Chapter Text
Logan scoured the desktop, searching for a paperclip that wasn’t currently in use. He knew it was dangerous, being out in the open like this when the human bean was just in the other room getting ready. However, being patient was getting him nowhere. It had been weeks, and Logan still hadn’t found suitable wire to create new frames for his glasses. With a slight huff, he pushed his current lenses further up his nose. His current glasses, though practical, had ended up being a bit too large and were often sliding down. It was not only annoying; it was unsafe. Logan couldn’t afford to be constantly readjusting the wire while out borrowing.
“Excellent.” Logan grinned, shifting the papers to find one sole straggling paperclip. He put it in his bag. Then, Logan began moving the papers back into position so as not to leave a trace of his presence. Though his human was messy, Logan could not afford leaving something out of place and making the human curious. Curiosity killed the borrower, after all.
Once he was satisfied, Logan moved over towards the edge of the desk, inspecting it for a niche in the wood where he could latch his hook. However, he was too focused on the task at hand. A sudden series of thumps shook the table, throwing Logan off his balance and causing him to plummet off the edge. Logan scarcely had time to process what had occured before he felt himself land with an ‘oof’, tumbling down the fabric wall and into the bottom of the bag that had been laying nearby.
Roman rushed into his room from the bathroom, grabbing his bag near his desk and slinging it over his shoulder. He wanted to get this grocery shopping out of the way as quick as he could, not liking that particular chore. He zipped the top of the bag up and headed towards the front door.
Logan tried not to panic when the light disappeared above, bracing himself as he was thrown amongst the general clutter found at the bottom of a bag. This was not ideal, but he hadn’t been seen. He would just have to stay under the radar until the human left the bag unattended, and then Logan could sneak out.
Roman shut the door behind him and then realized he needed his keys. He unzipped the bag and reached a hand inside, feeling around for them.
Logan ducked away from the giant fingers, watching them rummage around. He pressed himself up against the corner of the bag, trying to stay out of their path.
Roman frowned when he still couldn’t find his keys and continued to push and search around the bag. His hand came upon something...strange. Roman paused, eyebrow raised. He slowly went to wrap his hand around it.
Logan’s eyes widened, his heart rate picking up as those huge fingers wrapped around him. Logan froze, praying that the human would just disregard his form and continue searching the bag but knowing logically that this would not be the case.
Roman pulled his hand out of the bag and brought it up to his face to see what it was. His eyes widened in shock when he was met with a tiny person . Roman gaped, looking at the little guy in awe.
Forget his keys and the grocery shopping. This was way more important at the moment. He went back inside and headed back towards his room.
Oh no. Logan’s mind began to panic, hating the feeling of being whisked about without control. He had been seen. Where were they going? What was happening? Logan fought the urge to struggle against the human’s uncomfortable grip, fearing the drop to the ground. However, the feeling of so much unwanted physical contact from a human bean was making the hairs on the back of Logan’s neck stand up.
Roman set his bag down next the desk with his free hand and then sat down. He held the little guy over the desk, turning his hand and moving his fingers to get a better look.
“Wow...you are amazing.” Roman said in awe.
Logan tried to fix his eyes on a point in the distance as he was spun around to keep from getting dizzy. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful and began to feel slightly lightheaded from the whole ordeal with the bag until this moment. Seeing the desk beneath him, Logan felt free to give in to his instincts and squirm. It was quite disheartening to watch his attempts to pry the fingers away yielded no results.
Roman couldn’t help but chuckle at...his? Its? attempt to escape. “Having some trouble there?” Roman asked, grinning.
Logan glared up at the human, hating how it seemed to enjoy his struggles.
Roman raised his eyebrows in surprise when the tiny creature glared up at him. Realization dawned on him. “Wait, can you understand me?”
Logan’s eyebrows raised as he realized his mistake, now not sure how to proceed. On the one hand, if he acted as though he didn’t understand, perhaps the human would get bored of him more quickly and Logan could slip away unnoticed. On the other hand, if Logan demonstrated he was intelligent and understanding perhaps the human would be more hesitant to kill him.
Perhaps he could find a middle ground by demonstrating an understanding without words. Hoping this was the correct option, Logan nodded to answer the human’s question.
“You can! That’s amazing.” Roman was in complete and utter awe with this tiny humanoid creature. Roman decided to open up his hand, letting the little guy fall into his palm and then used his free hand to grab his arm. Roman couldn’t help but run his thumb over it in fascination.
“Can you speak?” Roman asked.
Logan flinched, muscles tensing as he watched his arm almost disappear between human fingers. One twitch and… Logan shuddered, fearing the fate of his limb. In response to the question, Logan lied and shook his head, sticking to his plan of three seconds ago.
Roman frowned. “Well, that’s too bad.” It would have been cool if he could speak, but oh well. Roman returned his focus back to the tiny arm, moving it up and down. Roman hummed in thought, dropping the arm. “Are you...a fairy?” Roman asked. It was the only creature he knew of that was human like and tiny. He flipped the guy over and pulled up his shirt, but didn’t see any wings.
Logan scrambled away, pulling his shirt down and glaring once more. He shook his head vehemently, positively fuming. A fairy. Really? This had quickly taken a turn from frightening to downright embarrassing.
Roman took his hand away, chuckling at the way the little guy scrambled away. “I suppose not then.” Roman placed him on the desk, resting his head on his arms to be more eye level.
“Well, whatever you are, it’s very nice to meet you.” Roman grinned. “Do you have a name? Oh, wait, you can’t talk...um, well I can just give you one I suppose.”
Logan cringed, hating the idea of being named. He looked around, planning out an escape route should the need arise but deciding that it was too risky to run while the human’s attention was focused solely on him. It might make an escape attempt later more difficult as the human would be more alert.
Instead, Logan focused on the issue of his name. He looked around for a blank spot on the papers, holding up his hand in the signal for ‘one moment’. Finding a spot, Logan slowly walked over and crouched down. Logan paused, hesitant to give his name to a human, but ultimately he found the alternative to be worse than revealing his identity. After all, what was a human going to do with a borrower’s name?
So, Logan took out one of his writing utensils, a scrap of lead, and wrote his name in huge block letters to ensure the human could read them: LOGAN.
Roman’s eyes widened as he watched the little guy write down on one of his pieces of paper. “Huh, I hadn’t expected a tiny creature like you would know how to write. That’s pretty impressive.” And it seemed like he had his own writing utensil as well...Roman wondered where he got it. “Logan. Interesting.” It was a very human name, something else Roman hadn’t been expecting.
“Well, Logan. I’m Roman.”
Logan gave a tert nod to show he had heard, standing up and cleaning his hands on his pants after putting the remaining lead back in his bag. He didn’t enjoy the human’s demeaning attitude, but at least he was still standing on his own two feet.
Roman grinned, before he frowned, a thought coming to his mind. “Logan? Do you belong to anyone?” He didn’t want to keep him if he already belonged to someone else after all.
Logan let his face show how offended he was, sternly shaking his head and crossing his arms. He didn’t belong to anyone, especially another human as Roman seemed to imply. The thought made Logan uneasy about Roman’s intentions.
“Perfect!” Roman exclaimed, scooping Logan back up into his cupped hands. “Then welcome to your new home!” Roman was suddenly excited. The day had started out boring and not very good, Virgil had called him letting him know he couldn’t hang out today, but now it was turned around. He stared at Logan with a grin.
“Man, I still can’t believe you're actually real .”
Logan tried to push himself away from Roman, jumping as he accidentally pushed himself straight back into Roman’s curled fingers. Oh, NO. This couldn’t be happening. Logan violently shook his head, showing his incredible displeasure at the way things were going.
It didn’t matter if, technically, he already did live here. Logan had no intentions of living here with a human. In fact, now he had no intentions of living here at all. He was already planning the fastest way to move out all of his belongings the second he could get to his home in the walls.
Roman frowned, before smiling softly. “It’s okay, I’m going to take good care of you. You’ll be properly fed, which by the looks of things, you really need. Oh! I can even get you some new clothes. It looks like you’re in need of new ones.” Roman ruffled Logan’s hair with a finger. “And not to mention all the fun we’re going to have!”
Logan ducked, feeling his head jostled about in an unpleasant manner as Roman messed with his hair. Logan reached a hand up to try and fix it. He shook his head more to indicate that he wanted none of that, but with growing dread it began to dawn on Logan that Roman wasn’t listening.
Roman wondered what to do now. He hadn’t expected any of this to happen, but he did still need to go to the store...oh, wait. Of course! He couldn’t keep this amazing find to himself after all. “I have to show you to Virgil! He is going to freak out.” Roman was already heading toward the front door.
Logan’s eyes widened, knowing that one human was bad enough. The borrower rules were ingrained in his brain, making him well aware how important it was that the borrower race remain a secret. Unfortunately, no amount of head shaking seemed to deter Roman. Realizing he had no other choice, Logan knew what he had to do.
“No!” He cried out, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth.