts to jump. David can see he’s already past the halfway mark, but cover is still too far away. He can’t turn around and go back because that wouldn’t be any closer. And even as terror races up his spine and he feels his adrenaline kick in, it’s not enough. He would be an idiot to ever think he could outrun a giant. 

He doesn’t stop. Though the footsteps growing closer and closer attempt to trip him with the earthquakes they bring. It’s a miracle they haven’t gotten to him. 

Until someone gives a small gasp. 

“Shit, there’s a bug in here.” 

“Are you serious?” 

David doesn’t stop. The counters are only ten feet away he’s almost there. 

“I can’t tell what it is, but I need to finish this. Can someone take care of it?” 

“I’ll get it, where is it?” 

Just a few more- 

The business man crashes into the counters at full tilt, not realizing he had actually made it. He swears he broke something this time. But he’s alive. He’s alive he made it he didn’t get crushed. 

“It’s under the counters by the stove.” 

It takes just a little too long for David to realize what that means. Stares out at the kitchen, almost confused why one pair of shoes is pointed directly toward him. Are taking steps toward him. Because he’s safe, he made it. 

It finally clicks. That even though he is somewhere he deemed to be ‘safe’, someone saw him, and they’re coming to take care of the pest infesting an area that needs to be sanitary. 

Once it finally processes David is far from safe, he scrambles to his feet even though he wants to do nothing more than to go limp. He doesn’t know what ‘take care of it’ means, but it can’t be anything good. Where is he supposed to go, though? 

If he was in the right state of mind, the idea of going for the pantry would’ve been recognized as the worst thing he could possibly do. Panic can do so many things, however, and the only thing he could think of was his original plan. Meaning it was the only logical thing to do. 

Yet just as he starts to turn and run in that direction, a hand grabs his wrist. Immediately has David turning to look at who it is, unable to remember why that shouldn’t be possible. 

A teenager stares up at David with wide eyes, tugging at his arm in the opposite direction than was previously chosen. “Follow me, hurry!” 

Any other time, David would refuse. This isn’t any other time, though. No, he was shrunk, had ran for his life, and is now being hunted down by a giant. So there’s not a single protest as he’s frantically led toward the ovens. Doesn’t hesitate a single second to continue following as he’s forced to hunch over to duck into the small area normally impossible to gain access to. Sends a look over his shoulder briefly to catch sight of someone searching all the wrong places for him. 

Then the entire kitchen completely leaves his sight, and he’s left with an alien landscape of metal over his head and a dusty floor. The worst part is how it gets dimmer and dimmer the further they walk. But David is now completely safe from becoming an exotic pet or being treated like an unwanted pest. The teenager who saved him from such a horrific fate never letting his arm go. 

That’s when everything starts to catch up with him. The terror of nearly dying. His limbs completely exhausted. No longer feeling dazed to finally process what just happened. 

“Wait,” David begins, breathless as he comes to a stop. As soon as he does, however, his knees buckle and he sits harshly on the ground. Sighs in relief he can finally rest without the threat of ending up dead. 

Instead of leaving him there, the kid immediately kneels down beside him. It’s almost impossible to make out features and expressions in the darkness, but a stranger wouldn’t be indifferent if the first instinct was to stay close. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” 

David shakes his head.  “Not hurt. Just...ran for my life.” 

“That’ll definitely do it,” the kid murmurs, his voice never raising above a whisper. “I have a safe place we can go, but we can stay here for a bit. We just need to be careful that we don’t overheat.” 

...now that something was said, the business man realizes it is a bit hot where they are. Not burning, but definitely uncomfortable. Especially with the running he previously did and his jacket acting as the main perpetrator for making him overheat quicker than usual. 

But he can survive a few minutes. By then he’ll be able to at the very least stand up again. 

“Here, drink some water.” 

David hadn’t noticed any movement until something is being offered to him. At the promise of it being water, he quicky accepts it, hesitating at the odd texture as his mind recognizes the shape of a cup. Decides it’s not worth making a fuss over and simply drinks. 

It’s water, clean if a bit warm, but he can’t get over just what the fuck he’s using as a cup. “What, is this?” 

“The wat- oh! The cup, it’s just aluminum foil.” 

David stares at the shadowy figure for a moment. Glances up at the metal ‘roof’ above their heads to confirm they’re both only a few inches tall.  “Where did you get aluminum foil?” 

“Long story,” the kid says. “I can tell it to you later. Are you okay to start walking again?” 

David doesn’t want to go anywhere with a complete stranger until he gets answers. Who is this kid? Why does he have supplies? Why was he in the kitchen near the ovens at this exact time? 

It’d be a stupid idea to get on the kid’s bad side now. It was promised there is a safe place to go. So instead of earning himself a death sentence by being left here after making an enemy with the only person who can help him, David bites his tongue to keep from yelling. 

Instead, he carefully stands up, nearly hitting his head on the oven after forgetting there’s not as much space as there was under the counters. “Lead the way.” 

Out of everything, he was not expecting his arm to be grabbed again. “Just to warn you, it’s going to be pretty dark. But I know the way, and I’ve kept the path clear of rodents and insects, so it's not dangerous. Just, terrifying.” 

Wonderful. 

David has to grit his teeth to keep from sprinting in the opposite direction as he’s led to a fairly wide hole in the back of the cabinets. One that’s pitch black and promises a death worst than being treated like a roach. 

Yet the kid doesn’t even stiffen before walking through it. Which means the business man isn’t declaring he’s not going anywhere near it if some teenager is able to be that courageous. Meaning he allows himself to be led down the tunnel without any objection, secretly glad the grip on his arm gets tighter to promise he won’t be let go. 

They walk in complete silence. It amplifies the sound of their footsteps, but it also means they’ll be able to hear something making its way toward them. And then a faint glow appears in the darkness. Getting brighter the closer they get. David feels his chest get lighter when he’s finally able to see there’s a wall to his right, the wooden cabinets to his left, and absolutely no signs of eyes reflecting in the darkness behind him. 

It’s also revealed their destination was a piece of cardboard. 

“Come inside,” the kid encourages. Before David can demand what’s meant by inside, the cardboard is pushed open like a door. 

Admittedly put off by it, David warily walks through the apparent doorway. Finds himself standing in what he can only describe as a third grader’s shitty attempt to make a diorama of their house for a school project. Complete with a bed that’s nothing but a pile of fabrics, a plastic pizza saver repurposed as a table, and odd $1 prizes the restaurant gives away in exchange for tickets scattered across the room that could be interpreted as anything. And he can’t forget to mention candles meant to be put on birthday cakes acting as lamps. 

When he imagined a safe place, an odd hideout tucked in a corner impossible to access from the outside wasn’t it. Then again, what was he expecting? 

After taking in the room, David turns back toward the person who brought him here, finally able to get a good look at the kid now that he isn’t fearing for his life. Looks over the mop of red hair, bright green eyes watching him nervously, the numerous freckles decorating the nose and cheeks. Gives a glance at the patched up clothes so dusty it’s hard to tell what their true colors are. 

“I need answers, and I need them now,” David growls. “Who the hell are you?” 

“My name’s Fritz,” the kid offers quietly. “You’re David, right?” 

“Mr. Harrison,” is automatically corrected. But then the implication has him glaring. “Have we met before?” 

“Briefly,” Fritz begins. “I...h-here, sit down and I’ll tell you everything.” 

David isn’t given a chance to protest. The kid closes the poor excuse for a door before taking off a bag that wasn’t noticed previously to place it on the floor. A cardboard stool for the lack of a better term is then pushed toward him. 

Fritz then grabs an odd vase that looks like it’s made of metal. Untwists the top before extending a hand toward David. “Would you like more water?” 

He's confused, until he realizes he’s still holding the cup from earlier, one that looks like it’s made from the same material of the odd pitcher. Sighs as he hands it over to be refilled, it being abundantly clear Fritz is going to take his sweet goddamn time. David then carefully sits down, genuinely surprised the crude seat holds his weight. Begins to tap his fingers impatiently. Doesn’t think about how his legs appreciate the rest and how grateful he is for the water after such an arduous adventure. 

“When and where did you shrink?” 

David gives a look at the explanation starting with a question. “Not too long ago, about an hour or so. It happened right as I walked into the kitchen.” 

“The same thing happened to me,” Fritz reveals as he stares down at the table. “I walked into the kitchen to take an order out to a table, and then I just...shrunk.” 

David freezes. So this is apparently a thing that just happens? How is that even possible? Have other people been shrunk as well? Why didn’t he notice employees disappearing? 

And why has Fritz stopped talking? 

A sigh is withheld at the teenager looking as if he’s remembering something unpleasant. “And when did that happen?” 

“A-A few months ago,” is barely said loud enough to be heard. 

...wait. Hold on. 

David wants to call bullshit. There’s no way someone only a few inches tall has managed to survive for a couple of months. David almost died within the first hour. Fritz has to be lying. 

Except, the kid can’t be. The pilfered items scattered around the room seems more than what could be collected in a single day, or even in a full week. Fritz also looks underfed and exhausted. The long term kind. Like he really hasn’t had access to proper care for a while. 

Suddenly, David feels sick to his stomach. At the thought someone could’ve been crushed under the sole of his own shoe, and he never would’ve known. At the realization that if Fritz shrank more than a month ago, and is still shrunk, then the business man’s future is bleak. 

“So you have no idea what caused this.” 

“Not a single clue.” 

Then he really is stuck at this size for the rest of his life. However long that is. 

David stares at Fritz. “What have you done during these past couple months?” 

The teenager shrugs, looking everywhere but at the business man. “Surviving. The kitchen wasn’t the worst place to end up since I have access to food and water. After a month I ventured out into the main area after the restaurant closed. I couldn’t really go far, though. The animatronics could spot me, or I wouldn’t get back to safety before someone came in for the morning shift.” 

A shiver travels down David’s spine at the thought of encountering the animatronics at this size. Quickly pushes the thought away for a different time. “And no one realized you were missing?” 

Fritz flinches at his question. Finally meets his gaze with glossy eyes. “Did you?” 

For the first time since he could remember, David feels remorse. For not knowing someone who worked for him vanished without a trace. A kid for that matter. Didn’t care because he fired people daily, what was one waiter out of the multiple he goes through in a single week. The worst part is that instead of someone going into debt or not being able to pay rent for the month, Fritz had been damned to this kind of hell. 

Even though David would never have thought someone shrunk, he should be able to say he at least looked for Fritz. Make a missing report, check the cameras. If he had, who’s to say he wouldn’t have found the kid. Because attempts were most likely made to get someone’s attention. If David had been looking, would he have noticed? 

David clears his throat. “I will not live like this.” 

Fritz shuffles nervously. “Um, is there someone you could call?” 

The business man almost scoffs before freezing. Because he does not like the idea at all. But it’s either call someone who can at least offer help, or live off of dropped crumbs in his own restaurant. And he’d rather die than take the second option. 

“How the hell would we call-” 

David cuts himself off. Doesn’t address Fritz’s confused look, too embarrassed to look the kid in the eye. Instead, he digs his phone out of his pocket. Blinks against the light much too artificial against what the candles emanate. Stares in disbelief he actually has service. 

“Does it-?” Fritz begins, voice filled with awe. There’s no response to his question. David allows the screen to turn off as he stares at it. 

Who should he call? 

David doesn’t trust a single person on this earth except himself. That means he would have to completely rely on someone he normally wouldn’t even at six feet tall. And considering just how small he is, trusting the wrong person could end with his demise, even if that wasn’t their intention. 

Alright, if he thinks about this logically, his best bet would be Scott. Because if anyone knows about dealing with the impossible, it’s the man who’s William’s lapdog. 

...fuck, William. 

David doesn’t know why it took him so long. His boss is a smart man, knows how to get what he wants. But he’s also created a monstrosity David wishes he never had the honor of meeting. And if William is capable of making something like a certain mutated grape he had first been told was a highly advanced AI, then shrinking someone wouldn’t be completely out of the question. 

Why the fuck did William shrink him! 

“Da- Mr. Harrison?” Fritz asks with a worried look at David’s hand clutching his phone like he wants to break it.  “Are you okay?” 

No, he is far from okay. Good thing he’s able to finally take his anger out. Scrolls through his contacts before selecting Scott’s phone number. 

It takes a few moments for the call to actually do through, but it’s picked up on the first ring. “Hello, hello, David.” 

“My restaurant, 8 o’clock sharp. William has given you quite the mess to clean up,” David snaps. Not in the mood for pleasantries. Even if Scott is a giant to him. 

“I’m not a dog,” the sandy haired man growls. “I would also appreciate a little bit more information.” 

“Come to the kitchen, watch where you step, and listen carefully. Is that enough information for you?” 

“David, are you serious? At least tell me what Afton apparently did.” 

“He apparently shrunk me so I’m shorter than four inches tall and currently hiding behind the cabinets,” the business man huffs. 

Scott suddenly goes silent on the other end. When a minute passes, David checks his phone to make sure the call wasn’t dropped. 

“I swear to God,” the older man breathes. “If you’re lying-” 

“I’m not,” David interrupts. “8 o’clock, kitchen, watch where you step.” 

“Stay safe until then.” 

With that, they both hang up. And David’s met with Fritz looking a mixture of horrified, hopeful, and another emotion he can’t quite identify. 

“I, I-I take it you know someone who can help?” the teenager asks. 

Right. Fritz doesn’t know anything about the truth around Fazbear’s. Granted, it took David a few months to have a proper initiation, but he’s not a small fry employee. He has a lengthy contract that ensures his safety while working for the company. The teenager, on the other hand, is as disposable as the other night guards. If he’s being honest, William might’ve assumed the kid would’ve died within a few hours. Might’ve used him as a guinea pig. 

Surviving multiple months at this size is something William would at least have to respect, right? Or, would that just prove the kid is a liability that needs to be silenced. 

Now David’s faced with a choice. Have Scott meet Fritz, and they both confront William on getting the kid back to his normal size. Or, they play it safe, and David promises to find and care for Fritz once the business man is at his proper height. 

One look at the resigned expression conquering Fritz’s face, and it seems like his thoughts were heard. 

“Th-There’s still a few hours until 8. Would you like to rest for a bit?” 

“You won’t leave this room, will you?” David finds himself asking. Not because he’s protective and genuinely worried for the kid who could get into trouble before help arrives. He’s certainly responsible over Fritz, though. Meaning he can’t let anything happen under his watch. 

Fritz thinks it over for a moment. Nods his head. “I’ll stay here.” 

David doesn’t say another word. He drinks the rest of the water, turns to the poor excuse of a bed, and flops heavily into it. Uncaring if the owner hadn’t meant to give him permission to claim it for a nap. 

And if there was any objections, the business man was already falling asleep before he could hear them. 

”You killed him.”

David whirls around to see Scott staring at him like he’s some kind of monster as they stand in a kitchen that’s all too familiar. 

Anger flairs up, and the want to punch the shorter man in the face rises like a tide. He’s being judged like he’s some kind of murderer? What about Scott being best friends to a literal monstrosity? What about him following the orders of someone like William? What about the night guards? 

“I haven’t killed anyone,” David snaps. 

“Oh really?” Scott growls. “Someone didn’t disappear during a shift inside your own restaurant?” 

The business man bristles. “How was I supposed to know! It’s not like I would’ve known he shrunk. And he’s a teenager, they always walk out without telling anyone and just refuse to show up for work the next day.” 

“Do you know how many times he tried to get your attention? Tried to ask for help? Do you know how many times you ignored him?” 

...is that true? Did Fritz make it all the way to his office at some point? Did David nearly crush him like an irate gnat? Unimportant and nothing but a distraction from his work? 

“What about you? Don’t act so high and mighty when you have actual blood on your hands. How many guards died because your recordings didn’t tell them how to survive?” 

“The difference,” Scott muses. “Is you feel guilty.” 

That’s an implication he doesn’t like for numerous reasons. The confirmation Scott doesn’t care people die despite it being his fault. The truth David is remorseful to not notice someone vanishing from his own staff. That he was close to playing a large part in William’s game without even knowing it. That his actions do have consequences. 

“I didn’t kill him.” 

“Don’t lie to yourself. He’s only alive because he fought for his life. You still pulled the plug.” 

“How was I supposed to know!” David shouts. “I didn’t ask for this! My job is to help the reputation of the company, nothing more! It’s not my fault William thrust this kind of responsibility on me!” 

“Neither did I,” Scott says so condescendingly David's fists clench automatically. “You don’t see me mourning every guard that gets killed, do you?” 

“You’re a sick bastard, you know that?” 

“And you’re any better? Tell me, David, what’s the real reason you don’t want to bring him to Afton?” 

“That’d be a death sentence.” 

“Or it’d be his only salvation,” Scott shrugs. “Let’s look at the savior complex you currently have. If you’re truly worried Afton would kill him to tie up loose ends, then what? Would you actually take care of someone you barely know?” 

David bristles. “Of course I would.” 

“Oh?” and he’s this close to giving in a punching Scott. “As a person, or as a toy.” 

He wouldn’t, no, David wouldn’t do that. He’s seen what it’s like being this small first hand. Nearly died numerous times, he wouldn’t offer Fritz help and only treat the kid like a desk trinket. Technically that would still be better than the way he’s currently living, but the business man wouldn’t do something like that. He’s an asshole but he’s not cruel. 

Yet he can’t help thinking about what will happen a month from now. When Fritz becomes more of a burden than anything. The one thing David can’t stand are people who contribute nothing to this world. It wouldn’t be the kid’s fault, he didn’t ask to be shrunk, but old habits would die hard. 

And David...he’ll forget what it’s like to be that small. Will stop being careful, won’t pay enough attention, and get upset if he’s told about his mistakes until- 

“Well?” Scott probes as David refuses to answer. Makes a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat after the silence stretches on. “They deserve more, David.” 

Now they’re talking about more than just Fritz. About the people he stepped on to get to where he is now. Everyone he’s fired from every business he’s helped in his career, uncaring about how it will affect their lives. 

Actually, you know what, he’s calling bullshit. David deserved getting to where he is. He’s done nothing wrong, and Scott of all people has absolutely no right to judge him. 

He gives into the temptation to wipe the goddamn smirk off the fossil’s face. Raises a hand as he steps forward to grab Scott’s shirt. 

Feels his heart stop when he hears a soft scream before it’s suddenly cut off. 

...no. 

He doesn’t dare look down at his shoe. Can only stare at Scott sighing long and hard with a sad shake of his head. “I tried to warn you, David.” 

No. 

“I didn’t.” Panic starts welling up inside him, his breathing getting shorter and shorter. “H-He’s not, I didn’t-” 

“You did.” 

No!

The words are only stated matter-of-factly. As if he didn’t just kill Fritz. After surviving on his own for months, and the kid’s fatal mistake was saving David’s life. 

”Was it worth it, David?”

“No!” 

David jolts awake, gasping for air before a panicked yell rises in his throat when all that greets him is pure darkness. Where is he, where’s Scott, and where’s- 

“David?” a voice suddenly calls. One the business man almost lunges at to confirm it’s real it has to be real he didn’t kill Fritz. “Oh, the light, sorry! Hold on, I’ll light one.” 

It sounds like actual footsteps and someone moving things around. But without being able to even see his own hands right in front of him, David can’t help but think his talk with Scott was reality and this is the dream. A sick and twisted nightmare where he’ll be forced to hear the kid, but never see him. 

Then there’s sparks, and a flame appears to reveal a corner of the room, as well as a short figure with red hair. 

Offers an apologetic smile before it turns into concern. “Dav- Mr. Harrison, are you okay?” 

Fritz is alive. Fritz is alive. 

David watches for a moment to ensure the kid doesn’t disappear. Once he determines it won’t happen, he flops back into the nest of fabric. Remembers lying down to take a nap. And the promise Fritz wouldn’t leave the room without him. 

“Just...wasn’t expecting to wake up to an empty void,” he manages to grumble. 

“Sorry,” Fritz repeats. “I just didn’t want to waste the light. But I forgot you wouldn’t be used to it.” 

David doesn’t respond. Too drained to do anything more than watch Fritz’s silhouette walk around the room. Almost looking like he’s packing things into the bag from earlier. Realizes he doesn’t know how long he slept for, reaching out to his right to tap on his phone screen. 

7:50pm. The restaurant is closed, everyone on staff should be on their way home after getting everything cleaned, and Scott will be arriving soon. 

Fritz clears his throat. “Would you like to head back to the kitchen to meet your friend?” 

David’s heart drops to the pit of his stomach for more reasons than one. But he forces himself to stand up. Glances at his phone’s battery at 50%. “I’ll lead the way this time.” 

That earns him an incredulous look before he turns on the phone’s flashlight. Fritz jumping back in surprise manages to make his lips curl up. After the scare, the kid beams. “That’s so much better then carrying a candle.” 

“Of course it- you've carried a lit candle around?” David demands once he processes the full sentence, sending a glare after the kid as he puts out the flame. 

“It was the only way to see until I got really familiar with the path,” Fritz explains. “I didn’t have a phone, and no one realizes when a pack of birthday candles from a box of hundreds goes missing.” 

Some people would be impressed by the lengths that were gone to adapt. David’s only thinking about how it’s a miracle Fritz didn’t accidentally kill himself by his own stupidity. 

Instead of validating what he was told with a response, the business man makes his way to the ‘door’, Fritz taking the initiative to open it and then close it behind them. Then they slowly walk down the dark path that’s barely illuminated by the week flashlight, but it keeps the darkness from becoming suffocating. It does nothing to calm David’s thoughts, however. Not just his terror on facing Scott at this size, but about what he should do concerning Fritz. 

“Fritz, did you ever try to get my attention after you shrunk?” 

“...a few times.” 

David suddenly stops. Feels Fritz bump into him before the teenager quickly steps back. He then turns so the light shines on both of them. 

Stares down at someone who has every right to yell and scream at him. Every right to hate David for not being there. For leaving him for dead when his life was on the line in the business man’s own restaurant. Failing to make up for his mistake when there were multiple opportunities if he just paid attention. 

Fritz doesn’t glare or even look upset now that the truth is out. The kid just looks...patient. Not entirely resigned, but not hopeful either. Just, waiting. 

“You recognized me when you saved me,” David says. Earns a nod for confirmation. “So why did you?” 

Fritz becomes panicked. “Why wouldn’t I? They could’ve killed you, I couldn’t let that happen!” 

And that’s when David realizes that even if Fritz was angry that his calls for help were never answered, the kid is nothing but selfless. Was willing to save someone who by every definition didn’t deserve it. Give up his resources even with no promise to be repaid for it. 

...unless he’s been hoping David is his only ticket out. 

“I don’t think there will be a way to grow you to your normal height.” 

There. He ripped the band-aid off. It was going to happen at some point. It’s best if the kid knows now so he doesn’t waste anymore of his time. Yell that he never should’ve saved David if he wasn’t at the very least going to finally escape from this hell. 

Fritz jolts like he was electrocuted. Stares at David for a moment as his green eyes well up with tears. Curls in on himself as he looks at the floor. “O-Oh.” 

Silence. 

The kid takes a deep breath, wiping his eyes before looking up again. “Um, would y-you...do you still have a chance?” 

...what? 

“I...I guess I had a feeling,” Fritz continues, voice shaky. “I mean, n-no one was looking for me, and after a week it seemed like this was...permanent. I-I didn’t want it to happen to anyone else, though. As terrifying as it’s been, no one deserves this. You don’t think you’re stuck too, do you?” 

It’s said with such a genuine tone of concern. Not for himself. Purely for David. 

“I don’t know,” the business man says. 

Fritz straightens up. “Th-Then we shouldn’t miss your friend if it’s your only chance!” 

David is a bit too stunned to do anything but allow the kid to grab his arm and guide him down the tunnel. Immediately ducks his head once they exit the hole and make their way into the main part of the kitchen from under the oven. 

“David?” 

Both of them freeze at the booming voice calling for the shrunken man. All at once, the terror he felt a few hours ago comes rushing up, and it demands he stays as still and quite as possible. 

“David, are you in here?” 

Fritz slowly comes back to life at the sound of Scott growing worried. Tugs at David’s arm until the business man starts to follow again. “Y-You trust him, right?” 

It’s a miracle the whispered words weren’t drowned out by the sound of fabric moving. “I-I do.” 

Not much. But enough. 

“David,” Scott rumbles, impatience seeping into his tone and causing the two to flinch. “I’m not in the mood for games.” 

They make it to the toe kick. Blink against the blinding light until they can finally make out the towering figure standing by the kitchen door. 

At this angle, David can see Scott entirely. From his sandy hair, to the obscure band t-shirt, to the black converse shoes. Despite the distance, there’s no denying the man normally half a foot shorter than him is a giant who’s shoes could crush him. Hands with fingers longer than he is tall. Hazel eyes similar to his own as big as his head. 

Ones that are narrowed in their direction. 

“David?” 

Oh shit.

Scott is suddenly walking toward them. Fritz immediately flattens himself against the counters. David, on the other hand, wasn’t quick enough and ends up falling onto his back from the earthquakes. 

“Please don’t be a large insect...” 

Look, David is genuinely terrified. But he can’t stop the feeling of indignation surging through him, finding himself sitting up with a glare meant for Scott for comparing him to a bug. 

It vanishes when a hand slams down a few feet away, a face the size of a billboard leaning down, the massive being going completely still when their eyes meet. 

“Oh my God,” has David recoil when the simple action of Scott talking ruffles his hair and suit. “David?” 

“Sc-Scott,” the business man manages. Feels his entire body trembling. “It’s me, I-” 

He hadn’t seen it coming. Even though Scott set his hand down close by, David thought he would be able to get out of the way in time. He didn’t even see it lift off the ground. One moment it seems harmless, the next fingers are curling around him. 

“No, don’t-!” 

David frantically attempts to scramble away as fear claws at his throat. But he's too slow, much too slow. A thumb the size of his torso settles on his chest at the same time another digit folds over his legs. He shoves with all his might to try and get the finger pinning him down away from him, gasping in pain when it only presses harder, forcing the air out of his lungs. 

Then vertigo makes his stomach flip. Meaning he’s being lifted up. Away from the ground, from safety, closer to the giant that’s staring at him like he’s the most interesting thing in the world. 

Don’t kill me, please don’t kill me.

“I can’t believe it,” Scott breathes. “He actually shrunk you.” 

David gasps as the grip gets tighter, shoving at the thumb and kicking his legs in the hope he can escape. “Scott...tight!” 

“S-Sir, you’re hurting him!” 

Everything freezes. 

“Wha-?” the giant mutters intelligently, and all David can see is Scott’s eyes looking at something down on the ground. Lets out a strangled yell when he’s squeezed suddenly. Pain erupting at the feeling like he was punched in the stomach and chest. 

“Open your hand!” 

David chokes on air as the thumb is finally lifted, curls onto his side as he just concentrates on breathing he can finally breathe. 

He sends a glare up at the giant watching him with a troubled look as soon as he can think again. “What, the fuck, Scott?” 

“I’m sorry,” the sandy haired man apologizes. As if it makes everything better. “I hadn’t realized. Are you hurt?” 

He chose the wrong person to trust. “Put me down!” 

Scott seems apprehensive. But then the hand is lowering, and David suddenly remembers Fritz once the kid comes into his line of sight. Had completely forgotten about everything that happened before a hand attempted to squeeze him to death. 

Bad news, his limbs are too shaky to get him away from the giant who’s proven himself to be deadly. Worse news, Fritz comes running over from the safety of the cabinets despite the fact Scott nearly killed David within the first five minutes. 

“Are you ok-k-kay?” the kid whispers, sending a fearful look up at Scott every other second. Offers a hand that’s immediately taken to help sit David up. Gently pats at his chest before recoiling at a painful groan. “Did anything break?” 

“Did anything break?” Scott repeats, at the very least sounding remorseful. 

“No, nothing broke. But I couldn’t, breathe for a good minute,” David snaps with a wheeze. “Now I owe Fritz for saving my life twice.” 

David was not expecting the weirdest part of his day to watch pupils dilate, unable to help watching in fascination as the brown ring seemingly retracts to reveal an almost gold color. 

Then cold fear races down his back at the realization Scott is looking at Fritz. “Twice?” 

The giant better not touch the kid. “It’s been a long day.” 

“I’ve got time to hear about it,” Scott says, doing a great impression of a thunder storm. Looks between them for a moment. Makes David curse and Fritz jump away when fingers curl in closer. “God, you make me feel like a monster.” 

“You almost crushed me!” 

“Your size,” the giant clarifies with a scowl. And despite the revelation of just how big the man is to them, Scott fails to connect the dots such a seemingly harmless expression only meant to show his frustration makes David shake from the thought there will be retaliation he’ll have no way to defend himself against. “But you’re right, I got grabby when I shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry. Let’s, start from the beginning.” 

“Fritz help me get down.” 

The kid slowly approaches Scott’s hand again. Grabs David’s arm even as he trembles to help the business man down the surprisingly high platform a palm makes. Nearly collapses onto Fritz when his legs give out because he’s still not at 100%. He’s on the fence whether to feel grateful or fearful of the finger offering assistance to get him standing upright. 

But Scott completely withdrawals his hand once David’s knees aren’t threatening to buckle. And with it, warmth the business man hadn’t realized was keeping the chill of the room at bay. 

David takes a deep breath. Well, as much as he can without it becoming painful. Looks up at Scott towering over them even while kneeling. “I shrunk the moment I walked into the kitchen, and apparently I wasn’t the first one. The same thing happened to Fritz a few months ago, and he managed to keep me from getting squashed because the staff mistook me for a roach.” 

Scott’s jaw drops. “Months?” 

Not what David thought the sandy haired man would latch onto. Then again, it’s not hard to see the kid is just a teenager. He thought the revelation of William shrinking any and all employees would be the most concerning part. But, this is only new to the business man. Scott’s been with the company long enough to be far too familiar with these kinds of scenarios. That anyone’s up for grabs with experiments, not the shrinking. 

David nods, because he has no reason to not believe the timeline. “Does that mean anything to you?” 

Scott hesitates. Looks at the kid cowering in his shadow. “It sounds like he was the first field test if I’m being honest. Did anyone come looking for you?” 

Fritz jumps when David elbows him, giving a small ‘oh!’ realizing the question was directed at him. “Um-m-m, no one called my name. Or, looked under the cabinets. I-I just, I remember a shadow when I first left the kitchen.” 

That sounds like Vincent. And Scott wincing just proves it. “So he was the guinea pig.” 

“He was,” Scott confirms. “I don't understand why Afton would make such a risky move. His parents would’ve-” 

David doesn't catch it until the giant stops talking. But Fritz’s head is...shaking. “Not my parents...” 

And that’s why David never received a phone call about someone missing while working a shift at his restaurant. Why Fritz vanished and no one really noticed. The kid was so unimportant no one would care if he was dead. 

David clears his throat. “Do you think William can grow Fritz back to his normal height?” 

“I-I’m okay Mr. Harrison,” is said at the same time Scott sighs. He pretends he didn’t hear it. 

“Even if he’d be willing to, I don’t think he can. If it took months to shrink you after shrinking him, it meant results he got in his lab weren’t the same as when Fritz shrunk. Meaning he had to make a few adjustments.” 

Meaning the kid is most likely permanently this size. 

Fritz doesn’t make a single sound. Scott’s careful not to betray any emotion. 

“Take us both to William,” David commands. 

“Mr-” 

“You are my responsibility,” the business man growls down at the kid. “Don’t be a dumbass. We’ll see if he can get you back to your proper height no matter how short it is. If he can’t, we’ll go from there. But you won’t be leaving my side to get crushed like a bug or end up as somethings dinner, understood?” 

Fritz stares up at him in shock. Like he was fully expecting to get left behind despite everything he’s done. And, if they’re being honest, that had been a genuine possibility. But David owes the kid his life. Besides, if he ever suggested not bringing Fritz along to fend for himself however long they’d be gone, Scott would kill him. 

That’s the only reason. 

A small but hopeful smile tugs on Fritz’s mouth. “Understood.” 

“Wonderful. Scott, set your hand down and we’ll walk on,” David directs. “Don’t grab us.” 

“I learned my lesson,” Scott murmurs as he sets a hand down palm up in front of them. 

He absolutely hates the idea of willingly putting his life in the hands of the giant. It’s the only way to get to William and demand their rightful size back, though. So with clenched teeth and fists, David steps up onto a middle finger almost as thick as he is. 

One that twitches and sends him tumbling. 

David scrambles to try and sit up, arms raising to protect himself from the bone crushing curling fingers. “Scott please don’t!” 

The hand opens again. “That was reflex, I apologize. I wasn’t trying to pin you, I swear.” 

David kicks at the nearest digit, sending a fierce glare up at Scott. “I’m starting to think even Fritz would be a better giant than you.” 

“I don’t have a guide on what to do when I find someone who was shrunk,” the sandy haired man defends. “This is new for both of us. And I don’t think you realize how ticklish you can be.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“You heard me. You feel like a large bug crawling into my hand,” Scott smirks. Before David can protest, the giant looks away, face softening. “He’s okay, Fritz. Just a little rumpled.” 

“Way to scare the kid,” the business man grumbles as he sits up. Sees Fritz shaking like a leaf with skin so pale his freckles look like they’ll jump right off of him. “It’s safe, Fritz, Scott’s just a dumbass.” 

A small step forward as the strap to the bag is held in a white-knuckle grip. A careful step up onto Scott’s first finger. A fearful glance at the giant before another tentative step. There’s a shuddering breath as Fritz continues onto the hand until he makes it to Scott’s palm and immediately sits down. Curls up in a tight ball as he looks around in terror, expecting the fingers to snap shut around them at any moment. 

David slaps at the giant’s thumb. “Why didn’t you trip him?” 

“I was expecting it that time,” Scott grouses. “Unlike some people, I learn from my mistakes.” 

He doesn’t try and refute the claim. Not when he latches onto the fact that Scott now holds both of them. To do whatever he wants with. Put them in a pocket to take home instead of William. Close his hand until he crushes them mercilessly. Trips while walking and let them fall a hundred feet to the unforgiving ground. 

“Ready?” shakes him to his very core. 

...Scott will keep them safe. 

David nods once. Gasps when the hand lifts up way too quickly, gravity flattening him against the palm. Yelps and the same time Fritz shrieks when the ride up suddenly stops, leaving both of them lifting into the air before falling back down. 

This was the worst idea he’s ever had why did they ever trust a giant. 

“Are you two okay?” Scott asks, sounding confused as to why he earned such terrified reactions. 

“You...have no idea how physics works, do you?” David breathes, trying to get his heart to calm back down from the scare. 

Scott stares before his eyes widen, making a soft ‘ah’. “Was I too fast?” 

"Both starting and stopping.” He looks over at Fritz, relieved the kid at least doesn’t seem traumatized. 

“I’ll go slower,” Scott reassures. This time, the giant doesn’t wait for confirmation they’re ready, instead starts to stand up without warning. 

It feels like David’s stomach got left far behind, and he doesn’t dare try to look over the edge of the hand. But to Scott’s credit, he’s much slower. Careful to not abruptly stop so it feels like they’ll go flying. When they don’t scream again, the giant takes it as a que to continue on his journey. Turns slowly, but wind still tussles their clothes and hair. Footsteps jostle them so harshly it feels like their teeth might crack. 

“Feeling okay?” Scott asks. 

“Fine,” David spits out, not wanting to be reminded he’s being held tens of feet above the ground, completely vulnerable to someone he barely trusts on a good day. Catches sight of Fritz looking ten times worse than him, eyes shut tight and holding his knees as close as possible like his life depends on it. “Fritz?” 

“H-H-Heights,” is all the kid can say. 

That must be the worst phobia to have while shrunk. Scott’s sympathetic look says the giant agrees. “If there’s anything I can do to make it better-” 

Scott doesn’t get to finish his sentence. Because the second he steps through the kitchen doorway, David’s falling. Lands before he can try to scream. Braces himself for nothing but blinding hot pain. 

Nothing happens. When he opens his eyes, he sees Scott sitting on the ground, hand on his head as he groans from pain. And the sandy haired man is his size. 

What the fuck just happened? 

David pats down his chest. Winces at the pain from it still tender from Scott squeezing him, but other than that, he’s perfectly fine. No broken bones. No ruptured organs. He’s unhurt, and most importantly, he’s six feet tall again. 

...where’s Fritz? 

“Fritz?” David calls. Looks to his right and left. Next to Scott. But the hallways void of the teenager. Meaning he didn’t grow back to his normal height. “Fritz?” 

“David?” Scott blinks. Gasps when it hits him David grew. “How-? 

“Where’s Fritz?” the business man demands. Looks at hands completely empty of miniscule figures. Feels his heart clench at the thought the kid fell. “Scott where’s Fritz?” 

The sandy haired man gapes at him. Once it processes, once he realizes what it means to not know where the kid is, his eyes dart across the floor. “I don’t know. I didn’t even see what happened, I was just knocked into the wall.” 

“Fritz,” David all but pleads. Not daring to move. Afraid he won’t see the kid if he does. Afraid what he might find. “Don’t be an idiot, tell us where you are, kid.” 

“M-M-M-” 

His eyes snap over to the kitchen door at the softest sound he’ll ever encounter. Stares unblinkingly at the tiny figure trying its hardest to become part of the wall. Breathes a sigh of relief when it doesn’t disappear and the familiar features of red hair and a bag over the shoulder confirms it’s Fritz. The kid’s alive, the kid’s alive. 

“You dumbass,” David berates as he turns toward Fritz, careful to go as slow as possible to not spook him, especially with how the poor kid looks like he’s going to bolt at any moment. Trembling so badly it’s impossible to miss despite how small he is. 

Was David really that size? So miniscule that a strong breeze could knock him over? Not even as tall as one of the checkered tiles on the floor? It makes him want to do nothing more than pick Fritz up so he’s safe from everything that could possibly hurt him. David is all too familiar with how dangerous it is to be alone on the ground. 

“Took you long enough.” 

The voice makes David’s skin crawl. After checking to make sure Fritz won't move, he looks down the hallway to see a living shadow standing a few feet away. 

“What the hell do you want?” the business man growls, not happy Vincent decided to show up. What a fantastic end to the worst day of his life. 

“I was just going to make sure you didn’t lock yourself in the kitchen all night,” the purple man shrugs. “I assumed you didn’t want to stay three inches tall for a full 24 hours.” 

That sick son of a bitch. “You mean to tell me that if I had gone right back through that goddamn door, I wouldn’t immediately grown again?” 

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” 

David’s head snaps over to give Scott a seething glare, silently demanding he take responsibility over his mutated grape. The sandy haired man sighs, fixing Vincent with an unimpressed look. “Was Afton’s intention to put David’s life in danger?” 

“Not at all. But accidents happen, and David deciding to go into the kitchen in the middle of a rush instead of during his rounds after the restaurant's been locked up was just unfortunate timing.” 

“Unfortunate?” David seethes. “I was nearly killed! Several times! Why didn’t you come to save me!” 

“I wasn’t around to help,” Vincent smiles and fuck him. “Besides, it was a happy accident. We’ve been trying to get your companion to come out of hiding for a while now, so I’ll just be taking him and be on my way.” 

Companion? Who-? 

David’s hand hovers protectively over Fritz. “And what exactly will you do with him?” 

“A few tests, a physical, a questionnaire,” Vincent lists. “After that, he no longer has any use.” 

That means Fritz is disposable. After surviving for so long, and is only reward is to be killed once William gets all of the information he wants. 

“You won’t return him to his proper size?” David questions. 

“Can’t,” Vincent says. “Though, if it was possible, he’s a liability, and we can’t have that. You know that, David.” 

Maybe he does. Because that was why he was hesitant about bringing Fritz to William. The cruel man can’t let experiments wonder around. Not with the possibility it can be traced back to Fazbear’s. 

And maybe he doesn’t really give a shit what William wants. “Then he won’t be leaving with you.” 

“It’s not a choice, David.” 

“He’s not hurting anyone, Vince,” Scott pipes up, and the sandy haired man might not be as heartless as originally thought. “He’ll stay within the company, David and I will make sure no one gets their hands on him.” 

“It’s a bit too risky for William, Scotty. What he says goes.” 

“He’s my employee,” David counters. Barely holds back a flinch as amber eyes lock on him with a death stare. The kind that says he’s pushing it. “He got shrunk in my restaurant under my payroll. That means I have first say. And I say he’ll stay here, completely out of the public eye. No one will know he exists.” 

Vincent stares at him for a long moment. David is expecting a knife to slice his throat open at any second. 

The purple man hums. “I will inform William. I may return with orders that it’s your life, or his.” 

They can’t give a response, not when Vincent disappears into the shadows. He fucking hates that thing. 

“Afton’s going to make you pay for that,” Scott huffs. 

“I already can’t go into my own damn kitchen without shrinking,” David growls. “I think I’ve paid plenty.” 

He then ignores Scott completely, turns to Fritz cowering under his hand. Glad the kid didn’t make a break for it, because who knows if that would’ve triggered the mutated grape into hunting him down. 

“Back to you being a dumbass. If I call your name, you better answer, or else I think you’re dead. Are we clear?” 

Fritz seems to look down in shame, but he nods his head in agreement. “Yes, s-sir.” 

David sets his hand in front of the kid. Curls his fingers in twice as a command for Fritz to climb on. “We’re getting you some proper food, and then we’ll talk about arrangements.” 

There’s hesitation. “You...y-you’re letting me stay?” 

“And making sure you’re properly taken care of,” David says. “It won’t be perfect, but you won’t have to risk your neck just to survive.” 

It’s the least he can do. Fritz has more than earned it. And the kid doesn’t deserve to die by William’s hand after surviving against all the odds. 

Miniscule shoes walk across his fingers, David smirking at the fact Fritz isn’t even as tall as his thumb. And unlike Scott, there’s no twitching to send the kid tumbling. Slowly lifts his hand up until they’re eye level without any turbulence. 

If he didn’t know Fritz was there, it’d be hard to feel the miniscule weight of an entire person in his hand. But the kid is here. Terrified, refusing to look anywhere except the palm he’s sitting in, breathing short and quick, 

Instead of an overwhelming sense of power, all David feels is the need to protect. 

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t lift a finger to nudge at the kid, absolutely fascinated by the miniscule movements of surprise. He could definitely get used to this. 

With the confirmation Fritz is alright, David tucks his hand against his chest before carefully standing up. Looks over at Scott standing up as well and dusting himself off. “Scott, grab a pizza and meet us in the main area.” 

“You can’t grab one?” Scott questions. 

“Not unless you want me shrinking again,” the business man responds as he slowly walks down the hallway. 

He hears a soft ‘I might’, followed by the sound of his request being heeded. Leaving him to glance down to make sure he isn’t jostling Fritz too much. 

David didn’t expect the kid to be looking back at him. “I’m not as bad as Scott, am I?” 

Fritz jolts. “N-No! I mean, he wasn’t bad. Just not...cautious?” 

“He was the worst giant we could’ve asked for,” David declares. 

That earns him a smile. “I wanted to say thank you.” 

This isn't something that earns him a ‘thank you’. This is making up for not being there when Fritz needed him. But he will be working hard for it. 

“I should be thanking you.” 

[wingsy-keeper-of-songs]

Had an idea with another Tav where she is a daughter of a noble Elvish house in Athkatla born to a family of mostly wizards (there are a few instances of sorcery here and there, and it's a family joke that they're the product of sordid affairs ((all said lovingly the family is a kind one)) and she is a Wild Magic Sorceress who has surges when experiencing intense emotions. She's able to have a hold on it until she reaches marrying age and she's arranged to marry a human man from a noble house who is also a mage (he's very similar to Lorroakan actually) and he turns out to be extremely emotionally and psychologically abusive which causes her Wild Magic to surge out of control.

Her family is not sure where these surges have come from (they don't believe such a good match could turn out to be so toxic) so they lock the poor girl up to keep her from harming herself and others. She's still due to marry the Shitty Betrothed, but only once she gets her shit together.

She starts to spiral downwards and her parents decide she needs a change of scenery and take her to Baldur's Gate for a vacation. And then the mind-flayers come....

[littlest-god]

Time to smash out an outline i suppose

[sukunim]

only hugging my beloved moots can fix me now